Articles about Social Media

How could Donald Trump be elected president? Judging by Facebook and Twitter a lot of people are asking that question this week. The same thing happened in the UK back in June when many people struggled to understand how the country could have voted for Brexit.

When everyone you're friends with online reinforces your world view it's easy to convince yourself that most of the world thinks as you do. It comes as a bit of an awakening therefore to discover it isn't the case and that -- shock! -- there may be people who vote that aren't even on social media at all.

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Facebook, like Google, is all about the ads. Not content with filling newsfeeds with advertising, Facebook Messenger -- already something of a privacy nightmare -- is about to become home to 'sponsored messages'. Ads by another name.

The new ad formats follow on from newsfeed data designed to direct Facebook users to Messenger, and from there the idea is to drive brand awareness and increase sales. But as with other advertising on Facebook, ads are targeted, meaning there is more than a slight degree of concern when it comes to privacy.

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Threatened with legal action if it failed to do so, Facebook has agreed to stop harvesting data from WhatsApp users and using that data to deliver targeted ads. The move comes weeks after the UK's Information Commissioner announced an investigation into the actions of the social network.

Facebook had already been blocked from doing this in Germany, and now the same restrictions are in place in the UK. With so much public interest in privacy, it is likely that other countries will follow suit in clamping down on Facebook's data collecting activities.

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The importance of social media to businesses has long been recognized. According to a recent survey, time spent on social platforms represents 28 percent of all online activity, so if it’s important to customers, it naturally becomes important for companies too.

While some firms are content to carry out intermittent checks on Facebook and Twitter, many businesses are now demanding more nuanced ways of monitoring social media content. Social relationship management, or SRM, is a software solution that promises to strategically analyze social network interactions to give your business a competitive edge. With organizations from a broad spectrum of industries all realizing the importance of social media, gaining greater insights in this field could make the difference between success and failure.

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November 8, 2016 is Election Day, and I am excited. While neither of the two major presidential candidates are exceptional in my eyes, I have decided on one of them. It is my responsibility and duty as an American to vote, and when I cast my ballot for her/him, I will do so proudly -- not holding my nose as I pull the lever.

If you are still undecided about choosing a candidate, or simply don't know where to go to vote, I have good news. Twitter is making it all very easy. Simply direct message the @Gov account, and you can obtain useful information. You can also use the #Election2016 hashtag when tweeting about the election.

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Facebook, it is said -- much like Big Brother -- is watching you. Privacy groups have long warned about the potential for information shared on the social network to be misused, and now an insurance company is planning to make use of the status updates customers post to determine the type of drivers they are.

The controversial move finds Admiral Insurance using an algorithm to analyze the posts of new drivers in a bid to determine the type of people they are. By linking 'likes', writing style and other factors, Admiral believes the system -- called firstcarquote -- can be used to accurately assess how safe a driver someone is.

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The latest addition to the MacBook Pro range has seen Apple heaped with praise -- for the most part. While the reception has been largely positive, there have been pockets of criticism.

One thing for which the late-2016 MacBook Pro has been mocked is its lack of an SD card reader. Some critics have said that the absence of such a port means the laptop is not worthy of its 'professional' tag. Razer, the company behind high-end gaming laptops, today took to Twitter to take a swipe at Apple with a taunt that raised eyebrows and caused a degree of offense.

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There is just over a week to go until the most important US election in living memory is over. On 8 November voters will hit booths to indicate their preference for Trump, Clinton, or one of the various independents. Facebook is getting in on the action, looking to let users know about the candidates and to encourage voting.

While the new Facebook feature lets you vote for candidates by favoriting them on the new site, the social network is quick to point out that this is not online voting -- votes placed on the site will not count towards the election proper. So what’s the point?

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Twitter's decision to shut down Vine disappointed many people, but there was some reassurance that while it is not going to be possible to create any more Vines, existing ones will be saved on the website for the foreseeable future.

Recognizing the potential for things to change, GIPHY has announced that it is actively developing a tool that will make it possible to further safeguard the future of your favorite Vines. The animated GIF company is working on a tool that will convert Vines into GIFs. "Long live the loop!" exclaims the company.

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Earlier today we reported about allegations from ProPublica that Facebook is engaged in what appears to be racist ad targeting by excluding based on 'ethnic affinity'. Facebook, predictably, refutes these claims.

Firing up full-on defensive mode, Facebook says that its users benefit from targeted content that is more relevant to them. To use the company's marketing spiel, this is "especially critical for people who choose to affiliate with ethnic communities". Far from being racist, this exclusion targeting technique is actually used to avoid causing offense, says Facebook.

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Advertisers on Facebook are being given the opportunity to exclude people of certain ethnicities from seeing their ads. This is the accusation made in a new report by ProPublica, and it's a feature that -- if true -- would be both racist and illegal.

Just as for Google, advertising is big business for Facebook, and the social networking giant is keen to give advertisers all of the tools they need to ensure the maximum return on their investments. But the revelation that the audience for ads can be targeted by excluding those with a particular 'ethnic affinity' is more than a little disturbing.

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Twitter today announced that it was doing everything it could to bring in some profit, and this was swiftly followed by the announcement that the company is to close down Vine.

Vines that have already been created will live on via the website, but the mobile apps will be shuttered, and no more Vines can be created. The precise date of the closure has not been revealed, but it is some time in the coming months.

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Twitter's troll and harassment problem is well-documented, and the social media site has faced mounting criticism over its apparent inability to keep users in check. In a letter to shareholders, Twitter today announced that it will be making "meaningful updates" to its safety policy -- but it doesn’t say what they might be.

The letter says that Twitter wants to "drive value" across three key areas: audience, content, and revenue. For the audience side of things, this means timeline tinkering and contextualizing content. For content, it means partnerships, streaming video and syndication. To make the most of revenue, some fat must be trimmed, and this means internal restructuring and job losses.

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Out on the streets people may be keeping an eye open for killer clowns, but on Facebook this Halloween things are also taking a frightening turn. The social network is using this spooky time of year to introduce augmented reality masks to Live video -- with a Halloween twist, of course.

At the same time, Facebook is also adding "limited-edition" Halloween reactions. These transform the now familiar Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry reactions in something rather more ghoulish.

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Okay, I’m back, still without cataract surgery but I have the fonts cranked-up on this notebook and my one working eye is still, well, working so I am, too. My next column will be about last week’s Internet DNS failure but right now I want to write about all these folks who have been asking to connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media. I’ll bet you have the same problems that I do.

Once you have enough connections (I have 2785 Facebook "friends" and 2552 "connections" on LinkedIn) you become a target for people trying to build their networks. In the beginning my philosophy about these things was to never ask anyone to be my friend or my connection but to always accept any friend or connection requests. I didn’t feel I was taking advantage of anyone yet my networks grew nicely, though I’d hardly met any of these people in real life.

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