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Daily Archives: October 17, 2019

Peel back the layers of Twitter with this freshly updated tool

Poynter – A person or organization’s social media account reveals two layers of information – “The first is, obviously, the contents of the posts themselves. The second — much harder to obtain at a glance — is the structure and patterns contained within those messages. The latter can often enhance or, more common than you’d think, negate the former. A football star, for example, may say that he’s working hard and sleeping well and focusing on getting prepped for The Big Game. But a quick analysis of his Twitter account may reveal that he’s tweeting at all hours of the day and night (including during practice) about a variety of topics that have nothing to do with his team. Normally, this bird’s eye view (I know, cliché, but I can’t resist a Twitter pun) of information is interred in Twitter’s API, available only to those adept at coding and analysis, or to those willing to navigate the myriad tools that claim to be the best at extracting useful information from the site. But data analyst Luca Hammer just relaunched his Account Analysis tool, a longtime favorite of mine, to make it even easier to explore Twitter accounts on macro and micro scales.

Account Analysis (sign-in required, pro plans optional) uncloaks a ton of great information about any public Twitter account, including daily rhythms; frequency of tweets by specific dates and days of the week; and data about languages, interfaces, most common URLs shared and more. I like to tell people that we should look at digital tools as we do physical tools in our toolboxes at home: ready and available when you need them, out of the way when you don’t. It’s appropriate, then, that Account Analysis comes from a man whose last name is Hammer — probably the most useful tool there is…”

Bird populations have crashed. Here’s what you can do to help.

Washington Post – “…A study by ornithologists and other scientists released last month told us bird populations have crashed. Since 1970, the United States and Canada have lost nearly 3 billion, close to 30 percent fewer individuals. The losses are across habitats and species, though hardest hit are birds that inhabit the grasslands from Texas north… Continue Reading

An AI that writes convincing prose risks mass-producing fake news

MIT Technology Review – Fed with billions of words, this algorithm creates convincing articles and shows how AI could be used to fool people on a mass scale – “…The researchers set out to develop a general-purpose language algorithm, trained on a vast amount of text from the web, that would be capable of translating… Continue Reading

Germany’s cyber-security agency recommends Firefox as most secure browser

ZDNet – “Firefox is the only browser that received top marks in a recent audit carried out by Germany’s cyber-security agency — the German Federal Office for Information Security (or the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik — BSI). The BSI tested Mozilla Firefox 68 (ESR), Google Chrome 76, Microsoft Internet Explorer 11, and Microsoft Edge… Continue Reading

It’s Not Just the Glass Ceiling — Career Barriers for Women Start at the Management Level

New York Public Radio – “For women climbing the corporate ladder, the “glass ceiling” may not be the primary barrier keeping women out of top spots in leadership.  A new report from LeanIn.org and McKinsey and Company says women actually run into the most significant barrier to their success early in their careers: the first step up… Continue Reading

Inside TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free

ProPublica – Using lobbying, the revolving door and “dark pattern” customer tricks, Intuit fended off the government’s attempts to make tax filing free and easy, and created its multi-billion-dollar franchise. “…Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting product remains a steady moneymaker, but in the past two decades TurboTax, its tax preparation product, has driven the company’s steadily growing… Continue Reading

Census Bureau asks states for driver’s license records to produce citizenship data

WHYY – “The Census Bureau is asking states to voluntarily share driver’s license records as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to produce detailed data about the U.S. citizenship status of every person living in the country. According to a statement the bureau released Tuesday, the requests are in response to an executive order President… Continue Reading

Planning an in Person Professional Gathering Just Got Easier With LinkedIn Events

News release: “One of the most important aspects of building professional relationships for our members is being able to meet face to face. Whether at a local networking meet-up, a workshop or an alumni gathering, in-person interactions can help you create and foster deeper professional relationships. In fact, our data says that the chances of… Continue Reading