Social networks

Here Are the Very First Posts on Your Favorite Websites

You use Twitter. You use YouTube. You use Amazon. You check Reddit. You know what TMZ is. You even been on PostSecret before. But when did you start using all of this stuff? What was your first post? Do you want to know what each of those websites first post was? Yeah you do. The…

How Nextdoor and NYC Will Pioneer Socially Networked Crime Fighting

Can you imagine what it would be like to report crimes via Facebook or call for a fire truck through Twitter? It would be pretty convenient, right? None of that scary “Call 911!” business. No ambling down to the precinct to fill out paperwork. No need to leave your living room at all, actually. It…

This Facebook Musical Song Explains Our Addiction to Facebook

Here’s the truth: you’re embarrassed by how much you use Facebook. You color your phrases about Facebook like you’re not on it that much. You pretend you didn’t see updates on Facebook when you really saw them the second they were posted. You hate saying you heard about something when really you read it on…

Social Networks Make You Feel Like You’re Missing Everything

In theory, social networks are supposed to make you feel closer to everybody. Oh, look! Jim is driving a tractor on Instagram. Wow, Sarah just invited me to her baby shower on Facebook. But the truth is, social networks do a really good job at making you feel left out too. Wait… why did my…

10 Tricks to Make Yourself a Google+ Master

Unless you happen to work for the search giant that created it, Google+ is probably not your social network of choice. Nevertheless, there’s a ton of functionality hidden behind its walls, covering everything from photos to local searches as the influence of Google+ stretches across the company’s multitude of other products. Here’s how to get…

Is LinkedIn the Creepiest Social Network?

This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for a while. In fact, it stems from something I noticed way back in August of last year. After digging for answers and even a couple attempts at contacting their customer support, I’ve concluded that LinkedIn is by far the creepiest social network. The primary reasons…

The 12 Types of People Who Use Social Networks

At this point, you’re almost weirder if you don’t use any social networks than if you were a social media obsessive who tweets, Facebooks, Instagram and hashtags the hell out of your vocabulary. It’s how weird the world is now. Social networks are real life. But who are the people who make up these worlds?…

Why Your Twitter Friends Are More Interesting Than You

Ever felt you can’t quite match up to the people you follow on Twitter? While you’re tweeting about that lunchtime cheese sandwich, their feeds are full of elegant witticisms, important-sounding conferences and bungee jumps. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault – your Twitter friends are just more interesting than you. Sociologists have long known that…

The Old World Translations for Modern Day Social Networks

You know all the social networks we use? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, hell even LinkedIn and everything else? They’re all just replacing old stuff we used to do by ourselves at our desks. Twitter would be Post-Its, Skype would be a phone call, Foursquare is your globe and YouTube is the distracting window to the…

What Your Friends on Each Social Network Would Really Do for You

Sure you have friends. Sure people Like your pictures on Facebook and Instagram. Sure people favorite your tweets. But what would these people really do for you? None of ’em would take a bullet for you! Some would make a hashtag. All will talk about how much they miss you on their profiles. Sometimes, that’s…

Here Are All Your Favorite Social Networks Explained

All those social networks we spend more than half our life on? There all just varying degrees of the same damn thing. Basically, look at my cat’s albums. Watch my cat videos. Read how I hashtag my cat. Check this filtered cat. And on and on we go. According to Devin made a hilarious comic…

A Digital Autopsy: How Computer Scientists Analyzed Friendster’s Cause of Death

Founded in 2002, Friendster was a pioneer among social networks, beating MySpace and Facebook to the scene and, at its peak, boasting over 100 million users. In 2009, though, it swiftly descended into irrelevance and obscurity—and computer scientists have been scraping though its remains to work out exactly what went wrong. It’s an interesting exercise…

You’ll Be Able to Sign In With Google+ Soon, Too

You can sign into sites and apps with Facebook and Twitter, and soon you can do the same with your Google+ account. Google+ sign-in works for Android and iOS apps, as well as web sites. Or at least it will. Right now, Google is just pitching it as a feature that’s coming to for developers.…

App.net is now freemium. Wrangle up an invite and you too can join the “fun” with your very own follow-limited account!

Here’s How To Stop a Horrible Parody Twitter Account Before It Starts

Parody Twitter accounts are a pox on the internet. Comedian Jake Fogelnest, however, has done his part to prevent another one of these vile, unfunny things from becoming a thing. https://gizmodo.com/winter-storm-nemo-has-ruined-twitter-parody-accounts-fo-5982883 Just after the giant meteor hit Russia early this morning, Fogelnest rushed to Twitter to register @RussiaMeteor, so no one else could do it.…

Google+ Is Down, Due To Neglect Probably

Google+ is apparently experiencing an outage. If a social network falls on the internet and nobody’s on it, has it actually fallen at all? G+ is down at least in the U.S. We’re getting a 503 server error when we try to pull up the site. The reason for the outage is unclear, but we’ve…

Facebook Ads Are Going to Tell You When They’re Tracking You

We know Facebook ads are tracking us, we just don’t always know which ones. But that process is about to get more transparent because Facebook is going to start labeling the ads you see based on past behavior. This new feature is the result of an agreement between the social network and the Council of…

New MySpace Is Now Open to the Public

After six months of beta testing, the new MySpace is finally opening its doors to the public: now, anyone who wants an account can trot over to the site and sign up. Though, uh, you may not want to. Because, in our considered opinion: https://gizmodo.com/the-new-myspace-review-just-die-already-5965926 New MySpace offers nothing but a brief “Huh, this still…

Path is adding search to Android and iOS, so you can easily find pics from your trip to the world’s largest corn maze.

How to Back Up Your Instagram Pictures and Delete Your Instagram Account Forever

If you’re the dramatic, over eager type who burns bridges for a living (or if you’re just sick of all the bullcrap on the Internet), you can delete your Instagram account with hardly any fuss. Unlike other social networks that add hurdles and boulders and cliffs and a jazillion questions to stop you from deleting…