In the wake of Amanda Todd’s death: it’s time for us to wake up
All of last week and still today, my social media feeds have been flooded with news of and reflections on Amanda Todd’s story. According to the National Post, the 15-year old Coquitlam student took her life on Wednesday as a result of a cyberbullying campaign that first took its form when she was in Grade […]
Boston T People: A Facebook page celebrating Boston’s most laughable commuters
As a commuter student, I can only admit that I do not always look and feel my personal best while on public transit. A lady from Boston named Erika has all too evidently come to a similar conclusion of the MBTA (Boston’s version of TransLink) and its passengers, creating the “Boston T People” Facebook page. […]
Photos of student athletes offensively altered and shared online
Some University of Alberta students have found the transition back to school a little more strained than most, after several of their photos were recently taken from social media sites, altered to include sexually explicit captions, and shared online. A report by CBC News discloses that the students, mostly female members of the U of […]
Rising mobile security threats: how to stay as smart as your smartphone
I love my iPhone. It’s my security blanket and when I leave home without it, I feel like a disoriented, sad, lost puppy, incapable of making phone calls and telling time. Truth be told, most of us rely on our phones quite a bit. And according to Forrester, “the number of smartphone and tablet owners […]
Michael Dell’s daughter banned from Twitter for unfiltered postings
Michael Dell, founder of computer company Dell Inc. pays about $2.7 million/year for his family’s security, according to his company’s filings. However, how effective are Michael’s efforts at security? Forbes reports that Michael has now allegedly shut down daughter Alexa’s Twitter after she posted a photo to her Instagram profile of her younger brother enjoying […]
The most difficult obstacle Olympians face may not be something they can train for
Olympians spend nearly the entirety of their lives training. And yet, no amount of preparation could possibly ready them for the scariest judges of all– the general public. For 17 days, these athletes lay prey to viewers all over the world. The London 2012 Olympics have been no exception. Dubbed the “Social Olympics,” sites like […]
Q&A with Sam Wempe: Social Media Strategies
Originally from Seattle, Sam Wempe came to UBC in 2007 and has been able to successfully use social media to shape a digital identity he can be proud of. Because of the positive online presence he created for himself, he now works as an Account Coordinator at Invoke Media, a digital innovation agency in Gastown, […]
Google Chrome’s “Dear Sophie” vs the Facebook-free baby: can we find a happy medium?
We all know how annoying it is to go onto YouTube to watch a video and have an advertisement load up before watching. I usually will mute the advertisement, or click the “skip to video” button right away when given the option. But for some reason, when this video came up, I hesitated to click […]
How to boost your Twitter profile- findings from a study of higher education scholars
Despite the appeal of hashtags (they make everything sound/look cool, #truestory,) I initially rejected the idea of Twitter because I saw it as yet another forum for people to publically document every minute of their lives. Talk about an idle waste of my time, #amiright? And yet, a recent study by G. Veletsianos from the […]
Apple wants to protect you..by duplicating you?
The struggle for power over personal data between social networking sites and their users is not a new concern. By now, most people are aware that the way these free services are able to make money is from taking the personal data we provide them and using it to market targeted products from other internal […]
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