What the media didn’t report on enough this week
Safer Internet Day. Yes, apparently such a thing does exist and it occurred this past Tuesday. In its honor Microsoft released their Global Digital Civility Index in the hopes that we can all try and be a bit more civil to each other online.

They also introduced a Digital Civility Challenge aimed at children and young people, although judging by what I've been seeing online it would do us all some good to take that pledge.  

What Twitter is doing to make things safer online
This week they introduced three new features including a “safe search” toggle you can turn on that will remove tweets, phrases and images that the company has determined to be inappropriate from your results.

What you need to know about keeping your privacy safe
New rules that the FCC implemented in October 2016 to protect your online privacy are already coming under threat which is one of many reasons The Privacy Paradox, a special podcast series on WNYC is a good choice for anyone who wants to know more about their online privacy and how to control it.

Among other fascinating tidbits it offers is this fun quiz to discover your privacy personality (I’m a Believer) and an application called Apply Magic Sauce which can predict your psychological traits by connecting to Facebook or copying and pasting a snippet of text you’ve written online. (I tried this. Some of the results were a bit scary and others - like thinking I'm 38 - I kinda liked!)

How to get more engagement on Instagram
In the world of social media what you want is engagement and in the world of marketing everyone is looking for the secret sauce. While I admit this falls under the category of scary but true, here’s one way to do that on Instagram. 😉

What Facebook thinks is authentic
You might not care what Facebook thinks, but it does have a bearing on how and if what you share is showing up in their newsfeed - especially since their most recent algorithm change.

The debate over the separation of brand and politics continues
This author offers research to support the view that staying neutral may be more dangerous than taking a stand.

Quote of the week
In honor of Black History Month this one is from Shirley Chisholm 
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

until next time,