An international perspective on privacy
Chinese students reflect on the different privacy expectations in the U.S. and back home.
News
For mobile banking users, convenience outweighs security concerns
Just a few years ago, depositing a check required a trip to your local bank. Now, mobile banking allows customers to deposit checks, transfer money between accounts, check their account balance and more. But do these conveniences outweigh security concerns with mobile banking? For more than half of American adults, including MSU neuroscience freshman Ethan Kosmyna, the answer is yes. Fifty-eight percent of U.S. adults use a mobile device to manage their banking accounts at least once a month, according to a survey from the American Banking Association.
News
Online justice: social accountability or harassment?
When someone posts something offensive online, other users are often quick to chastise that user for the post in question. “Social sites create opportunities to reflect the best and worst parts of ourselves,” said Lindsay Blackwell, a Ph.D candidate at the University of Michigan School of Information. Blackwell studies online harassment and said she sees a pattern of retributive justice online. Is the act of online shaming simply users holding others accountable for their words and actions, or do some people take it too far? In a lot of cases covered in the news, victims of online harassment deal with negative effects after the ordeal takes place.
News
Going ghost: some users say “no” to SnapMap
Snapchat’s latest feature as of June 2017, Snap Map, allows users to share pictures, videos and now locations with others across the world, raising concern from users about their safety. “I honestly am not a fan of it because I have a bunch of random Snapchat friends who are not actually my friends,” said Arielle Iafrate, 21. “[It’s] kind of creepy to think that they can just look at the map and know exactly where I am.”
Iafrate attends the University of Michigan, where she said she has met many people at bars and tailgates that added her on the popular social media app casually before the new feature arrived. Now, Iafrate says the app has taken on a purpose she did not originally download it for. “I compare it to ‘Find my Friends,’” said Iafrate.
News
Where social media network becomes social media networking
Phillip Gardner, executive director of the Career Services Network at Michigan State University and director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute, said that many students and young adults have taken to using LinkedIn and other professional-centric social media websites like BumbleBizz, announced in July of 2017, to grow and engage with their network. “LinkedIn is very useful for students to connect to alumni and professionals in occupations that you are interested in, and learn more, find out what you need to do to enter,” he said. According to Jobvite’s “Job Seeker Nation 2016” survey, 48 percent of job seekers used social media in the search for their most recent job and 59 percent use social media to research the culture of the company they were interested in. Additionally, Jobvite’s “Recruiter Nation” survey discovered that 92 percent of recruiters use social media in their outreach, and 87 percent use LinkedIn specifically. Chris Chavez, a senior studying cyber security and information sciences and technology at Penn State University, used social media to obtain his internship with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company in Bloomington, Delaware.
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Social media and privacy podcast page
Welcome to the Social Media and Privacy podcast page. I am your host, Thomas Kfoury. Each podcast focuses on social media or privacy topics that were prominent in the news during the second half of 2017. There are five episodes:
Episode 1: Apple privacy page and release of iPhone X
Episode 2: Homeland Security and social media monitoring
Episode 3: Amazon Key
Episode 4: Honest Ad Act
Episode 5: Net Neutrality
These podcasts are here to inform listeners and promote discussion about each topic. Thank you, and enjoy.
Cyberbullying: Where to find it and how to prevent it
One of the issues that has arisen from social media is an integral part of people’s lives is cyberbullying.
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Lost & found: a hitchhiker’s guide to phone and wallet safety at bars
Get advice from East Lansing bartenders and police on how to avoid losing personal items like phones and wallets, and the measures that you can take to retrieve lost or stolen items.
News
Blocking social media in school
In the age of social media, teachers are trying to find ways to get students to pay more attention to their in class and less attention to their phones. Many schools block students from going onto social media on the school computers. Some schools make it so when students log onto their wifi, they can not go onto any social media even on their phones. Is this an invasion of a student’s rights or privacy when it comes to their own phones? However, there are some schools that believe it won’t end distractions.
Making online safety as easy as 1-2-3
With kids gaining more exposure to social media and access to the internet, advocates say that teaching them how to safely and correctly navigate is vital in helping them to avoid mistakes in their online presence.