Tweens post 'sexy' Facebook photos, risk pedophiles

Georgina Chumbley.

Children as young as twelve are uploading "selfies" in underwear and suggestive poses to Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram in a bid for popularity.

Psychologist, Dr Ross Wilkinson, says the trend is a "dangerous and deluded modern quest for social identity”.

Hundreds of social media pages are encouraging tweens to post photos of themselves, or “selfies”, in a bid to become its “hottest teen” as voted by members.

Submissions onto Facebook competition pages.
Some faces blurred due to content.

Pages "should be shut down"

Cybersafety advocate, Leonie Smith, says the sites are an "open market" for pedophiles but don't involve explicitly pornographic material, meaning they can continue operating under Facebook's terms.

“Pedophiles have harvested photos before from similar pages for pedophilic websites.

“Even if someone’s just posting a photo on their own profile for their friends to see, anyone can save and share that photo.

"It's absolutely abhorrent, horrible, degrading and awful.

"But most people just don't know about these dangers," she said.

Parent's called for legal right to access their children's Facebook pages last year, but no action was taken.


Facebook beauty competition sites with thousands of 'likes'.



Ms Smith says education needs to match the rapid uptake of technology amongst younger generations.

                                        

Tumblr photo sharing page for tweeted photos to FBeauty Contest

There for life

Social Media expert, Ms Lubna Alam, says while not all teenagers behave to this extreme, the immediacy of smart phones combined with a desire to constantly update social profiles could have serious repercussions. 

“Adolescents just don’t understand that anything posted on these sites is publicly available for life," Ms Alam said.

Year 12 student, Rhyme Lara,  spends “half [her] life” online and says social media has “changed the way teenage society works”.

She says there is constant pressure to update your profile to “stay connected”. 

A 17-year-old schoolgirl with 1738 likes on a photo. 

"How many likes or comments you get on a photo determines your popularity… the more likes you get, the more people like you and the cooler you are.

Provocative "bikini-shots" posted by Brisbane school girls with hundreds of 'likes'.

“It’s so demeaning because usually the photos that get the most likes are really provocative... so it’s pretty much a competition over who has the biggest boobs, who can look the best in their bikini, and guys always try and encourage the girls by asking for more.

“I’ve seen 12-year-olds posting bikini shots.

"It starts at 12, and it probably just doesn’t ever end from there," Ms Lara said.

Destructive effects on tweens

She’s witnessed first hand the destructive effects social media can have on her peers.

“I have a friend who was anorexic and tried to commit suicide because she compared herself to girls that got more likes than her, and thought being skinny and getting likes would make her happy."

Internet trolls hijack the sites to make derogatory and offensive comments about teenagers' appearances.

“If you don't look skinny, pretty and rich and you post a photo…  everyone targets you."

Example of troll's comments on a Facebook beauty competition page.

Comments that appear on the site include, "fat hippy, stop eating" and "stupid emo bi&#@h".

Same mistakes, new technology

Dr Wilkinson says teenagers are still making the same mistakes they were 20 years ago, but now they’re broadcasting them indiscriminately and irreversibly.

“Often teenagers feel like they have a better judgement of situations than they actually do and they do things impulsively without thinking about the social implications.”

“Combine this with new technology and if you write or post something impulsively everybody knows about it pretty quickly and there’s no way of getting it down.

“If these young adults are posting provocative images of themselves online, that’s going to be there for the rest of their lives... and the overwhelming, 24/7 pressure that's causing them to do this could have worrying effects on their mental health," Dr Wilkinson said.

Anyone looking for more information on how to be cyber smart can visit Leonie Smith's website.

Lifeline's 24 hour telephone crisis support service is available to anyone needing emotional support on one national number - 13 11 14.

Bowl cuts, backward caps and some pretty good predictions

It's 1995. John Howard's just become Federal Leader of the Opposition, Shaggy's 'Boombastic' is likely playing on a radio near you and some American kids are making predictions about 'The Internet' and the future.

While most of us now probably use the internet too much, apparently we didn't take to it so quickly at first.These school kids are actually carrying out a public service announcement to rouse American citizen's interest.

It's pretty amazing what they did predict and, equally, what they didn't. No mention of online news or social media but they foresaw online shopping and phone calls!

These kids weren't the only guys making predictions about the internet, some were making far less flattering ones. This blog highlights a Newsweek article circa 1995 titled "The Internet? Bah!". The article and commentary are definitely worth a read, providing insight into how far the Internet has superceded expectations.

At the time (1995), according to the Pew Research Centre only 32% of those using the Internet would "miss it a lot" if it became unavailable. Now, 55% of Americans use the Internet every day, without it, mosts' daily communications would be compromised and millions of online businesses would cease to exist. I think it's fair to say we'd more than "miss it a lot".

A Simple Apology

Calls for "trolling" laws and jail time for offenders have emerged from the twitter media-frenzy that dominated our news channels for weeks. Originating from an offensive tweet that particularly hit a nerve with @MsCharlotteD (Charlotte Dawson), the debate was perpetuated by Ms Dawson's hospitalisation following this

and reinvigorated by a highly offensive tweet sent @robbiefarah about his mother that recently passed away. (If you've missed it, Ms Dawson's more complex story is summed up well by David Mark on ABC Radio)

Since, revelations of pots-calling-kettles-black have continued the coverage after Robbie Farah's own twit-history, albeit deleted,  came to light in this tweet recovered by a social media expert;

(One of the internets scarier capabilities, of which we've only seen the beginning)

By no means do I condone offensive words being slung accross cyberspace, but I think a balance between sense and persecution needs to be found. Robbie Farah who, as it's come to light, has been on both the giving and receiving end of offensive tweets has found it. He brings sense and clarity back into the argument, and says it well in his public apology.

 "As you are aware I have been vocal in recent days about criticising those who say some pretty disgraceful things through social media and I have appreciated your support in relation to that cause."

"In the course of this I have been alerted to a ‘tweet’ I made last year in relation to the Prime Minister which was in hindsight clearly offensive.

"At the time I did think about what I had done and removed the ‘tweet’ soon after posting it but that of course doesn’t repair the damage.

"I make no excuse and offer my sincere apologies. I can only say that I have learnt a lot in recent days and I hope that everyone in the community can learn about the pain that we can cause through such comments.

Let's just use some common sense people. I don't have the answer, but Australians have only ever been persecuted for exercising defamation, not a sharp tongue or their mean personalities. While these people may not be nice, in my eyes, they're not breaking the law and they never should be.

An oldie but a goldie

After watching this video, you may suspect my penchant for Karl Stefanovic. A Brisbane boy who's awkward, timely banter makes my news consumption highly amusing.

This one's about a year old, but is one of my favourites!

5 places to find a job in journalism

In the ongoing final-uni-semester search for a job I've had to find new hunting avenues, but that doesn't mean the connections that got me my first job in grade 10 at Leon's Chinese Restaurant or the Seek > Hospitality > Brisbane search that earned me my first bartending work, aren't still valid means.

1. Experience

 There's no way to get a job in broadcast without interning. There, I said it. But it's true. You need it (invaluable on-the-job learning, contacts, and confidence in your ability) AND your employer needs it. He/She will be broadcasting you to the world (or at least a region somewhere)... they need some guarantee you're not going to bring their reputation into disrepute. 

2. It's not what you know but who you know

Networks in the industry and great contact book are two things that will make your life a lot easier before, during and after you get a job. Industry contacts can tell you where a job is going or might soon become available before anyone else and a great contact book will make your life as a journo a million times easier.

Good talent makes for good stories. Be an engaged in community dialogue and you'll find good stories come to you. If you're not a fan of roaming the streets and taking up conversation with the first person to pass you by, you'll likely be a lot more comfortable to do it online. Be a part of the twitterverse; observe, engage and keep an eye out for stories (usually found in the form of complaints). If you don't have connections, tweet your ideal future boss and workmates and let them know you exist.

This video demonstrates the reach social media has in modern society.

3. Seek/ CareerOne 

Don't dismiss the sites you used to find your first job in retail or at the local bakery. There are thousands of media jobs listed on online job-search sites, just be prepared for your resume and show-reel to fight for attention with hundreds of other applicants'. Try to find other sites specific to your preferred broadcast medium... I browse this site occasionally but it's more for camos than journalists.

4. Internal classifieds

Get a reception job or do promotions for your local radio or TV station, snag yourself a staff log-on and browse internal classifieds. Networks and corporations would rather hire within their current staff-base than outsource, and you won't be competing for recognition with nearly as many people as on job-search websites.

5. Get an online profile

Be it a blog, a LinkedIn, a vimeo - whatever it may be, make your mark online and showcase your talents on there. Use social media to direct your networks to your chosen mediums.


But nobody's perfect, are they? I don't think I've ever actually used by LinkedIn log-in and I'm still working on getting my vimeo up and running. What avenues have you used to try and get a foot in the door? Comment below!

A great day, out of the office

Today was the day. After many winter resolutions (those ones about beach-ready, bikini-bodies) to run the Bridge to Brisbane today, at the foreign waking hour of 3:53am, I was up, scoffing down some banana on toast and hopping on a shuttle bus to the B2B starting line.

A little over 3 hours later, (and thanks to RunKeeper) I knew I had a 53 minute 10k run under my belt, a new favourite work-out shirt (just so everyone knows ‘I finished’ B2B), harder goals for next year’s race and maybe even a half-marathon in the works.

My running-bud and I got a little snap-happy at the finishing line!

At the risk of sounding like a Lorna Jane inspirational poster, you’re capable of achieving whatever you set your mind to. The first step is always the hardest, take it and just wait to see where you end up. 

5 Apps changing my life, now!

Runkeeper
Instead of my regular, hop on-5k-hop off, treadmill run I've been pounding pavements training for the 10k Bridge to Brissie (tomorrow!!). It's been an awesome experience to get out of four-wall confines and use running as a catch-up with friends as well as my fitness, but I don't know if I could have made the leap (pardon the pun) without Runkeeper.

While I don't love looking at the same mark on the gym-pillar directly in front of me for 27.2-something minutes, I love the accountability that comes with treadmill running. When 4.99km ticks over to 5.00 I press the red stop button and know how far, how long, and how hard (calories burnt) I've run. Little did I know I could have all of this and get out and enjoy this beautiful city we live in, until my running buddy showed me!

Runkeeper accounts for how long, far and quickly (km/mins) you've run using GPS tracking, AND lets you enjoy beautiful days like this, taken on a run at Mooloolaba...

A little better than a dirty pillar?

Shazam
I mostly download music for running, so after I've listened to the same playlist for a month I'm always keen to add some new tracks to my listening repertoire. Shazam is great for the music-trivia challenged. It identifies songs playing anywhere, from clubs, the radio, or an elevator, and even remembers them for you to download the next day. Score!

Urbanspoon
While I don't think a day will ever come when Sings Asian Kitchen in Rosalie won't house our girls dinner (so much for so cheap!) if I do branch out, Urbanspoon can reassure even the most habitual diners there'll be something on the menu for them.

Take a spin on Urbanspoon pokies after selecting how much you want to spend, type of cuisine and the suburb you're headed to and you might just hit the jackpot! Or, if you're at your destination already, you can find out nearby options using GPS. Reviews, menu items and pictures of meals users have ordered are posted of pretty much every restaurant in Brisbane, and give you a great idea of food, service, and logistics like parking and opening hours.

Urbanspoon pokies!

Viber 
Viber connects to your wireless, letting you call your best mate next door or your great-aunt in England for free. There's also a text option, so you can skip out on those huge phone bills next time your partner goes away - but make sure your friends are on Viber too, otherwise you can't connect.

Everguide
This app's is a go-to for what's on in Australia. You select your city, and it'll tell you what music,  entertainment and arts and culture events are on, when, and what to expect. The app covers everything from markets to music festivals, and photography exhibitions at the Powerhouse and if you log in with facebook, it can tell you how many of your friends are attending each event.

It's nearby function is great for Sunday afternoons to fill when you've already had a couple of cheeky ciders or just don't feel like straying too far from home. Whether you're in Sydney for the weekend or want to shake things up in your home town, Everguide's the app for you.

Let me know, what apps can't you live without?

Accuracy vs. Speed

Like many studying QUTOJ1 (so I hear), I didn't fare too well in my Accuracy vs. Speed test results. Mostly let down by speed, leading me to something of an epiphany.

My texts, Facebook status's, comments, tweets and now blogs posts have always undergone a (relatively) lengthy process of editing, despite their intrinsic informality. Grammar checks, and "does that sound too harsh...?", "maybe I should put a smiley in so she knows I'm joking..." concerns have thus far prohibited quick responses from me on all modern technology. (Harking back to my insecurity on these mediums I'm sure).

That's ALL about to change!

Better late than never, be prepared for shorter, more frequent updates from this writer. And all that have my number, within-the-minute text responses (read-receipts and "I'm typing" ...'s have admittedly made me faster on my phone).

I'm not sure whether the content will all have a common thread, make a whole lot of sense, or exhibit perfect grammar throughout, but you'll see a less censored version of me, my life as an intern, journalism student, part-time assistant and bartender, and everything else I am.

Let's just hope I don't go too overboard.

15 seconds of fame

I posted a little while back about viewer-generated content and how it can enlighten our news immensely. Upon finding the video below, which aired on the Today Show and Nine News, I decided to start blogging my favourite CJ contributions; this being the first. While I was enlightened by the realisation koala's could swim, this clip probably fits better in the cute and cuddly over groundbreaking news exclusive box. All the same... very cool!

Fireflies to a flame

High OP course barriers, three years of university, months and weeks of of unpaid internships and maybe, just maybe, you'll move thousands of kilometres, be paid something not far off minimum wage and enter a stressful, often understaffed and under-resourced industry we call broadcast journalism. But, that's only if you're lucky...

According to The Australian, while 4750 students were enrolled in journalism in 2010, nation-wide, only 9000 journalists are employed.

So what is the attraction? 

For me, it was to be on TV. Solely and wholely, that was all I wanted out of my Business/ Journalism degree. No great ambitions to report from war zones, sit in court trials or talk politics in Canberra. Simply, TV. I guess I never got over that fascination we all had as kids...or I'm just egocentric.

So when my first year of journalism was all 'inverted pyramids' and print, I thought I'd made a mistake. But the time came for Radio and Television Journalism, and while my previously dedicated and passionate journo-comrades dreaded their prac weeks... I counted down the days, and seeing our first packages cut and posted... I was sold. (Even if I look back on them and cringe).

Just so you can cringe with me too! (try around 9:45)

Thankfully, my ambitions to be a great reporter have overtaken those to see myself on TV, but according to most, I've fallen in love with a career that's dramatically changing and downsizing.  Every broadcast medium is apparently converging with online, and video journalists will soon play the role of journo and camo combined.

I asked Spencer Howson as a guest of our #QUTOJ1 Lecture whether his pervasive social media presence was tiring to uphold. He replied, he loved constantly being a part of the conversation, connecting with people; whether to establish relationships with listeners or remove the PR middleman to more easily secure interviews.

As a social media "native", I should adopt and adapt to social media just as readily, if not more competently, than Spencer, a so called "foreigner". But as one #QUTOJ1-er tweeted: "@spencerhowson is a twitter god"... how can I compete with that? And, do I want to?

The answer is no.

Perhaps time and a job in the industry will change me, but as technology continues to infiltrate our lives, social media becomes more accessible and news production, generation and promotion happens increasingly on these platforms, the ability for a journalist to "switch off" seems impossible. But, it seems I have no choice in the matter. 

Citizen capabilities

Citizen Journalists are increasingly contributing to our networks, stations and publishers' news. Mostly in the form of vision, moving and still, with enabling technology citizen journalism is increasing the democracy, relevance and reach of news. While our "most clicked" videos are usually capture the funny and cute things babies and animals do, like this one... (earning more than 72 million views)

They can shine light on previously unknown and undocumented injustice, in countries where censorship is rife, governments are oppressive, or international media can't go. America's ABC newsreader, Katie Couric, makes some valid points and highlights (until 2010) some of her favourite viewer-generated news content here.

Usually, it's not the press, but locals, employees, friends and family that are first on the scene of a fire, in the midst of an earthquake or a riot. Journalism is bettered by the front-row content it can use to tell stories world-wide.

Tweeting social media with respect

I’ve always been afraid of blogs. In social media, I’m a back-seat writer; a passionate commentator but predominantly an observer. 

That’s all about to change. 

Before enrolling in QUTOJ1 (Online Journalism) I certainly never had a blog or, for that matter, any desire to permanently mark my daily thoughts, actions and motivations on the slate that cannot be wiped clean… the Internet. Perhaps it stems back to my primary school diary, its contents as well considered as its hiding spot. Needless to say…twin brothers and their nine-year-old friends aren’t kind when they find out your grade four crushes. I promise this blog won’t divulge my crushes, and is even less likely to be read by my brother,  yet I still think my blogging fears aren’t unfounded. In the online world, ‘the anonymous’ hiding behind keyboards and incandescent white screens are too, at times, unforgiving.  Some say commentary is the beauty, not the bane of online journalism… I’ll just wait until I get my first comments to decide.

Swimming Australia chief executive Kevin Neil was quoted in the The Sunday Mail this week and crystallised my thoughts on social media, particularly blogging. Relating to James Magnussen and his highly self- and widely-anticipated success and subsequent failure, he said, “most 21-year-olds learn that they’re not invincible in a pub somewhere…[not] on the world stage”. I’m no Olympic athlete, but the world factor of the World Wide Web scares me; its reach, perpetuity and faceless participants (and therefore lack of accountability) are all part of that.

Recent events have but highlighted the Internet’s risks.

Social media breaks down the gates that news directors and editors presided over for so long; choosing what would be news and what wouldn’t in a one-way asymmetric mode of communication. Come the internet; blogs, facebook, twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and anyone can be a publisher. No filter except your morals and common sense which, given a couple of wines on a Friday afternoon, can both easily be diminished.

Source: mashable.com

In the Olympics we find many examples. We’ve seen two athletes internationally expelled from the Games for tweets turned bad… all that training, hard work, money, nights in, wasted. Olympic dreams, gone. 140 characters and the tap of a button is all it takes. And closer to home Nick D’Arcy and Kenrick Monk, almost held back from competing in what seemed like déjà vu.

What was once a cheeky comment between mates at the pub…instead of bringing laughs (or at worst, disapproving looks) has seen the demise of reputations via online platforms. For Nick and Ken it was a holiday happy snap that almost cost them everything… again, for others politically incorrect jokes and insults.

Now there are suggestions that the pure act of tweeting, facebooking or Instagramming could throw careers into disarray.  Mounting pressure from “friends” and “followers” and the incessant bzz-bzz from the forum that never sleeps has become the blame of tired, stressed athletes and lost gold medals.

But while we’ve seen time and time again that misdirected comments and photos can seriously hurt anyone’s public and private profile (if there’s a difference anymore) the jury’s still out on whether twitter stole Emily Seebohm’s Olympic gold. One thing’s for sure… pro athlete or not, we all need to treat social media with the respect it not only needs, but as history shows us, demands. 

Now, to post this on Facebook or not?