Australian political parties are using voter email addresses to find matching social media profiles then combining them with the country's compulsory electoral roll data, illustrating how privacy scandals have done little to slow the march of data-driven campaigning. While the use of data and public profiles from Facebook, Twitter and other social media for political campaigning has become widespread globally, Australia is one of the most open countries in the world to online information gathering by political operatives. Glenn Kefford, a political scientist at Macquarie University who has written extensively about data-driven campaigning. Australia, which goes to the polls on May 18, is one of the few Western democracies where voting is compulsory. What's more, Australian political parties and candidates are exempt from privacy laws covering access to the electoral roll data - full names and addresses - that all 16 million voters are required to provide. In the United States, just 60 percent of adults are registered to vote, limiting the number of voters whose electoral roll information can be dragged into a data profile.
On Social Networks
Last year, Europe introduced sweeping laws requiring political organisations to get specific permission before scraping a person's data from another website. Australia's government, however, rejected calls for a review of its exemption from privacy laws. Branches of the left-leaning Labor and Greens parties, the conservative Liberals and the rural-focused Nationals have all hired consultants to run the U.S.-owned campaigning software NationBuilder, an analysis of party websites shows. NationBuilder's vice president of strategic partnerships, Toni Cowan-Brown, said the company was looking at spreading its "model of privacy by default and consent" beyond Europe but it had not stopped offering its "match" function by default in Australia. NationBuilder is trying to regain access to Facebook event RSVPs, the only data it uses that is affected by the new policy, said Cowan-Brown. Unlike Cambridge Analytica, the firm does not pull data on a person's emotions or habits, Cowan-Brown added. NationBuilder customers can also collect the names of people who "like" or comment on their Facebook posts. Facebook declined to comment on interactions with NationBuilder specifically, but said third party apps could no longer ask for access to personal information such as religious or political views, relationship status, education or work history.
Social Media Books
The company has also limited access to information in its groups, pages and events features, a spokeswoman said. With Twitter, NationBuilder customers can under certain circumstances import a person's written profile bio, location, personal website, as well as their name and photo and tweets when a customer is mentioned, Cowan-Brown said. Twitter said its data reflected information that users choose to share publicly. Twitter said in an emailed response to Reuters. The major parties also prospect for email addresses with social media "petitions" about hot-button topics, some collecting emails addresses without a person typing it, thanks to other software linked to the person's Facebook account. Curtis Harrison, a NationBuilder consultant who has worked on Australian political campaigns for five years. Attorney-General Christian Porter said in an email the exemption was "designed to encourage freedom of political communication and support the operation of the electoral and political process". He did not respond to a question about whether politicians had access to too much voter data. A spokesman for the Labor Party's shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the political exemption was "put in place to facilitate political engagement, which is a foundation of our system of representative democracy". From there, the party could manually enter her public profile information, which included her employment situation and home city, to match with electoral roll information. Reporting by Byron Kaye in SYDNEY and Katie Paul in SAN FRANCISCO. Additional reporting by Paresh Dave in SAN FRANCISCO. Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more. Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.
Because normally, scammers pose as people on your friend’s list or social media network. What is the purpose of phishing? The basic goal is to obtain private information, usually user passwords, which are then used to break into a user’s personal accounts, use their credit cards, or whatever scammers can get their hands on. The unsuspecting user is lured with a couple of tactics. First, it tells of an amusing photo with the user in it, which is often enough to drawn people in. Secondly, it uses lowercase letters to emulate informal conversation between friends online. Finally, because it is sent from an imposter posing as a friend, there is even less reason to suspect foul play. The link is used to take a user to a different site where log-in information is required. Even this is not suspicious because plenty of sites require this. When the user logs in with their information, the scammer has what he is after. So, how is anyone supposed to know when they are being targeted, or lured by a phishing scam?
Keep in mind how and what methods your friends use to interact with you in social media.
Be alert, and know what you have and haven’t posted. If someone posts a link of a photo you are supposedly in, verify it through another means before using the link. Stay vigilant about link that takes you to a site that requests log-in information. Check the site - is it familiar? And, if so, does it have the correct URL? Keep in mind how and what methods your friends use to interact with you in social media. If you are sent anything by a friend which seems strange or out-of-character, double-check before clicking on any links, downloading anything, or even responding. Children Are the Most Vulnerable! As said briefly before, the social media of children and even high school students should be supervised and monitored by parents. They are without a doubt, the most vulnerable victims to social media dangers, and can be harmed in almost every way possible when all of the dangers and crimes are considered.
Social Media Profiles by PredatorsIf it was easy before social media became a widespread social staple, it is now even easier for predators to pose as other children with the same interests, activities, like and dislikes as your child. If a child accepts a predator as an online friend, he can find out just about anything he needs to know, including where the child lives. Child Identity TheftThough child predators are by far the most dangerous potential within the realm of social networking, there are plenty of other scammers, thieves and hackers out there that target children for other reasons. Yes, your child is not old enough to own a credit card, but that doesn’t mean someone hasn’t stolen their identity to use for that very purpose. Cyber bullying and Social Media HarassmentPerhaps most saddening, is the peer-to-peer dangers that take place through social media. Because of the non-confrontational feature of social media in the sense that there is no bodily presence, people - and children - are often bolder, and less inhibited to say things that would otherwise be frowned upon. Not only that, but it is easy to create anonymity, which then encourages complete uninhibited behavior online.
These are a few of the ways in which cyberbullying can happen so easily. It advances when a group becomes a whole network of adolescents who target and single out a peer. Cruel comments are posted en masse, on the targeted adolescent’s profile page. It almost becomes a sort of frenzied trend within the adolescent network, picking up more and more bullies who make a game out of harassment. This unfortunate social networking danger has even caused suicides in some young adolescents. Solutions for these have already been discussed. Monitor your child’s social media activity, and beware the kind of information you give out about your own children. Check their credit reports for any suspicious activity. Should Social Media Be Avoided? No, social media does not have to be completely avoided. However, the more aware users are to the potential threats and dangers, the more protection they have against them. Social media is a new method of social interaction in this age of information, and to ignore it would only isolate you from social communication, and the plenty of useful or enjoyable aspects of social networking. The point here is to be on guard, be vigilant, and be aware of the ways in which social media can be dangerous.
Social media can be very influential on society in both positive and negative ways. It gives people a way to stay in touch with people who live far away. It lets people share fun, interesting and informative content. It gives businesses a way to engage with customers. One of the problems, however, is that anybody can share anything, including material that may not be accurate. In some cases, real harm is done when people spread inflammatory, unverified or outright false information. This can harm private individuals, as when someone is bullied online. It can also have a harmful impact on society as a whole. The 2016 presidential election, however, gave us many examples of this problem. Social media has made it very easy to spread information quickly. Because Facebook and Twitter timelines move so quickly, viewers don’t often verify what they’ve seen. A great deal of content is also spread through images and memes, which may or may not be based on valid information.
Of course, many memes are created to be funny, cute or outrageous. Others, however, are intended to influence our thinking. Even links to real articles can be misleading. It’s safe to say that most people who see a headline and link never read the whole article. Huffington Post recently published an interesting experiment that highlights this problem. In the article Bernie Sanders Could Replace President Trump With Little-Known Loophole, Matt Masur illustrated the problem of people sharing content that they didn’t bother to verify or, in many cases, even read. In the second paragraph, Masur reveals that the claim of the headline is false. Thousands of people, however, shared the article on social media without reading that far. Of course, most fake news stories don’t tell you that they’re fake. There are now several categories of what might be called fake news sites. There are satirical sites that publish parodies of news stories.
The best known of these is The Onion. However, in the last few years many other sites have appeared. Many don’t make it clear that they are satire sites, leading to confusion on the part of readers. As more and more satirical news sites crop up, it can be hard to tell whether a story is real or fake. Of course, when you actually read an article you can usually tell. The problem, however, is that on social media many people just glance at headlines and share links. Many websites publish fake news simply as clickbait. They want people to click on shocking headlines in order to get clicks so they can sell more advertising. There are also sites with a strong ideological slant. These may be extreme right wing, left wing or conspiracy sites. Many of these sites aren’t very discerning about publishing “news” stories that back their point of view.
Social Networking Facts
A professor named Melissa Zimdars recently published a controversial list of fake news sites. This list mentions several categories of fake news sites that are often linked to on Facebook. Of course, any such list is bound to be incomplete, as new sites are constantly appearing. In some cases, there’s also a question of who is qualified to determine what is real and what is fake. Zimdar’s list has already come under criticism for being biased against conservatives. The fact remains, however, that there are now at least hundreds of fake news sites circulating false information over the internet. In some cases, false information can have a strong impact on society. During the previous election, for example, many questionable or fake news stories circulated. One example of this occurred close to the election, when a story that tied Hillary Clinton to a pedophilia and human trafficking ring was widely shared on Facebook. It turned out that this originated with a single unsubstantiated post on a conspiracy forum and was then reposted on thousands of other websites. Social media stories, whether true or not, often go viral.
The more outrageous and newsworthy something is, the more likely that many people will share it. During a highly-polarized election, people are motivated to share anything that supports their candidate or, more likely, attacks the opposing candidate. This can result in false stories widely circulating. Even if false stories are discredited and recanted, the damage is already done. By the time a retraction is published, millions of people may have already seen the story. It’s even possible that the outcome of the election was swayed by fake news stories. The Washington Post recently published an interview with Paul Horner, someone who admits to writing many fake news stories about the election that were widely circulated by Trump supporters. It’s really the widespread sharing of fake stories that causes harm on social media. If you’re a person or business that shares lots of content, perhaps with the aid of social media software, you should be extra careful. It only takes a minute or two to verify something you see on social media. Consider the source of the story. If you’ve never heard of it, Google it and see if it’s reputable. If you don’t have that much time, it’s best to ignore it, especially if it has the appearance of something that could be satire, clickbait or propaganda. By not sharing questionable material you can help to cut down on the proliferation of misinformation and fake news. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced plans to crack down on fake news. Google has expressed similar intentions. It remains to be seen how effective such efforts will be. Given the scale of social media today, it’s probably not possible to completely eradicate false information. It’s ultimately up to social media users to be more discerning about what they read, believe and share.
It’s not all bad news for employers.
A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center confirmed what I have long thought. Your employees are using social media at work — 77 percent of them. And I believe even that number is low. It’s not all bad news for employers. The same study found that evidence that workplace social media policies concerning impact on-the-job use. 30 percent of workers whose companies have an at-work social media policy say they use social media while on the job to take a break from work, compared with 40 percent of workers whose employers do not have such policies. Only 16 percent of workers whose companies regulate social media at work say they use social media while working to get information that’s helpful to their job, compared with 25 percent of those whose workplaces have no such regulations. What does all this mean? Despite the help that social media policies provide, employers that try regulate personal social media use out of the workplace are fighting a losing battle. I call it the iPhone-ification of the American workforce. No matter your policy, if your employees can take their smartphones out of their pockets to circumvent the policy, how can you possibly police workplace social media access? Why have a policy you cannot police and enforce? And, don’t forget, the NLRB is watching, too.
All you have to do is send a couple of messages and you've helped two friends out at the same time!
Without a doubt, the best reason to join any social networking site is that it lets you make connections with other people. You can use social networking sites to stay up to speed with what your friends are doing. If the social network is popular, you may be able to track down old friends and acquaintances and renew long-forgotten friendships. You can also use these sites to network professionally. Even if you're happy where you are in your career, you might be able to help someone else out. For instance, one friend might mention on his profile that he needs a carpenter to come to his house. You might know someone who's perfect for the job. All you have to do is send a couple of messages and you've helped two friends out at the same time! Many social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook make it easy to organize an event and invite your friends.
Many sites allow users to create special pages for bands or theater companies.
Some sites allow you to group friends using different criteria, including geographic location. So the next time you plan a group trip to the movies, you can send out a notice to your local friends using a social networking service. Are you an actor, musician or writer? If so, you can use social networking sites to promote your work. Many sites allow users to create special pages for bands or theater companies. You can keep fans informed about everything from your latest single to the next time you'll perform. And social networking sites gives people the opportunity to interact with the artists they admire. Several social networking sites also act as application platforms. You can find dozens of applications ranging from quizzes to games to restaurant review programs. On a site like Facebook or MySpace, you can challenge your friend to a game of trivia -- even if she's on the other side of the world! Social networking may even get you out of jail! American graduate student James Karl Buck was in Egypt covering an anti-government protest rally when Egyptian police detained him. Buck sent out a single word over his Twitter feed: Arrested. People following him on Twitter knew that he was in trouble and began to contact U.S. But it's not all sunshine and roses. There are some drawbacks to social networking too. One of the cool things about social networking sites is that you start to see connections between friends you didn't realize knew each other. You may discover that the friends you have in different circles are also friends with one another. Your own social network can grow and you might get invited to many more parties.
Over the last few years, people have fast realized the power of social media marketing. They are already aware of the positives of the same that it can lead to rapid growth and recognition. However, most people are unaware of the ways in which this power can be harnessed to help even the small businesses. Let us delve deep and find out about certain ways in which social media marketing can bring in a huge change to small firms and businesses. Churning out the rite content, one which is informative and interesting would make people share it readily. Interesting content always catches the attention of the people thus, try coming up with interesting reads, which would increase your chances of roping in more followers. One marketing strategy may not work for all the companies. Hence, try and find out what works best for you through the process of trial and error.
Topic title: Political Parties Combine Social Media Data With Electoral Roll Information
Topic covered: about social sites, best online social network, networking websites, social websites, the social media company
