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NEW YORK: More and more people are joining Facebook to get social support and a subsequent overall sense of well-being while micro-blogging site Twitter is helping its users gain knowledge in the age of information, says a study.

The social networking sites offer an environment with opportunities for members to exchange various types of social support which is associated with positive benefits for individual well-being.

"Social networking sites offer users an alternate avenue by which to gain access to social support...it appears that social support is the main motive for Facebook use, while Twitter usage focuses more on gaining new knowledge and seeking advice," said Brenda K. Wiederhold from Interactive Media Institute -- a US based non-profit organisation.

Social networking sites play a vital role in rendering social support to the needy.

The study indicated that social support processes play out through social networks in addition to traditional face-to-face channels.

For the study, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, the team conducted a review of various social networking sites on social support.

They found that groups of people not that active on Facebook (like teenagers on Snapchat), social support enabled through different forms of communication (like visual content on Instagram) and through social networks consisted of less trusting relationships than on Facebook.

Facebook currently has 1.77 billion users while Twitter has over 300 million users.

Here is the original post:
Facebook offers social support, Twitter makes you informative - Economic Times

You may well have found this article through Facebook. An algorithm programmed by one of the worlds biggest companies now partially controls what news reaches 1.8 billion people. And this algorithm has come under attack for censorship, political bias and for creating bubbles that prevent people from encountering ideas they dont already agree with.

Now a new kind of social network is emerging that has no centralised control like Facebook does. Its based on blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and promises a more democratic and secure way to share content. But a closer look at how these networks operate suggests they could be far less empowering than they first appear.

Blockchain has received an enormous amount of hype thanks to its use in online-only cryptocurrencies. It is essentially a ledger or a database where information is stored in blocks that are linked historically to form a chain, saved on every computer that uses it. What is revolutionary about it is that this ledger is built using cryptography by a network of users rather than a central authority such as a bank or government.

Every computer in the network has access to all the blocks and the information they contain, making the blockchain system more transparent, accurate and also robust since it does not have a single point of failure. The absence of a central authority controlling blockchain means it can be used to create more democratic organisations owned and controlled by their users. Very importantly, it also enables the use of smart contracts for payments. These are codes that automatically implement and execute the terms of a legal contract.

Industry and governments are developing other uses for blockchain aside from digital currencies, from streamlining back office functions to managing health data. One of the most recent ideas is to use blockchain to create alternative social networks that avoid many of the problems the likes of Facebook are sometimes criticised for, such as censorship, privacy, manipulating what content users see and exploiting those users.

Most of these services are in pilot stages but one, Steemit, has been successfully operating for a number of months and its user numbers have grown significantly. Its main function is as a content-sharing site where posts are ranked by popularity, similar to Reddit, although it has recently added a private messaging function and the ability to follow specific users.

Perhaps its most important feature is the way users are rewarded. Every time they produce or share content, they receive Steem tokens, which are like shares in the organisation. These can be exchanged for any real-world currency or used to vote on how the platform will develop, giving users governance power.

Steemit doesnt control or own user data since it is stored using blockchain and so it doesnt sell the data to third parties such as advertisers. Being built on publicly available and visible blockchain technology prevents any form of censorship and discrimination in the system. The network doesnt filter what content users see with an algorithm posts are ranked by pure popularity and there is no central entity that can manipulate or censor the data, or be forced to by governments.

Steemit homepage.

How decentralised?

Most of the other decentralised blockchain social networks are very similar. There is Synereo, which has the added option to post images and hashtag content, and Akasha, which is like a decentralised Twitter, as well as ThanksCoin and Yours Network.

For all their interesting ideas, however, social networks built on blockchain face some big questions over whether they can really achieve what they promise. To begin with, most are funded by venture capital or individual investors and dont have clear business models for generating sustainable revenue or profits.

There is also the problem that using blockchain as the underlying technology means any content shared becomes a matter of public record. Data and, more importantly, users history cannot be erased or changed, which means a slight mistake could haunt people forever.

But there is also some doubt over whether these projects really create decentralised social networks at all. They must entail a certain degree of centralisation to develop the code behind them and solve problems such as software bugs or potential hacks. They have been set up by a small group of people that have decided to use technology in a certain way. Some projects might involve users in a more democratic way, but blockchain does not remove centralisation and politics altogether.

Whats more, Steemit looks much more like a blogging platform than a social network as we know it, and so far has a very limited range of user-generated content. To become viable alternatives to the likes of Facebook, blockchain networks will have to find a way to attract a much wider population. One strong appeal might be that they provide users with a way to make money from their work rather than allowing someone else to exploit it.

Unequal power share

Yet theres a limit to the degree to which Blockchain networks are really empowering users. They do not offer alternative economic models, such as collaboration between a community. Instead, they just offer a way to be a part of the market/attention economy, where individuals receive money for clicks and likes.

And on a political level, while Steemit offers users the chance to gain power, it doesnt distribute it equally. The more popular the content you post or like is, the more power you have. Not only does that lead to inequality, but it also might have distorting and negative effects on the content. For example, it could encourage users to post more dumbed-down, salacious or even fake content in pursuit of the highest readership something that is already a problem for social networks that dont pay users for clicks.

Blockchain does offer a technological solution for creating alternative organisational models. But its worth remembering that decentralisation has been behind the internets architecture since its inception and it has not led to a significant redistribution of power to the general population. That said, blockchain networks are still in their early stages, and their focus on developing more egalitarian models for social networking means it is worth watching how they develop.

Jelena Dzakula does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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See original here:
Your next social network could pay you for posting - EconoTimes

A massive network of fake accounts are clogging up Twitter, according to new research.

UK analysts accidentally uncovered more than 350,000 bogus accounts used to fabricate follower numbers, send spam, and boost interest in trending topics.

Most people sign onto the social networking site to share thoughts, photos, and where to find the best hot dogs in New York City. But legions of automated accounts, or bots, can serve as political propaganda or facilitate trades on the black market.

In this case, 350,000 bots exclusively post random quotes from Star Wars novelsoften with incomplete sentences or broken words at the beginning or end. This ensures messages appear as if they are written by real humans (who don't understand character counts).

Despite Twitter's regular efforts to remove suspicious users, these clever bots have flown under the radar since 2013 by acting differently from obviously automated accounts. Research suggests they tweet only a few times per day, don't include URLs, never mention or reply to other users, and only follow a few "friends."

"The Star Wars botnet provides a valuable source of ground truth data for research on Twitter bots," according to graduate student Juan Echeverria, the computer scientist at University College of London who made the discovery.

Echeverria and Shi Zhou, UCL senior lecturer in charge of the research, set out with the intention of better understanding how people use Twitter. But their observations led them to the dark side of social media.

"We were really [lucky] to discover the Star Wars bots by accident," the research paper said. (Though Obi-Wan Kenobi might disagree.)

"Inspired by the properties of the Star Wars bots," it continued, "we have recently discovered another botnet with more than [500,000] bots." More details will be reported soon.

In the meantime, the public can help by reporting bots via the "That is a bot!" website and Twitter account.

More here:
Massive Star Wars Twitter Botnet Uncovered - PCMag Middle East (press release) (registration) (blog)

January 25, 2017 by Jelena Dzakula, The Conversation Credit: Shutterstock

You may well have found this article through Facebook. An algorithm programmed by one of the world's biggest companies now partially controls what news reaches 1.8 billion people. And this algorithm has come under attack for censorship, political bias and for creating bubbles that prevent people from encountering ideas they don't already agree with.

Now a new kind of social network is emerging that has no centralised control like Facebook does. It's based on blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and promises a more democratic and secure way to share content. But a closer look at how these networks operate suggests they could be far less empowering than they first appear.

Blockchain has received an enormous amount of hype thanks to its use in online-only cryptocurrencies. It is essentially a ledger or a database where information is stored in "blocks" that are linked historically to form a chain, saved on every computer that uses it. What is revolutionary about it is that this ledger is built using cryptography by a network of users rather than a central authority such as a bank or government.

Every computer in the network has access to all the blocks and the information they contain, making the blockchain system more transparent, accurate and also robust since it does not have a single point of failure. The absence of a central authority controlling blockchain means it can be used to create more democratic organisations owned and controlled by their users. Very importantly, it also enables the use of smart contracts for payments. These are codes that automatically implement and execute the terms of a legal contract.

Industry and governments are developing other uses for blockchain aside from digital currencies, from streamlining back office functions to managing health data. One of the most recent ideas is to use blockchain to create alternative social networks that avoid many of the problems the likes of Facebook are sometimes criticised for, such as censorship, privacy, manipulating what content users see and exploiting those users.

Most of these services are in pilot stages but one, Steemit, has been successfully operating for a number of months and its user numbers have grown significantly. Its main function is as a content-sharing site where posts are ranked by popularity, similar to Reddit, although it has recently added a private messaging function and the ability to follow specific users.

Perhaps its most important feature is the way users are rewarded. Every time they produce or share content, they receive Steem tokens, which are like shares in the organisation. These can be exchanged for any real-world currency or used to vote on how the platform will develop, giving users governance power.

Steemit doesn't control or own user data since it is stored using blockchain and so it doesn't sell the data to third parties such as advertisers. Being built on publicly available and visible blockchain technology prevents any form of censorship and discrimination in the system. The network doesn't filter what content users see with an algorithm posts are ranked by pure popularity and there is no central entity that can manipulate or censor the data, or be forced to by governments.

How decentralised?

Most of the other decentralised blockchain social networks are very similar. There is Synereo, which has the added option to post images and hashtag content, and Akasha, which is like a decentralised Twitter, as well as ThanksCoin and Yours Network.

For all their interesting ideas, however, social networks built on blockchain face some big questions over whether they can really achieve what they promise. To begin with, most are funded by venture capital or individual investors and don't have clear business models for generating sustainable revenue or profits.

There is also the problem that using blockchain as the underlying technology means any content shared becomes a matter of public record. Data and, more importantly, users' history cannot be erased or changed, which means a slight mistake could haunt people forever.

But there is also some doubt over whether these projects really create decentralised social networks at all. They must entail a certain degree of centralisation to develop the code behind them and solve problems such as software bugs or potential hacks. They have been set up by a small group of people that have decided to use technology in a certain way. Some projects might involve users in a more democratic way, but blockchain does not remove centralisation and politics altogether.

What's more, Steemit looks much more like a blogging platform than a social network as we know it, and so far has a very limited range of user-generated content. To become viable alternatives to the likes of Facebook, blockchain networks will have to find a way to attract a much wider population. One strong appeal might be that they provide users with a way to make money from their work rather than allowing someone else to exploit it.

Unequal power share

Yet there's a limit to the degree to which Blockchain networks are really empowering users. They do not offer alternative economic models, such as collaboration between a community. Instead, they just offer a way to be a part of the "market/attention economy", where individuals receive money for clicks and likes.

And on a political level, while Steemit offers users the chance to gain power, it doesn't distribute it equally. The more popular the content you post or like is, the more power you have. Not only does that lead to inequality, but it also might have distorting and negative effects on the content. For example, it could encourage users to post more dumbed-down, salacious or even fake content in pursuit of the highest readership something that is already a problem for social networks that don't pay users for clicks.

Blockchain does offer a technological solution for creating alternative organisational models. But it's worth remembering that decentralisation has been behind the internet's architecture since its inception and it has not led to a significant redistribution of power to the general population. That said, blockchain networks are still in their early stages, and their focus on developing more egalitarian models for social networking means it is worth watching how they develop.

Explore further: Blockchain-type tech could play a defense system role

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

(Tech Xplore)Blockchain technology is no longer in the sole confines of digital currency. NewsBTC, a Bitcoin news service, said that the US Defense Department is to explore blockchain technology to help secure nuclear ...

Many trends on the horizon offer opportunities that could transform our cities. From self-driving vehicles and the sharing economy through to cloud computing and blockchain technologies, each of these trends is quite significant ...

Digital cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin may have failed to unseat their more traditional rivals, but the technology that underpins Bitcoin may yet bring about a revolution in finance and other industries. This technology is ...

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed blockchain-based security technologies to safely and securely handle confidential data between multiple organizations. The most prominent characteristic of a blockchain is that it provides ...

Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch on Tuesday announced they are working together to make financial transactions more efficient with blockchain technologythe foundation of bitcoin digital currency.

Most people who have heard the term think that the "blockchain" is only something to do with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, litecoin, doguecoin and others. It's the technology that underpins digital currencies and ensures ...

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When Tim Weninger conducted two large-scale experiments on Reddit - otherwise known as "the front page of the internet" - back in 2014, the goal was to better understand the ripple effects of malicious voting behavior and ...

They started with striped bass. Over a two-year period the researchers went through about 50 bass, puncturing or fracturing hundreds of fish scales under the microscope, to try to understand their properties and mechanics ...

Skirted on all sides by snow-clad pine forests, Latvia's remote Lake Ninieris would be the perfect picture of winter tranquilitywere it not for the huge drone buzzing like a swarm of angry bees as it zooms above the solid ...

When Singapore pulls the plug on its 2G mobile phone network this year, thousands of people could be stuck without a signaldigital have-nots left behind by the relentless march of technology.

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Originally posted here:
Your next social network could pay you for posting - Phys.org - Phys.Org

Facebooklike Snapchat and Instagram before itis getting an ephemeral, video-based Stories feature.

The social network is testing Stories in Ireland, where as of today members can use the new format to share videos and photos with their friends that will disappear after 24 hours and won't automatically show up in their News Feeds.

The idea is that people will use their Facebook iOS or Android app to add photos and videos from their smartphone throughout the day, and their friends will tap through the stories to see what they've been up to. It's an opt-in approach, although if you want to make your story harder for people to ignore, you can set it to show up in people's News Feeds.

There will be camera effects, too, like masks and frames that you can add to videos and photos. Your friends can reply to or comment on your stories with a new accompanying feature called Direct, which is essentially a chat room. Like Stories, it is separate from the News Feed that makes up Facebook's bread and butter.

If the stories concept sounds familiar, that's because it is: Snapchat pioneered it nearly four years ago with its own Stories feature, and Facebook-owned Instagram copied it last summer. It's hardly surprising, then, that it would eventually show up on the world's largest social network, which described it as an evolution of how people share their lives online.

"The way people share today is different to five or even two years ago it's much more visual, with more photos and videos than ever before," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "We want to make it fast and fun for people to share creative and expressive photos and videos with whoever they want, whenever they want."

For now, Facebook Stories is only available in Ireland, which has also served as a testing ground for some of the company's other recent projects, including a beta version of Direct. Facebook said that Stories will arrive in additional countries "in the coming months," along with some other new camera-related features.

Also today, Facebook overhauled how its Trending stories section displays, promising to show everyone the same items.

More here:
Facebook Follows Snapchat, Instagram With its Own Version of Stories - PCMag India