Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 14
Posts 1 - 10

In test, Twitter to double character limit

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 27.9.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Twitter
Summary | Twitter is going to test tweets in 280 characters with a small group. The 140-character limit has been Twitter's most distinctive characteristics; some people don't want it to change. However, it is sometimes hard to express oneself in only 140 characters. Tweets in Japanese, Korean or Chinese are different; users don't need as many characters as tweets in English or French, for example. If people have more room to express themselves, they will tweet more, which is what Twitter wants.
Image Description | N/A

For travelers, chatbots and AI can't quite take you there

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 27.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence
Summary | Artificial intelligence experts are very enthusiastic about the latest developments in AI for travel. Lay users however disagree, they find artificially intelligent chatbots as of now basically useless for real travellers. They still struggle to understand natural language and various bugs remain to be fixed.
Image Description | Screenshot of a chatbot conversation through Facebook including an image of a pizza with topping floating over it.
Image Tags | Facebook, text

Facebook takes a new crack at halting fake news and clickbait

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 17.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, fake news, threat
Summary | Facebook has announced that it will work on new strategies to flag fake news on their platform by labeling them "disputed". Facebook's activism will also target click bait stories which can be equally misleading. Click bait are headlines which leave out essential content or grossly exaggerate to lure people into clicking on the link.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman's hand holding a smartphone showing the Facebook logo in front of a screen showing the Facebook sign-in page.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, Facebook, female(s), hand(s), logo, smartphone

UPDATE: Snaps won't disappear as quickly

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 10.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, Snapchat, translation
Summary | Snapchat will now allow users to broadcast their snaps for infinity instead of the previous 10 second maximum. This allows recipient to watch the snaps for as long as they like but once they close the message, it will disappear. Facebook is working on instantly translating all content (text and even video) on their platform so that users see everything in their preferred language.
Image Description | N/A

Facebook has a plan to let you type with your brain

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 19.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | brain, Facebook, privacy, word/writing
Summary | Facebook is working on a new technology that would let users type a hundred words per second with their thoughts only. If they could find a way to tap into brain signals it would be a huge leap for augmented reality. Many users are however already worried that Facebook is intruding in their privacy and are anxious about Facebook taping into their brains.
Image Description | A woman standing in front of the Facebook logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), logo

We tried Google's new fact-check filter on the Internet's favorite hoaxes

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 10.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | fake news, Google
Summary | Google has been working towards fact-checking the stories on Google News and enabling users to fact-check critical information quickly. Unfortunately, it does not always work. Oftentimes finding the correct information depends on which particular words are typed in the search bar.
Image Description | N/A

Practice safe Internet on the road

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 31.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | email, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat
Summary | Traveling can be dangerous, especiallyin the digital age. Many travelers make themselves vulnerable to criminals by sharing their location on social media or by connecting to a password-free wifi which is often provided by scammers to hack into email accounts. In these cases virtual kidnapping becomes possible when travelers spend a few days somewhere off the grid and a local group claims to have kidnapped the traveler and blackmails their family for ransom.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman sitting in a train.
Image Tags | female(s)

Talk to your teen about Snapchat Ghost Mode, and track their time

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 15.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, privacy, research/study, Snapchat, threat, youth
Summary | Teenagers today mainly use Snapchat, 75% to be extact. In comparison, 66% use Facebook, and 47% use Twitter. One third of teenage Snapchat users said they use Snapchat because their parents are not on it. There are various apps that let parents track their children's activity on apps to make sure they do not approach addictive levels of usage. Another good way to track that is to join Snapchat as a parent and keep an eye on one's children from within the app - this is for parents who want to be less "lame" about watching over their children. Snapchat map is a recently added function that parents should be partticularly worried about enabling users to share their location at all times.
Image Description | Screenshots of Snapchat map showing user avatars and settings as well as surveillance apps for parents.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Snapchat

Samsung's Bixby, its Siri rival, stammers at the start

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 6.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence
Summary | Samsung is currently testing their own version of an artificially intelligent assistant named Bixby. First reviews attest to its poor quality. Bixby can make phone calls to one's contacts but struggles with simple questions requiring a web search. Apparently, Bixby is further developed in Korean but lacks the big data necessary for it to work better in English.
Image Description | N/A

Pantsuit Nation' movement to press on after Clinton loss

Hyperlink

Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 9.11.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, politics, social media
Summary | A Facebook group called 'Pansuit Nation' is keeping Hilary Clinton supporters organized and everyone sharing their experiences of voting for a woman for the first time ever (some wearing pantsuits) with photos. The platform was so busy at times that Facebook servers could not keep up. Now that Clinton has lost the election, the group members are still discussing how they could take political action. A feminist studies scholar has however relativized the potential of the online community as the conversation on the platfor remains mostly superficial.
Image Description | Video of a Hilary Clinton speech.
Image Tags | female(s)

Page 1 of 2
Back | Next