25 Percent of Canadians Are Harassed on Social Media A recent survey by the Angus Reid Public Interest Research Institute found that one-fourth of Canadians are subjected to “unwelcome comments, vicious insults, threats of violence, or worse,” with the bulk of abuse coming from Facebook and Twitter. The number rises among frequent and younger users. […]
After School, Kids Use “After School” to Cyberbully Each Other Anonymously When the last bell of the day rings, many high-school-age kids grab their smart phones and launch the After School app, which takes them to a place its developers call, “a positive and safe place to share and connect with other students in their […]
Amazon Bans Giving Free Books to Reviewers Last week, Amazon ended it years-old policy of hooking up its reviewers with free or deeply discounted products, which many had complained skewed the ratings into more positive numbers of stars, causing them to appear further towards the top of ratings lists by as many as two stars. […]
More Misguided Online Moderation: YouTube Heroes Two weeks ago, YouTube introduced a new program that enables volunteers to moderate site content. The program, called “YouTube Heroes,” allows content creators to earn points when they caption, flag, or report videos that violate the YouTube Terms of Service. The program, however, is just another attempt to get […]
Should Debate Moderators Be Fact-Checkers or Facilitators? Tonight’s presidential debate will draw a record number of viewers who will focus attention on the moderation team just as much as it will on the candidates. The team, Anderson Cooper of CNN, Lester Holt of NBC, Martha Raddatz of ABC and Chris Wallace of Fox News, must […]
Moderation Solves Trolling Issues on News Sites Due to continuing issues with spammers, trolls, and others intent on disrupting online interaction, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Week, and, most recently, NPR have removed the ability for users of their websites to post comments. Last week, the Suffolk Times, citing an article which described a group of […]
USA Olympic Gymnast Faces Social Media Criticism for Performance, Conduct What a difference four years makes. In the 2012 London Olympics, USA gymnast Gabby Douglas was a standout, leading her team to a gold medal in the team event (competing in all four apparatus events), as well as winning a gold medal in the individual […]
Best Way to Engage Your Community? Communicate With Them! A recent report by the American Press Institute (API) concludes that the best way for journalists to foster successful interaction with their readers in online communities is through collaboration. The standard model of posting an article and allowing readers to comment on it no longer works […]
Instagram Swiftly Removes Swift’s Snakes – A Conspiracy? In the last couple of weeks, Twitter and Instagram have taken gutsy steps to stop trolling on their sites. In a move to penalize those posting hateful content, Twitter banned the controversial Breitbart blogger Milo Yiannopoulos for harassing actor Leslie Jones, while an Instagram software test unintentionally […]
Cyberstalking Laws and Your Site’s Terms of Service Laws to prevent cyberstalking and cyberbullying, defined as the use of electronic technology, including the Internet, to harass, stalk, intimidate, or harm a person or persons, are in their infancy. However, high-profile cases involving suicide, school shootings, and other tragedies, have put pressure on legislators pass legislation […]
