That we like faces in our photos – or simply that we like faces – was reconfirmed by a new study at Georgia Tech. "Instagram photos that include faces are far more likely to get likes from followers than those without," Mashable cites the study as finding. "Of 1.1 million randomly-selected Instagram photos analyzed with face detection software, those with faces were 38% more likely to get Likes … [Read more...] about We ‘like’ faces in social media: Study
Yik Yak update: How the app came to geo-fence off US schools
After Yik Yak "fenced out" her daughter's entire high school in southern California, Diana Graber of CyberWise.org did some investigating to find out how the app was blocking use in schools. What she found out is an example of digital citizenship on the part of an app developer (see this for an example from the funding part of the mobile ecosystem). In "Yik Yak App Makers Do the Right Thing," … [Read more...] about Yik Yak update: How the app came to geo-fence off US schools
Smart safety: YouTube’s ‘neighborhood watch program’
In every neighborhood, there are neighbors and then there are visitors, and it's mostly the neighbors who make it what it really is – great to hang out in or maybe not so much. That's true in social media too, only digital neighborhoods can be geographically based or interest based. They're interest communities. Some sites are single interest communities, others encompass masses of them – and all … [Read more...] about Smart safety: YouTube’s ‘neighborhood watch program’
The app ecosystem & very public secrets
This is a sidebar to my two previous posts here and here. These are crazy times in the mediascape, and not just because of crazy valuations of startup apps. How do all these socially risky apps get out into the digital ecosphere? They don't take a lot of people, time or other resources to build anymore – not like digital media products and services of lore, anyway, as a recent NYT Magazine … [Read more...] about The app ecosystem & very public secrets
Will safety ever be ‘baked in’ to social apps?
Whether or not social apps can be made as trolling- and cyberbullying-proof as possible before they hit the app stores is a question more and more people are asking – and asking that question is a step in the right direction. The spanking-new anonymous app Secret is already making some changes after a "flap" in Silicon Valley about so-called grownup users' behavior in the app, the New York Times … [Read more...] about Will safety ever be ‘baked in’ to social apps?