The New York Times recently had an interesting article on how anonymity is disappearing thanks to the Internet. It’s a paradox. People can log on and make scathing comments on a site, all while hiding behind their anonymity. Yet, a person who has never even touched a computer can find things they’ve said and pictures of themselves splashed across the Web.

The subway rider in NY who argued with the conducter, stating how “well educated” she was last Tuesday was identified from the uploaded YouTube video in no time.

Anthony Weiner and his, ah, penpals discovered just how quickly details they thought were private can become public.

Some of the people who set fire to cars and looted businesses after Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup playoffs were identified from pictures posted online.

Billionaire Wang Gongquan, an investor in China, announced to the world that he was leaving his wife via China’s equivilant of Twitter, Sina Weibo.  Mr. Gongquan writes, “I am giving up everything and eloping with Wang Qin.  I feel ashamed and so am leaving without saying goodbye. I kneel down and beg forgiveness!”

It all makes you wonder.

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Do moms really need Google+ when we already have Facebook?

Many moms live on social media. We tweet, we update Facebook compulsively, we read endless blogs. Social media connections break up the monotony of a SAHM’s days, and keep all us parents connected with like-minded others. Our online connections can become as important as our face-to-face friendships.

So of course when I heard Google was launching a new social media service, I wanted to try it.

Google is trying out a thing they’re calling  Google+. Let’s be clear: it’s a Facebook clone. Its main selling point, as xkcd brilliantly pointed out this morning, might as well be simply that it’s not Facebook.

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Is she checking her husband's Facebook status?

Stephanie Wilder-Taylor is always funny, so it’s hardly surprising that her thoughts on Facebook and marriage had me cracking up.

First it looks like Facebook will wreck her marriage, when she finds out her husband has a female friend who thinks he’s funny, a free lunch hour in the middle of his workday and – worst of all – doesn’t like her pink Crocs. Then she notices that his Facebook page is full of sweet pictures of her, and whew everything is alright again.

So Stephanie is being a little silly here, but really, don’t we all sort of spy on our spouses through Facebook? Or wish we could?

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Do you spend too much time glued to the screen?

There’s a new video campaign making the rounds encouraging moms to get off Facebook and play with their kids. The campaign, called The Log Off, is built around a YouTube video of kids asking their moms to play with them and getting ignored. A bunch of bored kids lip sync to a short song saying “Mommy, log off Facebook and play with me.” It’s cute if mommy guilt trips are your idea of adorable.

Let’s leave aside for the moment the irony of making a YouTube video campaign to promote logging off Facebook. Why is this group picking on moms?

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Will lectures be replaced?

Think of a college physics class, and you’re probably conjuring images of a lecture hall filled with restless students and one very accomplished professor lecturing at the front of the room. Whether you were passing notes in the back of the class or paying rapt attention to his wisdom, lectures probably featured prominently in your college education.

A new study has some bad news for veteran professors: your lectures suck.

At least, they do if the goal is teaching. A traditional lecture can’t compete with a hands-on approach involving in-class quizzes, small discussions and electronic media. The study found that college students learned more from inexperienced graduate assistants using the hands-on method than they did from long-tenured professors.

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If anyone in the universe qualifies as a “top” parenting writer, it’s Ann Douglas, a prolific author I’m proud to call a longtime friend. Ann has written quite a few very popular books, perhaps the best known of which is  “The Mother of All Pregnancy Books.” In her column today for a Canadian newspaper, Ann explores the issue of what it means to be a “top mommyblogger,” interviewing such parent-blogging powerhouses as  Catherine Connors of HerBadMother, Joanne Bamberger of PunditMom,  and Dawn Friedman of This Woman’s Work. Continue reading »

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There’s a new social media player in town: Color, a network designed to help people share photos. It’s all over the news today because it just laucnhed after landing $41 million dollars in funding.

Color is dead simple to use: you just take a photo and post it. No account, no password, no privacy controls. Instead, Color builds your social network based on who is near you. The more often you see your friends, the stronger it makes your connection to them network. It’s a way of blurring the line between real life and the Internet, so your “friends list” reflects who your actual friends are.

To some people that sounds pretty sweet, but not everyone loves it.

Color is already generating plenty of criticism. Not just from jealous tech bloggers. Some mom bloggers are in a snit about the app, which will share your photos over your geographical area, instead of just with your network of friends. You don’t even have to create an account: the app just automatically shares your pics with anyone nearby.

Still, it can seem a little stalkerish. Why would I want to see what my neighbors are photographing?

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