India

20 Moments in 2016 that took Indian Internet by Storm

Dhoni’s last ball run-out against Bangladesh in T20 World Cup

December 30, 2016

ipad-820272_960_720 — Representational image. Pixabay

December 30, 2016: The year 2016 has been a year of big happenings and loaded with shocks and surprises.However, it remains really difficult to churn out the positive happenings which has seen many terror attacks. With many unfortunate incidents, some positive things also occured in the year.

Here are some moments that took the Indian internet by storm-

When PM Narendra Modi declared Rs 500, 1000 currency notes to be invalid in an attempt to curb black money

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When images of currency notes inscribed in Devanagari “Sonam Gupta bewafa hai” had gone viral on social media.

When Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested and charged with sedition by the Delhi police for allegedly raising anti-India slogans in a student rally.

When daughters of India made us proud at the Olympics.

Dhoni’s last ball run-out against Bangladesh in T20 World Cup.

Hrithik Roshan received 1,439 emails from Kangana Ranaut.

Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut. Quora

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With the launch of Pokémon Go, the craze to get Pokémons went to an extent where people cared not where they are going, the only think they bothered about was, Pokémons.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan shocked everyone with her funky purple lipstick at the Cannes Film Festival.

When the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) refused the release certificate for Udta Punjab and asked the makers to make 89 cuts.

Virat Kohli slammed trolls targeting his former girlfriend Anushka Sharma on social media.

A 15-year-old boy, Pranav Dhanawade scored a world record 1,009 runs in a single innings during an inter-school match.

On 29 September, the Indian army said it had conducted “surgical strikes” against suspected militants in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

When Bollywood banned Pakistani artists.

We’ll miss you, Fawad!

When a blue-eyed handsome young chaiwala from Pakistan became an internet sensation.

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa Jayaram, ‘Amma’ to millions passed away.

PM Narendra Modi pays tribute to Jayalalithaa. FacekookN

When Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief and President (News) of Times Now and ET Now resigned from Times Now.

Pakistani singer Taher Shah, who became an online sensation with his ‘Angel’ song.

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Coldplay’s electrifying concert in Mumbai, India

Kareena Kapoor Khan, Saif Ali Khan blessed with a baby boy, named him Taimur

– Prepared by Ruchika Kumari of NewsGram. Twitter: @RuchiUjjaini

Theme of Annual Conference is Privacy, Reflecting Users’ Growing Ambivalence about Social Media

Now as the conference kicks off its 10th anniversary in Toronto, Canada on July 19, the theme is privacy

NewsGram Desk

July 20, 2019

Conference, Privacy, Social Media — FILE - Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, Whatsapp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration. VOA

When the first International Conference on Social Media and Society was held in 2010, social media firms like Facebook, Twitter and others were seen in mostly a positive light, as a novel way of empowering and connecting people.

Now as the conference kicks off its 10th anniversary in Toronto, Canada on July 19, the theme is privacy and trust, reflecting users’ growing ambivalence about social media, said Anatoliy Gruzd, an associate professor at Ryerson University and the event’s organizer.

“People are realizing the importance of the platforms and the potential negative impact on their lives and their communities,” he said. The effects can be societal, personal and political, he said.

The conference comes as governments, nonprofits and consumers grapple with the negative effects of social media. President Donald Trump recently held a summit on social media at the White House, claiming that Twitter, Facebook and others are biased against him and conservative voices.

Now social media research, a field that didn’t exist before the mid-2000s, touches on almost every aspect of life. “We feel our work has a direct relationship to what is happening now rather than historical events,” Gruzd said.

Teens’ ambivalence about social media

Valerie Steeves, a professor at the University of Ottawa and one of the conference’s keynote speakers, said teens and young adults are more careful now about how they present themselves online compared to 10 years ago. The event’s keynote talks will be livestreamed on YouTube.

“In 2000, teens were going online because it was the cool place to be,” she said. “Now they have to be on, it’s infrastructure they have to use.”

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And teens are ambivalent about being there. “They are very careful about how they post,” she said. Among their concerns — their data being “grabbed by a corporation,” she said. In a recent study of 5,500 children ages 11 to 17 in Canada, 95 percent said they didn’t think marketers should be able see the content they post online.

Trust in social media firms has eroded in recent years. That could be in part from publicized incidents, such as Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook allowed an outside researcher to have access to user data that was then used in political campaigns.

As a result of that scandal, the Federal Trade Commission this past week reportedly voted to approve a $5 billion settlement with Facebook that could end an investigation into its privacy practices.

Still, the power and reach of social media can bring people together around a shared interest like no other form of communication. One paper at the conference looks at how women discussing sexual abuse and harassment in China use code words on social media to circumvent censors.

Fake news and social media

In another paper, researchers examine the dynamics of polarization in the 2018 Brazilian presidential campaign. They found that fake news and misinformation didn’t really spread widely but stayed within polarized online communities, being passed around whether it was true or not, Gruzd said.

“We think fake news affects the whole society, but it may stay in pockets,” he said. “That doesn’t make it any less dangerous. It can make views more extreme and then turn into offline actions.”

Also Read- YouTube Fined in Millions Over Kids’ Data Privacy Breach

Trust, privacy, ambivalence and the promise of connection — social media will continue to be fodder for researchers as society grapples with its power. (VOA)