Axios: “Twitter is still the place where media publishers collectively have the largest audiences, followed by Facebook and Instagram, according to an Axios analysis of 82 major news, entertainment and sports publishers. Why it matters: While some publishers are finding quick success on TikTok, the platform yields fewer overall followers for publishers than other social… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Social Media
A Prehistory of Social Media
Driscoll, Kevin. “A Prehistory of Social Media.” Issues in Science and Technology 38, no. 4 (Summer 2022): 20–23. “The standard account of internet history took shape in the early 1990s, as a mixture of commercial online services, university networks, and local community networks mutated into something bigger, more commercial, and more accessible to the general… Continue Reading
Transacting in Person with Strangers from the Internet
Krebs on Security: “These safe trading places exist because sometimes in-person transactions from the Internet don’t end well for one or more parties involved. The website Craigslistkillers has catalogued news links for at least 132 murders linked to Craigslist transactions since 2015. Many of these killings involved high-priced items like automobiles and consumer electronics, where… Continue Reading
Facebook Engineers: We Have No Idea Where We Keep All Your Personal Data
Intercept: “In March, two veteran Facebook engineers found themselves grilled about the company’s sprawling data collection operations in a hearing for the ongoing lawsuit over the mishandling of private user information stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The hearing, a transcript of which was recently unsealed (PDF), was aimed at resolving one crucial issue: What… Continue Reading
News Habits and Attitudes of the Gen Z and Millennial Generations
AP/NORC: “A new in-depth survey of 16- to 40-year-olds shows that members of the Gen Z and Millennial generations are active consumers of news and information, with nearly a third of them willing to pay for it. But their relationship with the news is complex — their trust in the press is low, many are… Continue Reading
Edelman Trust Barometer 2022
The Cycle of Distrust: “We find a world ensnared in a vicious cycle of distrust, fueled by a growing lack of faith in media and government. Through disinformation and division, these two institutions are feeding the cycle and exploiting it for commercial and political gain. Distrust is now society’s default emotion Nearly 6 in 10… Continue Reading
Photo restoration with GFP-GAN
“Restore old photos using our photo restoration application, built with Baseten and powered by the GFP-GAN model. Upload the photo you want to retouch, then click the “Restore photo” button. The restored image will display on the right for you to download.” Continue Reading
Google tracks 39 types of personal data, Apple tracks 12
AppleInsider: “New research claims that of five major Big Tech firms, Google tracks more private data about users than any other — and Apple tracks the least. Apple has previously introduced App Tracking Transparency specifically to protect the privacy of users from other companies. However, a new report says that Apple is also avoiding doing… Continue Reading
Why you (probably) won’t finish reading this story
Vox: “We live in a distracted world, almost certainly the most distracted world in human history. And if you’re part of this circus, you’re drowning in options and gadgets and screens and you’re being pulled in a million directions seemingly all at once. If you spend any time online, you already know this. You’re constantly… Continue Reading
Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media
Science Advances, Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media – Inoculating against misinformation techniques. Jon Roozenbeek, Sander van der Linden, Beth Goldberg, Steve Rathje and Stephan Lewandowsky. Published August 2022 Volume 8I Issue 34: “Online misinformation continues to have adverse consequences for society. Inoculation theory has been put for-ward as a way to… Continue Reading
Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half
Sparkman, G., Geiger, N. & Weber, E.U. Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half. Nat Commun 13, 4779 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32412-y “Pluralistic ignorance—a shared misperception of how others think or behave—poses a challenge to collective action on problems like climate change. Using a representative sample of Americans (N = 6119),… Continue Reading
Twitter has issues keeping your data secure. Here’s what you can do.
Washington Post: “Security experts say, short of quitting Twitter, there are a few steps you can take that might reduce your risk. Some of these might make using Twitter more annoying — but perhaps not as annoying as having your data stolen…Five steps you can take to reduce your own security and privacy risk, short… Continue Reading
