Sexting Most Common Among Older Teens

New research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that 4 percent of cell phone owners ages 12 to 17 have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of themselves to someone else on a cell phone.

Pew found 15 percent of teens that age have received this kind of image of someone they know personally on their cell phone. Sexting was most common among older teens with 8 percent of 17-year-old cell-owners saying they have sent suggestive images of themselves by text while only 4 percent of 12-year-olds have.

Pew found that sexting occurs most often in one of three scenarios:

1.    Exchanges of images solely between two romantic partners
2.    Exchanges between partners that are then shared outside the relationship
3.    Exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but where often one person hopes to be.

"Teens explained to us how sexually suggestive images have become a form of relationship currency," said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report.

"These images are shared as a part of or instead of sexual activity, or as a way of starting or maintaining a relationship with a significant other. And they are also passed along to friends for their entertainment value, as a joke or for fun."

The report also found that teens who are more active users of cell phones are more likely to receive sexually suggestive images. Teens with unlimited text messaging plans, 75 percent of cell phone owning teens, are more likely to receive texts containing images of people they know.

Among this group, 18 percent reported receiving these images, compared with 8 percent of teens on limited plans and 3 percent of teens who pay per message. In addition, teens who keep their phones on almost all the time are more likely than others to receive texts with suggestive images.

"The desire for risk-taking and sexual exploration during the teenage years combined with a constant connection via mobile devices creates a 'perfect storm' for sexting," said Lenhart.

"Teenagers have always grappled with issues around sex and relationships, but their coming-of-age mistakes and transgressions have never been so easily transmitted and archived for others to see."
 

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Internet OK for Some Courts (In Some Cases)

Update: According to FOX News, the Federal Court in Australia will leave it up to individual judges to decide if court cases can be covered live on Twitter.

Original Article: A California court is making jurors sign a declaration that they will not use the Internet to look up details about facts related to cases. This comes apparently at the request of a San Diego lawyer.

According to Greg Moran of the San Diego Union Tribune, "In the latest sign of the collision between the courts and new communication technologies, jurors will have to sign declarations attesting that they will not use 'personal electronic and media devices' to research or communicate about any aspect of the case. That includes computers, cell phones and laptops. Jurors will have to sign the declarations, made under penalty of perjury, both before and after they serve."

Though this is reportedly the first time such a thing has happened in California, this is certainly not the first time that such an issue has been brought up. Not too long ago, we were hearing tales of Twitter (and social media in general) causing mistrials. The talk has mostly been related to discussing the case, however, which has always been a no-no.

This latest example appears to be more about doing research though. The question is, can this really be enforced?

"My guess is that many will ignore the signed promise as well -- in fact, as some behavioral research has shown, just telling them not to do it, may make them even more likely to do so," says Michael Mansick at TechDirt. "At some point, the courts are going to have to realize that you simply can't prevent people from looking up more info, and will have to come up with ways to adapt."

It is interesting to see that practices of the American Judicial system are still being affected by something as simple as using the Internet, or Google to look things up. It will also be interesting to see if this becomes more of a common practice across the country.

Google Celebrates Star Trek, Talks Cell Phones

Get ready to hear a lot about how a certain search giant's offerings can be accessed through cell phones.  Google intends to honor a rather geeky occasion (the anniversary of the original Star Trek pilot) not with a doodle, but with a week-long "celebration of all things mobile."

Star Trek introduced a device known as "the Communicator" that is widely acknowledged to be the precursor of today's cell phones, so the tie-in sort of makes sense.  Without Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the rest of the gang, it's doubtful that we'd all have tiny communications devices on us around the clock.

Google has, however, veered a bit away from a "thank you" to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and towards blatant self-promotion.  On the Official Gmail Blog, a post tried to teach people about visiting gmail.com in a mobile browser and/or using a phone's built-in email application.  Not that many readers of the blog probably haven't figured that out.

Then, on the Official YouTube Blog, a post gave the slightly less obvious suggestion to visit m.youtube.com.

More advice should follow between now and the end of Friday.  We'll check back in if anything of interest is shared, and in the meantime, just leave you to remember a great old series.

In Some Ways Twitter is Better Than LinkedIn for Jobs

Twitter is a tool that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It can also mean a lot of different strategies and opportunities for a lot of different businesses. More and more companies and jobseekers alike are using the social network/microblogging platform as a way to find and fill jobs.

Traditionally, Twitter has been known as the network of choice for jobseekers. That role has been filled by LinkedIn. LinkedIn, however, is finding that other social networks are invading its territory to some extent. Just last month, we looked at a story from Fortune, claiming that recruiters were increasingly turning to Facebook to find job candidates. One reason for this is that Facebook offers a broader look at the candidate in many cases. People tend to be more in their natural element on Facebook than they do on LinkedIn, which is meant for business networking. This applies to Twitter too.

That's not to say that LinkedIn is having trouble maintaining usage. comScore recently reported that LinkedIn neared its all-time high in July, with about 8 million visitors. That's a 66% increase from the year before. 

 Twitter is gaining momentum in an industry where LinkedIn has been thriving for some time though - the jobs industry. This topic was explored in a recent Mercury News article. "Accessible by computer or cell phones, Twitter can be used to post a job, poke around for one, bone up on a potential boss, or simply keep your friends updated on your job hunt," says Mercury's Patrick May. "It's free and it's fast. And while social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn focus on connecting you with people you know, Twitter makes it easier to broadcast messages widely and to form groups of common interest. By 'following' others and having them follow you, the conversations quickly multiply."

And there is certainly no shortage of tweeting going on. Twitter appeared to suffer a temporary slip in tweets in August, but that is likely due to some denial-of-service attacks that occurred in that time, causing interruptions (more than normal) in the Twitterverse. Numbers for September looked more positive, showing tweeting on the rise again. As we make our way out of recession and more companies begin to hire, you can bet on Twitter playing a vital role in the filling of a great many positions.

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