Social media has the power to change lives—but for the most part, these changes aren’t positive. More than 2 billion people around the world use Facebook, the most popular social media platform, to get news, communicate with family, and stay in touch with old friends. It’s tempting to think that such a widely used platform (and such a popular industry) would naturally be safe to use, but the reality is, social media has significant destructive potential. And if we don’t all learn how to use it responsibly soon, it could have devastating consequences for our lives – including society as a whole. The argument for social media as a positive force Have you visited TNW's hype-free blockchain and cryptocurrency news site yet? It's called Hard Fork. TAKE ME THERE Before I dig my heels in, I want to acknowledge that social media can be a positive force. Proponents of social media as a positive technological development often cite its potential for the … [Read more...] about We all need to start using social media responsibly – or face the consequences
Obsession with social media
How Social Media Became a Pink Collar Job
Companies hiring for technical positions often slip language into their job postings that appeals to men. They say they’re looking for “ninjas,” who seek to “obliterate competition,” and are capable of “dominating.” By now, these wordings are a well understood form of bias that produces more male candidates than female. But one job in the digital economy falls predominantly to women. It’s an oft-overlooked position, drawing on both marketing and editorial skills, that has become increasingly critical both to business success and online discourse. The pay is poor, and the respect can be limited. Take a look at the job posting for any social media manager. You’ll discover the same bias in its language, in reverse: a bias for sourcing female candidates. By now, these wordings are a well understood form of bias that produces more male candidates than female. Social media managers are “the behind-the-screens labor involved in … [Read more...] about How Social Media Became a Pink Collar Job
Klout is out—social media mojo-ranking service to shutter
Klout, a service that tracks how much social media attention its users draw and rates their expertise based on the content of their posts, will be switched off on May 25—an announcement that has, ironically, had Klout trending on Twitter today. The service, which launched in 2008, also offered an application-programming interface that allowed businesses to collect analytics data about their audiences. Klout also offered "perks" to individuals based on their scores and demographics. For many early social media users (like myself), Klout was a way to gauge how much traction their Twitter, Facebook, and other social media posts were getting. Klout's semantic tracking of content also granted "expert" status on various topic tags. Klout claimed to have given out over 1 million "perks" by 2013 according to an article in AdWeek—with offers such as weekend-long test drives of Chevy cars. And, in 2012, the company drew investment from Microsoft—along with an arrangement to … [Read more...] about Klout is out—social media mojo-ranking service to shutter
Cryptographers spank blockchain, social media
Video: Uncomplicating blockchainBlockchain and social media got a spanking Monday from the luminaries of cryptography gathered for their annual pow-wow at the RSA Conference. "Blockchain is often viewed as security pixie dust," said Ron Rivest, an MIT professor and the 'R' in RSA. The message is "any application you have can be made better and more secure with blockchain." Rivest said the technology has interesting properties - decentralized, public access and immutable - but it fails on scale, throughput and latency. He said voting is particularly a bad fit. "You want to make sure the voters have the ability to know their vote was recorded properly," and that means verification, "it doesn't matter if it is immutable if it is wrong," he said.See: Executive's guide to implementing blockchain technology Rivest's peers on the panel added to the critique. He was joined on stage by Adi Shamir, Borman professor of computer science at The Weizmann Institute in Israel; public-key … [Read more...] about Cryptographers spank blockchain, social media
HelpSocial looks to broaden who ‘does’ an enterprise’s social media
There have been many examples over the years of large enterprises doing a great job of customer service and social outreach. Going back three or four years, the blogosphere spent a short period of time obsessed with Comcast's social persona, Comcast Cares. In my antipodean neck of the woods, my airline of choice, Air New Zealand, was an early adopter of social service and a strong proponent of engaging customers wherever they may be.But times have changed. While back in the day one or two individuals could handle all of an organization's social support conversations, today, social channels -- be they Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever -- are an increasingly large source of comments and questions. Organizations really need to change the way they think about supporting these channels.Which is somewhat in conflict with the way that traditional customer service tools charge. The usual mode for these tools is to charge a per-seat monthly fee, where every customer service agent … [Read more...] about HelpSocial looks to broaden who ‘does’ an enterprise’s social media