Archive for the ‘Media Control’ Category

12 life-changing social media resolutions

Want to transform your live? No, not your real life. Your online social media life. Here's how.

Want to transform your live? No, not your real life. Your online social media life. Here's how.

The website USA.gov lists the 10 most common New Year's Resolutions by do-gooding, self-improving Americans.

They're fine and familiar. But it turns out that when you apply them to your life online -- your social media activity -- they can truly make a difference. (Plus, you're more likely to stick to them.) Here are the 12 most common New Year's Resolutions applied to transform your social media life:

1. Lose weight

We all know social media is a massive time sink. It also takes up a lot of mental energy. Part of the problem is that we tend to sign up for new social networks but don't delete the accounts on our old ones. So many of us have 5, 10, 20 or more accounts. It's time to cut some unnecessary fat. Choose the top three social media accounts -- the ones that you engage on not because you feel obligated or addicted but the ones that enrich your life and where you form or maintain real relationships -- and delete the rest.

2. Volunteer to help others

Trolling, shaming, bullying and harassment on Twitter is truly out of control, but less than it used to be. Twitter greatly improved its anti-trolling tools since the last time I called them out for failing to do so.

Now, it's a little quicker to report an abusive account. And blocking actually blocks now.

So here's the resolution: When you see someone else being harassed online, lend a helping hand. Report the abusive account immediately (on the web version, go to the abuser's Twitter profile, click on the gear icon and click "block or report." "Block" will already be selected. Also click "Report," then follow the radio button options to specify the nature of the abuse.

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12 life-changing social media resolutions

Australian media execs strike deals despite Tony Abbott's stalled reform

While Malcolm Turnbull's review is on hold, media executives have not been idle. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Mothballs are still packed around the Abbott government's media reform package, but that hasn't stopped the pulse quickening for merger and acquisition activity in the sector.

This week Chinese billionaire Sun Xishuang bought Australia's second biggest Cinema chain, Hoyts, in a deal believed to be worth $900 million.

It came a day after Fairfax Media agreed to a $200 million merger of its radio assets with John Singleton's Macquarie Radio Network, and sold its Perth radio station, 96FM, to ARN News and Media for $78 million.

At the same time, the battle for third-ranked metropolitan TV broadcaster Ten Network Holdings continued to simmer.

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Investment bankers were salivating at the prospect of an M&A bonanza after Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said earlier this year that he would examine media regulations, which many industry players say have become outdated.

Although there has been a steady flow of small deals in the sector worth between $5 million and $20 million, a flood of big deals between established household names has failed to eventuate.

This is because Mr Turnbull shelved the reform agenda, citing a lack of consensus among the main media companies.

Mr Turnbull had planned to review laws that ban mergers between metropolitan and regional television stations and the "two-out-of-three rule", which stops companies owning TV, radio and newspaper assets in the one city.

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Australian media execs strike deals despite Tony Abbott's stalled reform

Why do Erdogan's words make headlines?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent remarksequating birth control to an act of treasonhave stirred up yet another storm in Turkey and abroad.

The comment is the latest in a series that have made headlines in both international and Turkish media outlets, and also lit up social media platforms with exchanges reflecting the divide between Turkey's secularists and conservative Muslims.

It has also prompted questioning of the media's reporting of statements by a politician who himselffrequently accuses international and domestic media ofdistorting his words.

Turkey, a NATO member and candidate for EU membership, is seen as a secular republic with a functioning democracy, bordering both Europe and the Middle East.

In the early years of his leadership in 2000s, Erdogan was widely seen by the West as a moderate conservative, aiming to improve Turkeys democratic standards and economy. He managed to set off EU membership talks 2005, but the process has been stalled for years now.

Western perception of the Turkish leader has changed in tandem with Erdogans rhetoric.

While some say that Erdogan's choice of words coupled with their interpretation by media outlets contribute to turning every statement he makes into a headline, others argue that his remarks merely reflect his hardline ideology.

RELATED:Women blast Erdogan over 'hate crime'

In his remarks on birth control, Erdogan, whose opposition to abortion and contraception is no secret, steered cleared of religious references. Hewas referring to its economic dimensions, saying birth control threatened Turkey's bloodline.

Erdogan urged a couple at their wedding on Sunday to have at least three children to help boost Turkish population figures, in keeping with this oft-repeated worries about Turkey's declining birth rate.

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Why do Erdogan's words make headlines?

Rewind 2014: Brampton #mansionparty shows power and perils of social media

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The power and perils of social media were on full display when thousands of riled up teens descended on a Brampton home last May causing $70,000 in damages and sparking a prodigious police response that saw over 60 units at the scene.

And it all started with a single Twitter hashtag, #mansionparty.

Peel police caught wind of the hashtag spreading on Twitter on Friday, May 4, and said they visited the homeowner to issue a warning before the party even began.

But no warning could stop the social media momentum and despite the teen having permission from his mother to host the party, he was ill-prepared for the onslaught of bodies that packed the spacious residence like sardines.

Instead of the few hundred people expected at the home, which was under renovation on Stanley Carberry Drive near Goreway Drive and Mayfield Road, upwards of 2,000 people crammed in.

A teen who helped plan the bash, Alistair Colville, told CityNews that party-goers soon became claustrophobic and sought desperately to escape.

It got more and more out of control, the teen admitted. Everyone was trying to get out of the house as fast as they could.

People werent blatantly trying to destroy the house, but(Ive heard) that people were smashing windows to get out.

Canice Ejoh, the 17-year-old who threw the party, ended up calling the cops when he realized the situation was out of his control.

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Rewind 2014: Brampton #mansionparty shows power and perils of social media

Couple with ties to Brampton reported to be among dead in Glasgow crash

British media reports say a couple with ties to Canada and their teenaged granddaughter were among the six people killed by an out-of-control garbage truck in Glasgow, Scotland.

The fatal crash, which also injured 10 people including the truck driver, happened Monday in the heart of Glasgow during the height of Christmas shopping.

Media reports say Jack Sweeney, 68, his wife Lorraine, 69, and their 16-year-old granddaughter Erin McQuade were among the shoppers.

The three were identified as being from Dumbarton, Scotland, but media reports identified Jack Sweeney as a former president of the Bramalea Celtic Club in Brampton.

A statement posted on the soccer supporters club Facebook page said: It is with great shock and sadness we share with you our friend and past president Jack Sweeney, his wife Lorraine and granddaughter Erin were victims of todays tragedy in Glasgow.

Our thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends of the Sweeney family.

Police have said the truck driver lost control of the vehicle Monday afternoon before hitting a number of pedestrians. Six people remained hospitalized Tuesday.

bcid:

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Couple with ties to Brampton reported to be among dead in Glasgow crash