Think back to 1999 when emoji were first brought to mobile devices.
Chances are you don't remember the original emoji, cutesy, minimal
versions of the visual language of today. A few of them remind me of the
item icons from Paper Mario 64, particularly the snowman, lightning
bolt, and swirl (check the second grouping below to compare).
spiriters-resource.com
The sprite-like primordial emoji-spawn were created by Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita for NTT Docomo, a telecommunications company in Japan. Kurita's original set consists of 176 characters,
the most basic of symbols that we've come to associate with the special
keyboard on our phones. At first the emoji were simply black and white,
but after a few years, six colours were added: black, red, orange,
lilac, grass green, and royal blue. In our emoji-filled world, it's
difficult to quantify exactly how many emoji we have access to
considering that some variations are only available on certain
phones/platforms/etc. However, with the inclusion of the latest batch of
emoji (refer to Unicode 9.0), there are a whopping 1,851. Quite an improvement upon Kurita's original set.
New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has recognised that emoji language was born with Kurita. On 26 October, MoMA added the original set of emojis to its collection.
To mark the occasion, the museum will be opening an installation in
December to fully delve into emoji beginnings and offer a new look at
classic favourites.
MoMA's Paul Galloway wrote a piece explaining the history and significance of emoji. In it, he says, "Filling in for body language, emoticons, kaomoji,
and emoji reassert the human in the deeply impersonal, abstract space
of electronic communication." As a society, we learn to exist within
preexisting parameters, "The design of a chair dictates our posture; so,
too, does the format of electronic communication shape our voice."
NTT Docomo marked their place at the forefront of innovation by bringing
imagery to early mobile technology, sourcing manga, symbol languages,
and basic emoticons to create a popular set of images. By tailoring images to 12 x 12 pixels, the telecommunications company pushed the era of a global, visual language into existence.
Paul Galloway's Piece
Originally, the emoji were made to display on NTT Docomo pagers,
accounting for their blocky appearance. Kurita's iconic symbols were used to connect with potential customers through the spread of information.
For example, the weather-related emoji were used to deliver weather
reports whereas the hamburger, martini glass, and high heel were used in
advertising local businesses. Inserting an emoji along with a business
name clarified what a customer could expect.
From EmojiCon
to the Unicode Emoji Subcommitte to lengthy-but-accurate emoji stories,
this new form of communication has been embraced with open arms and
willing souls. If you are attending EmojiCon in San Francisco, MoMA's
Paul Galloway will be a guest speaker! Don't miss him.
'Masks' are an augmented reality feature which pastes a digital 'mask' over your own face when you take a selfie, in almost exactly the same way that Snapchat's lenses do.
Currently, they're all Halloween themed, and given that we've seen
man-makeup, zombie faces and rainbow vomit from the yellow side of the
pitch, the options on offer here look decidedly less imaginative. You get a pumpkin, a witch, a skeleton, and a few more less festive but no less generic options.
The difference is, rather than photo messaging, Masks are activated when you're posting a live video through the main Facebook app,
but only on iOS in the US, UK and New Zealand for the time being. The
Android/more global launch will be some time in the next couple of
months.
They were developed by MSQRD, a start-up which Facebook picked up back in March,
but hadn't really done anything concrete with until now. I don't think I
have to remind anyone that this is a play by Facebook to pull in a
younger crowd, as statistics suggest that more millennials are leaving
Facebook behind each month, and even those that stay only do so out of
necessity. Heaven forbid they might come up with a few genuinely
original ideas to keep the young crowd interested.
Again, the fact that it's on Live is the key difference that Facebook are trying to capitalise on.
The Halloween-themed wider release suggests that they're hoping
everyone will enjoy making scary faces at each other so much that they
adopt Masks as a regular part of their live streaming shenanigans. In
either case, I doubt Snapchat are losing any sleep over it.
Pinterest has a sleek new HQ building in San Francisco which is
perfectly suited to the company's present trajectory. Earlier this year,
the image-sharing site overhauled its layout, moving to a cleaner,
sleeker user interface. Now, that same shift is being allegorised by a
gigantic staircase which spirals upward four floors and provides the
centrepiece for the company's new San Francisco head office. The
building used to be a John Deere factory, an American manufacturer best
known for making huge pieces of agricultural machinery. As the company's
designers explained to Business Insider, the staircase is "awash in white space and gets you to where you're going faster." As a whole, the building is colder, sharper, more business-like. But if this mega-unicorn is shaking-off its old horseshoes, it looks like they won't be coming off all at once.
Lounge and bar in the old HQ - img src: Business Insider
The old HQ was characterised by a hearty dash of that particular branded
chaos - controlled, clean, held back to arm's length - which renders
hipsters drooling for more. The security desk was a motor car; real
vegetation sprouted from and old suitcase and bicycles; coloured yarn
(that's American for 'string') was coiled about, running around seating
areas and hugging structural beams. (There's a full tour of the offices here) It had all the penchants of a young, fresh enterprise: a brave look, new ideas and bags of creativity.
You also got the sense of acumen, quality and professionalism: beneath
the warm and cosy appearance, you knew that a lot of hard work built
that place. I mean, think of the rent! But as times are changing, so too
are looks: and as the company's new venture follows the pull of the
current, perhaps we should think of it as a branded new chapter in the
grand catalogue of Pinterest's overall accomplishments.
The New HQ, exterior - image source: Business Insider
The architecture practice behind the new offices, IwamotoScott, has also been responsible for some very cool building designs during
the 2010's. From the outside, the look has moved from arts and crafts
to minimalism: the dilapidated chic that was Sodosopa (sorry, I mean the
old office) has been replaced by a large, rectangular shoe box,
with plenty of big windows and a few paperclip things on the top
corners. The whole thing hangs like a post on a cork board: it doesn't
forget the company's roots (come on, it's an artsy refurbishment of an
old factory - how hipster can you get?). But it's sharper, more
restrained than before - perhaps more joyless, but also more grown-up.
That's the image the company is projecting anyway; and it's not just because of the new site layout. The company itself was valued at $11 billion last year, after which it began expanding into even more office properties in San Francisco. Incidentally, check out Pandoor Investopediafor
an explanation of how Pinterest got to such dizzying heights without
really making any money (essentially, it's all about what it could
potentially make were it to branch out into revenue generation in
earnest).
Employees have
taken it upon themselves to add a little charm, installing these quirky
wall flowers to a lounge area. image source: Business Insider
Frank Gehry-ish, anyone? - img src: Business Insider
Overall, then, the new offices look a lot like the company itself.
Which makes sense. And perhaps they imply the enduring desire to keep
the show on the road for growth - I mean, if you squint hard, parts of
it kind of look like the inside of a Frank Gehry studio...
you know, before the buildings are finished and all that. But far be it
from me, a lowly intern, to aspire so high, I personally wouldn't half
mind working there. If only I could draw...
Netflix and RuneScape lovers alike were funneled into the same boat on
21 October when their domain name provider was targeted by a DDoS
attack. The attack affected site and service availability for those
hosted on Dyn, a company responsible for a large amount of the
internet's domain name system infrastructure, including PayPal, Twitter,
Reddit, GitHub, Amazon, and Spotify among others. The attack happened around 7 a.m. E.T., disabling website addresses assigned by Dyn.
The perpetrators carried out their attacks in three waves. After the
initial attack, Dyn increased their security measures, lessening the
impact of the following waves on their DNS. A portion of the attack
originated from a Mirai Command and Control server. Essentially, botnets comprised of Mirai software scout out IoT (Internet of Things) devices using default usernames and passwords, infecting them in order to gain access. Millions of web-enabled, infected devices pummeled the data centers with junk data.
Security firm Flashpoint released an "after-action" analysis of the incident where it concluded that the attacks were likely carried out by amateur hackers.
To add to the confusion, some believed that state-sponsored actors
perpetrated the attack or that the Russian government was somehow
involved. WikiLeaks tweeted that a supporter may be responsible,
jokingly we hope.
Mr. Assange is still alive and WikiLeaks is still publishing. We ask supporters to stop taking down the US internet. You proved your point. pic.twitter.com/XVch196xyL
In their investigation, Flashpoint discovered that the infrastructure used in the attack mirrored the one used against a well-known video game company:
"While there does not appear to have been any disruption of service,
the targeting of a video game company is less indicative of hacktivists,
state-actors, or social justice communities, and aligns more with the
hackers that frequent online hacking forums." Writers of the report
Allison Nixon, John Costello, and Zach Wikholm have specifically
referenced the Hackforums community where commercial DDoS tools, known as booters or stressers, are sold.
Further on, the writers assert that they are moderately confident that
the attacks had no financial or political motivation. Instead, since the
hackers targeted entertainment and social media, the motivating factors
were to "show off, or to cause disruption and chaos for sport." In the
past, DDoS attacks launched at gaming companies had no other purpose
than to "show off their credentials as hackers of skill, or to 'troll'
and gain attention by causing disruption to popular services."
Ophtek.com
A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is one in which multiple compromised systems are infected in order to target a single system,
resulting in a DOS (Denial of Service) attack. Various computers and
internet connections are used, often distributing data via botnets to
overwhelm the target. Having numerous sources makes the attack difficult
to stop. The IoT has expanded the terrain over which hackers are able
to attack. As everyday devices are able to connect to the internet
and each other, things like cell phones, routers, DVRs (digital video
recorders), and security cameras can be used to contribute to DDoS
attacks via botnets.
For those of us obsessively watching Mr. Robot, the professionalism of
Rami Malek's character, an off-the-grid, anonymous master hacker,
contrasts sharply to the script kiddies in this latest attack. The
term, used a couple times in the show, differentiates between someone
who uses existing computer scripts/codes rather than writing their own.
For those of you who haven't dived into the series, just imagine
watching a reclusive, anonymous hacker in his element. Follow him
through a life of tenuous relationships, a master plan, and a
psychologically questionable life. You won't be disappointed.
After 4 years of 6 second packages of fun, ridiculousness,
pointlessness, narcissism, obscurity, stupidity and everything in
between, Vine is no more. Twitter have announced
that the Vine is being cut for good, as the video app will be gradually
discontinued across platforms over the next few months. Sorry, Batdad,
we had a good run.
The website is staying up for the time being, the videos themselves
remain downloadable and users will be notified of any changes well ahead
of time, but the fact remains that Vine will, soon enough, be gone.
It's true that the service has been in decline for a while, but it's
hard to think of another video app that's had such a massive, resonant
impact on internet culture.
Admittedly, some of the behaviour funnelled through Vine was beyond
idiotic, but some of it was comedy gold, and without it we wouldn't have
Netflix and chill, and how much fun have we all had with that phrase.
Some Vine creators have launched full blown careers off the back of it,
and while their ongoing success won't be hindered by the app's demise,
there will likely always be an echo of it living through their work.
Part of what made Vine so successful was the simplicity, you had 6
precious seconds to get your idea across, and when you think about it
like that, what some people did with such a limited amount of time is
amazing. Its death is partly to do with the increasing prevalence of
short video posting on other platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, and
partly to do with GIFs, live streams and longer videos becoming more the
norm.
There's something rather poignant about seeing a moment trapped in a 6
second loop, though. It forces you to observe it from multiple angles,
expand it, crystallise it. Sometimes you'd catch yourself staring at a
Vine for minutes, completely mesmerised by something which, under other
circumstances, might have completely passed you by. So, a fond farewell
to Vine, a relic of a simpler time, when everyone was busy being
terrified of ancient Mayan prophecies, rather than an oily mound of
boiled corn beef with a ridiculous yellow toupee.
Twitter has recently commenced the testing phase of the final parts of their new rules about character limits. The changes, announced in May, will reduce the amount of entities that push your tweet towards that pesky character cap.
The standout removal is @usernames, with these no longer counting,
allowing users to pseudo-anonymously flame whole swathes of people whose
opinions they mildly disagree with @ one fell swoop.
The development, which has taken on a hashtag following of #beyond140, is a welcome change amongst users. Rumors had the full changes appearing on September the 19th, but these turned out to be just the removal of media such as images, gifs, and videos from the character count. This testing phase marks the full implementation of the changes, and according to TechCrunch has begun to affect sections of live users, with a full scale release coming up in the near future.
Say more about what's happening! Rolling out now: photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and Quote Tweets no longer count toward your 140 characters. pic.twitter.com/I9pUC0NdZC
The earlier May announcement laid out the character limit changes Twitter were planning:
Media attachments like gifs don't count. This came out on September 19th.
@names don't count. The big part of this final update.
.@ no longer necessary - tweets that begin with a username
now go to everyone, instead of requiring the .@ prefix. Users will now
have to retweet replies if they want them to be seen by everyone.
You can retweet or quote yourself. I'm sure many Twitter
users already find themselves infinitely quotable. Better retweet that
low like post for the fifth time, no one saw it! No, it was just bad.
In testing it appears that @usernames not only don't count towards the limit but also don't appear at all.
When users click reply, a separate subheading above the text box
appears to indicate that this is a reply. You can click the subheading
to see exactly who you're replying to, if you'd by any chance forgotten
the target of your righteous ire. This also prevents the formation of
the notorious Twitter Canoe - a pile-on where more and more retweets
take up space until there's only a few characters left. The update
should at least prevent you from being stuck up tweet creek without a
paddle.
User reactions were generally positive to the changes last time, so we
expect the same this time. Some users did manage to poke fun at them,
though:
1st tweet using Twitter's new feature that doesn't count GIFs, photos, etc. against the 140-character limit!
There are some innovative ways around the Twitter character limit, but this move towards a slightly less restrictive means of communication without altering the overall tweet format
will likely be welcome amongst users. It reflects a willingness by
Twitter to adapt to user expectations, in terms of ease of media sharing
and convenience of communication with others, that is something Twitter
needs right now. Time will tell how drastic this change feels, and
whether it will be a significant one. In any case, with Twitter's iconic
@usernames almost disappearing, we're definitely @ the end of an era.
Hooper's Hooch, known simply as Hooch, is an alcopop beverage with a
storied past replete in nineties British references. Those do escape me,
however, I can appreciate the smooth, lemony taste and fun-loving feel
of Hooch. So too does Vine celebrity and influencer Joe Charman who was recently drawn into Global Brands owned Hooch's social media push. Along with Charman, Hooch recruited additional Vine fame with Huw Samuel, Leslie Wai, and Stuggy. Refusing to skimp on platforms, Vine, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube were all given attention over three months.
A regular feature in Hooch advertising, Charman's internet fame came from a variety of Vines showcasing his mastery of useless tricks and talents,
called "I've Got Skills." Charman's popularity has been garnered
largely through a younger crowd, thanks to his random finesse and "impressive but pointless" tricks.
Charman featured in a Hooch advert on Facebook entitled "When its [sic]
your round ... Make It a Hooch! #OutrageouslyRefreshing" In it, Charman
walks poolside with three bottles of Hooch in hand. He takes a running
jump, landing on an inflatable item in the pool which floated across,
depositing Charman on the opposite side to his waiting friends. He hands
each friend a bottle. Apart from the friends bordering on underage,
Charman's antics are far flung from adulthood.
The video, released 10 June 2016, has since been removed after the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) banned it for promoting "juvenile behaviour." Concerned
UK advertising watchdogs complained about the ad, stating that because
Charman was with young people it breached the code and was "likely to be
of particular appeal to under-18s." Additionally, much of Charman's fanbase is made up of young people.
Interestingly, Facebook said that the post did not violate their terms.
In answer to the ban, Global Brands stated that Charman's acts are not
feasible for viewers to imitate or mimic as they are "not real or
achievable." Simply put, Charman is an entertainer and believes that this much is obvious based on the impossible feats he regularly performs. The ASA asserted that the ad as it is will not be allowed to air.
Global Brands senior brand manager Christian Sarginson said in a statement that the company was "extremely disappointed" with ASA's decision to keep the ban in place.
The International Space Station is a fascinating place to keep tabs on,
from all the intricate mechanical upkeep to the comings and goings of
the astronauts who man it. That in mind, when a Facebook Live video pops
up alleging to show said astronauts ambling across the surface, it's
kind of a big deal, certainly big enough to go viral.
The video, supposedly showing a space walk across the surface of the
station, pulled in more than 2 million likes, and got shared by Unilad,
Viral USA and a number of other reputable online publications. The
problem? It wasn't real, no actual space walk was being conducted and
NASA had no affiliating whatsoever with the video on display.
Mashable
If such a thing were actually happening, it's a safe bet that NASA would
have been actively promoting it, they don't leave this kind of thing
open for leaking or any kind of outside distribution. Moreover, a
cursory visit to the official ISS website during all this revealed that,
in fact, nothing of the sort was actually going on.
As it turned out, the footage had been recycled from a manned mission
which took place some 3 years ago. Where exactly this rehashed footage
came from originally remains unclear, but in any case, it was soon
revealed as BS. Recycling old footage to pull in a few shares is nothing
new, but rarely is it attempted in such a blatantly disprovable way,
especially on a platform as public as Facebook live. Rest assured, the
next time someone on the ISS actually does head out, it will be
streamed, and it'll be real.
"Well, well, well, Snapchat and the Channel News team." (image: Vulture)
The hilarious newsman v. newsman battle royale that was the centrepiece to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy pretty much encapsulates how some commentators understand the direction in which the Twitter-Snapchat relationship is heading. Recently, Twitter redefined itself on the App Store, shifting its classification from 'social networking' to 'news' in order to make itself more visible. The idea was, essentially, to become the number one app in a certain field, rather than ranking in the top five or ten.
Snapchat, since then, appears to have taken a page from Twitter's
playbook, having announced that it's now a camera company, of all
things. That would kind of make sense, given its recent launch of
Spectacles, which are essentially parent company Snap Inc.'s cheaper
alternative to Google Glass... although it's a stretch to say that Snapchat is really going to be more a camera company than a social media service. Google's still a search engine, for example.
But there's a twist: because many - including inside sources, according to a recent Business Insiderarticle - are saying that, really, Snapchat is already laying the groundwork to be not merely a camera company, but 'the "de facto news outlet" for its millennial audience.' That's
because Snap Inc. are rolling out job adverts for posts like
development managers, charged with producing 'original shows,' and are
also planning to purchase original content from other providers. If
Snapchat and Twitter are both gunning to be the top news team in town,
who's going to come out on top? I think we all know there's only one way
to find out...
But wait, let's step back a bit. The person quoted by Business Insider for that 'de facto news outlet' line is only named as 'a source familiar with [Snap Inc.]'s plans.'
So... that could be anybody, really. That's not to say they're wrong -
it might be there's no smoke without fire - but things are escalating
quickly here. While there certainly are solid grounds to suspect a more
TV-like experience is coming to Snapchat users, and probably Snap Inc.
customers more broadly, let's just hope things don't go too far in that
direction. At all costs, we must avoid the precarious scenario in which
other social media companies begin claiming the news team turf - we all
remember the park scene in Anchorman 2. I don't think I can handle that again.
Facebook and Paypal are continuing to cosy up, and as they stare
deep into each other's eyes, they can see the dollar signs flashing.
This blossoming relationship is gradually becoming steady, with Messenger now offering Paypal payment
for 'next-generation shopping experiences' (buying second-hand crap you
don't really need from people in your area) that are 'frictionless'
(you don't think about the money you're spending). The last frictionless
next-generation shopping experience I had was buying some used brake
pads. That didn't end so well.
The details of 'ushering in this new commerce paradigm' (jumping on this
new way to make $ - I will continue to translate as necessary) are
emerging as follows:
Paypal will appear as a payment option on a multitude of Facebook's commerce areas, including in Messenger.
Facebook users can easily link their accounts with their Paypal accounts.
Paypal customers in the US can get receipts sent to their Messengerinbox to consolidate Paypal communications.
Paypal and Facebook have already been getting through the flirtation stage, with Paypal's Braintree subsidiary partnering with Messenger and Uber to allow users to hail and pay for an Uber
within the Messenger app, helping merchants buy ads on Facebook, and
helping businesses sell through the shop on their page. This
announcement solidifies the bond and marks it as one that will spread
until every page has a Paypal pay button and you can tip your friends if
they send you a particularly funny meme.
It also accompanies the rise of the chatbots. No, not Robert Downey Jr-voiced AI friends, but rather an automated chat service that lets sellers flaunt their wares through the medium of Messenger.
These interactions can already accept user's debit or credit cards, but
Paypal are of course keen to step in and skim off their take.
Convenience is king, however, and I'm sure most users are happy to use
Paypal rather than have to enter their card details into yet another
site.
The whole shift follows the increasing trend for social media networks
to try and amalgamate more and more features into their arsenal, from finding shows and booking tickets to making drones for their users. Of particular interest to the platforms are those user interactions and transactions with direct financial benefit such as these commercial ones.
Paypal's experience with smoothing this type of transaction and their
large user base of 192 million users explains Facebook's willingness to
allow the monetary integrations, despite the two previously having a bit
of a rivalry. What Paypal stands to gain is clear, with the gates opening to Messenger's user base, which broke 1 billion a while back.
It chimes with Paypal's inexhaustible quest for expansion, announcing
deals with 'Visa, MasterCard, Telcel and Claro, Vodafone and Alibaba, in
our bid to drive broader customer choice in payments through
partnership' (more ways for people to pay us). It appears the blooming
relationship is an open one, though, as Facebook has been doing it with
others too, garnering deals with Stripe, Visa, MasterCard, and American
Express, not just PayPal.
The incessant commercialisation of your inbox is inevitable given how
profitable it looks set to be for the payment gatekeepers. Facebook and
Paypal's reconciliation shows just how profitable, and indeed it looks
like they might be catching feelings for each other. Hope eBay's not
getting too jealous.
Don't be ashamed if Lifestage is unfamiliar, it hasn't been heavily
publicised, even to its target audience. Since appearing on iOS back in August, Lifestage has been quietly ticking away, a haven for teens who want the Facebook experience, just without the, erm, Facebook part.
As you might expect, its existence largely stems from a desire to muscle Snapchat out of that demographic. It also serves as a testing ground for elements which may later end up being incorporated into Facebook's main body.
Most of Lifestage is just taking pictures of yourself and then doing
various funky things with them, up to and including filters and
templates. It's neither original, nor particularly intriguing, but
with Messenger Day now also doing the rounds, it makes up one part of a
larger initiative to woo the teen crowd back into Facebook's pen.
What Lifestage does that Snapchat doesn't do, is effectively guilt-trip you into using it more.
When you post an update, you get a sunglasses emoji next to your name,
but fail to do so for long enough and you get a frowny face, and eventually a poop emoji. This is meant to encourage more frequent use, but it kind of comes across as a twisted kind of emojional blackmail.
Of course, even if it isn't all that successful (and by deliberately
limiting its audience through age-based blocking, it never will be), it's almost more of a research tool than anything else.
Facebook are trying to gauge exactly what they should be doing to win
teen audiences back around, and if a vapid, throwaway app like this
helps, they might as well roll with it.
The term ‘social media’ is about as loaded as they come. Like all powerful
technologies (and Anakin Skywalker), it has the potential for both great and
terrible things. There are, similarly, things to love and things to hate about ‘the
media’ in general. But whilst the latter is perpetually challenged in the public sphere (indeed, there’s a near-endemic anxiety in mainstream newsrooms
of the apparently paradoxical lack of their own readers’ trust) the same can’t necessarily be said of the former.
Enter Charlie Brooker, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. In a world where people
give out personal information left, right and centre, casually and carelessly bemoan little things (making them big), and skim quite unfazed
over the most horrendous vituperations for an average of almost two hours per day, the checks and balances which are South
Park and Black Mirror are both hilarious and absolutely necessary. More than
that, though: they’re actually doing social media a world of good.
Both shows might be considered studies on the power of the crowd and the
individual. The current series of South Park (now its twentieth) centre-stages the
abuse to which Twitter has habituated us – and subtly, but importantly, our
collective reactions to it (namely the chain-reactions of animosity which
allowed Kyle’s dad to troll the whole of Denmark last week). It offers people that
wholesome spoon of cutting satire couched in a deeper, perhaps surprising, level
of coherence with which regular viewers are pretty well-acquainted. Meanwhile,
the new series of Black Mirror, launched on Netflix last week, provides a more
Foucauldian take on the whole thing, with one episode, ‘Hated in the Nation’, being
inspired by Brooker’s own experiences in the public glare. Without giving
anything away, it outlines a typically dystopian world wherein Twitter is a
vehicle of a gathering, violent storm: the ‘half-hate’ with which the episode
deals comes on fast but then ‘drifts-off like the weather.’
National Student
Together, these shows illuminate the prevalence of online abuse with a darkly comic
spotlight – particularly so in Brooker’s case, whose take is made all the more
cutting by its insistence on talking to the casual, laid-back, perhaps unwitting
user than does South Park, which is both characteristically more conspicuous and
which appears more critical of hot-headed reactions to trolls than of our supposedly
less exceptional interactions online.
But a word of warning to all you would-be watchers: take these shows
with a pinch of salt. It’s important, essentially, not to malign the whole project
of social media simply off the back of viewing them. Again, it can do
good and bad, depending who’s holding the phone. Naturally, and absolutely for
the best, it’s the negatives which are scrutinised most in active discourse.
But the passive approval – and benefits this brings – of our simple everyday employment
of such services is a tacit legitimisation of that which we’re checking. After all, as a means of organisation,
social media is the most effective force out there. The ALS Association would
have much emptier coffers without the individuals and groups which made such a boom
of the ice bucket challenge. I probably wouldn’t have received the monumental
total of 16 birthday messages yesterday without it (thank you again, everyone).So let's only chuck-out the bathwater here.
That said, and to close where the title began, there’s no way to draw a
single, satisfying line under ‘social media’ – it’s a site of our worst and best
traits, both collectively and as individuals. It will probably remain as such for
a while. But because eternal vigilance is the price of a good, healthy social
media sphere (and liberty), I, for one, also watch TV.
Dehaze, an online tool that curates type- and location-specific hashtags, was released two months ago by developer and photographer Nick Smith. Recently, the application was rebranded as Focalmark and released as an app for Android and iOS. The web application has not been taken offline, but is now operating in conjunction with the app.
Focalmark was created with the avid Instagram user in mind. It makes the
mind-numbing task of adding hashtags to photos a little bit easier by providing a bank of hashtags for each category listed in the app.
Selecting different categories will yield a paragraph's worth of
hashtag gold which can be copied straight from the app. Topping off that
charming foodie picture with human-curated hashtags (that you otherwise
would not have thought of) will inevitably lead to more likes, follows,
and attention. Then, you win Instagram!
To get the most out of Focalmark, you must first understand how to use
it. Let's use a portrait for example. If it's a run-of-the-mill selfie,
it will fall under a single category; if, however, it is taken in front
of an architectural monument, it can be tied to two categories: Portrait
and Architecture.
Once the categories are filtered through, the next option is to add
location-specific hashtags. If you'd rather not reveal that information,
this step can be skipped. Once you've reached the end, a list hashtags
relevant to your picture can be copied, opened in Instgram, or you can
start the process over. It's that simple.
Upon launch, the beta application was marketed to photographers
struggling to find hashtags. Initially, Dehaze had 19 locations and 14
categories. After much research and some feedback,
Focalmark was born. With the rebrand, Smith has added 50 additional
locations to the app and promised that hashtags will be updated weekly.
This means that trending hashtags will get the attention they deserve,
hopefully keeping the app and its users relevant.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Napalm Girl' image is just one past victim of Facebook's over-censorship - Img src: Time
Facebook has pledged to adopt a more laissez-faire approach
to its management of the images, words and videos posted onto the site by users.
A statement released on Friday, penned by Joel Kaplan and Justin Osofsky, addressed the
issue of rules and regulations regarding what kind of content is acceptable,
bearing in mind Facebook’s desire to uphold a nice, clean, friendly environment.
It’s an important time for Facebook in determining its community standards,
especially given recent controversies regarding censorship on the site. But how
does this media giant compare to other sites in these terms? And what does this
new statement really mean for customers? Is it good news, bad news, or not really
news at all?
It’s clear why Facebook has released this statement now,
surfacing as it does in the wake of recent controversies surrounding the site’s
censorship of images. In September, we saw a furore as a clumsy attempt to apply Facebook’s
anti-nudity policy in a strictly uniform manner led moderators to repeatedly remove
the Pulitzer Prize-winning image ‘Napalm Girl’ from the site. Facebook
subsequently apologised and restored the image. But the hot water beckoned again as, just last week, moderators removed an
educational video which explained to women how to check for breast cancer. The
video represented breasts using pink, cartoon circles. Uproars and apologies once again ensued. So, as a sign of
good faith, and surely in an attempt to re-establish control, Facebook sent out
the statement on Friday, which reads: “In the weeks ahead, we’re going to begin
allowing more items that people find newsworthy, significant, or important to
the public interest — even if they might otherwise violate our standards.”
That’s the struggle Facebook has, and which it’s now openly talking
about: in order to reach a just and legitimate decision in every case regarding
whether or not to allow an image on its site, subjectivity needs a place in the
application of the rules – but, maybe in equal measure, the rules need to be followed
at the same time. Exactly how strictly so is indeed a fine balance; and, as Facebook
tells us, it’s something that’s going to ebb and flow with temporal, political,
social and regional contexts – because so too do the norms of acceptability
therein.
Whatever happens, these problems aren’t going away. If
Facebook allowed everything, it would eventually become 4Chan – a terrifying
heck hole devoid of human warmth. But they clearly can’t afford to go too far
the other way either. As an effort to smooth users’ concerns about the prevalence
of Facebook censorship, Friday’s announcement is a good sign, ostensibly at
least. But one might also be forgiven for scepticism. After all, it’s hard to see
exactly how Facebook can avoid stepping on people’s toes. What we’re seeing is an
effort by Facebook to bolster the company’s inclusive image: but with moderators
filtering through countless posts every day, it’s hard to imagine Facebook aren’t
merely cooling things down and crossing their fingers in the hope that things
don’t flare-up again anytime soon. Let’s watch this space.
Most of us have a ton of personal info and private conversations over
social networks. We share our deepest secrets with a true confidante,
group photos that are too messy to even post publicly, or cute pictures
of your dog with a hat on. You'd think that the networks that we're
willing to divulge this trove of intimacy through would have to be
pretty trustworthy, right? Well, apparently not, as an infographic from Craig Newmark over on Adweek's Social Times
details how users' trust in social network security is basically
nonexistent. Bet we still continue to spill our private lives over them,
though.
In the survey, conducted as a follow up to a similar one performed in
2014, a number of fascinating trends regarding users' opinions of social
media security became clear. The standout stat has to be that a
staggering 96% of those surveyed 'don't have a lot of trust' that social
networks will protect their privacy, representing a 3% drop in
confidence since the last survey.
Unsurprisingly, older people had the least trust in these darn
newfangled social webs, with 62% having 'very little or no trust.' Who
could have guessed?
Trust levels correlate with how many social media sites someone uses,
with 14% of those who regularly use 4 or above having 'a lot of trust.'
This makes sense, although whether these users use more because they
trust more or trust more because they use more is a bit of a conundrum.
Let's go with a bit of both.
So what are the major concerns people have regarding how social networks
handle their security? Well the top ranked worries were as follows:
80% - Concerned about downloading a virus or malware.
75% - Fear identity theft.
72% - Worried about tracking cookies (No, Facebook Grandma, not that type of cookies).
71% - Think too much data is being made public.
69% - Concerned about their email being hacked.
These are all legitimate concerns, although the high proportion of
people that are worried about them reflects the general low level of
trust that abounds.
Despite all this, usage of the social networks continued to blossom as
trust declined, showing that the two trends seem to function
independently of one another. Here are the top social networks used
daily by the survey respondents (with their share two years ago and
growth):
Email - 84% (83% / +1)
Facebook - 70% (68% / +2)
Youtube - 36% (31% / +5)
Twitter - 23% (21% / +2)
Instagram - 21% (18% / +3)
Google+ - 15% (14% / +1)
Snapchat - 12% (10% / +2)
LinkedIn - 10% (12% / -2)
Tumblr - 8% (11% / -3)
Vine - 8% (N/A)
Tinder - 6% (N/A)
So there's been a general growth, except for poor LinkedIn and Tumblr.
The fact that this growth is continuing despite the trust problems shows
just how essential these apps are becoming to our everyday lives.
The social media networks themselves are aware of user opinions of
security, and are always trying to implement new features and updates to
improve them. From Facebook's raft of security and privacy options and bug bounty scheme, to Snapchat and Whatsapp trying to shore up their encryption methods.
Yet it seems that users often don't delve deep enough into the settings
to find and customise them. Which is strange, given how apparently
concerned everyone is about their security. Perhaps their concern is
legitimate, considering that the Federal Government now includes social
media posts in its security clearance procedure. Not to mention whatever the NSA and GCHQ have stashed away in their shadowy archives.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to draw the line between privacy and security
at a time when our real and digital lives are beginning to overlap so
considerably. Security thus has to be a high priority issue for social
networks, and users are right to be concerned. It does appear that
networks will continue to grow regardless, but as they march on, it
might be best to make sure that march doesn't lead off a security cliff.
Social media networks need to streamline the accessibility of their
security options and improve their offerings so that in this ongoing
trust exercise, users can close their eyes and trustingly fall backwards
into the digital embrace of their media networks.
Facebook Live is the next big thing. It's a revolution, the new standard
of communication, at least Facebook is trying to make it so with a
robust ad campaign. Announced Friday, the two-part campaign's sole
driving force is showing the average user that Facebook's Live video feature is a tool for everyone.
For the time being, ads can be seen in the U.S. and U.K. over a variety
of platforms; TV, online ads, billboards, bus ads, basically any place
where Facebook can jam an advert in.
Live streaming has become a way for brands to show off unique engagement, related art, or broadcast regular morning shows breaking the parameters of traditionalism. However, apart from that, the ordinary Facebook user has expressed apprehension towards using Live to personally stream.
Internal research has proven that. To counter this stigma, the ads for
this campaign have been shot using Facebook Live from phones to appear
as organic as possible.
The first batch of ads appear as video diaries or spontaneous events in
15-second spots beginning with a 3-2-1 countdown. The dialogue in ads is
completely authentic, meaning no script was used. All content was
compiled using Facebook Live and shot on a phone. Scott Trattner, Vice
President and Executive Creative Director for Brand Marketing said that videos in the campaign are from real people who had their stream set to Public. By scanning Facebook Live Map for memorable streams, Facebook was able to feature original videos in its campaign.
Created by in-house ad agency The Factory, the ads released Monday are but the first stage of Facebook's campaign. Part one is aimed at spreading awareness.
Part two, slatted to drop 7 Nov., is a tutorial phase which will walk people through streaming. Vice President of Consumer and Brand Marketing Rebecca Van Dyck said to Adweek that
this part of the campaign will be "a little more educational - the ads
are a fun guide for how to go Live. It's the same aesthetic, but in many
cases very site-specific. For example, we have one on a billboard in
Times Square that literally says, 'How to Go Live in Times Square.'"
Business Insider UK
Facebook has formulated the absolute best way to push people into Live
with these ads. Site-specific ads, like "How to Go Live While Everyone
is Waiting for the First Suitcase to Drop" displayed near a luggage
carousel, will prompt people to whip out their phones and follow directives on the spot.
This will break the barrier for those who are nervous about appearing
on a live video feed. Van Dyck said that the team "looked at the
different places people go live, where they might be inspired, and the
different moments people use the product" to demonstrate that Live is
applicable to everyone. Undoubtedly, a portion of the tutorials will
demonstrate how streamed events can be tailored to a specific audience
for those who are shy about their social ventures.
The fun of the internet and social platforms in general is the lack of
seriousness... or at least seriousness softened by little expressive
faces. Facebook has bottled this fun and distributed it in the form of
reaction emojis. During Live events, viewers can contribute with reaction emojis which bounce around the video.
Facebook is far from the first platform to venture into live territory.
Twitch.tv has cornered the market on live streaming, broadcasting gamers
and their games to ravenous fans since 2011. It wasn't until 2014 that
Amazon acquired Twitch, once it had proven itself to be more than a
passing fad. Steadily, this form of entertainment has cropped up in
different applications. From communicating in (nearly) real-time on
Snapchat to watching the presidential debate on YouTube's Live streaming section to exploring the world through the lens of Twitter's live-streaming app Periscope, live communication and broadcasting is the wave of the future.
Donald Trump isn't doing amazingly well at the moment.
In the wake of a series of damning reports about his attitude towards
women (and gender politics in general) and his increasingly childish
behaviour during the live debates, it looks like the storm of insanity
is finally starting to clear.
Well, sort of. Even if Trump's chances of claiming the White House have
plummeted, he is still prime social media fodder for both supporters and
detractors. The sheer volume of Trump related material incited a kind
of unspoken agreement here that we wouldn't cover any of it
unless it was interesting enough to counterbalance the free publicity
we'd be giving him in the process.
In this case, the publicity side of things doesn't really seem to matter anymore, and this is certainly interesting enough to write about. Currently, Trump is being shadowed by an evil twin, a Twitter-bot that goes by the name of DeepDrumpf (Drumpf is Donald Trump's actual surname, his family had it changed when they arrived in the States).
[Pre-debate drugs?] We will take them. I had 12, hell, it's how we deal with her terrorism. Nothing wrong with that. @TheView@candacecbure
As the name suggests, DeepDrumpf is powered by deep learning AI
algorithms, and he uses them to mine Donald Trump's actual speech
transcripts in order to imitate his rhetoric. The result is a slightly
more exaggerated, madcap iteration of the man himself, offering to
supply every American with "a solid gold nuclear weapon", or bring
180,000 immigrants "to slaughter", "especially women".
I won't apologize for making America severely troubled. She doesn't have the stamina to divide us. I am going to do that. #debate@Sci_Phile
This darkly amusing chatterbox is serving two purposes - to make light
of Trump's increasingly awful campaign, and to raise money. Indeed, a
few days after the leaked recording of Trump on the bus went live,
DeepDrumpf suddenly had a fundraising page. Was he running for president
himself? No, in fact the page is raising money for GirlsWhoCode, who are trying to remove the glass ceiling in the computer science industry.
If I don't win in the end, I'll fire the entire American people. You cannot achieve peace if I don't want it. @HeyTammyBruce@McFaul
It might seem random, but it's actually rather apt. Not only was
DeepDrumpf developed by an MIT researcher, Bradley Hayes, but can you
think of any cause which would make Trump more angry and/or confused? At
present, DeepDrumpf has 26.7 thousand followers, and the GoFundMe page
has raised over $1,000. The goal is 25k, and the election itself is
still weeks away, so hopefully by then some good will have actually come
out the Drumpf name, something to make up for all the stupidity and
manipulation of the past year. Small victories.
Is it better to work out by yourself or with friends? It depends on your
approach, but the fact remains that, in adulthood, finding partners in
crime for your athletic pursuits is a bit more difficult. You might have
managed to talk your partner into going jogging with you, or had an
impromptu basketball game with a few friends one sunny afternoon, but
anything long term is going to be a lot harder to maintain.
To solve this issue, Miami startup Buddy Tech looked at Tinder.
It's long since been proven that Tinder's swiping system is far more
broadly applicable than first thought, and better suited to things other
than dating. The latest on that list? Finding a gym buddy.
On Bvddy, you create profile which logs your location, age and the
sports you're interested in, then matches you up with other people who
have similar interests. This way, you can arrange that game of
squash or weekly run with someone of a similar skill level, or look for
events that you might be interested in and open up a dialogue with other
people who are considering going.
The swiping interface is almost identical to Tinder's, and the discover
feature simply lists nearby events that you might be interested in. Profiles
are rated by how responsive they are, as well as how they were to
partner up with, so the more you use the app, the more likely you'll be
to get matched up.
Unlike a dating app, you can't really over or undersell your value,
because it will either end up making you look like a fraud, or a jerk
who just wanted to play tennis with someone they could utterly
annihilate. People play sports because they want to have fun, primarily, and all this is really doing is sidestepping the awkward 'hey, do you climb?' conversation.
You can also create and manage events in-app, so if you buddy up with
someone, and it's going well, you can start to arrange local events and
get yet more people involved. Events are mapped to availability - you'll
only see the ones which you're actually able to attend, so the chances
of half a dozen people pulling out an hour beforehand are lessened.
It's pretty limited here the UK, I only found a handful of other users
in the local area, but in the US it's reached in excess of 100,000 daily active users
since launching last year, when it was limited to only Miami. With time
and attention, this could end up being a truly global network, and more
dedicated events and corporate sponsorship deals could emerge. Even if
it hasn't fully reached your area yet, keep an eye on this one, it might
just find your that fencing partner you've been needing since
university.
