Jonathan A. Obar (York): The Biggest Lie on the Internet: Ignoring the Privacy Policies and Terms of Service Policies of Social Networking Services. Andrea Peterson on why a staggering number of Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to. Online harassment of women at risk of becoming “established norm”, study finds (and more and more). Joel Stein on how trolls are ruining the Internet. Should we feed the trolls? When it comes to reducing online harassment, deeper social change could have a bigger impact than fighting back one jerk at a time. Have comment sections failed? In recent years, many media companies have disabled them because of widespread abuse and obscenity (and more). The secret rules of the Internet: Catherine Buni and Soraya Chemaly on the murky history of moderation, and how it’s shaping the future of free speech.
The shame game: The Internet has given us a new public square; now law enforcement is trying to harness its power. The meaning of online life: Anna Wiener reviews Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art by Virginia Heffernan. Quentin Hardy interviews Kenneth Goldsmith, author of Wasting Time on the Internet. “I worried people would forget about me”: Can teenagers survive without social media? Instagram is ruining vacation: Eating, praying and loving may be a stated goal of travel — in reality, we seem more obsessed with nabbing the perfect photo. Investigators have been using the social media output of the Rich Kids of Instagram as a starting point for enquiries — so what can we learn from these endless shots of champagne and swimming pools? The CIA is investing in firms that mine your tweets and Instagram photos.
Your political Facebook posts aren’t changing how your friends think. Facebook is a growing and unstoppable digital graveyard: At some point, there will be more dead Facebook users than living ones — and for those left behind, it is transforming how we experience the death of those around us. Seth Fiegerman on how Yahoo derailed Tumblr — after Marissa Mayer promised “not to screw it up”. Is Twitter making us more productive? The Forrest Gump of the Internet: Ev Williams became a billionaire by helping to create the free and open web; now, he’s betting against it. Elizabeth Spiers on how blogging gave us everything we love and hate about the web: What early bloggers feared about the future all came true — and it’s glorious.
Everything good and bad about the web, encapsulated in one perfect thing, on its 25th birthday. All your memes are belong to us: Gene Park, Adriana Usero and Chris Rukan on the top 25 memes of the Web’s first 25 years.
