Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 2
Posts 1 - 2

A Hunt for Ways to Combat Online Radicalization

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 23.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Google, research/study, social media, threat, YouTube
Summary | Social media companies have only recently begun waking up to the fact that their unpoliced platforms are safe spaces for all kinds of extremism. Studies show that extremists nowadays get radicalized online, whether they be islamists or white supremacists. While these two movements may differ in ideologies, they resemble each otehr very strongly in their internet strategies of recruitment and organization of offline events. A research group at Google has now come up with a diversion strategy to combat the radicalization of individuals online. They target people who watch extremist recruitment videos on YouTube with video suggestions that present differing arguments and the downsides of that ideology. So far, there can be no knowing whether this strategy is helping but the redirection videos are being watched.
Image Description | GIF with mouse cursor arrows: black arrows surrounding a white arrow.
Image Tags | gifs

That time when ‘that time when’ took over the Internet #InstantNostalgia

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 15.9.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | hashtags, research/study, social media
Summary | It has become customary to frame anecdotal posts on social media with the phrase "that time when" or "that akward moment when". Sometimes it is even used to describe events that have just happened, even though it is a formulation that suggests an old memory. This linguistic strategy thereby creates an air of nostalgia around the memory and makes it iconic. Linguists suggest that the usage of the demonstrative "that" suggests that sender and receiver of the message have shared memories. This is why many celebrities use this construction to create a false sense of intimacy with their fans online.
Image Description | GIF of a woman taking a selfie and posting it to social media.
Image Tags | female(s), gifs, smartphone, social media

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