Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 91
Posts 21 - 30

Does dark social have a bright future?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 19.12.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, marketing, social media
Summary | Our social media posts don't reveal who we really are. According to a research, it seems that in private users like reading about crime, fashion and celebrities. In public, users share (but don't read) articles about books, wine and the arts. This is a problem for advertisers; the posts we share make us look good, but they can't be trusted. 'Dark social' is the solution; marketers will have access to the content of our conversations (on non public social networks) to personalize their products. Also, using artifical intelligence and natural language processing, marketers will be able to deliver to personal events and products.
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How to Protect Your Privacy as More Apps Harvest Your Data

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 2.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, marketing, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | Many smartphone apps can be used for free, or rather one does not have to pay money to use it. However, if the app is not from a non-profit organization, users pay in some other way that may be obscure to them. Usually free for-profit apps collect data abou their users that they can sell to advertisers. The only way to protect oneself from this is to carefully read the terms and conditions, even if they are in legalese. If one does not like the level of privacy provided by an app, the only certain way to avoid data exploitation is not to download the app.
Image Description | Illustration of a hand holding a smartphone where eyes are hidden behind the app icons.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

What Chatbots Reveal About Our Own Shortcomings

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 24.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, marketing, misunderstanding, threat, Twitter
Summary | Artificial intelligence is the new big thing but it is mostly geared towards commercial services like ordering pizza, etc. Microsoft for instance proudly announced that their AI assistant can now even understand slang inputs. But this way of learning from actual users has shown to be risky when Microsoft released their AI robot Tay on Twitter and people trolled them by teaching Tay offensive things.
Image Description | Illustration and a GIF of smartphones typing.
Image Tags | gifs, smartphone, text

The Week in Tech: Facebook Live, a More Civil Reddit and Yahoo’s Odd Deal-Making

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 9.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, Facebook, marketing, politeness, Twitter
Summary | Reddit has for the first time in its existence enabled users to block other users from commenting. This enables censorship of less desirable opinions. Twitter landed the exclusive deal to live stream a football game on their platform, a deal Facebook was initially after since they are better known for their LiveStream service than Twitter. This is a high-profile marketing campaign for Twitter. Also, Yahoo is trying to sell itself.
Image Description | An image of a smartphone showing a livestreamed interview.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Justice Dept. calls Apple's encryption fight 'a diversion'

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 10.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, marketing, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | Ever since the FBI asked Apple to unlock a terrorist's iPhone, a huge debate around user privacy has ensued. Other tech companies side with Apple with the position that aiding the FBI at the expense of user privacy would open the gate for masses of future cases. The Justice Department however accuses Apple of purposefully making unbreachable smartphones, which may be good for user privacy (and thus for profit) but a huge problem for the police to be able to investigate criminal cases.
Image Description | Hand holding an iPhone.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Merkel says big internet firms 'distort perception': Chancellor demands Facebook and Google make their algorithms public

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 28.10.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, Google, marketing, politics, privacy
Summary | Merkel wants Facebook and Google to be more transparent and reveal the algorithms that select stories people see. She claimed that those algorithms distort our perception of reality. Internet giants don't agree with that; they said that viewers have access to a wide range of opinions.
Image Description | Photograph of Angela Merket speaking at a conference, photograph of the Facebook logo with the reaction buttons, and Twitter logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), logo, Twitter

Facebook backs down in race row: Will stop advertisers using 'ethnic affinity' to target housing, employment and credit ads

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 11.11.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, marketing, privacy
Summary | Facebook will stop its "ethnic affinity" practice that helps advertisers reach ethnic groups with housing, extension of credit, and employment ads. However, policymakers and civil rights leaders have been concerned about the use of the ethnic affinity option; those ads discriminate against people. The privacy and public policy manager at Facebook said that it is important to keep the option to include and exclude groups for advertisers.
Image Description | Screenshot of Facebook's 'Detailed Targeting' form, screenshot of a part of a Facebook page, photograph of a smartphone screen with social media logos on it
Image Tags | Facebook, logo, smartphone, social media

Free Tools to Keep Those Creepy Online Ads From Watching You

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.2.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | marketing, privacy, threat
Summary | Many companies track potential customers' internet activity so that they find out when someone, for instance, has the flu and will likely respond to flu medication advertisements. They collect data about all users when they visit a tracking website and then tailor advertising to specific target groups. This is a violation of our privacy because this process is very obscure and it is difficult to protect oneself from it but there are a few softwares one can get to stop companies from tracking one's online activity.
Image Description | Hands typing on a laptop keyboard.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, hand(s)

The rise of Uber means less love for London’s traditional black cabs

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 1.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | marketing, smartphone, threat
Summary | The app Uber is taking up much of official taxi companies' business. The iconinc London cab is endangered. Uber offers much cheaper rides than taxi cabs because the drivers do not have to go through any training - they just use their smartphone's GPS to drive customers. Customers also use their smartphone apps to hail an Uber ride.
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Gaming the System: Bots Inflate Instagram Egos

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 7.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Instagram, marketing
Summary | The author of the article posted a picture of the New York Times headquarters on Instagram, and got 11 comments from strangers, and none of them is related to the author. There is big marketing reason behind those comments; if a user follows or likes a public account's post, those accounts can in return use their automated liking and commenting. This is a marketing tactic used by companies in hopes that random Instagram users will like those automated public accounts in return. Small businesses want to have a lot of likes and followers in order to get some attention. However, the follower count is not representative of true following or of the work done by the business.
Image Description | N/A

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