Social networks

Even If You Don’t Use Social Networks, They Still Know Stuff About You

We all have friends who smugly boast of their lack involvement in social media—and their heightened privacy as a result. But new research reveals they may have more to worry about than they thought. A team of researchers from Switzerland’s ETH Zurich university believes that social networks are learning about everyone, whether they’re signed up…

Scientists Watch How New Technologies Spread Among Wild Chimps

For the first time ever, scientists have witnessed the acquisition and spread of a new behavior — two new feeding methods — among wild chimpanzees. It’s an ‘extraordinarily rare’ observation that points to the origins of social learning in both chimps and humans. Chimps are among the most cultural of all non-human primates. To date,…

What Is Ello and Should I Even Bother?

In the past week you may have heard people start to talk about something called Ello. Though it sounds like a cockney-accented greeting, it’s actually a new social network with one major selling point: It doesn’t have any ads. Ello is setting itself up to be the anti-Facebook, and apparently people are flooding it—it’s at…

Pinteresters Can Finally Talk to Each Other

Pinterest is fun for planning and daydreaming about all kinds of things, but it can turn into a compulsive solo habit. Now, though, Pinterest users can finally actually talk to each other. While Pinterest has always told you when people like your pins, it never allowed you to communicate properly with them; for that, you…

7 Conservative Alternatives to the Internet’s Most Popular Sites

ReaganBook—the hip, social-networkin’ conservative’s answer to Facebook that popped up not even a week ago—is dead. After being flooded with pornography and profanities of all sorts, the “Facebook for Patriots” was forced to shutter its doors. But don’t worry. There are still plenty of places where the internet-minded neocons among us can feel right at…

Not content with its radical—and controversial—overhaul, Twitter is also experimenting with replacing its Retweet function with a Share button. The world is truly turning on its head.

Twitter’s Losing Sight of What Makes It So Great

Today, Twitter introduced some major changes to the way it does business. Not only can a single tweet now hold multiple photos (along with 10 tagged friends), but none of that extra baggage takes away any of your precious characters. In other words, Twitter just got a whole lot more like Facebook. https://gizmodo.com/you-can-now-add-multiple-photos-and-tag-people-in-tweet-1552320576 Once confined…

Pinterest: Great for Weddings, Recipes, Restraining Order Violations

Last week, a woman was set to stand trial for violating a restraining order taken out by her estranged daughter. The violation? Following her daughter’s Pinterest page. Pinterest—traditionally known as a mecca for bakers, brides-to-be, and knitting enthusiasts—might seem like one of the more benign social networks, but even it isn’t immune to the internet’s…

Facebook Made You a Sentimental Video to Celebrate Its 10th Birthday

Did you hear? Facebook is ten years old today. To celebrate, Zuckerberg & Co. have decided to send each and every one of us a personalised video of our time on the social network. Aww. Each “Look Back” compilation contains 15 or so of your most-liked photos, statuses, and life events, set to music. Be…

Facebook Could Die Out Like an Infectious Disease By 2017

If you view Facebook as a plague on social dynamics, you might not be far wrong. Researchers from Princeton University claim that the social network’s popularity has spread like an infectious disease—but, as we slowly become immune to its charms, it will die out. By comparing the uptake of Facebook to growth curves of epidemics,…

The Best Reason to Join Google+ (Or Else!)

Have you signed up for Google+ yet? Have you?! Or have you been cowering in the closet, whispering empty reassurances to yourself as it slowly but surely closes in. There’s only one place this can all be headed: Enter Google Blackmail. OK so College Humor’s take on the future is (probably) not accurate, but the…

Five Ways to Get More Instagram Likes (According to Masses of Data)

You might not choose to admit it, but you probably feel a little bit warm and fuzzy inside when people like your Instagram posts. Hey, that’s natural. But if you want to embrace it, then new research suggests that there are a few ways you can improve your chances of getting a like. A study…

Thank God for Moms on Facebook

We’ve all heard people long for Facebook’s lawless pre-parent days. Back then, it was anything goes—a land filled with photos of keg stands without consequence and all the cussing you could muster. Those people are wrong. Facebook is better with moms. Moms are awesome. Moms on Facebook are even more awesome. Do they embarrass you?…

We’re Being Slowly Screwed By Social Networks and We’re Oblivious

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all the others once seemed to have our interests at heart; now that’s looking a little more questionable; in the future, who knows where it’ll end? Problem is, subtle privacy changes creep up on us in such a way that we’re practically oblivious to them. Today’s Doghouse Diaries comic sums that…

Twitter Now Lets Any Follower Send You Direct Messages If You Want

Twitter is changing the way direct messages work. In the past, Twitter required two people to follow each other for direct messages to be exchanged in either direction; now, users have the option to change settings so that any of their followers can send them a direct message, without having to follow them back. The…

Path Now Has a Premium Version–But Who Will Pay For It?

Path has today introduced a premium, pay-for service. Path 3.2 for Android and iOS now allows users unlimited access to the network’s stickers, camera filters and all manner of other things for a monthly or annual fee. Subscriptions will sell for $2 a month on Android, $5 for three months on iOS, and $15 for…

PRISM Is Just the Social Network You Never Knew You Signed Up For

Afraid of PRISM? Think it sounds like a horrible government-sanctioned infringement on your privacy? You’re just thinking about it wrong. It’s a social network! It’s for sharing! And accounts are mandatory! https://gizmodo.com/what-is-prism-511875267 Whipped up by the folks at Datacoup—a service that aims to let you “reclaim and unlock the value of your personal data”—GetPrsm pitches…

Socially Networked Bacteria Isn’t as Scary as It Sounds

It’s safe to say that anytime bacteria develops human-like traits, we should be startled. We’ve long known that the tiny little critters have ways of smelling and tasting, and then earlier this year, we learned about their simplistic economics system. Now, scientists have learned that they use social networks, too. A team of biologists at…

The Army’s Insurgent Tracking Software Is Now Being Used to Track Gangs

We all know that social media is the criminal’s worst enemy. But this summer, a group of researchers are collaborating with police to test software that can reliably predict whether a person is part of a gang based on their social networks, building on similar software used to track insurgents in Afghanistan. For the past…

New evidence that humans developed big brains to cope with society

For the past several decades, scientists have been fascinated by the “social brain theory” — the idea that certain animals evolved big, powerful brains to cope with the complexities of social life. A new computer simulation has now shown that this assertion is likely correct. Our bulbous brains require a lot of energy to function.…