Austin, TX, May 17, 2011 – MinorMonitor went live today as a unique, free, web-based tool for monitoring children on Facebook. Built just for parents to enable a quick, dashboard-view into their child(ren)’s Facebook activities and friends, MinorMonitor was created by Infoglide, a government-grade technology company that has been delivering anti-fraud software solutions to federal and state governments and commercial organizations for over 15 years. The free, web-based tool is open for sign up at www.minormonitor.com.

Online Peace of Mind Desperately Needed:

According to a recently released survey by Consumer Reports, there are over 20 million active Facebook minors and an estimated 7.5 million children using Facebook under the age of 13. Consumer Reports estimates that an alarming 1 million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on the site in the past year.

With increasing – and disheartening – stories of cyber bullying, online stalking and predators, hate crimes, and generally concerning conversations and relationships building through Facebook, parents feel helpless and worried about what their child is doing, saying, and “friending” online. There are some solutions, at a cost, and may or may not be effective for parents today, nothing is the silver bullet parents are asking for.

Austin-based Infoglide has been perfecting its own security and fraud analytics for over 15 years, for customers such as the US Department of Homeland Security and several other Fortune 500 banks, insurance companies, and retailers. A company comprised of concerned parents and grandparents, it set out to apply its security intelligence to a web-based tool parents could use to monitor their child’s Facebook activities and friends.

“We are so very proud to introduce MinorMonitor to all of the parents out there worried about what their children are up to on Facebook,” said Mike Shultz, CEO of Infoglide and head of the MinorMonitor effort. “We built MinorMonitor to take advantage of our deep security analytic technology, and extend this as a free service to benefit parents who want to make sure their child’s Facebook activities are safe.”

Validation of Solution:

Even before it was in private beta, MinorMonitor was spotted by experts in the field. It was discussed during an episode on The CBS Early Show as an innovative solution for monitoring children on Facebook.  Additionally, early testers are sharing great feedback as well, including Marilyn Berry, a Seattle, Washington mom of a 14-year-old girl, very active on Facebook. Marilyn says: “As an early tester, I’ve been using MinorMonitor for a couple weeks, now. I am very satisfied with this wonderful new service. MinorMonitor has provided me with alerts, and with this invaluable service, I’m able to keep track of my daughter.”

How MinorMonitor Works:

MinorMonitor, as a free web-based tool, has sophisticated algorithms that leverage an extensive keyword phrase library (of over 3,000 keywords) and natural language analytics that identify potentially dangerous activities such as bullying, drug use, solicitation, sexual references, and profanity. These algorithms and keyword phrases are continuously updated, with new words added to follow trends and slang. MinorMonitor also watches out for suspicious friends by identifying friends significantly older than the child, friends with a very small number of mutual friends, and friends who post an abnormally high amount of negative content.

MinorMonitor analyzes every type of activity including wall posts, notes, photos, videos, and messages. This continuous monitoring is available to parents at any time through an intuitive, easy-to-navigate dashboard. Proactive alerts may also be set up in order to receive immediate emails for extremely concerning events.

MinorMonitor’s proprietary, analytic technology foundation comes from Infoglide who brought its core capabilities downstream to benefit parents. More than just identifying and flagging concerning keyword phrases, MinorMonitor is also built with unique self-learning and natural language analytics that make it smarter over time, providing a more accurate analysis and fewer false alarms.

How to Get Started:

MinorMonitor does strongly advise its parent users to work with their child, communicate openly to secure their log in and password, and let the child know MinorMonitor will be at work to put parents at ease, resulting in a child actually having more freedom online. Getting started is as easy as clicking on the Get Started link at www.minormonitor.com, and then creating a name and password and entering your child’s password credentials into Facebook Connect. Within moments of granting your child’s Facebook login credentials, parents will see an analysis of their child’s activities and friends.

About MinorMonitor:

Launched in mid 2011, MinorMonitor is a free web-based tool that gives parents a quick, easy view into their child(ren)’s Facebook activities and friends, through knowledge-based analytics. Via an intuitive dashboard view, parents can access either a snapshot, or full detail and specifics, of potentially dangerous activities such as bullying, hate crimes, drug use, and sexual references.

MinorMonitor was developed by Austin-based Infoglide, a 15+ year technology company that developed deep security and fraud analytics that monitor and manage online reputations as well as screen and detect suspicious activities and behaviors for government (such as the TSA), law enforcement, banking, and other big business customers. Infoglide executives developed MinorMonitor to leverage the company’s analytics and extend them as a service to benefit those parents who are growing increasingly concerned over ensuring their child(ren)’s Facebook activities are safe.

To learn more, see www.minormonitor.com, or follow the company on Facebook at www.facebook.com/minormonitor or Twitter @minormonitor.