Social Media

“Facebook Could Be Associated With a Longer Life, Study Finds”

“The paper, published in the journal PNAS on Monday, asserts that the health effects of active online social lives largely mirror the benefits of busy offline social lives.

“We find that people…

“The big myth Facebook needs everyone to believe”

“observers remain deeply skeptical of Facebook’s claims that it is somehow value-neutral or globally inclusive, or that its guiding principles are solely “respect” and “safety.” There’s no doubt, said Tarleton Gillespie, a principal researcher…

“The Agency”

“The Columbian Chemicals hoax was not some simple prank by a bored sadist. It was a highly coordinated disinformation campaign, involving dozens of fake accounts that posted hundreds of tweets for hours, targeting a list of figures precisely chosen to generate maximum attention. The perpetrators didn’t…

“Take the time and effort to correct misinformation”

“Most researchers who have tried to engage online with ill-informed journalists or pseudoscientists will be familiar with Brandolini’s law (also known as the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle): the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is…

“I’m Sorry Mr. Zuckerberg, But You Are Wrong”

“Just because Silicon Valley has desperately wanted to believe for twenty years that communities can self-police does not make it true. Point to one example where this has worked. Twitter is a cesspool — one which you are rapidly joining. Google gave…

“Living in a Post-Delete World”

“We’re living in a moment of cognitive dissonance when it comes to deleting. The more evidence we’re presented with that anything we do online can haunt us forever, the more we persist in trying to control our digital histories. A guy can send a barrage ofangry tweets at a…

“On 🎇like🎆 animations”

“We design interfaces with bright, friendly aesthetics and casual copy to project empathy and form a relationship with our users — to delight. It’s the digital equivalent of a warm, disarming smile. But when these interfaces fail to respond to the mournful moments in our lives…

“2015 is the year the old internet finally died”

“The internet has made it clear that the kinds of things that people want to read are sort of an endless collection of what’s cool. And that might be a longform story, or it might be the quick, clicky little things that repackage the best…