INDEX

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to social media.

Chapter 2: Legal aspects of social media.

Chapter 3: Podcasting

Chapter 4: Facebook.

Chapter 5: Google+

Bibliography

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 Chapter 1
Introduction to social media

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 Chapter 1
Introduction to Social Media

What is Social Media?

There are always a wide range of opinions about social media and how useful (or harmful) it
can be. As a marketer, I can say for certain that — used in the right way — it can be a very
powerful communication tool and an unsurpassed platform for engagement. There’s a lot to
learn about social media, and a huge variety of social media that you could employ, but this
article will give you a strong start on knowing what’s out there and how it can help you.

What are the benefits of using social media?

Billions of people around the world use social media to share information and make
connections. On a personal level, social media allows you to communicate with friends and
family, learn new things, develop your interests, and be entertained. On a professional level,
you can use social media to broaden your knowledge in a particular field and build your
professional network by connecting with other professionals in your industry. At the company
level, social media allows you to have a conversation with your audience, gain customer
feedback, and elevate your brand.

How can social media benefit me?

The benefits of social media vary on what you use and how, as well as the nature of your
website. That being said, there are many ways that you could find social media valuable to
you:

 As a marketing platform, with little-to-no-cost, social media can promote your website,
brand, products or services
 As an engagement or support tool, social media can help you communicate and interact
with your customers both broadly and individually
 For customer research, social media can give you insight into your visitors’ behaviour,
interests and activities
 For content management, social media can curate and publish your content· In terms of e-
commerce, social media can bring a lead into your sales funnel
Before diving in, it’s important to identify the objectives and outcomes of your social media
use so that you can pick the right platform for you and implement it as effectively as possible.

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What are some popular social media?
There are a plethora of social media platforms out there, with new ones popping up seemingly
every month. Each medium has a unique purpose and userbase, so identifying the right blend
and content for each platform is important.

Facebook: A truly social platform, Facebook is friend, community and interest-based. It can
be a great way to communicate and interact both individually and en masse. It has a variety
of methods to connect with users(pages, groups, events), and a unique advertising system to
promote both internal pages and external websites. Think of Facebook as being a place online
that users can “hang out” with friends, and what role your website or brand can play in that.

Twitter: A microblogging platform, Twitter is a way to converse, share and communicate in

140 characters or less. Twitter is more open and less community-based, largely because users
can follow other users or lists without needing approval or reciprocation. It can be a great
way to put out concise messaging (which can go to a wider audience through use of hashtags),
as well as have brief conversations with some of your customers and fans. It's also important
from a customer service perspective, with many consumers reaching out directly to brands
on the platform to resolve issues.

Instagram: What seems like a simple photo app is quickly becoming much more. Almost
purely visual, Instagram is a popular photo-sharing application that integrates with other
social media platforms. If your website is very visually-oriented, sharing photos with users via
Instagram is an easy way to establish your content, brand and value.

Tumblr: A media-heavy blogging platform, Tumblr is a flexible way to publish and curate
content with added social features like re-blogging, replying and liking a user’s posts. Tumblr
has been widely-adopted by a younger (14-20) audience and is quickly gaining steam as a

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leading blogging platform. You can also use a domain or sub-domain with Tumblr to create a
full website or microsite, customized as you see fit. As an example, Status.Rebel.ca is built on
Tumblr.

LinkedIn: The standard in professionally-oriented social media, LinkedIn provides value for
individuals (as an online resume, job-hunting, networking and communication tool),
companies (as a branding, job posting and communication tool), and groups (in an open or
closed format, for communication and networking). For B2B and professional interactions,
LinkedIn is the most popular platform.

Pinterest: Predominantly a visual tool, Pinterest is a content-sharing platform that allows for
individual user accounts as well as branded pages. Traditionally, Pinterest content is oriented
around food, design, fashion, and DIY projects.

History of Social Media: Then And Now

The roots of social media stretch far deeper than you might imagine. Although it seems like
a new trend, sites like Facebook are the natural outcome of many centuries of social media
development.
Social Media Before 1900
The earliest methods of communicating across great distances used written correspondence
delivered by hand from one person to another. In other words, letters. The earliest form of
postal service dates back to 550 B.C., and this primitive delivery system would become more
widespread and streamlined in future centuries.
In 1792, the telegraph was invented. This allowed messages to be delivered over a long
distance far faster than a horse and rider could carry them. Although telegraph messages
were short, they were a revolutionary way to convey news and information.
Although no longer popular outside of drive-through banking, the pneumatic post, developed
in 1865, created another way for letters to be delivered quickly between recipients. A
pneumatic post utilizes underground pressurized air tubes to carry capsules from one area to
another.

Two important discoveries happened in the last decade of the 1800s:

The telephone in 1890 and the radio in 1891.

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Both technologies are still in use today, although the modern versions are much more
sophisticated than their predecessors. Telephone lines and radio signals enabled people to
communicate across great distances instantaneously, something that mankind had never
experienced before.
Social Media in the 20th Century
Technology began to change very rapidly in the 20th Century. After the first super computers
were created in the 1940s, scientists and engineers began to develop ways to create networks
between those computers, and this would later lead to the birth of the Internet.
The earliest forms of the Internet, such as CompuServe, were developed in the 1960s.
Primitive forms of email were also developed during this time. By the 70s, networking
technology had improved, and 1979’s UseNet allowed users to communicate through a virtual
newsletter.
By the 1980s, home computers were becoming more common and social media was
becoming more sophisticated. Internet relay chats, or IRCs, were first used in 1988 and
continued to be popular well into the 1990’s.
The first recognizable social media site, Six Degrees, was created in 1997. It enabled users to
upload a profile and make friends with other users. In 1999, the first blogging sites became
popular, creating a social media sensation that’s still popular today.
Social Media Today
After the invention of blogging, social media began to explode in popularity. Sites like
MySpace and LinkedIn gained prominence in the early 2000s, and sites like Photobucket and
Flickr facilitated online photo sharing. YouTube came out in 2005, creating an entirely new
way for people to communicate and share with each other across great distances.
By 2006, Facebook and Twitter both became available to users throughout the world. These
sites remain some of the most popular social networks on the Internet. Other sites like
Tumblr, Spotify, Foursquare and Pinterest began popping up to fill specific social networking
niches.
Today, there is a tremendous variety of social networking sites, and many of them can be
linked to allow cross-posting. This creates an environment where users can reach the
maximum number of people without sacrificing the intimacy of person-to-person
communication. We can only speculate about what the future of social networking may look
in the next decade or even 100 years from now, but it seems clear that it will exist in some
form for as long as humans are alive.
Facebook & Twitter
When someone mentions social media, what are the very first things that come to mind? If
you’re like most people, visions of your Facebook timeline, Twitter homepage, Instagram
feed, or Snapchat story are probably the first images that pop into your mind. As you learned
in the last unit, Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only social media platforms out there, though
they have long been the leading giants in the social media industry. These two social media
platforms have become staples in our daily lives with terms like ‘tweet’ and ‘status update’
being so commonly used that they were added to the Oxford Dictionary.

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Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest

A social media revolution is taking place right before your eyes with new social media apps
and platforms exploding onto the scene daily. For years, the world of social media has been
largely dominated by two giants—Facebook and Twitter. However, several other apps and
platforms are not far behind these giants with rapidly growing popularity. The most notable
of these social media players are Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest. These three visually-
based social media apps have quickly become common household and workplace names,
similar to their predecessors.

LinkedIn, Blogs, and Video Social Media

When most people think of social media, they immediately recall social media platforms such
as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest. But these sites aren’t the only types
of social media at work on the world-wide web. In Unit One, we define social media as “any
online conduit for communicating with companions or associates.” We also identified some
other types of social media including blogs, video, podcasts, photo sharing, and professional
forums, as well as briefly touching on the key characteristics of each.

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 Chapter 2
Legal aspects of social media.

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 Chapter 2
Legal aspects of social media
Social media is being increasingly used and ever-increasing in marketing concepts. New
opportunities offered by networks such as Facebook and Twitter, however, also carry new
legal risks. This paper provides an overview of the legal issues arising from the use of social
media in Germany and Switzerland and highlights how these challenges can be met. As with
all other online activities, a country‘s borders are effectively invalidated by the use of social
media. Tweets or Facebook profiles are accessible worldwide. It may therefore be possible
that a Swiss company using social media has to comply with German law. The same applies
for companies from other EU member states or overseas targeting Swiss or German
customers via social media platforms – they may be subject to Swiss or German legislation.
The mere accessibility of a Facebook profile in Switzerland or Germany does not yet make it
necessary to comply with country-specific legal requirements. For such legislation to apply, a
concrete connection to the relevant country or instruction to users from that country is
required. As a rule, a Facebook profile page of a company that offers products in these
markets, also addresses users from these countries. Here, a specific connection for the
company in question must exist. This connection arises when a profile page has shown a large
number of users from Germany and/or Switzerland. In contrast, profile pages of companies
which do not offer products in Central Europe or are not well- known, normally only address
users from their home country. In this case, the necessary connection will not exist and
compliance with the laws of Germany and/or Switzerland will not be required.
It should be noted that in certain cases, the question of the applicable law cannot be
answered with certainty. In doubt the requirements of both legal systems should be
observed.

Investment Protection

The introduction of Facebook’s timeline at the beginning of last year has shown that
companies are forced to accept any change of policy introduced by the social media networks.
Anyone who desires permanent representation by means of a contemporary presence on a
certain social network, needs to be aware that this will require them to take the latest
technical developments into account and may cause additional costs. Furthermore, there is
no legal protection and no remedy against the adverse effects of any changes in the network’s
policies or loss of investment due to such changes. And in fact, provision is made for this
eventuality within the network’s terms and conditions. It is not expected that large networks
will adjust or reduce their services from one day to the next and that, as a result, it would no
longer be attractive for companies to use them. However, it is a fact that social networks can
give guidelines regarding design and content which can have an impact on companies and
this should not be ignored.

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There is no effective legal action against failures of the network. In practice, there is no
realistic chance of obtaining compensation from the network provider. For example, if a
Twitter interview is announced and then fails to take place, material losses or reputational
damage cannot be claimed successfully. For example, Facebook has decided early last year
(and recently revoked this decision) that profiles cannot use city names, and as a result, the
profile of the city of Munich, with 400 000 fans had to be deleted. Another difficulty is that
claims must be lodged at the networks’ head office and are then governed by American or,
more specifically, by Californian law. The above-mentioned legal restrictions make it clear
that concentrating solely on social media platforms for corporate communication is fraught
with risks. Companies that rely solely on social platforms should have a plan B for different
scenarios.

Basic rules regarding social media profiles

As is the case for the internet in general, social media are subject to the law. Users tend to
forget this fact, as the design of social media profiles and the content of sites can be created,
edited, and deleted quickly and easily. Nevertheless, the law and the legal system of a state
also apply to social media. In particular, copyright and trademark rights must be borne in mind
as well as the fact that posts and tweets could offend or libel competitors. Unlike in
Switzerland, where – with a few exceptions – the rules in the online context are based on the
general rules, numerous special regulations apply in Germany to the online activities of
companies.

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ID-Grabbing

Many companies reserve their company’s name well in advance of any decision to make use
of a specific social media platform. Companies neglecting this may experience the
phenomenon of ID grabbing that started causing problems in the 90s: Back then, companies
found out when registering their domains that the domain had already been assigned to
someone else. Similar problems are now occurring with social media platforms.

There are various services, which enable the availability of particular IDs on various networks
to be checked www.namechck.com, for example, provides a good overview. In order to avoid
disputes and costs, it is also recommended that IDs on the various social networks are
reserved.

Generally, the first come, first serve principle applies under both German and Swiss law.
However, if a company’s brand or name is being used by someone else, that company may
take legal action. Legally, there are parallels to the cases of domain grabbing. In these cases,
the legal situation is fairly clear: whoever reserves an internet domain name merely to sell it
on to the brand owners later, is acting unlawfully under both German and Swiss law. Such
activities must cease and the domain must be released. It is often hard to prove that such an
infringement was committed with intent and legal action can therefore only be successful in
certain cases or if the domain actually was sold on (see German Federal Court of Justice,
02/12/2004, I ZR 207/01; OGer TG 02/19/2002, Z1.2001.3). It is also difficult to prove ID
grabbing if the opponent can give plausible reasons why he is using the domain or the ID. This
may often be the case if the brand or the company name is also a generic term. Another legal

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remedy is to claim trademark infringement. A prerequisite for the success of such a claim is
that business has been conducted using the name in such a way that trademark rights are
affected. If the name is used solely in a private context, there is no trademark infringement.
The misuse of a company’s name may also be a violation of the rights of one’s own name.
Nobody (including companies) has to accept misuse of their name. In most of these cases an
injunction will be successful. Problems may arise if the defendant has the same name; his use
of the name will, by definition, be lawful. In such cases ID can only occasionally be re-claimed
successfully. One practical problem is that it is not possible to identify the creators of social
media profiles, as most social media sites do not provide any general information about the
persons responsible for content. Action can only be taken against the provider if a violation
of statutory rights has occurred. Where such actions are successful, the provider is obliged to
remove the offending profile. Experience has shown that Facebook and Twitter respond
quickly to obvious trademark infringements, although a deletion of the respective accounts
sometimes requires some time.

Choosing the right form of Profile

There are limited options available for setting up and designing a specific and individual
presence on social media platforms. As a result it may be difficult to fulfil all legal
requirements whilst remaining within those limits. Facebook offers the possibility of creating
different categories of sites. As private user accounts cannot be used for commercial
activities, it makes sense for companies to either create a „group“ or to transform a private
account into a company profile. A group is a page that is distinct from the profile page and
which provides information about a particular topic. The creation of a group does not, by
itself, necessarily imply or state that it is an official corporate website. When choosing a
profile name, similar considerations have to be made as when choosing a domain name.
Problems can occur where an existing brand name or profile name to which the company in
question has no connection. Use of a brand name that belongs to a third party must be
avoided, as confusion could arise among users that the profile is the official account of that
brand (see above with respect to ID grabbing). Pictures should only be uploaded and used on
the profile if all online rights have been obtained. This applies regardless of whether the image
appears in the Twitter background, is included in messages or is used as a profile picture. It
should be noted that the same rules apply as if the image were on the company‘s website:
The photographer must give consent to the use of the picture in question. As some platforms
require obtaining an extensive license with respect to the content uploaded, the company
and profile owner must check whether the rights obtained actually include the right to sub-
licence the content. This is very often not the case with pictures from stock image companies.
Getty Images, for instance, explicitly prohibits sub-licensing of its pictures to third parties.

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Where individuals appear in such pictures, their permission must also be obtained prior to
publication. Companies are always on the safe side regarding the content of their internet
presence.

Imprint

As is the case with EU law, German legislation requires the identification of the company
offering and being responsible for a particular web service. Under German law professional
profiles on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are deemed telemedia services and
thus governed by the TMG (Telemedia Act). This Act states that certain information must to
be provided to the user of telemedia services. This is generally done by way of an imprint of
the particular site. Mandatory details according to the TMG include the name, address,
authorized representatives, e-mail address and other contact details (usually a phone
number), any registration information, professional legal information (only for certain
professions), and VAT number. Generally, Swiss law requires information on the (company)
name, postal address, e-mail address of the registered office as well as the VAT number.
However, in Switzerland, the legal situation regarding imprints for social media sites is not yet
clear and the question has not been clarified by the courts as there have not been any
precedents on this topic. We assume that an imprint is only mandatory (Article 3 para 1 lit.‘s
Point. 1 UWG) if the profile provides a binding offer or if customers can submit binding orders
for specific products via the profile. If the profile is linked to a company the imprint can be
copied from the company’s website. Difficulties may arise in integrating the imprint into the
social media profile. Here it must be examined from network to network. If the imprint is
linked to the profile, it should be noted that under German law the imprint may not be more
than „two clicks away“ (German Federal Court of Justice, 07/20/2006, I ZR 228/03). In this
case it is recommended that a statement is incorporated into the imprint on the website
making clear that the information provided also applies to the social media profiles of the
company.

Responsibility for Content and Management of Content

It is crucial for companies to think about who will be responsible for communicating on behalf
of the company through the respective social media channel with fans, followers, members
etc. The means of communication may include the PR department, a social media team,
individual employees or external agencies. This may have implications in the design of the
imprint. In any case it should be clear that it is a corporate account and that there is no doubt
about the ownership of the account. Adequate account and password management must be
set up in order to avoid departing employees retaining access to the profile and being able to

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set, change or delete content. It is important, not only for communication purposes but also
from a legal point of view to ensure a common understanding of those involved in the
management of accounts. Such an understanding can be reached via guidelines which state
which platforms are to be used and how content should appear. Employees should also be
trained on the basic relevant legal issues of which they must be aware when using social
media, in particular on the law on unfair competition and personal rights. It is also important
that the handling of critical or even insulting remarks in comments is discussed and pre-
determined. It must be noted that if the social media department or more importantly, an
external agency makes any agreements or statements to third parties or users via the profile
that this can lead to the profile owner being liable for such statements, even though they
were not authorized by the company management. If a third party, e.g. a PR agency is
mandated with managing the social media communication it should be made clear that
postings and tweets written by the PR agency are quite naturally assumed by users to the
account owner. Consequently the agency should be carefully selected (and monitored) and it
is recommended that social media guidelines are set out in the contract. Secondly, rules
should be put in place to deal with and define the extent of the account owner’s final liability
for claims which are brought against him but caused by the agency violating the social media
guidelines. Moreover, the assignment of a third party always requires disclosure of personal
data, it is therefore essential that guidelines on privacy and data security are included.

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Chapter 3
Podcasting

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 Chapter 2
Podcasting
Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of audio files using RSS to the computers of
subscribed users. These files may then be uploaded to digital music or multimedia players like
the iPod. A podcast can be easily created from a digital audio file. The podcaster first saves
the file as an MP3 and then uploads it to the Web site of a service provider. The MP3 file gets
its own URL, which is inserted into an RSS XML document as an enclosure within an XML tag.

Once a podcast has been created, it can be registered with content aggregators, such as
podcasting.net or ipodder.org, for inclusion in podcast directories. People can browse
through the categories or subscribe to specific podcast RSS feeds which will download to their
audio players automatically when they next connect. Although podcasts are generally audio
files created for digital music players, the same technology can be used to prepare and
transmit images, text, and video to any capable device.

Podcasting has been likened to TiVo because it allows users to listen to their selected
podcasts whenever they like, similarly to the way time-shifting lets viewers watch television
programs when it suits them. Furthermore, because of the portability of the player devices,
users can listen to audio files from the Internet as they go about their daily activities - for
example, listening to a news blog entry while at the gym, commuting, or just walking
around.

Content producers are increasingly turning to podcasting as an inexpensive and user-friendly

new distribution channel that has the potential to reach a large audience. Not surprisingly,
musicians and bloggers are prevalent among the early adopters, but mainstream media
organizations, including ZDNet and National Public Radio (NPR), are beginning to venture into
podcasting as well.

The cultural milieu supporting podcasting is sometimes referred to as the podosphere, just
as the cultural environment surrounding the blog is called the blogosphere.

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How Podcasting Works

Have you ever dreamed of having your own radio show? Are you a recording artist hoping to
have your songs heard by the masses? Decades ago, you would have needed a lot of
connections -- or a fortune -- to get heard.

But now, thanks to the Internet and its instantaneous connection to millions of people, your
dreams can become reality. Just as blogging has enabled almost anyone with a computer to
become a bona fide reporter, podcasting allows virtually anyone with a computer to become
a radio disc jockey, talk show host or recording artist.

Although podcasting first found popularity within the techie set, it has since caught on with
the general public. Log on to one of several podcast sites on the Web, and you can download
content ranging from music to philosophy to sports. Podcasting combines the freedom of
blogging with digital audio technology to create an almost endless supply of content. Some
say this new technology is democratizing the once corporate-run world of radio.

Podcasting is a free service that allows Internet users to pull audio files (typically MP3s) from
a podcasting Web site to listen to on their computers or personal digital audio players. The
term comes from a combination of the words iPod (a personal digital audio player made by
Apple) and broadcasting. Even though the term is derived from the iPod, you don't need an
iPod to listen to a podcast. You can use virtually any portable media player or your computer.

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Unlike Internet radio, users don't have to 'tune in' to a particular broadcast. Instead,
they download the podcast on demand or subscribe via an RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
feed, which automatically downloads the podcast to their computers. The technology is
similar to that used by TiVo, a personal video recorder that lets users set which programs
they'd like to record and then automatically records those programs for later viewing.

In this article, you'll learn how podcasting works, discover where to find podcasts and how to
listen to them. You'll also find out what tools you need to create your own podcast and how
to promote it, as well as hear what industry analysts have to say about the future of this
burgeoning technology and its counterpart, video podcasting.

Podcasting History

Podcasting was developed in 2004 by former MTV video jockey Adam Curry and software
developer Dave Winer. Curry wrote a program, called iPodder,that enabled him to
automatically download Internet radio broadcasts to his iPod. Several developers improved
upon his idea, and podcasting was officially born. Curry now hosts a show called The Daily
Source Code, one of the most popular podcasts on the Internet.

Right now, podcasting is free from government regulation. Podcasters don't need to buy a
license to broadcast their programming, as radio stations do, and they don't need to conform
to the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) broadcast decency regulations. That
means anything goes -- from four-letter words to sexually explicit content. Copyright law
does apply to podcasting, though. Podcasters can copyright or license their work -- Creative
Commons is just one online resource for copyrights and licenses.

Although several corporations and big broadcast companies have ventured into the medium,
many podcasters are amateurs broadcasting from home studios. Because podcasters don't
rely on ratings as radio broadcasters do, the subject matter of podcasts can range from the
refined to the silly to the excruciatingly mundane. Podcasters typically cater to a niche group
of listeners. By podcasting consistently on one subject, podcasters not only assert their
expertise on the subject matter but also draw a loyal and devoted group of listeners.

Consider two popular podcasts: Keith and The Girl is a say-anything-about-anything podcast
run by Keith and his girlfriend, Chemda. The podcast's official website touts its expressive (and
explicit) freedom, proudly proclaiming "Not held back by the FCC or anyone else." On the

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other end of the spectrum is A Mysterious Universe, a podcast devoted to examination of the
paranormal, UFOs and cryptozoology.

Podcasts are also used for informational and educational purposes -- self-guided walking
tours, talk shows and training are all available through podcasting, according to Podcasting
Tools.

Several companies are trying to turn podcasting into a profitable business. Podcasting
aggregators such as PodcastAlley.com and Podcast.net now feature advertisements. The
Podcast Network, based in Australia, runs commercials and sponsorships during its audio
broadcasts. Television networks have gotten into the action, too. National Public Radio, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC have begun podcasting some of their shows.
Corporations such as Heineken and General Motors have created their own podcasts to
attract consumers.

Listening to Podcasts

It is very easy to listen to a podcast. Once you master a few simple steps and search
techniques, there are virtually no limits to what you can hear.

To listen to a podcast:

1. Go to a podcasting site.
2. Click on the hyperlink for each podcast you want. You can listen right away on your
computer (Windows, Mac and Linux support podcasting) or download the podcast to
your portable media player.
3. You can also subscribe to one or more RSS feeds. Your podcasting software will check
the RSS feeds regularly and automatically pull content that matches your playlist.
When you dock your portable media player to your computer, it automatically updates
with the latest content.
Since the advent of MP3 technology, other audio file types have been created that support
different sizes and capacities of streaming audio. These include AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
and WMA (Windows Media Audio). No matter the format of your audio, there is free
technology available to make listening possible, such as Windows Media Player, Apple
Quicktime, VLC media player or Winamp.

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Now that you know how to listen podcasts, the next logical step is to learn where to find
podcasts that pertain to your interests. The iTunes Store is one purveyor of podcasts. Also try
consulting directories like The Podcast Network or The Podcast Directory, and you are likely
to find a listing that intrigues you.

You'll probably find any variety of podcast you want on the Web, but if you can't seem to find
what you're looking for, you can create your own podcast with relative ease. Virtually anyone
with a computer and recording capabilities can create his or her own podcast. Podcasts may
include music, comedy, sports and philosophy -- even people's rants and raves.

Creating Podcasts

Recording a podcast is almost as easy as listening to one. Here's how the process works:

1. Plug a microphone into your computer

2. Install an audio recorder for Windows, Mac or Linux (free software for audio recorders
includes Audacity, Record for Alland Easy Recorder V5).
3. Create an audio file by making a recording (you can talk, sing or record music) and
saving it to your computer.
4. Finally, upload the audio file to one of the podcasting sites (FeedForAll has a tutorial
on how to upload a file).
After recording your podcast, you will want to promote it. FeedforAll and Self Seo offer advice
to guide you through this endeavor. Their recommendations include informing the public on
how to access and listen to your podcast, advertising your podcast's availability with an eye-
catching graphic, writing a press release to notify the public of your podcast and creating a
niche group of devoted listeners and assessing their responses to your podcast through
installation of a feedburner link. A feedburner link keeps tabs on the number of times your
podcast has been linked to and any new comments that your listeners have made. This link
can be set up through Feed Burner. Tailoring your podcast to your listeners' feedback makes
for happy listeners who will, in turn, do the heavy lifting of your promotional work for you.

Several companies are creating new gadgets to improve users' podcasting experiences. San
Francisco-based Odeo offers a service that creates custom playlists of podcast files, which can
then be downloaded onto portable audio players. Griffin Technology makes a device called

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Radio Shark 2, which sells for about $50 and can be programmed to record music and radio
programs.

Some experts say podcasting still has a long way to go before it catches on with the masses,
but its growing popularity is undeniable. It's possible that podcasting will eventually become
as popular as text blogging, which grew from a few thousand blogs in the late '90s to more
than 7 million today. Some podcasts are already providing thousand of downloads a day, and
they're not just entertaining their listeners -- they're also doing business. We'll see how
companies are creating and using video podcasts in the next section.

Video Podcasts

Video podcasts -- also called videocasts, vidcasts and vodcasts -- combine the audio
component of podcasting with visual media. This technology provides a forum for a wide
variety of video podcasters, including filmmakers and artists, vloggers (video bloggers), and
even those who just like sharing their videos.

Video podcasting is also helping build business, especially in the sales and marketing sectors.
Through video podcasts, businesses both large and small can advertise their wares and
services in a modern, cost-effective way. In the past, big businesses had better access to
expensive studios where sophisticated advertisements were produced, but now even the
smallest businesses can create high-quality media with just a camera, editing software and
the Internet.

You watch a video podcast in much the same way as you would listen to a podcast.

To Watch a Video Podcast:

Locate a video podcast a directory or search engine, like Videocasting Station, Vodstock, and
Open Media Network.

Download the video podcast to your portable media player or click the hyperlink.

Just like you do with your favorite podcasts, you can use an RSS Feed to download the latest
updates of the video podcast.

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Creating a video podcast naturally requires more effort than creating a podcast because
you're adding the element of visual media. Therefore, video podcasting also requires some
extra components, including a video camera, editing software, video encoder and video host.

To Create a Video Podcast:

1. Film your video.

2. Upload your video to your computer.
3. Using editing software, add special effects and graphics or correct any problems in the
video.
4. Determine whether your video will be streaming or downloadable, and use a video
encoder to format it in a manageable file size for online viewing.
5. Find a host for your video podcast. Make sure that the host can accommodate your
video's bandwidth.
6. If your host does not provide an RSS feed for your video podcast, create one yourself.
7. Lastly, promote your video podcast just as you would a podcast.

The podcasts and video podcasts you find online range from the amateur to the
streamlined and sophisticated. They are a testament to the accessibility of this technology
for listeners and creators alike. Anyone can -- and clearly anyone will -- podcast.

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Chapter 4
Facebook

Page | 23
 Chapter 4
Facebook

Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create
profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and
colleagues. The site, which is available in 37 different languages, includes public features such
as:

 Marketplace - allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.

 Groups - allows members who have common interests to find each other and interact.

 Events - allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track who plans to
attend.

 Pages - allows members to create and promote a public page built around a specific topic.

 Presence technology - allows members to see which contacts are online and chat.

Within each member's personal profile, there are several key networking components. The
most popular is arguably the Wall, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board. Messages left
on a member's Wall can be text, video or photos. Another popular component is the virtual
Photo Album. Photos can be uploaded from the desktop or directly from
a smartphonecamera. There is no limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove
inappropriate or copyrighted images. An interactive album feature allows the member's
contacts (who are called generically called "friends") to comment on each other's photos and
identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is status updates,
a microbloggingfeature that allows members to broadcast short Twitter-like announcements
to their friends. All interactions are published in a news feed, which is distributed in real-time
to the member's friends.

Facebook offers a range of privacy options to its members. A member can make all his
communications visible to everyone, he can block specific connections or he can keep all his
communications private. Members can choose whether or not to be searchable, decide which
parts of their profile are public, decide what not to put in their news feed and determine

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exactly who can see their posts. For those members who wish to use Facebook to
communicate privately, there is a message feature, which closely resembles email.

In May 2007, Facebook opened up its developers' platform to allow third-party developers to
build applications and widgets that, once approved, could be distributed through the
Facebook community. In May 2008, Facebook engineers announced Facebook Connect, a
cross-site initiative that allows users to publish interactions on third-party partner sites in
their Facebook news feed.

Facebook, Inc. is an American online social media and social networking service company
based in Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark
Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard Collegestudents and roommates Eduardo
Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.
The founders initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students. Later they
expanded it to higher education institutions in the Boston area, the Ivy League schools,
and Stanford University. Facebook gradually added support for students at various other
universities, and eventually to high school students. Since 2006, anyone who claims to be at
least 13 years old has been allowed to become a registered user of Facebook, though
variations exist in this requirement, depending on local laws. The name comes from the face
book directories often given to American university students. Facebook held its initial public
offering (IPO) in February 2012, valuing the company at $104 billion, the largest valuation to
date for a newly listed public company. It began selling stock to the public three months later.
Facebook makes most of its revenue from advertisements that appear onscreen.
Facebook can be accessed from a large range of devices with Internet connectivity, such
as desktop computers, laptops and tablet computers, and smartphones. After registering,
users can create a customized profile indicating their name, occupation, schools attended and
so on. Users can add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post status updates, share
photos, videos and links, use various software applications ("apps"), and receive notifications
of other users' activity. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups organized
by workplace, school, hobbies or other topics, and categorize their friends into lists such as
"People From Work" or "Close Friends". Additionally, users can report or block unpleasant
people.
Facebook has more than 2.2 billion monthly active users as of January 2018. Its popularity has
led to prominent media coverage for the company, including significant scrutiny over privacy
and the psychological effects it has on users. In recent years, the company has faced intense
pressure over the amount of fake news, hate speech and depictions of violence prevalent on
its services, all of which it is attempting to counteract.

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History

2003–2006: Thefacebook, Thiel investment, and name change

Zuckerberg wrote a program called "Facemash" in 2003 while attending Harvard University as
a sophomore (second-year student). According to The Harvard Crimson, the site was
comparable to Hot or Not and used "photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine
Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the "hotter"
person". Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours
online. The Facemash site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but
was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion
and was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, and
violating individual privacy. Ultimately, the charges were dropped. Zuckerberg expanded on
this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final
exam. He uploaded all art images to a website, each of which was featured with a
corresponding comments section, then shared the site with his classmates, and people
started sharing notes.

Original layout and name of Thefacebook, 2004

A "face book" is a student directory featuring photos and basic information. In 2003, there
were no universal online facebooks at Harvard, with only paper sheets distributed[9] and
private online directories. Zuckerberg told the Crimson that "Everyone's been talking a lot
about a universal face book within Harvard. ... I think it's kind of silly that it would take the
University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do
it in a week." In January 2004, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website, known as
"TheFacebook", with the inspiration coming from an editorial in the Crimson about
Facemash, stating that "It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website
is readily available ... the benefits are many." On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched
"TheFacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.
Six days after the site launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss,
and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that
he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com. They claimed that
he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to The
Harvard Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation. They later filed a lawsuit against
Zuckerberg, subsequently settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares (worth $300 million at
Facebook's IPO).

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Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College; within the first month,
more than half the undergraduates at Harvard were registered on the service. Eduardo
Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help
manage the growth of the website. In March 2004, Facebook expanded to the universities
of Columbia, Stanford, and Yale.[18] It later opened to all Ivy League colleges, Boston
University, New York University, MIT, Washington and gradually most universities in the
United States and Canada.
In mid-2004, entrepreneur Sean Parker—an informal advisor to Zuckerberg—became the
company's president. In June 2004, Facebook moved its operations base to Palo Alto,
California. It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter
Thiel. In 2005, the company dropped "the" from its name after purchasing the domain
name facebook.com for US$200,000. The domain facebook.com belonged to AboutFace
Corporation before the purchase. This website last appeared on April 8, 2005; from April 10,
2005, to August 4, 2005, this domain gave a 403 error.
n May 2005, Accel Partners invested $12.7 million in Facebook, and Jim Breyer added $1
million of his own money. A high-school version of the site was launched in September 2005,
which Zuckerberg called the next logical step. (At the time, high-school networks required an
invitation to join.) Facebook also expanded membership eligibility to employees of several
companies, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft.
2006–2012: Public access, Microsoft alliance and rapid growth
On September 26, 2006, Facebook was opened to everyone at least 13 years old with a
valid email address. In late 2007, Facebook had 100,000 business pages (pages which allowed
companies to promote themselves and attract customers). These started as group pages, but
a new concept called company pages was planned. Pages began rolling out for businesses in
May 2009. On October 24, 2007, Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of
Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion.
Microsoft's purchase included rights to place international advertisements on the social
networking site.
In October 2008, Facebook announced that it would set up its international headquarters
in Dublin, Ireland. Almost a year later, in September 2009, Facebook said that it had turned
cash flow positive for the first time. A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook the
most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users. Entertainment
Weekly included the site on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list saying, "How on earth did we
stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game
of Scrabulous before Facebook?"
Traffic to Facebook increased steadily after 2009. The company announced 500 million users
in July 2010, and according to its data, half of the site's membership used Facebook daily, for
an average of 34 minutes, while 150 million users accessed the site by mobile. A company
representative called the milestone a "quiet revolution." In November 2010, based
on SecondMarket Inc. (an exchange for privately held companies' shares), Facebook's value
was $41 billion. The company had slightly surpassed eBay to become the third largest
American web company after Google and Amazon.com.
In early 2011, Facebook announced plans to move its headquarters to the former Sun
Microsystems campus in Menlo Park, California. In March 2011, it was reported that

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Facebook was removing about 20,000 profiles every day for violations such as spam, graphic
content, and underage use, as part of its efforts to boost cyber security. Statistics
by DoubleClick showed that Facebook reached one trillion page views in the month of June
2011, making it the most visited website tracked by DoubleClick. According to a Nielsen study,
Facebook had in 2011 become the second-most accessed website in the U.S. behind Google.
2012–2013: IPO, lawsuits and one-billionth user
Facebook eventually filed for an initial public offering on February 1, 2012. Facebook held an
initial public offering on May 17, 2012, negotiating a share price of US$38. The company was
valued at $104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly listed public
company. Facebook began selling stock to the public and trading on the NASDAQ on May 18,
2012. Based on its 2012 income of $5 billion, Facebook joined the Fortune 500 list for the first
time in May 2013, ranked in position 462.
Facebook filed their S1 document with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February
1, 2012. The company applied for a $5 billion IPO, one of the biggest offerings in the history
of technology. The IPO raised $16 billion, making it the third-largest in U.S. history, after Visa
Inc. in 2008 and AT&T Wireless in 2000.
The shares began trading on May 18; the stock struggled to stay above the IPO price for most
of the day, but set a record for the trading volume of an IPO (460 million shares). The first day
of trading was marred by technical glitches that prevented orders from going through; only
the technical problems and artificial support from underwriters prevented the stock price
from falling below the IPO price on the day. In March 2012, Facebook announced App Center,
a store selling applications that operate via the website. The store was to be available
on iPhones, Android devices, and mobile web users.
On May 22, 2012, the Yahoo! Finance website reported that Facebook's lead
underwriters, Morgan Stanley (MS), JP Morgan(JPM), and Goldman Sachs (GS), cut their
earnings forecasts for the company in the middle of the IPO process. The stock had begun its
freefall by this time, closing at 34.03 on May 21 and 31.00 on May 22. A "circuit
breaker" trading curb was used in an attempt to slow down the stock price's decline.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, and Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Chairman Rick Ketchum, called for a review of the
circumstances surrounding the IPO.
Facebook's IPO was consequently investigated, and was compared to a "pump and dump"
scheme. A class-action lawsuit was filed in May 2012 because of the trading glitches, which
led to botched orders. Lawsuits were filed, alleging that an underwriter for Morgan Stanley
selectively revealed adjusted earnings estimates to preferred clients.
The other underwriters (MS, JPM, GS), Facebook's CEO and board, and NASDAQ also faced
litigation after numerous lawsuits were filed, while SEC and FINRA both launched
investigations. It was believed that adjustments to earnings estimates were communicated to
the underwriters by a Facebook financial officer, who used the information to cash out on
their positions while leaving the general public with overpriced shares. By the end of May
2012, Facebook's stock lost over a quarter of its starting value, which led The Wall Street
Journal to label the IPO a "fiasco". Zuckerberg announced to the media at the start of October
2012 that Facebook had passed the monthly active users mark of one billion. The company's

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data also revealed 600 million mobile users, 219 billion photo uploads, and 140 billion friend
connections.

2013–2014: Site developments, A4AI and 10th anniversary

On January 15, 2013, Facebook announced Facebook Graph Search, which provides users
with a "precise answer", rather than a link to an answer by leveraging the data present on its
site. Facebook emphasized that the feature would be "privacy-aware", returning results only
from content already shared with the user. On April 3, 2013, Facebook unveiled Facebook
Home, a user-interface layer for Android devices offering greater integration with the
site. HTC announced the HTC First, a smartphone with Home pre-loaded.
On April 15, 2013, Facebook announced an alliance across 19 states with the National
Association of Attorneys General, to provide teenagers and parents with information on tools
to manage social networking profiles. On April 19, 2013, Facebook officially modified its logo
to remove the faint blue line at the bottom of the "F" icon. The letter F moved closer to the
edge of the box.
Following a campaign by 100 advocacy groups, Facebook agreed to update its policy on hate
speech. The campaign highlighted content promoting domestic and sexual violence against
women, and used over 57,000 tweets and more than 4,900 emails that caused withdrawal of
advertising from the site by 15 companies, including Nissan UK, House of Burlesque and
Nationwide UK. The social media website initially responded by stating that "while it may be
vulgar and offensive, distasteful content on its own does not violate our policies". It decided
to take action on May 29, 2013, after it "become clear that our systems to identify and remove
hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of
gender-based hate".
On June 12, 2013, Facebook announced on its newsroom that it was introducing
clickable hashtags to help users follow trending discussions, or search what others are talking
about on a topic. A July 2013 Wall Street Journal article identified the Facebook IPO as the
cause of a change in the U.S.' national economic statistics, as the local government area of
the company's headquarters, San Mateo County, California, became the top wage-earning
county in the country after the fourth quarter of 2012. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
that the average weekly wage in the county was US$3,240, 107% higher than the previous
year. It noted the wages were "the equivalent of $168,000 a year, and more than 50% higher
than the next-highest county, New York County (better known as Manhattan), at $2,107 a
week, or roughly $110,000 a year."
Facebook was blocked by the Chinese government in 2009. In September 2013, the South
China Morning Post announced that the block would lifted in the Shanghai Free Trade
Zone "to welcome foreign companies to invest and to let foreigners live and work happily in
the free-trade zone". However, a few days later, the People's Daily, the official newspaper of
the Communist Party of China, dismissed the earlier report, reiterating the block on Facebook.
Facebook was announced as a member of The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) in
October 2013, when the A4AI was launched. The A4AI is a coalition of public and private
organizations that includes Google, Intel and Microsoft. Led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the A4AI
seeks to make Internet access more affordable so that access is broadened in the developing
world, where only 31% of people are online. Google will help to decrease Internet access
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prices so that they fall below the UN Broadband Commission's worldwide target of 5% of
monthly income. A Reuters report, published on December 11, 2013, stated that Standard &
Poor's announced the placement of Facebook on its S&P 500 index "after the close of trading
on December 20".Facebook announced Q4 2013 earnings of $523 million (20 cents per share),
an increase of $64 million from the previous year, as well as 945 million mobile users.
The company celebrated its 10th anniversary during the week of February 3, 2014. In each of
the first three months of 2014, over one billion users logged into their Facebook account on
a mobile device. As part of the company's second quarter results, Facebook announced in late
July 2014 that mobile accounted for 62% of its advertising revenue, which is an increase of
21% from the previous year. By September 2014, Facebook's market capitalization had risen
to over $200 billion.
Alongside other American technology figures like Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook, Zuckerberg hosted
visiting Chinese politician Lu Wei, known as the "Internet czar" for his influence in the
enforcement of China's online policy, at Facebook's headquarters on December 8, 2014. The
meeting occurred after Zuckerberg participated in a Q&A session at Tsinghua University in
Beijing, China, on October 23, 2014, where he attempted to converse in Mandarin—although
Facebook is banned in China, Zuckerberg is highly regarded among the people and was at the
university to help fuel the nation's burgeoning entrepreneur sector. A book of Chinese
president Xi Jinping found on Zuckerberg's office desk attracted a great deal of attention in
the media, after the Facebook founder explained to Lu, "I want them [Facebook staff] to
understand socialism with Chinese characteristics."
2015–present: Combating fake news and other ventures
As of January 21, 2015, Facebook's algorithm is programmed to filter out false or misleading
content, such as fake news stories and hoaxes, and will be supported by users who select the
option to flag a story as "purposefully fake or deceitful news". According to Reuters, such
content is "being spread like a wildfire" on the social media platform. Facebook maintained
that "satirical" content, "intended to be humorous, or content that is clearly labeled as satire",
will be taken into account and should not be intercepted. The algorithm, however, has been
accused of maintaining a "filter bubble", where both material the user disagrees withand
posts with a low level of likes, will also not be seen. In November 2015, Zuckerberg prolonged
period of paternity leave from 4 weeks to 4 months.
On April 12, 2016, Zuckerberg revealed a decade-long plan for Facebook in a keynote address.
His speech outlined his vision, which rested on three main pillars: artificial intelligence,
increased connectivity around the world and virtual and augmented reality. In June 2016
Facebook announced Deep Text, a natural language processing AI which will learn user intent
and context in 20 languages.
In July 2016, a US$1 billion lawsuit was filed against the company alleging that it permitted
the Hamas group to use it to perform assaults that ended the lives of four people. Facebook
released the blueprints of Surround 360 camera on GitHub under open-source license. In
September 2016, it won an Emmy for its Visual animated short "Henry".
In October 2016, Facebook announced a fee-based communications tool
called Workplace that aims to "connect everyone" while at work. Users can create profiles,
see updates from co-workers on their news feed, stream live video and participate in secure
group chats. Facebook annually has an Oculus Connect conference. Following the 2016

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presidential election, Facebook announced that it would further combat the spread of fake
news by using fact checkers from sites like FactCheck.org and Associated Press (AP), making
reporting hoaxes easier through crowdsourcing, and disrupting financial incentives for
spammers.
On January 17, 2017, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg planning to open Station F, a startup
incubator campus in Paris, France. On a six-monthly cycle, Facebook will work with ten to 15
data-driven startups in the location to help them develop their businesses. On April 18, 2017,
Facebook announced the beta launch of Facebook Spaces at Facebook's annual F8 developer
conference in San Francisco. Facebook Spaces, a virtual reality app version of Facebook for
the Facebook-owned Oculus VR goggles. In a virtual and shared space, users can access a
curated selection of 360-degree photos and videos using their avatar, with the support of the
controller. Users can also access their own photos and videos, and any media shared on their
Facebook newsfeed. The beta app is currently available in the Oculus Store.
In September 2017, Facebook announced it would be spending up to US$1 billion on original
shows for its Facebook Watch platform. On October 16, 2017, Facebook acquired the
anonymous compliment social media app for an undisclosed amount, announcing intentions
to leave the app independent, similar to Instagram and WhatsApp. In May 2018, at its
annual F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, Facebook announced it would make
its own dating service. Shares in the dating business Match Group fell by 22% following the
announcement. In July 2018, Facebook was charged £500,000 by UK watchdogs for failing to
respond to data erasure requests. On July 18, 2018, Facebook established a subsidiary named
Lianshu Science & Technology in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China, with US$30 million
of registered capital. All its shares are held by Facebook Hong Kong branch. However, the
approval of the registration of the subsidiary was withdrawn quickly, due to the disagreement
between officials in Zhejiang province and the Cyberspace Administration of China.
On July 26, 2018, Facebook became the first company to lose over $100 billion worth of stock
in one day. It fell from nearly $630 billion to $510 billion, a 19% loss, after disappointing sales
reports.
On July 27, 2018, Facebook suspended the official page of pundit and political
commentator Alex Jones for 30 days. The website claims that Jones participated in hate
speech against Robert Mueller.
On July 31, 2018, Facebook revealed that the company had deleted 17 accounts related
to 2018 American elections for national, state and local political elections. The company
released a statement relating the attempts to previous security breaches saying "It's clear
that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true
identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past. We believe
this could be partly due to changes we've made over the last year to make this kind of abuse
much harder."
On September 19, 2018, Facebook announced that, for news distribution outside the United
States, it would work with the U.S. funded democracy promotionorganizations, International
Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute which are loosely affiliated with
the Democratic and Republican parties. Through the Digital Forensic Research Lab Facebook
partners with the Atlantic Council, a think tank affiliated with NATO. They have made a grants
to Agência Lupa and Aos Fatos, Brazilian factcheckers, to better communicate with Facebook
users during the Brazilian elections scheduled in 2018.

Page | 31
Chapter 5
Google+

Page | 32
 Chapter 5
GOOGLE+
Google Plus (stylized as Google+) is an Internet-based social network that is owned and
operated by Google.
The service, Google's fourth foray into social networking, experienced strong growth in its
initial years, although usage statistics have varied, depending on how the service is defined.
Three Google executives have overseen the service, which has undergone substantial changes
leading to a redesign in November 2015.

On October 8, 2018, Google announced that it was shutting down Google+ for consumers,
citing low user engagement and a software error, first reported by The Wall Street
Journal, that potentially exposed the data of hundreds of thousands of users. Google
indicated that Google+ would operate until August 2019, allowing users to download and
migrate their information.

History

Creation
Google+ is the company's fourth foray into social networking, following Google
Buzz (launched 2010, retired in 2011), Google Friend Connect (launched 2008, retired by
March 1, 2012), and Orkut (launched in 2004, as of 2013 operated entirely by subsidiary
Google Brazil – retired in September 2014).
Google+ launched in June 2011. Features included the ability to post photos and status
updates to the stream or interest-based communities, group different types of relationships
(rather than simply "friends") into Circles, a multi-person instant messaging, text and video
chat called Hangouts, events, location tagging, and the ability to edit and upload photos to
private cloud-based albums.
According to a 2016 book by a former Facebook employee, some leaders at Facebook saw
Google's foray into social networking as a serious threat to the company. Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg instituted a company-wide "lockdown", signaling that employees
were supposed to dedicate time to bringing Facebook's features into line with Google+.

Growth
Assessments of Google+ growth have varied widely because Google first defined the service
as a social network, then later as "a social layer across all of Google's services", allowing them
to share a user's identity and interests. According to Ars Technica, Google+ signups were
"often just an incidental byproduct of signing up for other Google services." Consequently,
the reported number of active users on Google+ grew significantly, but the average time those
users spent on the site was a small fraction of that on comparable social media services.

Page | 33
In 2011 Google+ reached 10 million users just two weeks after the launch. In a month, it
reached 25 million. In October 2011, the service reached 40 million users, according to Larry
Page. Based on ComScore, the biggest market was the United States followed by India. By the
end of the year Google+ had 90 million users. In October 2013, approximately 540 million
monthly active users made use of the social layer by interacting with Google+'s enhanced
properties, like Gmail, +1 button, and YouTube comments. Some 300 million monthly active
users participated in the social network by interacting with the Google+ social networking
stream.
User engagement on Google+ was low compared with its competitors; ComScore estimated
that users averaged just 3.3 minutes on the site in January 2012, versus 7.5 hours for
Facebook. In March 2013, average time spent on the site remained low: roughly 7 minutes,
according to Nielsen, not including traffic via apps. In February 2014, The New York
Times likened Google+ to a ghost town, citing Google stats of 540 million "monthly active
users", but noting that almost half don't visit the site. The company replied that the
significance of Google+ was less as a Facebook competitor than as a means of gathering and
connecting user information from Google's various services.

Changes in management and product direction

In April 2014, Vic Gundotra, the executive in charge of Google+, departed the company with
management responsibility going to David Besbris. By March 2015, Google executive Bradley
Horowitz, who had co-founded Google Plus with Gundotra, had replaced Besbris, becoming
vice president of streams, photos, and sharing.
In an interview with Steven Levy published on May 28, 2015, Horowitz said that Google+ was
about to undergo a "huge shift" that would better reflect how the service is actually used. By
that time, two core Google+ functions, communications and photos, had become standalone
services. Google Photos, Google's photo and video library, was announced at the May
2015 Google I/O conference. Google Hangouts, Google's communications platform, was
announced two years earlier, also at Google I/O. Google subsequently refocused Google+ on
shared interests, removing features not supporting "an interest-based social experience". The
company also eliminated the Google+ social layer; users no longer needed a Google+ profile
to share content and communicate with contacts. The transition began with YouTube, where
a Google+ profile was no longer required to create, upload, or comment on a channel, but a
Google+ page was instead required. YouTube comments no longer appeared on Google+ or
vice versa.

Redesign
On November 18, 2015, Google Plus underwent a redesign with the stated intent of making
the site simpler and faster, making the new features of Communities and Collections more
prominent, and removing features such as Hangouts integration, Events and Custom URLs,
though Events and Custom URLs were eventually added back. Until January 24, 2017, users
accessing the site using desktop computers could access some of the discontinued features
by selecting option "Back to classic G+".

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Shutdown of consumer version
In October 2018, Google announced it would shut down the consumer version of Google Plus
by the end of August 2019. The company cited two reasons: low user engagement, and
difficulties in "creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets consumers’
expectations." The company noted that 90% of user sessions on the service last under five
seconds. It also acknowledged a design flaw in an API that potentially exposed private user
data. Google said it found no evidence that "any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing
the API" nor that "any Profile data was misused."
According to the Wall Street Journal, the data exposure was discovered in the spring of 2018
but not reported by the company due to fears of increased regulatory scrutiny. The
newspaper said that "the move effectively puts the final nail in the coffin of a product that
was launched in 2011 to challenge Facebook, Inc. and is widely seen as one of Google's biggest
failures."

User demographics
Google+'s user base was roughly 60% male and 25% female as of November 2013, and 15%
"other" or unknown. Early adopters of Google in mid-2011 were mostly male (71.24%), and
the dominant age bracket (35%) was between 25 and 34. An August 2011 survey estimated
that 13% of U.S. adults had joined Google+

Features and functions

User profile
A Google+ User profile is a publicly visible account of a user that is attached to many Google
properties. It includes basic social networking services like a profile photo, about section,
cover photo, previous work and school history, interests, places lived and an area to post
status updates. It also includes several identity service sections, such as a contributor and
other profiles area that let one link their "properties across the web". These sections
optionally link to other social media accounts one has, any blogs one owns or have written or
sites one is a contributor to. This area is used for Google Authorship. Customized or Vanity
URLs were made available to the public starting on October 29, 2013 to any account that is
30+ days old and has a profile photo and at least 10 followers. Google removed author photos
from search results in June 2014 and in August 2014 Google has stopped showing authorship
in search results, both photo and author name.

Circles
Circles is a core feature of the Google+ Social Platform. It enables users to organize people
into groups or lists for sharing across various Google products and services. Organization of
circles was done through a drag-and-drop interface until a site redesign in 2015 reduces it to
a simple checkbox interface. Once a circle is created, a Google+ user can share specific private
content to only that circle. For example, work themed content can be shared with only
colleagues, and one's friends and family could see more personal content and photos. The

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option to share Public or with Everyone is always available. Users were originally able to
create Shared Circles, a one-time share to promote a circle of individuals, but the feature has
been removed.
Another function of Circles is to control the content of one's Stream. A user may click on a
Circle in the Circle Streams list and the Stream portion of the page (the center) will contain
only posts shared by users in that Circle. For the unsegmented Stream (includes content from
all of a user's Circles), each Circle has a drop-down configuration item with four options: none,
fewer, standard, and more. The none position requires the user to select (click on) the Circle
name explicitly to see content from users in that Circle. The remaining positions control the
quantity of posts which appear in one's main Stream, but the algorithm controlling what
shows has not been disclosed.

Stream
In the "Stream", which occupies the main portion of the page, users see updates from those
in their Circles and posts in Communities they have joined. There is a compose button which
allows users to create a post. Along with the text entry field there are icons to upload and
share photos and videos, and create a poll. The Stream can be filtered to show only posts
from specific Circles.

Identity services
Starting in November 2011, Google+ profiles are used as the background account for many
Google services including YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Android, Google Play, Google Music,
Google Voice, Google Wallet, Google Local and more. As of January 10, Google Search is
customized with a feature called Search Plus Your World, which inserts content shared on
Google+ profiles and brand pages under Web Search results, if one is logged into their
Google+ account while using it. The feature, which is opt-in, was received with controversy
over the emphasis of Google+ profiles over other social networking services. The feature
builds upon the earlier "Social Search" feature which indexes content shared or published by
authors; "Social Search", however, relied partly upon returns from non-Google services, such
as Twitter and Flickr. Google and Twitter had a contract that expired in July 2011 which is the
reason Tweets are no longer shown.

Privacy
The privacy setting allows users to disclose certain information to the circles of their choice.
Users can also see their profile visitors.
+1 button
Google+ has a "+1 button" to allow people to recommend sites and posts, similar in use
to Facebook's Like button.

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Google+ Pages
Google+ Pages was released on November 7, 2011 to all users, which allows businesses to
connect with fans. It allows entities which are not individuals (such as organizations,
companies, and publications) to set up profiles, or "pages", for the posting and syndication of
posts. It is similar to Facebook Pages.
Google+ Badges was quietly introduced to select enterprises beginning November 9, 2011
and officially released to the public on November 16. Badges are sidebar widgets which
embed "Add to Circles" buttons and drop-down lists into off-site websites and blogs, similar
to Facebook's Like Box widgets. This was officially treated by Google as a replacement for the
older Google Friend Connect and its widgets, and GFC was announced by Senior Vice
President of Operations Urs Hölzle on November 23, 2011, as scheduled to be retired by
March 12, 2012 on all non-Blogger sites in favor of Google+ Page Badges.
Google+ Views was introduced on April 1, 2014. It features a "view counter", which is
displayed on every user’s profile page. The view counter shows the number of times the user's
content has been seen by others, including photos, posts, and profile page. This feature was
later removed in favor of an insights feature.

Communities
Google+ Communities was released on December 6, 2012. This allows users to create ongoing
conversations about particular topics. Google+ Communities can also be created and
managed under Google+ Page accounts.

Events
Events allow users to invite users to share photos and media in real time. This was removed
from Google+ as part of the November 2015 redesign, but later added back in a different
location. Events can now be found from the user's profile.

Discover
The Discover page shows trending posts and articles on Google+ and around the web. It is
similar to the What's Hot page that was removed as part of the November 2015 redesign.

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 Bibliography

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
 https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition
 https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/podcasting4.htm
 http://edynamiclearning.com/courses/high-school-social-media-course/
 https://www.icaew.com/-/media/corporate/files/technical/information-
technology/technology/social-media.ashx
 https://www.rebel.ca/support/web-academy/using-social-media-with-
my-website-part-1.aspx
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%2B

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