Big news today is that Facebook – which has, in recent years, become almost the fabric of the internet itself – has been gaming its trending news topics widget. That widget, which is some valuable internet real estate in that it drives a huge amount of traffic and attention, is curated by a group of…
Social Media Justice Reveals Something Ugly About Our Society
Back in July there was an incident in Fargo where a man taking photographs in Island Park, near the pool, was himself photographed by someone who thought he was maybe a pervert. That person uploaded pictures of the photographer to Facebook where they quickly went viral. The photos got thousands of shares and hundreds of comments…
North Dakota Is Trump/Carson Territory (With A Smattering Of Bernie Sanders)
The data mavens over at FiveThirtyEight.com took a look at the presidential nomination races as measured by Facebook likes. As you can see from the map above, North Dakota is Donald Trump/Ben Carson territory with a smattering of Bernie Sanders love in the urban areas (Grand Forks and Cass Counties) as well as counties encompassed…
Social Media Justice Is No Justice At All
There is no question in my mind that the democratization of the media brought about by blogs, and the enhancements to communications brought by platforms like Facebook and Twitter, have been a net benefit to society. But there is an element to social media, in particular, that’s grown disturbing. Specifically, the rise of online mob…
City Of Mandan To Citizens Discussing Sales Tax Measure On Facebook: Shut Up
A couple of days ago. on March 24, the City of Mandan posted on their Facebook page some information about an upcoming vote to raise the sales tax to pay for new recreational facilities. Today the city has now announced in a new Facebook posting that they will not be allowing “political comments” on their…
Heidi Heitkamp Dodges Obamacare Question During Facebook Town Hall
Last night Senator Heidi Heitkamp held a “town hall” on Facebook regarding the cost of higher education and student loan debt. Now, I’ve been pretty critical of Senator Heitkamp for eschewing in-person town halls in favor of social media events. Part of my concern is that, on social media, Heitkamp can skip tough questions that…
Heidi Heitkamp Still Hiding From Her Constituents Behind Social Media
“Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he’s enjoyed working for the people of North Dakota at their at-large congressman and has also sought to remain as accessible as possible,” reported the Bismarck Tribune earlier this week. “He said accessibility equates to providing accountability to the people, something he plans to continue to do if elected to a…
Teenager Jailed For Months Over A Facebook Joke
Was the joke in poor taste? Absolutely. Should he have been jailed for months over it? Don’t our cops have better things to do with their time? Jack Carter says his son Justin and a friend got into an argument with someone on Facebook about the game and the teenager wrote a comment he now…
Entertainment Industry Gets Social Media Inheritance Bill Amended To Exempt Copyrighted Material
HB1455, introduced by Rep. Ben Hanson, does two things. First, it prevents employers from asking employees for access to their online/social media accounts. As I’ve noted previously, this makes me a little uncomfortable. I don’t like the idea of employers asking for that sort of information, but I really don’t like the government putting the…
Democrats Attack Private Citizen For Hosting Fundraiser For A Republican
Earlier today it was announced that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would be holding a fundraiser for Republican Governor Chris Christie. I haven’t really been paying attention, but apparently Zuckerberg has always been rather private about his politics. This is the first public indication on which way he may lean. But more interesting than the fundraiser…
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