Mediaboss Marketing

By Roger Dobson

PUBLISHED: 16:19 EST, 14 July 2012 | UPDATED: 16:19 EST, 14 July 2012

Internet use has been blamed for mental health problems and social isolation among young people but new research suggests that silver surfers are less likely to suffer depression.

The study, based on a survey of almost 8,000 men and women aged over 50, shows that regular users of social-networking sites are almost a third less likely to be diagnosed with depression compared with non-users.

It is known that rates of depression increase with age. Research from the University of Illinois found the incidence of depression was at its lowest around the age of 45, and highest among the over-80s.

Silver surfer: Regular users of social-networking sites are almost a third less likely to be diagnosed with depression compared with non-users

Prevalence increases from five per cent at the age of 70 to 13 per cent at 85.

Loneliness, social isolation and lack of emotional support are among the reasons for the trend.

In the new study the biggest so far on the health effects of internet use among older people participants were asked whether they regularly used the internet and were then assessed for mental illness.

Our findings suggest that internet use has a positive effect on depression, says Dr Shelia Cotten, who led the research at the University of Alabama and other centres.

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Over 50s who regularly use social networking sites less likely to suffer with depression

Darrin Underwood's father died from cancer 25 years ago, but he still thinks about him each day. And while Facebook didn't exist when his father was alive, his memory now lives on there.

Underwood created a memorial page on Facebook for his father through Evertalk, a new Facebook app. It's one of the burgeoning services that have launched in recent years to cater to the digital afterlife, that is, all that happens online after a person passes away.

The Internet, after all, continues ticking. More than 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook daily. Some 340 million tweets are sent each day. But what happens to the photos and tweets after the person who created them dies?

Evertalk - as well as 1000memories and about 30 to 40 other startups - are trying to respond to that thorny question. Many offer a way to remember and honor the person online, so friends and family can write messages and share photographs in a digital memorial. Others look after a person's digital assets, such as their e-mail and social media accounts and passwords. And some online services enable people to send pre-written messages to their friends and family years after their deaths.

"We've had this huge shift happen. This physical world has become a very digital world. Elements of our lives are now digital," said John Romano, a researcher and co-author of the book "Your Digital Afterlife" and the blog "The Digital Beyond."

Take Facebook again. With more than 900 million users on the social network, it has become the destination to share, rant and rave. But at some point, a person's Facebook timeline ends. San Francisco's Evertalk wants to be there to pick up where it left off.

"We are using Facebook as a story of our digital life, but what happens after you die?" said Evertalk founder Russ Hearl. Evertalk "picks up where the Facebook timeline ends."

Hearl said he was inspired to start Evertalk a few months ago after a friend passed away and he only heard about it a few weeks later on Facebook.

Online memorial sites have been around for years, but Evertalk takes the trend to Facebook. It notifies friends and family on the network about the person's death and allows them to upload and share photos, write messages, make donations and send announcements about the memorial, without having to go to another website and create a new user name and password.

Underwood, who works in technology sales in San Jose, created the page for his father a few weeks ago and plans to share it with some of his friends and family on Facebook. So far, he's uploaded a few photos and written a biography about his father. In the future, he'd like to share it with his children.

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Death doesn't stop social networking

The family of a Dorchester pastor is praying for his safe return from captivity in Egypt, after he and an Everett woman and their tour guide were kidnapped while traveling on a religious mission.

Michel Louis, 61, pastor of the Free Pentecostal Church of God, appears to be all right but has diabetes and may require medical attention before long, his son said.

Were all in good spirits because we know the God we serve is in control of the matter, his son, Jean Louis, the churchs youth pastor, said.

He said his father was on an annual mission to Israel with a group of clergy. Jean Louis confirmed the identity of the female captive as Lisa Alphonse of Everett.

Louis family thanked clergy from around the world for their support.

The Egyptian Bedouin who kidnapped Louis and Alphonse and their guide Friday said hell take more hostages of different nationalities if police dont release his uncle from prison.

If my uncle gets 50 years (in prison), they will stay with me for 50 years. If they release him, I will release them, Jirmy Abu-Masuh said of the captives.

But Abu-Masuh, a 32-year-old truck driver from the Tarbeen tribe in the Sinai Peninsula, said the hostages will remain safe.

He said they were treated as guests and given tea, coffee and a traditional lamb dinner reserved for special occasions in Bedouin culture.

I told them nothing will happen to you. You are my guest, he said.

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Family of pastor kidnapped in Egypt waits for word

The Irish Times - Saturday, July 14, 2012

INE McMAHON

Social network sites calls for boycottSocial networking sites were alive with backlash following the not guilty verdict in the Michaela McAreavy trial.

Social network sites calls for boycott

Social networking sites were alive with backlash following the not guilty verdict in the Michaela McAreavy trial.

A Facebook group called Boycott Mauritius was set up on Thursday and has almost 5,000 members.

The group calls on members to show your disgust at the actions of the island of Mauritus and to boycott the island.

The comments included:Shame on the Mauritius Supreme Court. Shame on the Defense counsel. Avoid this country at all costs. There is no justice in this country.

Another contributor said: People may feel angry, emotional and dismayed but we could boycott every country in the world for its failings in the judicial/legal system. Certainly the pressure should be put on the Mauritius government to sort its own procedures out.

Several group members urged people to boycott the holiday island and slammed the decision of the Mauritius judicial system, while others paid wishes to the McAreavy and Harte families.

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Social network sites calls for boycott

Bucks County's voter ID task force has come up with dozens of ideas about ways county officials can get the word out concerning the state's new voter ID law.

They range from simple things like posting information to the county website and social media sites to wacky things like asking Bucks County Commissioner Charley Martin to do a rap video about the new law. (Though the rap video was only a half-serious suggestion.)

They cover every possible means of communication face-to-face conversations, mailers, print media, blogs, social media and videos and touch all age groups.

And most of them shouldn't cost the county a single dollar.

"We're trying to be fiscally responsible," said Neil Samuels, a member of the task force and deputy co-chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Committee.

Task force moderator Richard Coe, who is also the executive director of the Kids Voting program in Bucks County, said county officials didn't know the state would pass the voter ID law and didn't budget money for informing residents about it.

Making the recommendations cost-neutral also makes it easier for the county to implement them.

The committee will present its full list of more than 30 recommendations to the commissioners at their July 25 meeting.

"We dont expect that the county commissioners will be able to do all of these things, but it will give them a list to work from," Coe said.

More than 25,000 voters in Bucks County roughly 6 percent of registered voters do not have a driver's license or state-issued photo ID, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. State officials have said they plan to mail information to each person on the list.

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Voter ID task force recommends ways to get the word out