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	<title>The Inquisitr &#187; teen</title>
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		<title>Teen Sends 144 Tweets About Sexual Abuse, Kills Herself</title>
		<link>http://www.inquisitr.com/158638/teen-sends-144-tweets-about-sexual-abuse-kills-herself/</link>
		<comments>http://www.inquisitr.com/158638/teen-sends-144-tweets-about-sexual-abuse-kills-herself/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:14:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[teen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teen Abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.inquisitr.com/?p=158638</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<br />Ashley Billasono spent six hours on Twitter sending messages about being molested by a family member and then forced into prostitution before taking her own life. The 18-year-old sent out messages to her 500 Twitter followers in what has been largely seen as an attempt for her to reach out to anyone willing to listen [...]<p><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/158638/teen-sends-144-tweets-about-sexual-abuse-kills-herself/">Teen Sends 144 Tweets About Sexual Abuse, Kills Herself</a> is a post from: <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com">The Inquisitr</a></p>
<br /><br /><br />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-158639" title="Ashley Billasano" src="http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2011/11/Ashley-Billasano.jpeg" alt="Ashley Billasano" width="290" height="381" /></p>
<p>Ashley Billasono spent six hours on Twitter sending messages about being molested by a family member and then forced into prostitution before taking her own life.</p>
<p>The 18-year-old sent out messages to her 500 Twitter followers in what has been largely seen as an attempt for her to reach out to anyone willing to listen and talk about her ordeal.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/111108-18-year-old-girl-tweets-144-times-before-committing-suicide" target="_blank">Fox News Houston</a> none of the young girls followers sought help for her as she sent out 144 messages relating to her rape and forced prostitution.</p>
<p>Billasano spoke with authorities in 2010 about her sexual abuse at the hands of a family member however officials didn&#8217;t have enough evidence to press charges, that&#8217;s what led Ashley to tweet:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s when I changed &#8230; I didn&#8217;t care anymore and the people I was meeting gave me no reason to.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Before taking her own life she announced her suicide on the social network Tweeting:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d love to hear what you have to say, but I won&#8217;t be around.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Her last tweet read:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I hope I get this right.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Billasano killed herself with a suffocation technique she read about on the internet.</p>
<p>According to a police spokesman:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8216;It&#8217;s obvious she needed somebody to talk to and that&#8217;s what I believe those tweets were.&#8221; The rep continued, &#8220;She was trying to communicate and trying to get people to talk to her.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>It&#8217;s still unclear if any further efforts can be taken to uncover the truth about her sexual abuse at the hands of her family member. What the issue does reveal is that suicide hotlines and other teen outreach programs need to push more into the 21st century and discover new ways to find and reach out to teens and other internet users in need who spend an increasing amount of time using social media as their main means of communication.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/158638/teen-sends-144-tweets-about-sexual-abuse-kills-herself/">Teen Sends 144 Tweets About Sexual Abuse, Kills Herself</a> is a post from: <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com">The Inquisitr</a></p>
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			<media:title type="html">Ashley Billasano</media:title>
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		<title>Kiwibox Gets Long-Planned Makeover by Magnitude</title>
		<link>http://www.inquisitr.com/2144/kiwibox-gets-long-planned-makeover-by-magnitude/</link>
		<comments>http://www.inquisitr.com/2144/kiwibox-gets-long-planned-makeover-by-magnitude/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JR</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kiwibox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myspace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[teen]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.inquisitr.com/?p=2144</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<br />Teen social network Kiwibox is officially relaunching today &#8212; the culmination of a project in the works since the service was purchased by Magnitude Information Systems one year ago. Kiwibox 2.0, as it&#8217;s being branded, features a new look along with expanded widget-enabled profiles and additional game options. The service also now offers a revamped [...]<p><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/2144/kiwibox-gets-long-planned-makeover-by-magnitude/">Kiwibox Gets Long-Planned Makeover by Magnitude</a> is a post from: <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com">The Inquisitr</a></p>
<br /><br /><br />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/kiwibox0.jpg" alt="" title="kiwibox0" width="200" height="46" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2145" />Teen social network  <a href="http://kiwibox.com">Kiwibox</a> is officially relaunching today &#8212; the culmination of a project in the works since the service was purchased by Magnitude Information Systems one year ago.</p>
<p>Kiwibox 2.0, as it&#8217;s being branded, features a new look along with expanded widget-enabled profiles and additional game options.  The service also now offers a revamped video section and weekly magazine, both of which contain user-submitted news and celebrity reports. </p>
<p>&#8220;Members contribute content to Kiwibox, which goes through a collaborative editorial process before getting published to the site for the entire member base,&#8221; CEO Lin Dai told The Inquisitr, describing the configuration as &#8220;content meets social networking.&#8221;<br />
<span id="more-2144"></span><br />
<center><img src="http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/kiwibox1.jpg" alt="" title="kiwibox1" width="500" height="218" class="size-full wp-image-2146" /></center></p>
<p>Up next: Dai tells us Kiwibox will be getting integration tools that&#8217;ll let members interact with profiles on MySpace, Facebook, and other social network services.</p>
<p>Magnitude received <a href="http://mashable.com/2007/08/20/kiwibox-acquired/">$3 million in funding</a> when it acquired Kiwibox last August.  The social network has been around since 1999.</p>
<hr /><img src='http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/q.jpg' alt='' class='alignleft' /><b>Our vote:</b> The update is a significant improvement from the old, somewhat dated design carried over from before Magnitude&#8217;s purchase.  The new look far more effectively showcases the service&#8217;s Web 2.0-style interactive approach and will no doubt be welcomed by Kiwibox&#8217;s young, web-savvy audience.  The wealth of teen-targetted and teen-created content may be able to lure in some devoted MySpace users, particularly those in the younger teen/pre-teen years &#8212; and the closely controlled content, compared to the free-for-all alternatives, will certainly be of comfort to parents who are involved in their kids&#8217; online activity.  The upcoming social network interaction tools will only help the efforts to get MySpacers involved without forcing them to choose between the two.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/2144/kiwibox-gets-long-planned-makeover-by-magnitude/">Kiwibox Gets Long-Planned Makeover by Magnitude</a> is a post from: <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com">The Inquisitr</a></p>
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		<title>Teen Virtual World Takes $11 Million</title>
		<link>http://www.inquisitr.com/1668/teen-virtual-world-takes-11-million/</link>
		<comments>http://www.inquisitr.com/1668/teen-virtual-world-takes-11-million/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:35:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JR</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[teen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtual world]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.inquisitr.com/?p=1668</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<br />Teen-targeted virtual world Gaia Online has secured $11 million in new funding. The site brings in around 5 million visitors a month, leading to its recognition as the one of the most popular virtual stops for teen net users. The new cash, coming from Institutional Venture Partners, will go toward developing additional features &#8212; such [...]<p><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1668/teen-virtual-world-takes-11-million/">Teen Virtual World Takes $11 Million</a> is a post from: <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com">The Inquisitr</a></p>
<br /><br /><br />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/gaia.jpg" alt="" title="gaia" width="250" height="156" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1669" />Teen-targeted virtual world <a href="http://www.gaiaonline.com/">Gaia Online</a> has secured $11 million in new funding.</p>
<p>The site brings in around 5 million visitors a month, leading to its recognition as the one of the most popular virtual stops for teen net users.  The new cash, coming from Institutional Venture Partners, will go toward developing additional features &#8212; such as a multiplayer online game set to launch this summer.</p>
<p>The idea of teen virtual worlds may be the next big boom in Web 2.0 development.  Users of those types of services are expected to double over the next three years to 20 million, indicating more and more competing sites may start appearing, according to <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9990087-93.html?hhTest=1&#038;part=rss&#038;subj=news&#038;tag=2547-1_3-0-5">research quoted by CNET</a>. </p>
<div class="tradevibes_linkdiv"><a class="tradevibes_show_widget" href="http://venturebeatprofiles.com//company/profile/gaia-interactive">Gaia Interactive</a></div>
<p><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://qbase.tradevibes.com/widget/gaia-interactive"></script></p>
<p><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1668/teen-virtual-world-takes-11-million/">Teen Virtual World Takes $11 Million</a> is a post from: <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com">The Inquisitr</a></p>
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