Social Media Empowers Citizens to Change Public Policy
The founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark, recently wrote an article entitled, How Social Media Can Effect Real Social and Governmental Change, where he compared the historical policymakers to the bloggers of today. Basically, his article was premised on the belief that social media has always been around but the vehicle [...]
Facebook’s Safety Renovation
In the aftermath of the murder of Ashleigh Hall (a 17-year-old U.K. girl who was duped by a man who posed as a teenager on Facebook), and the suicide of Pheobe Prince after being subjected to relentless cyber-bullying, Facebook has overhauled its Safety Center. The new Safety Center provides information for teens, parents, law enforcement [...]
Watch Your Mouth!
Do you sensor yourself when use social media? It is astonishing how many people don’t. According to Dustin Walker in his article, Price is High for Online Blunders, “Despite privacy warnings and embarrassing headlines, politicians, police officers and others who hold positions of authority will continue to tarnish their reputations [...]
Protection of Online Speech in Danger?
On April 6, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals made a ruling in Comcast v. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that severely limits the FCC’s ability to protect online speech. In her article, Appeals Court Ruling Endangers FCC’s Ability to Protect Online Speech, Aparna Sridhar explains the history of communications law and [...]
Social Commerce Coming Soon
A decade ago most of us could not have foreseen the importance social media would play on our lives today. In his article, Facebook vs. Google: The Billion Dollar Battle to Be Your Default Social Profile, Jim Tobin ponders the question: “What’s next in social media?” According to him, social networks, specifically Google and Facebook, [...]
Keeping Kids Safe Online
For the past few years parents have started recognizing the risks that unsupervised online activity poses on children. Unfortunately, parents often forget that many cell phones and gaming systems can also access the Internet. According to Daniel Bentley’s article, Call to Improve Mobile Internet Controls, “There are concerns about young children accessing social networking sites, [...]
Social Media Marketing
Although social media wasn’t originally meant to be a marketing tool, it is now clear that any sound marketing plan should include social media. Check out Patti Fousek’s informative article, Social Media: Doing it the Right Way, to learn some of the dos and don’ts of social media marketing.
With YouTube, Who Needs American Idol?
Forget shows like Star Search and American Idol, all a wanna-be star needs is a little talent and a YouTube video. Just ask Justin Bieber who, according to Shelia Shayon’s article, The Justin Bieber Phenomenon – Social Media on Steroids, “[is] arguably the biggest pop star ever launched by YouTube.” At [...]
The Authorities Using Social Media as an Investigative Tool
Social media has changed our lives in countless ways. If you are a novice social media user, then you probably hold social media responsible for bringing you closer to friends and family. But social media has also brought strangers closer together. A prime example of this is flash mobs.
Flash mobs are large groups of people [...]
The Feds Are Lurking on Facebook and Twitter
If you’re a respectable, law-abiding citizen (you are, aren’t you?) then this shouldn’t concern you too much. But if you think you’re above the law and leaving no evidence behind, you may want to be careful on what you post on Facebook and Twitter. The Justice Department recently released a document to help the feds [...]