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Posts Tagged ‘social-networking’
Twitter, teenagers and tech trends
July 14th, 2009 |
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The world seems all a titter that teens don’t use Twitter
Was the whiz-kid correct? Two teens give opposing views
Teens spurning Twitter was one of the bombshells from 15-year-old Matthew Robson that the media highlighted in a report he wrote for investment bank Morgan Stanley.
However, it wasn’t really breaking news that teens don’t use Twitter.
• Last November, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found the median age of Twitter users in the US was 31, higher than 26 for Facebook and 27 for MySpace.
• In April, web metrics firm comScore reported that the majority of Twitter’s 10m or so users were over 35.
• In June, comScore reported that 11.3% of visitors to Twitter.com in the U.S. are ages 12-17. Internationally, only 4.4% of visitors were younger then 18, according to comScore data from May.
• In June, Pace University said that while 99% of 18-24 year olds have profiles on social networks, only 22% use Twitter.
In a battle of the teen prognosticators, 16-year-old Daniel Brusilovsky, writing on TechCrunch says that teens don’t use Twitter because it’s a completely open network and anyone can see your status updates. Teens prefer the privacy of closed networks such as Facebook. Brusilovsky said it makes teens feel “unsafe”.
It’s probably more about teens wanting to establish a privacy perimeter from the prying eyes of adults rather than a safety issue.
That’s not entirely true. Twitter users can protect their updates so only followers they approve can follow their updates.
Also, as David Meyer points out on ZDNet, Robson only referred to updating Twitter via SMS. However, as Meyer points out, Twitter is now used mostly via a range of desktop applications and internet apps on smartphones. Also, up until recently Twitter was MIA in the UK via SMS because Twitter and the carriers couldn’t reach an agreement on pricing.
A number of bloggers, including my wife Suw, took Morgan Stanley and the media to task for mistaking anecdotes from a 15-year-old for hard data.
Neither Morgan Stanley nor the media seem to be able to tell the difference between anecdote and data. This “research note” is more note than research, and it should not be taken to be representative of all teens. A teenager in a rural setting, or in an inner city estate, or one who feels socially excluded from web culture will have a very different experience than a teen who’s well-connected enough to get himself an internship at Morgan Stanley.
Beyond criticising Robson’s methodology, there is something more interesting going on here. As comScore’s Sarah Radwanick pointed out, as technology becomes more common, teens and college students aren’t the only people in the population that can be considered “technologically inclined”. She said:
…trends are much more prone to take off in older age segments than they used to.
It challenges the idea that the youth are the only people who are “digital natives”. Charlie Beckett, director of journalism thinktank POLIS at the London School of Economics, challenges the whole idea of the digital native:
As Matthew Robson describes, most teenagers use a variety of digital devices, but when you talk to people who work with teenagers they describe a much more complex picture of what they actually do.
The same teenagers who have literacy problems have media literacy problems. Many of the teenagers apparently comfortable with new media are in fact only using a very limited range of applications and in a very limited way.
Other researchers indicate that teenagers are getting just as frustrated as the rest of us with the complexity and cost of many online and mobile applications.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
ATandT Targets Social Networkers with Nokia Surge
July 13th, 2009 |
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The Nokia Surge mobile device, running Symbian S60, aims for the sweet spot between a quick messaging phone and a smartphone with multimedia and support for instant messaging, text and e-mail. AT T will offer the Nokia Surge in stores and online.
– Playing to the social networking crowd, AT amp;T plans to offer the Nokia
Surge July 19 in stores and online. The Symbian S60-based smartphone features a
full QWERTY keyboard and a browser with Flash, and supports instant messaging,
text messaging, multimedia messages and e-mail. It allows users …
Murdoch and Google eye Twitter
July 8th, 2009 |
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Speculation about Twitter’s future is among the talking points at this year’s secretive conference for media moguls
As the media world’s most powerful figures gather in Sun Valley, Idaho to discuss the state of the industry the topics are likely to range far and wide. But aside from subjects like the economy and the influence of the internet, one question is likely to dominate conversations among the event’s moguls and millionaires: will anyone broker a deal to buy Twitter?
The hyped internet company’s chief executive, Evan Williams, is one of hundreds of faces attending the shindig – a high-profile but secretive event organised by investment group Allen & Co. The fact that his fellow attendees reads like a Who’s Who of the internet industry – including Google boss Eric Schmidt, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, new AOL chief Tim Armstrong, and media magnates Barry Diller and Rupert Murdoch – has lead some to speculate that an acquisition could be on the cards.
Among those who believe a deal could be brokered at Sun Valley is journalist and entrepreneur Michael Wolff, who believes Murdoch could be ready to make a play for the San Francisco startup.
Talking to Yahoo, Wolff said that Murdoch showed no evidence of regretting the purchase of MySpace, the social network he bought in 2005 that recently underwent severe cutbacks.
“I don’t think he feels that he was burned badly,” he said. “They made a good deal and then the company soared to a theoretical valuation of $15bn. Where is it now? Certainly not at $15bn, but I think it’s probably over $600m – though maybe not too much.”
Wolff, who wrote a biography of the 78-year-old and now runs a news aggregation website, said that Twitter could add substance to Murdoch’s online empire.
“I think they would say that they were caught,” he said of the MySpace acquisition. ‘They didn’t have the technological heft to support this kind of company. Could they get that technological heft by adding Twitter to their formidable new media assets?”
Others agreed that Twitter would demand serious attention during the week’s events.
“Ev is going to be the belle of the ball,” Mark Pincus, founder of online games company Zynga told the Associated Press. Pincus, who will also be attending the conference, said that the web industry could have something to teach the rest of the crowd.
”Maybe there is something the offline media can learn from the online media about monetising their users differently,” he said.
In the past Twitter – which has more than 30m users worldwide – has turned down offers from a variety of companies, including an approach from Facebook valued at $500m.
Speaking to the Guardian, Twitter board member Bijan Sabet – whose venture firm Spark Capital is one of the company’s backers – confirmed the company held a high-level meeting on the eve of the conference, but said Twitter did not comment on rumours.
“It was just a regularly scheduled Twitter board meeting,” he said, adding that the company is sometimes the subject of speculation. “There are often questions about these things from the media.”
The Sun Valley meeting was due to begin on Tuesday night, after a barbeque to welcome a parade of senior industry figures and media superstars. Murdoch is set to attend with a phalanx of other News Corp faces, including son James and lieutenants Jonathan Miller and new MySpace chief Owen Van Natta.
Elsewhere, attendees include billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer, Vivendi chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy and Bob Iger, the president and CEO of Disney.
It is the 27th year of the conference, which is run by boutique investment bank Allen & Co – a group with close ties to Hollywood and the technology industry.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Judge overturns MySpace suicide verdict
July 2nd, 2009 |
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The woman at the centre of a high-profile online bullying case was exonerated by a US judge today – despite having previously been found guilty of computer crimes that led to the suicide of her teenage neighbour.
At a sentencing hearing in Los Angeles earlier today, Lori Drew, 50, was told that the verdict of a Californian jury would be overturned and she would not face imprisonment for her role in the death of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who killed herself in 2006 after being bullied on MySpace.
Despite having been found guilty on a number of minor counts last November, US District Judge George Wu overruled the jury in the original trial and said that Drew should be acquitted.
Although the ruling was tentative – and the decision will not become final until papers are filed later this week – Wu said he was concerned that the case set a dangerous precedent for prosecuting anybody who broke the terms of service of a website.
The shocking development marks the latest twist in the long-running case – which had been heralded as a landmark test in US law, as the first prosecution over accusations of cyberbullying.
Meier, from Darden Priarie in Missouri, killed herself three years ago after receiving a string of nasty messages from a young male friend she had befriended online. A police investigation discovered that the bully’s identity was fake and that the entire friendship had, in fact, been a hoax operated by Drew – the mother of another teenager who had been friends with Meier.
Reacting to what they claimed was bullying from Meier towards Drew’s daughter, she and a friend concocted the persona of 16-year-old “Josh Evans”, a boy who had recently moved to the area.
“Josh” began exchanging messages with Meier, before telling her in October 2006 that “the world would be a better place without you”. She killed herself soon afterwards.
As details of the case emerged, public outcry over the case grew, and Drew – who initially referred to the hoax as a “joke” – became the subject of widespread condemnation for her behaviour.
But without legislation to specifically address such cases, the incident was seen as a test case for cyberbullying in the US. Despite public pressure, officials struggled to build a case against Drew. Local prosecutors in Missouri failed to take the case forward, eventually leading to the authorities in California – who argued they had jurisdiction because MySpace is based in Los Angeles – to prosecute.
After legal arguments and a short trial, Drew was only found guilty of three reduced charges relating to her misuse of computers, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on a fourth charge of criminal conspiracy.
Last month, however, Judge Wu indicated that he was still considering the defence’s motion to overturn the verdict, after labelling the application of computer crime laws to the case as “weird”.
“Is a misdemeanor committed by the conduct which is done every single day by millions and millions of people?” Wu asked lawyers at a hearing last month. “If these people do read [the terms of service] and still say they’re 40 when they are 45, is that a misdemeanor?”
Megan’s family had argued that Drew should be held responsible for her actions, particularly since they were clearly intended to manipulate a child. Prosecutors had sought the maximum three-year prison sentence and a $300,000 (£183,000) fine.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Judge overturns MySpace suicide verdict
July 2nd, 2009 |
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The woman at the centre of a high-profile online bullying case was exonerated by a US judge today – despite having previously been found guilty of computer crimes that led to the suicide of her teenage neighbour.
At a sentencing hearing in Los Angeles earlier today, Lori Drew, 50, was told that the verdict of a Californian jury would be overturned and she would not face imprisonment for her role in the death of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who killed herself in 2006 after being bullied on MySpace.
Despite having been found guilty on a number of minor counts last November, US District Judge George Wu overruled the jury in the original trial and said that Drew should be acquitted.
Although the ruling was tentative – and the decision will not become final until papers are filed later this week – Wu said he was concerned that the case set a dangerous precedent for prosecuting anybody who broke the terms of service of a website.
The shocking development marks the latest twist in the long-running case – which had been heralded as a landmark test in US law, as the first prosecution over accusations of cyberbullying.
Meier, from Darden Priarie in Missouri, killed herself three years ago after receiving a string of nasty messages from a young male friend she had befriended online. A police investigation discovered that the bully’s identity was fake and that the entire friendship had, in fact, been a hoax operated by Drew – the mother of another teenager who had been friends with Meier.
Reacting to what they claimed was bullying from Meier towards Drew’s daughter, she and a friend concocted the persona of 16-year-old “Josh Evans”, a boy who had recently moved to the area.
“Josh” began exchanging messages with Meier, before telling her in October 2006 that “the world would be a better place without you”. She killed herself soon afterwards.
As details of the case emerged, public outcry over the case grew, and Drew – who initially referred to the hoax as a “joke” – became the subject of widespread condemnation for her behaviour.
But without legislation to specifically address such cases, the incident was seen as a test case for cyberbullying in the US. Despite public pressure, officials struggled to build a case against Drew. Local prosecutors in Missouri failed to take the case forward, eventually leading to the authorities in California – who argued they had jurisdiction because MySpace is based in Los Angeles – to prosecute.
After legal arguments and a short trial, Drew was only found guilty of three reduced charges relating to her misuse of computers, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on a fourth charge of criminal conspiracy.
Last month, however, Judge Wu indicated that he was still considering the defence’s motion to overturn the verdict, after labelling the application of computer crime laws to the case as “weird”.
“Is a misdemeanor committed by the conduct which is done every single day by millions and millions of people?” Wu asked lawyers at a hearing last month. “If these people do read [the terms of service] and still say they’re 40 when they are 45, is that a misdemeanor?”
Megan’s family had argued that Drew should be held responsible for her actions, particularly since they were clearly intended to manipulate a child. Prosecutors had sought the maximum three-year prison sentence and a $300,000 (£183,000) fine.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Fake Miliband duo call it quits on Twitter
June 29th, 2009 |
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A pair of recent university graduates were behind the fake Twitter account of foreign secretary David Miliband and say it highlights the importance of verification on the internet
The world now has one less Twitter account satirising a politician. After duping the international press, two recent university graduates have decided to stop updating the fake account of British foreign secretary David Miliband.
Several newspapers, including The Guardian, incorrectly reported that David Miliband posted a heartfelt tribute to Michael Jackson on his Twitter account following the pop star’s death. The tribute was not posted by Miliband but rather by 23-year-old Rory Crew and 22-year-old Knud Noelle.
They created the account in January to bring political comedy to Twitter, Crew said. They wanted to pick someone well known but realised thought Gordon Brown was too obvious. “No one would have believed it,” he said.
They respect Miliband but they also believed that “he would be the perfect politician to parody,” Crew said.
They settled on him because while Miliband is frequently quoted in the press there is little if any reporting on his personal life or thoughts. No one would have the information to contradict their satirical snippets on Twitter.
They checked the FCO website regularly so that they could keep up with his schedule, and if they were lacking in inspriration, they checked his occasional blog posts for ideas.
While some of the tweets were clearly ridiculous and his constituency paper, the Shields Gazette, described them as “increasingly bizarre”, some FCO staff thought it might be an inside job because of the accuracy of the diary items.
After tricking media from “China to Washington”, they have decided to stop posting to the account because they didn’t want to bring themselves or Miliband into disrepute and “there was no where to go with this short of causing an actual diplomatic incident,” Crew said.
Their goal wasn’t to trick the media. “I’m not happy about duping the media, but they learned something,” he said. All journalists had to do to realise the account was fake was to read one or two of previous updates, such as this tweet: “The proleteriat make my head hurt!.” It’s also doubtful that David Miliband would ever refer to Chancellor Secretary Alistair Darling as “Eyebrows”.
“It does highlight the importance of the verification of sources, which is clearly becoming more difficult in the web 2.0 era,” the pair wrote in an email to the Guardian.
Noelle has just finished his journalism degree from City University, and Crew plans to start a journalism course. But the experience left Crew “a little bit disappointed” with journalism but said it was the result of newspapers cutting sub editors and lacking in fact checking.
They hope to make a living from writing, and one positive result from the hoax is that they now have the confidence to do it.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Managing Your Social Network Addiction
June 18th, 2009 |
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Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Friendster, Tumblr, Xanga… the list goes on and on. And if you are any sort of tech savy, there is good chance you are a member of multiple social networks. Even I have accounts with at least 5 of these. While there is a lot to be gained by using these services, there is also a lot to be lost.Â
In case you hadn’t heard, Facebook users share not only a social network of over 200 million, but also significantly lower grade point averages (GPAs) than their non-member classmates (according to Time Magazine). And apparently Jennifer Aniston ended her relationship with John Mayer because he was addicted to Twitter (as apposed to drugs like other musicians… ). This begs the question, how many of us are addicted to social networks, and what can we do about it?
You may think, “I’m not addicted, I can quit anytime!” Well if you have more Facebook friends than real friends, something must be done. If you spend more time on Twitter than in sunlight, it’s time for change. If you spend more time working on your LinkedIn profile than doing actual work, it’s time for an intervention. Regardless of your excuse, this is not ok.
Rehabilitation
Obviously the first step in your rehabilitation is to admit there is a problem. How could you not pick up groceries on your way home from work, yet somehow you twitted 3 times before making it home? You have a problem, and until you realize it, there is nothing we can do for you.
You need to realize that these systems are in place for you to use, not to use you. They are tools, not lifestyles. If you are using the tool for anything other than it’s intended use, chances are you are wasting time. Don’t fret though, with hard work, discipline, and the help from Lifehack, we can beat this addiction, and use these tools the way they were intended.
Here are a few tips that can help you monitor your social network use, and ensure that you are being productive instead of wasting time.
- Track Your Time Online – The simplest way to ensure you aren’t wasting time in any one place is to monitor your time. Use a stopwatch and set a limit. When time is up, log out, regardless of what’s left. There is always tomorrow.
- Remember the Telephone - I know, it’s so primitive. But a call to a friend works just as well as a Facebook message, and it is real human interaction, something we are losing touch with.
- Go Outside – get away from your portal to the network. Get some sunshine, chances are you need it.
- Limit Your Memberships – There is no need for memberships to 15 different networks. In fact, there is no need for even 2 memberships of sites which do the same thing. Choose Facebook or Myspace, but not both. Digg, or StumbleUpon. This will probably cut your memberships in half, and hopefully cut the time spent on them down also.
- Use Your Networks Productively – When I first used twitter I followed anyone, and had thousands of followers. Strangely though, people rarely responded to my twits, and it was like I was invisible. I decided I’d only use twitter if I could be productive with it, so I unfollowed thousands of users (now below 200), and use Twitter only to share and interact with people with similar interests as mine. Now my Twitter is a tool, not a time warp.
- Prioritize - Use these tools only when your work has been done, or during down time. Don’t spend time updating your profile or changing your pic when there is work to be done. This will not only save you time and increase productivity, but will build self discipline as well.
- Stop Procrastinating – Many times we get on Facebook or twitter when we have real work that we just don’t want to do. Stop that! Get the work done. Once you finish you’ll have all the time in the world to spend making friends on Facebook.
- Remove the Cellphone Apps – You don’t really need Facebook or Twitter on your phone. Nothing on there can be that important. Save your social networking for when you are behind the desk and limit the distractions throughout the day.
- Spend More Time With Close Friends and Family – You aren’t the only one who suffers when you spend countless hours on MySpace. Your family and friends don’t see you, because you are too busy learning how to customize your backgrounds and take crazy pictures from all different angles for your profile pic. Cut out the cancer and get back to friends and family.
It’s time to take back your free time. Remember that these sites are built to make money, not increase your productivity. Nobody is looking out for you except you (and me…). Follow my tips and live life in the real world instead of the e-world. Trust me, it’s more fun this way.
Have any other tips to help your fellow addicts get through this rough time? Leave a comment below, and let us know you care.
Ibrahim Husain is the creator of ZenCollegeLife.com, a college blog dedicated to helping students succeed in and out of academia. He also journals his lifehack experiments at BrainVault.net. Offline Ibrahim is a fitness addict, motorcyclist, avid reader, guitarist, digital artist, adventure seeker, and so much more.
Follow him on Twitter: @IbrahimZCL