People’s addiction to social networking sites is fast on the rise, according to a study which said an increasing number of Facebook and Twitter users check their accounts first thing in the morning while some look at their social media messages even while having sex.
The study conducted by consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo said 53 per cent of people surveyed check their Facebook/Twitter accounts as soon as they get up in the morning, even “before getting out of bed”. Nearly 31 per cent say “this is how I get my morning news“.
“What is it about social media that causes people to spend so much of their precious time trading information with friends, family and even giant corporations? Of course, we already know the answer; it is fun and can be rewarding both socially and financially,” Retrevo’s Director of Community & Content Andrew Eisner said.
The Gadgetology study asked consumers how they felt about being interrupted at various times and occasions for an electronic message. While 33 per cent said they did not mind being interrupted by message updates “during a meeting”, 76 per cent said they can take a break from their meal to check their accounts.
Seventeen per cent said they would read a message on Facebook or Twitter during sex, while 63 per cent said they would check out a message while in the toilet.
Thirty-four per cent of the respondents said they would check their social networking accounts first thing in the morning, before switching on the TV. About 30 per cent of those surveyed said they check or update their Facebook/Twitter accounts whenever they wake up in the night.
People under the age of 25 were more likely to lose sleep keeping an eye on their friends’ posts during the night, the study said. iPhone owners stand out in this study as more involved with social media. They use Facebook and Twitter more often and in more places.
“With over 31 per cent of social media users saying checking Facebook and Twitter first thing in the morning is how they get their morning “news”, could we be witnessing the first signs of social media services beginning to replace ’Good Morning America’ as the source for what’s going on in the world?” the study said.
In more evidence that social media is becoming addictive, 56 per cent of its users said they need to check Facebook at least once a day, while 29 per cent said they can go only a couple of hours without checking their accounts.
Thirty-five per cent said they have to check their accounts at least a few times in a day. The sample size for the survey was over 1000 people across the United States.
According to Facebook, it has more than 400 million active users across the world. Some estimates say Twitter ended 2009 with over 75 million user accounts.
Showing posts with label social networking site. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social networking site. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Twitter working on Chinese registration page
Twitter is working on a way to allow Chinese users to sign up to the social networking site in their own language, a co-founder of the site said Monday night, but access to the popular site remains blocked in the country.
Jack Dorsey said at a panel that Twitter is “hard at work” on allowing users to register in Chinese. Dorsey was responding to a question from Chinese avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei.
Ai has been an outspoken critic of Chinese authorities and their continuing efforts to impose censorship. He said he spends about eight hours a day on Twitter.
“I need a clear answer, yes or no?” he said to Dorsey, who joined the conversation via satellite.
“Yes, it’s just a matter of time,” Dorsey responded, citing limited staff and technical constraints as challenges for setting up the Chinese registration page.
Dorsey, Ai and Richard MacManus, founder of technology blog ReadWriteWeb, were part of a discussion on digital activism at the Paley Center for Media. People from all over the world also participated via Twitter, with their tweets displayed on a large screen behind the panelists.
The conversation came only a couple of days after it was reported that Google was “99.9 percent sure” to close its search engine in China because of stalled negotiations over censorship. Google has about 35 percent of the Chinese search market. The panelists praised the decision, calling it courageous and inspiring.
Ai said he wants Chinese translation on Twitter so users who are able to get past the firewall can read tweets.
Since it was founded in 2006, Twitter has emerged as a tool for digital activism in messages of no more than 140 characters. Ai has used it to demand answers about the number of young children who were killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
Last April, protesters in Moldova used Twitter when mobile phones and news television stations went down, rallying as many as 10,000 people to one demonstration. And tech-savvy Iranians turned to Twitter to protest the disputed presidential election.
Dorsey said he has no idea how Twitter would get around the firewall. He admitted he didn’t know the site was blocked in the country until three weeks ago when he was prepping for the event.
When asked whether he would give user information to the Chinese government, he said he hoped the company could work with the U.S. government to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“Step one is translation, getting the site accessible in a Chinese version,” said Dorsey. “That’s something the company is really pushing to do.”
But moving into the country is something “that’s very difficult to do,” he said.
Jack Dorsey said at a panel that Twitter is “hard at work” on allowing users to register in Chinese. Dorsey was responding to a question from Chinese avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei.
Ai has been an outspoken critic of Chinese authorities and their continuing efforts to impose censorship. He said he spends about eight hours a day on Twitter.
“I need a clear answer, yes or no?” he said to Dorsey, who joined the conversation via satellite.
“Yes, it’s just a matter of time,” Dorsey responded, citing limited staff and technical constraints as challenges for setting up the Chinese registration page.
Dorsey, Ai and Richard MacManus, founder of technology blog ReadWriteWeb, were part of a discussion on digital activism at the Paley Center for Media. People from all over the world also participated via Twitter, with their tweets displayed on a large screen behind the panelists.
The conversation came only a couple of days after it was reported that Google was “99.9 percent sure” to close its search engine in China because of stalled negotiations over censorship. Google has about 35 percent of the Chinese search market. The panelists praised the decision, calling it courageous and inspiring.
Ai said he wants Chinese translation on Twitter so users who are able to get past the firewall can read tweets.
Since it was founded in 2006, Twitter has emerged as a tool for digital activism in messages of no more than 140 characters. Ai has used it to demand answers about the number of young children who were killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
Last April, protesters in Moldova used Twitter when mobile phones and news television stations went down, rallying as many as 10,000 people to one demonstration. And tech-savvy Iranians turned to Twitter to protest the disputed presidential election.
Dorsey said he has no idea how Twitter would get around the firewall. He admitted he didn’t know the site was blocked in the country until three weeks ago when he was prepping for the event.
When asked whether he would give user information to the Chinese government, he said he hoped the company could work with the U.S. government to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“Step one is translation, getting the site accessible in a Chinese version,” said Dorsey. “That’s something the company is really pushing to do.”
But moving into the country is something “that’s very difficult to do,” he said.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Twitter working on Chinese registration page
A Twitter page in a computer. Twitter is working on a way to allow Chinese users to sign up to the social networking site in their own language. File Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar
Twitter is working on a way to allow Chinese users to sign up to the social networking site in their own language, a co-founder of the site said Monday night, but access to the popular site remains blocked in the country.
Jack Dorsey said at a panel that Twitter is “hard at work” on allowing users to register in Chinese. Dorsey was responding to a question from Chinese avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei.
Ai has been an outspoken critic of Chinese authorities and their continuing efforts to impose censorship. He said he spends about eight hours a day on Twitter.
“I need a clear answer, yes or no?” he said to Dorsey, who joined the conversation via satellite.
“Yes, it’s just a matter of time,” Dorsey responded, citing limited staff and technical constraints as challenges for setting up the Chinese registration page.
Dorsey, Ai and Richard MacManus, founder of technology blog ReadWriteWeb, were part of a discussion on digital activism at the Paley Center for Media. People from all over the world also participated via Twitter, with their tweets displayed on a large screen behind the panelists.
The conversation came only a couple of days after it was reported that Google was “99.9 percent sure” to close its search engine in China because of stalled negotiations over censorship. Google has about 35 percent of the Chinese search market. The panelists praised the decision, calling it courageous and inspiring.
Ai said he wants Chinese translation on Twitter so users who are able to get past the firewall can read tweets.
Since it was founded in 2006, Twitter has emerged as a tool for digital activism in messages of no more than 140 characters. Ai has used it to demand answers about the number of young children who were killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
Last April, protesters in Moldova used Twitter when mobile phones and news television stations went down, rallying as many as 10,000 people to one demonstration. And tech-savvy Iranians turned to Twitter to protest the disputed presidential election.
Dorsey said he has no idea how Twitter would get around the firewall. He admitted he didn’t know the site was blocked in the country until three weeks ago when he was prepping for the event.
When asked whether he would give user information to the Chinese government, he said he hoped the company could work with the U.S. government to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“Step one is translation, getting the site accessible in a Chinese version,” said Dorsey. “That’s something the company is really pushing to do.”
But moving into the country is something “that’s very difficult to do,” he said
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Twitter, Facebook users vulnerable to cyber crimes
An alarming rise in attacks by cyber criminals has exposed users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to risks of identity theft, spam and malware infiltration in the last one year, a study says.
According to the survey by global IT security and data protection firm Sophos, criminals have increasingly focused attacks on users of social networking sites in last 12 months with an explosion in reports of spam and malware.
About 57 per cent of users have been spammed via social networking sites, a rise of 70.6 per cent from last year, while 36 per cent received malware via them, a rise of 69.8 per cent, it said.
“Computer users are spending more time on social networks, sharing sensitive and valuable personal information and hackers have sniffed out where the money is to be made,” Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said.
“A dramatic rise in attacks last year tells us that social networks and their millions of users have to do more to protect themselves from organised cybercrime or risk falling prey to identity theft schemes, scams and malware attacks.”
Sophos surveyed over 500 firms and found that 72 per cent are concerned that employee behaviour on social networking sites exposes their businesses to danger and puts corporate infrastructure and sensitive data at risk.
When asked, which social network they believed posed the biggest security risk, 60 per cent respondents named Facebook, followed by MySpace (18 per cent), Twitter( 17 per cent) and LinkedIn (four per cent).
“We shouldn’t forget that Facebook is by far the largest social network — and you’ll find more bad apples in the biggest orchard,” Mr. Cluley said.
The truth is that the security team at Facebook works hard to counter threats on their site — it’s just that policing 350 million users can’t be an easy job for anyone, Mr. Cluley added.
The “Social Security” survey is a part of Sophos’ 2010 Security Threat Report, which explores current and emerging computer security trends.
The report reveals that criminals identify potential victims on social networks and then attack them, both at home and at work.
Sophos believes that many Web 2.0 sites are concentrating too much on growing their market share at the expense of properly defending their existing users from Internet threats.
According to the survey by global IT security and data protection firm Sophos, criminals have increasingly focused attacks on users of social networking sites in last 12 months with an explosion in reports of spam and malware.
About 57 per cent of users have been spammed via social networking sites, a rise of 70.6 per cent from last year, while 36 per cent received malware via them, a rise of 69.8 per cent, it said.
“Computer users are spending more time on social networks, sharing sensitive and valuable personal information and hackers have sniffed out where the money is to be made,” Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said.
“A dramatic rise in attacks last year tells us that social networks and their millions of users have to do more to protect themselves from organised cybercrime or risk falling prey to identity theft schemes, scams and malware attacks.”
Sophos surveyed over 500 firms and found that 72 per cent are concerned that employee behaviour on social networking sites exposes their businesses to danger and puts corporate infrastructure and sensitive data at risk.
When asked, which social network they believed posed the biggest security risk, 60 per cent respondents named Facebook, followed by MySpace (18 per cent), Twitter( 17 per cent) and LinkedIn (four per cent).
“We shouldn’t forget that Facebook is by far the largest social network — and you’ll find more bad apples in the biggest orchard,” Mr. Cluley said.
The truth is that the security team at Facebook works hard to counter threats on their site — it’s just that policing 350 million users can’t be an easy job for anyone, Mr. Cluley added.
The “Social Security” survey is a part of Sophos’ 2010 Security Threat Report, which explores current and emerging computer security trends.
The report reveals that criminals identify potential victims on social networks and then attack them, both at home and at work.
Sophos believes that many Web 2.0 sites are concentrating too much on growing their market share at the expense of properly defending their existing users from Internet threats.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
'Human brain can’t handle more than 150 Facebook friends'
No matter how many friends you have on social networking websites like ‘Facebook’ or ‘Orkut’, the human brain is capable of handling up to a maximum of 150 pals only, a new study has claimed.
Researchers at Oxford University have found that while popular social networking sites allow people to maintain more relationships, the number of meaningful friendships is more or less the same as it has been throughout history.
The researchers, led by led by Robin Dunbar, have developed a theory known as “Dunbar’s number” in the nineties which claimed that the size of our neocortex — the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language — limits us to managing social circles of around 150 friends.
They derived the limit from studying social groupings in a variety of societies — from neolithic villages to modern office environments, and found people tended to self-organise in groups of 150 as social cohesion begins to deteriorate as groups become larger, The Sunday Times reported.
The researchers are now studying the social networking websites to see if the Facebook effect has stretched the size of social groupings. Preliminary results suggest it has not.
“The interesting thing is that you can have 1,500 friends but when you actually look at traffic on sites, you see people maintain the same inner circle of around 150 people that we observe in the real world. People obviously like the kudos of having hundreds of friends but the reality is that they’re unlikely to be bigger than anyone else’s. There is a big sex difference though, girls are much better at maintaining relationships just by talking to each other. Boys need to do physical stuff together,” Mr. Dunbar said.
