MeWe, a social network that champions privacy (and no ads) announced recently that it has surpassed 4 million members.
Social Media
Delete Your Instagram Pics to Fly JetBlue Free
JetBlue is introducing a contest. Three winners can fly JetBlue free for a year if they delete all of their Instagram photos and post a new photo using a JetBlue template.
Upload and customize your image with the tool below,then download and post to Instagram with @JETBLUE and#ALLYOUCANJETSWEEPSTAKES before 9:00am EST on 3/8/2019. Keep your Instagram posts cleared, except for your newly uploaded ALL YOU CAN ___ image, until 11:59pm EST on 3/8/2019 to be eligible to win.
TikTok Fined 5.7M Over Illegal Data Collection of Kids
TikTok is being fined US$5.7 million over allegations that it “illegally collected images, voice recordings, and geolocation of children, some younger than 13.”
The amount, part of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday, is the largest civil penalty ever issued by the agency in a child privacy case. FTC commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter also filed a separate statement calling for TikTok executives to be held accountable in any future cases. “In our view, these practices reflected the company’s willingness to pursue growth even at the expense of endangering children,” the statement read.
Sharenting is When You Over Share Your Kid Online
There’s a new phenomenon called sharenting. This is when parents share a large portion of their kids’ lives to the internet, usually without their consent.
Recently a parenting blogger wrote in a Washington Post essay that despite her 14-year-old daughter’s horror at discovering that her mother had shared years of highly personal stories and information about her online, she simply could not stop posting on her blog and social media. The writer claimed that promising her daughter that she would stop posting about her publicly on the internet “would mean shutting down a vital part of myself, which isn’t necessarily good for me or her.”
That was the most ridiculous part to read. Good grief, the world isn’t going to end because you can’t post about your kid anymore Karen. No one cares about them except you.
Instagram Fundraisers Want Your Credit Card Information
Instagram Fundraisers will let you easily donate to non-profit organizations on the platform. It’s also a way for Facebook to get its hands on your credit card information.
New code and imagery dug out of Instagram’s Android app reveals how the Fundraiser stickers will allow you to search for nonprofits and add a Donate button for them to your Instagram Story. After you’ve donated to something once, Instagram could offer instant checkout on stuff you want to buy using the same payment details.
Facebook tried to get banks to give up your data, but now it will have to settle for this instead.
In The Future You Could 'Clarify' Tweets (But Still Not Edit)
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced the company is considering adding a feature that would let you explain tweets by adding new or additional context (via Mashable). [Touch Twitter’s Sparkle and Something Wonderful Will Happen] Clarification This sounds like Twitter is considering clarification instead of editing. So while you won’t be able to correct that typo,…
Soon Your Snaps Could Become Permanent
Reuters reports that apparently the company is considering making your snaps permanent.
Social Media Responsibility, Manufacturing on Apple's Scale – TMO Daily Observations 2019-01-28
Bryan Chaffin and Charlotte Henry join host Kelly Guimont to discuss responsibility in social media and manufacturing on Apple’s scale.
UK Health Secretary: Government Could Ban Social Media
Matt Hancock warned social media firms the UK government would legislate, or even ban them, if they did not take action on harmful content following the death of 17-year-old Molly Russell.
Your Online Profile Consists of Three Layers
Katarzyna Szymielewicz offers a good approach to how you think about your online profile: What you share, what your behavior tells them, and what the machine thinks of you.
Many decisions that affect your life are now dictated by the interpretation of your data profile rather than personal interactions. And it’s not just about advertising banners influencing the brand of the soap you buy—the same mechanics of profiling users and targeting messages apply to political campaigns and visa applications as much as supermarket metrics. When advertising looks like news and news look like entertainment, all types of content are profiled on the basis of your data.
This is a great article, and the most important layer to think about is the data you put online.
Facebook Moments is Shutting Down
Facebook Moments is shutting down on February 25, because people weren’t using it. If you did though, here’s how to save your photos.
New 'Original Tweeter' Tag Could Come to Twitter
Twitter is testing a tag for accounts called Original Tweeter. It would help people tell the difference between fake and real accounts.
Touch Twitter's Sparkle and Something Wonderful Will Happen
That’s not a euphemism, it’s Twitter’s terminology for the option to enable a chronological timeline, now available.
How to Use The New Instagram Close Friends Feature
It lets users create a separate list of followers that have special viewing permissions.
Tumblr Porn Being Banned Starting December 17
A Tumblr porn ban will go into effect December 17. The new policy follows the recent child pornography incident the platform suffered.
Instagram Deletes Fake Followers, Likes, Comments
The company shared that some accounts have been using third-party software to artificially grow their audience.
Snapchat Adds Friendship Profiles, New Bitmoji
Snapchat is adding some features to its app, like Friendship Profiles, new Bitmoji, Bitmoji Stories, and Bitmoji Merch.
iMessage is the Biggest Competitor to Facebook Messenger
In an earnings call on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that iMessage is the biggest competitor to Facebook Messenger.
Facebook Brings Political Ad Shake-up to UK
Facebook has announced a shake-up of how it handles political advertising in the UK, bringing rules from the US into other markets.
How to Fix Twitter by Muting Specific Text Strings
Twitter user Emma found that by muting specific text strings she could fix Twitter and block suggested features that make Twitter annoying.
Get Instagram Verification and Two-Factor Authentication
You can now get Instagram verification inside the app and a new form of two-factor authentication. The social network is rolling out changes to its app.
Twitter Absurdity, iPhone Pencils, Cyborg Vision - ACM 475
Twitter killed some key APIs third party apps used to make their apps useful because Twitter hates influencers and power users. Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet drop a few f-bombs. They also talk about the latest rumor that Apple will bring support for Apple Pencil to some new iPhone models. The cap the show by dipping into our cyborg future of enhanced vision.
Snapchat Releases Voice Activated Lenses
Depending on the lens, you can say words like hi, love, wow, and ok, and the lens will animate.
This Instagram Account Shows How Alike Photographers Are
I discovered an Instagram account last night called @insta_repeat. The account posts collages of photos from all of the cookie cutter “adventure photographers” on Instagram. Don’t get me wrong. I follow some of these photographers and they are really good. I don’t want to diminish or disparage their skills. But they’ve fallen into the Instagram trap, where they post popular photos that people like, and other photographers see that popularity and post similar photos to get on the bandwagon. I think a lot of them are independent artists, and they don’t have the luxury of choice that photographers who get sponsored or have a business do. The account does it with class. No calling people out, or public shaming. Just simple collages of similar photos.