iRespectOnline

Geelong Social Media | Digital Marketing

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#LinkedInLocal – why I became involved

The value of LinkedIn

For me, one of the greatest attractions of LinkedIn is the authenticity that comes from making connections with the owners of a business.   It gives me more insight into their values and operations, and can be a huge determinate when it comes to selecting products and services.   It was these thoughts playing on my mind when I came across the #LinkedInLocal movement around September 2017.

I was immediately captivated by a movement that sought to network, not to sell and pitch, but to really connect.   To let us meet the people behind the business in a relaxed environment, with no pressure to sell or spruik.

As a social media strategist I have often wondered why more local businesses were not leveraging LinkedIn.   Was it because there is some disconnect between an electronic profile and the human behind it?    Was it because some business owners couldn’t see how LinkedIn could benefit their business (and this is often the case where the focus is more on selling than making connections. It is harder to see the benefits when we are faced with the daily grind).

Perhaps it was because on other social media platforms we can get so hung up on numbers that we forget about the human side of actually connecting individually?   I also wondered whether it was because for some business owners, they stay behind their business name and have not “unmasked” themselves on LinkedIn.

Time to get out of one comfort zone, and into a  laid back networking zone via #LinkedInLocal (where you will still feel comfortable).

I contacted the inspiration behind the #LinkedInLocal movement, Anna McAfee.   She started #LinkedInLocal in Coffs Harbour after exploring statistics and seeing that of the 23,000+ accounts in her region, under 900 were active. After posting a comment about it, one of her connections, who she had not physically met before, said “why don’t we meet then” and the rest is history. An incredible movement has started and is moving rapidly across the world.

(You can read Anna’s reflections here)

Geelong Waterfront #LinkedInLocal

Why attend #LinkedInLocal?

There are many reasons why LinkedIn is really valuable to a business.  In enables you to build quality business relationships, and interact with a group of like minded business owners and job seekers.         #LinkedInLocal takes this to the next step, beyond the initial professional connection, to the human element.   We must not forget the value of interaction with the incredible potential in our own area when we are looking to grow our business and teams.

Anna says “we are all here to do business, share experiences and grow our networks, and learning from those who have paved the way already is a truly valuable exercise. If you don’t have a LinkedIn aficionado in your area though my suggestion is organise one anyway, as we did. There is no need to host a workshop style event or have high local engagement on LinkedIn, as we have proven in Coffs Harbour. It simply about making a connection, getting to know one another, and working together towards better business relationships” .

Following my discussion with Anna, I decided it was time, as a local “LinkedIn aficionado” to put it out there to my wonderful home town of Geelong.  I’m a third Generation Geelongite.   I am loving the current buzz as our community helps to build Geelong into an incredible knowledge base, a hub of startups, ideas, new services, great products and innovative manufacturing as we move into a new era.

#LinkedInLocal exists as a non profit, no pitch, no sell form of networking.  A refreshing change, where the focus is on the human, not the business (but of course you can talk business too).

Perth had a magnificent turn out.   With the beautiful waterfront at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club beckoning, why not join us at our first #LinkedInLocal event in Geelong on 13 December?   Share a drink, a laugh and a chat, maybe even win a prize!

You can find me on LinkedIn here, message me to let me know this post led you to connect!

Fiona.

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Raising Adolescents

How are you going raising your tweens and teens?

Raising adolescents is  both a wonderful period of change and a tricky stage for parents and can be a really difficult time for your children. I like to think of it as our children turning into butterflies.   It is a time of massive physical development, hormonal changes and development of the cerebral cortex.   For parents it s time when we need to be brave and to understand when to interfere, when to offer guidance and when to quietly observe (fingernail chewing allowed).

Adolescence is a time of change, our children seek greater independence (whilst still very much needing us there) , they are experimenting, testing boundaries and trying new things, all on their path to discovering who they are.   Because so much is going on it can be a time of anxiety, perhaps angry outbursts at times, risk taking and a lot of button pushing (it’s so not easy being a parent at this time either is it?).   However our children, even if they are acting with maturity, do not have the life experience or the self awareness to necessarily know when they are making a poor decision.   Peer pressure, friendship groups, seeking validation and fitting in are all very important to a teen and this can sway them to do things or to act in ways which away from that pressure they might not normally do.  This can affect their self esteem and confidence in either positive or negative ways.

Into this mix we now have a world which is made up of face to face and physical contact, and the online world of texts, photos, tweets, posts, comments and blogs.    So what happens when you take teen angst, boundary testing, risk taking and give them access to a smart phone or other device?   We open up another set of issues to navigate with our teens as they grow.

It is vitally important for parents to have knowledge about what to expect, or what to look out for,  and to feel empowered to either help or know where to find help so that poor online behaviours or experiences are not prolonged before any intervention.   Prevention is always better than trying to repair damage after an event.

Demonstrating strong family values, particularly that of Respect goes a  long way to creating a foundation stone upon which your teen’s future is built.  Our recent post on finding the balance and apps which can help you as a parent feel more at ease as your teen heads towards independence can be found here.

There is not enough room on this page to cover every aspect of raising your adolescent, and that is why we partnered with Happy Parenting and the Raising Adolescents, Teens and Tweens Online Conference.

This is a FREE live event running over the course of the week and you will find experts in all kinds of fields available with great advice, guidance and assistance with your questions.   Don’t worry if you can’t watch it all live, there is an option to subscribe to have access to all the content and transcripts (along with lots of bonus material) so you can watch and listen in your own time.   You can register for Free (there are limited places so we do advice you register as soon as possible.

When you sign up you will be granted immediate access to bonus content including our new eBook “The Social Media Diet” all about getting balance between the online and offline world.

Depending what part of the world you live in the conference start dates are:

 

  • Los Angeles: Sunday 9 November, 3 pm
  • New York: Sunday 9 November, 6 pm
  • London: Sunday 9 November, 11pm
  • Sydney: Monday 10 November. 10 am

We really hope to see you there.

raising adolescents

 

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Mobile Apps and your child

There are literally hundreds of thousands of apps available for us to download to our smartphones and tablets.  The choice is incredible with apps for all kinds of things, from keeping us organised with shopping lists, travel lists, find a quote, manage our business, play a game, apps to find a date (or meet a stranger) ,  to apps that tell you when its a good time to go to the bathroom during a movie (yes the pee app exists).

The amount of time we are spending on apps is increasing with many spending over 30 hours a  month using apps (nielson 2014) so it seems we are becoming increasingly reliant on using apps to manage our lives.

The question I would like to put to you is whether you supervise (or ever check) the applications that your children/teens are using?

Perhaps you do try and keep on eye on what they are doing, but find it hard to work out which apps are safe and which are not?   You are definitely not alone on that front!   How are we supposed to keep up to date with so many new apps appearing?

In this post we give you some tips to consider so that you can begin to understand what your child is doing with their mobile device, and then we list the apps we are most concerned about when it comes to children, tweens and teens.

9 tips to consider

  1. Talk to your child – they will tell you what the latest, greatest and most popular app is
  2. Use the conversation as a lead into having a look on your child’s device together to see what they have loaded.
  3. Ask questions about what an app is for (chat, game, dating)
  4. Ask your child if they understand the privacy or safety aspects
  5. Check the age ratings of the apps they are using the most?  Are they suitable?
  6. Given the purpose of a particular app, it is suitable for your child (for example a 10 year old with a dating app)
  7. Keeping your child involved in the discussion, remove apps which may be putting them at risk.
  8. Apps which require only user names don’t really protect your child, they can act as a shield for less savoury persons and make it harder to determine who is behind the name.   Whilst some people feel having a user name protects identity, this doesn’t always work in real life.  Anonymity allows bullies and trolls to hide behind a user name.
  9. Don’t allow FOMO (fear of missing out) to cloud your judgement when helping educate your children on app safety.  Just because they say a lot of their friends use it, that doesn’t make it safe (and often you might find they actually are not using it at all).

 

Apps which can put your child/teen at risk

KIK:  A free instant messenging app which requires the use of a user name.  It is rated for users 17+ years of age, yet I am aware of children aged 8-12 using Kik. 

KIK has been noted by the Australian Police force as one of the apps used by sexual predators for “grooming” young people.   It is not just a messenger app due to the fact that is has integrated a browser into the message capabilities to enable easier sharing.  This of course immediately opens up the risk of inappropriate material being shared.  (Previously Kik used “cards” to bring in content).   With over 100 million users we should be concerned just what the app is being used for and the risks to our children.    Users can pose as teens, men as girls or women as boys in order to make connections with young people.  Sexualised content is frequently found on KIK.

It is very difficult to monitor what is being said and shared on KIK as there are no records to review and threads can be quickly deleted.

Many complementary apps allow access to data.  Kikfriends lets you find user names, therefore exposing our young people further to risk, as does integrating the app with Instagram.  Sharing KIK names is popular, you may see posts which say “kik me @” or what’s your kik name?    This is a dangerous practice as it allows strangers to connect more easily.

You can read some parents experiences on Commonsense media here.

Tinder – ages 13+ 

Tinder is a “hook up” app.  It is primarily an adult site using location technology to allow users to find people close by.  They can then choose if they like the look of the person.  If the other person also likes the look of them, then they are able to chat, and of course meet up. It must be a two way connection.   It has been described as  the  “site to find sex”.    There is a huge risk to young people by sexual predators given the app narrows location down to around one km.   Provided your child hasn’t lied about their age, those under 17 cannot engage with adults, but of course this cannot be monitored where someone has entered an incorrect birth date.   Tinder is the only app of this kind open to under 18s.     Other similar apps (rated 18+) are OK cupid, Grindr and Blendr.

Snapchat

Snapchat has been around for while and sexting is the biggest issue we see facing teens with this app.   The app operates in a way that images are supposed to only display for a “snap” , but because of this the temptation to take nude pictures is pretty high.     Recently over 90,000 images were copied from snapchat via a hack into a third party app.  Called the snappening, the hacker released images including user ids.  Many of these pictures were of naked or semi naked teens.   Third party apps can be downloaded which can grab the images before they disappear.   We wrote about snapchat in 2012  if you would like to learn more.    We do recommend that if your teen is using snapchat and you cant get them off it, perhaps start using it yourself and make sure you are connected to them.  This seems to work with many teens to help them think about what they are posting and why.  (While we are at it, ask them just that.. what are they posting and why?).

 

Omegle  is all about connecting with and talking to strangers.   It is also rated 17+ (in Australia) and has strong adult sexualised content.  Check ratings for other countries but their website says not to be used by under 13s and that under 18 need parental permission.  

This app concerns me the most as it is all about connecting with randomised strangers both via chat and video.   It’s one to one interaction and its anonymous (until you tell it otherwise).   There is strong adult themes and language and cyber sex is rampant on this platform.  It is possible to connect a facebook account which immediately removes another layer of safety.   Omegle does have “no perverts” statement, but with a site and app such as this the risks are extremly high for young people to be exposed to inappropriate contact and content.

I would consider blocking this site for under 16’s at a minimum.

 

Meow Chat- rated 12+ for mild sexual content/nudity/profanity

This is a combination of a chat app and a meet up app.   It uses location based technology to tell you who is nearby and offers for you to select (a bit like the hot or not Tinder selection) to potentially chat with and meet up with.  You can also go for a global search and chat with people anywhere in the world.    On one had I’d like to say it’s the modern communication version of a penfriend – meeting and connecting with people from all over the world can be a wonderful experience.  This problem is again with the tendency towards sexualised content and the dating aspect.   Having a 12 year old or younger meet up/hook up with a stranger is not something I feel comfortable with.    I am concerned at it’s low rating as apparently sexual content and nudity seem to be now considered fine for our young people.   I would like them to have a chance to develop their cerebal cortex just a little more before throwing them into the online dating/chat/meetup world personally.

 

A previous post about meow chat may be read here.

 

Apps you thought were safe

Instagram 

Seems like a harmless photo sharing app, but of course as with all tools for some it can be manipulated.    Instagram is for ages 13+ .   There is a lot of peer pressure to have tweens and younger on instagram (often driven by parents who create sites for their own toddlers etc), but as with all apps, we need to look at the maturity level of the individual child, their resilience and as parents, try to preserve their innocence as childhood is a fleeting moment in life.   For the most part Instagram can be a very creative space and for those of use who are visual it’s a wonderful platform.   However there can be a dark side.  Instagram can be used to connect to other apps and by doing so, reveal the person behind a user name.    We all want to keep our youth safe and away from predators, so again, it’s about having conversations and making sure that we know who we are connecting to online.

Another risk is the obsession with selfies.   For some teens they can become quite psychologically affected by comments (ok lack of comments) on photographs they post of themselves.   Self esteem can take a bashing which is sad because this is superficial.  It is normal for teens to seek validation, but when it is totally based on looks, and not personality and the whole package then this is when we start to see some damage.    Bullying and trolling can come into play here.  Talk to your teen about how they feel when using apps such as Instagram.  If it’s fun and they enjoy it that’s great, but if they are finding themselves being affected by the comments, then it’s a great time to open up the conversation, and if necessary seek professional advice and help to try and minimise damage to self confidence and self esteem.

Yik yak

Many parents I speak with see Yik Yak as a fun posting app, but in actual fact it is fast becoming the most rampant site for bullying, pranking and cruelty.  It has a voting/points system for “awesome yaks” which of course can act as an incentive to try and get the most controversial post.    It allows you to post and search for apps within a particular radius of your location.   This makes it extremely attractive to teens in High School and College.  Again it’s anonymous user ID’s seem to promote the idea that behind a “mask” one can be forget respect for others totally.   Reports of threats of violence, bombings, and sharing of sexual content and “paybacks” are being reported.   Parents this app is also rated 17+.     Principals and teachers are reporting a rise in cyberbullying with this app.

 

Various Gaming Apps:

There are literally hundreds of thousands of apps which involve play, and for the most part you might feel they are simply fun and/or educational.    What we ask parents to consider is purchasing paid versions to eliminate advertising (rather than using free versions which may take players off game to inapprioprate sites, or have inappropriate banner ads) and also to consider apps which are constantly enticing players to upgrade or purchase new features.  For some of our youth this is in fact grooming a new generation of  gamblers.   If your child is highly competitive or has an addictive personality in particular, please have conversations with them about how they are  playing and try and keep it fun.

 

Age ratings:

Just a quick word about age ratings.  These are of course given as  a guideline in regards to use of apps.  It is important that parents consider the individual maturity of their tween/teen when considering whether an app is appropriate and whether perhaps it should be removed.    The issue with age ratings is that there really is nothing to stop anyone uploading an app and just saying “yes I’m old enough”.      We highly recommend adjusting phone settings so that apps of inappropriate rating cannot be downloaded without access to a password (and that the parent should control that password initially until they feel their child has obtained maturity and/or age to hand over their independence).

 

app awareness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information you may like to read our guest post at Happy Parenting on Mobile Apps and the Traps.

 

 

 

 

Please be aware that the information is made available for educational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You must exercise your own due diligence before implementing any recommendation and/or purchasing any product. Fiona Lucas, Socially Skilled and  iRespectOnline are exempt of any and all responsibility associated with misuse or your own interpretation. Do not delay seeking medical or professional advice. You acknowledge and agree that the above warnings and disclaimers shall apply to all content and that you take responsibility for your own health and wellbeing and that of your children.

*In the interests of transparency we advise that we do receive affiliate commissions from some products.   In regards to the Happy Parenting Conference, a commission is paid for VIP signups as compensation for time invested in participating, promoting and donating items.

see also disclaimers. https://www.irespectonline.com/?p=826

 

 

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Has Meow Chat crept in through your cat flap?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you been indundated with requests to connect on Meow Chat?    Yet another instant messaging service, this one offered through Facebook, on itunes and google play also allows contacts with randoms, so it’s kind of bringing in some of the dating/hook up/meet up aspects of Tinder along with aspects of WhatsApp.   MeowChat claims to already have over 1,000,000 users!

What is disappointing to me is that yet another app is launched onto the market without much need seen for explaining how it works, who its suited for and how to stay safe with it.   The very first thing that has happened for many is that upon downloading the app, people accept the “want to send a request to all your facebook friends” question to “build their network” and instantly they have given the app access to all their friends and the spam begins!

 

 

 

 

 

There are even anti meow chat twitters starting up due to the inundation of people allowing all their contacts to be sent a request!  Perhaps this kind of release just might do more damage than good to the apps reputation(see slightly sanitised version of a twitter search illustrated!).

As with any App its important to look at what the app does, who might be getting access to your information, whose information you are also giving away and any risks to the more vulnerable in our community, particularly our children.

This app in particular has a very cute little kitty cat – so it’s going to have broad appeal especially to the younger children, the very ones we really don’t need on an app that allows random chat.

Here are a few points I would encourage you to consider before downloading.

  1. The App is free – so expect advertising, be wary of  third party links
  2. It has built in location features to allow you to connect with “new people nearby” which is always a risk for younger children although it states it only locates a person within the nearest city of
    100,000 people .
  3. It encourages random one on one chats
  4. The app seeks to find “similar” people to connect you with, based on your likes – this is very risky where children are concerned particularly
  5. It’s rating is 12+  and includes mild/infrequent mild sexual content and nudity  (definition of “mild” will depend on the individual)
  6. It is possible to share pictures, voice messages and video
  7. It does have an extensive privacy policy which should be read which does say that adult content may not be uploaded along with gore or shock images
  8. I could not find a statement relating to what they do with data apart from a rather generic reference to not releasing personal data.
  9. Be aware that when you allow an app to access your friends lists, you are really spamming them with an invite they may not wish to have. Avoid clicking on automatic invites to friends.

I would highly recommend that parents in particular have conversations with their children about the use of such an app and the risk that might arise from “random” meet ups.   Ensuring they do not give away their personal details, full name and location is really important for their safety.   That 13 year old your 12 year old thinks they are talking too might well be an adult lurking.    Other areas to consider relate to linking to other social sites, such as Tumblr.   Tumblr has a lot of content that is not suitable for younger children so it is important to make sure you know which sites your child is linking up to and just what they might be exposed to.  Tweaking your child’s phone settings and turning off location/gps for the app is recommended.

A few sites I found discussing the app said there was already a lot of harrassment towards girls and sexual behaviour associated with the app.

If you don’t want to receive invitations, head over to your facebook page, click on the GAMES tab (under Apps on left hand side), find a meow chat request and click on the X.  You should then see an option to block further requests.  You can do this for any other app you are being sent requests for also.

Have  you already been invited?  Do you think you will use this app?

 

 

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MYBIZCARD Begone -Letiquette lesson No 2

Are you totally over those random inmails on your Linkedin asking for a review?

You know the ones .. they look like this

bizcard

From all my research into this app – there isn’t much good about it.  If you have received one there are two things I ask you not to do:

1. DO NOT CLICK THE LINK

2. DO NOT CLICK UNSUBSCRIBE

WHY?   Because clicking either link will find you being asked by MYBIZCARD to access your Linkedin Profile.  This will give the app the ability to approach ALL your contacts.   Even if you innocently chose just a few thinking you are helping out a friend you may find a bulk email goes out.   Not only does this annoy your contacts, but the  message will go out with their names clearly visible to each other.    It’s never good etiquette to expose your contact names to others without their knowledge at the best of times, but you might just really upset a client if their details end up in the wrong hands.   Unfortunately many of these app “mine” lists which we really don’t know in whose hands they might end up.  It’s always worth a little research before using any app.

Further if you have a really big list, you can only apologise to 50 at a time so it is just not worth it.

From all indications this app tells you that you will get a “rating” but then you find that you have to pay to access the service anyway.

I have heard of negative ratings being given to people who complain to the company so that is really poor and possibly in breach of certain laws in some countries.

Follow the instructions in our infopic to see if you have the app installed and to remove it.

If you do receive one of these emails, delete it and then let the person know – and send them to this post so they can take action themselves.

If you don’t know the person who sent it to you, you can mark as spam, but if you do, marking as spam could see Linkedin suspending or closing their account down if everyone on their list does that.

If you want to build a great profile and reputation, then the best way is to ask real clients and colleague to give you genuine recommmendations, and keep your Linkedin profile up to date because profiles always score well in a google search!

If you found this post useful and would like to know more , please join our Linkedin business page here to stay up to date

 

With respect

Fiona Lucas –  iRespectOnline

 

bizcardbegone

 

 

 

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