If there is a set of rules about coping with cancer, I have never seen it. Perhaps in some circles a commonly accepted method exists. If so, I remain in the dark, despite my own experiences with this disease…
When I saw the recent eruption of stories claiming Facebook is “dead and buried to teens” I was at first intrigued, but, once I had read through to their original sources, quickly disappointed – though…
What does 2014 hold for your online life? If you’re young, it probably won’t involve Facebook that much. This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a sustained decline of what had been the most…
Human beings have long been easily influenced by the opinions of others but the social media networks that have come to dominate our lives may be making this “social proof” a problem. A recent study in…
Emily Darling, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Scientists are increasingly turning to social media to publicise their research. While some see Twitter and Facebook as a bit of fun, others find online tools are becoming integral to their work. In an…
With each passing year, technology percolates further into academic life. The year 2013 might look, in hindsight, like the year academic social media use went mainstream. Numbers of tweets and Facebook…
Advergaming is a relatively recent approach to advertising that overcomes many of the limitations of traditional advertising. But advergames are increasingly being used by fast food companies to target…
Twitter has become the latest online tool to be used to monitor the spread of disease. Researchers are looking at whether health providers can identify the locale of a disease outbreak by monitoring the…
Twitter is awash with trolls, spammers and misanthropes, all keen to ruin your day with a mean-spirited message or even a threat that can cause you genuine fear. It seems all too easy to set up an account…
Social media darling Twitter ended last week with US$2.3 billion wiped off its market valuation, following a 7.24% fall in its share price on the second day it traded. Despite the slip, the share price…
During the past few years, a strange evening ritual has begun to spring up around the City of London. Instead of heading to the local pub with their colleagues, city workers are flocking to cocktail parties…
Twitter’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) is due to take place on Wednesday. The company values itself at US$12 billion and expects to raise up to US$1.3 billion in sales. But let’s forget about the money…
Is it possible to socially interact with another person in the absence of a body and the senses? Social networking allows us to present versions of ourselves. But when we use a computer to mediate our…
The world of financial trading remains something of a mystery to the average person. Every day, stocks are traded at a frenzied rate and decisions are made that have wide reaching repercussions for us…
Now that the US government is back in business, all “non-essential” services will resume. For 15 days we went without NASA’s full operation, US Antarctic research and federally-funded clinical studies…
As Twitter sets off on its IPO roadshow, most analysts are predicting a strong response. But the social media giant remains in a slightly odd position: its revenues in the first half of 2013 more than…
Twitter has finally announced its much anticipated initial public offering, revealing at the same time some pretty impressive user figures. The IPO documents show Twitter has around 200 million monthly…
Twitter’s IPO filing has today revealed a loss of $US69 million on $US254 million in revenue in the first half of the year - which is up on the US$49 million loss in the same period last year. With results…
WARNING: This article contains a spoiler. Don’t worry though, it’s not what happens in the final episode of Breaking Bad. Even academics don’t get early access. This week, Netflix has created a handy service…
An increasing number of studies into the correlation between social media and narcissistic tendencies confirm what many of us already suspect. We see teenagers spending hour after hour with their phones…