Social media gets caught up in geopolitical struggles..again
Last week major social media properties Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LiveJournal were hit with sustained DDoS attacks, forcing Twitter and LiveJournal offline and slowing Facebook to a crawl. The attacks were apparently directed against a single Georgian blogger, with the attacks suspected to come from Russian supporters.
To tweet or not to tweet: military edition
Whilst US marines might see social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook as a way to keep in touch with families back home, the top brass doesn't see it in the same way with the the Marines instituting an immediate ban on all social networking sites.
In contrast UK troops have been encouraged to Twitter, Facebook and even blog from the field, although revealing sensitive is still a no-no according to a Ministry of Defence spokesperson:
"The MoD's new common sense guidance allows service personnel to talk about themselves and their work online, within limits and with advice to protect their security, reputation and privacy. Think about what you are saying before you describe when you are going to Helmand with x, y, or z""
Remember who you friended
One Facebook user would have done well to heed the UK military's advice to think before posting. If you are going add your boss as a Facebook friend, it's probably best not to rip into them mercilessly.
It's not the first time someone has got into trouble for their remarks on
Facebook,
email or
Twitter, and it's unlikely it will be the last.
Social networking getting too old for some
Facebook has come a long way from it's college roots, with the proportion of UK teenagers on the network
dropping for the first time. One of the reasons may be not just the boss jumping on, but their parents too. Reports in the
SMHand on TripleJ's youth current affairs show
Hack have showcased the difficulties presented for Australian teens as the older generation log on.
Whilst some may be wary of the older generation infiltrating Facebook, those in relationships might see the service as responsible for bringing out the green eyed monster.
Need a brief for all those case studies?
More real life examples social media from around the world:
Google wants to get social
Despite their positioning as the
top global brand, Google's attempts as social networking have not exactly taken off. However with an estimated worth of $100 billion dollars they though why not have another crack, 'socialising' a bunch of
iGoogle gadgets.
