In today’s 50th edition of our “Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits,” we’re talking about cyberbullying, Facebook privacy, and why you should avoid medical advice on Twitter. We hope you enjoy this milestone occasion.

–

Boston Schools Fight Back Against Cyberbullies

Two articles from the Boston Globe discuss ways that school officials and city officials in the Boston area are seeking to limit the impact of cyberbullying. The moves come in response to national scrutiny over the death of South Hadley, Massachusetts teenager Phoebe Prince, who killed herself after being the victim of prolonged bullying attacks from other students. So far, prosecutors have indicted nine students in the Prince case.

Wolfram-Alpha Refocuses Strategy

When it came out, media pundits called Wolfram-Alpha the “Google Killer.” As it turns out, the website, which bills itself as a “computational knowledge engine” and focuses on data-driven results, struggled to find much of an audience at all. Now, according to a report in the LA Times Technology Blog, Wolfram-Alpha is working to expand its audience by reducing the price of its iPhone app, building apps for the new Apple iPad, and striking partnerships with other websites to feature its content.

Medical Misinformation Spreads Like a Virus on Twitter

In case you didn’t already know, you should think twice before you turn to Twitter for medical advice. According to the US News and World Report, researchers from Columbia University and MixedInk in New York discovered that medical misinformation can spread quickly via tweets.

From the article: “Other tweets discussed taking antibiotics for viral illnesses such as the cold or flu, even though antibiotics fight bacterial, not viral, infections, said study author Daniel Scanfeld, a doctoral student in computational biology at Columbia University. Other tweets were offers to share leftover pills with friends who might need them, a practice doctors discourage because of the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains. Still other Twitter users discussed that they were going to stop taking antibiotics before the full course because they felt better, another practice that can increase the risk of drug-resistant strains.”

Facebook Users Balance Privacy Concerns with Compulsion to Use the Site

As Facebook prepares for fallout from its latest planned privacy change (which would grant certain preapproved third-party companies access to basic user information), Rob Pegoraro at the Washington Post examines how users have begun shifting the way they use Facebook in response to the website’s more open nature.