Number of Posts: 6
Posts 1 - 6
A Hunt for Ways to Combat Online Radicalization
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
Popular People Live Longer
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 1.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, research/study, social media
Summary | Resent research has shown that popularity significantly improves one's longevity due to many genetic, psychological, and evolutionary reasons. This may explain why so many people value their popularity on social media, i.e. how many followers, retweets, or likes they get. That is however not the kind of popularity that significantly improves one's chances at a long life. That requires a stable and large social surrounding with nurturing relationships.
Image Description | Illustration of a tombstone saying "not enough likes" with a thumbs down symbol.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook
If you don't want to police your social media circle, just let Bill do it
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 24.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | meme, research/study, selfie, social media
Summary | A new meme is policing how people should behave on social media. The format of the meme always goes like this: "This is Bill. Bill does [blank]. Be like him." accompanied by a stickfigure drawing of Bill. The meme is popular in various countries with different lanuguages. It shames users who overshare or post too many selfies, etc. A recent poll conducted by Bing has shown that 40% of Facebook users think their friends statuses are boring and 25% think that their friends post too many selfies.
Image Description | N/A
How can women build better friendships? Start with the right words.
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 11.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | research/study, social media, texting, threat
Summary | Linguist Deborah Tannen has just published her latest book about how women build their friendships through language. Communicating with friends and negotiating the terms of the friendship is fraught with risks especially now that social media lets one know exactly when one is being exluded from group activities. Texting also complicates our friendships.
Image Description | N/A
That time when ‘that time when’ took over the Internet #InstantNostalgia
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
The Raised Fist Emoji Is Social Media’s Resistance Symbol
Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 7.2.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, politics, research/study, social media, Twitter
Summary | Some researchers have analyzed which emojis are most often used in the recent protest hashtags on Twitter. The raised fist emoji comes up in all of them, particulartly when the tweet contains a word like "together" or a similar word marking community. Other popular emojis are the heart emoji, the American flag emoji, and the crying/laughing emoji. Depending on the tone of the hashtag, different emojis are more popular than others.
Image Description | The raised fist emoji and graphs and tables about the distribution of the different emojis in the protest hashtags.
Image Tags | chart, emojis, hashtag
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