Articles about Social Media

Silicon Valley met with the US government on Friday to discuss how to tackle online terrorist propaganda from the likes of IS. At a closed-door meeting, Tim Cook and representative of Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and other tech firms spoke with White House officials to try to find a way to combat terrorists on the web.

Joined by the likes of the NSA and FBI, the technology firms, and the Obama administration are seeking ways to stop terrorist propaganda being disseminated online. IS has already proved itself to be a masterful manipulator of the media, and has successfully used social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to get its message out.

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Twitter could be on the verge of making one of the most significant changes in its history. The micro-blogging service has long been famed for its 140-character limit that allows for pithy quips, concise statements, and brief utterances. But all this could be about to change. Reports suggest that the 140-character restriction could be thrown out of the window, with a decidedly meatier 10,000-character upper limit being ushered in instead.

If such a change is implemented, it would bring regular tweets in line with direct messages which enjoyed a lengthening just a few months ago, and comes shortly after Twitter changed the order in which tweets are displayed. Both of these changes led to a good deal of debate, but would increasing the maximum length of a regular, public message by more than 70 times be such a fundamental change as to be a step in the wrong direction?

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This is a personal account of my experience of depression and how I feel technology has both helped me, and held me back. I've been depressed for just about as long as I can remember, but it's only in the last six months or so that I decided I needed help and thought it was time to do something. 30-odd years is a long time to feel like Atlas bearing the weight of the world.

Having made this decision, technology was something of a lifeline... specifically, and perhaps oddly, Facebook. The social network made it possible for me to communicate with friends when the mere idea of actually speaking to someone seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. It broke down barriers of time and distance, eased my embarrassment, stopped me from feeling awkward for crying (although even writing that brought the tears welling up, and I feel like an idiot, albeit in private).

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Social networks were designed for people, and people mean problems. In particular, the likes of Facebook and Twitter have become havens for bullies and trolls, eager to prey on others online. Twitter has launched tools and education programs to combat trolling, and now the site says that it is winning the battle.

After making it easier to report abusive tweets and increasing the size of its anti-troll team, Twitter believes it is getting 'bad behavior' under control. As well as bullying of acquaintances and work colleagues, Twitter has also been used to attack celebrities, the gay community, religious groups, and more, with many people feeling driven from the site. It seems that the decision to take a very hands-on approach to troll tackling is starting to pay off.

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As the New Year approaches, and I contemplate 2016, my online social space surely will change; my like-affair with Google+ draws close to an end. Nearly six weeks ago, the service "reimagined", as a "fully redesigned Google+ that puts Communities and Collections front and center".

Since then, my Google+ engagement has dropped by more than 90 percent. I don't find as many posts to Plus-one, to share with others, or on which to comment. Similarly, I see shocking decline in the number of responses to my posts—not something I actively seek so much as by which to judge interest in what I write and also to interact with other Plusers. After years of misguided critics calling Google+ a ghost town, the tumbleweeds roll.

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The demise of Flash has been long, lingering, and painful -- and highly over due in many people's books. There has been a spate of high profile ditchings of Flash recently: Speedtest.net, Twitch, Chrome and Netflix to name but a few. Now Facebook has thrown its hat in the ring switching to HTML5 video.

This is a move that is browser-agnostic, and means that every single video you see on the social network will default to HTML5. While many will see this as a cause for celebration, the change does not completely spell the death of Flash -- it will continue to be used on Facebook for many games.

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You might think that talking about Facebook and privacy in the same breath is a little odd. The two just don’t go hand in hand, surely? Trying to use Facebook whilst maintaining your privacy is an exercise in futility, right? Well, yes, it’s certainly true that hitting a social network is not the thing to do if you want to fly under the radar, but many people do not realize just how easy it is to unwittingly hand over reams of personal information to companies and persons unknown.

While a majority of users are aware that anything they post -- essentially -- becomes Facebook's property, and can be exploited in a variety of ways. Anything shared to the social network can be used to dig up an ever-more accurate picture of who you are, where you are, what you do, what you like, and who you know. Quizzes, personality tests, friend comparisons, and year in review apps, however, are blackholes for personal data -- and the huge range of apps from Meaww have been singled out as being a major cause for concern.

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The real names debate on Facebook is long-running and highly polarizing. Views fall into one of two camps: that people should be able to use whatever name they want on the social network, or that Facebook is free to impose whatever restrictions it wants. For supporters of the latter opinion, there is only really one argument -- Facebook can do what it likes.

But for those of the opposing view, there are countless -- well, several, at least -- reasons for scrapping the rule. Facebook has not performed a complete 180 yet, but the social network has today announced a couple of small, but important, changes to its naming policy. Following an earlier change to policy, Facebook says it wants to make things easier for those who belong to ethnic minorities, or who identify as "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer".

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ISIS has been in the news for some time now, and events like the recent terror attacks in Paris keep pushing the group into the public consciousness. Governments may be waging war on ISIS on the ground, but on the web it is the likes of Anonymous and vigilante hackers who have taken it upon themselves to curtail terrorist propaganda.

In the latest twist in the tail, hacker group VandaSec traced the IP addresses relating to some ISIS Twitter accounts to the UK government -- the Department of Work and Pensions specifically. Given that the accounts have been used not only to spread ISIS propaganda, but also to recruit members, does the UK government have a dirty little secret? As you might expect, it's not quite that simple.

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With projects like Internet.org, Facebook has shown that it is interested in getting the world connected. But the truth of the matter is that no matter where you may be in the world, there are times when it can be impossible to get a decent phone signal to allow you to post a photo of your meal.

Joking aside, in countries where people are struggling with 2G connections or otherwise unreliable signals, making use of Facebook's News Feed can be difficult. The social network is rolling out new technology that will make it possible for people with slow connections to now only see relevant news stories on a poor connection, but also post comments when offline.

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Twitter's timeline is getting a makeover. Not content with presenting tweets in an ordered, chronological fashion (well, reverse-chronological if you want to be pedantic), Twitter is experimenting with the order which tweets are displayed.

It's something that Facebook has been doing for a while, but now Twitter has jumped on the bandwagon using new methods to "surface the best content" for users. At the moment, this is just an experiment, but it's entirely possible that the re-ordering will become the norm in the not-too-distant future. So what's the deal?

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The UK's decision to start a military campaign in Syria to fight ISIS has dramatically divided opinion. Support and opposition is not split neatly down party lines, but a vote this week led to almost immediate airstrikes being carried out.

Taking to social media, Prime Minister David Cameron -- or his representatives -- used his official Facebook page to crow about the fact that vote went the way he wanted it to. This has had something of an interesting side effect. Facebook users are reporting the page for threatening violence.

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The ability to broadcast live video on Facebook is something that has previously only been available to celebrities. It's not being made available to everyone -- yet -- but a handful of lucky users are being given the chance to try it out ahead of a wider rollout.

Starting today, some US iPhone users will be able to live broadcast to their friends and family. This is Facebook's bid to take on Twitter's Periscope, but the social network has more to announce. On top of Live Video, photo collages are also being unveiled as a new way to show off your snaps.

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Facebook has done an excellent job of becoming the social network, connecting people all over the world. More recently, it has tapped into business markets by providing companies with a quick, easy, and -- importantly -- free way to create an online presence. Now, with an update to its Page plugin, Facebook is making it easier for businesses to connect and communicate with customers.

The update makes it possible to better integrate Facebook with an existing website. Companies can easily add the ability to send a message via their website, and the communication will appear on Facebook on the Messages tab. The update also makes it easier to share news about upcoming events, keeping all-important customer engagement going.

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Break ups happen. Relationships come to an end. It might be an amicable termination, but the chances are that it's not. You probably never want to hear from your ex partner again. Unfortunately, over the years, you have built up a shared circle of friends, and you're both connected to them on Facebook.

Depending on the circumstances of the break up, you might want to go as far as ditching the online friendship and blocking your former beau. But you might not want to take things quite that far. With this in mind, Facebook is now rolling out new features that kick in when you indicate that you're no longer in a relationship, so you won’t be constantly reminded of what you have lost.

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