Pew Research Center – Favorable views of FBI have fallen sharply among Republicans – A new survey of public attitudes toward federal agencies finds that partisan differences in views of the FBI have increased markedly over the past year. And Americans’ opinions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement are deeply polarized: 72% of Republicans view ICE… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Social Media
Thinking about quitting Facebook? There’s a demographic analysis for that
EurekAlert: “People are either Facebook users or they are not. Facebook user data can be used to draw conclusions about general social phenomena. According to Eric P.S. Baumer, who studies human-computer interaction, the simple statements above are, in fact, not so simple–nor are they true. Baumer’s new research takes a fine-grained look at Facebook use… Continue Reading
Bloomberg – Inside Google’s Shadow Workforce
About half of Google’s workers are contractors who don’t receive the same benefits as direct employees – “Every day, tens of thousands of people stream into Google offices wearing red name badges. They eat in Google’s cafeterias, ride its commuter shuttles and work alongside its celebrated geeks. But they can’t access all of the company’s celebrated… Continue Reading
Paper – Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning
Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning. Gordon Pennycook and David G. Rand. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.011. Cognition. Available online 20 June 2018 [paywall – but Table of Contents, Abstract, Figures and Supplementary Data are available at no fee] Participants rated perceived accuracy of fake and… Continue Reading
YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, FB take new steps to combat fake news
Poynter: “YouTube will be surfacing authoritative sources in search results during breaking news in order to push out the regular dribble of conspiracy theories, but defining “authoritative” might be tricky. WhatsApp is now labeling forwarded messages and working with fact-checkers and researchers, but will it be enough to limit the spread of viral rumors? Facebook launched its data-sharing partnership with academics, but will… Continue Reading
Half Of U.S. Voters Say Russians Have Something On Trump, Quinnipiac University National Poll
Half Of U.S. Voters Say Russians Have Something On Trump, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Voters Say Both Sides At Fault For Bad Relations PDF format Trend Information Sample and Methodology detail “American voters believe 51 – 35 percent “that the Russian government has compromising information about President Trump,” according to a Quinnipiac University… Continue Reading
Report – Challenging Truth and Trust: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation
Computational Propaganda Research Program – Oxford Internet Institute – Challenging Truth and Trust: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation, July 20, 2018: “The manipulation of public opinion over social media platforms has emerged as a critical threat to public life. Around the world, a range of government agencies and political parties are exploiting… Continue Reading
DOJ plans to alert public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy
The Washington Post: “Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein spoke about foreign influence campaigns on July 19 at the Aspen Security Forum. The Justice Department plans to alert the public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy under a new policy designed to counter hacking and disinformation campaigns such as the one Russia undertook in 2016 to… Continue Reading
This Twitterbot keeps you up-to-date on fires burning near you
FastCompany: “As fire seasons in the U.S. gets hotter and drier, a new Twitterbot will show you if a wildfire is burning near your house, where the fire is headed, and if a plume of smoke is traveling in your direction by posting an updated time-lapse video and infrared images every six hours. The tool,… Continue Reading
10 Animal Twitter Accounts That Will Improve Your Life
Outside – This article certainly has helped my mood – I am a long time follower of BirdsRightsActivist “Barely English, but understandable because it’s written by a bird who fights anti-bird sentiment, and is running for president.” I am adding several more of these recommendations to ensure that I always can check-in while the collies… Continue Reading
Hearing – Facebook, Google and Twitter: Examining the Content Filtering Practice
“House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) today delivered the following statement during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on “Facebook, Google, and Twitter: Examining the Content Filtering Practices of Social Media Giants.” …Today, we continue to examine how social media companies filter content on their platforms. At our last hearing, which we held April, this… Continue Reading
Health Insurers Increasing Data Collection on Patients and Rates are Rising
Joint reporting – ProPublica and NPR: “Without any public scrutiny, insurers and data brokers are predicting your health costs based on data about things like race, marital status, how much TV you watch, whether you pay your bills on time or even buy plus-size clothing…With little public scrutiny, the health insurance industry has joined forces… Continue Reading
