Customer Service Value For Money Media Gallery for Western Union Money Transfer Latest Reviews WU stinks their customer service is non existant. I have yet to have a money transfer overseas to go smoothly there is always something I have to call about and wait and then get someone who I can barely understand as it appears they do not hire anyone who doesn't have an accent. I actually had to resort to yelling at the customer service person today, they are slow, they want confirmation but won't send you a confirmation e-mail, right now I have two seperate transactions hanging out... I sent money online for just 44 as it stated that you can send upto 400 x2 before ID is required. It clearly states this, i only did the transaction because of this, as i dont have any i.d at all. They took my money from my credit card, then frozen the transaction saying i need to send id. Its a joke! I need to send id but dont have any, my money is held and i cant pay my reciever Terrible Service, Bad Company You will be asked to confirm your to call for this message. For your security, we need more information before we can process your money transfer. You call.....then...you'll wait forever!!!.... until your phone runs out of battery charge and wasted so much of your precious time!!!!!!!! What an awful experience I've just had trying to send funds from the U.S. to Canada. It was not sufficient for me to get cash from the bank, fill out forms, provide identification, and pay a $111 fee (to send $1,200 U.S). I needed to also return a phone call to Western Union, wait a half hour, then identify the transaction number, my driver license number, and the recipient's name. Then, incredibly, I had to identify HOW the recipient would SPEND ALL the funds, HOW I am SURE of the... Western Union has the worst system I've ever encountered, you actually went in to my credit report for the transfer of a lousy $200, I was asked questions about who I pay my mortgage to and who I took credit from to purchase my car. To put the icing on the cake, you denied my transfer of $200 for my desperate brother and the agent had the audacity to offer a 50% discount hahahaha what a joke you people are, I rudely stated to him that I wanted nothing from Western Union and rather stick to... Last month, my boyfriend and I were sending money to California from New York to my boyfriend's brother in order to put down a deposit on an apartment that we really wanted to get. We decided to use Western Union and we called the 1-800 number and asked the customer service representative if they deducted the money from the credit card and if it was sent to the destination. The rep "assured" us that the money was there and the transaction was complete and to have a great evening. The next... Mdmdm's response to courtneyrose05's Review Written on: 01/11/2012 I am in the Phillipines.. I have been here 2 1/2 months as I extended my visa 2x and got married.. I am renting a house with my wife and I furnished it and buy her family dinner all the time.. I have burned through all my cash so I try to send myself a $1000 transfer the first one went through ok so after I pick it up I try another one but they cancel it.. they keep cancelling my transfers.. I call them.. I email them I send them my passport but they just say the system is cancelling my transfers.. I KNOW!!! Then they say something about security issues.. Hey dumb butts I'm sending money to myself. I have to show my passport to pick it up. I have had this online account 5 years!!!! Why is this a security issue?? On top of that I can't load my Western Union Debit card.. Then I apply for a Western Union ForX account and get approved but I can't log in. I am running out of money and Western Union does not care if I have been a good customer for 6 years. I recently used the WU Pay service by transferring money from my bank account to them. It's been 2 days now since WU received the money, still they haven't sent any confirmation of receipt. It's impossible to contact them via chat or phone (they're always unavailable, even during their business hours) and their email responses are a bunch of baloney and vague at best. I hope to recover my money soon thanks to my bank. I called in to ask about a problem, but I couldn't understand the person, his english was so bad. I asked him to transfer me to another agent, but he said to hang up and call back. I was on the phone for 2 hours and got hung up on 3 times. No one I spoke to could speak english, and they didn't help at all. I have been using Western Union for may be 4 years sending money home every month. The only reason I stick to WU is it's convenient for my receiver to collect money from local Western Union place. I have spoken to hundreds of companies over the phone but Western Union is by far the rudest one. It is as if I have made a call to some third world police department and I'm getting interrogated! I have always had problems with them whenever I had changed address or phone number etc. They REALLY... This company/bank goes further than the people from the great black continent south of Europe! If you want to be taken for a ride, this is the best Company/Bank to do it. What a lack of unmitigated slight of hand! To start with, they have now started charging 4% above the going base exchange rate, which was only 3% 6 months ago, and only 2% about 2 years ago. They don't provide Vaseline when you start dealing with WU and the problems they create! Then there are the exorbitant transfer... I agree with all the other reviewers regarding this company, which is the worst I have ever dealt with. They have now been holding my payment hostage for over a week and will not respond to my emails. Over the phone, they were "too busy" and wanted me to leave a voice mail. I said that was not acceptable and foolishly continued to wait. After half an hour, I asked for a supervisor, who eventually said she "escalated" my issue (whatever that means) and would call back "hopefully within 24... Took two hours to deal with agents on the phone, then finally after hours of waiting and frustration, they figured they cannot help by phone and wanted me to go to their office to make the transaction. Cancelled the transaction for money transfer but the fee is NOT reimbursed!!! Terrible! Never ever gonna make business again with them! The level of irresponsibility at western union is unimaginable, for a company with global reach, i am completely shocked at how they conduct business. How do you decline service to a customer without explanation of any sort. It's a shame they are still in business. The following is an email I sent them. It explains almost everything. I am a very loyal customer to western union and have been making money transfer for years through this company. But I am so disappointed by the customer service so much that I wonder why the company is even paying people who are like robots and can't help customers. Less than a month ago, I made a large money transfer, but my rewards points were not printed on my receipt. I called the customer service line and after ... What kind of legitimate company denies your transaction, and also closes your account without even sending you a courtesy email as to the reasons WHY it was cancelled and denied? To take it further, I was sending money via Billpay, which required me to verify my account by accessing my online banking (which is a reputable bank btw, CHASE). To put it short, Western Union is a joke. Unless you want to deal with hassles and your money being frozen an a non-FDIC insured system, don't even... Western Union paid money to someone else who didn't have MTC number ( this umber only supposed to be known to sender and receiver) They wont admit it is their issue - said we need to report to police as it was fraud but cant explain how money was paid to someone who was not the correct receiver. They are not interested in helping to solve what happened to money and police cant do anything without details of where money was paid out. Their agents are not trained and pay out to anyone even... They deducted money from my account and it did not reach to receiver . After 2 days they said the transaction has been cancelled . No reason given by them . They said your money has been refunded to your bank account . It has been more than 5 days still I have not received money back . If I try to ask western union they say check with your bank , we have refunded your money back . My bank is asking reference number from western and western union is not providing any reference number . Western Union is worthless! I first started making online transaction in July because they offered zero transfer fee. The money came in the recipient's bank account in a next business day, very impressive. Then I made another transfer to the same recipient's account and they held the money for nearly one week, always stating that it has been transferred, but the recipient has never got the money, until they sent me an email about transfer failure stating that the beneficiary's name was... western union has no customer service i paid for the minute service and my money was not recieved for four days i tried several times to correct an agent mistake and found it very dificult to do so finally after days of effort i was able to get my money sent i will never use the service again I tried sending money OL and it won't go through coz they're asking for some stupid codes.. Everytime I call they'd say I have to wait until the transaction posts then I can enter the code... 3 days later, I decided to just cancel it since it's still on pending approval... To my dismay the next day... My money was deducted from my account even after I cancelled the transaction.. I've called them so many times and all they say is that they'll give me a refund but until now... THEY STILL... Minike's response to Guest's Review Written on: 29/08/2012 I hear you. I had the same experience. Customer service is sluggish, giving nasty reasons to not process the transfer and holding the money for so unreasonablly long time. Their business is just a failure! Reply to this comment Pintikan's response to Guest's Review Written on: 10/10/2012 i am having the same problem right now. they are imbeciles. did they returned the money to you? Reply to this comment Pintikan's response to Guest's Review Written on: 10/10/2012 i am having the same problem right now... are they able to refund the money back to your account? After typing and retyping several time their details required I got nowhere! so annoying! so i popped the cash in an envelope and wished it bon voyage! and yes it made is safely at no cost to me! yes me, the consumer the no 1-the customer! who? yes me! the customer! get lost, waste of time............ THE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME!!! Most of the locations listed on their website are no longer active e.g Rite Aid at Grand Central. For those money centers that are still open, their computers are often down. Their online service is ABYSMAL! They make it impossible to send money. The security checks they have in place don't work (e.g. you don't get a text message on your cell with the code as promised etc). The customer reps don't know how to resolve the issues and all they say is they can't... A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. I understand that protecting the privacy of customers is important, but I feel as if they make up things. I couldn't wire money online even though the website clearly stated that you could do so and have the funds available in minutes. They told me to try sending a smaller amount which I did, but was charged a separate transaction fee for every smaller transaction sent. I seriously could NOT believe the customer service... and I work in customer service so I feel... When I attempted to withdraw them money in minutes I couldn't until the next day. Attempted to call in to the customer support and demand a refund for mislabeled services. They treated my like I was no one and didn't even care about my call. I was left on hold for half the call and the other half was them shouting company policy at me which had nothing to do with my issue. After an hour of battling I simply asked where I could pick up the money, they put me on hold for twenty more minutes to... Here is why western union should not exists: - Western Union is the ONLY company in the world makes mistakes and refuse to corrected them.In fact, they ask customers to correct them. - the customer service seems like a scam! they cant help you , they don't know how to help you, and can't commnucate at all and their supervisor have no problem being rude and mean to you. - thier over-charge service fee don't match the service quality. finally, if you have someone in need money right away DO... Western Union Money Transfer Fiasco I tried to send money to a friend in Canada yesterday. I gave Western Union $2500 to send, which they on their web site had told me was the maximum I could. I took the cash to their agent. They took my cash and said everything was fine. Then, my friend went to get the money and it wasn't there. In the meantime Western Union had called my phone. Their fraud department had intercepted my transfer. The person who sounded like he was in South America... Okay, listen everyone... All i can say, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY IF YOU COULD FIND A WAY TO SEND MONEY TO YOUR FAMILY MEMBER, FRIENDS OR TO ANYONE. Someday, they will hold your money and start asking some personal question which is really rediculous and after that, They will ask you to send some documents before releasing your money. I never did.. I never send anything and i never say or mentioned anything. I told them, you know what, just refund my moneyback. Which is they did but before... I tried to use Western Union online money transfer, because they have a promotional zero money transfer fees. It initially shows that the my transaction went through fine and after couple of hours I receive an email that the trasaction is not complete and is rejected. So I call their customer support, this is what they have to say and I quote " Use one of the agent offices, online service requires a lot of verification and is a delayed process", which is suprising because Western Union... I used WU today to transfer money to Spain for my daughter.Because of the RB/Ulster Bank fiasco she was unable to use her own card.Firstly my credit card was declined so I rang my CC issuer and they told me they automatically put a stop on all WU transactions because of fraud. They lifted the stop and I tried again and only after I put in my card details did WU inform me they needed a scan of my passport/id -then followed major panic as I had to change computers and email myself the scans... I sent money to my son in England, from NYC, Western Union Refuses to pay in Brighton England. Customer service give you the run around, they are keeping the money, now they are giving me hard time to get a refund for the lmoney they are keeping and refused to deliver to the receiver. Want to keep the $104 dollars they charged me for "no service" thieves, lousy customer service, people in India that cannot and will do nothing to help, a total disaster of company I hope people read this... Ngocchau's response to Guest's Review Written on: 14/08/2012 NEVER USE WU AGAIN, NEVER NEVER I've sent money to vietnam for my sister on 31/07/12 .She has not received money yet until now, they sent me an email to inform receiver would receive on 02/08/2012. Ive been contacted customer service lots of time but the same answer is to find out why the money has delayed and they would ring me back to let me know.No one ring me back, only i contact them.I want a refund but i dont know how long .Its hard to get money back from them. TERRIBLE COMPANY I tried to send money on line - it failed, after a couple of attempts and 15 min spent filling out all the fields/security questions etc.- with no explanation as to why. I called them, after 15 more minutes wasted on the phone, the agent told me he could not put the transaction through and he did not know why. He offered to look up a location for me, after a few more minutes he got back to say that the system was down and that I should look this up on line. I asked for a phone or email I... I recently tried sending under $5000 from here in BC Canada to Arkansas and got an email from the fellow in Arkansas that WU was very difficult when he went to receive the money. So I phoned WU and had an equally difficult time. They wanted to know all kinds of things like why I was sending money, what it was for, how was I sure that the receiver wasn't scamming me, etc. Basically a lot of information that is none of their business. I cancelled the transfer and will try Money Gram. I will... So Inhad my wallet stolen while abroad in Italy, and my boyfriend sent me euros to hold me over in Florence until I could have my credit card replaced. So I told him where the nearest western union was in Florence, and I went there today with a friend who spoke Italian fluently to help me retrieve the money. I brought my passport and gave the man the transaction number, and he immediately said he couldn't help me. When we asked why, he pointed out that my boyfriend has written the... i would NEVER recommend western union to ANYONE. they have the WORST customer service i have ever encountered. not only was i rudely spoken to but i was blamed for an issue that i did NOT do. save yourself the trouble and the fees and go with another money transfer company. Very bad! Very slow! Very unresponsive customer support! They held up transfer and did not notify me. I kept calling and they asked for more information. I gave them what they wanted and then it happened again. Another call and more questions. Once they had asked everything that was possible to ask they said it would be two more weeks to transfer the money. Four days just to deposit the money from my bank to there account. I have been using Western Union Service for 2 years now. I use it twice a month to send funds to my family in another country. Apart from the fact of it being expensive... considering i was using it twice a month. I still used it because it was available and I really did not want to search for other options. I started with using the agent locations and then eventually moved online. Today there was an error with sending the funds online and asked me to call the number to complete my... Guest's response to emmaferns's Review This is the worst customer service experience I have ever received in my life. I will never recommend this business to anyone in need of transferring money. The only thing I would ever want from you all again is for you to shut all of your doors- GO OUT OF BUSINESS!!!!! I was trying to find how much it costs to send money between the US and Hong Kong. Western Union was the first company to spring to my mind as it has shop locations almost everywhere worldwide. W.U seems like a friendly company judging by it's wording on it's websites but it does not make it easy to find the actual cost of a transaction. Only in the US sites is there a calculator to find the total cost. I also came across this article in my searches. So I tried the calclator to find... I usually don't write reviews . I do make an exception here as the service received in High barnet western union branch was appalling. I waited 1 hour ! There were only 2 people changing currency in front of me ! The agent was EXTREMLY RUDE and UN HEPLFUL. I didn't knew what to fill to receive money . He just vaguely pointed at a paper on the desk nearby so more queue for me. Then he asked any info he could think about including the sender town birth which i have no clue about.. to end... Had not got a clue how to use this service so went to co-op travel on High Street Oldham and could not thank them enough for all the help they gave me.I would use this service again and would gladly advertise this.I was told about Western Union from a colleage at school. Thankyou xxxxxx !!! In mexico showed my ID and they couldnt verify it or something. Wouldnt give me the money. Totally incompetent. Who else would have the code number- it was sent to the same name ! USE MONEY GRAM _ MUCH BETTER !! Ill never use this scum country again ! I went to receive 3700$ was sent from Russia to Alaska for some climbing support, they say they can give me only 2000 $, and sender must split money, so I asked how much people can send by Western Union, so they say up to 10000$, so you can send but you cannot receive. to change transaction - 170$ , are they real?? they must be stoped Bleep's response to Guest's Review Written on: 15/04/2012 THREE times I told the agent my wife in the Philippines requires DOLLARS...as she has a dollar account..of couse it arrived in pesos and at a very unfavorable rate of exchange...which had to be repeated to get it back into dollars! Submitted a online money transfer, then i decided to cancel. Western union said that if my card was debited that it would the money would be returned. I needed to know a timeframe. They said it would be 3-5 days for it to return but they could speed it up by faxing my bank and they would do that within the hour and my money would be in the bank before noon the next day. THAT WAS A LIE. They never faxed anything, so i called my bank and got a direct fax number then called Western Union back... Guest's response to Guest's Review Written on: 17/04/2012 17-4-2012 I can only echo the comments here - WU is an inefficient and incompetent service with possibly the most terrible customer service I have ever experienced (and they dont seem to speak/understand English too well - which doesnt help matters!) Western Union could not be more unhelpful if they tried. You can't get anyone who speaks English. You'll get transferred 10 times. And in the end, never get to make the transfer anyway. They wasted 2 hours of my time tonight and I couldn't be more frustrated. Let this be a lesson to everyone, take complete control of your life and never have an emergency that you don't have money stashed away for because you will definitely NOT be helped by Western Union. If I could have given them no... To send 600 used to cost 12 dollars to send to the Philippines which in my opinion was too high, but now it costs 18 dollars to send 600 dollars which is nothing but a complete rip off and to send online it cost 30 dollars and to send over the phone they will amazingly charge you 60 dollars, and the worst thing about it is that they have everybody over a barrel in that there is not any good competitor of western union to easily choose from otherwise.


Social media The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject . Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page . (December 2013) Social media is the interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks . [ 1 ] Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 , and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content ." [ 2 ] Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals. [ 3 ] Diagram depicting the many different types of social media Social media differ from traditional or industrial media in many ways, including quality, [ 4 ] reach , frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. [ 5 ] There are many effects that stem from internet usage. According to Nielsen, internet users continue to spend more time with social media sites than any other type of site. At the same time, the total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PC and mobile devices increased by 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 88 billion minutes in July 2011. [ 6 ] For content contributors, the benefits of participating in social media have gone beyond simply social sharing to building reputation and bringing in career opportunities and monetary income, as discussed in Tang, Gu, and Whinston (2012). [ 7 ] Geocities , created in 1994, was one of the first social media sites. The concept was for users to create their own websites, characterized by one of six "cities" that were known for certain characteristics. [ 8 ] By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure), Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme in their Business Horizons (2010) article, with seven different types of social media: However, the boundaries between the different types have become increasingly blurred. For example, Shi, Rui and Whinston (2013) argue that Twitter, as a combination of broadcasting service and social network, classes as a "social broadcasting technology". [ 9 ] Mobile social media refers to the combination of mobile devices and social media. This is a group of mobile marketing applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. [ 10 ] Due to the fact that mobile social media run on mobile devices, they differ from traditional social media by incorporating new factors such as the current location of the user (location-sensitivity) or the time delay between sending and receiving messages(time-sensitivity). According to Andreas Kaplan , mobile social media applications can be differentiated among four types: [ 10 ] Space-timers (location and time sensitive): Exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location at one specific point in time (e.g., Facebook Places ; Foursquare ) Space-locators (only location sensitive): Exchange of messages, with relevance for one specific location, which are tagged to a certain place and read later by others (e.g., Yelp ; Qype ) While traditional social media offer a variety of opportunities for companies in a wide range of business sectors, mobile social media makes use of the location- and time-sensitivity aspects of it in order to engage into marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, and relationship development/loyalty programs. [ 10 ] Marketing research: Mobile social media applications offer data about offline consumer movements at a level of detail heretofore limited to online companies. Any firm can now know the exact time at which a customer entered one of its outlets, as well as comments made during the visit. [ 10 ] Communication: Mobile social media communication takes two forms, the first of which is company-to-consumer in which a company may establish a connection to a consumer based on its location and provide reviews about locations nearby. The second type of communication is user-generated content. For example, McDonald's offered $5 and $10 gift cards to 100 users randomly selected among those checking in at one of the restaurants. This promotion increased check-ins by 33% (from 2,146 to 2,865), resulted in over 50 articles and blog posts, and prompted several hundred thousand news feeds and Twitter messages. [ 10 ] Sales promotions and discounts: While in the past customers had to use printed coupons, mobile social media allows companies to tailor promotions to specific users at specific times. For example, when launching its California-Cancun service, Virgin America offered users who checked in through Loopt at one of three designated Border Grill taco trucks in San Francisco and Los Angeles between 11 am and 3 pm on August 31, 2010, two tacos for $1 and two flights to Mexico for the price of one. [ 10 ] Relationship development and loyalty programs: In order to increase long-term relationships with customers, companies are able to create loyalty programs that allow customers who check-in regularly at a location to earn discounts or perks. For example, American Eagle Outfitters remunerates such customers with a tiered 10%, 15%, or 20% discount on their total purchase. [ 10 ] E-Commerce: Mobile social media applications such as Amazon.com and Pinterest are influencing an upward trend in the popularity and accessibility of e-commerce, or online purchases. [ 11 ] Business Marketing Analysts have stated that one of the key take aways of the Nielsen Company 's "State of the media: The social media report 2012" [ 6 ] is that more consumers are accessing social media content today via mobile platforms, especially apps. [ 12 ] E-commerce businesses may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value. [ 5 ] People obtain information, education, news, and other data from electronic and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media such as newspapers, television, and film as they are comparatively inexpensive and accessible. They enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information. Industrial media generally require significant resources to publish information as in most cases the articles goes through many revisions before being published. One characteristic shared by both social and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social and industrial media are: [ 5 ] Quality: In industrial(traditional) publishing—mediated by a publisher—the typical range of quality is substantially narrower than in niche, unmediated markets. The main challenge posed by content in social media sites is the fact that the distribution of quality has high variance: from very high-quality items to low-quality, sometimes abusive content. [ 4 ] Reach: Both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility. [ 5 ] Frequency: The number of times an advertisement is displayed on social media platforms. Accessibility: The means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or corporate (privately owned); social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost. [ 5 ] Usability: Industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely, most social media production requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media production. [ 5 ] Immediacy: The time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses). [ 5 ] Permanence: Industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed, changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing. [ 5 ] Community media constitute a hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned, some community radio, TV, and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks. Social media have also been recognized for the way they have changed how public relations professionals conduct their jobs. They have provided an open arena where people are free to exchange ideas on companies, brands, and products. As stated by Doc Searls and David Wagner, two authorities on the effects of Internet on marketing, advertising, and PR, "The best of the people in PR are not PR types at all. They understand that there aren't censors, they're the company's best conversationalists." [ 13 ] Social media provides an environment where users and PR professionals can converse, and where PR professionals can promote their brand and improve their company's image by listening and responding to what the public is saying about their product. There is an increasing trend towards using social media monitoring tools that allow marketers to search, track, and analyze conversation on the web about their brand or about topics of interest. [ 14 ] This can be useful in PR management and campaign tracking, allowing the user to measure return on investment , competitor-auditing, and general public engagement. Tools range from free, basic applications to subscription-based, more in-depth tools. The honeycomb framework defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks. [ 3 ] These building blocks help explain the engagement needs of the social media audience. For instance, LinkedIn users are thought to care mostly about identity, reputation, and relationships, whereas YouTube's primary features are sharing, conversations, groups, and reputation. Many companies build their own social containers that attempt to link the seven functional building blocks around their brands. These are private communities that engage people around a more narrow theme, as in around a particular brand, vocation or hobby, rather than social media containers such as Google+ , Facebook , and Twitter . PR departments face significant challenges in dealing with viral negative sentiment directed at organizations or individuals on social media platforms (dubbed "sentimentitis"), which may be a reaction to an announcement or event. [ 15 ] According to Jan H. Kietzmann, the honeycomb framework of social media is based on the following functional building blocks: [ 3 ] Identity: The identity block represents the extent to which users reveal their identities in a social media setting. This can include disclosing information such as name, age, gender, profession, location, and also information that portrays users in certain ways. [ 3 ] Conversations: The conversations block of the framework represents the extent to which users communicate with other users in a social media setting. Many social media sites are designed primarily to facilitate conversations among individuals and groups. These conversations happen for all sorts of reasons. People tweet, blog, et cetera to meet new like-minded people, to ﬁnd true love, to build their self-esteem, or to be on the cutting edge of new ideas or trending topics. Yet others see social media as a way of making their message heard and positively impacting humanitarian causes, environmental problems, economic issues, or political debates. [ 3 ] Sharing: Sharing represents the extent to which users exchange, distribute, and receive content. The term ‘social’ often implies that exchanges between people are crucial. In many cases, however, sociality is about the objects that mediate these ties between people—the reasons why they meet online and associate with each other. [ 3 ] Presence: The framework building block presence represents the extent to which users can know if other users are accessible. It includes knowing where others are, in the virtual world and/or in the real world, and whether they are available. [ 3 ] Relationships: The relationships block represents the extent to which users can be related to other users. By ‘relate,’ we mean that two or more users have some form of association that leads them to converse, share objects of sociality, meet up, or simply just list each other as a friend or fan. [ 3 ] Reputation: Reputation is the extent to which users can identify the standing of others, including themselves, in a social media setting. Reputation can have different meanings on social media platforms. In most cases, reputation is a matter of trust, but since information technologies are not yet good at determining such highly qualitative criteria, social media sites rely on ‘mechanical Turks’: tools that automatically aggregate user-generated information to determine trustworthiness. [ 3 ] Groups: The group functional block represents the extent to which users can form communities and sub communities. The more ‘social’ a network becomes, the bigger the group of friends, followers, and contacts. [ 3 ] It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. One of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation. [ 16 ] However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media platforms. This may seem counterintuitive but is the main reason building social authority with credibility is so important. A marketer can generally not expect people to be receptive to a marketing message in and of itself. In the Edelman Trust Barometer report in 2008, the majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report , the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from industry experts and academics. According to Inc. Technology's Brent Leary, "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks." [ 17 ] [ 18 ] An increasing number of scholars have sought to study and measure the impact of social media. A 2010 study by the University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be addictive, [ 19 ] and that using social media services may lead to a "fear of missing out," also known as the phrase "FOMO" by many students. [ 20 ] It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than six hours on social networking sites. "Social Media Revolution" produced by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman contains numerous statistics on social media including the fact that 93% of businesses use it for marketing and that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest. [ 23 ] Several colleges and universities such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Stanford among others have even introduced classes on best social media practices, preparing students for potential careers as digital strategists. [ 24 ] There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows: Consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites—roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30 percent of total time online via mobile. [ 6 ] Total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PCs and mobile devices increased 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011. [ 6 ] Facebook remains the most-visited social network in the U.S. via PC (152.2 million visitors), mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors), and is multiple times the size of the next largest social site across each platform. [ 6 ] 51% of people aged 25–34 used social networking in the office, more than any other age group. [ 6 ] While the computer is still the primary device used to access social media despite dropping 4% in usage in 2012, the last year saw a significant increase in usage, most notably through tablets from 3% to 16%, internet enabled TVs from 2% to 4%. [ 6 ] In a study conducted by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, it was found that on average, any individual is just 12 hours of separation from another around the world, using social networking sites. [ 34 ] In a study titled "Mastering the Art of Social Media," the researcher found that online communication has become a central part in the communication of political actors. In the study, Klinger focuses on Switzerland, where broadband, internet use, and media literacy are among the highest in the world, and how all major political parties in Switzerland run their own websites and social media sites. [ 35 ] "In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month." According to the article "The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change" by Rita Safranek, "The Middle East and North Africa region has one of the most youthful populations in the world, with people under 25 making up between 35-45% of the population in each country. They make up the majority of social media users, including about 17 million Facebook users, 25,000 Twitter accounts and 40,000 active blogs, according to the Arab Advisors Group . [ 37 ] Social media has disrupted the personal and commercial habits of Americans to a degree not seen since the early days of television . Just as television turned a nation of people who listened to media content into watchers of media content, the emergence of social media has created a nation of media content creators . According to 2011 Pew Research data, nearly 80% of American adults are online and nearly 60% of them use social networking sites. [ 38 ] More Americans get their news via the Internet than from newspapers or radio, as well as three-fourths who say they get news from e-mail or social media sites updates, according to a report published by CNN. The survey suggests that Facebook and Twitter make news a more participatory experience than before as people share news articles and comment on other people's posts. According to CNN, in 2010 75% of people got their news forwarded through e-mail or social media posts, while 37% of people shared a news item via Facebook or Twitter. [ 39 ] In the United States, 81% of people say they look online for news of the weather, first and foremost. National news at 73%, 52% for sports news, and 41% for entertainment or celebrity news. Based on this study, done for the Pew Center, two-thirds of the sample’s online news users were younger than 50, and 30% were younger than 30. The survey involved tracking daily the habits of 2,259 adults 18 or older. [ 40 ] 33% of young adults get news from social networks. 34% watched TV news and 13% read print or digital content. 19% of Americans got news from Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn. 36% of those who get news from social network got it yesterday from survey. More than 36% of Twitter users use accounts to follow news organizations or journalists. 19% of users say they got information from news organizations of journalists. TV remains most popular source of news, but audience is aging (only 34% of young people). 29% of those younger that 25 say they got no news yesterday either digitally or traditional news platforms. Only 5% under 30 say they follow news about political figures and events in DC. Only 14% of responders could answer all four questions about which party controls the House, current unemployment rate, what nation Angela Merkel leads, and which presidential candidate favors taxing higher-income Americans. Facebook and Twitter now pathways to news, but are not replacements for traditional ones. 70% get social media news from friends and family on Facebook. [ 41 ] For children, using social media sites can help promote creativity, interaction, and learning. It can also help them with homework and class work. Moreover, social media enable them to stay connected with their peers, and help them to interact with each other. Some can get involved with developing fundraising campaigns and political events. However it can affect mental health of teens. Teens who use Facebook frequently and who especially susceptible may become more narcissistic, antisocial, and aggressive. Teens become strongly influenced by advertising, and it influences buying habits for the future. Since the creation of Facebook in 2004, it has become a distraction and a way to waste time for many users. [ 42 ] Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other website in the United States. Based on a Nielsen study, the average American has spent more than 17 minutes per day on the social media site. [ 43 ] In a recent study conducted, high school students ages 18 and younger were examined in an effort to find their preference for receiving news. Based on interviews with 61 teenagers, conducted from December 2007 to February 2011, most of the teen participants reported reading print newspapers only “sometimes,” with fewer than 10% reading them daily. The teenagers instead reported learning about current events from social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and blogs. [ 44 ] Another study showed that social media users read a set of news that is different from what newspaper editors feature in the print press. [ 45 ] Using nanotechnology as an example, Runge et al. (2013) [ 46 ] studied tweets from Twitter and found that some 41% of the discourse about nanotechnology focused on its negative impacts, suggesting that a portion of the public may be concerned with how various forms of nanotechnology are used in the future. While optimistic-sounding and neutral-sounding tweets were equally likely to express certainty or uncertainty, the pessimistic tweets were nearly twice as likely to appear certain of an outcome than uncertain. These results imply the possibility of a preconceived negative perception of many news articles associated with nanotechnology. Alternatively, these results could also imply that posts of a more pessimistic nature that are also written with an air of certainty are more likely to be shared or otherwise permeate groups on Twitter. Similar biases need to be considered when the utility of new media is addressed, as the potential for human opinion to over-emphasize any particular news story is greater despite the general improvement in addressed potential uncertainty and bias in news articles than in traditional media. [ 47 ] On October 2, 2013, the most common hashtag throughout the country was “#governmentshutdown,” as well as ones focusing on political parties, Obama, and healthcare. Most news sources have twitter, and Facebook, pages, like CNN and the New York Times, providing links to their online articles, getting an increased readership. Additionally, several college news organizations and administrators have Twitter pages as a way to share news and connect to students. [ 48 ] According to "Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2013", [ 49 ] in the US, among those who use social media to find news, 47% of these people are under 45 years old, and 23% are above 45 years old. However social media as a main news gateway does not follow the same pattern across countries. For example, in this report, in Brazil, 60% of the respondents said social media was one of the five most important way to find news online, 45% in Spain, 17% in the UK, 38% in Italy, 14% in France, 22% in Denmark, 30% in U.S., and 12% in Japan. [ 49 ] Moreover, there are differences among countries about commenting news in social networks, 38% of the respondents in Brazil said they commented news in social network in a week. These percentages are 21% in U.S. and 10% in UK. The authors argued that difference among countries may due to culture difference rather than different levels of access to technical tools. [ 49 ] News media and television journalism have been instrumental in the shaping of American collective memory for much of the twentieth century. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] Indeed, since the United States' colonial era, news media has influenced collective memory and discourse about national development and trauma. In many ways, mainstream journalists have maintained an authoritative voice as the storytellers of the American past. Their documentary style narratives, detailed exposes, and their positions in the present make them prime sources for public memory. Specifically, news media journalists have shaped collective memory on nearly every major national event – from the deaths of social and political figures to the progression of political hopefuls. Journalists provide elaborate descriptions of commemorative events in U.S. history and contemporary popular cultural sensations. Many Americans learn the significance of historical events and political issues through news media, as they are presented on popular news stations. [ 52 ] However, journalistic influence is growing less important, while social networking sites such as Facebook , YouTube and Twitter , provide a constant source of alternative news sources for users. As social networking becomes more popular among older and younger generations, sites such as Facebook and YouTube, gradually undermine the traditionally authoritative voices of news media. For example, American citizens contest media coverage of various social and political events as they see fit, inserting their voices into the narratives about America's past and present and shaping their own collective memories. [ 53 ] [ 54 ] An example of this is the public explosion of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Sanford, Florida. News media coverage of the incident was minimal until social media users made the story recognizable through their constant discussion of the case. Approximately one month after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin , its online coverage by everyday Americans garnered national attention from mainstream media journalists, in turn exemplifying media activism . In some ways, the spread of this tragic event through alternative news sources parallels that of the Emmitt Till – whose murder became a national story after it circulated African American and Communists newspapers. Social media was also influential in the widespread attention given to the revolutionary outbreaks in the Middle East and North Africa during 2011 . [ 55 ] [ 56 ] [ 57 ] However, there is some debate about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of change. [ 58 ] Another example of this shift is in the on-going Kony 2012 campaign, which surfaced first on YouTube and later garnered a great amount of attention from mainstream news media journalists. These journalists now monitor social media sites to inform their reports on the movement. Lastly, in the past couple of presidential elections, the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were used to predict election results. U.S. President Barack Obama was more liked on Facebook than his opponent Mitt Romney and it was found by a study done by Oxford Institute Internet Experiment that more people liked to tweet about comments of President Obama rather than Romney. [ 59 ] Criticisms of social media range from criticisms of the ease of use of specific platforms and their capabilities, disparity of information available, issues with trustworthiness and reliability of information presented, [ 60 ] the impact of social media use on an individual's concentration, [ 61 ] ownership of media content, and the meaning of interactions created by social media. Although some social media platforms offer users the opportunity to cross-post simultaneously, some social network platforms have been criticized for poor interoperability between platforms, which leads to the creation of information silos- isolated pockets of data contained in one social media platform [ 62 ] However, it is also argued that social media have positive effects such as allowing the democratization of the internet [ 63 ] while also allowing individuals to advertise themselves and form friendships. [ 64 ] British-American entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen criticizes social media in his book The Cult of the Amateur , writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering." [ 66 ] This is also relative to the issue "justice" in the social network. For example, the phenomenon “ Human flesh search engine ” in Asia raised the discussion of "private-law" brought by social network platform. Comparative Media professor José van Dijck contends in her book " The Culture of Connectivity " (2013) that to understand the full weight of social media, their technological dimensions should be connected to the social and the cultural. She critically describes six social media platforms. One of her findings is the way Facebook had been successful in framing the term 'sharing' in such a way that third party use of user data is negelected in favour of intra-user connectedness. Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation. [ 67 ] Eric Ehrmann contends that social media in the form of public diplomacy create a patina of inclusiveness that covers [ 68 ] traditional economic interests that are structured to ensure that wealth is pumped up to the top of the economic pyramid, perpetuating the digital divide and post Marxian class conflict. He also voices concern over the trend that finds social utilities operating in a quasi- libertarian global environment of oligopoly that requires users in economically challenged nations to spend high percentages of annual income to pay for devices and services to participate in the social media lifestyle. The phrase " Digital divide " was coined in 1996 by Lloyd Morrlsett, a founder of the Children's Television Workshop and President of the Markle Foundation, to describe the chasm that purportedly separates information technology (IT) haves from have-nots in the US. As Virginia Eubanks explains the digital divide in terms of social structure that have-not side users don't have much consumer power but the have side have the power. Money and labors go from the have-not to have. Neil Postman also contends that social media will increase an information disparity between winners – who are able to use the social media actively – and losers – who are not familiar with modern technologies. Since large-scale collaborative co-creation is one of the main way forming information in the social network, the user generated content is sometimes viewed with skepticism; readers do not trust it is as a reliable source of information. Aniket Kittur, Bongowon Suh and Ed H. Chi took wikis under examination and indicated that, "One possibility is that distrust of wiki Content is not due to the inherently mutable nature of the system but instead to the lack of available information for judging trustworthiness.". [ 69 ] To be more specific, the authors mention that reasons for distrusting collaborative systems with user-generated content, such as Wikipedia, include a lack of information regarding accuracy of contents, motives and expertise of editors, stability of content, coverage of topics and the absence of sources. [ 70 ] Social media is also an important source of news. According to 'Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2013', social media is one of the most important ways for people find news online (the others being traditional brands, search engines and news aggregators). [ 49 ] The report suggested that in the United Kingdom, trust in news which comes from social media sources is low, compared to news from other sources (e.g. online news from traditional broadcaster or online news from national newspapers). People who aged at 24-35 trust social media most, whereas trust declined with the increase of age. Rainie and Wellman have argued that media making now has become a participation work, [ 71 ] which changes communication systems. The center of power is shifted from only the media (as the gatekeeper) to the peripheral area, which may include government, organizations, and out to the edge, the individual. [ 72 ] These changes in communication systems raise empirical questions about trust to media effect. Prior empirical studies have shown that trust in information sources plays a major role in people’s decision making. [ 73 ] People's attitudes more easily change when they hear messages from trustworthy sources. In the Reuter's report, 27% of respondents agree that they worry about the accuracy of a story on a blog. [ 49 ] However, 40% of them believe the stories on blogs are more balanced than traditional papers since they are provided with a range of opinions. Recent research has shown that in the new social media communication environment, the civil or uncivil nature of comments will bias people's information processing even if the message is from a trustworthy source, [ 74 ] which bring the practical and ethical question about the responsibility of communicator in the social media environment. Some have said that "fast (social) media and deep slow thought don't mix well." From Nicholas Carr , "As media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation." However, there are several benefits brought from deep reading. For example, "our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connection that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged." But needs for convenience often make it difficult to choose this slower, more deliberate way. [ 75 ] For Malcolm Gladwell [ 76 ] the role of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, in revolutions and protests is overstated. On the one hand, social media make it easier for individuals, and in this case activists, to express themselves. On the other hand, it is harder for that expression to have an impact. [ citation needed ] Gladwell discusses that social media are built around weak ties and he argues that "social networks are effective at increasing participation —by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires”. [ citation needed ] According to him “…Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice, but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice”. [ citation needed ] Evgeny Morozov , 2009–2010 Yahoo fellow at Georgetown University contends that the information uploaded to Twitter may have little relevance to the rest of the people who do not use Twitter. In the article "Iran: Downside to the “Twitter Revolution”” in the magazine Dissent , [ 77 ] he says: "Twitter only adds to the noise: it’s simply impossible to pack much context into its 140 characters. All other biases are present as well: in a country like Iran it’s mostly pro-Western, technology-friendly and iPod-carrying young people who are the natural and most frequent users of Twitter. They are a tiny and, most important, extremely untypical segment of the Iranian population (the number of Twitter users in Iran — a country of more than seventy million people.)” Even in the United States, the birth-country of Twitter, in 2012 the social network had only 107.7 million accounts. [ 78 ] Since there are likely to be many multi-account users, and the United States in 2012 had a population of 314.7 million, [ 79 ] the adoption of Twitter is somewhat limited. Professor Matthew Auer of Bates College casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that social media are open and participatory. He also speculates on the emergence of "anti-social media" used as "instruments of pure control." [ 80 ] Social media content is generated through social media interactions done by the users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms since it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Added to this is the danger to security of information, which can be leaked to third parties with economic interests in the platform, or parasites who comb the data for their own databases. [ 81 ] The author of Social Media Is Bullshit, Brandon Mendelson , claims that the "true" owners of content created on social media sites only benefits the large corporations who own those sites and rarely the users that created them. [ 82 ] Privacy rights advocates warn users about uses for the information that can be gathered through social media. Some information is captured without the user's knowledge or consent, such as through electronic tracking and third party application on social networks. Others include law enforcement and governmental use of this information, [ 83 ] including the gathering of so-called social media intelligence through data mining techniques. [ 84 ] Additional privacy concerns regard the impact of social media monitoring by employers whose policies include prohibitions against workers' postings on social networking sites. [ 85 ] A survey done in 2010 from different universities revealed that there are lines drawn between personal and professional lives. Many of the users surveyed admitted to misrepresenting themselves online. [ 86 ] Employees can be concerned because their social media sites reflect their personal lives and not their professional lives, but yet employers are censoring them on the internet. Other privacy concerns with employers and social media are when employers use social media as a tool to screen a prospective employee. This issue raises many ethical questions that some consider an employer’s right and others consider discrimination . Except in the states of California, Maryland, and Illinois, there are no laws that prohibit employers from using social media profiles as a basis of whether or not someone should be hired. [ 87 ] Title VII also prohibits discrimination during any aspect of employment including hiring or firing, recruitment, or testing. [ 88 ] Data suggests that participants use social media to fulfill perceived social needs, but are typically disappointed. [ 89 ] Lonely individuals are drawn to the Internet for emotional support.  This causes problems as it interferes with “real life socializing”. [ 90 ] Some of these views are summed up in an Atlantic article by Stephen Marche titled, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?"  Marche argues that social media provides more breadth, but not the depth of relationships that humans require.  While he makes interesting points about how social media is replacing face-to-face interaction, he fails to cite some of his sources. [ 91 ] Sherry Turkle explores similar issues in her book Alone Together, as she discusses how people confuse social media usage with authentic communication.  People tend to act differently online and are less afraid to hurt each other’s feelings.  Some online behaviors cause stress and anxiety, much of this associated with friends and the permanence of online posts.  This anxiety is also associated with the fear of being hacked or of colleges and employers exploring social media pages and finding unsavory things posted.  Turkle also speculates that people are beginning to prefer texting to face-to-face communication, which can contribute to feelings of loneliness. [ 92 ] Researchers found that only exchanges that involved direct communication and reciprocation of messages to each other increased feelings of connectedness.  However, passively using social media without sending or receiving messages to individuals does not make people feel less lonely unless they were lonely to begin with. [ 93 ] A current controversial topic is whether or not social media addiction should be included in the DSM-V. [ 94 ] Extended use of social media has led to increased Internet addiction, cyberbullying, sexting, sleep deprivation, and the decline of face-to-face interaction. [ 95 ] According to several clinics in the UK, social media addiction is a certifiable medical condition.  One psychiatric consultant claims he treats as many as one hundred cases a year.  And as the title of this article states, "Social media addiction recognised as official condition". [ 96 ] Social Isolationism: The largest form of social isolationism is caused by social networking websites, when the marketers affiliated with these websites actually limit the visibility of users to develop “artificial marketing.” Artificial marketing is something that occurs because of social media platforms, where marketers can follow users through their activities on the web and their individual searches. They are fed information that they already have some interest in, and therefore automatically use this to feed them more information, products, or sources that are all similar. This is a form of isolationism because people are not being exposed to different information, and are constantly trapped into thinking they need more of similar information. At times they don’t even see what else is out there, because of over exposure to the same kind of things. In the book “Networked – The new social operating system” by Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman, the two authors reflect on mainly positive effects of social media and other internet based social networks. According to the authors, social media is used to document memories, learn about and explore things, advertise oneself and form friendships. For instance, they claim that the communication through internet based services can be done more privately than in real life. Furthermore, Rainie and Wellman discuss that everybody has the possibility to become a content creator. Content creation provides networked individuals opportunities to reach wider audiences. Moreover, it can positively affect their social standing and gain political support. This can lead to influence on issues that are important for someone. As a concrete example of the positive effects of social media, the authors use the Egyptian revolution in 2011, where people used Facebook to gather meetings, protest actions, etc. [ 64 ] Rainie and Wellman (Ibid) also discuss that content creation is a voluntary and participatory act. What is important is that networked individuals create, edit and manage content in collaboration with other networked individuals. This way they contribute in expanding knowledge. Wikis are examples of collaborative content creation. Number of US social network patent applications published and patents issued per year since 2003. [ 97 ] There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social media, and the number of them that are published has been growing rapidly over the past five years. There are now over 2000 published patent applications. [ 98 ] As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that haven't been published yet. Only slightly over 100 of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents , patents which outline and claim new methods of doing business. [ 99 ] In early 2013, Steve Joordens, a professor at the University of Toronto, encouraged the 1,900 students enrolled in his introductory psychology course to add content to Wikipedia pages featuring content that related to the course. Like other educators, [ 100 ] Joordens argued that the assignment would not only strengthen the site’s psychology-related content, but also provide an opportunity for students to engage in critical reflection about the negotiations involved in collaborative knowledge production. However, Wikipedia’s all-volunteer editorial staff complained that the students’ contributions resulted in an overwhelming number of additions to the site, and that some of the contributions were inaccurate. [ 101 ] Wikipedia can also be incorporated into assignments related to the gender gap. A 2010 survey of more than 58,000 self-selected Wikipedians indicated that 87% of contributors to the site are male, and 13% are women. [ 102 ] In response, the Wikipedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, has set a goal of raising the percentage of female contributors to 25% by 2015. [ 102 ] As of October 23, 2013, the site’s “Wikipedians” page states that “Experienced women editors can be very successful—they are more likely to become administrators than men—but they are more likely to leave if treated aggressively in discussions, especially as new editors, when their good-faith contributions are more likely to be reverted than a similarly good-faith contribution by a man”. [ 103 ] Wikimedia, Wikipedia’s meta-wiki, labels the gender gap a “very sensitive subject”. [ 104 ] Noting that “[p]eople who want to talk about the gender gap are sometimes victims of harassment,” Wikimedia argues that “The gender gap mailing list is the best place to talk about this with other people who are interested and can help.” Facebook represents a potentially useful tool in educational contexts. It allows for both an asynchronous and synchronous, open dialogue via a familiar and regularly accessed medium, and supports the integration of multimodal content such as student-created photographs and video and URLs to other texts, in a platform that many students are already familiar with. Further, it allows students to ask more minor questions that they might not otherwise feel motivated to visit a professor in person during office hours to ask. [ 105 ] It also allows students to manage their own privacy settings, and often work with the privacy settings they have already established as registered users. Facebook is one alternative means for shyer students to be able to voice their thoughts in and outside of the classroom. It allows students to collect their thoughts and articulate them in writing before committing to their expression. [ 105 ] Further, the level of informality typical to Facebook can also aid students in self-expression and encourage more frequent student-and-instructor and student-and-student communication. At the same time, Towner and Munoz note that this informality may actually drive many educators and students away from using Facebook for educational purposes. From a course management perspective, Facebook may be less efficient as a replacement for more conventional course management systems, both because of its limitations with regards to uploading assignments and due to some students’ (and educators’) resistance to its use in education. Specifically, there are features of student-to-student collaboration that may be conducted more efficiently on dedicated course management systems, such as the organization of posts in a nested and linked format. That said, a number of studies suggest that students post to discussion forums more frequently and are generally more active discussants on Facebook posts versus conventional course management systems like WebCT or Blackboard (Chu and Meulemans, 2008; Salaway, et al., 2008; Schroeder and Greenbowe, 2009). [ 106 ] [ 107 ] [ 108 ] Additionally, Facebook’s privacy settings can be difficult to understand and manage, leaving some potential users – particularly females and older students – uncomfortable about the level of privacy and safety afforded them. [ 107 ] Further, familiarity and comfortability with Facebook is often divided by socio-economic class, with students whose parents obtained a college degree, or at least having attended college for some span of time, being more likely to already be active users. [ 109 ] Instructors ought to seriously consider and respect these hesitancies, and refrain from “forcing” Facebook on their students for academic purposes. [ 110 ] [ 111 ] Instructors also ought to consider that rendering Facebook optional, but continuing to provide content through it to students who elect to use it, places an unfair burden on hesitant students, who then are forced to choose between using a technology they are uncomfortable with and participating fully in the course. A related limitation, particularly at the level of K-12 schooling, is the distrust (and in some cases, outright disallowal) of the use of Facebook in formal classroom settings in many educational jurisdictions. However, this hesitancy towards Facebook use is continually diminishing in the United States, as the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s annual report for 2012 shows that the likelihood of a person to be a registered Facebook user only fluctuates by 13 percent between different levels of educational attainment, 9 percent between urban, suburban, and rural users, only 5 percent between different household income brackets. The largest gap occurs between age brackets, with 86 percent of 18-29-year-olds reported as registered users as opposed to only 35 percent of 65-and-up-year-old users. [ 112 ] Twitter, also, promotes social connections among students. It can be used to enhance communication building and critical thinking. Domizi (2013) utilized Twitter in a graduate seminar requiring students to post weekly tweets to extend classroom discussions. Students reportedly used Twitter to connect with content and other students. Additionally, students found it “to be useful professionally and personally” [ 113 ] Junco, Heibergert, and Loken (2011) completed a study of 132 students to examine the link between social media and student engagement and social media and grades. They divided the students into two groups, one used Twitter and the other did not. Twitter was used to discuss material, organize study groups, post class announcements, and connect with classmates. Junco and his colleagues (2011) found that the students in the Twitter group had higher GPAs and greater engagement scores than the control group [ 114 ] Gao, Luo, and Zhang (2012) reviewed literature about Twitter published between 2008 and 2011. They concluded that Twitter allowed students to participate with each other in class (back channel), and extend discussion outside of class. They also reported that students used Twitter to get up-to-date news and connect with professionals in their field. Students reported that microblogging encouraged students to “participate at a higher level” [ 115 ] Since the posts cannot exceed 140 characters, students were required to express ideas, reflect, and focus on important concepts in a concise manner. Some students found this very beneficial. Other students did not like the character limit. Also, some students found microblogging to be overwhelming (information overload). The research indicated that many students did not actually participate in the discussions, “they just lurked” [ 116 ] YouTube is the most frequently used social media tool in the classroom. [ 117 ] [ not in citation given ] Students can watch videos, answer questions, and discuss content. Additionally, students can create videos to share with others. Sherer and Shea (2011) claimed that YouTube increased participation, personalization (customization), and productivity. YouTube also improved students’ digital skills and provided opportunity for peer learning and problem solving [ 118 ] Eick and King (2012) found that videos kept students’ attention, generated interest in the subject, and clarified course content [ 119 ] Additionally, the students reported that the videos helped them recall information and visualize real world applications of course concepts. In 2013, the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) began to advise celebrities and sportstars to make it clear if they had been paid to tweet about a product or service by using the hashtag #spon or #ad within tweets containing endorsements. In July 2013, Wayne Rooney was accused of misleading followers by not including either of these tags in a tweet promoting Nike. The tweet read: The tweet was investigated by the ASA but no charges were pressed. The ASA stated that “We considered the reference to Nike Football was prominent and clearly linked the tweet with the Nike brand." [ 120 ] When asked about whether the number of complaints regarding misleading social advertising had increased, the ASA stated that the number of complaints had risen marginally since 2011 but that complaints were "very low" in the "grand scheme." [ 121 ] ^ Gerhards, Jürgen, and Mike Schäfer, 2010. Is the internet a better public sphere? Comparing old and new media in the USA and Germany. new media & society, 12(1) 143–160. DOI: 10.1177/1461444809341444 ^ J. Schroeder and T.J. Greenbowe, 2009. "The chemistry of Facebook: Using social networking to create an online community for the organic chemistry laboratory," Innovate, volume 5, number 4, athttp://www.uh.cu/static/documents/AL/The%20Chemistry%20of%20Facebook.pdf, accessed 14 September 2011. ^ C. Madge, J. Meek, J. Wellens, and T. Hooley, 2009. "Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’," Learning, Media and Technology, volume 34, number 2, pp. 141–155.


Libyans wave their new national flag in Tripoli during celebrations marking one year since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. Photograph: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images One thing was missing from the highly charged celebrations that erupted in Tripoli's Martyrs Square at the weekend to mark the anniversary of last year's revolution. There were fireworks, marching bands and bouncy castles for the children, a hooting phalanx of tugboats on the seafront and thousands of flickering Chinese lanterns sent into the night sky. But there was no sign of the government. The balcony on the Red Castle overlooking the square was empty, with the leadership of the National Transitional Council perhaps sensing that an appearance would see the cheers turn to jeers. The reality is that, a year after revolution first swept the country, Libya 's government, by turns secretive and inept, is seen by ordinary people less as the solution than the problem. "This celebration was about the people, not the government," said Dr Hana El-Gallal, a legal specialist working with civil rights groups in Benghazi. "The people are doing a better job than the government." Certainly the crisis-bound NTC must envy the ability of ordinary people to contrive celebrations in which militias kept the peace and not a shot was fired, not by order but by what amounts to common consent. The decision of the NTC to hold its meetings in private and rule by decree has left diplomats dismayed, and the country is fragmenting under its feet.Misrata, Libya's third city, will tomorrow hold its own elections, unsanctioned by the NTC, a final step towards what is independence in all but name. Its militias control a 300-mile-long corridor stretching across central Libya, policing it according to the city's own leadership, rather than that of the NTC. To the east, tribal leaders are meeting to consider a similar step, dismayed, as are the Misratans, by rumours that the NTC may delay June's promised national elections. Nor are the government's critics impressed by the declaration by NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil last week that it will form a political party, which seems an aberration of its promise to withdraw from politics once democracy is established. And then there are the militias: Libya has more than 500 armed groups, each following their own orders. The wonder is not how bad the violence and armed clashes are -- the latest being intertribal violence in the southern town of Kufra that has left more than 20 dead -- but how tranquil the country is. Last week Amnesty International, which is making the running on recording human rights abuses in postwar Libya, reported on the continued use of torture and illegal detention. Amnesty highlighted the 12 deaths in custody that have occurred in militia jails since last September. A cause for concern, certainly, but also the kind of figure that would be considered a wild success were it Afghanistan or Iraq The problem is not that Libya's militias are out of control, but rather that there is no mechanism for disciplining the minority who commit human rights violations. "You think this is bad?" said Ahmed, a young militiaman from Tripoli's eastern suburb of Souk al-Juma, regarding an incident last month when two militias battled for custody of a beach house. "Think if you give a gun to every young guy in London. What do you think London would look like the next night?" Yet this lack of central control invites disaster, because the lack of security across Libya means nothing else gets done, and because the discipline of militias will start to unravel. "This kind of thing is very bad for security, for business, for everything in Libya," said Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera. A cabinet of technocrats was announced by the NTC last November, but it is starved of authority. Last month prime minister Abdurrahim El-Keib, regarded as a capable official, met Misratan leaders to complain that he has no power. All strategic decisions are the province of the NTC, whose internal squabbles mean nothing gets done. Instead of tackling problems, the NTC lets them pile up, like water behind a dam. The law for June's election has been published, but there is no justice system to enforce it. Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going. Meanwhile, the government is on a collision course with the international criminal court over its decision to try Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late dictator, on home soil and under laws not yet published, rather than hand him over to The Hague. A court system has still to take shape, and the NTC left diplomats scratching their heads last week when it announced that a law on transitional justice had been passed, in secret, two months ago. "They [the NTC] are becoming defensive, they don't understand that their power comes from the people," said El-Gallal. Meanwhile, wages go unpaid, reconstruction is nonexistent, power cuts are common and much of the country is running out of money. Skirmishes, such as the battle between militias and the town of Beni Walid over its refusal to hand over war crimes suspects, simmer unchecked. And on Friday President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jim Carney, joined the chorus of critics, calling for the NTC to make its decisions "openly and transparently". Nervousness among western diplomats is well placed, for while the Arab Spring revolts in Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia are home-grown, Nato was the midwife in Libya's revolution. Western recognition was the reason that the NTC, led by figures from the eastern town of Benghazi, are Libya's government, and alliance bombs were the reason it won the war. Should Libya lurch back into dictatorship, the blowback will be felt abroad, not least in London and Paris. And many Libyans now have the hardware to make their feelings felt. As one militiaman from Benghazi put it, he will give the new government a chance, but "if it is no good, well, we know how to do revolution". I believe that Cameron and Sukozy made a bid for ever-lasting personal International fame in Libya - (desire to be remembered as the modern day Churchill and Napolean.) The French and British inspired 'revolution' was both opportunist (riding off the back of the Arab Spring movements) and illegal (incorrect interpretation of the UN Resolution) And the net result - pain, disillusion bankrupty and disorder (not only in Libya but to a greater degree than ever in France and Britain - it was a costly war). Cameron and Sukozy - you failed and should be held accountable. Western recognition was the reason that the NTC, led by figures from the eastern town of Benghazi, are Libya's government, and alliance bombs were the reason it won the war. Correct. So NATO and the west are every bit as responsible for the aftermath as the militias they assisted, and all those who supported intervention will be judged by and held responsible for this: The reality is that, a year after revolution first swept the country, Libya's government, by turns secretive and inept, is seen by ordinary people less as the solution than the problem. Interventionists are vindicated or condemned by the results, just like non-interventionists. In the case of Libya, as in Iraq, the responsibility of interventionists for the deepening chaos is made all the heavier for having been warned, again and again, that this would be the result. Those of us without the desire and arrogance for power do learn; politicians never do, alas! Cameron said the other day that it was no use looking backwards, we can learn nothing from the past. I thought he was a History graduate. As the saying goes; those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. After one is badly injured in say a real"y bad car accident,it takes time to recover. Libya has to find a route not back! but forward where it wants to go,at this moment its a bit like the tower of Babel,though all speak the same language,theres so many ideas. Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going. ...analysts have claimed that the no-bid contracts to U.S oil companies constitutes as exploitation since many non U.S companies would give the same service for shorter contracts and lower percentage of revenue , Also the fact that the U.S is still occupying the country and making the hydrocarbon law one of the benchmarks for withdrawal led many to believe the U.S is applying pressure on Iraq to accept this law. George Bush WAS telling the truth in big bold letters, back in 2003, the moment US troops secured the refineries and main the Iraqi oil offices (meanwhile shunning protection for museums looted by mobs) that their real objectives had been met: " Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going." Says it all really,i don't suppose any international body could discover who is looting the oil wealth as trade secrets protect corporations accounts. Is it Syria and Iran next in line for destruction and looting ,i hear Assad's forces were attacking a funeral which is obviously not the same as US drone attacks targeting funerals in Afghanistan and Pakistan.is it because only our enemies commit war crimes while we commit war? Clearly the west is adapt at leaving chaos in its wake throughout the middle east . Liberal interventionists' would feel ashamed if they were capable of such emotion. Many of those who called for western intervention genuinely did so for humanitarian reasons, to prevent a massacre in Behghazi. The assumption was that Gaddafi was hated by all Libyans and that support for him would crumble at the first sight of NATO warplanes. The fact that that didn't happen left NATO with a dilemma: They could either withdraw and watch the ugly progress of Gaddafi's revenge, or press on ruthlessly and effect regime change. To do the former would have involved losing face on a grand scale. So they did the latter. Watching the brutal final stages of the Libyan conflict was for me a painful experience. The present outcome, as I have posted on another thread, has cured me of the illusion that military intervention can do any good at all. As now in the case of Syria, where a dictator is bent on crushing dissent we are not entitled to intervene, even if only to stop the slaughter -- just stand by and wring our hands, and hope that the Syrian people will unite to bring Assad down. Massacres are a daily event, and for much of the time it is difficult to determine who is fighting whom or why. I suspect that the eventual outcome may be no less chaotic and destructive than in Libya. Watching the brutal final stages of the Libyan conflict was for me a painful experience. The present outcome, as I have posted on another thread, has cured me of the illusion that military intervention can do any good at all. I applaud you for voicing your change of mind, a rare occurence on these threads. The assumption was that Gaddafi was hated by all Libyans and that support for him would crumble at the first sight of NATO warplanes I honestly don't believe that NATO made that assumption, although that was the narrative. There was plenty of evidence that Gaddafi had a lot of support, much of it reported by knowledgable posters on cif, although not, shamefully, the Guardian itself. As now in the case of Syria, where a dictator is bent on crushing dissent we are not entitled to intervene, even if only to stop the slaughter -- just stand by and wring our hands, and hope that the Syrian people will unite to bring Assad down. Massacres are a daily event, and for much of the time it is difficult to determine who is fighting whom or why. I suspect that the eventual outcome may be no less chaotic and destructive than in Libya. I don't believe that it is a straight choice between wringing our hands and military intervention. Unfortunately, when you have chosen regime change as your only acceptable outcome it limits the options. Lest We Forget* 'Compilation of a small sample of footage, recorded in July 2011, documenting the mass support of the Libyan people for the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and their opposition to the barbaric NATO bombing and the NATO backed rebels. These events were given little or no coverage in the pro NATO mainstream media, as to have done so would have exposed the lies and propaganda of the western leaders and their supporters used to justify the imperialist intervention and the subsequent imposition of the reactionary NTC led interim government.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UEMb4m3e\\... To suggest that the brutal nature of the 'rebels' is an oversight by the US and NATO is utter nonsense. These are the same states that supported the fascist contras in nicaragua, General Pinochet, The Muhajadeen in Afghanistan, The KLA in Kosovo, The Libyan Islamic Fighting group in Libya etc - portraying them as 'freedom fighters'. The Libyan uprising has been characterised by racist violence. On the second day of the uprising 50 African migrants were slaughtered by the rebels. This is all justified in the media by nonsense about 'African mercenaries' which Amnesty International have already comprehensively demolished. There were no 'African mercenaries'. The rebels waged warfare against the black Libyan population and African migrant workers. NATO want a government that disunites Africa -- that will draw North Africa away from its southern neighbours. Therefore it is very important for NATO that the government in Libya is a racist one which will discontinue with the Libyan led project to unite Africa against imperialist exploitation of labour and resources. It is no mistake that this uprising has been characterised by racist violence -- it's part of the plan. We must also put the war drive of the last decade into context. The western world is collapsing economically. War is big business and a 'racket' in every sense of the word. It also serves as a distraction from the crisis at home. The current economic crisis is on a scale not seen since the 1910's -1930's.... We all know how that ended... world war which caused mass destruction and death but* resulted in a post WW2 economic boom! A very strange article, whose sensationalist headline is belied by its much more balanced content, which acknowledges to the orderly way in which the mass anniversary demonstrations took place; accepts "how tranquil the country is"; and records the NTC's achievement in drafting a consensual law for national assembly elections. However it treats the upcoming Misratan election in a very odd way, as a "final step towards what is independence in all but name". They're holding a local council election, for god sake! Which the organisers are presenting as a democratic model for the whole country. It seems that the Libyans can't win in the eyes of the western media: if they don't do things they are failing to lead the country; and when they do take serious initiatives they are usurping authority and threatening national unity. We need to look at Libya in context, as the quote from "Ahmed, a young militiaman from Tripoli's eastern suburb" points out in the wisest passage in this article. It was obvious to any thinking person, who was not taken in by the propaganda on television, that with all the different tribes, ethnies, languages and cultures in Lybia, any government other than Khadaffi's had to be carefully studied and organized. France got their 30% of Lybian oil. Otherwise only more death, brutality, destruction and torture has resulted from all the money spent by the so-called civilized west - NATO, and will continue. It is extraordinarily sad. Heads of Government are only out for money and power. Negociation was never tried. People do not matter any more. Preserving history, buildings, treasures is never even considered. 2011 was a very tragic year for the world. Lybia goes the way of Irak. Destroyed. As indeed our environment is going - heading for destruction. It's been prophecied for a long time. When will they ever learn? "Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going." This paragraph explains a lot about the Oil being the primary motive of the West in its breaching of the UN resolution and intervening in Libya. Before recognising the NTC the West made sure the NTC gave written commitment to grant Oil contracts to Western companies and now that they are shipping out 1M barrels a day (to make up for the Iranain Oil) they don't care to make sure they pay the right people the right money and what the NTC corrupt bunch are doing with the money and how the people who gave martyrs are being ripped off and betrayed. Enjoy Uncle Sam's and NATO's democracy. And this is just the beginning. The civil wars and the West's final decision that there are too many ethnicities and tribes to live together in peace and risk of "disintegration" and the splitting of the country into tribal and ethnic "regions" and the old colonial strategy of divide and rule has still not come yet. An excellent article but a follow-up that would explain how Libya is disintegrating is needed. The main reason for the failure of this operation is that it was half baked and was stopped in the middle. It's a half finished job. NATO dismantled a regime but did not establish another regime in its place. The NTC a group of profiteers and ex-Gaddhafi bureaucrats will do no better now then they did when they worked for Gaddaf. Abdul Jalil the NTC chief was a Justice Minister administering a non-existent justice system. As explained by Bernard Lugan in this article in French (http://www.egaliteetreconciliation.fr/L\\... Libya is now six small countries where 500 Militia groups call the shots: 1- The city state of Misrata run by an Islamist-Gangster coalition 2 - A fundamentalist run section in the West 3 - A sufi run section in the west 4 - The south which trying to break away with on going fighting in Kufra 5 - Tripoli which has never been enthusiastic about the change. Tripoli is now being policed by Amazigh Militias from outside the city mostly the neighboring areas 6 - The Warfallah tribe (making 30% of the population) with their center in Bani Walid and who refuse to recognize the authority of the CNT and remain loyal to Kaddhafi 's tribe and his sons. Add to these the border skirmishes between Libyan Militias and the armies in the neighboring countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Chad and Niger). Discovery of arms smuggling to Tunisia and Algeria (43 anti air craft missiles, Libya had a stock pile of 20,000). Cameron and Sarkozy have created a new Somalia on the med, if the escalating situation is not managed immediately it will endanger the peace and security of the neighboring countries and Europe. Most popular on the Guardian Today in pictures After advising tourists against travel to the cities of Jammu and Srinagar for nearly 20 years, the Foreign Office has lifted its guidelines after a fall in violence. So, Dal Lake and part of the Valley of Kashmir, one of India's most beautiful regions, are once again open to visitors