How to Stop a Bully Article in Daily Beast

There is a three part series in the Daily Beast today on Bullying by Lucinda Franks. An interesting read. The topic is really rising to the fore of consciousness of our country. Many states Florida, Rhode Island, Virginia, etc. are taking the issue very seriously and have passed legislation. The mothers of bullied children have grouped together and are becoming a powerful lobby similar to how they did so with MADD, mothers against drunk driving.

Also interesting is some of the backlash against these measures and proposed statutes- the level of insensitivity by some community members is disheartening.

How to Stop a Bully

Ronny Turiaf is a Role Model

This is a blog on internet safety and reputation management, but I had to write a short post about Ronny Turiaf and something he did last night in the New York Knicks game. In the fourth quarter, of a very close game between the Knicks and the Charlotte Bobcats, Turiaf grabbed a rebound in traffic, and inadvertently elbowed a Bobcat player in the process. Turiaf threw the ball to his teammate, and then looked down at the Bobcat player who was still on the ground as everyone else was running up the court quickly to the other end.

You could literally see what was going through Turiaf's mind as he hesitated, "Should I run to the other end with everyone else, or make sure this guy is OK and help him up?" In a pickup game, decency dictates that one help the guy up as there is no real competition, nothing is at stake. In the fourth quarter of a professional game, book is to run to the other end, gain the offensive advantage of 5 against 4, and see the guy after the game. That is obviously what Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant would do in the same circumstance.

Turiaf's humanity won out. It's almost like he tried to turn away, but he could not. After a moment's hesitation in which his shoulder started moving toward the other end of the court, he quickly turned back, gave the fallen player a hand up and ran back to the other end. I did not see Mike D'Antoni's reaction (the Knick's coach), but the announcers were saying he was not pleased with Turiaf.

But in that moment, my respect and appreciation for Turiaf soared. I already suspected that I really liked Turiaf. His hustle, team oriented play and how how he does the little things have been a real pleasure to watch in the young season. His actions were exactly how I would want my kids to act in that situation. Competition is important, but too often it seems to take a back seat to our decency.

I don't think there is YouTube video of this play, but here is a nice post that highlights the value of Turiaf to the Knicks team: Ronny Turiaf

Catfish and Naive Social Network Behavior

Saw the movie "Catfish" last night which is purportedly based on true events. That controversy aside, it was interesting to see supposed sophisticated social network participants experience 'eye-opening' events.

It reinforces that even the most experienced social networkers are capable of being fooled. If people like this are fooled, what chance do our young teens stand on the networks?

Sporting News: Saving Schools from Social Media Catastrophes

In the wake of the Fox News channel segment on UDiligence, Chris Littmann of the Sporting News blog wrote about our service. Mr. Littmann keyed in on the core value proposition of how UDiligence helps Universities protect their Reputation. He comments about how the public service we provide might not be exactly how some old-school administrators wish to spend part of their budget, but how in the long run it is probably a wise investment.

His piece captures and balances both the value of UDiligence and the perils that await the Reputations of Universities who ignore the wild side of social networking.

Founder on Fox News

Kevin Long, the YouDiligence founder, made an appearance on Fox News today. Fox News was following up on another story done by the Daily Missourian regarding our work with the University of Missouri Tigers football team.

A lot of the points Kevin makes in the Fox segment about how we help student athletes applies to our work helping parents with kids active on social networks. Check out the news segment here:

FCC Chair Genachowski on Youth & Surge in Media Consumption

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said some interesting things at the recent Kaiser Family
Foundation event exploring media usage by young people.

The chairman, who worked to implement the Children's Television Act as a top FCC staffer in the 1990s, said the release of the study underscores the FCC's effort to update that act for the digital age--it launched an inquiry in October. "When I think about the challenges, I think about more screens, more time in front of screens, and more dangers from both."

He said the changes in technology and the media marketplace can "inform changes in policy going forward, so that we have, at the end, an ecosystem of policy, technology and economics that really serves kids and honors the First Amendment at the same time."

Balancing these factors will be the crux of the matter moving forward, and it is incumbent upon all technology developers and providers, especially in the internet safety field, to pay special attention to this balancing act.

Addiction to Facebook

It seems that Facebook has truly relegated MySpace to the wilderness. Social Networking essentially means Facebook at this point. MySpace is an afterthought for the great majority of people.

One of Facebook's important strategic decisions was to early on promote Facebook applications, that gave users the ability to perform a multitude of activities that was in a constant state of growth, but that didn't require growing Facebook resources. All they had to do was oversee and manage the process.

There was an article in Naperville Sun-Times today that explored the concept of addiction to Facebook. There are no similar discussions surrounding MySpace, in part because the activities on MySpace are still fairly limited.

One of the better quotes from the article:
"Oswego High School freshman Sara Rozhon told me she spends about two hours a day on Facebook. 'I'm addicted. (Without Facebook), I probably would have straight A's in all of my classes, and more of a life.' Rozhon does admit, 'I honestly think that without the distraction, my life would be easier.'"