3/22/2013 - ProCon.org and the March of Dimes Canada held a celebrity golf tournament on March 2, 2013 to raise money for our charities. See dozens of our celebrity golf tournament photos and watch the celebrity golf tournament viSocial Networkingdeos on our YouTube channel.

Proponents of social networking sites say that the online communities promote increased interaction with friends and mily; offer teachers, librarians, and students valuable access to educational support and materials; cilitate social and political change; and disseminate useful information rapidly.

Being a part of a social networking site can increase a persons quality of life and reduce the risk of health problems. Social media can help improve life satisction, stroke recovery, memory retention, and overall well-being by providing users with a large social group. Additionally, friends on social media can have a contagion effect, promoting and helping with exercise, dieting, and smoking cessation goals. ]

Social media is now pervasive in our world with existing social networks expanding, niche social networking sites being created for educators, medical professionals, and other groups, and new social media sites popping up regularly, all accessible 24 hours a day via computer, tablet, smart phone, and Internet-enabled devices.

Social networking sites cilitate ce-to-ce interaction. People use social media to network at in-person events and get to know people before personal, business, and other meetings. ] Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project found that messaging on social media leads to ce-to-ce interactions when plans are made via the sites and social media users messaged close friends an average of 39 days each year while seeing close friends in person 210 days each year. ]

People who use social networking sites are prone to social isolation. Social networking can exacerbate feelings of disconnect (especially for youth with disabilities), and put children at higher risk for depression, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. ] The passive consumption of social media (scanning posts without commenting) is related to loneliness.]

Social media sites empower individuals to make social change and do social good on a community level. Social media shares popularized nine-year old Scottish student, Martha Payne, and her blog, Never Seconds, which exposed the state of her schools lunch program prompting international attention that resulted in changes to her school and the formation of Friends of Never Seconds charity to feed children globally. ] [141] Jeannette Van Houten uses social media to find owners of photographs and mementos strewn from houses by Hurricane Sandy. ] Hillsborough, CA freshman varsity soccer goalie Daniel Cui was blamed for and bullied about a losing season until over 100 of his teammates and classmates changed their Facebook profile photos to one of Cui a save, silencing the bullies and building Cuis confidence. ] [38]

Social media sites help employers find employees and job-seekers find work. 64% of companies are on two or more social networks for recruiting ] because of the wider pool of applicants, more efficient searches, and no need for an outside recruiter. 89% of employers have hired employees through LinkedIn, 26% through Facebook, and 15% through Twitter.] One in six job-seekers credit social media for helping find their current job. 52% of job-seekers use Facebook for the job search, 38% use LinkedIn, and 34% use Twitter. ]

] According to a Dec. 2012 Nielsen Social Media Report, 20% of time spent on a home computer is on social media while 30% of mobile Internet time is spent on social networking sites. Total time spent on social media via mobile and home devices totalled 121 billion minutes in July 2012 (compared to 88 billion minutes in July 2011). In July 2012 Americans spent 74.0 billion minutes on social media via a home computer, 40.8 billion minutes via apps, and 5.7 billion minutes via mobile web browser for a total of 121.1 billion minutes on social networking sites. In July 2011 Americans spent 59.5 billion minutes via home computer, 23.2 billion minutes via apps, and 4.4 billion minutes via mobile browsers for a total of 88.4 billion minutes. ]

Social medias largest source of revenue is advertising. Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook profit from advertising while LinkedIn profits from ads, subscribers, and selling data to third parties. ]Social media ad revenue is expected to reach $8.8 billion in 2012, an increase of 43% from 2011. ] Gaming also accounts for a large portion of social networking revenue, with an expected $6.2 billion in 2012. Predictions place overall social media revenue at about $34 billion by 2016, an increase from $11.8 billion in 2011 and the projected $16.9 billion in 2012. ]

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4/18/2013 Educators in over 3,750 schools in all 50 US states and 56 countries use ProCon.org. 819 elementary and middle schools, 1,926 high schools, and 1,010 colleges and universities use our free nonpartisan research to stimulate critical thinking. The newest international schools using ProCon.org are in Angola, India, and Oman.

Social networking enables cheating on school assignments. Students in California, New York City, and Houston posted photos of standardized tests to social media sites, allowing students who had not yet taken the tests to see the questions (and potentially find answers) ahead of time. ] The SAT has had similar problems with students posting parts of the exam to social media. ] [126]

Using social media can harm students chances for college admissions. College administrators scan Facebook profiles for evidence of illegal behavior by students. ] [135] A 2012 Kaplan Test Prep survey found that 35% of college admissions officers discovered information like essay plagiarism, vulgarities, or illegal activities on social media that negatively impacted prospective students admission chances (up from 12% in 2011). ]

] Two-thirds of businesses fear that social media endangers corporate security and one in four social networking site users unwittingly exposes him/herself to crime by revealing personal details. Seven million households that use Facebook reported problems in 2012, ranging from someone using a log-in without permission to being threatened online or in person, a 30% increase from 2011. Phishing, the act of attempting to acquire personal information for identity theft, increased 240% on social networking sites from 2008 to 2009. ]

Using social media can harm job stability and employment prospects. Job recruiters reported negative reactions to finding pronity (61%), poor spelling or grammar (54%), illegal drugs (78%), ual content (66%), pictures of or with alcohol (47%), and religious content (26%) on potential employees social media pages. ] Anthony Weiner, former US Representative, was forced to resign after a Twitter ting scandal in 2011. ] Several athletes were banned from the 2012 Olympics because of their racist social media posts. ]

Opponents of social networking say that the sites prevent ce-to-ce communication; waste time on frivolous activity; alter childrens brains and behavior them more prone to ADHD; expose users to predators like pedophiles and burglars; and spread lse and potentially dangerous information.

Opponents of social networking say that the sites prevent ce-to-ce communication; waste time on frivolous activity; alter childrens brains and behavior them more prone to ADHD; expose users to predators like pedophiles and burglars; and spread lse and potentially dangerous information.

Social media helps empower business women. Being able to connect on social networking sites gives business women a support group not readily found offline where female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are outnumbered by male CEOs 15 to 485. ] Many social media sites are dominated by women: 72% of Pinterest users are women, 58% of Facebook users, 62% of MySpace users, 60% of Yelp users, and 53% of Instagram users. ] Business women useTwitter chats to support each other, give and receive peer knowledge, and have guest speakers share expert knowledge. ] One.org helps African women entrepreneurs connect on social media to grow their businesses.]

Social media can cilitate inappropriate student-teacher relationships. The Texas Education Agency opened 156 cases about inappropriate relationships between educators and students in the 2011-2012 school year; 86 cases were reported in 2007-2008 and education experts blame the rise of social media for the increase in cases. ] Social media allows for unsupervised interactions between students and teachers, which can easily escalate into ual or otherwise inappropriate relationships. ]

Proponents of social networking sites say that the online communities promote increased interaction with friends and mily; offer teachers, librarians, and students valuable access to educational support and materials; cilitate social and political change; and disseminate useful information rapidly.

Social networking sites allow people to improve their relationships and make new friends. 70% of adult social networking users visit the sites to connect with friends and mily ], and increased online communication strengthens relationships. ] 52% of teens using social media report that using the sites has helped their relationships with friends, 88% report that social media helps them stay in touch with friends they cannot see regularly, 69% report getting to know students at their school better, and 57% make new friends. ]

Social networking sites play a large role in shaping the political landscape. More than a quarter of US voters younger than 30 (including 37% of those 18-24 years old) reported that they obtained information about the 2008 Presidential campaign from social media. ] On Nov. 3, 2008, the day before the US Presidential election, Democratic candidate Barack Obama had 2,379,102 Facebook supporters, 38% more than Republican candidate John McCain who had 620,359 supporters. ]

Colleges and universities use social media to recruit and retain students. 87% of colleges and universities use Facebook to recruit students, Social Networking, 76% use Twitter, and 73% use YouTube. ] Colleges and universities use Facebook apps and other social media tools to increase student retention. ] Social networking sites are also being used to give students a support system at community colleges that tend to be commuter based and can leave students with no in-person social network. ]

Social networking sites increase voter participation. Facebook users reported they are more likely to vote if they see on social networking sites that their friends did. ] During the Nov. 2010 elections, Facebook users who visit the site more than once a day were 2.5 times more likely to attend a political rally or meeting, 57% more likely to persuade someone about a vote, and 43% more likely to say they will vote. ] During the 2012 presidential election, 22% of registered voters posted about how they voted on Facebook or Twitter, 30% were encouraged to vote by posts on social media, and 20% encouraged others to vote via social networking sites. ]

Social networking sites can lead to stress and offline relationship problems. A University of Edinburgh Business School study found the more Facebook friends a person has, the more stressful the person finds Facebook to use. ] According to a Feb. 9, 2012 Pew Internet report, 15% of adult social network users had an experience on a social networking site that caused a friendship to end, 12% of adult users had an experience online that resulted in a ce-to-ce argument, and 3% of adults reported a physical confrontation as the result of an experience on a social networking site. ]

Social media can endanger the military and journalists. The US Army notes that checking in with location based services on social networking sites like Foursquare or Facebook could expose sensitive whereabouts and endanger military personnel and operations. ] In 2011 a Mexican journalist was murdered by the Zetas drug cartel because she used Twitter to report on cartel crime.] A blogger was found murdered by a Mexican cartel in 2011 with the note this happened to me for not understanding that I shouldnt report things on the social networks. ] [140]

Social networking sites advertising practices may constitute an invasion of privacy. An ExactTarget marketing strategy report tells companies, When a user clicks on a [Facebook] like button belonging to your brand, youre immediately granted access to additional information about this customer, from school affiliation and workplace information to their birthdate and other things they like [M]arketers can access and leverage data in ways that will truly alarm customers. ] From social media sites, algorithms can determine where you live, ual orientation, personality traits, signs of depression, and alma maters among other information, even if users put none of that data on their social networking profiles. ]

Aug. 10, 2009

Students who are heavy social media users tend to have lower grades. Students who use social media had an average GPA of 3.06 while non-users had an average GPA of 3.82 and students who used social networking sites while studying scored 20% lower on tests. ] College students grades dropped 0.12 points for every 93 minutes above the average 106 minutes spent on Facebook per day. ] Two-thirds of teachers believe that social media does more to distract students than to help academically.]

4/12/2013 - Reader Survey results Our survey helped us learn the age, gender, and political affiliation of 1,032 ProCon.org readers. We also learned that 36.7% of respondents changed their perceptions, feelings, or opinions on an issue based on what they learned at ProCon.org and that 87.2% reported that they enjoyed their experience at ProCon.org. Thank you to all the survey participants.

Social networking sites harm employees productivity. 51% of people aged 25-34 accessed social media while at work. Two-thirds of US workers with Facebook accounts access the site during work hours ] Even spending just 30 minutes a day on social media while at work would cost a 50-person company 6,500 hours of productivity a year.] 51% of American workers think work productivity suffers because of social media. ]

Social networking sites help senior citizens feel more connected to society.] [40] According to a 2010 Pew Internet &ore than 50% use it for teaching; and 30% for communicating with students. ] Educators from around the world interact with each other and bring guest teachers, librarians, authors, and experts into class via social networks like Twitter and social networking tools like Skype.] [68] Edmodo, an education-specific social networking site designed for contact between students, teachers, and parents, reached over ten million users on Sep. 11, 2012.]

Social networking sites are the top news source for 27.8% of Americans, ranking below newss (28.8%) and above radio (18.8%) and print publications (6%).

Social networking is good for the economy. Social media sites have created a new industry and thousands of jobs in addition to providing new income and sales. ] A McKinsey Global Institute study projects that the communication and collaboration from social media could add $900 billion to $1.3 trillion to the economy through added productivity and improved customer service. ] Facebook posted $1.26 billion for third quarter 2012 revenue, up from $954 million for third quarter 2011 earnings. ] Twitter, a private company, earned an estimated $350 million in 2012 revenue. ]

Students who used social networking sites while studying scored 20% lower on tests and students who used social media had an average GPA of 3.06 versus non-users who had an average GPA of 3.82.

Social networking sites offer a way for musicians and artists to build audiences even if they dont have a corporate contract.] 64% of teenagers listen to music on YouTube, it the hit-maker for songs rather than radio (56%) or CDs (50%). ] [72] For example, pop star Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube when he was 12 years old, and, in 2012 at 18 years old, Biebers net worth was estimated at $80 million. ] [74] The National Endowment for the Arts found that people who interact with the arts online through social media and other means are almost three times more likely to attend a live event. ]

reports on teens and their parents learning about the drawbacks of social networking sites.

Criminals use social media to commit and promote crimes. Gangs use the sites to recruit younger members, coordinate violent crimes, and threaten other gangs. ] Offline crime, like home robberies, may result from posting personal information such as vacation plans ] or stalkers gaining information about a victims whereabouts from posts, photos, or location tagging services. ]

On June 12, 2009, the White House announced, via the White House Blog, that it was joining Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr in order to create unprecedented opportunity to connect you to your government in order to obtain information and services and to participate in policy. ] Joining the social media sites was part of the administrations efforts to meet President Obamas call to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. ] On Sep. 16, 2009, The Washington Times broke a story that the White House had begun collecting and storing comments and videos posted on social networking sites, bringing invasion of privacy criticism. Defenders stated that the White House was simply complying with the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of all presidential records. ]

Illinois passed a law in Aug. 2009 banning registered offenders from using social networking sites. ] However, a Dec. 31, 2008 Internet Safety Technical Task Force report presented to the US State Attorneys General found that adults lying about their ages to initiate relationships with minors are a rare occurrence; 43% of online ual predators were identified as minors, 30% were adults between the ages of 18 and 21, and 9% were adults over the age of 21. ]

On May 2, 2012, Maryland became the first state to pass a law prohibiting employers from asking current or prospective employees for their user names or passwords for social networking sites. ] [168] Governor Jerry Brown of California announced via Twitter on Sep. 27, 2012 that he signed two bills into law to prohibit employers and universities from demanding passwords. ] Other states have followed suit and have passed social media protection laws or have laws pending. ] [170] [171]

Proponents of social media cheer on the benefits and possible advances to society while dissenters worry the dangers and wasted time r outweigh any benefit.

Unauthorized sharing on social networking sites exposes artists to copyright infringement, loss of intellectual property, and loss of income. Social media sites have copyright regulations but they can be difficult to enforce. ] Pinterest relies upon the re-publication of images from the web and,new york escort if users do not use the site conscientiously, artists content can be posted without license, attribution, or payment. ]Vogue Spain was accused of stealing New York street photographer Sion Fullanas Instagram photos and posting them to their own Instagram feed without acknowledging the source. ]

[: Chat rooms and instant messaging (IM) are excluded from this discussion because they lack key characteristics of social networking sites, such as the ability to create profiles about backgrounds and interests, and to share thoughts, photos, Internet links, music, and more.]

47% of American adults used social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Classmates.com in 2011, up from 26% in 2008. On social media sites like these, users may develop biographical profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research, and share thoughts, photos, music, links, and more.

Social networking sites enable ting, which can lead to criminal charges and the unexpected proliferation of personal images. Once restricted to cell phone texts, ting has moved to social media with teens posting, or sending via messaging, risqu photos of themselves or others. In 2008 and 2009, US law enforcement agencies saw 3,477 cases of youth-produced ual images with 2,291 agencies seeing at least one case. ] As a result, teens and adults are being charged with possessing and distributing child ography, even if the teen took and distributed a photo of him/herself. ] 88% of private self-produced ual images posted to social media are stolen by ography websites and disseminated to the public, often without the subjects knowledge. ]

Social media enables the spread of unreliable and lse information. 49.1% of people have heard lse news via social media. ] On Sep. 5, 2012 lse rumors of fires, shootouts, and caravans of gunmen in a Mexico City suburb spread via Twitter and Facebook caused panic, flooded the local police department with over 3,000 phone calls, and temporarily closed schools. ] Shashank Tripathi, tweeting as ComfortablySmug, spread lse information in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy by posting on Twitter that the New York Stock Exchange was flooding and that the power company would cut off electricity to all of Manhattan; the bogus information was picked up by national news outlets including CNN and the Weather Channel. ]

SixDegrees.com, which existed from 1997-2001, is considered the first social networking site because it allowed users to create personal spaces and connect to friends online. Friendster, created in 2002, popularized social networking in the United States but was quickly outpaced by other social networking sites like: MySpace (2003), Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006), Pinterest (2009), and Google+ (2012). Facebook reported one billion monthly users worldwide on October 4, 2012, it the most popular social networking site with one in seven people on the planet using the site. ] Every day, Facebook manages 2.7 billion Likes, 300 million photo uploads, and 2.5 billion status updates and check-ins. ] Twitter, the second largest social networking site, had an estimated 107.7 million users in the United States (as of Jan. 31, 2012) ] and 500 million worldwide users (as of Sep. 28, 2012).] Pinterest is the third largest social network with 23 million unique visitors in July 2012, followed by LinkedIn, Tagged, Google+, and MySpace ] [146] 59% of all Internet users use at least one social networking site and 56% of social networking users are female.

The protests in Tunisia, which spawned the Arab Spring, were fueled and organized by social media ] as were protests in Egypt and Iran. The governments of those countries ed and attempted to shut down the social media sites. ] [161] In response to the ship, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, said, The United States believes passionately and strongly in the basic principle of free expression... And it is the case that one of the means of expression, the use of Twitter is a very important one, not only to the Iranian people but now increasingly to people around the world, and most particularly to young people... ]

Social media cilitates political change. Social networking sites give social movements a quick, no-cost method to organize, disseminate information, and mobilize people. ] The 2011 Egyptian uprising (part of the Arab Spring), organized largely via social media, motivated tens of thousands of protestors for eighteen days of demonstrations and, ultimately led to the resignation of Egyptian President Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011. ] A July 4, 2011 tweet from Adbusters with the hashtag occupywallstreet started the American Occupy movement, which gained traction in Sep. 2011 when protesters gathered at New York Citys Zuccotti Park and remained there until Nov. 15, 2011. ]

Children may endanger themselves by not understanding the public and viral nature of social networking sites. The 2012 film Project X, about an out of control high school house party due to social media promotion, prompted copycat parties across the US resulting in arrests for vandalism, criminal trespassing, and other offenses. ]Up to 600 Dutch riot police had to be called in to break up a teens birthday party to which about 30,000 people were accidentally invited after a Facebook post thought to be private went viral (quickly moving on to Twitter and YouTube as well). As a result, at least three people were hurt and 20 people were arrested for vandalism, looting, setting cars on fire, and damaging lampposts. ] In 2012, a similar incident happened in Los Angeles and resulted in the teen host beaten and hospitalized. ]

Last updated on 4/19/2013 8:25:51 AM PST

] On social media sites like these, users may develop biographical profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research, and share thoughts, photos, music, links, and more.

Social media aids the spread of hate groups. A Summer 2012 Baylor University study examined Facebook hate groups focused on President Barack Obama and found a resurgence of racial slurs and stereotypes not seen in mainstream media in decades like blackce images and comparisons of President Obama to apes. ] Social networking sites allow hate groups to recruit youth and to redistribute their propaganda. ] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center the Christian Identity religion, a splinter ction of the white supremacist group Aryan Nations, uses social media to recruit members. ]

Social Networking ProCon.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit website that presents cts, studies, and pro and con statements on questions related to social networking and its impact on society.

Social media causes people to spend less time interacting ce-to-ce. A Jan. 2012 Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School study found that the percentage of people reporting less ce-to-ce time with mily in their homes rose from 8% in 2000 to 34% in 2011. ] 32% of those surveyed were on social media or texting during meals (47% of 18-34 year olds) ] instead of talking with mily or friends. 10% of people younger than 25 years old respond to social media and text messages during . ] [173]

Social networking sites entice people to waste time. 40% of 8 to 18 year olds spend 54 minutes a day on social media sites. ] 36% of people surveyed listed social networking as the biggest waste of time, above ntasy sports (25%), watching TV (23%), and shopping (9%). ] When alerted to a new social networking site activity, like a new tweet or Facebook message, users take 20 to 25 minutes on average to return to the original task. In 30% of cases, it took two hours to fully return attention to the original task. ]42% of American Internet users play games like Farmville or Mafia Wars on social networking sites.]

Social networking sites cilitate cyberbullying. 49.5% of students reported being the victims of bullying online and 33.7% reported committing bullying behavior online. ] 800,000 minors were harassed or cyberbullied on Facebook according to a June 2012 Consumer Reports survey. ] Middle school children who were victims of cyberbullying were almost twice as likely to attempt suicide. ] Adults can also be victims of cyberbullying, from social, milial, or workplace aggression being displayed on social media sites.]

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo dubbed the 2012 election the Twitter election. ] All of the main 2012 presidential candidates had Facebook and Twitter accounts. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney maintained MySpace accounts, and Obama also has a Pinterest account. As of Sep. 8, 2011, 35 global heads of state had Twitter accounts; every US federal Cabinet agency and 84% of state governors were active on Twitter; and more than 40% of global religious leaders like the Dalai Lama and the Pope were on Twitter. ] The 2012 presidential election set the record for most-tweeted event with more than 327,00 tweets per minute being sent when Barack Obama was announced the winner. The image of him and his wife that Obama posted upon his reelection with Four more years became the most re-tweeted tweet with over 816,883 re-tweets as of Nov. 19, 2012 (breaking Justin Beibers record of over 200,000 re-tweets). ] [159]

Social networking sites lack privacy and expose users to government and corporate intrusions. 13 million users said they had not set or did not know about Facebooks privacy settings and 28% shared all or nearly all of thSocial Networking ProConorgeir posts publicly. ] The US Justice Department intercepted 1,661 pieces of information from social networking sites and e-mails in 2011. ] The 2009 IRS training manual teaches agents to scan Facebook pages for information that might assist in resolving a taxpayer case. 4.7 million Facebook users have liked a health condition or medical treatment page, information that is sometimes used by insurance companies to raise rates. ] [83]

Law enforcement uses social networking sites to catch and prosecute criminals. 67% of federal, state, and local law enforcement professionals surveyed think social media helps solve crimes more quickly. ] In 2011 the NYPD added a Twitter tracking unit and has used social networking to arrest criminals who have bragged of their crimes online. ] When the Vancouver Canucks lost the 2011 Stanley Cup in Vancouver, the city erupted into riots. Social media was used to catch vandals and rioters as social networking site users tagged the people they knew in over 2,000 photos posted to the sites. ] [8]

Social networking sites encourage amateur advice and self-diagnosis for health problems which can lead to harmful or life-threatening results. One in five Americans uses social media for health care information. ] An American Journal of Public Health study revealed that, Social media may also pose a hazard to vulnerable people through the formation and influence of extreme communitiesonline groups that promote and provide support for beliefs and behaviors normally unacceptable by the social mainstream such as anorexia, suicide, and deliberate amputation. ] A North Carolina blogger was criminally charged with practicing dietetics or nutrition without a license for offering potentially dangerous nutritional advice about the Paleo diet while posing as an expert. ] Jeffrey Benabio, MD, searched for eczema on Twitter and found, in the first 100 results, 84 were spam and several others gave harmful and sometimes bizarre advice like using toothless fish to eat eczema affected skin. ]

Social networking site users are vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking, identity theft, and viruses. Social networks do not scan messages for viruses or phishing scams, leading to large-scale problems like the 2012 virus Steckt.Evl spread from Facebooks chat window. ] 68% of social media users share their birth date publicly, 63% share their high school name, 18% share their phone number, 12% share a pets name; each of those pieces of information is frequently used for account security verification and can be used for identity theft. ]

4/12/2013 Student Video Contest Highlights We posted a 3-minute highlight reel from our 2012 Student Video Contest where each student shows why he/she loves ProCon.org. Thanks, students!

Social networking sites spread information ster than any other media. Over 50% of people learn about breaking news on social media. ] 65% of traditional media reporters and editors use sites like Facebook and LinkedIn for story research, and 52% use Twitter. ] Social networking sites are the top news source for 27.8% of Americans, ranking close to newss (28.8%) and above radio (18.8%) and other print publications (6%). ] Twitter and YouTube users reported the July 20, 2012 Aurora, CO theater shooting before news crews could arrive on the scene ], and the Red Cross urged witnesses to tell mily members they were safe via social media outlets. ]

35 global heads of state, every US Cabinet agency, 84% of US state governors, every major candidate for US President, and more than 40% of top global religious leaders are on Twitter.

Social media posts cannot be completely deleted and all information posted can have unintended consequences. The Library of Congress has been archiving all public tweets from Twitters Mar. 2006 inception forward.] Information about an afir posted on Facebook, for example, can lead to and be used against someone in divorce proceedings because the information, once posted, can never be completely deleted. Facebook was named as a source of information in one-third of all divorces filed in 2011. ]

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The use of social networking sites is correlated with personality and brain disorders, such as the inability to have in-person conversations, a need for instant gratification, ADHD, and self-centered personalities, as well as addictive behaviors.] Pathological Internet Use (caused or exacerbated by social networking use) is associated with feelings of loneliness, depression, anxiety and general distress. ] The 2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is evaluating Internet Addiction Disorder, for inclusion. A 2008 UCLA study revealed web users had fundamentally altered prefrontal cortexes ] due, in part, to the st pace of social networking sites rewiring the brain with repeated exposure. ]

Social networking sites help students do better at school. 59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics and 50% use the sites to talk about school assignments. ] After George Middle School in Portland, OR introduced a social media program to engage students grades went up by 50%, chronic absenteeism went down by 33%, and 20% of students school-wide voluntarily completed extra-credit assignments. ] [11]

At last, the Facebook phone has been unveiled, except its not really a phone, its more of a suite of apps with a launcher.

Besides, Social Networking, theres some data out there that indicates nobody really wanted a full-blown Facebook phone anyhow. Now the folks at Twitter also seem to be looking at the idea of getting in on the smartphone super-app game.

With that in mind, I present the below (tongue-in-cheek) gallery of six more social network phones well likely never see and the tragic flaws for each that keep them off the market.

The long-awaited Facebook phone turned out not to be a phone at all. Heres a look at six other social network-based phones well likely never get our hands on.

Eric MackCrave freelancer Eric Mack is a writer, radio producer,new york asian escort and podcaster based in Taos, N.M., but he lives in Google+. Hes also managing editor of Crowdsourcing.org and has written e-books on both Alaska and Android. E-mail Eric.

The way I see it, even our most popular social networks just dont lend themselves to the hardware game. They each have their unique personality traits and character flaws that make them less than ideal caSix social network phones well never see Social Networkingndidates for taking over the heart and soul of our most closely held mobile gadget.

The HTC ChaCha was the first Facebook phone nobody cared about.

Social networks have been able to infiltrate most aspects of our lives so r without having to entangle themselves in the messy business of designing or a hardware product, so why start now? Indeed, Facebook seems to have decided it makes more sense to take a similar invasive approach with smartphones, opting to simply dig itself deeper into the mobile OS rather than reinvent the wheel.

Amazon asks users for feedback on new show pilots, Twitter dabbles with the TV business, and Google launches app for donations.

I started my writing career in broadcasting and then got involved in the EUs attempt to create an ARPA-type unit, where I managed downstream satellite application pilots, at just the time commercial satellite services entered the market. I also wrote policy, pre the Web, on broadband applications, 3G (before it was invented), and Wired Cities.

But social media is a very democratizing form of communications and to assess influence you really need to know who is first among equals.

I am so glad to see so many miliar and wonderful people on the Forbes 50 social list. Id take a little time to evaluate a couple names for auto tweeting a bit much. People are busy, I get it. Just dont abuse that Tweet Scheduler, you know what I mean?

What? are they influencing? on what particular topic? WhenWho Are The Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers 2013 - Forbes did it occur? Why? What results did they achieve to make them influential? How did this particular influence penetrate the market? What are the actual produced Quantitative and Qualitative results that can be identified and proven??

For the past 24 months Ive been writing about enterprise innovation here on Forbes.com. Ill continue doing that but increasingly from your point of view - what it means for you to innovate and be creative.

Even the bios of some of these people are so off, its just sad.

That means assessing who has a real following real in the sense of real people and not just bots, real also in the sense that the following is active in social media and not just a passive consumer.

But secondly the data also shows that the 40 people from 11 50 are very tightly grouped and any of them could rise quickly.

As I have stated, I am putting myself out there, to make a popular complaint w/in the industry that I as a practitioner, represent. That said.

;-)

9. Ted Coine. Along with Shawn Murphy, Ted runs the Switch and Shift blog. tedcoine

If youre following over 10,000 people, youre not following anyone. Id say following over 2,000 people is fishy.

I can always rely on a good laugh when you do these posts. Thanks for not disappointing.

my best friends sister got paid $ past week. she has been working on the computer and moved in a $ home. All she did was get fortunate and try the clues shown on this link and go to home tab for more detail BIG76 ℂom

On the scoring, Peek Analytics gives people a score called Pull. If an individual has a Pull of 10x, that means that the audience the individual can reach is at least ten times greater than what the average social media user can reach.

Go 50 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Congrats to everyone on this list. Im so glad to see a lot of my friends on here. You all worked hard t make the list. I was a little surprised not to see Brian Solis on here. Nonetheless, what an accomplishment, congrats! And nice work on pulling this together Haydn.

1. Leaders are more motivational. We are seeing a lot more inspirational messaging via Twitter from this group than we did last year almost as if social media is relegated (or elevated depending on your taste) to motivational relationships. This is becoming an essential part of being a social media leader.

3. It is easier to access. There is a bigger spread of scores here in the top 10 that in the remainder of the top 50 (1000 2000). Those scores are interesting for two reasons.

I used to edit Innovation Management. My book, The Elastic Enterprise, co-authored with Nick Vitalari and described as a must read for companies that want to succeed in the new era of business - looks at how stellar companies have gone beyond innovation to a new form of wealth creation. I speak on new innovation paradigms.

2. It is more gender balanced. The Top 10 this year is equally divided between men and women. Last year it was skewed towards men.

In the top ten this year all the influencers have a pull of between 2,000 and 3,000. This represents influence among a group of peers, whether those peers are in Washington, Palo Alto or Peterborough.

Epicurious while their tweets after the Boston Marathon tragedy were horrific, it still brought buzz, and recognition. While it wasnt the desired type, everybody was posting, sharing, and blogging about it.

I know several of these influencers personally. Many have worked long and hard to get to where they are and have helped/inspired/motivated/made laugh countless people.

7. Liz Strauss. Liz runs successful-blog.com. Shes currently taking on the challenge of cancer. Best wishes. lizstrauss.

6. John Paul Aguiar. An eclectic mix of blog advice, Twitter and other social tools, John is in business to help people make money from social. johnaguiar.

Oreo great social power and influence during the power outage at the Superbowl, gained followers, interaction and buzz.

Hmm, April 17th and we are already choosing who is the most influential via social media for 2013?!

1. Sean, who also writes at Huffington Post, comes in at number 1. Sean blends social media insight with inspirational messaging, a trend were seeing across social. 2morrowknight.

Does creating a clique of followers, and an ability of self promotion really determine influence? or Influence determined by Implementing valid working tools that create Change w/in an industry? Are the people who are allegedly listening industry members. or are the individuals an impact on the Industry as a whole, not just to a specific a group of people who are peers and social comrades of each other who all enjoy the social networking scene.

There are also some basic criteria for involvement experts must be creating their own content, and it has to be about social media. See more on the criteria here.

Being able to get to that essence, of people whose peers are actively involved with them, is why I chose Peek Analytics as the tool to measure influence.

Thanks so much for including me in your list, Haydn Im honored! Im happy that people find my content helpful enough to share with others who are trying to get their arms around social media marketing.

Good point Zachary we shouldnt only be praising people of course. Social media allows all kinds of lazy practices and we need to stand for quality and ethics.

Who are the Top 50 Power Influencers for 2013?

What is the standard/ Criteria to define exactly what their level of influence they are providing to the mass majority of the industry they represent? Who?

10. Pam Moore. Covering Facebook, Google + and the business of social. pammktgnut.

Haydn, the HR / Recruting / Employment industry is a large industry, in ct the 2nd stest growing service industry. So,new york asian escorts what was /is your determination, criteria to determine if an individual is influential? Are they peer reviewed by the changes and tools that they implemented in the industry? Have the established a professional standing of ability and experience from the Massive core of the industry? What is the stand of many in this list, outside of the common denominator that many of them are friends or strong acquaintances with each other? What standard or obligation are they living up to?

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. Youll be notified if your comment is called out.

5. Aaron Lee. Aaron has been strong on Twitter for a long time now, and has a useful website with professional-grade advice but which can also inform people at the beginning of their social media careers. askaaronlee.

The Top 10.

8. Warren Whitlock. Host of Blog Talk Radios Social Media Profit Show, like John, Warrens focus in on social media for profit. warrenwhitlock.

Simply basing data on a program that does nothing but beg people for more looks like nothing more than an advertisement for peekanalytics! And thats exactly what it appears to be. They ask for hundreds or thousands of dollars to measure social data, and Forbes is obviously in bed with them.

Then the list should be very different. Anyone with a 1:1 or 1.5:1 is playing follow/unfollow games and not engaged with people.

I have more than 10K folllowers, but I also use Twitter lists to make sure Im following and engaging/responding.

Hopefully one day we can see these influential lists that will provide a stronger and effective criteria of what determines influence.

4. There are more self-starters. And finally the top ten last year was skewed towards people who had a strong institutional base an employer who allowed them time to do social media. The group below are much more skewed towards self-starters who have made social media their business, or who are advising on how to make social media your business.

Our Real-Time Billionaires scoreboard tracks the biggest holdings for 50 of the worlds wealthiest people. See whos up &p>

Several are specifically helpful to The little guys out there who otherwise cannot afford to spend on social media for their small business. So they have to do it all themselves.

KarenM. Hirecentrix

3. Jessica Northey. Its a trend this year, leading influencers whose base is in a specific vertical. Social MediaFor Jessica it is music. She also says shes moving away from blogging towards Google +. jessicanorthey.

PeekAnalytics agrees. People who follow that many people are not counted as actual followers in the final analysis since it is literally impossible to follow that many people.

The Top 10 Considered

If you want to measure your own Pull, you can do that by following this link.

4. Mari Smith. Mari is a leading Facebook marketing expert and one of the top 10, overall, from last year. Shes also the author of The New Relationship Marketing. marismith.

You could answer that question by saying, of course, they are the people who most influence the biggest brands or have the best selling book or who have been around the business a long time.

2. Ann Tran. Number 1 on the womens list, Ann writes primarily about social media in the travel and hospitality vertical anntran_

That said, the word influence is quite often overused, because it is frequently utilized in a non objective, non attributed way. It is based upon a popularity competition of Who these individuals know, more so than WHAT they know..

I cant help but notice that some people on this list are people that have been doing the follow/unfollow Twitter game for a while. What I mean is they follow a lot of people, wait, and then unfollow whoever didnt follow them. Repeat.

Were any of these people part of or managed the teams that pulled off any of the following campaigns?

The first is that it still looks as though once you hit the top flight either you automatically get more (and more active) followers or your position reflects an ability to cultivate that type of group.

H Karen, thanks for the comment. I explained the process in the earlier post The Top 20 Women (I linked to it in this post). In short the answer is I used the Peek Analytics algorithm and the reason for that was to be sure we had people who had real, active networks. I take the view that social media specialists are influencing real people, not necessarily corporations or the news press and so that is what we tried to get at social media experts influencing their own networks.

MHO There are a few mentioned here who are actual practitioners that deserve the recommend they received, Social Media but at the same time, I have had the opportunity to meet hard working, and effective practitioners who are invoking huge changes w/in the industry that they practice in, but, you may not be aware of them online, because they are too busy working.. and bringing hands on value.

Thanks for your comment Mike the aim of the list in ct is to draw attention to people who work for the little guy not just the big brands.

Hello Haydn,

You forgot to mention David Meerman Scott

I definitely recognized many of the names on the list, however, not all of them are actively involved in Google+ communities, and some not at all. Google+ communities are obviously the largest in terms of social media and internet as a whole today, and it appears this ctor was ignored. G+ communities are much larger than Facebooks Groups for that matter or anything on Linkedin as well. Some of the people you mentioned may have a lot of followers, but this doesnt make them leaders in their field or in social media for that matter. Even some of the most followed people on Google+ have almost completely ignored the Communities feature altogether, they are too busy writing and bragging about themselves to care. Meanwhile the real discussion and activity is happening in communities, with millions upon millions of members, this is where market research is taking a heavy foot hold, as the professionals have come together to find innovative ways to do their jobs better.

I have written for many major outlets like the Wall St Journal, Times, HBR, and GigaOm, as well as producing TV for the BBC, Channel 4 and RTE. I am a research fellow at the Center For Digital Transformation at UC Irvine, where I am also an advisory board member, advisory board member at Crowdsourcing.org and Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research. Google.com/haydn

There is a lot to be learned from many of these people by simply watching what they do and reverse engineering. Theres gold in this article for someone looking to learn.

Some observations on the upper part of the list.

Trust me, Im putting myself out there in asking these questions. Question that has been asked by a core of our industry Practicing specialists.

Im sure some do but there it is, people follow them and listen. We have to accept that there is an element of this in social media not turn a blind eye to it.

Hope you dont pull the trigger this soon in other aspects of your life.

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

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After learning that she would be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on Sunday night, singer k.d. lang did some pondering on what the honour might mean. more

Pawluck, accompanied by six friends, appeared in court on April. 17 and pleaded not guilty. Further proceedings were postponed until May. 24.

According to the law, something deemed a genuine (even if unintentional) threat is grounds for arrest.

I hate to say it but theres a digital literacy issue here. Its very easy for us to use these incredibly powerful computers that we have in our pockets and purses and hands our cellphones its very easy for us to use them without fully understanding the power of them, Matrix said.

He cited a recent incident where a friend spotted another youths suicide plans online and informed the police, who were able to intervene.

Its not that hateful or derogatory statements are to be celebrated, but, rather, young people who use social media often are unaware what is actually dematory.

Weve had instances where weve relied on social media to locate individuals. There have been a number of cases where suicides and crimes have been prevented, Bangild said.

Apr. 19, 2013 3:27 PM This weekend, hackers from around the world will gather for the International Space Apps Challenge. Its an opportunity for the public to become involved in the space program, and a chance for NASA to acquire fresh new ideas.

Police have said there is more material relating to the arrest, but the particulars arent yet known. However, her case spurred questions in both mainstream and social media about online rights and freedoms.

Whether its a letter, a shocking picture, or in this case a piece of politically inspired graffiti, social media leverages that [very thing] into a r wider and completely uncontrollable breadth of audience, said Dan Burnett, a Vancouver-based lawyer and professor at the University of British Columbia.

But Bangild admits there is another side that is difficult to navigate, because social media itself is in its inntile stage.

Det. Jeffrey Bangild, an officer in charge of a crime and mily service unit in Toronto, works with youth and has become increasingly active in police use of social media.

Det. Bangild said there is a difference between stating an opinion of dislike and implying that violent actions should be taken.

Its a matter of new laws and ongoing education being needed, according to Sydneyeve Matrix, a professor in the Department of Media and Film at Queens University.

Pawluck was picked up by police at her home last Wednesday, questioned for hours and then released on a promise to appear in court.

A study for the federally funded organization set up to monitor and improve the use of information technology across Canadas health care system has found that increased use of electronic medical health records has saved $1.3 billion over the past six years. more

But Det. Bangild said a threatening image like the Instagram graffiti which names the person and suggests he should receive a bullet in the head would warrant the attention of the police, even if the police were not the intended target.

A funeral service was held Monday afternoon for acclaimed Cape Breton singer-songwriter Rita MacNeil at a church in her Nova Scotia hometown of Big Pond. more

Putting that sort of image online can result in the publisher being on the receiving end of a demation case, or if the post was racist, for example, a human rights complaint.

Its very easy for us to use these incredibly powerful computers that we have in our pockets and purses and hands our cellphones its very easy for us to use them without fully understanding the power of them.Sydneyeve Matrix, Queens University

Theres certainly a line that has to be judged on any situation, whether it is freedom of speech or if there is a criminal involvement,new york escort he said.

MPs are debating a controversial anti-terrorism bill that would reinstate provisions for preventive arrest and investigative hearings, measures that were part of a 2001 bill but were sunsetted in 2007. more

There have got to be some new laws in place, but we have a long way to go. Whether its lawyers or teachers, we need to have conversations about the power of these mobile technologies, Matrix said.

The law treats somebody who publishes as responsible, regardless of if they are the first publisher or the one who expanded publication to a new audience of thousands more people, with very limited exceptions, he said.

Matrix says the issue is that many people, especially youth, who frequently use social media do not yet understand the implications of such posts.

The image Jennifer Pawluck posted online showed Cmdr. Ian Lafrenire, a Montreal police spokesman, with a bullet hole through his head. Pawluck says she only took the picture and shared it, and was not the person who created it.

Montreal criminal defence attorney Eric Sutton told CBC News that, in the Pawluck case, the Crown would have to prove Lafrenire reasonably feared for his safety as a result of the Instagram photo.

Theres certainly a line that has to be judged on any situation, whether it is freedom of speech or if there is a criminal involvement.Jeffrey Bangild, Detective

Although social media has operated as a means of bringing injustices suffered by some to the attention of a wider audience, there are pitlls with such exposure as well as benefits.

According to the law, something deemed a genuine (even if unintentional) threat is grounds for arrest.

He gives the example of someone saying they do not like a certain political party which they would be free to do. But if that person then adds or implies they would kill a member of that party, then the person has crossed the line.

The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings is charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and could ce a death sentence. more

We have to realize that when we take a picture of something and send it out, it can be interpreted in a million ways. It can be interpreted as endorsement. And it could spread a message r and wide that does amazing damage, whether its reputational damage or whether it inspires behaviours that we would never condone.

Canadian police and intelligence agencies will announce later today they have thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, arresting two suspects in Montreal and Toronto, CBC News has learned. RCMP officials are expected to provide a live update at 3:30 p.m. ET. more

A large part of the issue is that social media threats are relatively new phenomena and legislation has not yet caught up with what has now become commonplace.

But what does this say about freedom of speech in social media? And how do we know when a post is actually breaking the law?

The use of online sources has become an important tool in crime prevention and saving people. But sometimes a seemingly innocuous post can be a motive for arrest.

A Montreal womans decision to post an Instagram photo of a controversial piece of anti-police graffiti took her online action out of cyberspace and ultimately into a Montreal courtroom Monday.

He adds that in the eyes of the law, they are publishers of that material and are thereby accountable to the same degree as traditional publishers.

Sutton added the arrest could be about police trying to send a message of zero tolerance for anything thats seen as threatening to their image.

Ubisofts Far Cry 3 was the biggest winner at the fourth annual Canadian Videogame Awards this weekend, taking home six prizes including Game of the Year. Awards were handed out in 16 categories in Vancouver. more

However, she was formally charged with criminal harassment and intimidation against a high-ranking Montreal police officer.

Apr. 19, 2013 4:46 PM The eminent Canadian theoretical physicist. Dr. Lee Smolin, Social Media, used to think time was an ilMontreal womans arrest highlights legal risks of social media Social Medialusion, but now thinks time is real, and that understanding the real nature of time might just be way to get at some of the deep mysteries of the universe.

Canadians and Americans are more concerned about securing the continents energy needs than they are about environmental concerns over fossil fuels, a new poll suggests. more

Jennifer Pawluck has been accused of criminal harassment and intimidation against a high-ranking Montreal police officer after she posted this photo of anti-police graffiti online on March 26.Burnett says that the question for police is whether the person who posted such content is also taking responsibility for it.

The federal government is marking Earth Day today by opening a long-awaited public information portal that will give access to environmental data from the oilsands. Heres a quick look at that portal and other enviromental changes the federal government has undertaken in the past year or so. more

The bill also looks to protect issuers and entrepreneurs from most lawsuits and eliminate a pre-filing notice requirement. Easley calls the bill “great,” but it doesn’t matter how great the bill is if no one knows about it.

“The more posts we have from people, the more valuable,” says citizen organizer and Morrisville-based investor Mark Easley, and he’s talking about Twitter and Facebook.

TriangleBIZJrnlA counter-intuitive ct about heart attacks at UNC hospitals that you need to know.

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A team of legislators and citizens are pushSocial Media Social media fueling crowdfunding bill - Vote for the best company in RaleighDurhams business competitioning for what they say are easier crowdfunding regulations in North Carolina. It’s an effort that starts and ends with social media.

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the Post to Facebook box selected, Social Media, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.

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“The successful campaigns are really just the people who spend a lot of time and effort to generate interest through their social media,” Easley says.

TriangleBIZJrnlThe Big Blue story of how IBM has been using socialmedia since the 70s.

Easley is just one of the supporters of the Republican-led bill,new york asian escort model introduced by Wake County Rep. Tom Murry, that would establish an exemption for small offerings by North Carolina businesses to North Carolina residents. Designed to push aside red tape present in the federal crowdfunding exemption in the JOBS Act, the bill, introduced last week, would eliminate the need to inquire as to a non-accredited investor’s net worth.

“We have to contact everyone we know,” he says, adding that without social media, it wouldn’t be possible. Social media has become the movement’s lobbyist.

It’s particularly appropriate because crowdfunding itself, he says, is a process that depends on social media.

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Supporters hang an American flag in a tree across the street from St. Josephs Church before the start of the funeral for bombing victim Krystle Campbell in Medford, Mass. /April 22, 2013)

Armed with little more than grainy surveillance camera videos, cellphone photos and live tweets from police scanners, they have flooded the Web with clues, tips and speculation about what happened in Boston and who might have been behind it.

People in the moment want to participate. They want to be a part of whats going on, said Nicco Mele, an expert on technology and social media at Harvards John F. Kennedy School of Government.

And most ... take your pick, hilarious or ironic ... of all is how many of the posts right here on this board are perfect examples of exactly what this article is about!!!

Some amateur sleuths focused their suspicions on Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student Social Media Boston bombings Social media spirals out of controlwho has been missing since last month. Using an animation tool, they used an image of Tripathi to highlight similarities between his ce and the FBI photos of one of the Boston bombing suspects.

We have known unequivocally all along that neither individual suspected as responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings was Sunil, Tripathis mily said in a statement on Friday.

Tsarnaev attended mosque at Islamic Society of Boston(ISB)in Cambridge. The construction of their cultural center in Roxbury in 2004 was marked by a controversial government subsidy from City of Boston.

I beg to differ.. I know their was a lot conspiracy theoriest comments but at the end of the the social media was able to capture these criminals much quicker than normal.

LOLOLOL!!!!

But beyond the photos they upload, their speculation and theorizing dont necessarily lead to a more efficient resolution.

But this watershed moment for social media quickly spiraled out of control. Legions of Web sleuths cast suspicion on at least four innocent people, spread innumerable bad tips and heightened the sense of panic and paranoia.

GOVERNMENT-SUBSIDIZED MOSQUE THAT BOMBERS ATTENDED CLOSES INDEFINITELY

However, Tripathi has no apparent connection to the marathon bombing. That was underscored Friday, when authorities revealed the identities of their suspects, two ethnic-Chechen immigrant brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of Cambridge, Mass.

Even as first responders were struggling to tend to the needs of the three killed and more than 170 injured in the Boston Marathon blasts, Web forums were cranking out rumors that there had been four bombs instead of two, Social Media, that an area library had been targeted and that the death count was well over a dozen.

In a mad rush to be the first to identify the perpetrators, anonymous posters online began openly naming people they believed had planted the bombs. Caught up in the mania, some traditional media ran with that information. Thursdays New York Post cover showed a photo of two men at the marathon under the headline Bag Men and implied that the two were prime suspects. In ct, neither was a suspect and one of the men, Salah Barhoun, was a high school student from outside Boston and had nothing to do with the explosions.

ISB has raised concerns for its ties to radical figures in the Muslim world. Islamic cleric Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi, who said in a 1995 speech that Islam would conquer America and conquer Europe, appeared on IRS forms as one of the ISBs trustees.

In short order,new york escort forums like Reddit and 4chan were alive with speculation based on little or no evidence that the culprits were Muslim fundamentalists or perhaps right-wing extremists.

Their speculation was not limited to the events in Boston. The unusual confluence of tragic and suspicious events in the past week led many online to suggest that the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, might have been a terrorist attack as well and that the ricin-laced letters mailed to politicians could have come from those behind the marathon bombing.

Suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended a Massachusetts mosque that made a controversial deal with a Boston city agency that allowed it to buy land at a lower-than-market price despite the mosques links to some radical anti-American figures

The Cambridge-based mosque and satellite center announced its INDEFINITE CLOSING Friday.

Advocates of social media and crowd-sourcing have long touted its unrivaled power to gather huge amounts of information quickly in crisis situations. With tens of thousands of people on hand at the marathon, most armed with smartphones, the sheer volume of data available for analysis proved too tempting to ignore.

I feel like weve reached a certain threshold here the Internet is finally outstripping cable news completely, a poster using the handle PantsGrenades wrote on Reddit. In ct, I wonder if were inadvertently doing their work for them.

This is one of the most alarming social media events of our time, said Siva Vaidhyanathan, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia. Were really good at uploading images and unleashing amateurs, but were not good with the social norms that would protect the innocent.

ISB trustee Walid Fitaihi, who wrote that Jews would be punished for their oppression, murder and rape of the worshippers of Allah, helped BROKER the ISBs deal with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

According to Murray Jennex, a crisis management expert at San Diego State University, the huge influx of online voices enabled by social media can be extremely helpful because eye witnesses are holding cameras in almost every location.

Funeral for Krystle Campbell

So as the Boston Police Department engaged in a gunfight with the two brothers in Watertown, Mass., early Friday, tens of thousands of Web denizens tuned in to live streams of police scanners, furiously tapping notes and ideas into Reddit and Twitter.

Once the FBI released images of the actual suspects, things really got out of hand. Online gumshoes scoured the Web for ces that might match and illustrated their work with drawings, circles and other home-brewed CSI techniques.

There is zero, none, nada, zilch control available to anyone in positions of authority in social media. In ct, it exists at least in part to provide a cathartic outlet for the fevered imaginings of social misfits, thus giving them a steam pop-off safety valve so they dont vent those delusions in more dangerous/destructive ways.

Mondays bombings, the first major terrorist attack on American soil in the age of smartphones, Twitter and Facebook, provided an opportunity for everyone to get involved. Within seconds of the first explosion, the Internet was alive with the collective ideas and reactions of the masses.