Social isolation in old age is a significant social concern. It is linked to a range of health problems and, in extreme cases, it can lead to people growing old and dying alone.
Blocking IS one click at a time?
Pierre (Rennes)/flickr
ISIS uses the internet, especially social media, to propagandize and recruit. Members of hacker group Anonymous have turned their sights on these accounts.
Sydney Opera House is illuminated in the colours of the French flag in a display of solidarity after the attacks on Paris.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
Islamic State terrorism and propaganda are designed to provoke often predictable responses. We naturally respond with displays of outrage and solidarity, but we should beware the trap of division.
Assurances that loved ones are safe is something social media does well, but other technologies are also pioneering.
An image of a man described as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, suspected of being behind the Paris attacks, was published in the Islamic State’s social media website.
Reuters
The way we use social media looks suspiciously like a bubble, with overheated investment in likes, upvotes and retweets in things that have no value.
While firefighters battled widespread fires in New South Wales in October 2013, hundreds of thousands of people turned to social media and smartphone apps for vital updates.
AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts
Terry Flew, Queensland University of Technology and Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology
When disaster strikes, more people than ever are turning to social media to find out if they’re in danger. But Australian emergency services need to work together more to learn what works to save lives.
Is Airbnb fundamentally changing our cities?
Owen Lin
Essena O'Neill’s dramatic rejection of her successful social media channels raises important questions about how advertising and sponsored posts are regulated on social media.
In a recent piece for The Guardian, environmental journalist and activist George Monbiot lamented the poor state of environmental journalism globally. He points to the massive conflagration now occurring…
Modern video technology can make matters public, but accountability still depends on political processes to produce just outcomes.
YouTube/screenshot
Mobile video technology means outrageous behaviour and abuses can rapidly become public knowledge, but achieving just outcomes still depends on a political willingness to act on such knowledge.
Research into the way emotions spread through online social networks shows that happiness is contagious.
www.shutterstock.com
Research shows that when people share happy news on social media, they make their friends - and extended social network - happy too. Picking up on this trend is a new swathe of “good news” websites.
A suspected member of the Crips gang is cuffed in LA.
Jonathan Alcorn/REUTERS
Twitter recently launched Moments, seemingly to solve a business problem. The cutting-edge technology it relies on isn’t technology at all, but rather human curators.
Young people are natives to social media, but is that a bad thing?
Wesley Fryer/Flickr
Breaking up is never easy, and while 20 years ago there may well have been little or no post break-up contact between exes, 21st century technology – from social media to Whatsapp – means there are many…
Richard Nixon, 1971.
Oliver F. Atkins/US National Archives and Records Administration
Peeple is getting called the Yelp of rating people. The cofounders say it will be a positive place that turns character into currency. But does it make sense to rate people as we rate restaurants?
How do you turn a selfie into a vote?
Reuters/Luke MacGregor