There are several social media management software applications out there – some great and some not – and they all have the same aim: to simplify the management of multiple social media accounts. The other added benefit of such applications are the fact that you can use them as a secure place to store all of your social media account usernames/logins and passwords and you can post updates across your various platforms simultaneously. In these time-poor times, this is a serious time-saver.

While none of the applications are totally perfect (this is not, however, a perfect world!) and each has their own flaws, they do make life a little easier and will save time.

But which application to choose? A lot depends on your own personal needs, what you wish to achieve via social media and the size or your business or organization. And whether you want a desktop application, browser add-on or a mobile app.

For a run-down of some of the social media management software application hard-hitters, check out this useful post by Matt Ferner for Practical Ecommerce.

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Should children under the age of 13 be allowed to use Facebook?

Zuckerberg argues that Facebook is a great educational tool for children (Is it? How so? What do you think?) but there are some people who feel that he simply wants to add to his already enormous coffers by tapping into the hugely lucrative pre-teen market. Wouldn’t a Facebook spin off, especially for pre-teens be a better idea? That way, they’d be protected from more adult content (‘Is that a photo of a totally plastered Aunty Rita wearing her knickers on her head, mama?); and adults would equally be sheltered from tedious tween updates (‘I love Justin’, etc).

When quizzed on the subject, a Facebook spokesperson replied: 'Facebook is currently designed for two age groups, 13-18 year olds and 18 and up. We provide extensive safety and privacy controls based on the age provided. However, recent reports have highlighted just how difficult it is to implement age restrictions on the Internet and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don’t circumvent a system or lie about their age. We agree with safety experts that communication between parents or guardians and kids about their use of the Internet is vital.”

It’s a good point, well made. While Facebook and other social networking sites can provide privacy controls, education on how to stay safe online is, ultimately, the responsibility of parents and guardians.

Here are some great resources and guidelines on how to explain Internet safety to children:

i-Safe
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Thinkuknow
Kidsmart
Child Net International

And some social networks that are aimed specifically at children, which are worth checking out:

Everloop
What’s What
ScuttlePad
giantHello
Skid-e Kids

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While waiting for the freeze to thaw, I decided to do something decidedly old-school and pick up the phone to call my young friend to check that she hadn’t been taken over by potty-mouthed aliens or the like. Turns out she was at work (waiting tables in a café), not in touching distance of her iPad. So (feeling slightly panicked), I concluded that her Facebook account must have been hacked. ‘I think your Facebook account has been hacked,’ I said. ‘What, again? Ha! Ha!’ was the response. Ha, ha? In what way was that funny? ‘Yeah, happens all the time,’ she expanded. It’s kind of like a thing that we do at school. Hack each other’s Facebook and write funny things. It’s called Facebook rape…’

Facebook rape. Facebook. Rape. Do people not realize how terrible this expression is? How offensive and, well, just not funny it is? Obviously not. Its abbreviated form, ‘fraping’ is not much better. ‘I was, like, so fraped last night.’ Shudder. It’s ghastly. And then, clearly, the concept of having something that’s personal invaded doesn’t seem to install the same kind of fear/panic as it does with older generations.

Curious about the whole concept of Facebook hacking (I'm not using the other expression), I asked my friend how her friends could access her account – had she revealed her password as a ‘I love you all so much I’ll give you my FB password’ kind of thing? The answer was no, but there did seem to be a lot of, ‘oh, I’ll just leave my iPhone here and pop to the bathroom, because I’m not in the least bit worried that you’ll hack my Facebook account and write offensive messages’ kind of thing.  It’s a game. A badge of honour, a trust thing. But, unfortunately, this game sometimes goes too far, gets way out of control and causes real distress and heartache…

How to stay safe and avoid being Facebook hacked

If you’re nervous about Facebook hacking and want to stay safe, check these links:

How to stop social network hackers

5 ways to prevent your Facebook account from getting hacked

Facebook safety video for youngsters

And, if you know a teenager and want to share some tips on staying safe and being responsible online, this is a helpful website: Safetyweb

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Maybe befriending dogs isn’t such an issue for some, but for me (evidently) it is. I don’t like dogs. I do, however, tend to keep my dislike of dogs under my hat because there are many, many people who adore their four-legged friends with a passion (some would say borderline obsession). Almost 40 percent of households in the US own (at least) one dog, which equates to there being approximately 77.5 million owned dogs.

Doggie blogging

And these dog owners have fully embraced the digital world (in Finday’s directory alone, we have more than 60 websites offering pet-related services). Following a quick trawl of the internet, I was amazed to see lots of websites for doggie blogging and social networking. Here’s a look at some of the more popular sites:

Dogbook

While there’s no disguising where the design influence has come from, this is a place for dog lovers to post profiles of their four-legged friends, blog (either as themselves or as their dogs) and upload photos of their pets. There are some useful ‘how to’ tutorial videos, hints and tips. Some of the updates posted (written from the dog’s point of view) are actually funny. And, for those with cats, there’s a feline-friendly version: Catbook.

Dogster

Dogster is similar to Dogbook, and offers advice on how to care for dogs and how to improve their behavior with correct training etc. Advice and information is provided by experts, as well as the Dogster community. Dog owners can create profiles for their furry charges and can add other dogs as friends (Pup Pals). There’s also a spot for ‘dog of the day’. This site is for dog purists and will only really appeal to other dog fanatics…

Pawsley

This slick, new venture is a cross between Facebook and Groupon – but for dogs. Owners can create profiles for their dogs, find other dogs in their neighbourhood, keep abreast of doggie events, shop and browse the ‘deal of the day’.  Connect, share and shop is the ethos here. There’s also a rather neat ‘giving back’ functionality, which benefits dog-related charities and good causes.

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But the usual rules of etiquette that govern and moderate everyday modes of social behavior are a long way off being commonplace on the internet. Not everybody knows the rules. In everyday life, we know not to eat with our mouths open, pick our noses or spit – but what about social networking manners? Does that person, who’s just sent me an entire email in block caps, know that a) reading it is making my eyes bleed b) it’s the written equivalent of like shouting c) it makes him look unhinged? Evidently not.

Netiquette

Social Media Enthusiast Jessica Malnik recently posted a series of blogs about the Seven Deadly Sins that people can make when using social networks. At last, some social networking rules (not quite set in stone but, hey, it’s better than nothing)…

Seven Deadly Twitter Sins

Seven Deadly Facebook Sins

Seven Deadly LinkedIn Sins

Seven Deadly Email Sins

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But is there an online equivalent of the old-fashion metal, fire-proof box that can keep our online stuff safe?

Well, not really – but there is one way to safeguard your stuff:  Back It Up. It’s highly improbable that the internet will ever come crashing down (but remember the scaremongers peddling panic about the Y2K Millennium Bug?) but it’s not totally infallible either. And it’s always better to err on the side of caution and avoid the possible heartbreak of losing half a decade's worth of precious photos (like that poor guy who was the victim of a Flickr screw-up recently). Gulp.

Back it up! Here are two excellent blogs providing easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides on how to keep your stuff online safe:

Mashable’s Brenna Ehrlich explains how to back up your Facebook, Twitter, WordPress  and Tumblr accounts.

Softonic’s Elena Santos provides a guide on how to back up your Flickr photos.

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We've done it: You liked Finday and Finday liked you. Last week we had the worldwide launch of Finday in Spanish and English, and the response we've been receiving from technologically specialized media has been largely positive. One of them has come as far as describing us as "the Softonic of searches," which fills us with pride and encourages us to continue building the world's best participative search engine.

Truth be it, at Finday we are not resting on one's laurels, and we continue working hard to incorporate substantial improvements as well as new and more interesting features in the very near future. And if you really think, like us, that Finday can dramatically improve your search experience of Internet content, you'll surely be interested in keeping abreast of all our updates. With that in mind, we introduce you to 3 different alternatives (aside from this blog of course) to receiving our news and suggestions on time.

How to keep up-to-date with Finday

First stop: Twitter. If you're a regular user of this popular micro-blogging and messaging system, you'll love knowing that you can become a follower of our @finday tweets.

Your second stop is Facebook. You can become a fan of Finday on our international page, or join the Spanish user group.

Finally, you can use Google alerts to keep you updated on everything that's showing up on blogs, websites or news pages about Finday. To configure the alerts, you just have to visit the Google Alerts page, enter "Finday" as the search term, and indicate the search type, frequency and the e-mail address where you want to receive the news alerts. If you want to go even further, you can put the cherry on the sundae by creating a feed link and adding it to Google Reader or any other syndicated news reader.