Furthering our safety and privacy commitments for teens on TikTok

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People from all walks of life come to TikTok to be entertained, spark joy in their everyday, and share their creativity with others. Be it through viewing the latest book recommendations on #BookTok or showing off their new digs on #renovation, everyone can find their community on TikTok – and our goal is to foster a safe and welcoming platform for these vibrant, diverse communities.

TikTok offers a range of safety and privacy controls to empower people to make decisions about who they share their content with. They also believe it's important to ensure even stronger proactive protections to help keep teenagers safe, and have continually introduced changes to support age-appropriate experiences on their platform. This includes making accounts belonging to those under the age of 16 private by default, reserving features like Direct Messaging to people 16 and older, and enabling parents to guide their teen's TikTok presence with Family Pairing.

Today they are introducing a new set of changes for users aged 13-17 to further enhance these proactive protections. These changes will continue rolling out to their users globally over the coming months.

New changes to Direct Messaging privacy settings

TikTok wants to help teens make active decisions about their privacy settings, so when someone aged 16-17 joins TikTok, their Direct Messaging setting will now be set to 'No One' by default. To message others, they will need to actively switch to a different sharing option. Existing accounts who have never used DMs before will receive a prompt asking them to review and confirm their privacy settings the next time they use this feature. These updates build on their current messaging protections, such as not allowing images or videos to be sent in messages and disabling messaging for accounts under age 16.

Decide who can watch your videos

The process of making a TikTok is fun and creative – choosing music, picking effects, and getting the transitions right – but it is just as important to choose who that video will be shared with. To help teens understand the sharing options available to them, TikTok is now adding a pop-up that appears when teenagers under the age of 16 are ready to publish their first video, asking them to choose who can watch the video. They won't be able to publish their video until they make a selection.

With each video going forward, creators can decide who can watch before they post. Accounts aged 13-15 are set to private by default, and private accounts can choose to share their content with Followers or Friends, as the 'Everyone' setting is turned off. Duet and Stitch are also disabled for accounts under 16.

Choose who can download your public videos

TikTok is also providing additional context to help teens aged 16-17 understand how downloads work, so they can choose the option that's most comfortable for them. If they opt to turn the feature on, they'll now receive a pop-up asking them to confirm that choice before others can download their videos. Note that downloads are permanently disabled on content from accounts under the age of 16.

A mindful approach to push notifications

TikTok prioritizes and supports the well-being of their community members, with features like Screen Time Management that can be enabled both by account holders or by parents as part of Family Pairing. They want to help their younger users in particular develop positive digital habits early on, and they regularly consult with leading pediatric experts and youth well-being advocates to develop their Youth Portal, bullying prevention guide, and other features that support youth-well being. Now, they will be drawing upon this research to make changes that reduce the time period during which their younger teens can receive push notifications. Accounts aged 13-15 will not receive push notifications from 9pm, and accounts aged 16-17 will have push notifications disabled starting at 10pm.

These changes continue to build on their ongoing commitments as there's no finish line when it comes to protecting the safety, privacy, and well-being of their community. They are working with teens, community organizations, parents and creators to further innovate and they're excited to share more over the coming months. To learn more about their efforts to support youth and families, you can read our Guardian's Guide.

Global Study : Research Reveals Make-or-Break Business Attributes To Keep Pace With the Up and Coming “Information Generation”

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Global Study: Business Leaders Admit

“We’re Not Ready For The Digital Future”

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• New global research from Institute For The Future peers into the psyche and impact of the Information Generation
• Leaders (96%) believe new technologies have forever-changed the rules of business, democratizing information and rewiring customer expectations
• Business leaders agree on Top 5 “make-or-break” business attributes essential to keep pace with the Information Generation
• Research shows very few organizations doing the following extremely well and organization-wide: 9% innovate in an agile way; 12% can predictively spot new opportunities; 11% deliver personalized experience; 12% operate in real-time, and 14% demonstrate transparency and trust
• Leaders admit to limits on current ability to make use of data: 30% are able to act upon their information in real time; nearly 50% admit to not knowing how to get value from their data; 24% consider themselves “very good” at turning data into useful insights and information
• Forecasts major economic, technology, information consumption and privacy shifts of an entirely data-driven future by 2024

Whether we’re working, keeping fit, learning, playing, purchasing online or watching TV, we are making new digital demands of the businesses with which we deal. 

A new study, The Information Generation: Transforming The Future, Today, explores the impact of a growing global community of digital citizens. These individuals are always connected and engaged online, and have the world’s information at their fingertips. They also view the world very differently. Based on input from 3,600 Director-to-C-Suite business leaders across 18 countries, the study reveals new expectations of these individuals and identifies the fundamental business attributes critical for organizations to successfully compete and thrive in this new landscape.

Ronnie Latinazo

Country Manager, Philippines, EMC

Not surprisingly, nearly every (96%) business leader surveyed believes new technologies have forever changed the rules of business. 

In addition, 93% reported that recent technology advancements are resetting customer expectations, and nearly all say this will accelerate over the next decade. The top reported customer expectations are faster access to services, 24/7 and “everywhere” access and connectivity, access on more devices, and a more unique personalized experience.

The Quest To Redefine: Fundamental Business Attributes For The Future

Due to new Information Generation-driven demands, businesses agree that transformation is critical. To be a disruptor – and not disrupted – business leaders have identified five “make-or-break” business attributes, all of which have information at their core:

1. Predictively spot new opportunities in markets
2. Demonstrate transparency and trust
3. Innovate in agile ways
4. Deliver unique and personalized experiences
5. Operate in real time

While business leaders agree these attributes are high priority, they admitted that very few have thoroughly embodied them. Specifically, when asked whether they address these attributes both very well and company-wide, only 12% said they can predictively spot new opportunities, 9% innovate in agile ways, 14% demonstrate transparency and trust, 11% deliver personalized experience, and 12% operate in real-time.

In addition, by 2020 more than 7 billion people on at least 30 billion devices will have created 44 zettabytes of data (or 44 trillion gigabytes), according to Gartner and IDC respectively. This is rapidly leading to a world in which nearly every element of life will be data-driven. While businesses know they can get value from this data, 49% admit to not knowing how to turn all of their data into actionable information. This includes:

• Even though 70% say they can gain insights from data, only 30% are always on and able to act upon their information in real time, and are unable to achieve this very well and company-wide
• 52% admit they do not use their data effectively or are drowning in information overload
• Only 24% consider themselves “very good” at turning data into useful insights and information

While companies brace and prepare to meet evolving customer expectations, the world is evolving at an equally rapid pace. Institute For The Future has forecasted major macro shifts in how technology will continue transforming the world by 2024. There are strong signals of a move toward a world in which nearly every element of life will be data-driven. Individuals and corporations will sell, donate and trade information on open exchanges. Inanimate objects will spring to life all around us, becoming more aware, responsive and connected. Decision-making will be enhanced by artificial intelligence in ways never seen before. Information will be communicated and absorbed through multiple human senses.

Customers will be able to better control their own privacy through new tools. In this new world order, value will shift from products and services to the information they generate. 

Executive Quotes

“The Information Generation is demanding more from the organizations they interact with,” said David Goulden, CEO of EMC Information Infrastructure. “Businesses ‘born of the cloud’ are driving this shift in expectations, and mature businesses must redefine themselves to adapt and remain relevant.” 

“Our mission is to provide practical foresight for a world undergoing rapid change – and to help turn insights into action,” said Rachel Maguire, Research Director at Institute for the Future. 

“It’s critical that we systematically explore the longer-term implications of an age in which information is at the center of everything we do, continually re-conditioning us in ways we still have yet to imagine. The world’s most information-savvy organizations – if they ready themselves – will lead one of the most significant transformations in history.”

Methodology

The research was conducted by Institute for the Future and Vanson Bourne on behalf of EMC. Vanson Bourne surveyed 3,600 business leaders across 18 countries from mid-size to large enterprises in nine industries to determine top business imperatives required for success today and over the next decade. Institute for the Future led the creation of the study to identify and forecast the imperatives and shifts in the new digital world. The research questionnaire and imperatives are based upon in-depth interviews and workshops with 40+ influential global decision-makers and experts across multiple industries, with a diverse mix of academic, industry, nonprofit, and think-tank leaders.

About EMC

EMC Corporation  is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset – information – in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.

A simple step-by-step guide on how to vote this May 13, 2013

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INFOGRAPHIC: How to vote on May 13

Involving young and old people in election-related learning, activities and discussion can have an impact on the person’s household and communities, increasing the likelihood that others in the household and communities will vote. Be wise and be informed. 

This May 13, 2013 for all voters, this is a simple step-by-step guide on how to vote.

Visit  abs-cbnnews.com for more information and updates.
Source: INFOGRAPHIC BY FRANCIN CRUZ