BBC Tracks Down An Internet Troll
Trolling. We're all victims (and some of us perpetrators) of such internet activity. And while there is a wide variation of severity on the scale of what would be considered to be trolling, it became part of the discourse in yesterday's campaign against cyber-bullying, titled 'Safer Internet Day.' This expanded to an episode of Panorama, which managed to trace the location of infamous troll Nimrod Severn, and track the real man down for an 'ambush' interview.
Design Project Visualises How Well You Know Your Facebook Friends
Out of all the Facebook friends you have, their probably is a good chance that you may not physically know a good percentage of them. So the question would be just how many of them are what you'd call 'real' friends? This is what designer Colin Pinegar answered in his project, simply titled 'Best Friends.'
How To Get Rid Of Facebook Timeline
So Timeline has been rather polarizing in terms of thoughts and opinions about it's design and functionality. Some accepting this complete renovation with open arms, warming positively to the 'scrapbooking' mentality of the implementation, whereas others detest this idea of yet further effort and attempts at expansion beyond the primary (and for most solitary) uses of sharing and communicating.
We already gave our thoughts about Timeline, and why it easily creates a love/hate relationship with the user; but what about those still unimpressed? What about those who clicked without consideration of the overhauling effects it entailed? What about those forced by the recent obligatory change, who want a revival of the 'old times?' Well we've got your back, with our guide about the matter.
Bare in mind, this only affects what you see, it doesn't reverse your Timeline (or anybody else's Timeline) to it's old state on a mass public scale. This formula utilises a tricking an identification code your browser sends to any website visited within it: the 'user agent.'
See, if you're reading this and using facebook within Internet Explorer 7, then chances are you have no idea what the big fuss is about, since it doesn't support Timeline, Ticker, or any of the recent updates that have fallen to the disdain of many-a-user. With this in mind, the concept is simple: if your browser impersonates IE7 with it's 'user agent,' you won't see another Timeline again, and with a file download (plus an extra app to clean up the experience), that's possible and really rather easy.
T-Mobile Twitter Campaign Shows That #BritainLoves Hating The British
So T-Mobile have launched a Twitter promotional campaign, surrounding the hashtag #BritainLoves, to promote it's new 'Full Monty Plan' contract option. However, very much like RIM's attempt at cracking the metaphorical nut that is Twitter marketing with #BeBold, and McDonalds' #McDstories, the situation may have gone everso slightly ary.
Facebook IPO: The Staggering Facts And Figures Behind The Scenes
What Happens To Your Digital Life When You Die?
The after-thought of your mortality: all of your social profiles and cloud stored items create the sum of one digital personification of the self. What happens to this when you die?
This has been something that Life Insurance Finder have been exploring rather thoroughly recently, and after releasing their blogazine on the matter not too long ago, they've delved further into the matter with a video infographic.
RIM Calls On Superheroes To Save Them. Twitter Campaign Backfires
So if you've had your ear to the ground for rumblings surrounding RIM, you'll have figured out that the company aren't doing so great. A big CEO switcharound, ever-reducing confidence in their lack of innovations, and a tablet that's failed to take off.
It's in these situations where we regress into our somewhat geek-ridden imaginations and conjur a super hero, well that's exactly what the company has done. 'The Bold Team' infographic was created off a Twitter campaign they did surrounding #BeBold resolutions, analysing 35,000 tweets worth of data and collating them into four cartoon personas.
Editorial: Twitter Is Not A Social Network
So Twitter CEO Dick Costolo sat down for a conversation with All Things D's Peter Kafka at D: Dive Into Media on Monday night. They discuss the recent outrage against Google's 'Search plus your world.' However, in his calm response, he answers another question we've been asking: exactly how will Twitter be defined?
US Detains And Deports Two Britons For "Destroy America" Tweets
Well this was going to happen at some point for sure. Brits Leigh Van Bryan and his friend Emily Bunting have been barred from America by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two tweets about "diggin' up Marilyn Monroe" and "destroying America."
If anything, it shows the DHS' systems work in picking up possible 'social' terrorist threats; but we feel as if context may be missed somewhat. According to the two, who claim complete innocence, it's innocent British slang, and the Miss Monroe comment was a Family Guy reference. But, to be fair, in a country that has really stepped up it's security, saying “free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America? x” is pretty damn stupid.
Facebook Takes Clickjacking Suspect To Court
Ever clicked on a Facebook link and found it shared to your profile, projected to your reems of friends without your prior permission to share said link? Clickjacking has been a rather nasty thorn in the sides of many-a-user of the social network, and Facebook aren't going to take it anymore, as they take Washington-based marketing company Adscend Media to court over accusations of unwanted spam-causing practice.
FBI Proposes To Use Social Network Behaviour To 'Predict' Crimes
In becoming ever more tactile in waging war against the criminals of this world, the FBI is asking companies to develop software that will be able to 'scrape' posts, tweets and messages for key 'danger' words and phrases from social network accounts, in addition to monitoring a persons' behaviour through acquiring information from the public domain in order to better track criminal security threats or situations. Succinctly, the Bureau is asking would-be contractors to come up with a software that can “enhance its techniques for collecting and sharing 'open source' actionable intelligence”.
Social network posters with wartime propaganda designs
The title is pretty self explanatory for this. Everybody's a fan of good design, even if you say it doesn't bother you a good typography and visual style will always win through.
And, courtesy of justonescarf design's Aaron Wood, social networks from Facebook to Twitter now have their own propaganda posters, heralding the design era from wartime. Take a look at the full collection on his etsy store. or check out our gallery of favourites, where he tackles more than just social media.
'Focus on the User' retools Google Social Search to work with all networks
Engineers from Facebook, Twitter and Myspace have banded together to "Focus on the user:" a project that reworks Google's social search update to include all social networks instead of it's own.
So as Google released Search Plus Your World to coincide with their social networking service, people realised that this wasn't exactly 'social' and it wasn't really 'your world.' As we made rather clear, for this to be seen as a social search it needs to be open, and that's exactly what this developed bookmarlet does.
Editorial: Open Graph Apps contradict the point of Facebook
So Facebook rolled out the full launch of it's Open Graph at their keynote this week. 60 Open Graph apps have been announced to inspire developers to adopt the new platform: implementing 'verbs' to better literate what you're doing, and unique designs to individualise their presence within the realm of your timeline.
Twitter Acquires News Service ‘Summify’
2012 is likely to be a huge year for Twitter. Having had a complete design overhaul at the end of last year, arguably only now is the social networking site beginning to truly find its feet as a more interactive, ‘stickier’ (referring to the time users stay on the site) and more enticing alternative to Facebook, Google+ and the like.
Lego has its own social network
Presenting ReBrick, a social network for an audience spanning from the Lego connoisseur to the individual remeniscing about their childhood bedroom floors full of colourful constructions. Quite literally, it's a Lego social network.
Chatroulette is now 'safe for work,' makes money off 50,000 naked men
It goes without saying that Chatroulette was definitely a hit in 2010. That was before one in every two random people you connected to had some form of genitalia out on display. However, founder Andrey Ternovskiy has a rather ingenious way of both controlling the pornographic content, and making money off it at the same time.
Facebook, Tumblr and Google +'s buggiest pages are works of Social art
Anybody found a page called 'Glitchr' on their respective social networks, as mentioned in the title? Turns out that they were created as an art project by Lithuanian, Laimonas Zakas.
The Facebook page, thus far has over 14,000 likes since the story went viral through multiple tech blogs, and is a primary focus due to it being the largest social network of all. The completely harmless page takes your chat navigation bar and spreads it down your screen in an almost wave-like style. Kind of like when your computer freezes and your open window sporadically multiplies as you drag it across the screen.
Nostalgia in the form of Video game maps drawn from memory
It seems weird seeing these drawings at first; but then you realise just how much detail of a video game world can be recalled soully from your memory. This is what tumblr blog Mapstalgia has chosen to celebrate.
Flash mob take over London Underground in their pants
A pretty standard commute on the tube, over-run with 150 participants in the worldwide, social-organised event 'No Pants Day' ('Trousers' for we Brits).