Mediaboss Marketing

Whats the worst social networking site for cyberbullying? At one point, youd probably say Twitter, but according to a new study done by Ditch the Label, a British anti-bullying nonprofit group, its Instagram.

Instagram, where diet teas and makeup gurus thrive, actually has a larger base of younger people than other sites, and people between the ages of 12 and 20 experience cyberbullying there the most, according to a new study.

In the study (pdf), 10,000 British teens were studied, and 42 percent said that they were bullied on Instagram. Facebook wasnt far behind, with 37 percent saying they were bullied, and Snapchat came in next with 31 percent. Twitter (9 percent) and Tumblr (3 percent) were at the bottom.

Our theme this year was to explore the impact of technology and digital abuse upon the lives of young people, said Liam Hackett, founder and CEO of Ditch the Label.

Young people, Hackett also said in the report, have a huge disconnect between the things that happen online and reality, with 44 percent of respondents believing that only things happening offline could be considered as real life.

When it comes to the United States, online harassment and bullying has been studied by the Pew Research Center, and although it did not pinpoint a social media network in its July 2017 report, and used a slightly larger age range (18-29), in its survey of 4,248 U.S. adults, it found that 41 percent of Americans have been subjected to online harassment and bullying, and 66 percent have witnessed these behaviors directed at others.

Whereas Instagram seems to harbor cyberbullying for teens in Britain, in an older report done by U.S.-based Cox Communications in 2014 (pdf), Facebook was labeled the worst place for cyberbullying in its study of 1,301 teens ages 13-17, with 39 percent of teens saying that they had witnessed bullying on Facebook. Instagram and Twitter came in the lowest, with 22 percent of teens saying that they witnessed bullying on those platforms.

With adults, its probably easier to block and dismiss harassing behavior, but with teens, and a lack of monitoring done by parents, harassment and bullying can result in tragedies weve seen played out on social media. Suicide after suicide has been reported over the last couple of years because of bullying and social media. And although Pew suggests that parents need to monitor their childrens social media activities better, teens and children are finding better ways to hide their social media activities.

Toxicity on social media isnt going away anytime soon, but one can only hope that parents learn the tricks of the trade to monitor their childrens social media activities. And for those adults who are involved in cyberbullying, maybe one day theyll actually realize how pathetic they really look.

Read more here:
British Study Shows Cyberbullying Thrives on Instagram - The Root

Retweet. Comment. Like. Snap. Direct message. Twitter. Facebook. Snapchat. Instagram. The world has certainly changed over the past 10 years, and social media has played a massive role in the transformation. Social network giants have taken over peoples computers, phones, tablets and lives. For all the good that technology can impart on society through the ability to communicate with friends and family, and the quick dissemination of news (hopefully not fake), it is imperative that we acknowledge the deleterious effects that social media can have on our youthand adults for that matter.

With interactive multimedia and mobile communication garnering more attention and taking up more hours in peoples daily lives, it should come as no surprise that concerns have arisen as to where our culture is headed. Spending significant time on social networking sites has the potential to negatively affect emotional intelligenceessentially, ones ability to identify and comprehend emotions in oneself and other people, and then draw upon this awareness to direct behavior and manage personal relationships. The decline in face-to-face interactions can stifle emotional development and growth in a way that has never been witnessed. Social skills have been reduced to liking someones meme or commenting on a photograph. Where is the deeper conversation and engagement that can only truly be fostered through real-life, present communication?

The Grand Caf in Oxford, U.K. is the oldest coffee house in England, with an establishment date of circa 1650. The coffee shop novelty had a profound influence on the citizens of Oxford, as the coffee stimulant and social environment provided a means of sharing bright ideas and original thoughts that would go on to inspire genius inventions. Nowadays, when you walk into the same coffee shop, it is not uncommon to see young 20-year-old classmates looking down at their phones, swiping right on a dating application or double-tapping a friends post. Sure, it might be fun and a way to pass the time, but what about looking up at your peers and engaging with them on an issue just discussed in class? Or perhaps asking your friend how they are coping with a recent family members passing and how you can help?

Not only emotional intelligence is threatened by the rise and take-over by social media but also general intellect. Again, there can certainly be benefits to having quick access to the most up-to-date news stories, possibly consuming new information and interacting with diverse populations beyond what one may be experiencing in his or her physical environment. Some researchers have actually suggested that social media can improve verbal and critical-thinking skills. Nevertheless, it can be argued that spending hours upon hours each day swiping up and down on a social network feed is leading to a less-informed and cultured society. Instead of picking up a newspaper to read entire articles (rather than a 140-character quip) or beginning a classic novel that could prove to be great discussion material during a college or job interview, our youth have been exposed to the glamour and excitement of pictures and one-liners. Obsession over distant celebrities and the daily ventures of friends (who they often know only on a superficial level) has become all too frequent.

Social media will never die, at least as long as we are around. And I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, suggesting that it will or should falter. However, take it upon yourselves to encourage those around you to live in the moment. Engage with your children, colleagues, mentors and strangers by looking them in the eyes and challenging yourself to escape from behind the touchscreen on your mobile device. You might just find something that you have been missing.

Mr. Williams is manager/sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. Listen to Mr. Williams on Sirius XM126 Urban View nightly 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., EST. Follow on Twitter @arightside.

Read more:
Social media destroying intellect and work ethic - Amsterdam News

Too many selfies, ranting about politics and Liking your own profile picture have been named among the top 25 social media sins, according to research.

A poll of 2,000 phone-mad Brits also found four in ten get wound up by cryptic, attention-seeking status updates designed to elicit sympathy from friends and family.

It also emerged Brits commit more than four social sins per week, and half reckon that trolling someone online is the worst thing you can do.

The study was conducted by online casino Casumo.com, whose spokesman Greg Tatton-Brown said: New technology, including smartphones, have given us a lot of great gifts.

They mean were never far from information, or being able to contact loved ones as well as games and other entertainment.

However, as theyve become ubiquitous certain behaviours around them, and social media in particular, have proven to really wind many of us up.

A quarter of irritated respondents said posting too many pictures of your kids is a definite social media 'no-no'.

And one fifth get cheesed off by people who constantly post social media updates about their food including unappetising looking pictures.

However, one in five admitted posting a picture of their dinner plate on social media in the past, according to the research carried out by OnePoll.

And one in ten have posted multiple pictures of their pet onto social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

And four in ten have unfollowed or unfriended someone for simply being too annoying on social media.

A further 27 per cent have muted them so they dont need to see their posts, without the awkwardness of an 'unfriending'.

A quarter even reckon its happened to THEM, with over half getting upset, saying they didnt realise they were irritating their peers.

Facebook has been condemned as the worst social media platform for annoying behaviour in its users, picking up six times more votes than its nearest rival, Twitter.

Fifteen per cent of respondents have even unfollowed their PARTNER on social media because of their annoying online personas.

Four in ten said they go on regular social media detoxes because the online world has become just too annoying to be a part of.

Casumo.coms Greg Tatton-Brown said: Although our survey was definitely light-hearted and aimed to find some of the funnier habits of social media users, we found that many people do get genuinely peeved by things they find online.

We believe that everything should be as fun as possible, and so if social media is proving to annoy you, take a short break and reflect on what makes it great.

And you can always come off it entirely theres no law that says we must be connected 24 hours a day, after all.

See original here:
Top 25 social media sins have been revealed - but how many do you actually commit? - Mirror.co.uk

The South African Internet user population passed the 20-million mark for the first time last year reaching 21 million and is expected to grow to at least 22.5 million in 2017.

Based on Stats SAs estimate that the South African population reached 55.9-million people in June 2016 the companies said this means that the country will reach the 40 percent Internet penetration mark this year.

Finally reaching the point where we can say every second adult South African is connected to the Internet is a major landmark because Internet access is becoming synonymous with economic access Reshaad Sha Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Director of DFA said in a statement.

This contrasts with a report last year by the ITU the UN specialised agency for information and communication technology (ICT) which found that almost 75% of people in Africa are "non-users".

The agency said: "By the end of 2016 more than half of the world's population 3.9 billion people will not yet be using the Internet. While almost one billion households in the world now have Internet access (of which 230 million are in China 60 million in India and 20 million in the world's 48 Least Developed Countries) figures for household access reveal the extent of the digital divide with 84% of households connected in Europe compared with 15.4% in the African region."

To illustrate the surge of Internet penetration in South Africa however a previous PWC Southern Africa report quantified the number of Internet users in South Africa at 8.9 million in 2011 which was nearly twice the 4.6 million total in 2008. This growth had principally been driven by a surge in the number of mobile broadband users which jumped to 5.8million in 2011 from only 600000 in 2008 PwC said.

More than half of the worlds web traffic now comes from mobile phones according to a January 2017 report the Digital in 2017 Global Overview report from We Are Social and Hootsuite.

It also stated: "Mobile social media use in Africa increased by nearly 50% in 2016 although at just 12% penetration across the region theres still plenty more room to grow."

The Internet Access in South Africa 2017 report released today reveals that the single most common use of the Internet among South African adults is:

- communication reported by almost a third (31%) of respondents followed by

- social networking (24.9%) and

- information (23.7%) both reported by almost a quarter of respondents.

- Only then comes entertainment at 22.1%.

The report includes data from the Target Group Index (TGI) survey conducted by Ask Afrika a market research organisation.

The question on primary uses of the Internet was answered by a sample representing 4.1 million South African adults across all income and education levels.

While communication is the single most important use email is reported by only 16 percent of respondents "indicating that it is becoming a less important element of the communications mix as social media becomes a default channel" the report said.

Shopping and finance is cited by only 15 percent of respondents confirming previous World Wide Worx research that showed e-commerce was still not a major element of South African retail in general.

The findings emphasise the potential of the Internet to enhance lives when we have greater penetration across all segments and demographics said Arthur Goldstuck managing director of World Wide Worx. Over time we will see higher proportions of people engaging in a wider range of activity but the barriers to more active use will first have to come down.

Sha added: A countrys capacity to connect its economy to the Internet and to make these services available and accessible to its citizens and businesses is key to its success in the digital age."

Read the rest here:
Ecommerce, email low but communication social networking and information drive increasing Internet penetration in ... - Times LIVE

To complicate matters, the 19th Party Congress where top leadership positions are determined is just months away. The government puts an increased emphasis on stability in the run up to the event, which happens every five years, often leading to a tightening of internet controls.

WhatsApp, which had generally avoided major disruptions in China despite the full block of Facebook and Instagram, appears to have become a victim of those circumstances.

The blocks against WhatsApp originated with the government, according to a person familiar with the situation who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the disruption. Security experts also verified that the partial disruption in WhatsApp started with Chinas internet filters.

According to the analysis that we ran today on WhatsApps infrastructure, it seems that the Great Firewall is imposing censorship that selectively targets WhatsApp functionalities, said Nadim Kobeissi, an applied cryptographer at Symbolic Software, a cryptography research start-up.

The actions by the Chinese government are another setback for Facebook in a country that has been difficult for the worlds largest social network to crack. Its flagship site was blocked in 2009 after ethnic unrest in western China; Instagram followed in 2014 during protests that fall in Hong Kong.

Beginning in late 2014, Facebook began an aggressive campaign to woo the Chinese government and get its main social network back into the country. As part of the courtship, Facebooks founder, Mark Zuckerberg, showed off his language chops at a conference and later dined with President Xi Jinping during a state visit to the United States.

But Facebooks efforts have slowed over the past year, and it has little to show for itself. Instead of getting a new product into China, the internet giant now faces the reality that its last app standing is under threat of being pushed outside the walls of Chinese censorship.

A spokeswoman for WhatsApp declined to comment.

Since taking power almost five years ago, Mr. Xi has presided over a consistent and deepening suppression of internet freedom. He has been vocal in calling for China to establish sovereignty online, and has set up a new internet regulator to consolidate controls over the web.

The scale of the recent actions shows the increasing muscle of the Chinese government, which has strengthened this year.

In recent months, a number of virtual private networks, tools that allow users in China to access the broader internet around the world, were removed from app stores or shut down. Chinas telecom regulator said it would ban unauthorized VPNs starting in February 2018.

The new cybersecurity rules, broad and vague, have left Western companies uncertain of how they will be applied and what impact they could have on a difficult operating environment. The government has put strong emphasis on the law, which could serve as a watershed for how the internet is managed and foreign companies are policed.

This month, Apple opened its first data center in China. The company said the move was made to comply with the law that calls for companies to store their data in China.

The disruption of encrypted messaging programs like WhatsApp and censorship circumvention tools like VPNs shows a desire to take almost total control over how the internet is used.

WhatsApp is hugely popular around much of the globe, but the platform is not widely used in China, where local messaging app WeChat dominates. Even so, WhatsApp provides encrypted messaging, making it a useful tool for many Chinese to communicate or do business outside the country or in Hong Kong.

Paul Triolo, the head of geo-technology at Eurasia Group, said that a possible next step would be for China to target other encrypted messaging apps like Signal, pointing out that such apps represent a small but growing and potentially important hole in the Great Firewall.

The ministries and support organizations that undergird the Great Firewall must constantly prove they can keep abreast of technological change, and encrypted messaging apps are just the latest in a long string of innovations that have drawn the attention of the technical wizards behind the Great Firewall, Mr. Triolo said.

The apparent crackdown is part of the jockeying among Chinese ministries ahead of this autumns congress to show that they are doing their job, according to a government tech policy adviser who declined to be named because of possible retribution over speaking to foreign news media. While there is a real push to make it harder to use VPNs, he said the new rules set to take effect next year are unlikely to be so extreme that they entirely prevent individuals from being able to use such tools.

Some in the Chinese government are worried that the excess censorship and controls are damaging the countrys ability to access crucial information, like scientific papers and other educational resources. As such, there have been calls for a more surgical way to block specific material, rather than a sledgehammer approach that takes out entire services.

In the case of WhatsApp, it is not clear whether the targeted censorship of videos and photos was intentional, or if it was just a prelude to a more complete block. Previous partial blocks have sometimes led to full bans, or they have eventually been removed by the government, and service restored.

Beijings track record with other American social networking services does not bode well for WhatsApp. Besides Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, Google and Gmail are all blocked in the country.

Its like when Gmail first got throttled, the blockage was very uneven, said Lokman Tsui, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

View post:
China Disrupts WhatsApp Service in Online Clampdown - New York Times