social media

How will ALS ice bucket challenge money be spent?

By PBS News Hour

From George W. Bush to Kermit the Frog, scores of celebrities and thousands of others have posted videos of ice water being dumped over their heads. It’s all to raise money to battle ALS, a disease that destroys nerve cells…

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Islamic State militant group used less restrictive social network

By Charles Pulliam-Moore

The Islamic State extremist group began using a social networking website with less restrictions on users after other social media sites, Twitter and YouTube in particular, removed content related to the group.

Twitter Chat: Can hashtag activism have real impact?

By Nora Daly

Hashtag activism is a term coined to describe the use of viral hashtags on social media to raise awareness and foster discussion about specific issues and causes, but can it affect real change?…

How has social media adapted to deal with violent terrorist imagery?

By Nora Daly

The horrifying documentation of James Foley’s tragic death has raised questions about how social media must adapt to deal with violent, terrorist imagery.

How has social media changed the way we talk about race and justice?

By Nora Daly

Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Stacia Brown of ColorLines about the social media response to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri.

From Michael Brown to the Central Park Five, race changes how victims are portrayed

By Sarah McHaney

While the unfolding events in Ferguson, Missouri, continue to disturb observers around the country, the emerging narrative is familiar. Historian Craig Steven Wilder offers his take on how citizens are responding in the streets and on social media, as well…

Twitter reports 23 million users are actually ‘bots’

By Charles Pulliam-Moore

Twitter has disclosed the number of its users that are actually human as opposed to account-holding, automated programs in its most recent quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the report, about 23 million -- or 8.5%…

What’s the deal with the ALS ice bucket challenge?

By Anna Christiansen

Scores of people are filming themselves dumping buckets of ice on their heads, posting the video to Facebook or Twitter, then challenging their friends to do so, too. The chilly action is intended to raise awareness of ALS, or Lou…

Twitter Chat: Who controls our perception of current events?

By Nora Daly

By choosing to “like” or “follow” specific stories, pages and users, we paint a picture for sites like Google and Facebook of our interests, preferences and worldview. These sites’ algorithms then set to work ensuring we are shown more of…