Should the United States end the Grand Jury system of indictment?

O.J. Simpson, found not guilty in a criminal trial, different jury system than Grand Jury

"Hi. I am a previous winner on beat 100. If you have a song in the charts let me know so i can vote, if you have a spare moment could you please Vote for me, as Decembers artist or the month!!!
Just click on the blue link. Only takes a moment no registration required. Once you are on the page for (page name) just scroll down to (performer's name) click the circle next to (performers name) then click vote....so easy. Thank you for your support!!! All the best." This is an example of what we find in music, that we find with news as well; but does this produce quality entertainment and honest, relevant information or create critical problems, especially in the case of criminal proceedings?

Social media is said to create mobs, bring attention to important issues and establish popularity for some young talent.  On the other hand, the vote process that is in operation for news and feature articles in magazines and newspapers, musical performances on the Internet and the news of the day means that the top vote-getting material may not always be representative of the best of talent or the truth in a given story or idea.

With the first example, a message often received by fellow entertainers or friends of a given performer, offers specific instructions to help provide sufficient votes to be declared "artist of the month."  We are told that if we vote for said performer, that performer, in turn, will vote for one of our postings as well. If the message goes unsaid, it is often an understanding, however, on sites driven by social media. That understanding underlines the problem created by these messages.  The shy violinist with great talent finds his or her material buried in the avalanche of votes given someone who receives the most from sheer volume of people on the social exchange.  The message is not that the vote underlines a special talent but simply tenure on a site or level of popularity from various social media groups that feed it.

Most people understand that social media can create a high profile case or information.  It can also instill fear, help enlist membership in hate groups and foment Internet bullying---sometimes of the innocent or about those where some of the facts may be unknown or kept private for a reason. Grand jury proceedings are some of those instances where certain details are not given to the public because of the nature of the process.

In the recent cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York, two separate grand juries failed to indict police officers in the deaths of both victims.  Brown was shot in an encounter with a police officer and Eric Garner was shown in a video thrown to the ground by several police officers,while crying for help and stating he was unable to breathe.  Both cases were outlined on television by news reporters and legal experts as having unique features. Yet the outcome of violence and protest comes after social media has spread information that becomes muddled in the mix of emotions as opposed to knowledge of relevant material that juries have when assessing whether or not to indict someone for a crime.

The United States is one of the only countries that uses the grand jury process, which is a jury set up to decide whether or not there is enough relevant evidence "there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed by a criminal suspect."  And only about half the states use grand juries.  The trend is to use an adversarial legal process where a judge makes the decision to indict based upon the facts and details presented by opposing sides.  The process was designed to screen out the malicious or wrongful prosecution, as in the early days of the United States citizens could use the process to bring up minor problems that did not merit moving forward with a trial.  The facts and details were kept secret in order to maintain the integrity of the process so that the information could be presented with a limited amount of emotional involvement or anxiety about community response.  

In both the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases community response has been shown to have turned violent with protests involving large groups across a large swath of the country.  Would those protests have been less violent, or even non-existent, if a judge had made the decision about whether or not to indict the police officers in these cases?  

In high profile criminal cases, where material facts have been offered to the public in ongoing news presentations, or even filming of some of the trial proceedings as occurred in the O.J.Simpson trial, where he had been accused of killing his wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in a particularly horrific manner.  This case stimulated a high degree of emotion throughout, with African American and white responses shown to be somewhat different both during the trial and following the verdict.  But there was not the violent response to that outcome when Simpson was found innocent of killing his wife, despite the numerous details offered to the court that appeared to point to his guilt.

The jury system has been shown to have flaws or thought to be outmoded when there are particularly prominent cases where the public can vote in its own way through social media.  On the other hand, is America ready with enough confidence in judge's authority to do away with the jury process itself?What are the virtues and failings of either process, judge or jury or both?

Instead people are asked to decide on television, in comments following news articles, and in social gatherings whether or not they agree with the outcome of a case, whether it is a criminal trial or a grand jury determining whether or not to indict and proceed toward a criminal trial.

The questions of history and style, of evaluating the successes and failures of judges and juries and combinations of either,  are important in terms of social and political outcomes, as critical legal cases are often used to demonstrate either what is right or what is wrong in a case where strong feelings are expressed. 

Citizens are said to deserve the truth and information that will allow them to protect themselves and others. This is likely to come not from social media casting its vote, that often makes it difficult for the best talent to be selected,  but finding the answers to the processes of determination and how, or even whether, those processes can be changed to address the issues.

Why people disguise their identities with avatars on social media sites

Twinky Avatar is one of the sites where people can create their own avatars and use them on social media sites

The move of folks to have avatars to represent themselves has taken over Facebook with more and more people using cartoons or pictures of shrubs or flowers as representing their images.  It's one thing to take on a persona as a real cartoon or new character for fun, but some say it's for their personal security, while others use it as a way to increase their social connections without disclosing who they really are.

 Facebook is not alone in the practice of individuals using avatars rather than pictures of themselves for identification.  Zing.com began with some hoopla, where people could build their own pages, with posts, pictures, full articles and a range of possibilities, but it did not have the momentum Facebook has now.  Furthermore a site called Second Life has used avatars where people can build a second self that can be and do almost anything.  The imaginary world becomes more comfortable than one's own in some instances, as the avatar is able to disguise what the real person looks like and how he or she really behaves.

This is a different process than creating a Mary Poppins character or a Peter Pan who flies with children or an Uncle Remus who tells children stories.  The new way is to use a picture to hide one's own image for some just for fun but for others because of anxiety about security and safety issues.  As Facebook expands its reach, how much more risk is caused by what it does vs. the entire Internet process that is being abused ?

While some people are concerned about Facebook's expansion and believe in having restrictions, many of these same people support people like Julian Assange who exposes everything right down to the government's underwear with the Wikileaks business, that many people believe is the practice of free speech.  Some people also use violent speech, epithets and insults, and those who see their page find only the word "ask" in relationship to their location, relationships or anything that would identify them even as a known person.  The lack of openness  people say they don't like is found acceptable on social media which is in some ways hypocritical in that what people want from others and from their government is often not practiced individually.

Melanie, a 50-something executive  says, "I use a flower as my image because I don't want people to see how I really look.  I'm getting a little overweight, and to tell you the truth I'm a little embarrassed about it."

Yet Melanie sees many people daily in the course of her business.  She has also been featured in several brochures, picture included.  Still she resists showing herself as she really looks on social media.  "Is there a lack of honesty in this approach," she is asked.

Melanie admits to worries that might be unrealistic.  Part of it is vanity, she admits.  "I just can't find the picture of me I like," she says, adding, "Besides I don't like people following me.  Perhaps these reasons are true for many people.  But for others it is a disguise that serves special social needs as well.

Many people worry about their personal security and therefore reduce information that might lead to people knowing really who they are, where they live and what they do.   At the same time they want other people to identify themselves.

But how often does it occur that Facebook users seek personal information in order to be abusive?  Sometimes the one who states they use an avatar to protect their security may in fact be doing it in order to elevate themselves in some area as having expertise in a fashion where it cannot be verified.  Then those who are duped into believing the personality behind the mask is indeed an expert become the protectors of that identity so that anyone questioning the identity of the person, or the expertise, is overcome with abuse for daring to doubt.

This is particularly true when the avatar is a sexy image that can be used to entice the unsuspecting users into believing the person behind the image is truly as beautiful as portrayed.

The facts really are that the Internet provides the best and worst of times for users and abusers alike.  Social media is part of our world and in many ways a world apart.  We are able to create social groups, expand those groups in areas of special interests and even use our groups to build ideas or to protest.  And there are those who fear their personal involvement in a social media group may be discovered by an employer, a spouse or any other significant individual who may be opposed to that involvement.

Avatars are fun for most people who use them.  It is, however, the fact they are misused that can create issues for everyone when face to face contact is absent and only a cartoon takes its place.

How social media and bloggers are killing the news

Print copy media

Carol Forsloff - Social media advocates laud the fact anyone can report the news from Twitter and Facebook platforms and multi-media devices, but  there's one thing people also value. That's having the truth and the facts, which means trust, something people don't always get from bloggers and social media.

In addition to that, research demonstrates that quality information tends to last longer and have more value, is cited more and turned to during times of serious events.

Is our news better, more factual, more detailed, enlightened?  Or have these social media and citizen journal platforms so watered-down and demoralized writers that people are turning away? 

What happens when there is an outbreak of violence in a community or a critical event folks need to have serious information?

Sometimes bloggers and citizen journalists are right there on the scene.  And sometimes they make good reports with pictures and relevant ideas.  Yet there are those from armchairs who propose to do the same as journalists and then from a distance with little educational foundation, or practice in journalism, to warrant a read at all.  Yet write they do, therefore clogging the Internet with half truths that people read and wonder about and sometimes believe as truth.


In other words, do people turn to NBC, ABC or CBS online or on television where citizens opinions and viewpoints are integrated?   Or do they turn to citizen news sites for established news?   It's likely most folks will look for their hard news on established places and for extra information from citizen opinion pieces and details found in the community from those same types of informed citizens.

 On the other hand, most of the public does not know when a citizen journalist has simply rewritten what is on television at the time or the local newspaper story the original writer did from first-hand sources or original research.

Furthermore, if the public turns only to social media and citizen news sites as if these are primary sources, what consequences might there be for the truth and the facts to be checked?


In asking that question over and over from Portland, Oregon to Natchitoches, Louisiana, one finds repeatedly people maintain their local paper to be valued.  Even the small town paper that writes of basketball games on Saturday afternoons is treasured by a local community that wants to know how friends and neighbors feel.

On the citizen reporting level, and the traditional level, it's good to have that mix of local and world news.  Citizen news sites maintain they offer that local point of view from ordinary citizens  and that anyone can write news.

Are these, for the most part, citizen reports of local events or original research with new information to share?

An investigation reveals many do a good job and many do not.  Many of the stories are simply recitations of today's newspapers, the ones that are touted by the creators of citizen journals as not as useful as citizen sites.  These stories, rewritten from usually front pages, then go out on news bunches in big bundles over the Internet, and accent volume over value.  Google web spiders and Alexa don't think before zooming in or highlighting an idea, event, or information.  They simply go where they see the traffic has gone.

A rewritten story as a feature along with other sources can be developed and expanded upon, making an entirely new or substantially different story.  Simply rewriting one original story does not.

In addition, "agenda writers" are often bloggers.  Journalists use blogging platforms but often provide some background of themselves that differentiates them as practiced writers of a certain sort.  But agenda writers are something different.  These are writers of particular political views directed towards certain personalities to undermine or extol, take your pick, with little balance in theme or in purpose.

The traditional journalist is eventually undone with agendas since news writers are required to cover a broad range of topics factually.  It also has at least the exposure to ethics in reporting.

The exceptions, of course, are all around us:  those journalists who take liberties, yes license, with facts.  On the other hand, peers know the difference, while the public might often not.  That means the person who was the plumber in a town miles away from yours is able to write the news of your little spot just as well, or at least that's the way the argument states.  But the feel of the crowd, the sounds and the expressions and special nuances that come from one's knowledge of things is helpful for sure with the news.

Citizen journalism was originally conceived to supplement, not replace,the traditional news media.  But that is not what is happening nor celebrated by conferences where this different trend is extolled.

The message these days, and the celebration as well, is that news bites by anyone, unchecked and unleashed on Twitter, or rewritten from newspaper pages is just as good, just as valuable and likely better than the ordinary newspaper today.

Traffic is driven by volumes of people who have been told their take on the news is important.  That take can be valuable for local insight at the local level where citizens are there in the moment to give information traditional journalists may not be on hand to supply.

But rewritten news information available and existing on newspaper pages at a time when many compete for the advertising dollars that keep them alive?    The Las Vegas Journal's investigative group spent much time and effort citing sites for copying them,  looking at some of this as plagiarism.

One wonders if the demise of newspapers would have been quite so swift and the desperation as great to do more with less, had there not been the message that anyone can, and should, write the news.

Editors, however, are available to support journalists in every venue.  However, experience demonstrates that editing may not be applied in most cases, and certainly in reviewing for articles that might simply be developed from a single article rewritten and using the same key words and phrases for traffic.

It's that traffic, however, that most drives the news.  The news selections come from that traffic and those who are elected to be most prominently featured are often the ones with the most social media votes.

That means your 16-year-old son can write the news about an assassin in France and be at the top of the charts while the newspaper reporter that did the original investigation in France may find fewer votes because he did not engage quite as much.  That reporter was too busy getting the story in the first place.

It also means a free-for-all where "heroes" are hackers, like Julian Assange of Wikileaks, someone who has spent most of his life hacking into organizational activities in a variety of venues and whose background is in computers and technical areas as opposed to communication and news.

Then there is Edward Snowden whose hacking into his company's security materials raised questions about his technique for finding "the government is spying on us."  Everyone had an opinion, but how many asked if Snowden had the journalist's eye to decide whether or not the information was of the nature that should be printed and when.  It's true he had his contacts in the news world, but how many newspapers in the U.S. would consider it in the same way after he had taken the information and traveled with it to China.  Was the reason only to stay in line with some government directive?  Or was there some journalist ethnics book that offered enough questions to make newspapers make their own choices within what those are.

Blogging behavior that allows a writer from Pakistan to write material online, mostly embedded in canned advertising formats, and information gleaned from local city sites, that are called Bohunk News, with Bohunk the town down the road.  But the Pakistan writer has never seen the town nor known any of its people and does the job for some owner somewhere in the Internet jungle who wants readership for the money and for the advertising dollars generated on the site.  It helps kill the local papers even as the proliferation of bloggers are killing mainstream news, at least in its printed form.

Some platforms like Newstrust are striving to improve writer's knowledge, skills and abilities by offering training in combination with Poynter organization, a training program that allows journalists to keep up with trends, ideas and the
reporting rules.

So while social media platforms celebrate what they consider a victory of sorts, and traditional media drowns in the din of condemnation on the one hand and competition by many untrained folk without information on ethics, who loses in the long run?  Who loses when news is written by the popular as much or more than the informed?

Likely the public that depends on the information as sound,fact-checked, detailed and supported in order to make knowledgeable decisions in a democracy.  It may be the reason fewer and fewer people report not trusting the media, an attitude that is growing as rapidly as the ever-expanding citizen journalist folk.

Partnership, not rivalry with newspapers might be the direction that the news will eventually find as the one the public most wants and is served by better than your 16-year-old neighbor or Joe the Plumber without careful supervision and popularity developed through Internet friends. The partnership that just might work is that companionship used by the Huffington Post, where special bloggers, who have expertise in a certain area, pair with trained journalists to create a platform many people trust.

Recruiting for terror on social media: The devil is in the details

Several years ago it was reported on a well known religion news blog, that religious attacks have been fostered by Muslim extremists to attack Christians.  Muslims, on the other hand, have complained that social media sites like Facebook are being used to incite hatred and bigotry against them.  How are social media sites in 2014 handling the strident voices that can sometimes reach a high pitch during times of serious conflict?

The report in 2010 about Christians maintained that some of the extremists have called Christian converts "hyena evangelists" or "wolves in lamb's skins" who are "trying to shake the faith of Muslims"  The words were in Arabic and match some of Morocco's laws against proselytizing in a fashion that "shakes the faith of Muslims"

Names and addresses were said to be used on the site.

In the meantime, the report declares the Moroccan government had deported more than 100 foreign Christians for proselytizing, as described on Facebook.


The problems of the world often take to the "streets" of the Internet as Muslims and Christians use social media to explain their positions, discuss events and sometimes attack or verbally abuse one another.  And often the devil is in the details, in that the details that support the claims may be false or misleading.

In 2011 Yahoo News reported how extremists were taking to Facebook to obtain recruits. And recent news tells us they are.

ISIS, according to On the Media, is said by individuals such as J.M. Berger, editor of Intelwire, to be more effective in using online social groups to network with others and to recruit disaffected individuals to join them.  Intelwire is a publication devoted to discussing terrorism in its various manifestations.

And while the fact extremists are on social media is not news, as Berger maintains, how they recruit and the more subtle ways they find to do so is of critical importance to those innocents easily persuaded by their peers and others.

Intelwire's comprehensive articles and resources are of benefit for those who write about terrorism or seek to determine what to do if they are approached, subtly or directly, by individuals seeking to be recruited for an extremist organization of any kind.

While religious publications, Fox News and their compatriots, express concerns about how Christians are being attacked on social media, the same occurs from other groups as well.  Having knowledge of how this occurs and how to avoid being duped by either the right or left can be helpful with the vast reaches of the Internet able to hoodwink even those who see themselves too sophisticated to be fooled.  There are tools to help understand, resources for the media and anyone to review in the event they believe an individual or group is trying to foment trouble and getting others involved.

Research reveals Christian words associated with prejudice

Christian symbolic art

Carol Forsloff - While Christians speak of the importance of love, and cite the Bible and Jesus' words as references, a  study conducted by Baylor University  found a few years ago that those who are given Christian religious words in writing or conversation are more likely to express racial prejudice and negative views toward African Americans.

It is not uncommon for Christian words to be sprinkled on social media and in everyday discourse, so the research heightens awareness of how people might behind religion, using it as a defense as opposed to an instruction on how to interact with others.

Dr. Wade Rowatt, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor who led the study, looked at the results of the study which appeared in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science and said, "It could be that priming religious words activates cognitive representation of things like right-wing authoritism and a Protestant work ethic."

While politicians and researchers tell us that most Americans consider themselves Christian, the fact that Christian words are associated with certain prejudices might be considered particularly alarming in the wake of racial strife.  Research that outlines how words impact behavior offers us a glimpse of ourselves and how we really think when it comes to loving one another and whether or not that love encompasses African Americans.

Recent events, from the Ferguson, Missouri incident involving the shooting of an unarmed African American man by a white police officer offered a storm of controversy, and resulting riots.  It also revealed a division between white and black folks in terms of how they viewed the incident, with more whites identifying with the police and more African Americans siding with the African American family.  This division was heightened when an additional incident in New York of the beating of an unarmed African American man was also reported.

Given the fact that Americans use Christian words to explain how they feel about one another, further research might also identify how many of these people, following incidents like the recent issues regarding race have developed.

In addition, the response to Muslims following 9/11 was often negative, and statistics have shown that people are more fearful of them since that time, with a resultant increase in negativity, including insults and even the burning or defacing of mosques.

Again these incidents might also be explored in the light of those who identify with Christianity and how often they use Christian words or quotations to defend their actions.

While race and religion are often the areas of strife throughout modern history, learning how people speak and how verbal abuse can actually increase violence can be useful in teaching people that it is not what they say alone that is important, but the honesty of the beliefs they have in terms of how they are integrated into appropriate behaviors.

This type of scientific research allows people to see the uses of objective material in improving social behavior, including identifying for Christians where they might reflect on the language they use in speech and in writing specific to racial and religious groups.

Employer has legal responsibility when sexual harassment extends to social media

[caption id="attachment_18834" align="alignleft" width="124"] Facebook[/caption]

Gordon Matilla---Significant torment develops from sexual harassment, an emotionally-charged act. Social media further complicates matters and allows the problem to spread into wider and wider areas, therefore causing more widespread and intense abuse.  In many cases, as it extends the workplace, employers can be liable for some of what happens..

Social media provides new outlets for workplace interactions to occur, some of which can be negative and harmful. As of March 2013, there were more than one billion active Facebook users. Nearly 700 million of these people post at least once daily. With so much interaction, the workplace boundaries have become blurred. It should also be noted that employers can be held liable for some of these problems of sexual harassment..

What is sexual harassment? Generally, if an individual, or a group of people, exhibit unwelcomed sexual behavior towards another, it constitutes sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is not confined to one specific act. But can include a number of behaviors, that include, but are not limited to, the following:

- suggestive behavior
- sexual jokes or questions
- physical contact
- offensive gestures

Sexual harassment does not have to be explicitly sexual in nature. The conduct must simply be directed toward the targeted individual because of his or her gender. Sexual harassment is gender neutral in the sense men can harass women and women can harass men, and members of the same sex can sexually harass one another.


An attorney tells us there are two types of sexual harassment, quid pro quo and hostile work environment. Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when an employer demands sexual favors from a subordinate under the threat of job-related consequences, such as job-retention, promotion, or performance reviews. Hostile work environment sexual harassment involves situations where the victim's employer(s) or coworker(s) acts in such a way that the inescapability of their improper conduct makes the victim feel uncomfortable because of his or her sex, thus making the work environment "hostile." This commonly occurs as the result from ongoing physical contact or inappropriate comments.

Social media has expanded the confines of the workplace and home boundaries, so a given employer must realize employees are digitally connected. Therefore an employer can be held responsible if an employee is being harassed by a coworker whether in the office or in the digital world.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube allow sexual harassment, as employees have the tools to post offensive words or pictures about one another. They can also be involved in cyber-bullying. An employer has the duty to address this problem when it occurs.

Employers can request information regarding their employees' social media accounts if a sexual harassment claim is made. Employers can't ask for access to social media accounts for employment purposes but does have the right to act wisely in stopping sexual harassment.

US, UK failing education, but here's the #1 way to improve it

Education

In 2010 the US ranked 14^th in the world education rankings of 15-year-olds, and the UK ranked 26^th. At the time folks worried about the drop in education in these developed countries. But have they improved and if not, what can be done to change these figures?

2012 rankings shows the US falling further behind at 36^th in ranking, with the UK at 26 again, except in science where teens scored above average.

While countries develop new techniques, teaching strategies and ideas for solving the problems in education, there is one area needing attention that could make a difference.

When was the last time you as a parent, grandparent or representative adult figure in a young person's life somewhere read an entire book, attended a classic play or played music of special quality from the great composers? A check of local adults in the Portland, Oregon area, at random, found out of 20 adults surveyed, only six had read an entire book and two had played classical music or attended a play.

Huffington Post found 28% of adults in the United States had not read a book in an entire year. But Slate also observes that most people don't even read an entire article online but simply skim through it. Many writers maintain that few people appear to read an entire article, even though they comment on social media, like Facebook, under a title link.Is that because it is more difficult to read online? Newspapers are dying, experts remind us, because of lack of interest in print media.

With the instant communication and technological temptations associated with social media, finding the time to read, study, converse and interact with others in a learning and growing situation appears to be more and more difficult for many people. Most people maintain they don't have time to do those things folks did in past generations as part of family and community life.

Teenagers watch their parents and other adults sitting for hours in front of television sets watching reality shows and television news mostly centering on politics. Enjoying a good book or an educational program can be a rare enough happening that many adolescents have few examples of anything other than what they themselves are doing, interacting socially on Internet media platforms and watching television reality shows and movies. Education is seen as terminal rather than a life-long and enjoyable process.

Complacency and apathy have become the adversaries of education. Those who have more in many cases lack incentive to improve, to look to the future, and to instill in young people the quest for knowledge.

Children learn what they observe from others. The first, and most important, solution to the problems of education rests with those who offer examples. So in changing educational systems, folks need to look within themselves for what they can do to change the direction of young people so that education becomes the goal of everyone.

Social media platforms foretell the future through examination of worldwide events

Communication device for social media contacts

Editor--Can we tell the future by watching and reading Facebook or Twitter? Some folks believe we can and that in doing so we can create better avenues for dealing with problems by knowing each other, our wants and needs better.  But how does this happen?

Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels tend to record our moves, our likes and dislikes and our online behavior.  Internet research tells us that social media is a tool to help better comprehend and anticipate human behavior.

"It is undeniable that social media (provides) an extremely rich source of information, and it makes sense to exploit that data to make predictions or forecast future trends of offline phenomena," says Daniel Gayo-Avello, who is among the guest editors for the current issue of Internet Research.  "There are also measurable differences in the way that credible and non-credible (social media) messages spread. Special measures can be used to filter out those messages that are not trustworthy."

Gayo-Avello goes on to say that statistical methods combined with social media data can help build predictions models.says the studies also suggest that using statistical methods, in which external (but scarce) data is combined with social media data to build a predictive model, can be a promising approach.

"Up to now, a number of different scenarios-such as (those related to) the economy, politics, health or event detection-have been studied with varied results. For instance, prediction of flu and other epidemic outbreaks seem to be reasonably predictable on the basis of user-generated content," says Gayo-Avello. "Social media can be used to at least predict the present. It can be used as a proxy measure for variables that cannot be measured in real time on a general basis, such as unemployment rates or public opinions on a number of issues."

 Bill Balderaz, president of Fathom Columbus,  notes his company uses social media to predict certain outcomes, including the most recent presidential elections.  They correctly predicted who would win.

"Social media is the largest, fastest and most uninhibited focus group ever created. (The Internet Research studies) demonstrate that knowing how consumers feel is a predictor of how they will behave," says Balderaz, who's confident his firm can accurately predict everything from stock prices to climate change based on social media conversations.

"It's not as hard as you would think," says Balderaz. "We use historical data correlations to predict the future. We analyze social media patterns going back years, then we correlate social media conversations with real events."

So it is possible to predict the future using trends on social media.  So while participants wonder how their personal information and habits are used, perhaps some of it will end up with good intentions, like predicting an epidemic enough in advance that people can get medicines and help in time.

Should employees and applicants be judged by their personal lives?

C. J. Gordon----In this age of constant communication, it has become difficult for people to separate their professional careers from their personal lives. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites provide thousands of people, including employers, easy access into the lives of others. Knowing this, it is important to ask the following question: is it acceptable for employers to use a person's personal activities to support their managerial and hiring decisions?

Some would argue that reprimanding an employee for their decisions outside of work is an appropriate response, while others would call it an invasion of privacy. Each perspective can be argued, and there is no easy answer to a question with so many variables. Instead of an answer, employers need to use a more holistic evaluation. The following qualifiers can help employers determine which leisurely activities are punishable and which are not.

Expenses

This is probably the most important factor to take into consideration. If an employee incurs a cost outside of work, they have hampered their peers and their employers, justifying punishment. It is, however, important to keep in mind that there are an infinite number of ways an employee can directly incur company expenses. The following example will help to elaborate.

Say Devon works at an advertising firm, which is pitching a new client. He goes out on Thursday, the day before the pitch, and arrives hung over the next day. He presents the proposal but performs poorly. The advertising firm loses the new client because of Devon and his drinking. Not only does the company lose the contract, but it also wasted the capital it took to prepare the pitch. Ultimately, Devon -- and similarly negligent or irresponsible employees -- should pay a price.

Appearances

An employee's actions outside of work can seriously damage a company's image or reputation. This can deter other businesses from engaging with the company and could lead to a public relations nightmare. Although it sounds like a straightforward call, this can be extremely hard to determine.

A good example of this would be Minnesota Wild hockey player Clayton Stoner's grizzly slaying. It threw wildlife campaigners into a frenzy, many of whom demanded that he never hunt again. It seemed like a bad situation for Stoner, but in the end, he never received any punishment. Even though cries of horror could be heard all over the Internet, it didn't affect the team's fans or standing within the league, leaving no reason for the club to levy a punishment.

Had the team been able to determine that Stoner's actions had harmed their business or product, however, punishment may have been justifiable.

The Job

To a certain extent, what an employee does outside of work won't matter if their position is out of the public or business eye; fast food employees can get away with drinking booze daily as long as it isn't more expensive to employ them than to fire them.

It's important to keep in mind the kind of position an employee holds and what the company does before thinking punishing an employee for their off-work behaviors. If it doesn't affect their job, it's hard to justify punishing an employee for what they do in their down time.

Each employee has a personal life that should stay out of work. When a person's life interferes with business operations, it is important that employers take appropriate measures.

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Bandwagon effect impacts beliefs on Facebook, Snowden, Zimmerman events

[caption id="attachment_19560" align="alignleft" width="300"] bandwagon[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----What’s the “in crowd” thinking today and how can I fit in?  The bandwagon effect pulls hard on the crowds who waited for the George Zimmerman verdict and fret over Edward Snowden and his status as traitor or hero.  How much of this response is the bandwagon effect, and what is it, according to social science experts?

The bandwagon effect is described as  “the more people come to believe in something, others also "jump on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence. The tendency to follow the actions or beliefs of others can occur because individuals directly prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others.”

"Jump on the bandwagon" is also a term that is frequently used to define similar behavior, dating back from "jump on the bandwagon"  comes from events in 1848 when Dan Rice, who had been a popular clown, entered politics, using his bandwagon as he toured to secure votes during his political campaign.  Now that bandwagon effect is often talked about in politics, music and social media, where people respond to something in the way they see their social group, or favored group, to respond.

Facebook shares have increased in value over the past few days.  More and more investors will follow because of that bandwagon, but experts warn against responding immediately when there is a sudden rise in a stock, or the market as a whole.    Instead most experts remind us that values that increase can also plummet in the same direction, so that steady gains and hedging as well as diversifying is a better trend to follow, going against that “bandwagon effect.”

Edward Snowden appeals to the hero instinct in many young people, who see someone who dares to be different and will do and say what he needs to in order to keep the light on stage.  The response by many is to circle in groups, defining boundaries, exchanging social media highlights and responses, based upon that hero or traitor notion.  But a perusal of the usual and customary Facebook feed finds far more folks cheering on the fellow who is continuing to have international appeal for boldness and escape and standing up against the government.  That response has been a bandwagon effect.  In fact it has been said by writers of the Daily Beast his actions have inspired European youth to train as spies.

And if you are African American or an educated Northerner it is likely you run with the crowd that seeks signed petitions declaring inequities in the George Zimmerman trial.  Zimmerman was acquitted of charges against him for killing an African  American teen.

While we examine our finances and our feelings about news events, it is important to understand the bandwagon effect and how it may deter making an appropriate assessment of a given event.  How we respond often is governed largely by two factors:  your own beliefs and the beliefs of the group in which you belong or hope to become involved.  And once you make up your mind instantly after something happens, it will be hard to change it, given the additional fact that most people will continue to believe a falsehood that agrees with their beliefs even when the truth is made evident.

Social networks for musicians: Are they real or what's the deal?

Angelo Marinosci, Jr.--One of the ways to be noticed, in business or the arts, is to join a social network.  But what are the pitfalls and problems in the social networks for musicians and how do these networks influence behavior and interactions while helping people become connected and share their talents?

Eight months ago I was invited (more or less) onto a Social Network for musicians and then another and then another...and so forth.  I'm really not much of a joiner in any regards,  but I found my curiosity paid off to a certain extent.  Before long I was recording some of my favorite cover tunes and then my own material.  The Networks allow all sorts of interaction as well.  There's chatting, commenting, private messages, voting in different forms etc.  For me, the ability to share my music, my guitar playing and singing, and of course, my original material was a nice thing and fairly convenient too.

Regardless of the premise of any Social Network,  be it music, art, photography,  no matter what it's agenda, there are always other forces at work as well.  At some point there may be undercurrents and collision courses and even some head butting.  A Social Network by definition is a diverse glob of people with some commonality but mostly a pluralism that prevails throughout the goings on.  There are other languages, cultures, mores, sexual preferences, big age differences, national character, religions, politics,  rockers, folkies, the list goes on.  The very thing that makes these Social Networks so interesting and inviting also sets up all sorts of chain reactions that are waiting to go off,  some with hair triggers and some with slow fuses.

Even when folks are on their best behavior (according to themselves)  you can see the ripples of different approaches to music, conversation and social norms manifesting themselves.  Much of what Americans think and think of themselves is the result of the intolerant middle-class mindset.  We wear our contradictions like shining badges of courage... always eager to assert what we think, and how we do just about everything.  We're not alone in this regard,  but I'm better qualified to speak about the groups with which I have the most experience.  Personally, I don't really much care how other people live or what their preferences are in most regards and probably only react when I feel the intellectual walls moving in on me. I try to practice the old, Live and let live principle,  but sometimes that gets lost in the fog.

The music I post is for the most part, folk, blues, folk-rock and a touch of country blues. It is for the most part, simply recorded and posted in the most honest and direct form I can manage, and there is little or no use of props, borrowed video material or appropriated photos.  It's me playing and singing into a lens and doing the best I can at entertaining.  I've done fairly well for myself as a gray-haired old beatnik with little or no gimmicks to offer.  I am not naked.   I do not dance naked .  I do not have long, lovely legs, firm young breasts or sexy smiles to offer.  I have just me and my music.  I do have some great looking guitars; and I did have still images of my wife (then my fiancé) from the rear, seated in gentle and delicate nude pose, a visual on a few of my early audio posts but was discouraged from continuing that practice even though the photographic print was exhibition quality.

As part of each and every site that I have posted music there always seems to be  great latitude for what one might find.  The degree of sexuality is stretched to the limits, and though they are not "pornographic" in the strict legal sense, they dance on the outer edge of good taste and often distract from the music content itself.  Perhaps the message is "Hey, if you like big breasts (or buttocks, or long legs or whatever) you'll love my music too!"  Suffice  to say, that seems to blur the messages of most other music on the site and often intensifies the vast differences between some of the cultures represented within the framework of each site.

I'm a painter and a photographer and work in other related fields of art.  I've worked with all sorts of models, nudes, and nudity most of my adult life. This is a very different subject and vehicle.  I really don’t like telling other people how to live their lives or what choices to make or what to watch, look at or read,  but in this case, the use of female sexuality often resembles those hip and kinky calendars they used to give out with wrench sets, or special additions for bathing suits. There have also been mumbles in the hallways that some of the young pretties involved in this claiming that they might be a part of porno-rings or prostitution  or all sorts of colorful other activities.

Personally, I don’t want to research other peoples’ lives.  I have no interest in what they may be doing in front of their cameras, or their boyfriend’s cameraas, or for spare money;  but I do feel that a music site might be better served primarily with music.  This conversation is a lot like the debates about what’s on T.V.   I stopped watching all commercial and cable T.V. about 7 years ago.  If you don’t like what’s on, don’t watch it.  If you don’t like a certain book, don’t read it.  If a movie offends you, don’t go watch it so you can announce how offended you now feel.  The difference in this instance is that on a music site it’s a little bit like being on board the same long distance bus ride and having to ignore what is going on all around you; it’s right there and there’s no place else to go accept off the site completely.

I have no regrets about joining the music sites that I belong to;  but you need to know that a music site is a big blob of people from all over the world, and that’s what you have to survive and adapt to,  true diversity.  Some folks might even have to tolerate you.

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Angelo Marinosci is a writer, artist and musician, with experience and talent in all three areas of the arts.  He is one the most active and respected musicians with his sites on Fandalism and on YouTube.  He is known for his acoustic guitar skills and his ability to compose music on the fly.  His opinion, and perspective, have value because of his decades of experience in the arts and his perception of fairness.

Social dance vs social media: How change in interaction impacts emotional relationships

Social dancing[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---For most of the folks over 50+ social dance was the way one met that significant other, providing choice options for dating or a permanent relationship, including marriage.  But in today's media-saturated world, the meet-up pattern is the single groups online, social media sites and the occasional coffee shop chats.  How does this change in interaction impact emotional relationships?

Every grade school in the 40's and 50's, outside of those with a more conservative bent or religious schools, taught young children the art of interaction through social dance.  These were not encouraged as a way to promote romantic coupling but a part of helping youth interact in a positive way with one another, enjoying music, physical movement in a different way than sports, and conversation.  Even during those moments where girls danced with girls because of boys' shyness or because they were those too tall, not as pretty or shy themselves, individuals learned how to measure feelings and relate to one another through touch.

Touch is one of the ways that best strengthens and connects people emotionally, scientists remind us.  A baby without being touched and held can suffer emotionally in such a way that physical and mental development can be negatively impacted.  Touch has been found important at every time in life, including advanced age, where it has been learned that elderly who experience close social interactions are better through those trying times of growing old.

Social media promotes conversation, interaction, discovery of new relationships, group consensus and information that can overcome cultural barriers.  So it has tremendous value, social scientists say, in democratizing and establishing a world view for many people.  But those same scientists warn that too much can also negate emotional and social development, in the same way that lack of touch can hurt how someone develops and grows throughout life.

Some dance forms remove some of those elements of touch, but there is also that mirroring behavior, that element of observation and feeling where one observes another in close proximity.  That promotes feelings of pleasure and emotional attachment.  So that rock and roll music of the 1950's that ushered in the more physically distant dance forms still maintained some element of physical interaction that helped invigorate folks and establish personal communication and connections.  Experts remind us that dance itself, even when it is a solitary activity, has a positive impact on our self concept and our joy.

Experts say to dance, to move together, to be together in a social and close interpersonal way is a good thing for everyone, including those with disabilities.  It helps promote social and personal wellness.  So while we learn about each other, and grow together across the Internet, that local dance group might also be a way to improve one's feeling of being part of something special.  The problem is that social dance is dying in many parts of the United States.  Those who understand its value, however, could bring back a true, and more permanent, renaissance of reason so we can dance together and get that feel-good emotion once again.

These are the pros and cons of social media for youngsters

Sonali Chauhan — As social media has become an inseparable part of our life, it accompanies us from casual communication to fix serious business deals. Social media can prove beneficial to raise the market share of your company and can help youngsters to share knowledge. Youngsters can make their best out of it, but should be used with a pinch of salt. Here are some pros and cons of social media.

Mutual understanding

The friendly atmosphere is a  must at home. The bondage between parents and youngsters should be spacious enough to discuss the new happenings in their lives. Parents must have knowledge about their friendships at social sites like Facebook, Orkut, Skype etc; many cases of exploitation come into the limelight because of the hazardous friendships grow in the  social networking without any authentication and consent of their parents. Teens who are complete strangers to each other join parties, organize trips – which lead to some sort of coarse consequences as some people with evil intentions to harm humiliate others. Parents should step forward and make necessary rules for the protection of their kids.

Causing physical unfitness

Social media is becoming a powerful distraction which makes their involvement almost nil in the physical activities. Even at the  initial stage of their life, when they should be energetic all the time. They are transforming into lethargic, couch potatoes as they like to spend their spare time playing video games, listening music, and watching movies online instead of participating in any outdoor games. At a very young age, they have to wear spectacles because of continuing interaction with the computer screen. They are losing their stamina and becoming victims of uneven diseases. It's even affecting their intelligent quotient as they are not involved in the intellectual activities like quiz, brain maths to sharpen theirs skills.

Ocean of knowledge

Social media is an ocean of knowledge. It will be a great help to complete project work, make the assignments unique and interesting. Students can go to any limit for sharpening their skills. Nowadays, students are learning international curriculum. So they can make their doubts clear with the help of internet. Students can obtain particular assistance while joining online coaching sessions. They can start the preparedness of the entrance exams, which they have to clear just after their final examinations to proceed their career further and take admission in their favorite stream. Social media is more than enough to serve their curiosity. There are social sites where teens share their notes and help each other. Such activities also teach a student how to work with coordination at workplaces.

In a nutshell, social media sites are not teenage stuff, as they are very immature emotionally and can’t take mature decisions. They usually feel very humiliating and depressed when they find that the person on the other end was not sincere like him or her. Youngsters are becoming poor at moral values because of social media as they sometime get involved in bad company and take part in immoral behavior unwillingly under the influence of their friends.



About the Author

Sonali runs a website regarding the impact of technology on different aspects of life. 

New application allows users to send voice messages on social mediasites

[caption id="attachment_4168" align="alignleft" width="300"] Facebook[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - In these days of gotta-haves, the latest application lets folks send prerecorded voice messages to friends.  The application is called UWhisp and interfaces with social media sites.

In these days where many people use applications such as Facebook and Twitter,  some folks like to hear the sound of a friend's voice, so this new application which becomes a widget on the user's browser allows people to record and play messages. It was invented in Spain by four graduate students from the School of Informatics.  According to Gizmag, the application has been available for about three weeks, with both a basic, free version and a paid-for one that has more of the bells and whistles.

Whereas the new devices enable users to communicate, experts remind us that social media itself has its advantages and disadvantages. First, the issue has to do with time, and how much of it the user spends on social media, then tasks and ventures go by the wayside as users join more and more networks and spend more and more time maintaining contact with great numbers of people. In fact, many experts caution about this. So a voice mail system can allow people to send messages personally in a fashion that may reduce the time necessary for interaction. The use of a voice dictation system, also helps.

One of the big disadvantages of social media is its lack of personal, direct contact, face to face, which means that people lose the nuances of body language and other communications. A voice, however, allows for increased personalization of messages that can help bridge the gap between the impersonal and a more direct interaction. Most experts tell us that even the best devices need to be channeled appropriately to the user's time and need, because to be locked in social media as the primary source of social interaction is limiting.

In the meantime, scientists and entrepreneurs continue to find ways of improving communication in social media that will be effective and useful for everyone.

Facebook addiction: take the test

[caption id="attachment_4168" align="alignleft" width="300"] Facebook[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Here's another addiction to worry about: Facebook.  It seems that there is now a test to determine whether you are or aren't one of those with an unrelenting craving that sometimes you can't control, which is, of course, the nature of addiction.  What's the test and what does this say about the rest of us?

I admit it.  I am on Facebook every day.  I also have a lot of "friends" and that's a serious sign of issues, unless there's a reason.  For me, as a journalist, Facebook is one of those places where networking is important.  But I also peek in and see how my friends are faring, and I admit to a venture here and there on non-friend pages, just to check out what's going on in the never-never land of those I hardly know or don't know anymore.  Some of these have become non-friends and non-relatives through time and distance.    Lots of folks do that, the experts say.  That's the way of the world, it seems, at least the way of the world on Facebook.

I'm also addicted to something else on Facebook, and that's not just writing but music as well.  The new application, Fandalism, has taken off seriously and in some ways might just outpace YouTube.  If it does, some of us will be truly happy for that, as YouTube has become not just a place for musicians and visual artists to strut their stuff but a dumping ground for the absurd and sometimes the very bizarre, as well as the tamer "inappropriate."

Fandalism can be very addictive, if you like to play music.  If you like to listen to it, it can also be addictive, as there are some seriously good musicians.  One of them is Yawroc Sticky Hopkins, that I have written about, and Nancy Burridge, of the super voice.  But there are others as well, and when the site brags it has many of the world's best musicians, you can take that claim seriously, as there are some seriously fine folk on Fandalism, who perform as well, and often better, than those on "America's Got Talent" or its counterparts like "Britains Got Talent" just over the pond.

But Facebook is the parent of Fandalism, parent in terms of the new child becoming a strong connection for people, likely as addicted as those who play games.

So what's the test to determine addiction?  So here's what Kurzweil's publication reports:

 Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale test, developed in Norway, offers the following scale to determine addiction..

Do you (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, or (5) Very often:

• Spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.


• Feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.


• Use Facebook to forget about personal problems.


• Try to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.


• Become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.


• Use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

After adding these up, your full score correlates with your addiction level. Did you score “often” or “very often” on at least four of the six items? You’re a Facebook addict.*

So it isn't just the Internet or the computer that takes our time.  It is also social media.  On the other hand, some people use the site to master their music or to show off their work in various ways.  However, you use, it, experts say, excessive use can cause problems with sleep and bunches of other issues---like who is going to do the dishes or take out the garbage while the other guy is fixed with eyes on the screen for Facebook.

News readers increase but not through Facebook and Twitter

[caption id="attachment_4361" align="alignleft" width="128"] Tablet computers[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - More and more people are reading the news, as  technology expands  Internet reach and reader options throughout the world; but social media is not the top source for news as thought.

The Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism surveys the state of the journalism world, taking a look at what drives traffic and what readers want.

What Pew researchers have found is that sources like Facebook and Twitter may add to traffic, but only nine percent of users get their news recommendations from these social media sites.  Facebook leads Twitter as a source for finding news material.

As devices for reading news material expand, readers continue to turn to traditional news sources for their reading about contemporary events.  This does not mean they do not read just the mainstream press, the big boys like the New York Times.  But the reader is more apt to do a search for material or find those outlets that present news material in which they are most interested.  Traditional media continues to appeal to most news readers.

So what’s the best method of securing website traffic?  Unique, well-written material remains high on the list of SEO experts and others examining the issue of Internet growth and user behavior as the best method of increasing readership.  A forum post summarizes what many technical support staff and website experts tell us:  “Write quality, original content. Ensure that Google can see it and make sense of it. Update regularly.”

Readership is up, across many venues, because of technology.    And despite the concerns that the reading public simply wants the hit-and-miss sensational material, a good many are looking for substantial material that appeals to their interests and that they find unique.

While news organizations worry about losing readership, the problem is less the competition with social media than the actual number of sites that offer news.  Still reading as fundamental is being presented across the platforms of technology, a way to provide more and more people with opportunities to learn.

‘Big Brother’ watching your 'sins' on Facebook, Twitter, social media

[caption id="attachment_4168" align="alignleft" width="300"] Facebook[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Think that smart remark directed against another individual or business sounds cute on Facebook?  A potential employer might not, as it is now being found prospective employers review social media sites and may not hire you if they find something they don’t like.

Eurocom Worldwide   recently conducted a survey in conjunction with a public relations agency  and found that one in five technology firms report not hiring someone because they didn’t like the candidate’s social media profile.  That’s after learning that more than 40% of these prospective employers check the potential employee’s profile on social media sites such as Facebook.

That Big Brother watching you might be that business owner/manager you had hoped to impress.

As for those who disclose nothing or next to nothing on the page, employers look askance at that too.  Reasonable and necessary privacy settings are one thing but not revealing much at all raises suspicions about what else an individual might be hiding as well.  So it is the proper balance employers seek or that special something they find lacking or disagreeable that can cause an applicant to be rejected from a possible job.

“The 21st century human is learning that every action leaves an indelible digital trail. In the years ahead many of us will be challenged by what we are making public in various social forums today. The fact that one in five applicants disqualify themselves from an interview because of content in the social media sphere is a warning to job seekers and a true indicator of the digital reality we now live in,” warns Mads Christensen, Network Director at Eurocom Worldwide.

The percentage of employers using social media to assess employee and potential employee behavior continues to increase, even as social networking itself increases in the marketplace.  In 2009 CareerBuilder,  a major resource of job information, did a survey of social networking sites and found an increase from twenty-two percent to forty-five percent of employers using these sites for screening.

Posting content , picture or text, about drinking or drugs, bad-mouthing other employers, making discriminatory comments or showing poor communication skills are the red flags noted by potential employers in their rejection of job applicants.

While legal scholars emphasize that companies who use social media for job screening must be especially cautious not to intrude too recklessly in areas of privacy,  Huma Rashid underlines the potential candidate’s responsibilities as well with this:  “And for employees, words of caution don’t seem to resonate but always bear repeating: do not put anything up online that you do not want prospective employees to see.”