iGyaan Network

Tag: social media

  • WhatsApp, Instagram And Facebook Face Major Outage

    WhatsApp, Instagram And Facebook Face Major Outage

    The trio of social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have suffered from a massive outage that affected its users. These platforms have a combined user base that easily crosses over a billion. The latest outage marks the third major issue that has yet been faced by Facebook Inc. which owns the other two platforms.

    Facebook Instagram WhatsApp

    Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had started experiencing outages and issues in its service about 12 hours ago. The services are reportedly struggling across the globe, with the problem being severe in the East Coast and in Europe. Many WhatsApp users were either unable to send photos, videos and voice messages or were unable to receive them. However, text messages were unaffected and went through. Hashtags such as Instagram down have already trended on Twitter.

    Instagram

    Instagram had issues regarding its stories and its cycle of post refreshes and preview. Users were either unable to open stories of their followers or see recent posts on their feeds. The problem made it seem like a loss of internet connectivity even if that was not the case. It is still unclear as to what seems to be causing these massive outages. The leading explanation points at a change in the server configuration. Facebook had experienced a massive outage in March, while Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp experienced another in the following month.

    Facebook has since acknowledged the latest issue plaguing its services. The company has stated that it is currently working to resolve the issues being faced by its large number of users on Instagram and WhatsApp. The services now appear to be almost completely restored for Facebook and WhatsApp, declared via a post shared on Twitter.

    Facebook

    Also Read: Huawei Mate 30 Leaked With The Highest DxOMark Rating

    The respective companies’ are hoping to keep the issue contained and never have to repeat it again. An apology was also issued alongside the announcement of it being fixed. Social media platforms are now an integral part of a modern individual’s life. Outages on social media platform such as Facebook showcase just how strongly it can impact the daily routine of a person. 

  • Facebook Announces Its Vision For Privacy Focussed Social Networking

    Facebook Announces Its Vision For Privacy Focussed Social Networking

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post from his account about the company’s next move to create a more privacy focussed social network. In his over 3,000 words long article about privacy and building trust of the users, he claimed that his company will be more open to product developments. There were six principles that were shared in the post, aiming to serve as a guideline for future development for the company. These principles are expected to take place in the next few years.

    Facebook & Privacy

    While Facebook has been criticised about its privacy policies and has seen its fair share of controversies regarding the matter, the company in the post aims to take a firm stand on the matter in the future. The six principles for the company highlighted in the Facebook posts are as follows:

    • Private interactions
    • Encryption
    • Reducing Permanence
    • Safety
    • Interoperability
    • Secure data storage

    Facebook claims that they are planning to rebuild more of its services around the above ideas. Understanding privacy concerns, the company also reaffirmed that it start the development and changes openly and collaboratively. Zuckerberg said that the public sharing on the platform will decline in the next few years because people will shift towards private messaging via Messenger or WhatsApp, which will be the main way they will communicate on the Facebook network.

    Facebook is also expected to implement end-to-end encryption to all of its communication networks. The post also claimed that will limit the time it will store the user’s messaging metadata. The company got into trouble a few weeks ago for storing and recording data. It will also add a feature to its every service that will allow them to send a message, a report of this feature was also hinted a few weeks ago. The reports said that it planning on adding cross-texting between Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

    Also read: Fitbit Launches Versa Lite, Inspire & Ace 2 Fitness Bands

    The steps that Facebook seems to be emphasizing upon seem like a step in the right direction for the company, Considering that its reputation hasn’t been great in terms of privacy and collecting user data.

  • Huawei’s Recent P9 Image Blunder Paints a Poor Picture for Mobile Brands

    Huawei’s Recent P9 Image Blunder Paints a Poor Picture for Mobile Brands

    Huawei’s recent launch of the new P9 put a lot of attention on the brand, with claims that the smartphone camera can match DSLR quality shots.

    Huawei P9 blunder

    This image recently posted by Huawei on its Facebook page, promoting the P9.  Even though Huawei never directly claimed it was clicked with the P9. The caption read :

     The #HuaweiP9’s dual Leica cameras makes taking photos in low light conditions like this a pleasure.

    The EXIF data, however, spoke another story altogether. The photo was actually shot with a Canon 5D III using a 70-200 F2.8  L series lens. This reminds us of the bad marketing Nokia did with the Lumia 920 back in 2012.

    Using DSLR images for marketing is more common than users expect. Most companies do it in their mainstream advertisements, and more so on social media.

    Huawei issued an apology on the issue :

    It has recently been highlighted that an image posted to our social channels was not shot on the Huawei P9. The photo, which was professionally taken while filming a Huawei P9 advert, was shared to inspire our community. We recognize though that we should have been clearer with the captions for this image. It was never our intention to mislead. We apologize for this and we have removed the image.

    However, trust once broken is seldom regained, and Huawei seems to have upset a large chunk of its followers.

    Claims in marketing media from brands often mislead users into expecting more from their phones. Claims like 2-day battery life, amazing cameras, and magical unicorns are made with phones that can barely manage to give average results.

    With no regulations in place for marketing norms, a consumers knowledge becomes his best weapon against poor and unethical marketing warlords.

     

  • Social Media or Social Anxiety: What is the Internet Actually About?

    Social Media or Social Anxiety: What is the Internet Actually About?

    Fear of public speaking, inabilty to communicate face-to-face, the need to stay in the background and establish relationships from a distance, and fear of being judged that leads to insecurities and self-doubt -these are but some of the signs of social anxiety, and many people around the world suffer from it.

    The advent of the internet and social networking sites was supposed to bring people around the world closer. It was supposed to let people socialize even more than they normally do. Meeting friends and family from time to time on specific occasions were now not the only ways for people to connect.

    Internet has changed the way people interact with one another.But how does it affect those who are unable to socialize? Is the internet, and social media in particular, helping or harming the socially challenged? While many studies have suggested that social media has led to more social anxiety among teens and elderly folks, the picture isn’t as cut and dry as that.

    Anonymity Through Social Media

    Socially anxious people shun society and crave solitude. But that doesn’t mean they don’t seek company or contact with others. So if there is a medium to provide that contact without a physical presence, how can it be a bad thing. Granted, therapists and loved ones will suggest that one should be more open, explore and step out of the fear of establishing contact, but actually doing it is never easy.

    Anonymity

    It was generally believed that the internet would be specially useful for those who struggle with social anxiety. There was a sense of anonymity while using a social networking site and people could explore and connect with more ease without the fear of revealing too much. Even today, a public forum like Reddit lets you post questions and opinions on literally anything while staying anonymous. This makes it easy for people to connect who would otherwise be embarrassed and would fear being judged.

    A False Sense of Society, But a Society Nevertheless

    Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram also provide a way to be out there. What’s changed is that these sites don’t let you stay anonymous. These sites have become more personal now. A person struggling with social anxiety might spend 30 minutes making sure his Facebook post is perfect so as to not to invite judgement. While looking at pictures on Facebook or Instagram, you may think that people around are having more fun than you. These insecurities do exist, but it doesn’t overshadow other areas that actually improve, namely, relationships.

    Here’s the thing about sites like Facebook – It can help socially anxious people but not always in the right way. Having over 300 friends can make a person feel good despite the fact that one never talks to 299 of them. This false sense of having a lot of friends can be therapeutic, according to some people. However, there is a flip side to this. Having a lot of friends can also cause some people to feel lonely because you end up sacrificing conversation for connection.

    Social Media Lets You Present a Different Self

    A number of studies have explored how social media stimulate sharing and relationship-building among their users. Researchers have also found that the perceived usefulness of a platform positively influences the adoption and spread of said technology by users (Hsieh, Hsieh, & Feng, 2011). In case of social networks, such as Facebook, the illusion of building and maintaining relationships with people is more important than their actual effectiveness.

    Studies have also suggested that chatting online might allow people with social phobia the ability to practice social skills in a non-threatening setting that they could then use in face-to-face social situations. In a face-to-face setting, conversations happen in real time and you can’t control what you’re saying. But texting, email and posting is done through a virtual sphere where people have more time to carefully think about what they want to say.

    The positives and negatives are vast and there is no clear proof of whether social media aids the socially anxious or harms them. The answer will vary from person to person and the discourse will continue as long as social media is an intrinsic part of our lives.

  • Facebook Tops Networking, WhatsApp in IM Apps in India

    Facebook Tops Networking, WhatsApp in IM Apps in India

    It comes as no surprise really that WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in India, according to reports by global research consultancy firm TNS. Facebook remains the most popular social networking site in India with 51% of users logging in daily, while 56% users are on WhatsApp daily.

    “The social networking market of India is Facebook centric, which is fueling the adoption of Facebook Messenger also as the IM platform for private messaging. However, WhatsApp is by far the most popular IM platform in India.” TNS India executive director Parijat Chakraborty commented.

    When compared to countries such as Thailand (78%), Taiwan (75%), and Hong Kong (72%), India’s Facebook usage is much lower. Interestingly, India is the second largest base with over 125 million users for Facebook. The Unites States comes first.

    In Asia-Pacific, three out of five internet users or 61% are now instant messaging on a daily basis, while four or 82% are using it on a weekly basis, the report said. “the popularity of IM has soared over the past year, with a 12% uplift in daily usage globally as more people opt for closed messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat”, it added.

    The numbers are out now and it goes to show just how much WhatsApp and Facebook has taken over our lives. TNS has said that social media will continue to hold a strong position allowing content to go more viral and the challenge for brands is to create content that consumers actually want to see.

  • How to Become a Twitter Pro in 10 Short Steps

    How to Become a Twitter Pro in 10 Short Steps

    I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told, “I have a Twitter account, but I’m not really active”, or “I forgot my password and never bothered to retrieve it.” The most comical retort was, “with hashtags now on Facebook, what’s the point of Twitter?”. That answer was accompanied by a sharp know-it-all tone and a odd look implying that I was stupid for asking why he wasn’t active on Twitter. Yes, because Twitter’s 200 million strong community has been solely built on the thrill of hashtagging.

    If you have no clue about what this site is about, then you should know that Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging site which is used to send and read short 140-character text messages, called “tweets”. As one of the big guys of social media, this one has managed to step away and create a special segment for itself. Even I was late to arrive to the Twitter party, but quickly realized why everyone was so addicted to it.

    For beginners, it can be a bit tricky to understand. Here are our tips and tricks for every Twitter newbie. Once you get into the Twitter zone, its hard to step out.

    1. Set Up House

    twitter-profile-1024x681Once you register yourself to get started, you can customize the standard profile picture, background etc. Out of everything the most important would be coming up with a relevant description about yourself. Sonam Kapoor’s bio reads, “a female actor who lives to eat and read in that order”, Ellen DeGeneres went for, “Comedian, talk show host and ice road trucker. My tweets are real, and they’re spectacular.” and Narendra Modi with a simple, “Prime Minister of India”. You get the idea. Ideally it should be a clear message to potential followers about what to expect from your tweets. 

    2. “Um, but what do I tweet about?”

    Remember a couple of years back fresh on Facebook, every single thought/action became a Facebook status. That was before we realized that those posts were only being read by our friends and family. This is where Twitter steps in. As a Micro-“Blogging”site, it’s a space where it’s not only acceptable but you’re actually encouraged to write freely (within 140 characters, of course). It’s a lot about personal branding, your true ideas and interests come out to play. Here you can use your voice and interact with new people.

    3. Follow, Reply, Favourite, Retweet

    That’s all there is to it. To break it down: Retweeting is sharing with your followers a post you’ve liked. By Favourite-ing, you can create an archive of the tweets you’ve liked, without them showing up on your feed. Lastly, follow accounts which seem like you’d like reading everyday. Here, instead of simply following a publication, you can use the search tab and look for your favourite columnist. Next thing you know you’ve started a debate with them about their last article.

    4. Sticking to 140 Characters

    twitter 1Since the worldwide standard length of SMS was 160-characters, the founders of Twitter thought they’d stay well within that number. Is it mandatory to stick to 140 characters? No, not really. Though a long tweet is broken up and link leads you to a new page. Your followers wouldn’t appreciate that, they’d rather have the whole bite in one go. Don’t worry, while learning the art of tweeting, you tend to get used to the art of shortening sentences and getting straight to the point.

    5. Loosen Up

    “Having a private Twitter account is like owning a shop, but not letting anyone buy stuff from it.” You can imagine the number of times that was retweeted. The main point of Twitter is to get conversations started with complete strangers. How is that going to ever happen unless you allow them to scan through your profile?

    6. Basic Etiquette

    Also known as, “How Not to be Annoying on Twitter”. Like every major social media, Twitter has it’s own rules for socially accepted behaviour. One of them is that you have to give credit where credit is due. When retweeting, use RT followed by the originators Twitter handle, and then the tweet you’ve copied. Also, while a healthy debate on Twitter is appreciated, don’t use the forum to vent your frustrations. You cannot build a healthy community of followers if you’re constantly arguing or criticizing.

    7. Combining Your Social Media

    Every Social Media has its particular function, so don’t muddle them up. Clicked a beautiful picture? Share it on Instagram. Want to connect with an old friend? Search on Facebook. Have something to say to no one is particular? Type it out on Twitter. Managing social media can get tough, luckily we have several apps which help out. Hootsuite is our favourite pick; it allows you to create a single dashboard for all accounts, schedule posts and get an analysis of the number of profile visitors.

    8. The Difference Between a Mention and a Reply

    If you simply mention a Twitter handle within a tweet, it shows up on your feed and is visible to your followers. But if y0u start a tweet using someone’s Twitter handle you’re directly responding to them. Only you and that person, along with the few people that follow the two will be able to see the tweet.

    9. Top Twitter Apps

    There are several apps which would make your Twitter life similar. Choose between Tweet Lanes, Tweetings, Twicca, Twiddle, Robird etc. These apps customize and put the experience you enjoy to the forefront. There are stories of people finding love, job and friends on Twitter. Its an open forum which may be right up your alley, you might not know it.

    10. How to Use Hashtags

    #Never #EVER #Like #this. To reiterate what the purpose of hashtags really is –  it hyperlinks your post to other posts which are tagged under the same characters. So for example, if you’re attending a concert you can check out the tag #ColdplayTour2014 and you’ll see everything other people attending the same concert might’ve posted. Or before visiting a new restaurant, to get an idea about what the place might be like you could hashtag its name and get real user reviews. If you hashtag commonly used words (#like #this), it is only going to link you to other idiots who would’ve done the same.

    If you haven’t already, check out this hilarious skit by Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon on using hashtags:

  • Twitter Officially Got Rid of the 140-Characters Limit From Direct Messages

    Twitter Officially Got Rid of the 140-Characters Limit From Direct Messages

    We had earlier brought you the exciting news that Twitter was going to get rid of the 140 character limit that was put on its Direct Messages. Now it is has been officially followed through.

    If you logged in today and checked your Direct Messages you will find that the 140 character limitation is missing and now you can chat away to your hearts content, in a single Direct Message.

    While the whole concept of Twitter is supposed to have you sharing your opinions on a public forum, Direct Messages allows you to have personal chats about the memes, news, movements, and events that unfold on Twitter. Therefore, Twitter aimed to work on the Direct Message feature to make it personal, but fun.

    As for the public side of it, nothing changes. You will have to say what you need to in 140 characters itself, coupled with memes, videos and emojis, if you wish.

    The relieving and drastic change will be executed on Android and iOS apps, as well as twitter.com, TweetDeck and Twitter for Mac. The company says that the rolling out of the change worldwide, will continue in the next couple of weeks.

    If you’re dying to try a restriction free Twitter, make sure you have the latest version of the app so that you get the update right away, Sending and receiving Direct Messages via SMS will continue to be limited.

    So go ahead, speak your mind.

  • Twitter Revamps its Homepage to Lure New Users

    Twitter Revamps its Homepage to Lure New Users

    Only yesterday Twitter hinted that a new and friendlier user interface is on its way, and today, Twitter has confirmed the news is true. The social networking service has rolled out the new web interface in US today, providing a new experience to its users.

    The official blog post of Twitter reads –

    Starting today, when you go to the twitter.com homepage, you’ll find interesting topics to explore like Politics, Pop Artists and even Cute Animals. Click on the topic and you’ll see a timeline of Tweets from some of the most popular accounts in that topic. It’s rich real-time content, just like the Twitter experience for users who log in.

    Twitter homepage

    Twitter states the new homepage will be made accessible to other regions as well in due time. The page for signed-out users displays three columns with a header that welcomes the users and invites them to see ‘What is happening right now.’

    The left column includes categories like News, Sports, Entertainment, Science and Technology, etc. which is divided into more sub-groups. The middle column shows thumbnails with titles like ‘Business News, people and sites’, ‘Country Artists’, etc. These clickable thumbnails take users to another login page that shows highlights of that particular section. The right column is kept for Login or Sign Up.

    Right now, users can directly check out tweets without logging 0nto Twitter. The company said an approximate of 200 million people visit profiles without signing in. Hence, if they manage to convert even a small percentage of the visitors into active users, the company will grow significantly.

  • Here’s How Your Facebook Likes Can Make You Lose Your Next Job

    Here’s How Your Facebook Likes Can Make You Lose Your Next Job

    Social media has taken over our daily lives; we all now live a second life as a digital creature. We control this side of our lives with regular updates, images and interests. With the proliferation of these accounts, employers are finding it a lot easier to screen their potential employees. But a research paper claims that using computer assessment models, employers can find exactly who they are looking for and they claim it is better than human judgement.

    The paper is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is presented by Wu Youyou, Michal Kosinski and David Stillwell. They used a computer model to judge a person’s personality based on their Facebook likes. They claim that the results are even better than a human assessment of personalities.

    Many companies have taken the social media route to find the suitable candidate for the job. Some have even shown the audacity to ask for social media passwords. The researchers claim that their ‘likes’ based model can be used as a recruitment tool that will be almost like a dating website. Here the employers can immediately be given options of potential employees based on the job requirement and personality models.

    There are, of course, severe privacy concerns. The model uses the activities of the users who don’t put a lot of thought before hitting the like button. It is true that our service providers and companies alike store information of the websites visited by you, but it doesn’t effect your chances at a new job, at present. Who is to say that your various online activities won’t be used against you during a future job interview.

    All of these leads to the question, how do I prevent my innocent ‘Like’ on Facebook from influencing my next job search? Well, the answer cannot be to ‘think before liking something on social media’, because that will take all the fun out of your life. That will turn us into a paranoid bunch who’ll be scared to voice our opinion. The control in your hands is to keep your images and posts in a private setting. Also only add ‘friends’ on social networks whom you know in real life, it’s not a race to see who can get more people to click a button on their profile. If you share your innermost thoughts and pictures on social media, it’s a good idea to keep them away from random ‘friends’.

    As our dependence on the internet increases, our digital footprint is bound to get more visible. Marketing companies, search engines and government institutions will store more of the personal data. And it will stay there till eternity. So in the end, one way, to react to this issue, is being extremely paranoid and monitor each and all your online activity. While the easier thing to do, is just to make your peace with it and live on doing whatever you do. You may actually be better off than working at a company that judges you based on random online likes before meeting you.

  • Revisiting 2014 : Top 10 Social Media Highlights of the Year

    Revisiting 2014 : Top 10 Social Media Highlights of the Year

    Well, it was quite a year for social media. People posted close to 500 million tweets per day, Ellen clicked a selfie, Queen of England photobombed a stranger and Kim Kardashian attempted to break the internet. Needless to say, a lot went down this year.

    We are listing top 10 social media highlights of the year 2014.

    1. Ellen’s Oscar Selfie

    This picture was taken by actor Bradley Cooper and featured some of the world’s most recognised faces. The selfie clicked during this year’s Academy Awards included Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey. It was retweeted on Twitter more than 2 million times by the time the ceremony was over, causing the microblogging website to briefly collapse.

    2. Yo!

    yo-app

    This app’s sole function was to send the user’s friends the word ‘yo’ as a text and audio notification. Since its release, Yo has been downloaded over 3 million times and has over 100 million Yo’s sent in one day. The app had managed to reached number 3 spot on the iOS App Store, but has been dropping ranks since. Yo went viral within days, causing the app to crash a number of times. Critics have shunned it as nonsensical, however, some say its simplicity is what made it super popular. 

    3. WhatsApp Blue Ticks Cause a Frenzy

    WhatsApp2

    Few months back, WhatsApp added an unnecessary feature in the form of blue check marks. These indicated that the recipient had read the message. Earlier, in the interest of privacy, WhatsApp added the choice to conceal the ‘last seen’ notification that informs the other party when that person was last available on the messaging platform. Same happened with the new ‘blue tick’ feature. The instant messaging app quickly did some damage-control and added the option to hide ‘Read Receipts’ feature.

    4. Stranger Kissing

    First kisses are awkward. And scary. And uncomfortable. And if you’re lucky, it can be romantic enough to make your knees wobble. Los Angeles-based filmmaker Tatia Pilieva, along with Wren Studio, created a short video by asking 20 strangers to kiss for the first time on camera. The result was a candid look at love, romance and chemistry. The sexy advert inspired plenty of parodies.

    5. #AlexfromTarget

     


    An Internet meme of a young Target employee bagging items took the Web by storm. He became a viral sensation after thousands of teens tweeted a photo of him working at Target. A photo of the handsome young man, which appears to have been taken without his consent, exploded on Twitter, prompting various publications from BuzzFeed to Washington Post to cover the Internet’s latest obsession.

    6. Kim Kimkardashian’s Attempt to Break the Internet

    Paper magazine’s winter issue, with the cover shot of Kim Kardashian by Jean-Paul Goude, set out to #BreakTheInternet.  She didn’t succeed, but she did have everyone talking about the revealing shoot.

    7. CIA Joins Twitter

    The Central Intelligence Agency made its Twitter debut on 6th June with this cheeky tweet. Their first tweet was shared more than 50,000 times in its first hour.

    8. Mutant Spider Dog

    This ‘spider dog’ is actually just a cute little pup dressed in a spider costume. But try telling that to the poor victim of this terrifying prank. This Polish prank video starring a “mutant giant spider-dog” was the top trending video this year, according to YouTube, which uses its own methodology blending views, comments, shares and other activity to come up with its annual rundown.

    9. PewDiePie – King of Youtube

    PewDiePie, a 25-year-old Swedish called Felix Kjellberg whose channel is the most viewed on YouTube (with 32 million subscribers, and 4.6 million Twitter followers,) rose to prominence by commenting on video games as he plays them. He appeared on the TV show South Park this year, while a June article in the Wall Street Journal suggested he was making $4 million a year from the adverts attached to his videos. He is also said to be very influential, his videos about the Skate 3 game saw the 2010 title rise back into the top 20.

    10. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West  Wedding Picture

      ????   ???? ???????????? Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian)

    Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s wedding photo made Instagram history by attracting 2.4 million likes – the most ever received by the social media platform. Kim Kardashian, who has 22 million followers on the social networking site, posted the photo of herself kissing new husband Kanye West in front of their wall of flowers back in May. She captioned it with a simple diamond ring emoji.

  • Twitter Joins Hands With Women Advocacy Group to Fight Online Harassment

    Twitter Joins Hands With Women Advocacy Group to Fight Online Harassment

    We all know the depreciational quality of any online conversation with another human being. There’s something about the mode of online communication that leaves us shielded from other person’s emotions, leading us to create a lot of nasty content over the internet. The information super highway was meant for the world to unite and share ideas, instead, we have turned it into a septic tank of human nastiness. One of the worst issues online is the issue of online harassment. It is especially a common occurrence on social media. Now Twitter will be taking steps to prevent harassment on its pages.

    Twitter has joined hands with a non-profit advocacy organization Women, Action, and the Media (WAM) to take on online harassment. It is reported through a PEW survey that as many as 25% of women aged between 18-24 have been stalked online, while 26% have been on the receiving end of online sexual harassment.

    Using an online form you can report specifics of the harassment, you're facing.
    Twitter said that it works with multiple partners to take on online harassment.

    These are troubling figures as it creates a malignant atmosphere for women online. In the garb of anonymity, insensitive elements create a havoc on the person they are targeting. WAM will work towards making it easier for Twitter to take actions against these unscrupulous troublemakers.

    WAM has created an online form which can be used to report abuses. It is an anti-gender harassment campaign, and so the form can be used by women and men both. WAM has made it clear that they will use the complaints received to direct Twitter to take action, but ultimate authority lies with Twitter.

    Recently, a major Twitter scandal unfolded in the Tech world with the exposure of #gamergate, where certain female gamers were being harassed by gamers. They were forced to speak out against gender discrimination against females in gaming. After facing tremendous pushback from mainstream attention, the gamergate movement is now dying a silent death.

    The safety features might come in handy for reporting abuses, but what is really necessary to end this menace is accountability. The people who indulge in harassment of others leads to more controls on expression, which just spoils the fun for everyone. It’s important that the abusers face the consequences of their actions. But most importantly, we need to have an online culture conversation. The online world is an ecosystem of its own, and it is still discovering itself, constantly evolving. We need to create a civilisational grammar for this new society and make it a place to have real developmental interactions.

  • Digital Afterlife : What Happens to Your Online Accounts After You Die?

    Digital Afterlife : What Happens to Your Online Accounts After You Die?

    You probably know what happens to your house, assets or family heirloom on your death. Of course, because it’s all there in your will. But have you ever wondered what happens to your your e-mail accounts once you’ve reached the Pearly Gates?

    Mourning kith and kin may want to access these accounts for sentimental reasons, inspite of your  your personal messages and online dating profiles.

    The Uniform Law Commission (Washington), appointed by the state on 16th July, 2014 endorsed a program whereby the loved ones could access but not control the deceased’s digital accounts. This however is yet to be adopted by the legislature; once is it however, a persons online life would also become an integral part of his will.

    “This is something most people don’t think of until they are faced with it. They have no idea what is about to be lost,” said Karen Williams of Beaverton, Oregon, who sued Facebook for access to her 22-year-old son Loren’s account after he died in a 2005 motorcycle accident.

    Presently most tech-providers have their own solutions. Facebook, for example, “memorializes” the accounts, allowing the close ones to view the profile whenever they desire; however for others, presently, once a will becomes public, anti-hacking laws becomes applicable on them. The courts aren’t convinced that a company supplying the technology should decide what happens to the deceased’s online accounts.

    Uniform Law Commission to the rescue! According to the proposal the executor of the deceased would get access to, however not control the digital files, unless prohibited in his will. This would imply that the widow may access her late husbands e-mail accounts, however would not have permission to view any videos or send any e-mails.

    This is a great initiative as every family/representative should have the right to access the departed’s digital data. Had this still been a generation of “Letters in the Shoebox”, that would have automatically fallen to the family of the deceased. Then why not the online profiles, for its sentimental value, if nothing else?

    Three cheers to this step by the ULC!

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