The world of big business is littered with once popular but now discarded household names like Kodak, Borders and Blockbuster. In this disruptive forces series we find out who might be next, uncovering…
Is it possible to socially interact with another person in the absence of a body and the senses? Social networking allows us to present versions of ourselves. But when we use a computer to mediate our…
In the past few days, Facebook has gone full circle on its policy around censoring violent material. After much back-and-forth on whether a graphic video showing the beheading of a woman should be banned…
Have you ever tried reading Beowulf and decided it was a bit too hard to follow before giving up? How did you get on with War and Peace? If you struggled with either of these notoriously unwieldy classics…
The way information spreads through society has changed significantly over the past decade with the advent of online social networking. But it seems we humans continue to apply the same approach that we…
As Twitter sets off on its IPO roadshow, most analysts are predicting a strong response. But the social media giant remains in a slightly odd position: its revenues in the first half of 2013 more than…
You might think social networks couldn’t possibly gather more information on you than they already do. That in a world where your every move is tagged, flagged and logged, there is nothing more that could…
An increasing number of studies into the correlation between social media and narcissistic tendencies confirm what many of us already suspect. We see teenagers spending hour after hour with their phones…
A recent study about Facebook made headlines across the world with claims that using the social media site makes people sad. But there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of what the research actually…
A flurry of initiatives aimed at connecting the billions – mainly in Africa – who still do not have access to the internet are underway. A few weeks ago, Google’s possibly aptly named Project Loon was…
At Facebook’s first annual general meeting since going public last year, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced a “barrage of complaints” from shareholders, worried that the value of their investment shows…
We know that as we browse the internet, we leave behind a trail. Search results reflect our browsing history; usernames and passwords are remembered on long-forgotten websites; and personalised adverts…
Winters in Boston are bitterly cold and excessively long. So it’s little wonder that residents greet Patriot’s Day – the mid-April, Massachusetts-only holiday marking the Revolutionary battles at Lexington…
“Slut shaming” may be the latest cause célèbre to sweep to our shores, but it just looks a lot like old-fashioned misogyny. From the US-based Salon and The Guardian in the UK, to the Canberra Times in…
Late last week, Facebook broke the news of another major change to users’ news feeds, sparking interesting discussion across the globe. Described by Mark Zuckerberg as your new “personal newspaper,” the…
At first it was organising and selling user-generated content and data, now it seems “they” don’t even need you. What if there was a company that scraped the web and mapped your connections, showing you…
The recent publication of a leaked video demonstrating American security firm Raytheon’s social media mining tool RIOT (Rapid Information Overlay Technology) has rightly incensed individuals and online…