social media/ cyber 2016 Q4

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whew! 2016 has been quite the fast-paced dizzying blur. this is the year that it seemed social media was utterly ubiquitous and not only that, probably had a big influence on the election.[a]

its quite a torrent. its grip on popculture seems to be nearly complete. how could it be any more coupled? we have multimilliondollar youtube stars and supermodels becoming so based on instagram accounts. although, have we reached Peak social media? kim kardashian backing off on her intensity somewhat might be a milestone or gamechanger. or maybe not!

facebook is now the 800lb gorilla.[b] twitter maybe is struggling some in comparison. celebrities/ Trump luv it but it looks like it doesnt scale so well otherwise.[c] guess not everyone can be kim kardashian.

there is now a large proliferation of social/ psychological studies on social media.[d] some find some positive/ redeeming qualities but mostly there is a lot of alarm. but now maybe its kind of like alcohol, fully part of the (world) culture/ deeply intertwined “for better or worse”. this leads to the topic of social media/ internet addiction which is much more of a phenomenon lately.[e]

more angst over trolls and filtering.[f]

social media plays a special/ at times pivotal role wrt terrorist attacks now.[g]

re the election, recently covered this. fake news is a big deal and causing a lot of alarm and/or handwringing.[h] what to do about it? maybe this will subside after the election, or maybe not. facebook is especially blamed.[i] it does seem to have nearly huge national security implications if it (a) had any effect on the election and/ or (b) russia had anything to do with it as somewhat rumored. there is somewhat radical talk of a blacklist.[j] pizzagate is an especially significant wrinkle still playing out.[k]

underneath all the frothy social updates, there is infrastructure, and theres a lot of news on that too, ie fiber/ broadband, google, etc.[l] theres angst over the comcast-ATT merger,[m] and netflix is a big topic[n] esp wrt data caps[o] and net neutrality/ Trump policy[p].

what does the future hold? social media seems to be a very sizeable force these days and is starting to have major political implications. Trump himself espouses the view that social media may work better for him than mainstream media as far as not distorting his message to the masses. thats another real gamechanger.

am reminded of another young president ~1 decade ago who complained bitterly that he couldnt use his blackberry after being elected and then was custom-fitted with a secure (but limited) one… by the NSA. his name was Obama. the world sure has changed a lot hasnt it? or maybe not at all? also from a much earlier era, reminiscent of franklin roosevelts fireside chats when the brand new technology was radio!

a. social media
b. facebook
c. twitter
d. study
e. internet/ addiction
f. trolls/ filtering
g. attacks
h. fake news
i. facebook
j. blacklist
k. pizzagate
l. isp
m. comcast
n. netflix
o. caps
p. neutrality

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