While still in the very early stages of development, children's online education and entertainment site Smart Kids Group, Inc. has plans to develop their own social network for kids. A growing online trend, "kids only" social networks like imbee, Everloop, and now Smart Kids are all being created to give kids more positive and….read more

Imbee, one of the most popular social networks set up specifically for kids, recently launched a No Bully Zone campaign. The campaign, comprised of a User's Pledge, Partner's Commitment, and No Bully Zone Fan Zone, was created to raise awareness of bullying and provide content and….read more

Miss Bimbo is a controversial social networking and online gaming site that encourages young girls to look after their own personal "bimbos" as they progress through life, change their appearance and compete in different challenges. Developed in France and the United Kingdom, the site has been gaining international popularity for a couple ….read more

A recent Consumer Reports study found that over 7.5 million kids younger than 13 are using Facebook which, according to the social network's rules, technically is not allowed. Right now, because of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), websites can't gather data from users under the age of 13. And Facebook, like many other sites, requires certain….read more

SocialShield had the opportunity to attend the 2011 National Strategy Conference on Combating Child Exploitation over the past few days. The conference was held in San Jose, CA and the theme was "Partners in Protection and Prevention." This theme represents the collaboration between the Project Safe Childhood and Internet Crimes Against….read more

Making news this week is California's potential bill that would force social networks like Facebook to let parents access their child's account(s) and require privacy settings to be set at the highest level by default. Proposed by Senator Ellen Corbett, the "Social Networking Privacy Act" or SB 242 was initially introduced in February and is now on its….read more

With kids and adults alike constantly adding to their social networking profiles and ever-growing digital footprints, it's important to think about cleaning up our online reputations every so often. Below are tips on how to clean up everything from Facebook and other social networking profiles to overflowing email inboxes and obsolete tweets:   Forgotten friends - everyone has made and/or….read more

Seventeen magazine and TV station ABC Family have combined forces to raise awareness about digital abuse and cyberbullying. Their "Delete Digital Drama" efforts will begin this summer, when ABC Family features PSAs on its station starting July 5th and the magazine highlights different online issues - including stories from readers - in its August issue. Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief….read more

We love hearing about any anti-bullying initiatives that are out there, such as the efforts from organizations like Beyond Bullies and Nickelodeon's cybersafety awareness program as a part of their The Big Help efforts. The latest initiative we want to highlight is Sprigeo, created for kids to report bullying incidents that are then dealt….read more

Because of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), kids under the age of 13 technically aren't allowed to create Facebook accounts. But we've reported before that there are millions of underage kids on Facebook and a recent Consumer Reports study further addresses this issue. In a report released yesterday, Consumer Reports found that 20 million….read more