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Internet Safety Tips
for Parents
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New Celebrity
Contests
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Yoursphere in
the Media
Yoursphere makes NPR's Top 10 list of safe social networks for kids!
You can read the full article here. |
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Recent Contest
Winners
kayleeg
Winner of: Summer Recipe Contest
Prize: Retro Slushie Maker and Target Gift Card
Snowtiger1
Winner of: Photo Contest
Prize: Kodak Easyshare Underwater Camera
darkhorse
Winner of: Kung Fu Panda 2 Review Contest
Prize: Movie Gift Card and Candy Gift Basket |
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Yoursphere Review
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by Yoursphere Contributing Writer, Laura
"I'd say that this game can give you a scare.... if you play it at 11 o'clock at night like I did. Other than that, this game is really awesome! This game actually helps you exercise your brain which is really awesome!"
Click here to read the
full review
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| Keeping it Positive in Yoursphere |
One of our goals here at Yoursphere is to build smart and respectful digital citizens.
One way we do that is by incorporating messages throughout the site that remind members to be Internet safety smart.
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Parent Newsletter - July 2011
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Hey Parents!
While your kids are enjoying their Summer vacation outside, we've been busy giving them something positive to do inside by posting fresh, new Yoursphere content on a weekly basis.
This month's newsletter will give you an idea of what your kids have been creating and sharing with other members, as well as some Internet safety tips to help your family stay safe online during the Summer break!
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Jeff Sutphen Hops On Board as Yoursphere's Newest Celebrity!
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Over the past couple of months, we've been announcing several partnerships with celebrities, including Victoria Stilwell from It's Me Or the Dog, Donald Schultz from Wild Recon, and 17-year-old country music singer, Jordyn Shellhart . (You can read more about those partnerships here).
This month, we're excited to keep that trend going by adding Jeff Sutphen to the list! If you're familiar with Jeff's work, he's currently the host of three TV shows: Nickelodeon's BrainSurge, ABC's 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, and Family BrainSurge, a brand new prime-time twist on the original.
As you can imagine, we're really excited about this partnership. Jeff is really enthusiastic about working with us and he has a ton of great ideas when it comes to providing Yoursphere members with exclusive content.
"I have worked in kids' TV for many years and have gone to great lengths to create fun, safe programming for my audience," Sutphen said. "It's refreshing to see Yoursphere.com doing the same, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to get on board. I am not part of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FaceSpace, Twitterbook, MyFace or any of the other social networking sites out there where I felt like my information and personal content was up for grabs. But being a part of Yoursphere makes sense to me. I just wish I had thought of it first!"
Don't forget to tell your kids to join his sphere! There, Jeff engages with members directly, giving them a behind-the-scenes look at what he does on his shows.
You can learn more about our partnership with Jeff, here.
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Do Your Kids Have Their Own "Question of the Week"?
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 Since we started it, Question of the Week has been one of the more engaging features on the site, and a favorite among members. We make sure the questions are always interesting and have the potential to generate a lot of feedback from members--so far, it's been successful.
Until now, the Yoursphere Team has come up with these questions every week, with the intent always being to get the gears turning in our members' heads. Recently, we received some feedback from a Yoursphere member who had an interesting idea: Why not ask members what questions they have for the Yoursphere community?
We really liked the idea so we ran with it, and now we're asking members to send us their questions!
The best questions will get featured on the Teen Homepage. In addition, the Yoursphere member who submitted it will get 50 credits to spend in the Gift Gallery, so tell your kids to send in their submissions !
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Yoursphere Featured Member
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 Our Featured Member program is designed to shine a light on members who have shown certain qualities, like leadership, friendship and kindness. Being an active and consistent contributor to the Yoursphere community also merits recognition as a Featured Member, so encourage your children to participate by sharing their creativity and friendship with others.
This month our Featured Member is long-time Yoursphere member,  justanotherpicture. In fact, she's been on the site since we launched! So big congrats to her for being this month's Featured Member.
Here are a few answers from her interview with the Yoursphere Team:
- If you were handed $1,000,000 what would you do with it?
- First I would make sure that my family has everything they need, then I would probably save the rest for college and my future.
- What are four words your friends would use to describe you?
- Trustworthy, funny, spur-of-the-moment, and loyal.
- What's your favorite saying?
- "friends are the flowers in the garden of life"
- What do you like most about being a Yoursphere member?
- I really like how nice everyone is and all the friends I've made on the site. I know if I ever have a problem or need anyone to talk to you guys will always be here with great advice!
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How to Set Up iTunes' Parental Controls
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 Knowing how to set parental controls on iTunes is just as important as settings parental controls on the home computer, web browser, and social networking accounts that your kids use.
Because iTunes is essentially the media center for any iDevice that your child uses, making it safe for them should go hand-in-hand with making their iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad safe as well.
To get started, follow the step-by-step guide below.
- Open iTunes and click on "Edit" (Windows PC) in the top menu, or "iTunes" for Mac users.
- Then, click on "Preferences".
- A Preferences window will pop up, and at the top you'll see seven different tabs. One of them is called "Parental", click that.
- From here you can choose to disable certain iTunes content/features altogether, like Ping or the iTunes Store. You can also set restrictions for movie, TV show and application content by age range.
The important thing to do here is to check the box that says "Restrict Explicit Content". This will disable the ability to download/purchase explicit music and other explicit content on your iTunes account.
- Clicking the little lock will make it so the admin password is required to change these settings. Click it, type in your admin password and click OK.
Learn how to sync device safely in the full article .
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Parents, Stay Up-To-Date with Yoursphere!
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 You can follow Yoursphere.com on Twitter , or on our Facebook page for parents.
You can find Mary Kay on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Also, be sure to visit YoursphereForParents, where you can find useful tools and information when it comes to leveraging the best Internet experience for you and your children.
As always, thank you for entrusting Yoursphere with your child's online experience and helping us raise the bar for our kids' and teens' online safety.
Best Regards,
The Yoursphere Team.
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