SocialShield Releases the Top Social Networking Terms Kids Don't Want Their Parents To Know

PRESS RELEASE

SAN BRUNO, Calif., Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Do you know what the acronyms "D46" or "182" mean? If your answer is no, you're not alone. SocialShield (www.socialshield.com), the leading social network monitoring service for parents, today released its list of the Top Terms Parents Need to Know. These little-known codes are part of a new lexicon being formed by children--and those who might prey on children--to communicate with each other in ways that most adults wouldn't understand. The list was curated from an analysis of commonly "flagged" terms identified by SocialShield's monitoring engines as somehow risky, dangerous or illicit.

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The terms range from sexual in nature to cries for help, but most fall into one of six categories that SocialShield has created to help parents identify and understand the types of issues their children are discussing on social networks. Other categories include cyberbullying, drugs and drinking, warnings of parents in the room, and requests to meet up in person.

"Many parents think friending their child on social networks is enough to monitor their activities and protect them, yet time and time again it's shown that it isn't," said George Garrick, CEO of SocialShield. "Most parents don't have the time to keep up with the sheer volume of interactions or have the understanding of the online language to really get what their kids are saying or what people are saying to their kids. This makes it really easy for problems to go unnoticed."

SocialShield has also found that as more parents have started friending their kids online, more kids are adopting this new lingo. In addition, the lexicon of terms changes often as kids develop new codes. To keep up with these changes, SocialShield's cloud-based technology continually scans interactions and updates the program's dictionary of terms in real-time to ensure parents have a full understanding of their child's online interactions. Potentially harmful or risky items are flagged for the parent's review.

A sampling of the top terms parents need to know includes:

-- Sexual Terms: GNOC ("Get Naked On Cam"); TDTM ("Talk Dirty To Me"); D46 ("Down For Sex?") -- Cyberbullying Terms: BIH ("Burn In Hell"); GKY ("Go Kill Yourself"); 182 ("I Hate You") -- Depression Signs: IHML ("I Hate My Life"); IHTFP ("I Hate This F--king Place"); PHM ("Please Help Me") -- Drugs/Drinking Terms: CRAFT ("Can't Remember A F--king Thing"); UDI ("Unidentified Drinking Injury") -- Meet Up Requests: MIRL ("Meet In Real Life?"); W2M ("Want To Meet?"); S2R ("Send To Receive" [Pictures]) -- Warning of Parents/Adults Nearby: POS ("Parent Over Shoulder"); AITR ("Adult In The Room"); P911 ("Parent Emergency") The complete list of terms is available on the SocialShield website at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14520582/SocialShield_acronyms.pdf.

About SocialShield

SocialShield is the leading cloud-based social network monitoring service. SocialShield gives parents affordable, easy-to-use, state-of-the-art tools to help them enhance Internet safety for their children in the online environment. The patent-pending SocialShield technology alerts parents of questionable activity on their child's social network accounts so they can feel comfortable about who their children interact with online, what photos and conversations are being posted, and where children have profiles. Yet, by operating primarily as an "exception reporting" technology, children can still use these networks with a feeling of privacy and independence. Based in San Bruno, CA, SocialShield is backed by USVP and Venrock as well as several notable private investors. For more, visit www.socialshield.com.