An exodus of young people from Facebook has seen fake news spread to Generation Z through memes on Instagram, a leading journalism academic has said.Nic Newman, a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and former world editor of the BBC News website, said many young people had switched from Facebook.Fake news is now spreading to young people through “memes and visual storytelling” on Instagram, he told a conference on Tuesday.Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is mainly used for sharing photos and has not traditionally been a major source of news for social media users.But genuine news and fake news are making their way on to the platform, Mr Newman said. The Reuters Institute’s annual Digital News Report assesses the state of online news access across the world.This year’s findings will show a continuing trend in the popularity of Instagram.“Facebook themselves have been showing people less news, and less … [Read more...] about Fake news ‘spreading to young people through Instagram memes’
Fake news meme generator
The good news about elderly people sharing so much fake news
Who shares fake news? Until today, conventional wisdom held that posting misinformation to Facebook and other platforms was largely a byproduct of ideology. The more conservative you were in 2016, the argument goes, the more likely you were to share hoaxes. But a fascinating new paper published today in the journal Science Advances suggests that something else is afoot. I wrote about it today at The Verge: 11 percent of users older than 65 shared a hoax, while just 3 percent of users 18 to 29 did. Facebook users ages 65 and older shared more than twice as many fake news articles than the next-oldest age group of 45 to 65, and nearly seven times as many fake news articles as the youngest age group (18 to 29). “When we bring up the age finding, a lot of people say, ‘oh yeah, that’s obvious,’” co-author Andrew Guess, a political scientist at Princeton University, told The Verge. “For me, what is pretty striking is that the relationship holds even when … [Read more...] about The good news about elderly people sharing so much fake news
The best memes of 2018, according to The Verge staff
With the sheer deluge of online creativity this hellish year has inspired, picking the “best” memes of 2018 feels a little futile. Do you pick the most creative ones? The most popular? The most influential? The ones that became part of our everyday vocabulary? The most emblematic of where we’re at as a culture? Go with any one of these, and you’re letting a lot of really excellent memes go unrecognized. In 2018, a lot of memes, viral videos, and all-around excellent content was shared among the staff of The Verge. A Slack channel — #goods-tweet — was even made for them, a happy place we could all visit to take a moment away from the aggressive grind of the day’s news, to celebrate Tumblr teen ingenuity, viral tweet genius, and the perfect Gritty meme. The memes we shared there were a reminder of why we continue to log on every day, despite mounting evidence that the internet is Bad. So instead of publishing a roundup of the best memes of 2018, … [Read more...] about The best memes of 2018, according to The Verge staff
Inflammatory political memes and false news find a new social media home: LinkedIn
By Alyssa Pereira, SFGATE Published 2:56 pm PST, Monday, November 5, 2018 LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 03: The LinkedIn app logo is displayed on an iPhone on August 3, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 03: The LinkedIn app logo is displayed on an iPhone on August 3, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images) Photo: Carl Court, Getty Images Scroll through to see the most promising jobs of 2018, according to LinkedIn. Scroll through to see the most promising jobs of 2018, according to LinkedIn. Photo: Laredo Morning Times Financial analystMedian base salary: $65,000Job openings (YoY growth): 4,000+ (25%)Career advancement score (out of 10): 10Top skills: Microsoft Excel, financial analysis, Microsoft Office, management, accountingJob description: Financial analysts analyze … [Read more...] about Inflammatory political memes and false news find a new social media home: LinkedIn
Mail bombing is a generational form of American terrorism
This week, someone in America has taken it upon themselves to mail bombs to George Soros, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, the Democratic Rep. (and former chair of the Democratic National Convention) Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former US Attorney General Eric Holder, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, and former CIA director John Brennan. Brennan’s bomb arrived at CNN’s New York City office, leading to the prompt evacuation of the building. Robert De Niro, a prominent critic of the current president, also received a package with an explosive device inside. On Thursday, The New York Times reported that the US Postal Service records images of mail that comes into its system, and a search of those images led to the discovery of more suspicious packages. How many more was not immediately clear. There’s a thread connecting all of them, of course: each person on the list is a prominent member of the Democratic Party, and each — aside from De Niro — has been … [Read more...] about Mail bombing is a generational form of American terrorism