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Sure, it might seemsocial networking giants like Snapchat and Instagram continuously mimic each other in aphenomenon were calling samification,but now it looks as if a seemingly unrelated app is dipping its toes in the social pool, too: Google is adding a more social, sharable function to its Maps app.

Google announced in a blog post Monday that it would expand its starring or save option that allowed users to save locations for later use, to include a function that would letusers create lists of their favorite places and then share them with friends.

The feature, which was previously available to Google Local Guides, allows users to create lists of places, share their lists with others, and follow the lists of friends and family.

To use the feature, Map users tap on a location, click the save icon, and select a pre-made list.

In order to view a list later, users simply go to the Your Places section of the menu and then tap the saved tab. Icons of saved locations will then appear on your Google Map.

Users can also share their saved lists with friends and family via email, text, or other apps by clicking on the share button associated with the specific list. The lists can also be made public for anyone using Google Maps to see.

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Is Google Trying To Make Maps A Social Network? - Consumerist

Social networking is changing politics, that fact should be clear by now. A simple proof: Trump wouldn't be in the White House without it.

But where is political networking taking us? That's the BIG question. I've been doing lots of thinking about this (it's going into my book). Here's my shorthand for where our political system is headed. We have three political networks to choose from:

Insurgency

Trump used an open source insurgency (I first wrote about this back in 2004) to become president. This insurgency didn't just with the election, it:

Trump's insurgency worked like open source insurgencies in the past (from the Iraq war to Egypt/Tunisia).

Trump's currently trying to adapt this insurgency to govern. Where will it take us? Early results suggest that Trump's insurgency is better suited for dismantling a large, bureaucratic government and international order than running it. It's also the type of network that will erode the rule of law over time.

Orthodoxy

The second form of political social networking I'm seeing is found in the opposition to Trump's presidency. Right now, it's known as the #resistance The orthodoxy wasn't planned, it:

The orthodoxy is an open source insurgency in reverse. It uses social networking to crack down on deviation and dissent.

How will an orthodox network govern? It will eventually formalize compliance with the orthodoxy. Compliance, evidenced by a long social networking history, will qualify people for positions of authority and power. Any deviation will result in bans, loss of income, etc. until the target repents. This orthodoxy will work in parallel to the rule of law and likely exceed its coercive power over time.

Participatory

This form of social networking doesn't have an example in the US yet.

The participatory party is still young, but it combines the fluidity of the "insurgency" with the solidarity of "orthodoxy."

How would a participatory network govern? Unlike the other systems, it has the best chance of working within the confines of the current US Constitution. It also has the strength to tame political distortions caused by globalization without resorting to the extremes of either the orthodoxy or the insurgency.

My bet is on a participatory political system made possible by social networking. It's the best chance for a better future. A system where we put social networking to work for us instead of against us.

Of course, the reality is probably something different: we're prepping for a civil war.

Sincerely,

John Robb

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Political Networking (how social networking is changing politics forever) - Global Guerrillas

Your online social network doesnt just keep you connected, it can also help you stay fit, a new study shows.

A team of researchers led byJure Leskovec, PhD, (who recently was named a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator) an Stanford associate professor of computer science, have shown that participating in a social network on a health app can boost physical activity.

The team tapped data from the Argus app which tracks heart rate, steps and daily exercise from 6 million app users over five years. The app gives users a choice whether to join a social network, allowing them to share data, or to simply track their progress.

The researchers showed that users who joined the social network saw a 7 percent (around 400 steps) increase in physical activity, an effect that lasted for around 20 weeks.

We were able to show that network connections influence us to be more active and that social network users are not simply more intrinsically motivated to exercise, said team memberTim Althoff, a graduate student, in a recent Stanford Engineering news article.

Demographics do play a role, however: The researchers found that women were most influenced by other women and that 30 to 45 year olds had the biggest boost in physical activity. The social networking component also proved beneficial for users characterized as obese.

The impact of this research extends beyond exercise, the study authors said. These findings can also be used to design effective support systems to promote healthy lifestyles. Online social networks are a powerful tool to provide social support and influence healthy behaviors, Leskovec said in the release.

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Social networks may boost fitness, Stanford researchers say - ScienceBlog.com (blog)

As an accounting professional, you have a wide variety of choices to help market yourself or advance your career, the most common of which is social media. But being a part of a professional organization has its advantages too.

So which is best?

Well, we know social networks are everywhere now. Social networks are unique to everyone based on friends, family members or a desire to network with similar individuals in your community.

The best examples are of course Facebook or LinkedIn; networks of people that group together to discuss, contribute and share information in closed or open group forums. While social media groups do give different perspectives on topics they can lead to being persuaded to taking a path that could be an opinion rather than fact. The group may or may not contain an expert on the subject matter that is commenting on the post.

The professional organization, however, is a group of individuals coming together for a common purpose with varied backgrounds. A professional community offers a unique perspective as members share information and feel that they can benefit from the cooperation of an alliance.

Typically, the professional organization goal is to give a voice to the members, to protect and guide the profession and create direction for the individuals. There is overlap between the two type of communities above, but understand one is geared towards a mutual interest the other is defined by the person and are unique to that individual.

Excellent examples of professional organizations are the AICPA for CPAs or the American Bar Association for Lawyers and, of course, the ICBUSA for bookkeepers.

Key Items to Look For in a Professional Membership Organization

As a professional joining an organization focused on your community will benefit you to help give direction in a career. Like-minded professionals offer different perspectives and opportunity for knowledge growth based on the common interest.

The professional community can help offset some of the unknown changes that will occur in the future through synergistic information and guidance. Professional groups are excellent training for the future. Look for groups that have physical meetups where you can socialize in person and get to network and create an in-person bond. The live networking is one of the best ways to learn communication and soft skills that will benefit you beyond virtual social networking.

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Social Networks vs. Professional Organizations - Accountingweb.com (blog)

Online advertisers wield immense power.

With any given ad, they can reach the consumers they have in mind by targeting specific groups of people with exquisite detail. Such personalization has serious consequences for civil rights. Its entirely possible for a property manager to show ads for available apartments only to white men who watched the Super Bowl. That could be a very effective way of keeping everyone else out of its buildings.

This kind of discriminatory targeting is illegal in ads for housing as well as in ads for credit and employment opportunities. We have special protections in these areas to ensure that people are treated fairly because access to good housing, loans, and jobs is crucial to achieving the American dream.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits the recruiting of employees in a way that excludes Black or Latino candidates or women or Muslims for that matter from the applicant pool.The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to advertise housing in a way that keeps members of these groups from knowing when housing is available. And its similarly illegal to keep people from applying for credit by denying them information under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Despite these laws, online advertising platforms have given advertisers the power to explicitly target ads by gender, race, or religion, or to exclude members of particular groups from seeing these ads. And not surprisingly, they have also failed to warn advertisers that they may be engaging in illegal targeting in violation of landmark civil rights laws.

Until now, that is.

Today Facebook is taking significant steps forward that we believe place it at the vanguard of the online fight to protect civil rights. Facebook has updated its policies to clearly prohibit using its audience selection tools to wrongfully target or exclude specific groups of people from seeing ads.

Perhaps even more significantly, Facebook has built a system to identify ads for housing, credit, or employment (You can read the details here). For ads in these categories, it will reject any attempt to target by multicultural affinity (formerly called ethnic affinity), and it will require all advertisers to certify compliance both with Facebooks nondiscrimination policies and with laws that prohibit this targeting.

Weve written before about our concern about Facebooks ethnic affinity ad targeting and advocated for Facebook to make changes. Were very pleased to report that Facebook is doing the right thing now. In fact, were urging other players in the online ad ecosystem to take note and build similar systems. Given the applicable civil rights laws, ads for housing, credit, and employment must be treated differently across the internet by all companies.

Facebook is taking the lead, but theres more work to do. All ad platforms should make it impossible to target ads in these categories by any protected class status, including race, gender, and religion. And we need to keep educating platforms and advertisers about the danger of discrimination that targeting presents, even when ads are targeted by zip code or based on what music you listen to.

Facebook, one of the biggest players in online advertising, is acknowledging these civil rights concerns and a deploying its muscle to protect them. The rest of the industry should wake up, take notice and follow suit. Its not only the right thing to do, its the law.

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Social Networking Powerhouse Facebook Steps Forward to Bar ... - ACLU (blog)