Social Networks

By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter Publishedduration1 hour agoimage copyrightJosh Steenimage captionJosh Steen (right) says Facebook had chances to halt the live-streaming of his friend Ronnie's deathThree weeks ago, Josh Steen watched his close friend Ronnie McNutt kill himself live on Facebook.Now, he is fighting for answers from the firm and other social media platforms where clips of the suicide are widely available."For the last two and a half weeks Ronnie's image has been one of the most recognisable on the internet and yet these companies claim to have detection software to stop it, so something isn't right," he said.He reported it to Facebook during the livestream, at 22:00 Mississippi time - two hours after the video had started, and half an hour before Ronnie killed himself. He said that he didn't get a response until 23:51, when Facebook told him that the video did not violate its community guidelines.By then, Mr McNutt was dead.Josh Steen said the social network had an opportunity to stop the stream when Ronnie misfired his gun before 22:00 - which he says is a clear violation of the guidelines."If Facebook had intervened then, my friend may still have committed suicide but at least there wouldn't be this video."'False' back storyimage copyrightRonnie McNuttimage captionRonnie McNutt regularly went on streaming services to talk about his lifeMr McNutt was a 33-year-old army veteran who had seen active service in Iraq, and subsequently dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health issues.He had recently broken up with his girlfriend and had been drinking on the night of his death. He was talking about suicide and arguing with people who were trying to comfort him. At some point the police turned up outside his apartment.More than 200 people were watching the stream when he died, including Mr Steen and several…

Facebook has launched a new service designed to make it easier for college students to connect with others at their school. The service comes as colleges across the United States seek to find new ways to operate during the coronavirus health crisis. The move takes Facebook back to its very beginning. The social network launched in 2004 as a college-only network called TheFacebook. At the time, founder Mark Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard University. He built the website as a way for Harvard students to personally connect with each other. In a statement, the company says the new service has a similar purpose: “to help students connect with fellow classmates over shared interests.” The service, called Facebook Campus, is designed to “make it easy to find and start conversations” within college communities. Many social media users reacted to the new service by noting Facebook’s early history. “So basically @Facebook launched the original Facebook?” Jolie Lindley wrote on Twitter. “They didn't have to put too much worker power into that concept.” Another Twitter user wrote, “I thought the same thing. Facebook launched...Facebook?” The launch comes as colleges and students across the U.S. are facing new educational realities created by the coronavirus crisis. With many schools deciding to hold most or all classes online, “it’s more important than ever to find a way to stay connected to college life,” Facebook said. The company said the service can help students form new relationships “even if they’re away from their college.” Where to find it Facebook Campus is a separate area of the main Facebook app that is designed for students only. Users can create a profile in Campus that is different from their main Facebook profile. To sign up, students are required to provide their college email and the year they will…

by Ryan Joe // Wednesday, September 16th, 2020 – 9:00 am YouTube’s quest to siphon TV budgets took another couple of steps Wednesday, when the video platform unveiled “advanced contextual targeting” (ACT), as well as the ability to use Nielsen TV data to plan and measure YouTube campaigns in a handful of new countries. ACT now, folks Advanced contextual targeting is a wholesale upgrade of the existing contextual targeting available on YouTube. “We’ve always had ways of doing topic targeting,” said Debbie Weinstein, VP of global solutions at YouTube. YouTube says contextual targeting is complementary to its advanced audience solutions, which lets advertisers know what YouTube watchers are generally interested in, based on what they watch. Contextual informs advertisers what people are doing at a specific moment. ACT enhances that existing capability, because it makes contextual targeting much more granular. Whereas standard contextual targeting let advertisers message across travel-related videos, ACT understands the difference between luxury travel and budget travel, or it understands the specific interests within categories such as home and garden or interior design. ACT is naturally powered by machine learning, which analyzes YouTube videos frame by frame, looking at images, sound, speech and metadata all connected to specific videos. While YouTube already has 300 pre-packaged video lineups matched to specific interests, brands can also work with a YouTube rep to create their own. Moreover, said Weinstein, the content of those interest-based video lineups is constantly updating and refreshing. She added that brands “will have some sense of who’s in that lineup” and can also use YouTube’s brand suitability controls. ACT is now live in 10 markets: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. YouTube’s Nielsen Data goes global, kinda  And also, YouTube is expanding its use of Nielsen data…

YouTube shorts come with more controls that enable the user to be creative with their video content instead of just pressing the record button. The young generation has been spending a lot of time on TikTok watching short videos, and the app has gained popularity over the past few years. However, YouTube is bringing features that would enable you to create short videos with your favorite music on the background, just like in TikTok. YouTube has announced the launch of YouTube Shorts, which is a creation of short videos, just like in TikTok. This app will only be available in India for the next few weeks before branching out to other countries. They have incorporated new creator tools such as a multi-segment camera, speed controls, a timer, and a countdown. These features are already found within the TikTok app. Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view. YouTube has also announced that it has compiled a music library from various artists, and the video creator can choose a background song from the list for their videos. They will also be increasing the song lists with time. With the multi-segment camera, users will be able to string together different video clips into one short video. YouTube shorts come with more controls that enable the user to be creative with their video content instead of just pressing the record button. These features are common with TikTok, and Instagram included them in their recently launched app Reels. According to YouTube's blog post, YouTube shorts will only work on Android but will include iOS later. India, which banned the Chinese app TikTok would be the first country to access YouTube shorts. After piloting the app in India for some weeks, YouTube shorts will then expand to other…

The seventh annual Facebook Connect virtual and augmented reality conference, formerly known as Oculus Connect, is being streamed online today. Facebook is expected to announce a new Oculus Quest VR headset, which has been widely leaked over the past few months. But we could also see a slate of new virtual reality games, extra Spark AR features, updates on Facebook’s Horizon virtual world, and hints at the company’s long-term AR headset plans. And like many events during the pandemic, Connect 7 is being held fully online. Facebook Connect 7 starts with a keynote at 10AM PT / 1PM ET, then continues with panels and developer sessions. It concludes at 7PM PT/ 10PM ET with an “afterparty” concert from Jaden Smith. Unlike the physical events of past years, it’s being condensed into a single day. Connect is being streamed on Facebook Live through the page for Facebook Reality Labs, the company’s AR / VR division. The keynote will go live at 9:55AM PT / 12:55PM ET here, and FRL’s page includes links for the day’s other events, including the highly anticipated 5:30PM PT / 8:30PM ET annual talk by Oculus consulting CTO John Carmack and the 7PM PT / 10PM ET Jaden Smith afterparty. If you’ve got an Oculus Quest VR headset, you can also view the event in Venues, a live VR event space. Venues is currently in beta and doesn’t appear to be available to everyone. But if you’ve got access, you can use the event link here. You can view the full Connect schedule on Facebook’s event page, but there are a few highlights. Connect keynotes typically feature appearances from Facebook executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and chief scientist Michael Abrash, covering the day’s big VR and AR news. In addition to product and game announcements, they outline…

Here’s what we are watching as markets kick into gear Wednesday. —U.S. stocks are poised to extend their rally as investors await the Federal Reserve’s latest views on economic growth and inflation prospects. Oil prices jumped over 2% after data showed that U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly declined. Read our full market wrap here. —What’s coming up. The Federal Reserve releases a policy statement and economic projections at 2 p.m.; Chairman Jerome Powell holds a press conference at 2:30 p.m., at which he could explain how he and his colleagues are thinking about possible additional steps. Market Movers to Watch — FedEx surged over 8% in offhours trading after the delivery company posted the highest quarterly revenue in its history. United Parcel Service , or UPS, got a leg up as well, advancing about 4.5%. — Facebook ticked down 1.5% in premarket trading on the news that the Federal Trade Commission is gearing up to file a possible antitrust lawsuit against the social-media company by year-end.

(FOX26) — The Visalia Police Department says a guy was able to get his stolen motorcycle back after he saw it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

The blame game over the Oregon wildfires is playing out across social media, and Facebook says it’s stepping in to tackle some of the false claims circulating on its platform. Law enforcement agencies have been flooded with calls about online rumors that members of Antifa, an anti-fascist, often far-left-wing movement, were arrested for setting fires across the state. “Reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue,” the FBI Portland said in a tweet Friday. Since the FBI and other law enforcement agencies confirmed the claims are false, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said the platform will work to remove the rumors. “This is consistent with our past efforts to remove content that could lead to imminent harm given the possible risk to human life as the fires rage on,” Stone said about the decision. Big Tech has been facing tremendous pressure in recent years to tackle the spread of misinformation on their platforms. The claims that Antifa set the fires started when the anonymous account behind QAnon posted a link to a tweet by Paul Joseph Romero Jr., a former Republican US Senate candidate from Oregon, claiming the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office had six Antifa “arsonists” in custody. It took hours for the rumors to be amplified by QAnon’s followers. Speaking to CNN Saturday, Romero claimed, “My original tweet is not 100% accurate, there is no question about that, but it is mostly accurate.” He said he is not a QAnon follower but has seen some of Q’s posts and said, “I don’t think you can discount more than you can discount anybody.” Romero said he does not plan to remove the tweet. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is urging the public to follow official sources of information and local reputable news outlets. In a Facebook post, the…

Two weeks ago, BTS’ “Dynamite” debuted atop the Global YouTube Music Videos & Songs charts. Last week, BLACKPINK & Selena Gomez’s “Ice Cream” took #1 on both listings. This week, the two tracks split the leadership position. “Ice Cream” retains the #1 spot on the Global YouTube Music Videos chart, while “Dynamite” reclaims #1 on the overall Songs chart. According to YouTube, the official “Ice Cream” music video received 50.6 million views during the September 4-10 tracking period. The count keeps “Ice Cream” narrowly ahead of Maluma’s “Hawai” (46.7 million, #2) and the aforementioned “Dynamite” (44.5 million, #3). “Dynamite,” however, received more total YouTube streams across all eligible uploads during the tracking period. It returns to #1 on the Songs chart with 103 million, while “Ice Cream” drops to #2 on Songs with 97.6 million. BLACKPINK and BTS appear at #3 and #4, respectively, on the Global YouTube Artists chart. Alka Yagnik appears at #1, while Udit Narayan is #2.

YouTube faces £2.5BILLION landmark legal battle for allegedly breaching the privacy of millions of British childrenThe tech giant is accused of harvesting the data of children under 13 The company, owned by Google, is accused of breaching both EU and UK lawIt is claimed the firm has sold data on its young users to advertisers  Google, it is understood, will strongly dispute the claims against the firm By Adam Luck For The Mail On Sunday Published: 20:39 EDT, 12 September 2020 | Updated: 20:41 EDT, 12 September 2020 YouTube is facing a landmark legal battle for allegedly breaching the privacy and data rights of millions of British children – potentially saddling its parent firm Google with a £2.5 billion bill.Documents claiming the company has harvested the data of users under 13 without consent, then sold it to advertising companies in breach of both UK and EU law, have been lodged with the High Court, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.It is understood that Google will strongly dispute the claim. One of its arguments is that the main YouTube platform is not intended for those under 13, who should be using the YouTube Kids app, which incorporates more safeguards. YouTube is accused of selling the data of children using their service to advertisers in contravention of EU and UK law The case, which was lodged in July and is the first of its kind in Europe, is being brought by privacy campaigner Duncan McCannGoogle is also expected to point to a series of changes that it introduced last year to improve notification to parents, limit data collection and restrict personalised adverts.The case, which was lodged in July and is the first of its kind in Europe, is being brought by privacy campaigner Duncan McCann.If successful, he believes damages of just £500 would be payable…