Social Media

Katy Perry: I'm a victim of social media pressure

The singer and American Idol judge says Instagram and Twitter are proof of the "decline of civilisation".

She also encouraged fans to not care about social media and to instead live their lives.

Perry has over 68 million Instagram followers and 108 million Twitter followers, but says she would rather not document her whole life online.

"It's hard because I'd rather not care about that and just live my life," she told Refinery29.

"We buy clothing and products or pose a certain way or go to an event to get a picture - it's not good for us as a society.

Meghan Markle closes social media accounts

Prince Harry's fiancee took the decision because the accounts "haven't been used for some time". Ms Markle also ran her own lifestyle website, The Tig, which she closed in April 2017.

The palace said the former actress and UN ambassador was grateful to everyone who had followed her over the years.

The move came after the couple made their first official visit in London.

In December 2017, Ms Markle had 1.9 million people following her posts on Instagram, and more than 350,000 Twitter followers.

Her Facebook page had almost 800,000 likes.

Twitter tests 280-character tweet limit

Twitter currently limits tweets to 140 characters, but has doubled that to 280 characters for a small group of users.

The current character limit was "a major cause of frustration" for some users, the firm said in a blog post.

The firm has been suffering from slowing growth and the shift could be one way for the firm to widen its appeal and attract new users.

"Trying to cram your thoughts into a Tweet - we've all been there, and it's a pain," Twitter product manager Aliza Rosen wrote.

Chinese debate medical rights after pregnant woman's suicide

The 26-year-old woman, surnamed Ma, jumped from a hospital window in northern Shaanxi province on 31 August. The child she was carrying was also killed.Huo Junwei, a doctor at the Yulin Number One hospital, told China Economic Daily that Ms Ma "left the ward twice and told her family that the pain was unbearable, and that she wanted a caesarean section, but the family were not willing to allow the procedure."Her husband, surnamed Yan, refutes this, telling Beijing Youth Daily that "we did not disagree to a caesarean".

 

'Risky delivery'

EU clamps down on social media job snoops

An EU data protection working party has ruled that employers should require "legal grounds" before snooping.

The recommendations are non-binding, but will influence forthcoming changes to data protection laws.

Recruitment company CareerBuilder suggests that 70% of employers use social networks to screen candidates.

Its study also found that the same percentage are also using online search engines to research potential employees.

 

Guidelines

'Good Samaritan' bullied, beaten and called a kidnapper after helping lost child

The man was watching a softball game with friends in Lakeland, Florida, over the weekend when he noticed a 2-year-old girl walking around the sports complex alone, according to a statement from the Lakeland Police Department.

Concerned, the man approached the girl and walked with her in an attempt to locate her parents.

One independent witness confirmed this to authorities, according to the police incident report.

Is live streaming your life good business or dangerous?

Samantha Firth, a 21-year-old nanny living in Chicago, walks to the subway with her friend. So far, so ordinary.

But she is simultaneously broadcasting her 15-minute journey live via her mobile to thousands of avid followers.

"You guys are lit," she says excitedly as she looks at the stream of rolling messages and emojis that are popping up on her screen from her fans.

"I love you... you guys are the best," she exclaims, before heading onto the subway and zooming the camera in on a spot on her forehead.

US rapper Kanye West disappears from social media

The reasons why were unclear but last November he ended a tour early.

He had accused fellow rapper Jay-Z of trying to kill him and walked off stage after announcing he would vote for Donald Trump.

His wife, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, remains on Twitter and has 51m followers.

She has been promoting her and her husband's children's clothing line.

Shortly after West's accounts were deactivated, she tweeted that he had hand drawn a logo for the clothing line.

Fans responded by pleading with her to persuade her husband to return.

China announces tighter regulations for online news

Companies that publish, share or edit news will need a government licence, and senior editors must be approved by the authorities.

Other staff will be required to undergo government training and assessment, and receive official accreditation.

The legislation will bring online news providers into line with traditional news media operating in the country.

Social media giants 'shamefully far' from tackling illegal content

Hate speech, terror recruitment videos and sexual images of children all took too long to be removed, said the Home Affairs Select Committee report.

The government should consider making the sites help pay to police content, it said.

But a former Facebook executive told the BBC the report "bashes companies" but offers few real solutions.