Family and Child Online Safety Blog - SafetyClicks

Blogging, tagging, twittering, friending -- are you familiar with these terms, or like many people, does it sound more like a foreign language to you? Perhaps you've heard other people use them, but you just nod, smile and pretend to "get it" as words such as blogging and tagging just whiz by you. These are all examples of common verbs in Internet parlance that are working their way into every day conversations.

To bring you up to speed on the latest Internet lingo, spend a few minutes here to absorb a few of today's popular terms so that the next time someone (i.e. your own kid) informs you that he is going out to find a hot spot so he can update his blog, you will at least know how to translate it.

Blog: Short for web log, this is an online journal that a user typically updates regularly. The page you are looking at is a blog from AOL about family online safety. There are many personal and professional blogs on almost any topic you can imagine.

Cyberbully: A cyberbully is like the traditional playground bully, but the harassment of his/her victims' takes place online. Harassment can include teasing another person, posting rumors/lies about someone, or publishing unwanted pictures of the targeted person in public forums such as social networking profiles, message boards, chat rooms, etc.. It can include creating a negative profile to impersonate the victim, or e-mailing or instant messaging the victim using "anonymous" user names for the purpose of taunting or stalking the victim.

Facebook: Facebook is a popular and rapidly growing social networking site based on circles or networks. A person selects a network, such as a school or geographic location, and can then make friends with others in that network. Users attempting to join a school network must submit an email address from that school's domain being allowed to join that school's network. Facebook gained tremendous popularity among high schools and colleges, but is now widely used by adults as well.

Friending: "Friending" describes the act of making friends online through sites such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. It's easy to make friends on these social networks. You simply send a friend request to someone using the site and ask them to be your friend. Teens often have hundreds of these online friends whom they may or may not know personally. Read "Who Are My Child's Friends" for more information.

Google: Google is a company which is best known for its Internet search engine. The term "Googling" means that a person is doing an Internet search using www.google.com. People often "Google" others in an attempt to find out more information about them.
Hot Spots: Hot spots are locations where there is a Wi-Fi or wireless connection available. People can connect to the Internet from their wireless Internet devices (laptops, PDAs, phones) from this area.

Instant Messaging: Also known as AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) and IM'ing. Instant messaging is communicating using a program, such as AOL® Instant Messenger™, which allows you to communicate via text in real time. It's like a phone conversation conducted with your fingertips. Some cell phones also support instant messaging.

MySpace: MySpace is a popular social networking site offering an interactive way for people to connect with each by creating user profiles, posting pictures, sharing music, and blogging. People can easily create their online profile and then share their page with others through friending. The more friends a person has, the larger his or her network becomes. The number of friends a person has in his or her network often equates to online popularity. Like most social networks, MySpace has privacy controls to help keep personal information private, but the default is to make information public. Users should be careful to not to share personal information online, and beware of sharing anything that they wouldn't want shared with the entire world. There are many social networking companies, but MySpace has become synonymous with the term 'social networking'.

PDA: Short for "Personal Digital Assistant". The PDA is a hand-held computer originally designed with a professional consumer in mind. Many PDAs have audio capability allowing them to be used as cell phones. Users can make mobile calls, connect to the Internet, and access email and other professional tools such as a calendar with scheduling capabilities and word processing. Popular PDAs include the Blackberry, Treo and iPhone.

Phishing: Phishing is the act of fraudulently attempting to obtain private or sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card information. Phishing is often carried out through fake emails purportedly from trustworthy sites such as banking institutions, PayPal and ISPs. These emails then direct users to sites that mimic the look and feel of the real site, and entice users to enter the desired sensitive information. People who unwittingly divulge their private information often end up as victims of identity theft. Never click on links in emails from unknown senders. The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox have anti-phishing protections built into the browser. .

Profile: Sometimes referred to as a "page", a profile is a user-created web page that enables the user to enter information about him/herself that they want to share online. Profiles generally contain entries for name, city/state, relationship status, and interests. Many profiles will also encourage users to upload pictures or other works to share. Profiles are generally linked into a social networking site, and users have the option to make their profiles private if desired. See "Privacy Settings on Social Networks" for more information.

Social Network: Internet social networks focus on building online communities with like-minded people. They allow people to communicate and share information on a wide scale, and to find others who share similar interests. People share information by creating a user profile and then updating their profiles with status alerts (e.g., "I'm on my way to the mall"), pictures, and other items of interest to them. They make connections with people they already know, and meet new people through their online friends and friends of friends. It is safest to only link to someone's profile if you know them in real life.

Spyware: Spyware is software downloaded onto a computer without the user's consent or knowledge that can monitor and track a user's behavior. It can collect information about web sites visited, and interfere with computer activity by redirecting to other web sites, install other software, and slow connection speeds. Installing and regularly running programs such as anti-spyware or anti-virus software can help detect and eliminate spyware on your computer.

Tagging: A label assigned to content on the Internet in order to find it through searches more easily. For example, at the bottom of each article within Safety Clicks, there are tags that are relevant to each article. If you were to search on these terms within this site, this article would be included in the search results. Users on social networking sites such as Facebook can also tag pictures with the name of the person in the picture so that others can find and view pictures of that person more easily.

Texting: (Text Messages) Sending a message via a cell phone that is typed out instead of spoken. If there is not a keyboard on the phone, the digits can be tapped to show the letters that correspond with each number to complete each word. For example, to type the letter "c", you would tap the number two three times to show a "c" on a text message screen.

Twitter: Sometimes also called a "tweet", twitters are live updates from a person sent via the web, SMS, or IM using the social network Tweeter.com allowing users to keep their friends posted on what they are doing at that moment. The update can appears on the user's Tweeter profile, and can also be broadcast to other social networking sites. These updates are analogous to profile status updates on sites such as Facebook.

Virus: A computer virus is malevolent software desired to copy itself and spread to other computers without the user's knowledge. Like a virus in the human body, a virus on a computer can infect only certain parts of the computer or the whole thing. Some computer viruses are designed to delete files, corrupt other programs or even erase the entire hard disk. In order to keep a computer virus free, it is recommended to have anti-virus software installed on the computer and that software should be updated regularly (either automatically if it is available with the product you are using, or manually).

Wireless Connection: (or just Wireless) Indicates that a connection can be made to the Internet without the need for a cable or wire to be connected from the access point to the computer.

Wi-Fi: Short for "Wireless Fidelity". A Wi-Fi enabled device such as a laptop or a cell phone can easily connect to the Internet when it detects that a wireless network is available. Wi-Fi hotspots make it convenient for owners of such devices to connect to the Internet when away from home or work. When connecting to the Internet over a public Wi-Fi connection, exercise caution and enable anti-spyware and anti-virus software since spyware and viruses can be easily spread from other devices on the network to your own.