Marketers Steal Social Media Faces: SMC 1(6)

Social Media Communication in the News: 
Real-Time Discussion Starters

Online Marketers Steal Social Media Influencer Faces

Wired reports that YouTube and Instagram influencers say they have not authorized marketers to illegally paste their faces onto bodies to sell sketchy products. Once found, the first response should be to send a cease and desist email to Amazon or other sites failing to monitor advertising. An influencer must identify "the specific infringement" (para. 10). It may take the help of a lawyer or brand marketing expert to force a take-down of the image.

"For now, platforms are not proactively dealing with image theft on behalf of influencers," the Wired investigation noted. "It’s up to the individual to report it." Fans sometimes provide the first warning of trouble.

https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-instagram-influencers-stolen-faces/

Question: How could the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) make it easier to stop fake advertising?

Twitter Suspends 70 Pro-Bloomberg Accounts Over Manipulation

Twitter fought back against a political spam tactic of using dozens of accounts to blast identical messages, the Los Angeles Times reported. The suspension of 70 accounts included some permanent bans of hired content producers.

"These 'deputy field organizers' receive $2,500 per month to promote the former New York mayor’s candidacy within their personal social circles, in addition to other, more conventional duties," the newspaper reported. "They receive campaign-approved language that they can opt to post."

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-21/twitter-suspends-bloomberg-accounts

Question: What do you think should be the spam limits for employee social media posts?

In Brief

• New Mexico Sues Google Over Collection of Children’s Data (AP, Feb. 20, 2020): https://apnews.com/68de82f96a1c61fdbd51dbb71bd8c1df

•  Should Social Media Platforms Be Regulated? (Feb. 10, 2020, Forbes): https://www.forbes.com/sites/esade/2020/02/10/should-social-media-platforms-be-regulated/#55b2d7ef3370

• Why the NYPD Subpoenaed a Reporter's Twitter Feed (The New York Times, Feb. 14, 2020): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/14/nyregion/patriot-act-subpoena-nypd.html

In Case You Missed It: Bloomberg's Paid Influencers, Memes and Facebook Policies

Facebook changed its Instagram paid political rules after presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg hired "influencers" to post memes about the former New York City mayor, Politico reports. "Under the new rules, the content will have to be clearly marked as sponsored" (para. 3)."The spokesperson said in a statement that the rule change had been under consideration for some time, with meme posts gaining traction as a campaign tool, and with both political campaigns and government agencies inquiring about the company's policies on their use," (para. 4).

Salon was blunt, calling these "fake" posts: "Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's campaign is paying social media influencers and a social media firm to flood Instagram with fake messages purportedly sent by the billionaire" (para. 1).

The Daily Beast earlier reported that influencers were being paid $150 per post: "For a fixed $150 fee, the Bloomberg campaign is pitching micro-influencers—someone who has from 1,000 to 100,000 followers, in industry parlance—to create original content 'that tells us why Mike Bloomberg is the electable candidate who can rise above the fray, work across the aisle so ALL Americans feel heard & respected'" (para. 4).

Update: The Associated Press called the changes "murky" in raising concerns. "Facebook’s policies leave plenty of loopholes, which campaigns and candidates will likely find ways to exploit until Election Day, said Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook employee who is currently co-director of Harvard’s digital platforms and democracy project." Foreign governments also may use the tactic. “We’re in for quite a lot of turmoil and trouble,” Ghosh said (paras. 4-5).

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/14/bloomberg-meme-changes-facebook-instagram-115333

https://www.salon.com/2020/02/14/mike-bloomberg-is-paying-social-media-influencers-to-post-fake-messages-to-make-him-look-cool/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-bloomberg-is-paying-influencers-to-make-him-seem-cool-9

https://apnews.com/86f306176a5e1043d2f825483e75f70d

Question: Why is it right or not for candidates to pay for influence posts?

SMC news is curated for Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, third edition (2021).

Paid Political Memes for $150: SMC 1(5)

Social Media Communication in the News: 
Real-Time Discussion Starters

Bloomberg's Paid Influencers, Memes and Facebook Policies

Facebook changed its Instagram paid political rules after presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg hired "influencers" to post memes about the former New York City mayor, Politico reports. "Under the new rules, the content will have to be clearly marked as sponsored" (para. 3)."The spokesperson said in a statement that the rule change had been under consideration for some time, with meme posts gaining traction as a campaign tool, and with both political campaigns and government agencies inquiring about the company's policies on their use," (para. 4).

Salon was blunt, calling these "fake" posts: "Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's campaign is paying social media influencers and a social media firm to flood Instagram with fake messages purportedly sent by the billionaire" (para. 1).

The Daily Beast earlier reported that influencers were being paid $150 per post: "For a fixed $150 fee, the Bloomberg campaign is pitching micro-influencers—someone who has from 1,000 to 100,000 followers, in industry parlance—to create original content 'that tells us why Mike Bloomberg is the electable candidate who can rise above the fray, work across the aisle so ALL Americans feel heard & respected'" (para. 4).

Update: The Associated Press called the changes "murky" in raising concerns. "Facebook’s policies leave plenty of loopholes, which campaigns and candidates will likely find ways to exploit until Election Day, said Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook employee who is currently co-director of Harvard’s digital platforms and democracy project." Foreign governments also may use the tactic. “We’re in for quite a lot of turmoil and trouble,” Ghosh said (paras. 4-5).

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/14/bloomberg-meme-changes-facebook-instagram-115333

https://www.salon.com/2020/02/14/mike-bloomberg-is-paying-social-media-influencers-to-post-fake-messages-to-make-him-look-cool/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-bloomberg-is-paying-influencers-to-make-him-seem-cool-9

https://apnews.com/86f306176a5e1043d2f825483e75f70d

Question: Why is it right or not for candidates to pay for influence posts?

No End to Trump DoJ Tweets

Following President Trump's impeachment acquittal, the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account frequently has been used to weigh in on Department of Justice (DoJ) investigations. Attorney General Bill Barr said Trump's tweets made it “impossible for me to do my job,” but the Associated Press reported: "Unbowed by a public rebuke from his attorney general, President Donald Trump says he has the 'legal right' to intervene in criminal cases and sidestep the Justice Department’s historic independence" (para. 1).

https://apnews.com/db64d4eaf5f65604cb147645e822a262

Question: Should President Trump alter his tweeting? Why or why not?

In Case You Missed It: Aspiring Rapper and Others Pretended to Have Coronavirus

The newest rage on TikTok and other social media sites is to pretend to have coronavirus in videos designed to spark online and social media attention. James Potok, 28, was on a Toronto to Jamaica flight when he "announced that he was just in Wuhan, China, and he wasn’t 'feeling too well,' The Rolling Stone reported (@RollingStone - 2020, February 6).

Potok told CBC News that, "It certainly wasn't a smart thing to do." He apologized to passengers for ruining their vacation. The plane was forced to return to Ontario, and Potok was charged (@CBCNews - 2020, February 4). "Coronavirus is not something to joke about," he said. "People don't take it lightly."

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/coronavirus-hoax-clout-948568/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/coronavirus-claim-plane-westjet-flight-diverted-1.5452221

Question: What can be done to reduce incentives social media users have to create viral videos?


SMC news is curated for Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, third edition (2021).

SMC News 1(4): Coronavirus Hoax Publicity Stunt

Social Media Communication in the News: Real-Time Discussion Starters

Aspiring Rapper and Others Pretended to Have Coronavirus

The newest rage on TikTok and other social media sites is to pretend to have coronavirus in videos designed to spark online and social media attention. James Potok, 28, was on a Toronto to Jamaica flight when he "announced that he was just in Wuhan, China, and he wasn’t 'feeling too well,' The Rolling Stone reported (@RollingStone - 2020, February 6).

Potok told CBC News that, "It certainly wasn't a smart thing to do." He apologized to passengers for ruining their vacation. The plane was forced to return to Ontario, and Potok was charged (@CBCNews - 2020, February 4). "Coronavirus is not something to joke about," he said. "People don't take it lightly."

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/coronavirus-hoax-clout-948568/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/coronavirus-claim-plane-westjet-flight-diverted-1.5452221

Question: What can be done to reduce incentives social media users have to create viral videos?

Washington State High School Principal Disciplined For Kobe Comment

Camas High School Principal Liza Sejkora was placed on administrative leave for calling Kobe Bryant "a rapist" after he, his daughter and others died in a helicopter crash. NBC News reported that a deleted post read, "Not gonna lie. Seems to me that karma caught up with a rapist today"  followed by a shrug emoji. Threats followed, and Sejkora later apologized (@NBCNews - 2020, February 5).

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/principal-who-said-kobe-bryant-s-death-was-karma-facebook-n1131036 

Question:What can we learn from real-time social media fails?

In Case You Missed It: Social Media Sites Are Distrusted As News Sources 

A new Pew Research Center study found that none of the major social media sites had 20 percent trust for Election 2020 news. 

"Indeed, Facebook, the most widely used of the six social media sites examined when it comes to getting political and election news, is distrusted by about six-in-ten U.S. adults (59%). That includes almost equal percentages of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic (59%) and Republicans and independents who lean Republican (62%). Close to half of all U.S. adults also say they distrust Twitter (48%), and about four-in-ten (42%) distrust Instagram" (para. 3, @pewreasearch - 2020, January 29). 

"In Facebook’s case, 13% of Republicans and Republican leaners say they trust the social media site, while 62% say they distrust it. The gap is also large among Democrats and Democratic leaners, with 17% expressing trust and 59% distrust... The numbers aren’t much different for Twitter, where distrust exceeds trust for Republicans (51% vs. 9%) and for Democrats (46% vs. 15%). The data is similar for Instagram (45% distrust vs. 5% trust among Republicans, and 41% distrust vs. 7% trust among Democrats)"(paras. 11-12).

https://www.journalism.org/2020/01/29/an-oasis-of-bipartisanship-republicans-and-democrats-distrust-social-media-sites-for-political-and-election-news/

Question: What would lead you to trust or distrust a Facebook post or tweet?

SMC news is curated for Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, third edition (2021).

Social Media Communication News 1(3) #smc2021 #smm2020

Social Media Communication in the News: Real-Time Discussion Starters

Facebook apparently spent $11.2 million for its one-minute #SuperBowl television advertisement.

CMO Antonio Lucio said the spot focused on Facebook Groups:"What we've done here, rather cleverly, is feature 12 different groups that all share an interest in 'rocks' in some shape, way, or form."

Lucio told Business Insider that it was rock themed, "The ad ended with, 'Whatever you rock, there is a group for you'" (@businessinsider - 2020, February 3).

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-first-super-bowl-ad-commercial-60-seconds-q4-cost-2020-2

Meanwhile, a NodeXL social network analysis found that most of the top Twitter hashtags were sponsored "hash-flags," including #superbowl, #shakira, #pepsihalftime, and #jlo.

Question: Which Super Bowl advertisement had the most play within your social network?

Social Media Sites Are Distrusted As News Sources 
A new Pew Research Center study found that none of the major social media sites had 20 percent trust for Election 2020 news. 

"Indeed, Facebook, the most widely used of the six social media sites examined when it comes to getting political and election news, is distrusted by about six-in-ten U.S. adults (59%). That includes almost equal percentages of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic (59%) and Republicans and independents who lean Republican (62%). Close to half of all U.S. adults also say they distrust Twitter (48%), and about four-in-ten (42%) distrust Instagram" (para. 3, @pewreasearch - 2020, January 29). 

"In Facebook’s case, 13% of Republicans and Republican leaners say they trust the social media site, while 62% say they distrust it. The gap is also large among Democrats and Democratic leaners, with 17% expressing trust and 59% distrust... The numbers aren’t much different for Twitter, where distrust exceeds trust for Republicans (51% vs. 9%) and for Democrats (46% vs. 15%). The data is similar for Instagram (45% distrust vs. 5% trust among Republicans, and 41% distrust vs. 7% trust among Democrats)"(paras. 11-12).

https://www.journalism.org/2020/01/29/an-oasis-of-bipartisanship-republicans-and-democrats-distrust-social-media-sites-for-political-and-election-news/

Question: What would lead you to trust or distrust a Facebook post or tweet? 

Students and Social Media
Twitter took away and handed over a college student's access to his parody account mocking the university. Business Insider reports that a SUNY Geneseo student complained in tweets that he had been outed, amid claims that the school hacked his email and removed all tweets (@businessinsider - 2020, February 3).

https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-suny-geneseo-new-york-college-accessed-student-account-controversy-2020-1

Question: How could the First Amendment be used in a lawsuit against a university that took control of a student's Twitter account?

In Case You Missed It
While the Facebook CEO worried about protection of First Amendment freedom, "Twitter and Pinterest are taking new steps to root out voting misinformation designed to suppress participation in the November elections" (@AP - 2020, January 31).

https://apnews.com/fc644b692ab7d7888904b6da2fa60405

Question: How should we best protect core political free speech on social media sites? 

SMC news is curated for Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, third edition (2021).

Social Media Communication News 1(2) #smc2021 #smm2020

Social Media Communication in the News: Real-Time Discussion Starters

Mark Zuckerberg last week at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Utah said Facebook was “going to piss off a lot of people” and stand-up for free speech. “The last thing I want is for our products to be used to divide people or rip society apart in any kind of way,” he said. “But at some point, we’ve got to stand up and say, ‘No, we’re going to stand for free expression.’ Yeah, we’re going to take down the content that’s really harmful, but the line needs to be held at some point.”

“Increasingly, we’re getting called in to censor a lot of different kinds of content that makes me really uncomfortable” Zuckerberg added, “It kind of feels like the list of things that you’re not allowed to say socially keeps on growing ... And I’m not really OK with that” (@AP via @sltrib - 2020, February 1).

https://apnews.com/c3291531831d19ff0eaf8d91aa1415a0

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/02/01/free-expression-not/

Question: What is the balance that Facebook must strike in protecting free expression, but also guarding against propaganda, violence and obscenity?

#Election2020
While the Facebook CEO worried about protection of First Amendment freedom, "Twitter and Pinterest are taking new steps to root out voting misinformation designed to suppress participation in the November elections" (@AP - 2020, January 31).

https://apnews.com/fc644b692ab7d7888904b6da2fa60405

Question: How should we best protect core political free speech on social media sites?

In Case You Missed It
Crain's Chicago Business reported that Facebook's $550 million settlement with Illinois over violation of facial recognition bio-metrics state law means users may receive checks (@CrainsChicago - 2020, January 29).

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/john-pletz-technology/facebook-settles-illinois-internet-privacy-suit-550-million

Question: Why or why not is it fair to leave to state laws the data protection of social media users?

LinkedIn reported growth to 675 million members, and Social Media Today noted "record levels of engagement" (@socialmedia2day - 2020, January 31).
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-reaches-675-million-members-continues-to-see-record-levels-of-en/571435/

Question: How will LinkedIn threaten the global dominance of Facebook, Inc. in the future? 

SMC news is curated for Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, third edition (2021).

Social Media Communication News 1(1) #smc2021

Social Media Communication in the News: Real-Time Discussion Starters

LinkedIn reported growth to 675 million members, and Social Media Today noted "record levels of engagement" (@socialmedia2day - 2020, January 31).

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-reaches-675-million-members-continues-to-see-record-levels-of-en/571435/

Question: Why is it that LinkedIn has both huge growth and a #DeleteLinkedIn campaign?

Workplace Issues
In Dallas, Texas, 13 officers were disciplined for posting racist social media comments last year (@CBSNews - 2020, January 31).

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dallas-officers-disciplined-for-social-media-misconduct-plain-view-project/

Question: What employer and employee rights should there be when it comes to organizational social media policies?

Students, Free Speech and the Law
"The arrest and sentencing of a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota for tweets he posted while studying in the U.S. raise concerns about restrictions on Chinese students' speech," Inside Higher Ed reported (@insidehighered - 2020, January 31).

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/31/prosecution-china-student-tweets-he-posted-while-studying-us-raises-free-speech

Question: How should U.S. campuses teach international students about the differences between First Amendment freedom and what may exist back home?

The Student Press Law Center (SPLC) reports that a college newspaper in Michigan made national news over "unpublishing then republishing" a quote from a coach who admired Hitler's leadership (@SPLC - 2020, January 31).

https://splc.org/2020/01/college-paper-goes-viral-after-unpublishing-then-republishing-coachs-quote-complimenting-hitler/

Question: How could college newspapers better use social media sites to engage with the community over controversial content?

The Associated Press reported that data apps are facing a U.S. "inquiry over underage use" and presence of sex offenders (@AP - 2020, January 31)

https://apnews.com/a93a6e2b02b7f979efca92ea7266e9f2 

Question: How could dating sites create safer spaces for users? How could they use social media communication to take a stronger stance against violence and exploitation?

SMC news is curated for Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, third edition (2021).