Sexting scare: 6 sexting myths busted It seems incredible that teens, even 17-year-olds who can legally have sex, could end up on a register for sexting. Of course, it’s important that young people understand the serious implications sexting could have, but criminalising the craze seems like a step too far. Instead of frightening teens into ditching their naked selfies, wouldn't it be better to educate them? But with sex education lessons still in need of a 21st century revamp, it looks like that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Sarah Bazaraa, a solicitor at Pannone Corporate, talks me through the civil legal issues that being involved in sexting could lead to. 1) You could end up with a police caution Sending a naked image of yourself via text message, or social media, when you’re below the age of 18 is technically illegal. Detective Sergeant Jan Rusdale of the Nottinghamshire force warns: “[People who do it] could end up on the register for a couple of years. 2) It’s worse to send a photo of a sexual act
How Paypal and Reddit faked their way to traction — Design + Startups There were several factors that contributed to YouTube becoming the #1 video sharing service on the web. But a lot of initial adoption was driven by the fact that it had pirated content hosted on it. If you wanted to watch the latest episode of Lost for free, YouTube was your best bet: no queued downloading through torrents, just stream it from the server. Kim Dotcom’s mail to his crew, which ultimately damned MegaUpload, offers a rather brute-force but effective tactic for seeding platforms. Some community owners, as in the case of MegaUpload, solve this by creating a false aura of activity using a variety of methods. There are typically three ways of going about this: Seeding and Weeding Dating services simulate initial traction by creating fake profiles and conversations. Seeding Demand In the book, Paypal Wars, Eric M. Seeding Supply A platform is useless without complementary products. There is, of course, a method to the apparent madness. Use attractive seeds Consider incentives
Essena O'Neill quits Instagram claiming social media 'is not real life' | Media An Australian teenager with more than half a million followers on Instagram has quit the platform, describing it as “contrived perfection made to get attention”, and called for others to quit social media – perhaps with help from her new website. Essena O’Neill, 18, said she was able to make an income from marketing products to her 612,000 followers on Instagram – “$2000AUD a post EASY”. But her dramatic rejection of social media celebrity has won her praise. On 27 October she deleted more than 2,000 pictures “that served no real purpose other than self-promotion”, and dramatically edited the captions to the remaining 96 posts in a bid to to reveal the manipulation, mundanity, and even insecurity behind them. O’Neill did not respond to requests for an interview. A photo of her wearing a bikini, once captioned “Things are getting pretty wild at my house. “Why would you tell your followers that you’re paid a lot to promote what you promote? “Yet I, myself, was consumed by it.
Do you use Reddit?: Six percent of American adults online do But does Reddit really have enough users to make that claim? On Wednesday, the Pew Center’s Internet and American Life project released a study that put Reddit under the microscope to see who’s frequenting the site. The results: About six percent of American adults online said that they’ve visited Reddit. Though not a staggering number, but it puts Reddit about on par with Tumblr, according to statistics published by the Pew in February. By way of comparison, Pew determined that as of last year 16 percent of American adults online use Twitter and 67 percent use Facebook. The analysis of Reddit’s users offers few surprises to those who visit the site. But the fact that Reddit is getting this kind of analysis at all reflects a growing awareness about the site. All of which indicates that, for good or bad, Reddit’s on the rise. While young men and, to a lesser extent, women are the site’s most dedicated users, the study showed that it’s on the older folks’ radar.
More than a quarter of children who spend longer on social networking websites report mental ill-health symptoms Children who spent more than three hours using social networking websites on a school day were twice as likely to report high or very high scores for mental ill-health. The Children’s Well-being 2015 publication, which for the first time includes an analysis of data on children’s mental ill-health, revealed that of those who were online for more than three hours, 27% reported high or very high scores for mental ill-health. This is more than double those spending no time on them (12%) or those spending up to three hours on social media (11%). Total difficulty score type by time spent using social media on a school day, UK, 2011 to 2012 Download the data The Insights into Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing report is part of of ONS’s work on the well-being of children. It looks at data from the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire, designed by Prof Robert Goodman, which screens the behaviour of children aged two to 17. Download the data Children’s Mental Health:
Facebook Makes People More Unhappy and Lonely, Study Sep 14, 2013 08:07 AM EDT By Stephen Adkins, UniversityHerald Reporter Facebook, the social networking website was created to enhance global communication. However, it is now causing more loneliness and reducing satisfaction and happiness among users, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan. Like Us on Facebook Researchers claimed that the site is having a negative impact on people's interactions and perception about oneself. "On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection," said U-M social psychologist Ethan Kross, lead author of the article and a faculty associate at the U-M Institute for Social Research. "This is a result of critical importance because it goes to the very heart of the influence that social networks may have on people's lives," said U-M cognitive neuroscientist John Jonides, another author of the paper. The findings appear online in PLOS ONE. How do you feel right now?
Manchester police face legal bid over teen's naked photo details Image copyright Getty Images A police force is facing a legal challenge against its refusal to delete the details of a teenager who sent a naked photograph of himself on social media to a girl at his school. The 14-year-old boy was not arrested or prosecuted by Greater Manchester Police. But his mother said she was concerned police could release the information to potential employers when he is older. The High Court is due to consider the case this morning. The boy used a messaging site to send a photo of his naked body to the girl, who then shared it with others. Police took no action against him other than to record on their database that he had taken and forwarded an "indecent" image of himself, logged under a section entitled "Obscene Publications". Greater Manchester Police has refused to delete the boy's name from its files, a decision his mother is contesting at the court, which is sitting in Manchester.
Online anger 'spreads faster than joy' on Weibo 20 September 2013Last updated at 04:55 ET By Melissa Hogenboom Science reporter, BBC News Anger rapidly spreads through Weibo, researchers found Anger spreads faster online than other emotions such as joy, scientists say. A team analysed the word choice and emoticons of people's posts on the Chinese social network Weibo and split them into the categories of anger, sadness, joy and disgust. By analysing the influence messages had with other users, they observed angry sentiments were more rapidly shared. However, others say this is because angry people tend to have more angry friends. The study has been published on the Arxiv pre-print server, though it has yet to be subjected to peer review. The team from Beihang University in Beijing says its work could give insight into how information spreads through social networks, influencing others along the way. 'Formation of public opinion' Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteThomas JacksonUniversity of Loughborough Map mood of nation
The social media generation.. sad but true