Social Networks

With November 3rd right around the corner and arguably one of our country’s most important elections, I find myself surrounded by a media presence urging me to go vote. Social media, paired with our current political climate, has led college kids to be extremely engaged and invested with the social, environmental, and economic issues our country’s leadership holds in its hands. Historically, college kids have often been liberal and passionate protestors for human rights, but social media has created an outlet for activism that is easier than it ever was before. All over Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, my peers are encouraging their social circles to get out there and be the generation to make the changes our country needs. In the last presidential election in 2016, only 46.1 percent of eligible 18-29-year-olds voted. But this year, the stakes feel much higher for this age group. Media has amplified our emotions and made us more aware of institutional inefficiencies in our country. Social media has made it so that people can no longer ignore many of America’s societal issues because they are constantly being posted about. What’s more, is that this activism doesn’t seem to stop with my fellow students. Many businesses are also urging young people, in particular, to get out there and cast their votes. Several top clothing companies like Madewell and Levi’s have created apparel lines with aesthetic “VOTE” graphics so that customers can flaunt and be proud of their civic engagement. Many brands have also created entire advertising campaigns designed to encourage voter turnout. They’ve been sending emails and posting resources on their social media or websites on how to register to vote and make sure consumers are aware of important deadlines in their respective states.  Snapchat, one of the most popular apps among 18-29-year-olds, announced…

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday about their content moderation practices, in a hearing that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, promoted like a boxing match; indeed, the event was a circus.Instead of holding the tech titans accountable for their broad decisions, showing any command of how these platforms are reshaping all aspects of everyday life for Americans, or even sticking to the topic at hand, this hearing — like other Republican-led tech hearings in the Trump era — devolved into a banal session of complaining about the alleged suppression of specific conservatives and conservative posts on social media.These stories of alleged suppression tend to be simply anecdotal because the facts simply don’t back up sweeping assertions. We at Media Matters have done study after study after study after study showing that conservative content on Facebook receives significantly greater engagement than other content. The New York Times’ Kevin Roose has shown that the top-performing link posts on U.S. Facebook pages are dominated by conservatives like President Donald Trump, conservative podcaster and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro and Fox News contributor and conservative news aggregator Dan Bongino.In fact, the examples that conservatives give of alleged censorship are usually just examples of individuals breaking the rules or not knowing how social media works.Take the hearing's focus on the New York Post’s temporary ban from Twitter, which has become a cause célèbre in recent days in right-wing circles. Contrary to widespread belief on the right, Twitter did not take action because it disagrees with the paper’s content, but rather because an article shared by the Post’s Twitter account contained personal contact information, in violation of Twitter's explicit rules, and the company refused to remove the tweets. Twitter took similar action…

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. social media giant Facebook Inc. reported on Thursday its financial results for the third quarter of 2020, with net income growing 29 percent to 7.85 U.S. billion dollars for the quarter ending on Sept. 30, compared with 6.09 billion dollars in the corresponding period last year. Facebook's quarterly revenue grew to 21.47 billion dollars, up 22 percent year-over-year from 17.65 billion dollars, with advertising revenue rising 22 percent to 21.22 billion dollars, compared with 17.38 billion dollars in the same period last year. Facebook said that its daily active users were 1.82 billion on average for September 2020, an increase of 12 percent year-over-year, while its monthly active users were 2.74 billion as of Sept. 30, 2020, also up 12 percent year-on-year. Facebook is also the owner of two popular social media apps WhatsApp and Instagram. The company's headcount was 56,653 as of Sept. 30, 2020, an increase of 32 percent year-over-year. Its cash and cash equivalents, as well as marketable securities were 55.62 billion dollars as of Sept. 30, 2020. "We had a strong quarter as people and businesses continue to rely on our services to stay connected and create economic opportunity during these tough times," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, adding that the company will continue to make significant investments in its products and hiring. The company expects its fourth quarter 2020 year-over-year advertising revenue growth rate to be higher than the reported third quarter 2020 rate, driven by continued strong advertiser demand during the holiday season. 2020 total expenses are estimated to be in the range of 53-54 billion dollars, narrowed from a prior range of 52-55 billion dollars, according to the company. Enditem

A popular video platform has removed a video critical of apparent connections between the Chinese Communist Party and a founder of the Black Lives Matter organization.  New Zealand investigative journalist and author Trevor Loudon said the video was posted on Vimeo for only “a few hours” and had about 1,600 viewers before Vimeo took it down.  “It really touched a nerve for Vimeo to take it down after just a few hours,” Loudon told The Daily Signal in a phone interview.  The move by the New York-based video hosting and sharing platform follows a pattern of major tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook restricting or censoring conservative content.  The six-minute video, produced by Choose Freedom, a conservative group with which Loudon is associated, currently is posted and viewable on Rumble.  The video highlights various connections among activists. One group is Asians for Black Lives, founded by members of the Chinese Progressive Association of San Francisco, a pro-China group with ties to the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party. The video also underlines connections between the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Association and Black Futures Lab, a group started by Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza. In an analysis by Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation and former editorial writer and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Signal first reported on the connection between China and the Black Futures Lab, which shares a founder with Black Lives Matter. Left-leaning media outlets immediately criticized Gonzalez’s reporting.  Loudon noted that Kevin Roose, the same reporter for The New York Times who criticized Gonzalez’s reporting for The Daily Signal, also did a negative piece on The Epoch Times, a newspaper that covers the Chinese government with a critical eye. Loudon contributes to The Epoch Times. Vimeo did not immediately…

PHOTO: Disney | James Iglehart as the genie in Broadway's Aladdin “This is Halloween, This is Halloween!” For some ghoulishly tantalizing fun, tune in for this one night only event with Broadway star James Iglehart as he leads a stellar cast in a concert rendition of Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. In addition to Iglehart, the cast includes Rafael Casal, Adrienne Warren, Danny Burstein, Nik Walker, Lesli Margherita and Rob McClure. Ticket’s cost $5 and all proceed benefit The Actors Fund and the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Tune in at TheActorsFund.org or ticket link vimeo.com/ondemand/tnbc The concert will stream for 24 hours beginning at 4pm Saturday October 31. - Political Advertisements - Brad Colerick and the Blue Guitar are back this week with South Pas fave, the Wine & Song podcast! Episode #28 features Moira Smiley & Seamus Egan featuring Sam Amidon, ArtemesiaBlack, Bill Scorzari, Tom Kimmel, Michael Fracasso, and Aaron Childs. Tune in at BlueGuitar.club PHOTO: Fizzo | South Pasadena News | Members of The Jazz Cartel pictured on the South Pasadena train tracks next to Jones Coffee Roasters. Jazz Wednesdays is hoppin’ at Jones Coffee Roasters featuring our favorite cool cats, The Jazz Cartel. As South Pasadenans stroll Mission Street around sunset, the street comes alive with friends and couples dining al fresco at Aro, Bistro de la Gare, Teamorrow, and La Monarca, they hear the jazzy tunes wafting through the air coming from Jones’ patio. Guest singers and musicians sometimes surprise us with their unique gifts while revelers can’t resist the chance to dance on the sidewalk. Wednesdays 5:30pm to 8:30pm on the Jones patio at 1006 Mission Street in South Pasadena. Tip the guys @thejazzcartel PHOTO: courtesy of LA Philharmonic | Sound/Stage Episode 6 filmed at The Hollywood Bowl LA Phil’s Sound/Stage episode six, features jazz…

Snap Inc. the parent company of Snapchat, has released its second global Friendship Report, exploring how global issues including the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted friendship and communication in 2020. The findings showed how “social” is being inserted back into social media, with the majority of Aussies using online channels to connect with friends more than ever, and even build new relationships when physical meets aren’t always possible. Off the back of the findings, Snap has launched the Friendship Time Capsule, a collaborative photo collage allowing Snapchatters to create a new shared memory between themselves and a friend. Aussie pop band, Shepperd, has already thrown their support behind the new Lens, releasing Snaps to celebrate their own friendship. Amy, Emma and Geroge Sheppard say that digital communication platforms such as Snapchat have enabled them to remain connected during the craziness of 2020. “We’ve always been such big fans of Snapchat and this year we have experienced first hand its ability to help us  connect and collaborate with one another as siblings and bandmates. We’ve found that Snapchat is a digital platform where we can be the unfiltered and more ‘real’ versions of ourselves with our friends. It’s so easy to send quick video messages to each other on Snapchat. Whether it’s silly faces and dog ears to try or even a quick video of a new musical idea, Snapchat is where we can chat and let off some steam.” Over 1,500 Australians took part in the global friendship study, which shows how social media is being used to connect friends and even build new relationships when physical meets aren’t always possible. Australian data from the global friendship report reveals: Digital communication has been key to combating Australia’s loneliness pandemic. While the majority (53%) of Australians feel lonely when they can’t spend…

Sanford J. Schmidt, sschmidt@thetelegraph.com Updated 6:19 pm CDT, Thursday, October 29, 2020 EAST ALTON - Deputies are seeking information about a shooting that may have happened as a result of an argument among teenagers on Snapchat. Details of the case became public on Thursday as authorities filed a suit seeking an order to search the Snapchat accounts of of a teenage girl, 17, who told police someone fired shots in the direction of her house on Haller Drive, just outside the East Alton village limits. The case dates to June 18, but some details of the case were made public on Thursday. The case is being investigated as a possible aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm. According to court documents: An officer said in a sworn statement that one of the teens reported hearing shots and spotting a bullet hole in the front window and the gutter of the house. A resident found four spent shell casings of what appeared to be .45-caliber ammunition. An Illinois State Police officer recovered two projectiles from the home. A girl, 17, is suspected of challenging the alleged victim to a fight via Snapchat. While waiting outside her home, the potential shooting victim heard gunshots coming from a car that passed by and parked with lights off. The Haller Drive resident recorded the incident with her cell phone. After the shooting the two teenage girls continued communicating about the incident over Snapchat. Deputies have also recovered a video from the camera at a nearby residence. There are no public records of any arrest or charges in the incident.

By Patrick Tucker Technology Editor October 29, 2020 07:03 PM ET Infowar 2020 Elections Twitter bots are nearly twice as likely to amplify right-wing content than are humans, a new paper finds, shedding light on how these largely automated social media personas can shape public opinion.About 13 percent of all Twitter users that retweeted or engaged in conspiracy theories were bots, according to researchers from the University of Southern California who looked at more than 240 million election-related tweets from June 20 to Sept. 9. The USC team analyzed the tweets using Botometer,an online tool developed at Indiana University, which analyzes a Twitter account’s behavior to score the probability of the probability that the account is a bot. The paper, published this week in the online journal First Monday, shows that right-wing bots outnumber left-wing bots roughly two-to-one. So how many Twitter users talking about politics are bots? Only about 5 percent, but they drive a lot of conversation. “We see a backdrop of approximately 5% bots in right-and-left leaning discussions, and 10-15% bots associated with conspiracy groups that are responsible for as much as 20% of volume of engagement with hyperpartisan news websites,” said the study’s lead author, Emilio Ferrara, who is an associate professor of Communication and Computer Science at USC’s  Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.Ferrara’s team found that both right-wing and left-wing humans who use Twitter exist largely in filter bubbles where they are much more likely to see and spread content from and to their chosen affiliated group, confirmed their  pre-existing convictions and beliefs. “Our analysis shows that 35 percent of retweets are left-leaning humans retweeting other left-leaning humans; 53 percent of retweets are right-leaning humans retweeting other right-leaning humans,” they write.By examining banned users, the researchers found indications that “Ghana and Nigerian information operations” were targeting people…

Starting this Friday October 30th at 7:30PM.Hudson Guild Theatre Company's world premiere of Tasha Partee's A Five Mile Radius will receive a special Encore Presentation on the Hudson Guild YouTube channel starting this Friday October 30th at 7:30PM with continuous streaming through Sunday November 1st ending at 5PM. The virtual production has been imaginatively filmed using zoom technique. Jim Furlong and Devin Klos direct a twelve actor cast in this timely play which caps off Hudson Guild Theatre Company's 25th Anniversary Season.Set in a Staten Island apartment complex on the evening of July 4th, A Five Mile Radius revolves around Edie Pfeiffer, a popular local food critic from a working class background whose career is on the rise. Edie's life is suddenly upended when a neighbor's seven year old son is shot. With his life hanging in the balance, she insists that her assistant use twitter to post a controversial picture of the boy, asking for prayers that he survive and to find the culprit who fired the gun. This sets off a flurry of comments, both supportive and hostile, while it is simultaneously revealed that Edie's deceased husband belonged to the NRA. All at once she is forced to come to terms with her past while preparing for the possibility of losing a coveted opportunity for her future. Using Staten Island as a prototype, A Five Mile Radius addresses the current divisive social and political landscape with issues of class, race, guns and social media.Playwright Tasha Partee is multifaceted theater artist whose credits also include acting, dance, choreography, directing and teaching. Other playwright credits include Out There, In Here at Primary Stages, ESPA Detention #50, In a Vision, or in None at New York New Works Festival and Mrs. Schrodinger's Cat at Manhattan Repertory Theatre and the New York…

By Ace SchwarzOct 29th, 2020, 5:52 pm The year was 2012. I was a year into college and had just discovered the term “asexual” thanks to none other than Tumblr. I had known something was different about me since I was about twelve, but I had absolutely no language to describe how I was feeling. Whenever I tried to explain that I just wasn’t interested in people like that, I’d always get told that “it was just a phase” or “something must be wrong with .” Learning about asexuality was not only eye-opening but incredibly affirming as well. Unfortunately, it appeared that I’d only ever see people who felt like me on Tumblr, since asexual representation was practically non-existent in mainstream media. Then I saw a preview for an episode of House, M.D. I’d kept up with the show since coming to college, but it was the use of the actual term “asexual” in the trailer that got me super excited. I wasn’t part of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) forums yet, but I did some digging and found the original thread about the episode, Season 8’s “Better Half.” Much like the people on the forum, I had immense excitement leading up to the episode, and then … immense disappointment.  To give a quick summary of what happened: Dr. House finds out his co-worker, Wilson, has a female patient who identifies as asexual and is married to an asexual man. House bets Wilson $100 that he can find a medical reason why the husband doesn’t want to have sex. Because according to House, “ is a fundamental drive of our species, sex is healthy. Lots of people don’t have sex. The only people who don’t want it are either sick, dead, or lying.” The resulting diagnosis is a pituitary…