Currently, all it takes is a small blue check and an impressive social media following to be called an influencer; however, people believe it may be in everyone’s best interest to require influencers to be certified. The FTC came down on influencer-marketing for accusations of deceptive advertising and marketing. The benefit of this certification would be to simply educate and protect influencers. Read More.

The 2016 election saw mass misinformation being posted all around various social media platforms. Since then, it’s shown no signs of stopping. If anything, misinformation is being spread in a more hidden way. A survey from NPR, PBS, and Marist Poll shows that 59% of Americans find that misinformation on social media is hard to spot. This number stayed pretty consistent between parties, with 58% of Democrats, 55% of independents, and 44% of Republicans sharing this view respectively.

One rising form of devious misinformation is a wave of “deep fakes”, videos that appear to be real, but are actually computer generated. This could lead to misattribution of quotes, which could ruin a campaign. Another form is memes, which as I discussed last week, are less fact checked, allowing easy misinformation spread.

At the end of the day, you have to put in effort to read reliable sources and do your best to avoid misinformation. To learn more about these statistics and this study, read this article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/social-media-disinformation-leads-election-security-concerns-poll-finds

Want to get money while you sleep? Turn on your live stream, get cozy, and sleep. Individuals on TikTok have been live-streaming themselves sleeping for clout and tips. This new one of a kind trend is looked down upon. However, a few users believe it’s quite cool. It has been really fruitful for users since fans have given coins (tips) for their content and enables the profile to gain traction.

This is coming off a trend started by a small user who thought of the idea and didn’t think much out of it till he woke up the next day with almost triple his followers and a nice 100 dollars in tip sitting in his purse. Users believed if they could replicate the content then they would be able to get the same amount of fame. This caught the eyes of multiple news outlets and big pages from Instagram who praised users for the original but weird content.

To read more, click here: : https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/style/sleep-tiktok-live.html

Privacy is becoming an issue in the Adtech industry with tech companies requesting access to first-party data from publishers. Publishers such as Facebook have already been under the radar for compromising users info to third party companies. Buy-side Adtech involves using a publisher’s first party cookie records to store information to peace together identities however this puts users and even publishers at risk. When it comes to implementing solutions, publishers are hesitant because they don’t want to invest in something that won’t increase or sustain revenue. A solution that doesn’t work could lead to a huge decrease in revenue that the publisher will have to make up. Read here to find out more:

Publishers Are Wary Of New Tech That Wants To Use Their First-Party Cookies

Artificial intelligence is currently doing wonderful things in different fields of science, but it is also being used for things that is making people worried. AI surveillance is one of them, and it is a real thing currently being used in many countries. Some people feel safer, and some people think it is invading their privacy.

Artificial intelligence is still on it’s early stages of development, but it is already causing a significant impact in our lives. There are some things about AI that should be considered and carefully planned in order avoid negative impacts in the future.

Read more about some possible AI threats here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/03/02/is-artificial-intelligence-ai-a-threat-to-humans/#5cab0a8e205d

Instructional Design trends focus on the best or relatable practices that help push products. These trends can apply to learning theories, models, and technology. As an ID, it is imperative to follow (or be aware of) trends, because doing so will keep you updated on how your world can relate and prosper in the current climate.

Here is a link to current trends of 2020, and what to look out for in the future!

https://insights.sweetrush.com/instructional-design-trends-report-2020

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. Productivity problems can have a trickle-down effect, impacting everything from company culture to employee retention. and the problem is getting worse, not better. Studies show that mental illness diagnosis rates are rising, specifically among young adults and adolescents. This articles provides us with some reasons why technology can benefit companies by helping their employees with mental health issues.

https://betanews.com/2020/02/12/technology-mental-health/

Sometimes some people might think that they can delete a social media account and that’s it. All their information is gone and their privacy is secured. But according to a new study, that might not be the case. Just because you delete your social media doesn’t mean your privacy isn’t at risk anymore. This research study analyzed 30.8 million Twitter messages from 13,905 Twitter accounts to see whether it might be possible to profile an individual simply by examining the profiles and interactions with his or her friends. Read more below! https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/new-research-study-shows-that-social-media-privacy-might-not-be-possible/

The US Government’s Department of Homeland Security has shared tips to help defend against online scammers who are using the coronavirus crisis to scam people on the internet. Many of these attackers have sent emails containing malicious links and attachments to try and trick people into revealing sensitive information. The main techniques used by these cyber attackers are phishing and propagation via malware.

Although this is not a new tactic that has risen because of the new coronavirus, many people are scared of the outbreak and far more likely to fall for scams because of it. The main tips to help protect yourself include: avoiding suspicious links from unsolicited emails, using trusted sources, not revealing personal/sensitive information in email, and verifying the authenticity of the email sender. COVID-19 is a dangerous outbreak and people should be on high alert for cyber attackers trying to take advantage of them.

Full Article: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-govt-shares-tips-to-defend-against-coronavirus-cyber-scams/?&web_view=true

This article is different than most because it doesn’t just harp on the negative issues of social media, but also provides helpful information on how to improve the users social media experience. This article discusses the well known negative effects of social media, “Greater overall Instagram use was associated with greater self-objectification…More frequently viewing fitspiration images on Instagram was associated with greater body image concerns.” And it takes this data and discusses how the user can shift their social media experience, so that their experience is a healthy and positive one instead.

In making a healthy social media experience, this article proposes three tips to improve the user’s social media. The article suggests to: filter who and what you follow, set a time limit, and to practice compassion for yourself and others. I think that all of these tips are great ideas to work on shifting your mindset when using social media.

Reducing Body Shaming by Learning to Engage in Positive Social Media