SOCIAL platforms are scrambling to cope with the onslaught of political messages involving celebrity endorsements, bots and manipulated videos as the US election campaign is shaken up by Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg’s deep-pocketed efforts. The surge in questionable political content comes as online giants struggle to curb disinformation and foreign influence campaigns which came to prominence in the 2016 election. While Twitter has banned candidate ads and Facebook has moved for more transparency, none appear prepared for new digital efforts – including memes and paid endorsements – that skirt the rules to get campaign messages to as many people as…
Author: Loknath Das
New Delhi: The finance ministry’s decision to treat highway projects as a single entity that cannot be bifurcated into small packages could impact award of about 1,000 km of key infrastructure projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai and Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressways. As a norm, any public-private infrastructure project costing over Rs 2,000 crore is sent to the PPP Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) and then to the Cabinet for its nod. However, PPP projects up to Rs 2,000 crore are appraised and approved by the highways ministry’s Standing Finance Committee (SFC). To keep large projects under the finance ministry-set threshold, the highways ministry has been bifurcating large projects. But…
There’s ongoing research into how social media changes everything from our relationships to our opinions to our shopping habits. That all seems in play as these digital apps are designed to engage our intellects and emotions. Now, there’s growing concern over how that same technology affects the psyche and, as a result, the body. A human being is a gestalt, a total sum forged from the physical, the psychological and the emotional — and a new app examines how social media touches on all of the above. A new app explores the potentially troubling connection between social media and anxiety. NURPHOTO…
Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) has attracted 22 agencies for its social media tender, according to Gebiz. These include: -3-Sixty Brand Communications, -Acecom Technologies, -And Whyte, -EG+ Worldwide, -Formul8, -H.E.A, -I Concept Innovation, -In the Wild, -IPG Mediabrands Singapore, -KPMG Services, -Maven Potter, -MediaCom Singapore, -METIA, -Mindshare Singapore, -Mongoose Publishing, -One9Ninety, -Protocol, -Red2 Digital Singapore, -Reson8 Creative, -Thetriadco, -WS Group, -Zoo Communications. The appointed agency will be tasked to provide planning, managing, and monitoring of NEA’s Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter accounts, and its Telegram channel. This does not include campaign-specific social media accounts such as Clean & Green Singapore, the…
One of the world’s most popular software download sites was hijacked by hackers to deliver malware alongside commonly-used programs, researchers have claimed. According to a Dr. Web report, a link to download the free VSDC video converter tool from CNET’s website was compromised, instead forcing users to download a modified installer which came bundled with a trojan. This malware then allowed hackers to bypass the preinstalled antivirus programs installed on a victim’s device and take control of the system. VSDC download compromised The report claims that the hackers were able to compromise the downloads link on CNET’s site to target…
A new review of several studies shows the potentially harmful impact of social media use on teenagers. It confirms what many parents have long feared. The results in the Canadian Medical Association Journal finds social media use is linked to mental distress, self-harm and suicide. More than two hours of social media use a day is associated with higher rates of depression and suicidal thoughts in girls. In one study, girls reported feeling negative after 10 minutes of browsing Facebook. The more time, the greater the risk. It’s something 17-year-old Maya Behl can attest to. “I become more isolated when I’m on…
BIRMINGHAM : A recent study has suggested that people tend to consume more of either healthy or junk foods after being influenced by their peers. This phenomenon could be attributed to the posts people put up about their eating habits or the general state of health they portray through their social media profiles. The research published in the scientific journal ‘Appetite’ found that study participants ate an extra fifth of a portion of fruit and vegetables themselves for every portion they thought their social media peers ate. So, if they believed their friends got their ‘five a day’ of fruit and…
Across all age groups, one social media platform far outweighs all others in terms of use. Facebook is the most used (65%) social media platform in the nation across all age groups, according to a study by 5W Public Relations. YouTube ranks second in terms of use (39%), followed by Instagram (37%), Twitter (32%) and Snapchat (22%). When broken down into age categories, 77% of millennials surveyed said they are active on Facebook daily, with Instagram coming in second at 70%, followed by YouTube at 66%. Sixty-eight percent of Generation X are active on Facebook daily, followed by YouTube at…
Everywhere I look there seems to be another new social media platform popping up and taking the world by storm. Like many of you, I am always on the lookout for new ways to market to my customers. In this article, I will share three tips on how to effectively use media platforms to increase awareness of your business. 1. Use the right platforms. Before using any social media platform, it is important to make sure that your target customers actually use it. Selling hearing aids on Snapchat, for example, is probably not the best route. All effective marketing campaigns…
“Everybody is looking for instant approval and that’s why some artists compromise their artistic integrity and present what has already been showcased several times before, because they believe it would be commercial,” says Punkaj Manav, who believes people should not compromise their craft to become commercial. On a beautiful evening, I walked into an array of uniquely crafted pieces of art called ‘Intangible’ at Triveni Kalasangam gallery in Delhi. There were sculptors, paintings and sketches that were not defined to any structure or objective. They were simple, undulating formation of the artist’s mind expressed through moulds of ceramic and canvases.…