Articles about Social Media

For people with less sense than money, there are NFTs to waste hard-earned cash on. But Meta is introducing a new way to part fools from their money -- Avatars Store.

These will be available for Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, and will give users the opportunity to buy digital clothes with which to adorn their avatar. Attempting to justify the selling of more digital fluff, Mark Zuckerberg insists that "digital goods will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver of the creative economy".

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The Facebook Messenger 'Is That You?' video phishing scam has been around since 2017, but a recent investigation into it by researchers at Cybernews has led to the discovery of what they're calling a 'cybercriminal stronghold'.

Threat actors are using this to infect the social network with thousands of malicious links each day. The research has also identified at least five suspects, thought to be residing in the Dominican Republic.

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Providing a digital identity to create an online account or complete a transaction is becoming more commonplace globally and consumers are now expecting this as part of their engagement with a business.

Research carried out by Opinium for Jumio surveyed 8,000 adult consumers split evenly across the UK, US, Singapore and Mexico. It finds that 57 percent now say they have to use their digital identity 'constantly' or 'often' to access their online accounts.

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How do you know if you're being targeted by an agent of a foreign power? It used to be easy, as soon as he ordered red wine with his fish* you knew he wasn't the right sort of chap.

Nowadays when nation states are more likely to befriend you on social media in order to try to steal sensitive data you can no longer rely on the wine list to help you spot a bad guy.

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A new study shows that 63 percent of the UK population distrust social media due to privacy concerns and what's more as a result of privacy issues or other public scandals involving social media, 30 percent of consumers have either disabled social media (17 percent) or plan to within the next 12 months (13 percent).

The research, from digital experience company Acquia, shows only 27 percent say they would be willing to part with more data to retain access to platforms. While 48 percent indicate that recent revelations about data sharing practices have led to them using social media less often.

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Enterprises are able to put considerable resources into securing their networks, which has led hackers to target executives via their personal accounts on social media and elsewhere outside the organization.

A survey by Influential Executive shows that in 2020, 94 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs were on LinkedIn and 62 percent on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, up from 39 percent five years before.

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News that Elon Musk has succeeded in his bid to buy Twitter has, as you might expect, triggered a range of reaction. From rejoicing in some quarters to wailing and gnashing of teeth in others.

The debate rages on the platform itself as well as in the wider media. We've put together a range of views.

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Elon Musk's recent colossal investment in Twitter made him the largest shareholder in the company. His tweets after this became public made it seem as though he was going to be something of a trouble-making disruptor, stirring things up with talk of an edit button, but it soon transpired that Twitter really is working on the option to edit tweets.

It's hard to say quite when the feature will be made available, and it is likely to be limited to Twitter Blue subscribers -- at least to start with. In the meantime, users who are not willing to pay for extra features can enjoy another new option: Unmention

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Pinterest has become the first major social network to implement a ban on users posting misinformation about climate change.

The image-focused social platform is putting in place new rules that means it will no longer be possible to post content that denies the existence or impacts of climate change, the human influence on climate change, or that climate change is backed by scientific consensus. Misleading posts, including those that misrepresent scientific data will also be banned.

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Elon Musk, the CEO of both Telsa and SpaceX, recently went shopping. He splashed $2.89 billion on Twitter stock, making him the largest shareholder in the company, with a hefty 9.2 percent holding.

While it is not yet clear what Musk intends to do with the influence he now undoubtedly wields, he is certainly not going to be sitting quietly. In a tweet posted overnight, the entrepreneur tweeted a poll asking if Twitter users would like an edit button.

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The idea of clickbait is nothing new. Sensational headlines have been used since the early days of the press to draw in users, and it is something that has continued into the internet age. But there is also a related problem that blights social media platforms such as Facebook: watchbait.

The idea is much the same as a clickbait headline; videos are given misleading, overblown headlines and descriptions that often omit key details in a bid to get people to watch to the end. Now Meta has announced that it is taking action, including using an automatic detection system that will reduce the distribution reach of offending videos.

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When Donald Trump launched his new social network, Truth Social, in an effort to mitigate his lifetime ban by Twitter and Facebook, everyone was curious what would come of it. It launched on February 21 of this year with something of a less than stellar debut.  

Early on, people were able to get on, but the servers quickly bogged down, and it began forming a waiting list. Like many of those trying to get in, I fell in that waiting list. As a writer, I have a vested interest in new tech of any kind. After all, we can’t talk about things to readers without first-hand experience. 

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Twitter has announced that it is testing a new way to start direct message conversations with users on the platform, leading to criticism from those concerned about the potential for abuse.

The new system means that it will be possible to start a DM conversation by simply clicking a newly added direct message button in individual tweets. While Twitter says that the move is about making it easier to start conversations, critics point out that it is likely to be used for harassment.

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There are many things that Twitter users would like to see implemented on the platform, not least of which is the option to edit tweets. As this is extraordinarily unlikely to happen, they'll have to make do with the next best thing -- a dislike button.

Except Twitter doesn't want you to call it that. And it does not function in the way you'd probably hope. So... prepare to be underwhelmed and disappointed by the downvote option which is now available worldwide.

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From a privacy point of view, there is much to love about end-to-end encryption, as employed by the likes of WhatsApp. But while users may delight in the knowledge that their communication is free from surveillance, there are some groups that have a different opinion.

Law enforcement agencies have long-complained that E2E encryption stands in the way of investigations, and serves to complicate evidence gathering. Many governments are of the same mind, and it's not just those that are traditionally regarded as totalitarian by other countries. Governments from ostensibly democratic countries are opposed to E2E encryption, and some are using underhand tactics in negative PR campaigns.

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