Suicide deaths of mass shooting survivors have us asking questions experts can’t yet answer

The recent suicide deaths of Sydney Aiello and Calvin Desir, survivors of last year’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, unleashed collective grief online as the public mourned the loss of two teenagers who’d endured an unthinkable tragedy. 
Th…

View More Suicide deaths of mass shooting survivors have us asking questions experts can’t yet answer

Wattpad’s latest deal will turn its stories into TV shows and movies in Korea

Wattpad’s ambitions to grow beyond a storytelling community for young adults took another leap forward today with the announcement of a new partnership that will help expand its reach in Asia. The company has teamed up with Huayi Brothers in Korea, who will now be Wattpad’s exclusive entertainment partner in the region. The two companies […]

View More Wattpad’s latest deal will turn its stories into TV shows and movies in Korea

Tellonym, an anonymous messaging app, is freaking parents out

TwitterFacebook

An app is once again making it easier for teens to talk trash about each other.

There is growing worry among parents, digital watchdog organizations, and schools about an app called Tellonym. The app lets users ask and answer questions about each other anonymously — a concept that some say is enabling cyberbullying and cruelty.

Founded in 2016 by a trio of teenaged students in Germany, Tellonym says on the App Store that it has 13 million users worldwide; the app monitoring service SensorTower reports that the app had 600,000 downloads in January 2019.  Read more…

More about Cyberbullying, Teens, Cyber Bullying, Tellonym, and Tech

View More Tellonym, an anonymous messaging app, is freaking parents out

LOL, bye: Facebook’s teen meme project is dead before it was released

Facebook is still figuring out how to keep teens, who have been leaving the network in droves.
In January, Facebook was reportedly working on something named LOL, a bid to win over younger users with “a special feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips…

View More LOL, bye: Facebook’s teen meme project is dead before it was released

Step targets teens and parents with a no-fees mobile bank account and Visa card

A new mobile banking startup called Step wants to help bring teenagers and other young adults into the cashless era. Today, cash is used less often, as more consumers shop online and send money to one another through payment apps like Venmo. But teenagers in particular are still heavily burdened with cash — even though […]

View More Step targets teens and parents with a no-fees mobile bank account and Visa card

Apple bans Facebook’s Research app that paid users for data

In the wake of TechCrunch’s investigation yesterday, Apple blocked Facebook’s Research VPN app before the social network could voluntarily shut it down. The Research app asked users for root network access to all data passing through their phone in exchange for $20 per month. Apple tells TechCrunch that yesterday evening it revoked the Enterprise Certificate […]

View More Apple bans Facebook’s Research app that paid users for data

Online storytelling community Wattpad launches its own publishing arm, Wattpad Books

Wattpad, an online community for original fiction whose stories have been turned into streaming hits like Netflix’s “The Kissing Booth,” is now turning its eyes to publishing. The company today announced the launch of a new division, Wattpad Books, that aims to turn its most popular content into future best sellers. The books division will […]

View More Online storytelling community Wattpad launches its own publishing arm, Wattpad Books

Facebook is secretly building LOL, a cringey teen meme hub

How do you do, fellow kids? After Facebook Watch, Lasso, and IGTV failed to become hits with teens, the company has been quietly developing another youthful video product. Multiple sources confirm that Facebook has spent months building LOL, a special feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips. It’s divided into categories like “For You”, “Animals”, […]

View More Facebook is secretly building LOL, a cringey teen meme hub