Crises have a way of shaping our lives in ways we can barely fathom. Around this time last year, people were rushing around in the normal hustle-and-bustle of daily life. Then came a virus that stopped the world in its tracks. Suddenly, the life depicted in sci-fi movies showing the…

Every time you log into your Facebook account, you are greeted by a list of posts, updates, videos, and links from pages, people, and groups you follow on the website right in the middle of your home page. Welcome to Facebook’s newsfeed. But wait a minute! How does it work…

The Internet can provide a lot of comforts, not to mention convenience. You can use it to accomplish almost anything from touring far-flung areas to keeping in touch with your friends from miles away. All these at the touch of a button! In spite of its many benefits, people are…

Whenever you sit down at your computer or grab your phone to chat with friends, search the internet, watch videos on YouTube, order something online, log in to websites, post, or comment on social media, you leave a trail of your activities. This trail is commonly known as a digital…

Zoom is Becoming a Lifeline During COVID-19. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the world, global gatherings and conferences are shutting down. First, it was the Mobile World Conference, then Facebook’s F8 and Microsoft’s MVP summit. Many other gatherings were canceled or rescheduled as the world sought to fight…

You will either be receiving or have recently received an email from Twitter about the “Updates to their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy”. Shadow banning (or ‘shadowbanning’) is included, plus they get to use anything you post however they want.

Move over, dark patterns, you’re being.. er.. nudged out by digital nudging. What is digital nudging? Well, you get a digital nudge any time you use a digital platform and, where you have a choice to make, the ‘right’ or ‘correct’ choice is made the easiest to choose, or the most attractive. Of course, right and correct are in the eyes of the marketer or website providing the nudge, not the consumer.

Legislation introduced in Washington would make the practice of using so-called ‘dark patterns’ illegal. The bipartisan (!) bill is called the DETOUR Act, and stands for the Deceptive Experiences To Online Users Reduction (DETOUR) Act. Dark patterns are web interface designs created to manipulate users into taking actions and providing data that they otherwise wouldn’t. Dark patterns are based on behavioral psychology.

China has started rolling out the Chinese ‘social credit score’, which takes into account, among other things, your behaviors, and your purchases. But don’t think you’re immune if you don’t live in China; companies around the world, including the U.S., are already compiling a ‘social score’ on you. While a “social score” is different in some ways from a “social credit score”, it’s not really that far removed, and the potential is pretty concerning.

Investors and influencers of Facebook and Apple have openly challenged and beseeched the tech giants to acknowledge and address the damage being done to children, adults, and even the very social fabric of society by these companies ignoring, and even intentionally taking advantage of, the addictive nature of Facebook and other social media platforms, and how open to tampering they are, as well as the addictive nature of the iPhone and other electronic devices.

The Huffington Post, also known as HoffPost and, simply, HuffPo, announced today that it is shutting down its contributor network, effective immediately. The contributor network was essentially HuffPost’s blogging arm, allowing anyone holding a Huffington Post contributor account to write an article and post it to HuffPo.

You remember Martin Shkreli, right? He’s the guy who founded Turing Pharmaceuticals, and then acquired the only marketing rights in the U.S. to pyrimethamine (a drug used by, among others, HIV patients), marketed in the U.S. as Daraprim, boosting the price by 5500% per dose. Well, he wasn’t convicted for doing that, but he was convicted for securities fraud, and has been out on bail while awaiting sentencing. Except, a post that he made on Facebook just got him sent to jail. For a post he made on social media. Let’s repeat that – someone is going to jail for a post they made on Facebook. Here’s what Martin Shkreli’s post said:

No matter where your sympathies lie, nobody can deny that the events in Charlottesville on Saturday were tragic. As tensions that have been simmering for months erupted to a full boil this past weekend, opposing forces have been rallying their respective mobs in ways that harken back to the 1950s and ’60s in this country, and even the 1860s and ’70s. But with a twist: this time the mobs have taken not just to the street, but to social media, and vigilante justice has become online vigilante justice.

The Blue Whale Challenge, also known as the Blue Whale Game, is purported to be a deadly game which targets teenagers online and through social media. Said to be named after the way a blue whale will beach itself and die, Blue Whale consists of 50 challenges, increasingly harmful, photographic completion of which you send back to your handler (known as the ‘curator’ or the ‘administrator’), with the final fiftieth challenge being suicide, also broadcast via social media.

You may have recently heard about a new social network called Mastodon. Mastodon is an open source, completely free social network that is similar to, and on some level competing with, Twitter. However there are some important differences between Twitter and Mastodon. Here’s what Mastodon is, and what it isn’t.