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Visit our country and we will spy on you

The US government is promising to spy on the social media accounts of any foreigner who has the misfortune to have to visit Donald (Prince of Orange) Trump's country.

Apparently, the NSA knowing what you ate for lunch and how your kitten is doing is vital for protecting the land of the free from those nasty Muslim terrorists who seem to be a national obsession from a country which tends to grow its own Christian and right-wing based nut-job style terrorism.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Congress that tourists who want to visit the United States could be asked to hand over their social-media passwords to officials as part of enhanced security checks.

"We want to get on their social media, with passwords: What do you do, what do you say? If they don't want to cooperate then you don't come in."

That puts a bit of a damper on those just wanting to visit the US to go to Disneyland or shop.

After telling Congress that was what he was doing, Kelly, a Trump appointee, stressed that asking for people's passwords was just one of "the things that we're thinking about" and that none of the suggestions were concrete.

He said that under existing vetting processes officials "don't have a lot to work with," relying on the applicant's documentation and asking them questions about their background. Basically admitting that they were there to overthrow the US government.

This was even more problematic when dealing with so-called "failed states" such as Syria or Somalia, where infrastructure and record-keeping has been degraded by conflict.

"When someone says, 'I'm from this town and this was my occupation,' [officials] essentially must take the word of the individual. I frankly don't think that's enough, certainly President Trump doesn't think that's enough. So we've got to maybe add some additional layers."

As well as asking people for their passwords, Kelly said he was looking at trying to obtain people's financial records.

"We can follow the money, so to speak. How are you living, who's sending you money? It applies under certain circumstances, to individuals who may be involved in on the payroll of terrorist organisations."

Of course, you can always say that your financial records are being investigated by the tax authorities and cannot be revealed at the moment. Apparently that is the presidential excuse so it should work for everyone else.

Obtaining visitors' passwords was considered by top officials at the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, but the policy was never adopted. This was probably because it was too silly for words.

Read this article:
US will demand foreigners hand over social networking passwords - Fudzilla (blog)

The Nextdoor app is the ultimate way to network with your neighbours. Neighbourhood landgrab

Back in the UK, Nextdoors growth shows little signs of slowing down. After launching just 4 months ago, this week the company will acquire Streetlife, the current UK market leader.

Social networking is all about scale and competing networks make it harder for people to know which one to use. Its why Facebook worked so hard to become the de facto network for university students andexploded in popularity.

After buying Streetlife, Nextdoor will gain 1m users, cementing its position as the leading local network in the UK.

There are plenty of other smaller networks up and down the country, mostly run by volunteers, using existing platforms like Ning or old-fashioned discussion boards.

But nothing else rivals Nextdoors ambitions when it comes to building a business.

Despite taking over $200m of investor cash, the app has yet to make a penny until now.

Just like local newspapers of the past, Nextdoor is building the ultimate platform with a targeted audience.

More:
Nosey neighbours the next billion dollar social network is on your street - The Memo

This week, the Lego Group launched Lego Life, a social network for kids between the ages of five of 13a concept many parents would find "alarming," according to Michael McNally, Legos senior director of brand relations.

To stop parents from panicking, McNally and Lego PR agency Flashpoint Public Relations made safety messaging about Lego Life a priority. The agency, Legos AOR in the US and Canada, was mandated to create a global PR strategy that was shared with the companys other firms around the world. Lego works with Norton & Co. in the UK, Agence Hopscotch in France, and Klenk & Hoursch in Germany.

Billed as "a safe social network for kids," Lego Life includes a digital experience that allows young Lego builders to connect with a community to express their creativity, share their Lego creations, interact with Lego characters, and inspire one another, according to the company. It launched on Tuesday in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Switzerland.

Lego is often asked how it can be relevant in an era when many children want to stare at a phone and consumer digital content for hours, McNally said.

"Yes, that is a reality about how kids engage with their friends and the world around them, but it is not the only thing they want," he explained. "When you offer kids an opportunity that can satisfy their digital needs but reinforce their offline activity, there is a meaningful space for that."

Lego Lifes goal is to offer kids the best of both worlds: allowing them to connect with fellow builders virtually and sending them back to their Lego collections so they can build physicallyand then have more content to share.

Lego surveyed parents prelaunch and found they are embracing digital experiences such as social networks, believing they are a part of modern childhood and kids need to know how to use them. The findings contrasted sharply from parents view just five years ago that children should not be exposed to social networks; rather, they should have "more analog experiences."

"Our research found parents see Lego as a brand being a trusted partner and helping their kids get familiar with the ins and outs of social networking," said McNally. "We wanted to reinforce that we are the right partner for them."

To do that, Lego included a Digital Safety section for parents within the Lego Life app that "helps with different things parents can think about, and what they should talk to their kids about in terms of online safety," he added.

Among the safety points emphasized by the company: Lego Life prevents kids from sharing personal information, images, or anything that could allow users to identify and locate one another. All content and comments on the app are monitored by Lego employees who specialize in moderation to ensure that it is appropriate and child-friendly.

The Brand Finance Global 500 report, published this week, reported that Lego is themost powerful brandin the world. The toy companyscored 92.7 out of 100. Lego was also named theworlds most powerful brand in 2015.

An earned-media-based launch PR was the centerpiece of the launch strategy for Lego Life, with no paid marketing bolstering it.

"We have been relying on the owned and earned channels for getting off-the-ground," said McNally.

Instead of targeting YouTube influencers, which McNally said is the go-to marketing strategy for toy brands, Lego implemented a media relations strategy aimed at tech publications such as The Verge and Engadget to get the word out. He explained that Lego wanted to identify media influencers who would "create a ripple in the water."

"We knew it was important to get the endorsement of tech media, so we gave them a demo of what we were doing and discussed all the things that were put in place to ensure safety," said Christopher Downing, principal and owner of Flashpoint PR. "We also talked to them about the research and insights that informed the name generator or avatar creator."

The Lego community team is now engaging Lego influencers to promote the app.

"We will be looking at social activations now that everything is launched," said McNally. "And will now be engaging people in participating in the app and helping to create content."

This story first appeared in PR Week.

See more here:
Why parents didn't freak out when Lego unveiled its social network for kids - CampaignLive

by Geoff Desreumaux February 7, 2017 Experts Talk Comments Off on A World Map Of The Most Popular Social Networks 1145

We think the world is dominated by Facebook, but is it really the worlds favourite social network? And what about thesecondmostpopular social networks? Lets check the world map!

I wont keep you hanging. Yes, Facebook is still the worlds most popular social network, and by far. But the following maps, designed by Vincenzo Cosenza, are still full of interesting and sometimes surprising insights on how the world usessocial media platforms.

Here we go.

Without much surprise, Facebook is the most popular social networking platform in most of the world. V Kontakte is (obviously) leading the way in Russia, the same way Qzone is overtaking China.

More surprisingly however, Instagram comes first in four African countries Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania and Iran!

When it comes to the second most popular social network, Twitter and Instagram lead the way. Instagram usually comes second in mostcountrieswere Facebook is first, with the notable exception of Canada and Australia, where Reddit (!) is the second most popular social network, and India which seems to use LinkedIn more than Instagram.

Which is your countrys number one? Anything that surprises you in these maps? Let me know in the comments below.

Geoff is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of We are Social Media. He is also the Head of Social Media for a London based agency, a visiting lecturer at the University of Greenwich and an international #smm speaker.

Continued here:
A World Map Of The Most Popular Social Networks - We are Social Media (press release) (blog)

In what is being billed as a multi-million pound acquisition, San Francisco-headquartered Nextdoor is purchasing the assets of U.K. local social network Streetlife.

The deal, of which further details are scarce, will see Streetlifes 1.5 million registered users invited to sign up to Nextdoors fairly recently-launched U.K. version, before Streetlife itself shutters. No member data will be transferred without the explicit approval of a Streetlife member, say the two companies.

Furthermore, I understand that the acquisition is for cash and certainly less than 10 million, while Streetlifes employees are not transitioning over to Nextdoor as part of the deal.

In a call earlier this week, Streetlife founder Matthew Boyes, who is staying on to advise during the handover, assured me that staff are being well looked after regards the sale. Nobody in the office is crying, he says.

Whether or not investors are quite so content is hard to judge based on the limited disclosure. Streetlife had raised around $5 million, according to CrunchBase.

Backers include Archant Digital Ventures (the incubator and investment arm of regional U.K. media company Archant), Shohet & Cie, and SDVentures, amongst others. In fact, I count nearly 90 shareholders, according to the startups most recent regulatory filing.

What is clearer, however, is that local social networking in the style of both Streetlife and Nextdoor is incredibly reliant on network effects, creating a winner takes all market.

The experience of using either service would be considerably poorer if your direct neighbours were split across two competing platforms, something Boyes concedes, noting that the last thing both companies wanted to do was treat its users as pawns in a battle between Streetlife and Nextdoor.

Nextdoor members have quickly established thousands of online communities in towns and cities across the country, including over 40% of London neighbourhoods. Before todays announcement, Nextdoor was already growing ten times more quickly in the U.K. than when the company launched in the United States, Nextdoor is expected to say on Tuesday.

Asked if Nextdoor entering the U.K. just four months ago would have made it harder for Streetlife to raise another funding round, Boyes denied that was the case, arguing instead that the very existence of Nextdoor, albeit across the pond, had always helped validate the startups existence amongst prospective investors.

However, its well-known that European VCs dont always have the stomach or deep pockets to battle it out with a much better funded U.S. company in early 2015, Nextdoor was given a post-money valuation of $1.1 billion by investors, making it a so-called unicorn and the sale of Streetlifes assets settles that dilemma conclusively.

The rest is here:
Nextdoor to acquire assets of UK local social network Streetlife ... - TechCrunch