Number of Posts: 36
Posts 21 - 30
Pokémon Go boom puts Occoquan on the map
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 14.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | The smartphone game Pokémon Go is becoming popular among teenagers, mothers and sons, couples, or middle-aged government workers. The game's augmented realited has brought those people to the small town of Occoquan (Virginia). The town is a hotbed for the game, and the town's popularity has been good for businesses. The game allows people to catch Pokémon creatures in real life. Why is Occoquan a good location for the game? It is situated on the banks of a river, so people can catch both land and water Pokémon creatures. Occoquan is also filled with historical buildings which can house many Pokémon creatures. People have been concerned about the popularity of the game. For example, players' distraction has led to an increase in robberies.
Image Description | N/A
Cinnabon causes a stir with Carrie Fisher tweet
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 29.12.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, Twitter
Summary | Big companies sometimes make gaffes when they use their social media accounts. For instance, after the death of actress Carrie FIsher, Cinnabon posted a picture of Princess Leia (Fisher's most famous role) with a cinnamon role representing her buns in her hair. Cinnabon had to delete its tweet and apologize after users thought the post was "tasteless". Other people thought that Fisher would have liked the post and laughed at it.
Image Description | N/A
Creepy start-up asks would-be renters for the keys to their data
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 10.6.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, privacy, social media, threat
Summary | A British start-up company wants to offer a service called "Tenant Assured" where landlords can check applicants' social media background. The individual's social media posts as well as private messages are analyzed and turned into a statistic of how much financial stress that person has based on their mentions of spending, loans, and pregnancies. This could be the future of all hiring processes, they say, because people are willing to give up their privacy for a service they want.
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
Scary clown rumors, threats feed hysteria, leading to school lockdowns, arrests
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 6.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, law, school, Snapchat, social media, threat
Summary | In the weeks running up to Halloween, many schools and colleges have had attack scares. Students heard over Snapchat or Yik Yak or some other social media platform that a clown was on the prowl at their school/college. These theats always ended up being false but students were worried and so were parents. Schools have to take such threats seriously. The police are being very clear that there are legal repercussions for false attack threats.
Image Description | Clown video and scary clown masks.
In search of 'lulz,' trolls hijack civic engagement
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 7.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, politics, social media, threat
Summary | Internet culture's sense of humor has become careless. A meme was recently circulated in Pennsyvania that said that one could vote online by just commenting the name of their candidate. Even though this was a joke, it was dangerously close to disenfranchising people of their votes. In the same way some people post anti-semitic or racist/sexist things and then claim to just do it to combat the tyranny of political correctness and not really meaning any harm. Such content however promotes extremism and is harmful - no matter the intentions.
Image Description | Man holding up Hillary Clinton toilet paper.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)
Twitter, eyeing trolls, provides a mute feature
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 16.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, Twitter
Summary | Twitter is working out a new way to adress harassment on their platform. Twitter has shied away from censorship in the past to protect free speech but now they are taking a stance against language of violence. Users can now choose not to see certain words or emojis and they can report people who harass them or other people on Twitter. So far, there have however not always been sufficient repercussions against reported users because Twitter's staff are not necessarily fully competent to understand why something is hurtful in a specific culture or context. They are working on schooling their staff.
Image Description | N/A
Wikipedia is fixing one of the Internet's biggest flaws: Online comments sections
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 26.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | politeness, social media, threat
Summary | Comment sections on any internet page of social media platform are notorious for displaying the worst in people. Social media is designed in such a way that it shelters its users into 'ideological echo chambers' and the isolation effect of the internet liberates people to be cruel with their language. Wikipedia has somehow managed to have a fairly respectful forum culture on their website even though it has not always been like this.
Image Description | The Wikipedia logo multiple times.
Image Tags | logo, Wikipedia
Trash talking has reached a whole new level, and it's all thanks to social media
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 12.12.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, politeness, social media, threat
Summary | Politeness and basic human decency has gone out the window since the advent of social media. Complete strangers and even politicians swear at each other online for the whole world to see. Insults are very personal and with no inhibitions.Especially in sports, pre-game trash-talking is now documented online for eternity. Many athletes even exhibit their religiousness online by thanking God after a successful game.
Image Description | N/A
YOLO flight: Why are dictionaries inhaling so much Internet slang?
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 13.12.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat
Summary | Dictionaries, in trying to keep up with the rapidly changing language in this era of social media, keep adding more and more words spread online such as "fleek" or "yaaas". They do make sure not to add every meme whose use spikes for a moment but they make an effort to stay on top of adding relevant new words which are widespread and keep being used frequently. Many people are worried about this development and see in this the dacay of language as we know it, especially since the Oxford Dictionary word of 2015 is not even a traditional word but the laughing-tears emoji.
Image Description | N/A
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