People Who Were Arrested for Social Media Posts

It’s not just people living under oppressive governments who get arrested and imprisoned for what they post on social media. Even your “friends only” content can end up getting you in trouble; your contacts might report your post to the authorities, and Facebook will get in touch with police if they believe someone poses an immediate threat to themselves or others, or if someone has uploaded criminal content.

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Social Networking Digest: What’s Making News This Week

It’s been a busy week in the world of social networking, with more and more independent, smaller networks emerging, and all the major players taking a hit on the stock exchange. If you’re thinking about starting up your own social network or work in online advertising, here’s three news items you should be aware of.

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“Internet Best Friends”, Connection and Community

52% of adults under 30 say they have a close friend they met online; 47% of adults over the age of 40 report the same. It’s the same way we’ve always made friends, but with greater scope; rather than overhearing someone at a party mention how much they love dogs or a particular TV show, we see them post about it on their blog – from anywhere in the world. Many find that their online connections become more genuine and deep than their “IRL” (in real life) connections- their online friends get the in-jokes, they want to talk about the same things.

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Outsourcing Censorship: Who Cleans Up Your Social Network’s Feed?

To keep offensive content out of our newsfeeds, social networking sites can employ one of two strategies: they can “active moderate”(screening every single post uploaded), or they can rely on their users to report anything suspicious or unsavory, and pass those reports over to content moderators.

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Facebook Groups: The Social Network Within a Social Network

In 2010, Facebook completely revamped their Groups product; the idea was to create smaller communities within Facebook where people could discuss a shared interest, talk with their family members, buy and sell goods within their local community, connect with any of the smaller microcosms within the macrocosm of Facebook.

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