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Category: Social Media

35% of college admissions staff check college applicants’ public social media posts

35% of college admissions staff check college applicants’ public social media posts

New data from Kaplan Test Prep say admissions officers do look at accounts. Source: Colleges Really Are Looking at Your Social Media Accounts | Best Colleges | US News And what they find can improve admission chances – or rejection. The key takeaway: “College applicants need to be aware of what others can find about them on social networks and make sure it reflects well on them,” said Alpher. “For better or worse, social media has become an established factor…

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‘Can You Hear Me?’ Scam Warning is probably fake news

‘Can You Hear Me?’ Scam Warning is probably fake news

Dozens of news outlets reported on a purported scam wherein fraudsters supposedly falsify charges by randomly calling people and asking ‘Can you hear me?’ Source: ‘Can You Hear Me?’ Scam Warning CBS News prompted the latest round of this story. As Snopes notes, no one can identify an actual victim of the purported scam. Of course, it is a good idea to say as little as possible to telemarketers. However, it might not be a great idea to share the…

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False: Trump Administration deleted “Climate change”, “LGBTQ” from WhiteHouse.gov

False: Trump Administration deleted “Climate change”, “LGBTQ” from WhiteHouse.gov

TL;DR Summary The Daily Beast reported the Trump administration deleted references to “climate change”, “LGBTQ”, “health care” and “civil rights” and other topics from the whitehouse.gov web site. Fake news and “real” news web sites promoted the theory that these topics were deleted as part of an upcoming period of darkness under the Trump administration. My Twitter feed was absolutely filled with links to these stories. Reality: As part of the change in administrations, the U.S. National Archives archived the Obama record…

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Accurate quote, but the quote itself is false

Accurate quote, but the quote itself is false

TL;DR Summary Good, simple design, good eye contact, simple message, easily processed. Former President Bill Clinton really did say this in a speech in 2013. The Washington Post, however, says the claim is not true: Three Pinocchios. As a propaganda poster, this uses  the “Appeal to Authority” method. The poster was shared on Facebook. I like the poster design – clean with a simple message. Bertrand Russell noted that facts are either true or false, and their truthfulness is independent…

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The Fairness Doctrine never applied to cable TV

The Fairness Doctrine never applied to cable TV

TL;DR Summary A long time ago, there was a law known as the Fairness Doctrine that required over the air broadcast stations to give equal time to different perspectives, typically meaning left versus right on political topics. This rule applied only to over the air broadcasters and never applied to cable television “broadcasters” who do not use the over the air spectrum. This propaganda poster asserts that Fox News came about because Reagan vetoed a bill to re-instate the already…

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About 60% of headlines on social media are not clicked, meaning the headline is the message

About 60% of headlines on social media are not clicked, meaning the headline is the message

Key points about social media (and how this applies to the dissemination of propaganda) from peer reviewed research: Information is shared rapidly on social media, most of it within just a few hours of it first appearing online Information that is shared on social media continues to live for a long time, generating subsequent click thrus for days and weeks in to the future. Information shared on social media is long lived – that is, generates click throughs back to…

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Profit behind social media fake news and propaganda

Profit behind social media fake news and propaganda

Banning fake-news sites doesn’t address the real problem: Social-media companies make big money off lies and hate. Source: Fake News and Online Harassment Are More Than Social Media Byproducts—They’re Powerful Profit Drivers This is a good article and catches up with where we were a year ago! But like all articles on the topic, this one also leaves out mention of perhaps the largest for profit, online social-media based fake news publisher (nearly 4.8 million Facebook subscribers). I’ve mentioned them…

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Up to 76% of hiring managers profile job candidates on social media

Up to 76% of hiring managers profile job candidates on social media

Be careful about what you post online. Up to 76% of hiring managers review the social media posts of job applicants: Hiring managers in information technology and sales are the most likely to use social networks to screen candidates; professional and business services were least likely. IT: 76 percent Sales: 65 percent Financial services: 61 percent Health care: 59 percent Retail: 59 percent Manufacturing: 56 percent Professional and business services: 55 percent Source: Number of Employers Using Social Media to…

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“Click Bait” “fake news” operation employs 11 writers

“Click Bait” “fake news” operation employs 11 writers

These fake news sites are apparently more profitable than “real news” web sites. One of the websites that ended up on a widely-shared list of “fake news” purveyors is run out of a house in Seattle. Source: Seattle’s own ‘click-bait’ news site serves up red meat for liberals And employs 11 writers and makes tons of money. As we have been saying, for profit, social media-based, emotionally laden publishing has been around a long time and crosses the full political…

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Social media users tend to share news that confirms their beliefs, even if the news is false

Social media users tend to share news that confirms their beliefs, even if the news is false

If internet users are predisposed to believe false information that confirms their prejudices — and if they enthusiastically take part in spreading conspiracy theories — then falsehoods may be endemic to mass online communication platforms. This issue is more difficult for Facebook, whose algorithms rely heavily on a social signal that comes from what a user’s friends are sharing. If its users promote unreliable information — particularly if it is not easily categorised as “news” — it will spread rapidly….

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