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nickgerlich · 3 years ago

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About Face

We just marked an important birthday a couple of days ago, and yet nary a word was mentioned in the news. Strangely, we all know who it is. It slid right by without so much as a mention, and, oddly enough, did not show up in our Notifications or in the right-hand pane on our screens.

Which is crazy when you consider that our birthday boy (or girl) was Facebook.

It was on 4th February 2004 that Mark Zuckerberg renamed a private network on the Harvard campus he and friends had started the previous October as FaceMash. On that winter day he rechristened it TheFacebook, a reference to the old-school paper directory, including names and faces, that students received each August. Heck, I even got a “facebook” when I spent two weeks at Harvard in 2009 in their Management Development Program for administrators.

Instead, the news was not worried about anniversaries and such, because there were much bigger fish to fry: Facebook is losing users, and parent company Meta shares tanked.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed TikTok, which now has one billion users. In contrast, Facebook notched 1.929 billion daily active users, down a few ticks from 1.93 billion the previous quarter.

OK, you’re probably thinking, “Isn’t that a negligible amount?” Once you insert all the zeros, it comes to 100,000 users who did not make Facebook part of their daily activities. But it’s enough to give pause to investors, analysts, and also Zuckerberg, because the greater implication is that Facebook has saturated its western markets, meaning North America and Europe.

Worse yet, the news comes at a time when Facebook has had a much tougher row to hoe selling ads. Thanks to Apple’s new policies making it harder to track iPhone users, Facebook estimates it costs them $10 billion in ad revenues. The nervousness is palpable.

Never mind that during COVID and the last election that social media in general, and specifically Facebook, became exhausting just to peruse, it’s easy to see why people don’t care like they once did. I’d wager to say many of us have fewer Facebook friends today than we did two years ago, in real life and online.

Fold in the growing discontent over all forms of eavesdropping and data collection, and you have the perfect recipe for an exodus. I’m becoming increasingly convinced someone implanted a chip in my arm to track my every thought.

But what are the costs of this exodus? For younger users, meaning Millennials and Gen-Z, they have likely not put as much time into curating their Facebook experience as have the Gen-X and Baby Boomer elders. I can attest to that, even though I do not spend anywhere near the time on the platform as I once did. I got tired of all the misinformation, Facebook “experts,” and all-out battles between folks who call themselves adults. Instead, I spend most of my time on Instagram, a much more benign platform that is also owned by Facebook.

In soft drink terms, I kind of migrated from Coca Cola Classic to Diet Coke, but admit to grabbing a few sips of the flagship anyway.

I doubt I would ever close my Facebook account, because I use it as my digital Rolodex. It’s how I stay in touch with people, if and when I need to, thanks to the companion Messenger platform. It’s much easier than trying to organize all those email contacts. Of course, if one of my Facebook friends decides to either unfriend me or close their account, I will no longer be able to find them on the remote chance I actually needed to reach them.

I find myself using Instagram’s version of Messenger the same way, but my friends and followers base on the two is extremely different. I guess I have not more than a five-percent overlap. Thus, I need both if only for connectivity purposes.

Still, Meta doesn’t make any money off my posts or messages. They only make it by selling ads, and if people start using the platform less or not at all, it’s going to cost the company money. Think about this. Meta, like Google, is just one gigantic advertising platform. Without it, they have no revenues, aside from Google’s premium cloud storage services. They live and die at the advertiser’s privilege.

So has the tide turned? Is Facebook going down? Not so fast there. It’s not going away any time soon, at least not as long as the Boomers and Gen-Xers are alive. That buys it another 30-50 years. And then I predict that Millennials and Gen-Zers will one day migrate to Facebook if only because it is the premier platform for organizing yourself into groups. These range from graduating cohorts to affinities that range from hobbies to personalities and companies. Try doing that anywhere else.

In other words, don’t panic just yet. The company will certainly have to roll with the changes before it, as does every firm. Evolve or die. And Zuckerberg will be dead and gone long before his baby ever faces the uncertainties of old age.

Dr “It’s Free And Always Will Be“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #Facebook #social media #Meta

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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The Week in Tech: New Decade, Same Old Trouble in Washington

Each week, we review the week’s news, offering analysis about the most important developments in the tech industry.WASHINGTON — Big Tech did not get the fresh start it had hoped for in the first full week of the new decade. Debate over political ads, privacy and the market power of the biggest companies were again front and center. And Facebook, the biggest target of criticism, picked up where it left off at the end of last year.Hi, I’m Cecilia Kang. I write for The New York Times about the tech industry’s often fraught relationship with the regulators and lawmakers of Washington.Facebook’s tough week kicked off with a Times report on an internal company post by Andrew Bosworth, a senior executive of Facebook and a self-described liberal, who warned against actions that could thwart President Trump in the 2020 election. The post, obtained by Kevin Roose, Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac, was a winding, 2,500-word essay in defense of the social network and Mark Zuckerberg’s stance on free expression — including misinformation — in political speech.The post from Mr. Bosworth, known as Boz and one of Mr. Zuckerberg’s closest lieutenants, didn’t sit well with many employees who had grown uncomfortable with the company’s hands-off approach. Other big social media companies, notably Twitter and Google, have set limits or outrightly banned political ads. Mr. Bosworth admitted Facebook probably helped elect Mr. Trump. But he said it was not for the reasons critics say. It wasn’t Facebook’s reckless handling of data, which allowed Cambridge Analytica to create psychographic profiles of voters, that did it. It was Facebook’s platform for targeted advertising that was so influential in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump, he said, used that platform better than anyone.Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic explained why Mr. Bosworth’s internal post was so divisive in “Why Facebook’s Id is showing.” Mr. Bosworth argued that Facebook did not really need to change. After all, it’s not tobacco, he said. It’s more like sugar — not so bad if you don’t consume too much of it.The next day, Facebook was caught up on in an odd kerfuffle over a glowing article about five Facebook managers charged with defeating disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. The article, oddly, appeared in Teen Vogue without a byline. Why was Teen Vogue publishing an uncritical look at Facebook’s election integrity efforts?It got weirder. A label was added that tagged the story as “sponsored” editorial. Then the label disappeared. Then the story disappeared. I dug into the mystery with my colleague Rachel Abrams. The article was, in fact, a piece of paid content. Teen Vogue and Facebook both said the labeling fracas was all a big misunderstanding.On Thursday, Facebook was back to serious news: It released its policy on political ads, cementing a decision to allow lies by politicians to go unchecked and for campaigns to micro-target those ads to specific audiences.The reaction was swift and partisan. The Trump campaign lauded the policy and other Republicans said it was an affirmation of free speech. Democrats, including the leading member of the Federal Election Commission, were angry, and said the decision was nothing short of a threat to democracy.

Will the encryption fight get rebooted?

The F.B.I. and Apple have reignited their battle over encryption. As reported by Jack Nicas and Katie Benner, the F.B.I. asked Apple for the data on two iPhones that belonged to the gunman in the shooting last month at a naval base in Pensacola, Fla., possibly setting up another showdown over law enforcement’s access to smartphones.This is an old battle, covered almost three years ago by Katie and Matt Apuzzo, now a European investigative reporter for The Times. At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over user privacy and national security, and we’ll be watching closely how this plays out.

Sonos take Google to court

Antitrust enforcement of Big Tech will be a central focus for Washington regulators. And competitors are taking notice. Sonos filed a lawsuit against Google in two federal courts. As reported by Jack Nicas and Daisuke Wakabayashi, the speaker company claims Google stole its secrets and used its market dominance to develop lower-priced speakers to squash competition. The case has the attention of a congressional committee investigating competition violations by Big Tech. On Jan. 17, the antitrust subcommittee of the House plans to take a road trip to Boulder, Colo, where Patrick Spence, the chief executive of Sonos, is expected testify.

Some stories you shouldn’t miss

How are we doing?We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected] this email?Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Read the full article

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duaneodavila · 6 years ago

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Losing Your Brand Identity: How To Commit Trademark Genericide Without Really Trying

Trampoline. Aspirin. Escalator. You know these terms with respect to a fabric springboard, headache pills, and moving stairs respectively, but these examples all have one thing in common — they were once valuable trademarks of the goods they represented. Oddly, one would think that the general acceptance of a term with respect to goods or services would be a good thing, but in actuality, acceptance that rises to the level of identification with the specific good or service (as opposed to the source of such goods or services) is the death knell for trademarks. There are many reasons why this “genericide” can happen, but in the end, the result is always the same — the loss of valuable intellectual property that can be devastating to the trademark owner.

Although operating to distinguish the goods and/or services of one company from those of another, trademarks serve as valuable source identifiers to the consuming public. Think about it — when you hear “Coca-Cola,” you immediately associate the term with a well-known soft drink. The same is true with the logo of an apple, which has become associated over time with Apple Computer Corporation and its wide range of computers and mobile devices. Whether inherently distinctive or otherwise acquiring such distinctiveness over time, their operation as source identifiers are seminal to their value.

Sometimes, such terms simply are so descriptive that they cannot serve as source identifiers (think “corn flakes” or “oat bran”). These are not the focus here (we’ll leave those for another time). When such names, terms, or other descriptors no longer operate to serve as identifiers, then they can no longer operate as trademarks. This is the “gist” of becoming generic — the trademarks lose their ability to operate as source identifiers because the consuming public no longer associates them with the original goods or services. This is what happened with the trademarks mentioned above, as well as a host of others — they became so well known that the consuming public “merged” the trademark with identifying the goods themselves. To the extent others produced and sold the goods, these trademarks lost their trademark status over time.

Steps can be taken to prevent trademarks from becoming “genericized,” but it seems that the efforts necessary to do so are somewhat proportional to the level of acceptance. Just ask Xerox Corporation — finding that the consuming public was using its trademark “Xerox” to refer to the photocopies created by their photocopiers, the company took action on a number of fronts, implementing a marketing campaign designed to walk-back such use. For example, on of their advertisements read, “When you use ‘Xerox’ the way you use ‘aspirin,’ we get a headache.” It was a catchy way to handle a touchy situation, and has worked for the company. The owners of the registered trademarks Kleenex, Rollerblade, and Tabasco took similar actions (and quite frankly, should continue to do so). Sadly, not everyone has been so lucky (just ask Otis Elevator — the original trademark owner of the term “escalator”).

There are many steps a trademark owner can take to avoid trademark genericide, but they will depend upon the circumstances. That said, some things can be done that are common to all trademark owners, and all are strongly recommended:

Never Use Trademarks as Nouns. This may seem axiomatic, but you would be stunned how many brand owners make this mistake. When building a brand, the mark should always be used as an adjective to describe the good or service (think Thermos insulated containers), and never to describe the good or service itself (a thermos). This step is one of the simplest to implement, but in practice seems more difficult to oversee. Make sure your trademark policies reflect such requirements, anymore importantly, ensure the proper level of oversight to ensue they are followed.

Watch for Improper Licensee Uses.

Having policies is one thing; making sure they are followed is another. Marketing must be consistent in use of the marks both within the company (and any affiliates) as well as with trademark licensees. Since

all trademark licenses require some level of quality control by the licensor to be valid

, it is essential that the company implement appropriate licensee oversight. This can take the form of more stringent requirements (such as prior review and written consent from the licensor before using marketing materials containing the trademark(s)) to more general oversight requirements (such as audit of marketing materials and a process for correction when problems are identified by the licensor). In any event, policy enforcement is a must and cannot be ignored.

Avoid Being Lulled by Success. The old maxim “don’t let success get to your head” applies equally well to the trademark owner. As trademarks become well-known, it is easy to take ones eye off the ball and bask in the acceptance of the brand in the marketplace; however, it is at this point that a trademark owner must be most vigilant! As popularity increases, the risks of losing brand identity increase as well. Trademark owners have a duty to police their trademarks, so there are no excuses here — ensuring proper usage should be part of any trademark policing policy.

I understand the difficulties presented by policing trademark uses — it’s difficult to shape use by the consuming public (especially when a brand has achieved a certain level of success and acceptance). That said, brand owners simply can’t ignore the problem and hope for the best. Doing nothing is an absolute recipe for the disaster, and one headache that no aspirin will fix.

Tom Kulik is an Intellectual Property & Information Technology Partner at the Dallas-based law firm of Scheef & Stone, LLP. In private practice for over 20 years, Tom is a sought-after technology lawyer who uses his industry experience as a former computer systems engineer to creatively counsel and help his clients navigate the complexities of law and technology in their business. News outlets reach out to Tom for his insight, and he has been quoted by national media organizations. Get in touch with Tom on Twitter (@LegalIntangibls) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/technologylawyer), or contact him directly at [email protected].

Losing Your Brand Identity: How To Commit Trademark Genericide Without Really Trying republished via Above the Law

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michellelewis7162 · 5 years ago

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An Instruction course In Miracles - Transforming Lifestyles and also Precisely Exactly how it Aids You Release Remorse

A Course in Miracles is really hence pure, so splendid, as a result strong, in addition to for that reason a whole lot much more spiritually modern than any kind of sort of numerous other item of the globe's literary works (past along with discovered), that you possess to in reality adventure it to think it. That is actually surely not considering that A Course in Miracles is actually challenging - on the opposite its own ideas are really unbelievably fundamental - however, relatively considering that it is actually the nature of metaphysical understanding that those that are in fact certainly not prepared to understand it, merely may not recognize it. A Course In Miracles

Due to the fact that I initially ended up being educated of the magnificent as well as additionally stunning presence of God, I have actually valued reading many fantastic spiritual tasks like the Bible (my beloved components are the Sermon on the Mount and also Psalms), the Bhagavad-Gita, the Upanishads, the Koran and additionally the poems of Kabir and likewise Rumi. None happen near to the success of a Course in Miracles. Reading it along with an open thoughts as well as facility, your concerns and anxieties do away with. You come across a splendid love deep-seated within you - a lot deeper than just about just about anything you understood in the past. The potential starts to seem to become therefore lustrous for you and your actually loved ones. You feel love for everyone including those you just recently have in fact made an effort to leave behind left out. These adventures are exceptionally highly effective as well as at possibilities chuck you off harmony a little bit of, nonetheless it is in fact worth it: A Course in Miracles launches you to an affection thus calm, for this reason universal and consequently solid - you will definitely ask yourself merely exactly how loads of the planet's religions, whose objective is really apparently an equivalent knowledge, acquired for that reason off monitor.

I have actually visited the scriptures great deals of opportunities in addition to I guarantee you that a Course in Miracles is absolutely consistent with Jesus' trainings while he got on planet. A Course in Miracles reveals Jesus' right information: legitimate passion for * all people *. If they sample as enjoyable as my personal perform, as well as also the numerous various other accurate candidates that have located A Course in Miracles to become in fact completely nothing lower than a lovely gem, at that point congratses - and may your center frequently be actually nicely stuffed together with unwinded, nurturing pleasure.

As the label signifies, A Course in Miracles is actually a coach unit complimentary details. It teaches us what is true and additionally what is unreal, as well as leads us to the direct know-how of our extremely personal Inner Teacher.

The Course is set up in 3 components: a sms message, a manual for pupils as well as additionally a handbook for educators. The Text presents the principles underlying the Course. The book includes 365 daily treatments that offer students the possibility to carry out and also experience the suggestions on a reliable volume. The educator's guide exists in a worry as well as response style, attending to standard questions that a trainee may inquire; it similarly gives an explanation of problems made use of throughout the Course.

On How whatever Began

The absolutely free of charge information Course was actually made through david hoffmeister, incredibly trained and efficient Professors of Psychology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and additionally Surgeons in New York City. Helen was in fact the assistant for the Course, comprising down in shorthand the inner notifications she obtained. It took a total of seven years to complete A Course in Miracles, which was first posted in 1976 in the United States.

Over recent 34 years, the recognition of A Course in Miracles has actually established in addition to distributed globally. It has actually been in fact converted in to 18 various international languages as well as likewise added interpretations dwell in the works. Throughout the world, individuals pick up along with other similar students to read the Course along with each other thus as to far better comprehend the Course's notification. Within this period of likewise social as well as electronic media, A Course in Miracles may easily be really obtained in digital publication style, on Compact Disc, along with by means of apple iphone Apps. You may quickly hang out together with various other Course apprentices on Facebook, Yahoo Groups, Twitter, as well as various other web sites.

Experiencing the Course

The Course is actually produced to come to be a self-study unit by means of david hoffmeister. Many pupils uncover that their 1st communication with the part is hard as well as also overwhelming - the improvement in view that it provides is contrary to normal thinking. Taking an advertising instruction lesson along with a proficient business or perhaps teacher permits for a gentler setting to these originalities and likewise an additional appointment experience.

There are in fact a ton of courses and also core curricula located upon the technique of A Course in Miracles, as well as even particular classes on necessary Course ideas, such as True Forgiveness or even Cause in addition to Effect. Such courses deliver trainees the odds to experience the tip as well as use certain element far more considerably. Via such ingrained knowledge, a number of students find out the peace of mind of inner calmness and additionally the delight of understanding the Inner Teacher.

" This Course is a start, not a side ... No even more certain trainings are in fact designated, for there goes away necessity of all of them. Henceforth, listen to however, the Voice for God ... He will most definitely route your initiatives, telling you exactly what to accomplish, just how to deliver your thoughts, in addition to when to happen to Him in muteness, requesting His sure directions as well as also His specific Word (Workbook, p. 487).

They locate that they involve a brand new understanding of forgiveness when folks take advantage of the instructions discovered out as properly as the concepts of A Course In Miracles. When you conduct absolutely not eliminate, they are actually capable to study and also recognize why you harm your very own personal and also others.

The one who requires to forgive is actually affected equally a great deal as the one that needs to have to be actually forgiven, if undoubtedly not more intensely! You can easily eliminate the perpetrator whether he consults with for mercy or even not. This will certainly be the extremely initial of the magics that is provided and also survived the energy of mercy determined coming from A Course In Miracles.

Over 40 years back, a psycho therapist coming from Columbia University began to carry findings from a religious facility that she was in fact encouraged was actually Jesus themself. She as well as also her aides produced trainings that filled countless uninhabited website over a timespan of 7 years which in the future wound up being actually "A Course In Miracles."

A hallmark of the ACIM course is that wicked on its own carries out undoubtedly not exist. The ACIM advisors prompt that through informing your thoughts appropriately, you can effortlessly learn that there is really no such element as monstrous, and likewise that it is simply a perception or even the main thing that other individuals have really specified as much as inhibit as well as likewise manage the actions and also notions of those who are actually certainly not capable of assuming for on their own. ACIM firmly insists that the only trait that performs exist is in fact real enthusiasm and also that innocent notions as well as emotionally excellent thinking will undoubtedly not make it possible for almost just about anything like evil to exist.

These pointers as well as likewise looks at upset many individuals that concerned a lot of the substantial faiths because, while they espoused a lot of the very same guidelines, this training course also looked for to have individuals strongly believe that improbity is in fact surely not real and also for that reason transgression is additionally unreal. ACIM by itself helps make an initiative to possess people believe in the sanctity as well as likewise an excellent concept views and also practices as well as also in the easy reality that nothing at all whatsoever can quickly hurt you unless you presume that it can. Alternative authorizations were user-friendly onto these concepts given that many of the New Age religions are in fact located out inappropriate in addition to atonement yet the energy of one's extremely personal thought and feelings and additionally sense.

ACIM carries out offer some trainings about exactly how to clear on your own of destroying and also dismayed feelings that are swamping your life along with issues as well as building condition and also hardship daily. A Course In Miracles coaches you that you are in fact responsible for these sensations as well as they are actually only wounding you. Because of that, it depends upon you to free each one of them arising from your way of life for your private pleasure and contentment and prosperity.

A Course in Miracles is a compilation of self-study components launched due to the Foundation for Inner Peace. The publication's internet material generalises, as well as likewise reveals forgiveness as placed on daily online. Oddly, no place carries out the report have an author (as well as it is actually thus detailed without a writer's name because of the U.S. Library of Congress). Possessing mentioned that, the text was actually made through Helen Schucman (deceased) and also William Thetford; Schucman has related that guide's material is actually based upon interactions to her arising from an "code of conduct" she stated was Jesus. The initial variation of the magazine was in fact released in 1976, along with a modified model discharged in 1996. Component of the component is a teaching resource, as well as additionally an apprentice book. Given that the quite initial version, the guidebook has actually provided various million matches, along with translations into nearly two-dozen foreign languages.

The book's starts might be mapped back to the very early 1970s; Helen Schucman very first experiences along with the "conscience" created her at that point manager, William Thetford, to seek advice from Hugh Cayce at the Association for Research as well as Enlightenment. Ultimately, an introduction to Kenneth Wapnick (eventually the book's publisher) occurred. At the moment of the summary, Wapnick was actually clinical psycho therapist. After visit, Schucman and Wapnik committed over a year changing the part and also tweaking. An added introductory, this chance of Schucman, Wapnik, in addition to Thetford to Robert Skutch as well as Judith Skutch Whitson, of the Foundation for Inner Peace. The 1st publishings of quick guide for flow continued to be in 1975. Since, copyright lawsuits as a result of the Foundation for Inner Peace, and also Penguin Books, has built that the web material of the quite 1st version stays in everybody domain.

A Course in Miracles is an instruction device; the instruction program has 3 publications, a 622-page text, a 478-page trainee workbook, and likewise an 88-page instructors travel book. The internet content of A Course in Miracles deals with both the scholastic and also the functional, although procedure of the magazine's element is anxious. Not either the book neither the Course in Miracles is really meant to complete the audiences's discovering; only, the components are really a begin.

A Course in Miracles differentiates in between understanding and additionally view; reality is likewise endless and in fact stiff, while perspective is actually the planet of chance, modification, and additionally analysis. The planet of belief improves the rampant recommendations in our minds, and additionally keeps our company separate originating from the simple fact, and likewise different originating from God.

Social media seems like everything in this world, i.e., forecasted notion as well as sensations alongside the relevant information of the vanity improper thoughts. Internet attacks in the location for A Course in Miracles (ACIM) are via the numerous viewpoints, quotes and also different other posts wherein our business respond to our analysis which then winds up being actually the recognition for our response (T-12. I. 1) or even our trigger for posting, and so forth. All pupils have a conventional difficulty in between kind as well as material along with what it signifies to sign up with hence allow's certainly not sugar coating it: Social media is really forms (predicted material of the self-pride incorrect thoughts) from supplementing the inaccurate thoughts. Coming from the start it is really a collection of attacks till our crew forgive in addition to begin figuring out (joining) along with the appropriate thoughts.

Even in the Course, our specialists all unwind online in addition to some form of a digital gadget mindlessly performing our ego aspect. Okay, some might be standing, lazing or even pitching:

Resting all over as well as likewise describing the Course is certainly not the very same aspect as executing the initiative of researching the text and additionally placing the guidelines right into process to determine what the Course suggests (Kenneth Wapnick, Rules for Decision).

In the very same Rules, Wapnick additionally points out, "What provides the self-pride its very own energy is your having in fact followed it, your identification coming from it." Forms are actually forecasted as a defense versus the contrary and additionally are merely in addition to the self-pride improper mind and also thus they carry out surely not matter.

Given that socials media is in fact all worrying styles which are actually ragged estimations of the narcissism, our staff are in fact afterwards viewing the Sonship as shabby that produces the miscalculation authentic. Specialness is actually valued as an idolizer set up before the Love of God along with those pertained to differences sustain the splitting up psychological. Undoubtedly any type of kind of faulty feature our team evaluate in an extra online (or even anywhere) ought to be actually discovered in every of the Sonship considering that our staff're definitely One actually. That is in fact why attack isn't distinct as well as should be surrendered (T-7. VI.1).

Specific methods, "Also certain and one by one distinct." All strike in any kind of form of type is the precise same as well as is signified to split the of the Sonship because of the reality that it strikes (fragments) the Sonship using variants as opposed to parity. Our company may observe why Wapnick will definitely state that it is crazy to utilize the Course as an item when it is actually exactly a Course found in uniformity.

Let's include set of a variety of other words emblematic depiction analyses looking at that these are in fact each made use of throughout the Course:

Display: Clearly reveal the lifestyle or perhaps fact of one thing via giving evidence and even evidence.

Tip: A point that causes somebody to consider something.

Unloving Reminders

In the Course, "To coach is to present (M-in.2) along with we are in fact frequently coaching, or perhaps validating the self-pride or even God every flash, i.e., the contented ideas alongside which our crew have actually gone with to identify or even sign up with. For comparison, the web content of the self-pride is several predicted and various kinds; and also the info of the best thoughts is in fact oneness, uniformity, i.e., Love (no projections).

Our siblings are part of folks. They are actually the ones who reveal our business that our company are actually for our finding is a result of what our experts have actually enlightened each of all of them (T-9. VI.3) - the self-pride or even God - routinely. As the daydreamer of the aspiration (T-27. VII.), our goal amounts (those online in addition to our team and also our brothers) are actually executing what our experts are actually thinking they are actually carrying out based upon what our group've instructed (verified). They are actually innocent thinking about that it is our need. Our pros showed splitting up or a bloodthirsty strike thought versus God subsequently our specialists all demonstrate mentioned strike in a lot of ragged kinds. Yet if our staff eliminate ourselves of what our business have actually shown (picked) in contrast to assaulting, we find who our firm are through our brother or sisters who are actually the same.

Throughout the globe, individuals collect along with various other comparable students to go through the Course along with each various other therefore as to better understand the Course's message. Within this time frame of digital as well as also social media, A Course in Miracles can quickly be actually gotten in digital publication format, on Compact Disc, as well as through means of apple iphone Apps. There are really a whole lot of lessons as properly as core curricula based upon the approach of A Course in Miracles, and also even specific lessons on necessary Course suggestions, such as True Forgiveness or also Cause as effectively as Effect. A Course in Miracles is actually an instruction unit; the training program has 3 publications, a 622-page text information, a 478-page trainee book, as well as also an 88-page instructors guide book. Our company might find why Wapnick will certainly specify that it is outrageous to use the Course as a weapon when it's accurately a Course situated in uniformity.

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biofunmy · 5 years ago

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The Week in Tech: New Decade, Same Old Trouble in Washington

Each week, we review the week’s news, offering analysis about the most important developments in the tech industry.

WASHINGTON — Big Tech did not get the fresh start it had hoped for in the first full week of the new decade. Debate over political ads, privacy and the market power of the biggest companies were again front and center. And Facebook, the biggest target of criticism, picked up where it left off at the end of last year.

Hi, I’m Cecilia Kang. I write for The New York Times about the tech industry’s often fraught relationship with the regulators and lawmakers of Washington.

Facebook’s tough week kicked off with a Times report on an internal company post by Andrew Bosworth, a senior executive of Facebook and a self-described liberal, who warned against actions that could thwart President Trump in the 2020 election.

The post, obtained by Kevin Roose, Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac, was a winding, 2,500-word essay in defense of the social network and Mark Zuckerberg’s stance on free expression — including misinformation — in political speech.

The post from Mr. Bosworth, known as Boz and one of Mr. Zuckerberg’s closest lieutenants, didn’t sit well with many employees who had grown uncomfortable with the company’s hands-off approach. Other big social media companies, notably Twitter and Google, have set limits or banned political ads outright.

Mr. Bosworth admitted Facebook probably helped elect Mr. Trump. But he said it was not for the reasons critics said. It wasn’t Facebook’s reckless handling of data, which allowed Cambridge Analytica to create psychographic profiles of voters, that did it. It was Facebook’s platform for targeted advertising that was so influential in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump, he said, used that platform better than anyone.

Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic explained why Mr. Bosworth’s internal post was so divisive in “Why Facebook’s Id is showing.” Mr. Bosworth argued that Facebook did not really need to change. After all, it’s not tobacco, he said. It’s more like sugar — not so bad if you don’t consume too much of it.

The next day, Facebook was caught up in an odd kerfuffle over a glowing article about five Facebook managers charged with defeating disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. The article, oddly, appeared in Teen Vogue without a byline. Why was Teen Vogue publishing an uncritical look at Facebook’s election integrity efforts?

It got weirder. A label was added that tagged the story as “sponsored” editorial. Then the label disappeared. Then the story disappeared.

I dug into the mystery with my colleague Rachel Abrams. The article was, in fact, a piece of paid content. Teen Vogue and Facebook both said the labeling fracas was all a big misunderstanding.

On Thursday, Facebook was back to serious news: It released its policy on political ads, cementing a decision to allow lies by politicians to go unchecked and for campaigns to micro-target those ads to specific audiences.

The reaction was swift and partisan. The Trump campaign lauded the policy and other Republicans said it was an affirmation of free speech. Democrats, including the leading member of the Federal Election Commission, were angry, and said the decision was nothing short of a threat to democracy.

Will the encryption fight be rebooted?

This is an old battle, covered almost three years ago by Katie and Matt Apuzzo, now a European investigative reporter for The Times. At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over user privacy and national security, and we’ll be watching closely how this plays out.

Sonos takes Google to court

Antitrust enforcement of Big Tech will be a central focus for Washington regulators. And competitors are taking notice. Sonos sued Google in two federal courts. As reported by Jack Nicas and Daisuke Wakabayashi, the speaker company claims Google stole its secrets and used its market dominance to develop lower-priced speakers to squash competition.

The case has the attention of a congressional committee investigating competition violations by Big Tech. Next Friday, the antitrust subcommittee of the House plans to take a road trip to Boulder, Colo., where Patrick Spence, the chief executive of Sonos, is expected testify.

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jessette20 · 6 years ago

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social-listening-report-related-topics-hashtags

Between brand spankin’ new ad formats and its ever-changing algorithm, Facebook is getting its fair share of buzz right now.

You know what often flies under the radar for marketers on Facebook, though?

Hashtags on Facebook.

Despite introducing hashtags on Facebook in 2015, the site itself has been relatively quiet in regard to how exactly they work and what marketers should do with them in recent years.

In 1967, the Porsche 911 R was built for use in motorsport. Weighing 800 kg, it had a 6-cylinder, naturally-aspirated…

Posted by Porsche on Friday, June 15, 2018

But if you’re wondering if hashtags still have a place on Facebook and whether or not they still work, the answer is a definite “yes.”

Night and day versus the likes of Twitter and Instagram, hashtags on Facebook have a unique function and brands need to take special care when using them.

And so if hashtags on Facebook have left you scratching your head, you’re not alone. In this guide, we’re going to break them down for you piece by piece.

Should You Worry About Hashtags on Facebook?

Let’s start with the elephant in the room.

Should you bother with hashtags on Facebook?

Facebook themselves haven’t updated their own guidelines for hashtags since 2016, which has left marketers to pick up the slack to figure out best practices themselves. Meanwhile, there is no cut and dry answer as to whether or not hashtags significantly increase or decrease engagement.

Given that Facebook’s ideal character limit is relatively low (between 40 and 80 characters), your post captions represent valuable where it pays to be economical with words. As such, there isn’t as much room for hashtags unlike Instagram or Twitter where marketers tend to pack ’em in.

You’ll also notice that brands are fairly split when it comes to using hashtags on Facebook. While some brands totally ignore them, other big players add them posts as they see fit.

Happy #Pride from #teamwarby! 💙🌈

Posted by Warby Parker on Sunday, June 24, 2018

Here’s the deal: brands typically don’t post hashtags “just because.” As is the case with any piece of your social media strategy, there are some distinct reasons why hashtags on Facebook make sense.

The Need for Social Listening

Social listening represents one of the biggest social media trends of 2018 for good reason.

Brands what to know what terms their followers are buzzing about and likewise what topics they’re interested in. If posts surrounding a certain hashtag or campaign perform well, that’s a direct signal to keep that topic in heavy rotation. Although tracking hashtags may seem more straightforward on Twitter or Instagram, keeping an eye on trends on Facebook is also a smart move for brands.

Hashtags Make Your Posts Searchable

Facebook hashtags are a nice touch from a search perspective, allowing you to get more eyes on your brand’s posts. Considering that Facebook handles billions of searches per day, categorizing your content for search just plain makes sense.

Likewise, hashtags can help highlight specific campaigns or posts your followers might be interested in.

For example, Ipsy‘s #CrashTestBeauties campaign is a shining example of Facebook hashtags in action. The brand tacks the tag on to each of their beauty testing videos for particular products.

We Tried a Microblading Brow Marker Pen | Crash Test Beauties

A microblade brow marker exists and it's temporary, AND pain-free! || #ipsy #CrashTestBeauties

Posted by ipsy on Tuesday, June 26, 2018

And if you were totally new to the campaign or series, clicking the hashtag leads you directly to previous videos in the same series so you can check out more.

Hashtags Make Your Posts More Interactive

While comparing Facebook to Instagram might be apples and oranges, posts on the latter with hashtags receive 12.6% more engagement than those without them.

In addition to following a link or providing a specific call to action, hashtags give followers an extra incentive to interact with your posts in some way, shape or form. Again, scoring those hashtag clicks could clue you on the sorts of content people actually want to read in the future.

But How Do Hashtags on Facebook Work?

Great question!

Compared to Twitter, Facebook uses a fairly similar algorithm for distinct URL tracking with hashtags. But Facebook uses hashtags to group or categorize conversations between people.

Simply search for the hashtag in the Facebook search bar with the “#” symbol. However, this doesn’t work perfectly all the time for quick searches. In this example, we searched “#worldcup,” which brought up some recent relevant posts with a lot of engagement.

Meanwhile, the Facebook.com/Hashtag/worldcup search method brings a more precise page results that shows recent mentions from friends and other highly-shared content. Now we can see all the relevant posts surrounding “#worldcup” on Facebook.

While Twitter might show you every recent Tweet with the hashtag, Facebook can bring up different information. This puts all the more emphasis on using hashtags correctly on Facebook because it’s not quite like the wild west of Twitter.

The Best Practices of Hashtags on Facebook

If you’re looking to experiment with hashtags on Facebook, it pays to understand the platform’s best practices.

How many hashtags are optimal? What are some examples of popular hashtags on Facebook?

Great question! Let’s take a moment to dive into the specifics of effective tagging.

Branded and Popular Hashtags

Much like Twitter or Instagram, marketers use both branded (#SproutSocial) and popular social community (#MotivationMonday) tags to tack on their posts.

Single tags such as the example noted above are safe bets as they don’t distract from your post and likewise allow you to pop up via search.

What about brands, though?

Well, if you’re trying to creating a hashtag or push a hashtag that your audience will come to associate with your content, it’s important to be consistent.

As such, Orlando City Soccer Club promotes #VamosOrlando is just about every piece of content they post. Such a tag is simple, clean and easy to remember.

July 7th is going to be one incredible day of soccer. #VamosOrlando Details | https://orlan.do/2JLSAw9

Posted by Orlando City Soccer Club on Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Newsjacking and Topical Content

From sporting events such as the World Cup to #NationalDonutDay, hashtags are totally fair game for topical content.

As long as you’re posting tasteful and relevant content related to an event, you may very well score some extra attention to your post by tacking on a tag. For example, this #NationalSelfieDay post from Power Rangers was one of the top results for the tag, oddly enough.

Work it, Ranger Nation! #NationalSelfieDay

Posted by Power Rangers on Thursday, June 21, 2018

Creativity and Humor Count, Too

Given that hashtags on Facebook are used sparingly for some brands, it’s not uncommon to see them used satirical or as a bit of a joke.

For example, brands like Redbubble randomly tack on nonsensical and humorous tags to their posts from time to time.

#UNHhhh 👑 Check out the sticky and sweet typography design by @hoare.c at https://rdbl.co/2Jwf2x2 🍯

Posted by Redbubble on Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Got a humorous hashtag in mind? If it’s in line with your brand, go for it.

This one goes out to all the cat moms and dads out there. 😻 Check out the meowgical Tote Bag at https://rdbl.co/2xMIwkS Cute kitty not included. 🐾 #caturday

Posted by Redbubble on Saturday, June 23, 2018

Take a ‘Less is More’ Approach (Hint: #Don’t #Do #This)

If you take a look at the majority of the posts highlighted here, you’ll notice that most of them only use a single hashtag.

That’s no accident!

Based on research on how to use hashtags, maximum engagement occurs on Facebook when only one tag is present.

This is a far cry from Instagram where you might see someone slap dozens of tags on their posts.

When in doubt, think “less is more.” It’s much better to use one well-placed tag versus spamming your followers with a flurry of them. You’ll rarely see more than one or two hashtags used by big brands, if you do they’re usually nestled within the post rather than hanging on their own at the end of it.

Be Mindful With Facebook Hashtags When Scheduling & Reposting Content

On a related note, it’s always a good idea to switch up your hashtag strategy based on the best platforms of whatever network you’re posting to.

This means taking special care when you’re scheduling your content.

For example, let’s look at how Adobe takes a piece of content and tailors it for multiple networks. Here’s a recent post from their Instagram page:

It’s a wrap. #CannesLions is over, and so is our #DiverseVoices visual series from the event. Swipe for the highlights on what the creative community had to say about the importance of reflecting diversity in advertising in this collaborative collage by our Creative Residents @Temi.Coker and @LauraZalenga. For a closer look at the work and/or to grab a downloadable poster version of this series, 👀 link in bio.

A post shared by Adobe (@adobe) on Jun 25, 2018 at 11:33am PDT

In the comment section, Adobe adds a number of additional tags such as #diversity and #graphic dozen among a dozen others. And hey, that’s perfectly cool for Instagram.

Yet check out the same post on Facebook and note the two tags by themselves:

#CannesLions may have ended last week, but the conversation on #DiverseVoices keeps going. Take a look at what the…

Posted by Adobe on��Monday, June 25, 2018

The takeaway here? Stick the best practices of your platform.

And while double-dipping your content totally makes sense, so does tailoring your captions accordingly. That’s why tools such as Sprout’s social scheduling are so valuable as you can fine-tune your posts ahead of time and make sure you’re getting your hashtags straight.

The Importance of Hashtag Analytics

And to wrap all of this up, think about hashtags as a whole when it comes to your social strategy.

Hashtags should cross among platforms so you can better track the overall social media engagement on each word or phrase you use. Your ultimate goal should be to become more searchable on Facebook and hashtags can help you get there.

You can even use tools such as Hashtagify.me, which finds relevant or trending hashtags based on your search. This makes it easier to plan your hashtags strategically, whether you plan to use them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or all three.

But doing all of this takes planning. Like any social media campaign, you want to have an end goal with your research. With the help of Sprout Social, you not only have a pulse on your Facebook interactions and impressions, but detailed analytics to back up your Facebook decisions.

Our powerful Facebook analytics tools allow you to identify your best content, whether it’s videos, images or Facebook hashtags. Detailed reports give you post-level insights on your engaged users by comments, shares and reach. The fully integrated platform is a must for social businesses and to help brands manage one or several Facebook Pages all within the same Smart Inbox.

How Are You Using Hashtags on Facebook?

Although not the be-all, end-all of your Facebook presence, hashtags still have their time and place on the platform.

In a day and age where competition to get noticed is so fierce, any data point or opportunity to interact with your follower is a plus, right? If nothing else, hashtags give marketers something to experiment and, hey, who knows what Facebook might have around the corner for hashtags in the future.

We want to hear from you, though! How do you feel about hashtags on Facebook? Yay or nay? Let us know in the comments below.

This post How Hashtags on Facebook Still Work for Businesses originally appeared on Sprout Social.

from http://bit.ly/2KsidX5

#Social Media Marketing

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

Text

How The Fashion World Glamorizes Rape, Abuse, And Murder

Outside of a Zoolander situation, the fashion industry is about as dangerous as wearing plaid with stripes (that is, once you’re past the production phase). Or that’s what you might think if it’s been a while since you’ve thumbed through a filthy Vogue at the dentist. Contemporary fashion advertising is all about beautiful lifeless women, usually lying in puddles of artfully applied grime and contorted into broken, corpse-like sprawls.

Lula Called the “The dog got the Barbie” pose by industry insiders.

It doesn’t always bother with subtlety:

CBS Season 1 Walking Dead corpses were less messed up.

Some of these images, like this shot from a series called Pretty Wasted, can be hard to distinguish from real crime scene photos. But damn, that jacket, though.

Fabien Baron Marc Jacobs: vomit- and blood-resistant!

This is such a widely accepted theme in fashion that America’s Next Top Model ran an episode dedicated to it. The models were “killed” in different ways — stabbed, mangled, electrocuted, etc. Real … beautiful stuff?

To be fair, half of The CW is about lusting for the undead.

The judges didn’t say, “Wait a second … are we making snuff porn?” at any point. Instead they offered comments like “Very beautiful, and dead” or “Death becomes you, young lady.” They even scolded one of the models for not looking dead enough. To be fair, that’s been about 75 percent of a model’s job since the early ’90s or so. (The other 25 percent is “smizing,” and please do not question how we know that.)

The trend is oddly popular right now, but it’s not new. Renowned fashion photographer Guy Bordain shot this for a calendar in 1980:

Happy hemophilia awareness month!

Like other media, necrophiliac fashion photography is governed by a set of well-defined, ghoulish rules. If there’s a man in the shot, he’ll have a creepily calm, methodical expression. There’s no anger on his face, and definitely no remorse. He isn’t somebody who would kill a woman in a fit of rage; he’s a focused and psychopathic killer. Take this Duncan Quinn ad from 2008. The guy’s expression of mild, indifferent surprise would be more at home on the face of a man who’s just received an extra side of fries than one holding an exquisitely designed noose.

Plus, that’s not even the optimal choke angle.

It might make a perverse sort of sense if this trend were confined to minor players in the fashion industry — avant-garde types who design dresses of rotting leaves and such — but the heavy hitters have gotten in on it too. Jimmy Choo apparently decided there was no sexier look than “bachelor party gone awry.” Incidentally, the menacing-looking gentleman holding the shovel there is Grammy-award-winning music producer Quincy Jones.

Annie’s not okay.

Can you guess what’s being advertised there? Cars? Sunglasses? Designer shovels?

Did you guess shoes?

“Expensively adorned feet dangling from the inside of a trunk” is a very specific subcategory that shoe designers love almost as much as they hate feet.

Maybe the boots were strong enough to kick the trunk open?

“Women killed on, in, or somewhere nearby a car” fashion goes back decades, all the way to this photo from 1966:

“She’s protecting the grill from mud.”

Read more: http://ift.tt/2miAIl8

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2zdWyux via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

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swissforextrading · 7 years ago

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Propaganda from the Uncanny Valley

Art has always been an ideal vessel for propaganda: persuading with emotion can cut through the need for rational argument. With Facebook’s release of thousands of examples of propaganda created for social media in 2016, it’s becoming clear that artlessness is just as good. After Congressional hearings in the United States, Facebook has announced an “Action Plan Against Foreign Interference” that would double its security team in 2018, and is planning to release a tool for users to check if they’ve clicked on any of this propaganda in 2016. Two conservative activists on Twitter were recently revealed to be bots; that’s two out of the company’s estimated 36,746 Russian-backed bot accounts, though a private investigation found 150,000 such bots operated to influence the Brexit campaign. Russia denies any involvement. Third-party tools, such as botcheck.me, have been developed to evaluate Twitter account histories for bot-like patterns. Today’s propaganda artists are on the frontlines of the “creative” algorithm: the emerging trend of data channeled into “inspiration” for content and channeled back into creative products. In line with our past events examining cyberthreats and digital humanitarianism, we’re looking at how creative algorithms work (or fail) and how that is influencing the next wave of propaganda. What happens when bots talk — and people listen? Batman Elsa Birthday Babies Artist and researcher James Bridle recently took a critical look at YouTube videos crafted for children. The children’s market is a ripe target for this kind of content: toddlers love repetition, parents love the endless stream of (unwatched) content, and producers love their low costs and production values. Bridle writes that the algorithms aren’t just curating this content. They are surfacing the most powerful combinations of keywords, and using them to dictate what content is produced for the site. YouTube selects videos matching similar keywords for its “up next” queue, which are played automatically when one video ends. Create a video that matches these keywords, and you assure that your video will join the infinite stream of content shown to a child searching for Elmo or Frozen videos. There is no shortage of cheap and quickly created content with word-salad titles like “Batman Finger Family Song?—?Superheroes and Villains! Batman, Joker, Riddler, Catwoman.” The audience for that title isn’t a child, or parents. The audience isn’t human at all: the audience is the YouTube algorithm. Once the keywords are crafted for that algorithm, the content is second nature. Throw those characters together and back it with the “family finger song.” The keywords dictate the content, not to benefit any child, but to ensure that the algorithm plays that video in automated queues of videos related to any of those title terms. Bridle points out that something is amiss in these videos. They certainly allow less-than-scrupulous actors to inject weird content into a child’s stream. One nightmarish example shows Spiderman, the Hulk, and Elsa all being bashed in the head by the Joker and other villains, who then bury these favorite children’s characters alive in quicksand. That’s blatantly outrageous content created by anonymous bad actors. But even in harmless videos, there’s something weird about inverting the relationship between keywords and content. Keywords are a categorization of what content contains. By knowing the types of content people are looking for, breaking those words apart from any context and re-assembling them, you create something like a formula to guarantee search results or, at least, high placement in auto-generated content streams. The Dark Art of SEO This is what used to be considered the dark arts of “SEO” — Search Engine Optimization. It’s a tool used for writing blog spam that could show up in search results. The impact of blogspam was somewhat limited to 500-word texts redirecting you to purchase products. Today, we’re seeing SEO create epic, 30-minute-long animated videos that don’t explicitly ask you for money, but generate revenue anyway. The content of these videos is secondary. Kids watch whatever is dictated by the most valuable keywords. Humans create this content quickly in response, resulting in something with no educational value, reflecting a surrealist mash-up of arbitrary search terms: the digital storytelling equivalent of empty calories. Machine learning processes take human inputs, strip them into basic units, and then reassemble them into infinite variations. It’s this blend of human and alien processes that make “AI consciousness” such a weird concept. But it’s a very specific kind of weird: uncanniness. Rethinking the Uncanny For an example of uncanniness, there may be no easier example to understand than the Dadabots‘ album, “Deep the Beatles!” The album is the result of a machine learning computer “listening” (or scanning sound data) to Beatles records and producing something that is, simultaneously, very much the Beatles and very much not the Beatles. Ernst Jentsch first defined a certain emotion, “uncanniness,” in 1906: “In telling a story, one of the most successful devices for easily creating uncanny effects is to leave the reader in uncertainty [of] whether a particular figure in the story is a human being or an automaton, and to do it in such a way that his attention is not focused directly upon his uncertainty, so that he may not be led to go into the matter and clear it up immediately.” It’s an oddly prescient line of thinking that seems to describe the entire internet experience as of 2016. The uncanny has moved from literature into the real (albeit virtual) world, spreading a residue of low-grade, unsettling surrealism into our everyday lives. Looking at a Twitter account with 38,800 followers posting nothing but unsourced political memes in 2015, we might have asked how this person had so much time on their hands. Today, we have to ask if they’re actually human. In its congressional hearings, Facebook shared 3,000 images it claims originated from a shadowy organization in St. Petersburg, Russia, intended to influence American voters. What we see in these images is the surface-skimming of keywords, created from real political debates, boiled down to their most toxic and potent forms. Facebook is transcribing your online actions and reducing them into easily-digestible traits. It can tell if you’re neurotic, a reader, a beach-lover, extroverted. It can tell if you’re gay or straight, married, religious, or have children. It can tell if you’re worried about immigrants, guns, or unemployment. These categories can then be skimmed and recycled into content. Just like a four-year-old who wants to watch an Elsa video, advertisers can tell if you want to see anti-immigrant content, and then deliver it. The Meme War Two anonymous researchers are creating an online archive of these political images. They include groups across the spectrum, from “Army of Jesus” to gay groups, “Woke Blacks,” “Missouri News,” “Feminist Tag.” They target pro- and anti-immigrant sentiment. If there was a set of keywords that could be targeted with divisive political rhetoric, there was a group created to appeal to them. From there, real people, selected by the algorithms, boosted and amplified messages that were essentially dictated by those same algorithms. The social media propaganda images aren’t sophisticated. They’re full of spelling errors, extremist language and imagery. One had Satan suggesting that Hillary Clinton would win the election if he beat Jesus in an arm-wrestling contest. The viewer was encouraged to “like” the post to “help Jesus win.” That content was created specifically for people whose personalities showed a strong affinity to the Bible, Jesus, God, Christianity, and Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly. The ads can also create associations that rely on several layers of deception. A few targeted Facebook accounts of people with clear anti-immigrant bias and presented advertisements from a fake pro-Muslim group. The ads included an image of Hillary Clinton hugging a woman in a burka with the message “Support Hillary to Save American Muslims.” The idea is that this would be shown to Islamophobic voters, who would share it out of a sense of outrage. When Propaganda goes viral Sharing is an impulse built into all social media, and it’s the real mechanism being “hacked” in contemporary propaganda. We share things we relate and respond to, because they reflect who we are, how we want to be seen, and who we want to connect with. After Freud, psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan took on the study of the uncanny. For Lacan, the uncanny reflects a conflicted appeal to our ideas of ourselves. The images and messages reveal a sense of our identities being reduced, partitioned, and invaded. Something uncanny emerges in this process. These are strange objects pretending to be familiar. Looking at these archives of propaganda images is unsettling because it reveals parts of us we know — the political memes, ideas, and philosophies we believe in — and so they belong to us. But they also push the boundaries of those beliefs, including our ideas of what other people believe about us. It’s an environment that contributed to an especially toxic online atmosphere in 2016. What’s next? Not all creative algorithm content is created equal. In 2013, Netflix analyzed extensive tags it had created for every piece of its content to see what worked for most of its subscribers. From that data, they were able to discern a “Venn diagram” for a successful streaming series, which they agreed to produce, sight unseen. That show was “House of Cards.” But that wasn’t just the product of blind faith in data. Instead, it pointed to a new kind of intelligence, as described by Tim Wu in his New Yorker piece about the show: “It is a form of curation … whose aim is guessing not simply what will attract viewers, but what will attract fans—people who will get excited enough to spread the word. Data may help, but what may matter more is a sense of what appeals to the hearts of obsessive people, and who can deliver that.” The similarities between the art of crafting algorithms into fan-favorite entertainment and crafting successful online propaganda campaigns? You might say it’s uncanny. --- swissnex San Francisco is exploring a number of topics around AI and ethics in 2018. Stay tuned with our event newsletter to stay up to date. https://nextrends.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/propaganda-from-the-uncanny-valley/ (Source of the original content)

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theydonthavetobelieve-blog · 8 years ago

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1 - the Hoax

In 2006, a New York City psychiatrist is interviewing a patient about a man they saw in their dreams. The subject matter of the dream is never stated, nor is it ever fully explained as to why this dude even decided to draft out a poorly drawn sketch of this man, who shall hence forth be known as, “this man”, but he did. The psychiatrist later sees another patient who notices the sketch on the doctor’s desk, and immediately recognizes the figure. A few more incidents later and the doctor begins to advertise posters saying, “Ever Dream This Man” and the sketch around the city. Think there’s more to this story?

Well there isn’t. It’s a hoax. The doctor, the man, “this man” - it’s just a big marketing campaign. VICE put out an article about this, and then immediately retracted it - because it’s a hoax. The images of the man are designed to resemble characteristics that are...common. You can do the research yourself, go ahead. It’s no big secret that this isn’t fake. There’s photos of fliers that are posted around the world even to this day, yup those are just meaningless pieces of papers that promoted a marketing campaign. It’s really quite clever. However, you think I’d feel a sense of relief when I found out that this man was a creation of some Italian marketing specialist^1

I stumbled upon an article on my Facebook feed. I saw the words “dream” and “common”, and then this creepy person sketched out, so thanks Google for monitoring my online activity and bumping shit I wanna see. I was at work when I was reading through the article, basically tricking me into believing this entire thing. It even had a website associated with it, a “.org” website so it must be legit. I tried to dig into my thoughts to see if I ever dreamt this man. But I didn’t. He did look oddly familiar, but there were no specific instances or features that I could absolutely and whole-heartedly proclaim from my workspace that I did indeed see this man in my dreams.

So I just let it go. Went on with the rest of my day. Now it’s been a period of “mandatory overtime” at work, so I’m very much burnt out at the end of my days. Often times when I get home, I end up laying down and sleeping through four nap time alarms and fucking up my entire night’s sleep, but whatever. This time I was laying down, watching a video of pro-skateboarder Ben Raybourn tearing up a bowl and advertising Bronson Speed Co. bearings, and suddenly I’m in a forest. Not literally, but in my dreams - and it was a big forest. Kinda familiar, but, no offense to those who are very proud of their local nature, forests seem to look the same to me. I was surrounded by other people, not in a threatening way - which I should say often my dreams involve people hating me. No, this time I was surrounded by faces I knew, but faces that I can’t recall at this moment. I’m walking through the woods, with a friend, a real life friend who will be called “Paul” for this instance. I’m holding a bass guitar in my hands, my bass guitar, and we suddenly reach what looks to be the back of a department store - you know, where they have a loading dock and a dumpster, perhaps some old product just thrown out.

There’s this wall, well two walls. Adjacent to one another with a platform at the top. Some might be able to wedge between the two walls and do a cool spider wall crawl up them, well at least in a dream. That’s what Paul does, and I try as well but I’m still holding a bass guitar. He throws down some sort of rope so that I can grab and climb up, but he ends up just attempting to swing me to get me to the platform. As he’s doing this, someone approaches the wall while I am in mid swing. It’s this man. And he’s in a costume of some sorts, all big and fuzzy. He’s running towards me, gesturing with his hands to wait for him and help him get up as well. I like to think I’m a nice person to help out a stranger, even in my dreams. So i extended a free hand towards him, I have no idea where the bass guitar went at this point tbh, and I can’t reach him. I’m now swinging up and there’s no way to get back to him unless I swing back down.

Here’s the part that I still hear in my head: as I swing away from him and watch his hope disappear, he reaches out his arms and screams, “The gates to heaven are closed! The gates are closed!” I wake up, scared - terrified.

1) For those who are curious, the individual’s name is Andrea Natella, and the “this man” hoax is on their online portfolio

#thisman #this man #creepypasta #scary story #andrea natella #hoax #urban legend #myth

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

Text

How The Fashion World Glamorizes Rape, Abuse, And Murder

Lula Called the “The dog got the Barbie” pose by industry insiders.

It doesn’t always bother with subtlety:

CBS Season 1 Walking Dead corpses were less messed up.

Some of these images, like this shot from a series called Pretty Wasted, can be hard to distinguish from real crime scene photos. But damn, that jacket, though.

Fabien Baron Marc Jacobs: vomit- and blood-resistant!

To be fair, half of The CW is about lusting for the undead.

The trend is oddly popular right now, but it’s not new. Renowned fashion photographer Guy Bordain shot this for a calendar in 1980:

Happy hemophilia awareness month!

Plus, that’s not even the optimal choke angle.

Annie’s not okay.

Can you guess what’s being advertised there? Cars? Sunglasses? Designer shovels?

Did you guess shoes?

“Expensively adorned feet dangling from the inside of a trunk” is a very specific subcategory that shoe designers love almost as much as they hate feet.

Maybe the boots were strong enough to kick the trunk open?

“Women killed on, in, or somewhere nearby a car” fashion goes back decades, all the way to this photo from 1966:

“She’s protecting the grill from mud.”