12 new projects will finally show us how Facebook is changing democracy

a post by Jacob Kastrenakes for The Verge [via ResearchBuzz: Firehose



Ever since the 2016 US election, some of the most urgent questions in tech have been about the impact of social media — Facebook, in particular.

How much does fake news influence people’s opinions?
Do filter bubbles lead to more polarized views?
Why are people so inclined to share outrageous stories?

Researchers have been looking at those questions for years, but actual experimental data has been hard to come by. But this summer, select researchers will get access to some of the most insightful social media data we have, direct from Facebook.

In an unprecedented move, Facebook has agreed to provide anonymized data about how stories are shared across its platform. The first 12 research groups to get access to Facebook’s sensitive user behavior data were announced last week. Collectively, they’ll be studying critical questions facing politics and technology: how disinformation campaigns play out on social media, the ways partisan communities become organized, and whether Facebook as a whole can swing an election.

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5 Powerful Mindset Shifts to Stop Worrying About What Other People Think

a post by Sandy Woznicki for the Tiny Buddha blog


“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” ~Lao Tzu

We carefully pick out what we wear to the gym to make sure we look good in the eyes of the other gym goers.

We beat ourselves up after meetings running through everything we said (or didn’t say), worried that coworkers will think we aren’t smart or talented enough.

We post only the best picture out of the twenty-seven selfies we took and add a flattering filter to get the most likes to prove to ourselves that we are pretty and likable.

We live in other people’s heads.

And all it does is make us judge ourselves more harshly. It makes us uncomfortable in our own bodies. It makes us feel apologetic for being ourselves. It makes us live according to our perception of other people’s standards.

It makes us feel inauthentic. Anxious. Judgmental. Not good enough. Not likable enough. Not smart enough. Not pretty enough.

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