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Positive Use - Social Networking Sites and the Positive Impact they have on the Society

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Positive Use - Social Networking Sites and the Positive Impact they have on the Society

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This article outlines how social media improves communication, relationships, and helps foster friends from far places. These can help improve someone's social health, and allow people to communicate over a distance.

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Negative Use - How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers

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Negative Use - How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers

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This article outlines the privacy , cyberbullying, and social skills concern with social media. Someone inexperienced may accidentally share private information on social media, and people could blackmail or even go and find that person. Cyberbullying is obviously bad for mental health, and the fact that people are mainly talking through social media can also impact social skills, hurting peoples ability to communicate effectively in real life.
https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

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The online challenge, "Ice Bucket Challenge" caused a rapid acceleration in the fight of ALS. The money raised allowed scientists to do way more research on ALS.

https://www.als.org/stories-news/ice-bucket-challenge-dramatically-accelerated-fight-against-als

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Social media can actually help students do better in school. 59% of students said they use social media to discuss educational topics. After a school introduced a social media program to engage students, grades went up by 50%, and chronic absenteeism dropped by 33%.

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Proponents say social media spreads information faster than any other media. Opponents say it enables the spread of unreliable information.

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As we all know the legal age of consent in the United States is 18 but sometimes there will be sexual predators online that may be older than they say and will ask for you address and personal information. Usually a lot of direct messages are open but can be turn off.

https://www.puresight.com/Pedophiles/Online-Predators/online-predators-statistics.html

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Every human being needs a certain amount of face to face contact to be mentally healthy. Eye to eye contact with people who care about you reduces stress and boosts your mood very effectively. When you prioritize social media over in person contact, you are much more likely to develop mood disorders like anxiety and depression.

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Social Media and Mental Health: Social Media Addiction

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Excessive use of social media can fuel anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Here’s how to change your habits and improve your mood.

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If you lost your wallet or something important you can go and check social media and see if anyone has found it so you won't get it stolen. It can also help you find missing people and bring more awareness into finding that person.

https://themissingny.nycitynewsservice.com/part-two/social-media-used-to-find-the-missing/

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Many women have come forward through the use of the hashtag #Metoo in 2017, revealing and exposing many rich and powerful men. Social Good from Social Media – UF College of Journalism and Communications (ufl.edu)

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Through the use of social media sites, cybercriminals can pretend to be an official website in an effort to convince people to give their personal passwords and information. This gives the cybercriminals access to the personal accounts of victims. Social Good from Social Media – UF College of Journalism and Communications (ufl.edu)

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a youtube charity livestream hosted by The Game Theorists raised $3,000,000 to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. It included many other youtubers with a collective audience of about 300 million people, and raised money to pay for research and treatments.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn., Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- During an over nine-hour charity stream on #GivingTuesday that included highlights like a robotic haircut, an IQ trivia challenge, a $25,000 donation hidden in a tub full of canned vegetables, the world premiere of a new interactive way to play Five Nights at Freddy's, a virtual HITT class from Melbourne, Australia and more than 30 of YouTube's most popular content creators, The Game Theory $1,000,0000 Challenge for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® blew past last year's record, raising $3 million.

Matthew and Stephanie Patrick, known together as The Game Theorists, celebrate $3 million raised for St. Jude.

MatPat participates in the final challenge of the night, facilitated by YouTuber Mark Rober.

The Game Theorists celebrate as YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki drops in to surprise the pair with a $450,000 contribution.

The second annual livestream, hosted by MatPat and Stephanie Patrick, is one of the largest charitable YouTube collaborations with a collective audience of nearly 300 million subscribers. Over the course of the day, The Game Theorists upped their original goal after quickly surpassing fundraising milestones. During the event, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dropped in to surprise the pair with a $450,000 contribution. Mark Rober, MrBeast, Markiplier, Rhett and Link, Babish Culinary Universe, ZHC, Odd1sOut, GameGrumps, Colleen Ballinger, Try Guys, Chloe Ting, Safiya Nygaard, Dream, Disguised Toast, Pokimane, Dawko, Veritasium, Physics Girl, Marques Brownlee and Jake Roper were just a few of the creators who made an appearance over the course of the stream to join in the fun and support the lifesaving mission of St. Jude.

Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food - because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Viewers may still donate directly to St. Jude using this link or watch the full stream at The Game Theorists YouTube channel.

The event was presented by YouTube Originals and brought to you by State Farm®. Other corporate partners included Ocean Spray®, Wizards of the Coast, Green Giant®, BarkBox, Blackhawk Network and American Airlines.

To join the fight against childhood cancer this holiday season:
About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® About Game Theory
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children. ® It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food - because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.

Matthew Patrick, aka MatPat, and Stephanie Patrick operate the YouTube channels Game Theory, Film Theory, Food Theory and livestreaming channel, GT Live. Across these properties there are over 25 million subscribers and 100 million monthly views. They are the Mythbusters for gamers and cine-philes and foodies, educating viewers while unearthing the secrets behind gaming, entertainment and food's most enduring questions.

SOURCE ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Related Links

https://www.stjude.org/

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alsac/st. jude children's research hospital

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ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

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Game Theory $1,000,000 Challenge for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital triples goal, raises $3,000,000

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MEMPHIS, Tenn., Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- During an over nine-hour charity stream on #GivingTuesday that included highlights like a robotic haircut, an IQ trivia challenge, a $25,000 donation hidden in a tub full of canned vegetables, the world premiere of a new interactive way to play Five Nights at Freddy's, a virtual HITT class from Melbourne, Australia and more than 30 of YouTube's most popular content creators, The Game Theory $1,000,0000 Challenge for St.

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using the advance fee scam, the scammer claims to be giving away some large sum of money, and charges some fee to be paid in advance to receiving the sum. there is never actually a sum of money, and this type of scam

causes people to lose over $200,000,000 annually.

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An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster requires in order to obtain the large sum. If a victim makes the payment, the fraudster either invents a series of further fees for the victim or simply disappears.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that, "An advance fee scheme occurs when the victim pays money to someone in anticipation of receiving something of greater value-such as a loan, contract, investment, or gift-and then receives little or nothing in return."

There are many variations of this type of scam, including the Nigerian prince scam, also known as a 419 scam. The number "419" refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud, the charges and penalties for offenders. The scam has been used with fax and traditional mail, and is now prevalent in online communications like emails. Other nations known to have a high incidence of advance-fee fraud include: Ivory Coast, Togo, South Africa, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Jamaica.

Other variations include the Spanish Prisoner scam, the black money scam, Fifo's Fraud and the Detroit-Buffalo scam.

The modern scam is similar to the Spanish Prisoner scam which dates back to the late 18th century. In that con, businessmen were contacted by an individual allegedly trying to smuggle someone that is connected to a wealthy family out of a prison in Spain. In exchange for assistance, the scammer promised to share money with the victim in exchange for a small amount of money to bribe prison guards.

One variant of the scam may date back to the 18th or 19th centuries, as a very similar letter, entitled "The Letter from Jerusalem", is seen in the memoirs of Eugène François Vidocq, a former French criminal and private investigator. Another variant of the scam, dating back to circa 1830, appears very similar to what is passed via email today: "Sir, you will doubtlessly be astonished to be receiving a letter from a person unknown to you, who is about to ask a favour from you...", and goes on to talk of a casket containing 16,000 francs in gold and the diamonds of a late marchioness.

The modern day transnational scam can be traced back to Germany in 1922, and became popular during the 1980s. There are many variants of the letters sent. One of these, sent via postal mail, was addressed to a woman's husband, and inquired about his health. It then asked what to do with profits from a $24.6 million investment, and ended with a telephone number.

Other official-looking letters were sent from a writer who said he was a director of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. He said he wanted to transfer $20 million to the recipient's bank account - money that was budgeted, but was never spent. In exchange for transferring the funds out of Nigeria, the recipient would keep 30% of the total. To get the process started, the scammer asked for a few sheets of the company's letterhead, bank account numbers, and other personal information. Yet other variants have involved mention of a Nigerian prince or other member of a royal family seeking to transfer large sums of money out of the country-thus, these scams are sometimes called "Nigerian Prince emails".

The spread of e-mail and email harvesting software significantly lowered the cost of sending scam letters by using the Internet. While Nigeria is most often the nation referred to in these scams, they may originate in other nations as well. For example, in 2006, 61% of Internet criminals were traced to locations in the United States, while 16% were traced to the United Kingdom and 6% to locations in Nigeria. Other nations known to have a high incidence of advance-fee fraud include Ivory Coast, Togo, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Spain.

One reason Nigeria may have been singled out is the apparently comical, almost ludicrous nature of the promise of West African riches from a Nigerian prince. According to Cormac Herley, a Microsoft researcher, "By sending an email that repels all but the most gullible, the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select." Nevertheless, Nigeria has earned a reputation for being at the center of email scammers, and the number 419 refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (part of Chapter 38: "Obtaining property by false pretenses; Cheating") dealing with fraud.

They refer to their targets as Maga or Mugu, slang developed from a Yoruba word meaning "Easy Target or Fool" and referring to gullible people in general. Some scammers have accomplices in the United States and abroad that move in to finish the deal once the initial contact has been made.

This scam usually begins with the perpetrator contacting the victim via email, instant messaging or social media using a fake email address or a fake social media account and making an offer that would allegedly result in a large payoff for the victim. An email subject line may say something like "From the desk of barrister [Name]", "Your assistance is needed", and so on. The details vary, but the usual story is that a person, often a government or bank employee, knows of a large amount of unclaimed money or gold which they cannot access directly, usually because they have no right to it.

Such people, who may be real but impersonated people or fictitious characters played by the con artist, could include, for example, the wife or son of a deposed African leader who has amassed a stolen fortune, a bank employee who knows of a terminally ill wealthy person with no relatives, or a wealthy foreigner who deposited money in the bank just before dying in a plane crash (leaving no will or known next of kin), a US soldier who has stumbled upon a hidden cache of gold in Iraq, a business being audited by the government, a disgruntled worker or corrupt government official who has embezzled funds, a refugee, and similar characters.

The money could be in the form of gold bullion, gold dust, money in a bank account, blood diamonds, a series of checks or bank drafts, and so forth. The sums involved are usually in the millions of dollars, and the investor is promised a large share, typically ten to forty percent, in return for assisting the fraudster to retrieve or expatriate the money. Although the vast majority of recipients do not respond to these emails, a very small percentage do, enough to make the fraud worthwhile, as many millions of messages can be sent daily.

To help persuade the victim to agree to the deal, the scammer often sends one or more false documents which bear official government stamps, and seals. 419 scammers often mention false addresses and use photographs taken from the Internet or from magazines to falsely represent themselves. Often a photograph used by a scammer is not a picture of any person involved in the scheme. Multiple "people" may write or be involved in schemes as they continue, but they are often fictitious; in many cases, one person controls many fictitious personae all used in scams.

Once the victim's confidence has been gained, the scammer then introduces a delay or monetary hurdle that prevents the deal from occurring as planned, such as "To transmit the money, we need to bribe a bank official. Could you help us with a loan?" or "For you to be a party to the transaction, you must have holdings at a Nigerian bank of $100,000 or more" or similar. This is the money being stolen from the victim; the victim willingly transfers the money, usually through some irreversible channel such as a wire transfer, and the scammer receives and pockets it.

More delays and additional costs are added, always keeping the promise of an imminent large transfer alive, convincing the victim that the money the victim is currently paying is covered several times over by the payoff. The implication that these payments will be used for "white-collar" crime such as bribery, and even that the money they are being promised is being stolen from a government or royal/wealthy family, often prevents the victim from telling others about the "transaction", as it would involve admitting that they intended to be complicit in an international crime.

Sometimes psychological pressure is added by claiming that the Nigerian side, to pay certain fees, had to sell belongings and borrow money on a house, or by comparing the salary scale and living conditions in Africa to those in the West. Much of the time, however, the needed psychological pressure is self-applied; once the victims have provided money toward the payoff, they feel they have a vested interest in seeing the "deal" through. Some victims even believe they can cheat the other party, and walk away with all the money instead of just the percentage they were promised.

The essential fact in all advance-fee fraud operations is the promised money transfer to the victim never happens, because the money does not exist. The perpetrators rely on the fact that, by the time the victim realizes this (often only after being confronted by a third party who has noticed the transactions or conversation and recognized the scam), the victim may have sent thousands of dollars of their own money, and sometimes thousands more that has been borrowed or stolen, to the scammer via an untraceable and/or irreversible means such as wire transfer. The scammer disappears, and the victim is left on the hook for the money sent to the scammer.

During the course of many schemes, scammers ask victims to supply bank account information. Usually this is a "test" devised by the scammer to gauge the victim's gullibility; the bank account information isn't used directly by the scammer, because a fraudulent withdrawal from the account is more easily detected, reversed, and traced. Scammers instead usually request that payments be made using a wire transfer service like Western Union and MoneyGram. The reason given by the scammer usually relates to the speed at which the payment can be received and processed, allowing quick release of the supposed payoff. The real reason is that wire transfers and similar methods of payment are irreversible, untraceable and, because identification beyond knowledge of the details of the transaction is often not required, completely anonymous. However, bank account information obtained by scammers is sometimes sold in bulk to other fraudsters, who wait a few months for the victim to repair the damage caused by the initial scam, before raiding any accounts which the victim didn't close.

Telephone numbers used by scammers tend to come from burner phones. In Ivory Coast a scammer may purchase an inexpensive mobile phone and a pre-paid SIM card without submitting any identifying information. If the scammers believe they are being traced, they discard their mobile phones and purchase new ones.

The spam emails used in these scams are often sent from Internet cafés equipped with satellite internet connection. Recipient addresses and email content are copied and pasted into a webmail interface using a stand-alone storage medium, such as a memory card. Certain areas of Lagos, such as Festac, contain many cyber cafés that serve scammers; cyber cafés often seal their doors outside hours, such as from 10:30pm to 7:00am, so that scammers inside may work without fear of discovery.

Nigeria also contains many businesses that provide false documents used in scams; after a scam involving a forged signature of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in summer 2005, Nigerian authorities raided a market in the Oluwole section of Lagos The police seized thousands of Nigerian and non-Nigerian passports, 10,000 blank British Airways boarding passes, 10,000 United States Postal money orders, customs documents, false university certificates, 500 printing plates, and 500 computers.

The "success rate" of the scammers is also hard to gauge, since they are operating illegally and do not keep track of specific numbers. One individual estimated he sent 500 emails per day and received about seven replies, citing that when he received a reply, he was 70 percent certain he would get the money. If tens of thousands of emails are sent every day by thousands of individuals, it doesn't take a very high success rate to be worthwhile.

In recent years, efforts have been made by governments, internet companies, and individuals to combat scammers involved in advance-fee fraud and 419 scams. In 2004, the Nigerian government formed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to combat economic and financial crimes, such as advanced fee fraud. In 2009, Nigeria's EFCC announced that they have adopted smart technology developed by Microsoft to track down fraudulent emails. They hoped to have the service, dubbed "Eagle Claw", running at full capacity to warn a quarter of a million potential victims.

Some individuals participate in a practice known as scam baiting, in which they pose as potential targets and engage the scammers in lengthy dialogue so as to waste the scammer's time and decrease the time they have available for real victims.

A central element of advance-fee fraud is the transaction from the victim to the scammer must be untraceable and irreversible. Otherwise, the victim, once they become aware of the scam, can successfully retrieve their money and alert officials who can track the accounts used by the scammer.

Wire transfers via Western Union and MoneyGram are ideal for this purpose. International wire transfers cannot be cancelled or reversed, and the person receiving the money cannot be tracked. Other non-cancellable forms of payment include postal money orders and cashier's checks, but wire transfer via Western Union or MoneyGram is more common. Cryptocurrency payments are also used.

Since the scammer's operations must be untraceable to avoid identification, and because the scammer is often impersonating someone else, any communication between the scammer and his victim must be done through channels that hide the scammer's true identity. The following options in particular are widely used.

Because many free email services do not require valid identifying information, and also allow communication with many victims in a short span of time, they are the preferred method of communication for scammers. Some services go so far as to mask the sender's source IP address ( Gmail being a common choice), making the scammer more difficult to trace to the country of origin. While Gmail does indeed strip headers from emails, it is, in fact, possible to trace an IP address from such an email. Scammers can create as many accounts as they wish, and often have several at a time. In addition, if email providers are alerted to the scammer's activities and suspend the account, it is a trivial matter for the scammer to simply create a new account to resume scamming.

Email hijacking/friend scams

Some fraudsters hijack existing email accounts and use them for advance-fee fraud purposes. The fraudster impersonates associates, friends, or family members of the legitimate account owner in an attempt to defraud them. A variety of techniques such as phishing, keyloggers, and computer viruses are used to gain login information for the email address.

Facsimile machines are commonly used tools of business, whenever a client requires a hard copy of a document. They can also be simulated using web services, and made untraceable by the use of prepaid phones connected to mobile fax machines or by use of a public fax machine such as one owned by a document processing business like FedEx Office/Kinko's. Thus, scammers posing as business entities often use fax transmissions as an anonymous form of communication. This is more expensive, as the prepaid phone and fax equipment cost more than email, but to a skeptical victim, it can be more believable.

Abusing SMS bulk senders such as WASPs, scammers subscribe to these services using fraudulent registration details and paying either via cash or stolen credit card details. They then send out masses of unsolicited SMSes to victims stating they have won a competition, lottery, reward, or an event, and they have to contact somebody to claim their prize. Typically the details of the party to be contacted will be an equally untraceable email address or a virtual telephone number.

These messages may be sent over a weekend when the staff at the service providers are not working, enabling the scammer to be able to abuse the services for a whole weekend. Even when traceable, they give out long and winding procedures for procuring the reward (real or unreal) and that too with the impending huge cost of transportation and tax or duty charges. The origin of such SMS messages is often from fake websites/addresses.

A recent (mid-2011) innovation is the use of a Premium Rate 'call back' number (instead of a website or email) in the SMS. On calling the number, the victim is first reassured that 'they are a winner' and then subjected to a long series of instructions on how to collect their 'winnings'. During the message, there will be frequent instructions to 'ring back in the event of problems'. The call is always 'cut off' just before the victim has the chance to note all the details. Some victims call back multiple times in an effort to collect all the details. The scammer thus makes their money out of the fees charged for the calls.

Many scams use telephone calls to convince the victim that the person on the other end of the deal is a real, truthful person. The scammer, possibly impersonating a person of a nationality, or gender, other than their own, would arouse suspicion by telephoning the victim. In these cases, scammers use TRS, a US federally funded relay service where an operator or a text/speech translation program acts as an intermediary between someone using an ordinary telephone and a deaf caller using TDD or other teleprinter device. The scammer may claim they are deaf, and that they must use a relay service. The victim, possibly drawn in by sympathy for a disabled caller, might be more susceptible to the fraud.FCC regulations and confidentiality laws require operators to relay calls verbatim and adhere to a strict code of confidentiality and ethics. Thus, no relay operator may judge the legality and legitimacy of a relay call and must relay it without interference. This means the relay operator may not warn victims, even when they suspect the call is a scam. MCI said about one percent of their IP Relay calls in 2004 were scams.

Tracking phone-based relay services is relatively easy, so scammers tend to prefer Internet Protocol-based relay services such as IP Relay. In a common strategy, they bind their overseas IP address to a router or server located on US soil, allowing them to use US-based relay service providers without interference.

TRS is sometimes used to relay credit card information to make a fraudulent purchase with a stolen credit card. In many cases however, it is simply a means for the con artist to further lure the victim into the scam.

Sometimes, victims are invited to a country to meet government officials, an associate of the scammer, or the scammer themselves. Some victims who travel are instead held for ransom. Scammers may tell a victim that they do not need a visa, or that the scammers will provide one. If the victim does this, the scammers have the power to extort money from the victim.

Sometimes victims are ransomed, kidnapped or murdered. According to a 1995 U.S. State Department report, over fifteen persons were murdered between 1992 and 1995 in Nigeria after following through on advance-fee frauds. In 1999 Norwegian millionaire Kjetil Moe was lured to South Africa by 419 scammers, and murdered. George Makronalli was lured to South Africa and killed in 2004.

There are many variations on the most common stories, and also many variations on the way the scam works. Some of the more commonly seen variants involve employment scams, lottery scams, online sales and rentals, and romance scams. Many scams involve online sales, such as those advertised on websites such as Craigslist and eBay, or property rental. This article cannot list every known and future type of advanced fee fraud or 419 scheme; only some major types are described. Additional examples may be available in the external links section at the end of this article.

This scam targets people who have posted their résumés on e.g. job sites. The scammer sends a letter with a falsified company logo. The job offer usually indicates exceptional salary and benefits, and requests that the victim needs a "work permit" for working in the country, and includes the address of a (fake) "government official" to contact. The "government official" then proceeds to fleece the victim by extracting fees from the unsuspecting user for the work permit and other fees. A variant of the job scam recruits freelancers seeking work, such as editing or translation, then requires some advance payment before assignments are offered.

Many legitimate (or at least fully registered) companies work on a similar basis, using this method as their primary source of earnings. Some modelling and escort agencies tell applicants that they have a number of clients lined up, but that they require some sort of prior "registration fee", usually paid in by an untraceable method, e.g. by Western Union transfer; once the fee is paid, the applicant is informed the client has cancelled, and not contacted again.

The scammer contacts the victim to interest them in a "work-at-home" opportunity, or asks them to cash a check or money order that for some reason cannot be redeemed locally. In one cover story, the perpetrator of the scam wishes the victim to work as a "mystery shopper", evaluating the service provided by MoneyGram or Western Union locations within major retailers such as Wal-Mart. The scammer sends the victim a forged or stolen check or money order as described above, the victim deposits it-banks will often credit an account with the value of a check not obviously false- and sends the money to the scammer via wire transfer. Later the check is not honoured and the bank debits the victim's account. Schemes based solely on check cashing usually offer only a small part of the check's total amount, with the assurance that many more checks will follow; if the victim buys into the scam and cashes all the checks, the scammer can steal a lot in a very short time.

More sophisticated scams advertise jobs with real companies and offer lucrative salaries and conditions with the fraudsters pretending to be recruitment agents. A bogus telephone or online interview may take place and after some time the applicant is informed that the job is theirs. To secure the job they are instructed to send money for their work visa or travel costs to the agent, or to a bogus travel agent who works on the scammer's behalf. No matter what the variation, they always involve the job seeker sending them or their agent money, credit card or bank account details. A newer form of employment scam has arisen in which users are sent a bogus job offer, but are not asked to give financial information. Instead, their personal information is harvested during the application process and then sold to third parties for a profit, or used for identity theft.

Another form of employment scam involves making people receive a fake "interview" where they are told the benefits of the company. The attendees are then made to assist to a conference where a scammer will use elaborate manipulation techniques to convince the attendees to purchase products, in a similar manner to the catalog merchant business model, as a hiring requisite. Quite often, the company lacks any form of the physical catalog to help them sell products (e.g. jewelry). When "given" the job, the individual is then asked to promote the scam job offer on their own. They are also made to work the company unpaid as a form of "training". Similar scams involve making alleged job candidates pay money upfront in person for training materials or services, with the claim that upon successful completion, they will be offered a guaranteed job, which never materializes.

These scammers do internet searches on various companies to obtain hiring managers' names. They then advertise job offers on job search engines. The job hunter will then apply for the position with a resume. The person applying for the position will get a message almost instantly from a common (usually free) email account, asking for credentials. The scammer will sometimes request that the victim has an Instant Messenger chat to obtain more information. The scammer guarantees employment, usually through automated computer programs that have a certain algorithm, with "canned responses" in broken English.

At this point, it is usually too late and the process has already begun. If the victim questions the integrity of the process, the computer program may call them a "scammer" and can be quite vulgar. Quite often, the fraudulent negotiables are still sent to the address on the victim's resume, even after the fake online rant.

The scammer sends the victim fraudulent negotiables, assuring them that they get to keep part of the funds. They will expect the victim to send the remainder to various parties that they specify, under the guise that they are legitimate business contacts. This is a money laundering scheme, as the victim becomes a pawn in the filtering process. The process continues until the victim catches on, or even gets caught.

Another form of the scam is the representative/collection agent variation, wherein the scammer advertises, usually on legitimate online job sites, available positions for representative or collection agent for a company abroad. As the representative, the job involves receiving cash payments and depositing payments received from "customers" into one's account and remitting the rest to the overseas business bank account. This is essentially money laundering.

The lottery scam involves fake notices of lottery wins, although the intended victim has not entered the lottery. The "winner" is usually asked to send sensitive information such as name, residential address, occupation/position, lottery number etc. to a free email account which is at times untraceable or without any link -- stuff you should NEVER share with strangers on the internet. In addition to harvesting this information, the scammer then notifies the victim that releasing the funds requires some small fee (insurance, registration, or shipping). Once the victim sends the fee, the scammer invents another fee.

The fake check technique described above is also used. Fake or stolen checks, representing a part payment of the winnings, being sent; then a fee, smaller than the amount received, is requested. The bank receiving the bad check eventually reclaims the funds from the victim.

In 2004, a variant of the lottery scam appeared in the United States: a scammer phones a victim purporting to be speaking on behalf of the government about a grant they qualify for, subject to an advance fee of typically US$250.

Typical lottery scams address the person as some variation of Lucky Winner. This is a red flag as if you entered an actual lottery and won, they would know your name, and not just call you Lucky Winner.

Many scams involve the purchase of goods and services via classified advertisements, especially on sites like Craigslist, eBay, or Gumtree. These typically involve the scammer contacting the seller of a particular good or service via telephone or email expressing interest in the item. They will typically then send a fake check written for an amount greater than the asking price, asking the seller to send the difference to an alternate address, usually by money order or Western Union. A seller eager to sell a particular product may not wait for the check to clear, and when the bad check bounces, the funds wired have already been lost.

Some scammers advertise phony academic conferences in exotic or international locations, complete with fake websites, scheduled agendas and advertising experts in a particular field that will be presenting there. They offer to pay the airfare of the participants, but not the hotel accommodations. They will extract money from the victims when they attempt to reserve their accommodations in a non-existent hotel.

Sometimes, an inexpensive rental property is advertised by a fake landlord, who is typically out of state (or the country) and asking for the rent and/or deposit to be wired to them. Or the con artist finds a property, pretends to be the owner, lists it online, and communicates with the would-be renter to make a cash deposit. The scammer may also be the renter as well, in which case they pretend to be a foreign student and contact a landlord seeking accommodation. They usually state they are not yet in the country and wish to secure accommodations prior to arriving. Once the terms are negotiated, a forged check is forwarded for a greater amount than negotiated, and the fraudster asks the landlord to wire some of the money back.

This is a variation of the online sales scam where high-value, scarce pets are advertised as bait on online advertising websites using little real seller verification like Craigslist, Gumtree, and JunkMail. The pet may either be advertised as being for-sale or up for adoption. Typically the pet is advertised on online advertising pages complete with photographs taken from various sources such as real advertisements, blogs or wherever an image can be stolen. Upon the potential victim contacting the scammer, the scammer responds by asking for details pertaining to the potential victim's circumstances and location under the pretense of ensuring that the pet would have a suitable home.

By determining the location of the victim, the scammer ensures he is far enough from the victim so as to not allow the buyer to physically view the pet. Should the scammer be questioned, as the advertisement claimed a location initially, the scammer will claim work circumstances having forced him to relocate. This forces a situation whereby all communication is either via email, telephone (normally untraceable numbers) and SMS.

Upon the victim deciding to adopt or purchase the pet, a courier has to be used which is in reality part of the scam. If this is for an adopted pet, typically the victim is expected to pay some fee such as insurance, food or shipping. Payment is via MoneyGram, Western Union or money mules' bank accounts where other victims have been duped into work from home scams.

Numerous problems are encountered in the courier phase of the scam. The crate is too small and the victim has the option of either purchasing a crate with air conditioning or renting one while also paying a deposit, typically called a caution or cautionary fee. The victim may also have to pay for insurance if such fees have not been paid yet. If the victim pays these fees, the pet may become sick and a veterinarian's assistance is sought for which the victim has to repay the courier.

Additionally, the victim may be asked to pay for a health certificate needed to transport the pet, and for kennel fees during the recuperation period. The further the scam progresses, the more similar are the fictitious fees to those of typical 419 scams. It is not uncommon to see customs or like fees being claimed if such charges fit into the scam plot.

Numerous scam websites may be used for this scam. This scam has been linked to the classical 419 scams in that the fictitious couriers used, as are also used in other types of 419 scams such as lotto scams.

One of the variants is the Romance Scam, a money-for-romance angle. The con artist approaches the victim on an online dating service, an instant messenger, or a social networking site. The scammer claims an interest in the victim, and posts pictures of an attractive person. The scammer uses this communication to gain confidence, then asks for money.

The con artist may claim to be interested in meeting the victim but needs cash to book a plane, buy a bus ticket, rent a hotel room, pay for personal-travel costs such as gasoline or a vehicle rental, or to cover other expenses. In other cases, they claim they're trapped in a foreign country and need assistance to return, to escape imprisonment by corrupt local officials, to pay for medical expenses due to an illness contracted abroad, and so on. The scammer may also use the confidence gained by the romance angle to introduce some variant of the original Nigerian Letter scheme, such as saying they need to get money or valuables out of the country and offer to share the wealth, making the request for help in leaving the country even more attractive to the victim.

Scams often involve meeting someone on an online match-making service. The scammer initiates contact with their target who is out of the area and requests money for transportation fare. Scammers will typically ask for money to be sent via a money order or wire transfer due to the need to travel, or for medical or business costs.

When a victim travels to a meeting, it can have deadly consequence as in the case of Jette Jacobs, 67, from Australia. Jette Jacobs traveled to South Africa to supposedly marry her scammer, Jesse Orowo Omokoh, 28, after having sent more than $200,000 to him over a three-year period. Her body was discovered on February 9, 2013, under mysterious circumstances, two days after meeting up with Omokoh. Omokoh has fled back to Nigeria. After questioning in Nigeria, Omokoh was arrested. He was found to have had 32 fake online identities. He was never charged with murder, due to the inability to prove he had a hand in the death of Jette Jacobs, only fraud charges.

This variant of advance-fee fraud is widespread in India and Pakistan. The fraudster uses Internet classified websites and print media to lure the public for the installation of a mobile phone tower on their property, with the promise of huge rental returns. The fraudster also creates fake websites to appear legitimate. The victims part with their money in pieces to the fraudster on account of the Government Service Tax, government clearance charges, bank charges, transportation charges, survey fee etc. The Indian government is issuing public notices in media to spread awareness among the public and warn them against mobile tower fraudsters.

Other scams involve unclaimed property, also called " bona vacantia" in the United Kingdom. In England and Wales (other than the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall), this property is administered by the Bona Vacantia Division of the Treasury Solicitor's Department. Fraudulent emails and letters claiming to be from this department have been reported, informing the recipient they are the beneficiary of a legacy but requiring the payment of a fee before sending more information or releasing the money. In the United States, messages are falsely claimed to be from the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), a real organization, but one that does not and cannot itself make payments.

In one variant of 419 fraud, an alleged hitman writes to someone explaining he has been targeted to kill them. He tells them he knows the allegations against them are false, and asks for money so the target can receive evidence of the person who ordered the hit.

Another variant of advanced fee fraud is known as a pigeon drop. This is a confidence trick in which the mark, or " pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. In reality, the scammers make off with the money and the mark is left with nothing. In the process, the stranger (actually a confidence trickster) puts his money with the mark's money (in an envelope, briefcase, or bag) which the mark is then apparently entrusted with; it is actually switched for a bag full of newspaper or other worthless material. Through various theatrics, the mark is given the opportunity to leave with the money without the stranger realizing. In reality, the mark would be fleeing from his own money, which the con man still has (or has handed off to an accomplice).

Some scammers will go after the victims of previous scams; known as a reloading scam. For example, they may contact a victim saying they can track and apprehend the scammer and recover the money lost by the victim, for a price. Or they may say a fund has been set up by the Nigerian government to compensate victims of 419 fraud, and all that is required is proof of the loss, personal information, and a processing and handling fee. The recovery scammers obtain lists of victims by buying them from the original scammers.

Estimates of the total losses due to the scam are uncertain and vary widely, since many people may be too embarrassed to admit that they were gullible enough to be scammed to report the crime. A United States government report in 2006 indicated that Americans lost $198.4 million to Internet fraud in 2006, averaging a loss of $5,100 per incident. That same year, a report in the United Kingdom claimed that these scams cost the economy £ 150 million per year, with the average victim losing £31,000.

In addition to the financial cost, many victims also suffer a severe emotional and psychological cost, such as losing their ability to trust people. One man from Cambridgeshire, UK burnt himself to death with petrol after realizing that the $1.2 million "internet lottery" that he had won was actually a scam. In 2007 a Chinese student at the University of Nottingham killed herself after she discovered that she had fallen for a similar lottery scam.

Other victims lose wealth and friends, become estranged from family members, deceive partners, get divorced, or commit criminal offenses in the process of either fulfilling their "obligations" to the scammers or obtaining more money. In 2008, an Oregon woman lost $400,000 to a Nigerian advance-fee fraud scam, after an email told her she had inherited money from her long-lost grandfather. Her curiosity was piqued because she actually had a grandfather with whom her family had lost touch, and whose initials matched those given in the email. She sent hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of more than two years, despite her family, bank staff and law enforcement officials all urging her to stop. The elderly are particularly susceptible to online scams such as this, as they typically come from a generation that was more trusting, and are often too proud to report the fraud. They also may be concerned that relatives might see it as a sign of declining mental capacity, and they are afraid to lose their independence.

Victims can be enticed to borrow or embezzle money to pay the advance fees, believing that they will shortly be paid a much larger sum and be able to refund what they misappropriated. Crimes committed by victims include credit-card fraud, check kiting, and embezzlement. San Diego-based businessman James Adler lost over $5 million in a Nigeria-based advance-fee scam. While a court affirmed that various Nigerian government officials (including a governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria) were directly or indirectly involved, and that Nigerian government officials could be sued in U.S. courts under the "commercial activity" exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Adler was unable to get his money back due to the doctrine of unclean hands because he had knowingly entered into a contract that was illegal.

Some 419 scams involve even more serious crimes, such as kidnapping or murder. One such case, in 2008, involves Osamai Hitomi, a Japanese businessman who was lured to Johannesburg, South Africa and kidnapped on September 26, 2008. The kidnappers took him to Alberton, south of Johannesburg, and demanded a $5 million ransom from his family. Seven people were ultimately arrested. In July 2001, Joseph Raca, a former mayor of Northampton, UK, was kidnapped by scammers in Johannesburg, South Africa, who demanded a ransom of £20,000. The captors released Raca after they became nervous. One 419 scam that ended in murder occurred in February 2003, when Jiří Pasovský, a 72-year-old scam victim from the Czech Republic, shot and killed 50-year-old Michael Lekara Wayid, an official at the Nigerian embassy in Prague, and injured another person, after the Nigerian Consul General explained he could not return the $600,000 that Pasovský had lost to a Nigerian scammer.

The international nature of the crime, combined with the fact that many victims do not want to admit that they bought into an illegal activity, has made tracking down and apprehending these criminals difficult. Furthermore, the government of Nigeria has been slow to take action, leading some investigators to believe that some Nigerian government officials are involved in some of these scams. The Nigeria government's establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2004 helped with the issue to some degree, although issues with corruption remain. A notable case which the EFCC pursued was that of Emmanuel Nwude, who was convicted for defrauding $242 million out of the director of a Brazilian bank, Banco Noroeste, which ultimately led to the bank's collapse. Also the SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad), a division of the Nigerian Police Force lately has been apprehending suspected fraud perpetrators.

Despite this, there have been some recent successes in apprehending and prosecuting these criminals. In 2004, fifty-two suspects were arrested in Amsterdam after an extensive raid, after which almost no 419 emails were reported being sent by local internet service providers. In November 2004, Australian authorities apprehended Nick Marinellis of Sydney, the self-proclaimed head of Australian 419ers who later boasted that he had "220 African brothers worldwide" and that he was "the Australian headquarters for those scams". In 2008 US authorities in Olympia, Washington, sentenced Edna Fiedler to two years in prison with 5 years of supervised probation for her involvement in a $1 million Nigerian check scam. She had an accomplice in Lagos, Nigeria, who shipped her up to $1.1 million worth of counterfeit checks and money orders with instructions on where to ship them.

Due to the increased use of the 419 scam on the Internet, it has been used as a plot device in many films, television shows and books. A song, "I Go Chop Your Dollar", performed by Nkem Owoh, also became internationally known as an anthem for 419 scammers. Other appearances in popular media include:

In "A Thief in Ni-Moya", a 1981 novella from Robert Silverberg's Majipoor series, a young woman is swindled out of her savings under the pretense of fees required to inherit a large estate.

The novel I Do Not Come To You By Chance by Nigerian author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani explores the phenomenon.

The 2006 direct-to-DVD kid flick EZ Money features an instance of this scam as its central premise.

In the 2007 straight-to-DVD film Bender's Big Score, Professor Farnsworth falls for a lottery scam, giving away his personal details on the Internet after believing he has won the Spanish national lottery. Later, Nixon's Head falls for a "sweepstakes" letter by the same scammers, while Zoidberg is taken by an advance-fee fraud, thinking he is next of kin to a Nigerian Prince.[citation needed ]

In series 6, episode 3 of the BBC television series The Real Hustle, the hustlers demonstrated the 419 Scam to the hidden cameras in the "High Stakes" episodes of the show.

In the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords episode "The New Cup", the band's manager, Murray, uses the band's emergency funds for what appears to be a 419 scam-an investment offer made by a Mr. Nigel Soladu, who had e-mailed him from Nigeria. However, it turns out that Nigel Soladu is a real Nigerian businessman and the investment offer is legitimate, although Murray notes that, despite Mr. Soladu having e-mailed many people for an investment, only he had taken him up on it. The band receives a 1000% profit, which they use to get bailed out of jail.[citation needed ]

The Residents included a song called "My Nigerian Friend" in their 2008 multimedia production The Bunny Boy.

In the pilot episode, "The Nigerian Job", of Leverage, the group uses the reputation of the Nigerian Scam to con a deceitful businessman.

The 2012 novel by Will Ferguson is the story of a daughter looking for the persons she believes responsible for her father's death due to suicide following a 419 scam. A follow-up to earlier novels about con men and frauds (Generica and Spanish Fly), 419 won the 2012 Giller Prize, Canada's most distinguished literary award.

In the video game Warframe, Nef Anyo ran an advance-fee fraud during Operation False Profit, where players attempted to reverse the scam and steal credits from him in order to bankrupt him and prevent his creation of a robotic army.

MC Frontalot's song "Message No. 419" is about a 419 scam.

Apter, Andrew (2005). "The Politics of Illusion". The Pan-African Nation: Oil and the Spectacle of Culture in Nigeria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-02355-9.

Berry, Michael (2006). Greetings in Jesus Name!: The Scambaiter Letters. Harbour Books. ISBN 1-905128-08-8.

Dillon, Eamon (2008). "Chapter 6: The 419ers". The Fraudsters - How Con Artists Steal Your Money. Merlin Publishing. ISBN 978-1-903582-82-4. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29.

Edelson, Eve (2006). Scamorama: Turning the Tables on Email Scammers. Disinformation Company. ISBN 1-932857-38-9.

Tive, Charles (2006). 419 Scam: Exploits of the Nigerian Con Man. iUniverse.com. ISBN 0-595-41386-2.

Van Wijk, Anton (2009). Mountains of Gold; An Exploratory Research on Nigerian 419-fraud: Backgrounds. SWP Publishing. ISBN 978-90-8850-028-2. Archived from the original on 2017-09-02.

Edwards, Matthew; Peersman, Claudia; Rashid, Awais (2017). "Scamming the Scammers" (PDF). Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on World Wide Web Companion - WWW '17 Companion. pp. 1291-1299. doi:10.1145/3041021.3053889. ISBN 9781450349147. S2CID 13435344.

Onyebadi, Uche; Park, Jiwoo (21 February 2012). "'I'm Sister Maria. Please help me': A lexical study of 4-1-9 international advance fee fraud email communications". International Communication Gazette. 74 (2): 181-199. doi:10.1177/1748048511432602. S2CID 143777619.

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An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster requires in order to obtain the large sum.

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Megan Plays, a gaming YouTuber, hosted a live stream and charity to raise up to $5,000 for children's entertainment and gaming in hospitals. She really believes that every kid deserves to have a smile put on their face and that they are able to make it through the tough times.

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This September, Starlight is honoring Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by hosting the second annual To celebrate S4S 2020, we'll be highlighting content creators to showcase the various ways you can get involved! Stream For Starlight (S4S) campaign-a month-long virtual fundraiser that invites businesses, influencers, gamers, and individuals to stream content and raise money to deliver happiness to seriously ill kids.

Megan "MeganPlays" Letter is a Roblox player on YouTube with millions of viewers that she inspires every day.

As a professional gamer, she participated in last year's S4S after learning about Starlight Gaming. Our longest standing program, powered by Nintendo, provides seriously ill kids with hours of fun and distraction from playing video games and streaming their favorite movies and TV shows.

Megan loved the idea of helping kids escape into a virtual world so much that she decided to sponsor a hospital and support a local hospital and program that is meaningful to her. During S4S, her generous community raised $5,000 to entirely sponsor a Starlight Gaming station at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas!

Sign up to receive periodic updates on Starlight kids, hospital stories, and resources.

"I chose to donate my money to the Cook Children's Medical Center, a hospital that I had to visit when I was young for surgery. That felt really special for me to give back to that establishment," she said.

Even though Megan's audience is young, they were very supportive, proving there's no age limit in who can make a difference.

"My audience loved supporting Starlight!" she said, "Being young themselves, they couldn't imagine being in the same position as some of these kids. They were really excited to be a part of something bigger than themselves!"

And Megan is excited to participate in this year's S4S!

"Raising money for causes greater than myself always brings a massive smile to my face! I've been so fortunate, and I love to give back!"

Streaming to sponsor a hospital is a great way to directly impact your local community and see the tangible effects of your fundraiser. To make a meaningful difference at your local hospital, find a program you can sponsor here.

If you'd like to join Megan and countless others in this year's Stream For Starlight, register today!
Join Stream For Starlight

1. Should I Stream For Starlight?
Take Part in S4S

2. Meet NachoPandaa, Gaming Streamer
NachoPandaa's Impact

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This September, Starlight is honoring Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by hosting the second annual To celebrate S4S 2020, we'll be highlighting content creators to showcase the various ways you can get involved! Stream For Starlight (S4S) campaign-a month-long virtual fundraiser that invites businesses, influencers, gamers, and individuals to stream content and raise money to deliver happiness to seriously ill kids.

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Concern: Cyberbullying Students on Tik Tok 

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Concern: Cyberbullying Students on Tik Tok 

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A student from a Texas school decided to make an account to put student's faces and make rude remarks about who they are and what they do. Examples of "most annoying seventh graders", "people who can't dance" and more that really could hurt the feelings of others.

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CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- A TikTok page that's dedicated to cyberbullying some Cy-Fair ISD middle school students has caught the attention of parents in the district.

The page has videos that start with text that reads: "People who look like they smoke crack," "Most annoying seventh graders," and "People who think they can dance, but can't." After the words, photos of students from Smith Middle School appear.

Each of the videos has hundreds of views.

Parents said they do not know who is behind the account, but many say they have reported it to the social media site.

On Tuesday afternoon, the page was still active.

"I always encourage students to think before you post," said Jillian Simmons, executive director and founder of JJ's I'm Me Foundation. "Think about the effect this is going to have on someone else. Could this hurt their feelings? Could this send them over the edge? Could they get depressed over this? Could this be traumatic for them? You don't know if that student goes home and they are called stupid."
A Cy-Fair ISD spokesperson said they are aware of the page and sent the following statement: "When accounts like these are disclosed to campus or district administrators, they are immediately reported to their respective social medium so they can be removed, and campus administrators begin investigating. Students are encouraged to report the identity(ies) of those who may be posting to these accounts, either directly to campus administrators or anonymously through the Cy-Fair tip line. Social media accounts that contain targeted harassment or rumors about CFISD students are a form of cyberbullying that is prohibited in the CFISD Student Code of Conduct."
Follow Mycah Hatfield on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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TikTok account made to bully CFISD students sparks concern

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CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- A TikTok page that's dedicated to cyberbullying some Cy-Fair ISD middle school students has caught the attention of parents in the district. The page has videos that start with text that reads: "People who look like they smoke crack," "Most annoying seventh graders," and "People who think they can dance, but can't."

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Positive Use- Proof of how social media spread awareness for multiple different charities

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Positive Use- Proof of how social media spread awareness for multiple different charities

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This article displays numerous different charities, that gained funding through the help of different social media outlets. For example, The World Wildlife foundation reached their goal for funds in under 3 days, with the spread of a hashtag through twitter.
https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/nonprofits-gained-donors-through-social-media/

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This article gives multiple examples as to how employees were fired from their jobs due to misconduct on social media.

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0918/pages/firing-for-online-behavior-.aspx

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Social media can affect the amount that we sleep and phones emit blue light which tells our brains that we need to be productive and awake. While using social media around your bedtime makes us more awake disrupting our sleep schedule and making you less healthy overall

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Polls have shown that browsing social media is now one of the most common pre-sleep activities, between going to bed and falling sleep. While it might feel relaxing to lie in bed and check a newsfeed, the reality is that this constant connectivity can have major negative effects on our sleep.

So what happens when staying connected continues into bedtime? Read on to see how your bedtime social media habits might be stopping you from getting a good night's sleep.

Mobiles and melatonin: how looking at your phone can affect your sleep

It's well-established that looking at phone screens can impact sleep. Mobiles emit mostly blue light, and these wavelengths are particularly good at keeping us productive and focussed, so perfectly suited for daytime phone usage.

At night-time, however, this is not ideal. At its simplest, exposure to light tells us to be awake, so looking at a bright light from a phone just before bed is telling your body it is still time to be awake and not sleep time.

In the hours leading up to bedtime, as natural light levels decrease, our brains start to produce a hormone called melatonin, which causes our alertness to begin to dip. It signals to our bodies to wind down and prepare for sleep.

Without melatonin signalling to us that we are sleepy, we remain awake and alert, in a state of 'cognitive arousal'.

Cognitive arousal: getting wound up when you should be winding down!

When you go to bed, your brain is preparing for sleep, but by looking at social media, you are providing endless stimulation, signalling to your brain and body to remain active and keep engaged.

It's not simply the fact that you're looking at social media which keeps you awake, the type of content has a big impact too.

Passively scrolling through a newsfeed before turning off has less repercussions on your sleep than engaging in, for example, a heated debate on a subject you're passionate about.

This comes down to how much involvement the interaction calls for. Looking at photos can be done quite serenely. Debating global politics is going to call for a more involved interaction.

The take home from this is that if you must use social media before bed, try to avoid areas that will stimulate you and demand high levels of engagement.

Delayed bedtime: time spent surfing should be spent snoozing

How many times have you thought you'd just quickly check your social media account before going to sleep, only to find yourself falling down a rabbit hole of entertaining videos, photos, funny comments, chatting with friends, reading newsfeeds...? And just like that, an hour or even two have passed.

Your bedtime has been displaced and additionally, you've lost some valuable sleep time, so your sleep duration will generally be shorter. Sleep displacement by social media is well-recognised amongst adolescents, and recent studies are beginning to show similar effects across adult age groups, too.

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

Sadly, FOMO can feel like a no-win situation: you log off, but feel guilty because you're no longer responding immediately, you can lose sleep worrying about what you're missing and what people will think of you for not being available.

Or, you stay online and your sleep is compromised, you're setting yourself up for anxiety, poor focus and increased risk of depression.

There is no need to feel like you have to be available 24/7; we need to move away from these ways of thinking. Logging off or taking a break is totally fine. The bottom line is simple: we all need to sleep.

Denying yourself sleep in order to appear constantly online is just sabotaging your own well-being. Sleep deprivation can negatively affect your health in so many different ways.

If you feel like you are struggling to disconnect and your sleep is being compromised, the team at Sleepstation can provide you with the tools you need to get a good night's sleep.

Disturbed sleep: alerted by all those alerts

When you do eventually fall asleep, this isn't the end of social media's hold on your brain. Message alerts, notifications, texts, updates...

In our eagerness to appear always available and connected, we often further jeopardise our sleep by keeping our phone within grasp, on vibrate or unmuted.

Plus, once sleep has been disturbed by an alert, we often remain awake thinking about and anticipating further beeps and pings, which leads to fragmented sleep.

The best way to avoid this is to turn your phone off, put it on airplane mode or leave it on silent. Keeping it out of the bedroom at night would be ideal, but if this feels like a step too far, leave it on the far side of the room, as far away from your bed as possible.

It's the middle of the night, you find yourself unable to sleep, so you reach for your phone and check your social media accounts. It's an easy distraction from whatever is keeping you from sleeping, but then you find you can't disengage, so you keep scrolling, you become more alert, so you can't sleep. It's a vicious cycle.

Does night-time social media use cause insomnia? Or,

Do people with insomnia use social media to cope with their sleep problems?

This angle is now being examined in greater depth, so for some, night-time social media usage may actually be their way of coping with a sleep problem, as opposed to a causing factor.

Positive steps you can take

Social media has many good points; it connects people, can bring friends and families closer together, it informs us and is entertaining.

What we all need to be mindful of is how often and at what times we connect. Social media usage around bedtime can have major repercussions for your sleep.

Reducing exposure to social media can help you to disconnect and may improve your sleep quality. Ideally, aim to wind-down your usage in the 2 hours before bedtime, but at a minimum, at least 30 minutes before bed.

Instead of scrolling through your phone, screen-free time will help prepare you for sleep. Maybe read a book, relax, take a bath, listen to music. Try whatever works to relax you, without involving looking at a screen.

If possible, keep your phone out of your bedroom at night! Buy a cheap alarm clock and leave your phone on charge in another room.

If you're struggling to sleep and you think that your social media usage may be to blame, then speak to us at Sleepstation . We can work with you to find the root cause of your sleep issues and we'll help you to improve your bedtime sleep habits.

Key points

Social media usage around bedtime can negatively effect how long and how well you sleep.

Looking at social media in bed can make it harder for you to fall asleep.

It can also reduce the amount of time you sleep for and leave you feeling unrefreshed the next day.

Try to limit (or stop) social media use a couple of hours before bedtime, in order to allow your body to wind down and prepare for sleep.

If possible, keep your mobile phone out of the bedroom-easier said than done!

References

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How does social media affect your sleep?

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Polls have shown that browsing social media is now one of the most common pre-sleep activities, between going to bed and falling sleep. While it might feel relaxing to lie in bed and check a newsfeed, the reality is that this constant connectivity can have major negative effects on our sleep.

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Just as social media can divide us it can also bring us together and help us build relationships with other people. These relationships formed over social media can get people to meet in real life and then become life long friends

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A brief look at how social media can be utilized as a valuable tool to build and maintain professional relationships.

The three part article series How to use technology to promote, brainstorm and share professional ideas discussed six specific online tools that could be utilized to glean programming ideas, stay connected to like-minded professionals, promote activities and collaborate with youth. From Facebook to Pinterest, there are many social networking platforms saturating the time people spend today on the World Wide Web. With that in mind, it raises an important question: are virtual social networks really valuable in maintaining professional relationships? Believe it or not, research says they are (when utilized properly, of course)!

In a professional setting, relationship-building helps create opportunities for individuals to collaborate, idea share, get feedback and reduce stress through social support. In successful working relationships, it is important all parties feel valued as crucial contributors to the relationship. Actively pursuing two-way dialogue, posing thoughtful questions, and making a conscious effort to acknowledge and accept feedback from others are all keys to establishing good working relationships and as a result, trusting connections can be made.

How can social networks help with the process of building healthy working relationships? Social networks present great opportunities for professionals to publicly recognize successes of parties in the relationship. This increases that party's sense of belonging, self-worth and security, in turn, makes them more comfortable and more likely to invest in your relationship.

Another key opportunity provided by social networking is authenticity. Others can utilize your social media pages to determine more information about you as an individual. This helps to reassure others the story you are telling about yourself is genuine, and as a result, the connections you make are as meaningful as face-to-face relationships.

As human beings, we have cultivated relationships with others that have either strong or weak ties. Strong ties are those relationships that take regular investment of time and energy, and often include your family, close friends and romances. Weak ties, however, involve looser connections and parties in these relationships usually know less about one another and have infrequent contact. These weak ties, often forged through social media, can hold great benefits; such as a greater diversity of perspectives and thus more innovative collaboration and idea generation.

A great thing about social media is that it allows you access to both your strong and weak connections. Increasing the spectrum of possible connections can help individuals and organizations identify specific parties with shared interests or goals, experience solving similar challenges, or even developed tools or methods for completing a mutual task. Consider all the connections you have online through social networks and then think about the connections of your connections: the possibilities for collaboration are endless!

If you keep an open mind and share your story honestly, social media can be a great tool for building and maintaining relationships. However as you use social media to expand your networks, remember that social media relationships are still relationships. Treat others as you would in person; with respect and consideration.

Michigan State University Extension has employees all over the state; some may even be in your county. Seek out these individuals, as there are connections to be made. Find your area office on Facebook, tweet MSU Extension or read more articles to find the individuals who are experts in one of your passions. Post a message on their wall, retweet even pose questions online and see your social network capacity grow.
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Why is social media a beneficial relationship building tool?

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A brief look at how social media can be utilized as a valuable tool to build and maintain professional relationships. The three part article series How to use technology to promote, brainstorm and share professional ideas discussed six specific online tools that could be utilized to glean programming ideas, stay connected to like-minded professionals, promote activities and collaborate with youth.

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In case someone ever goes missing, on social media you can share information and pictures of the missing person. By sharing info/ pictures about the individual, it is easier to find them and make sure they are safe.
https://themissingny.nycitynewsservice.com/part-two/social-media-used-to-find-the-missing/

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Over twelve schools have rescinded applications over racist comments over the death of George Floyd. This includes a start football player whose admission was revoked after a video of him saying a racial slur went viral.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/us/racism-social-media-college-admissions.html

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When nonprofits use social media it increases the amount of donations they get compared to sending letters in the mail or making phone calls. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0899764019868849

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When someone gets addicted to social media they usually have FOMO which is the fear of missing out, FOMO can eventually lead to depression.
https://emeraldpsychiatry.com/is-there-a-connection-between-social-media-fomo-and-depression/

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This article highlights certain instances when for example, there was a church shooting widespread acts of support for the people affected by the shooting took place via social media. Several relief were also made to help support the cause.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/best-examples-of-social-media-doing-good-deeds/

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Cyberbullying is major concern of social media. Users tend to be more cruel towards their victims because they are behind a screen and not face to face. The wider outreach makes the number of targets of cyberbullying increase drastically.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/negative-effects-social-media/

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Families that have been separated because of adoption, foster care, and other things like that, have been able to reunited through social media.

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Finding loved ones on social media is becoming increasingly popular. Families who may have lost touch or have been separated by adoption or other circumstances. Over the years, numerous families across the world have been reunited in incredible ways, all thanks to the power of the internet. Here are some stories that will melt your heart.

1. When YouTube helped Manipur man reunite with family after 40 years

A man who had vanished from Imphal 40 years ago was found through social media, all thanks to a viral video that shows him singing an old Hindi film song that was uploaded on YouTube by a fashion designer.

Khomdram Gambhir Singh (65) left his Imphal home in 1978, and his family members had not heard of him since. That was till his video was brought to their attention.

.@AngellicAribam tweeted video of a stranded man in Bandra to @MumbaiPolice While we secured him, @SamarendraAtom tweeted & identified him as Khomdram Singh from Manipur,missing since 40 yrs! Our Twitter team coordinated b/w Bandra & Patsoi Pstn to reunite Mr Singh with family 😊 pic.twitter.com/9zZhOmZF3p
- Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) 16 April 2018

We approached Gambir's brother Kullachandra," said Samarendra. "On seeing the video, I could not stop crying. We truly thank Firoze Sakir for uploading my brother's video," he said. The video was uploaded on October 17, 2017. Sakir told TOI Gambhir ekes out a living by doing odd jobs and he also sings.

2. When Bengaluru Police used social media to reunite man with family after 25 years

In a bid to identify an unknown man, Bengaluru cops uploaded the PAN card of a man named Y Jayarama Bhat on social media. Luckily, the cops not just traced who he was, the details on social media also helped the man reunite with long lost family after 25 years.

According to reports,Y Jayarama Bhat, was found unconscious in Hanumantha Nagar police station and was identified by Ganesh Kambar on Whatsapp. Kambar works as a software professional in the city and received Bhat's PAN card information on Whatsapp after the post went viral on social media. He said told the New Indian Express

'I approached Hanumantha Nagar police station with my friend Keshava Bhat. The police took us to the hospital where Jayarama was admitted. There, I could confirm his identity. I later informed his younger brother Chandrashekara Bhat, who stays in our village.'

3. When this 85-year-old woman was reunited with her family in Chennai through Twitter

A few weeks ago, a picture of an elderly woman, clad in red saree and blouse and wearing spectacles went viral on Twitter. All that she remembered was her name, Kaveri and her husband's name. The picture was posted by Twitter user Chris Jerome.

This elderly lady has lost her way. She only remembers that her name is kavery, 85yrs and her husband is srinivasan. She is now in triplicane D3 police station. Ok help her find her place friends. Sooo sad 😔 let's share as many as possible 👇 pic.twitter.com/YJOZWIt5cU
- Chris Jerome (@JCJerome) 8 April 2018

The Triplicane D3 police officials took her to an old-age home and admitted her there. "By evening, our message had spread like wildfire on social media. People from across the country, including officers from the Mumbai Police Commissioner Office, called the police station to inquire," added a senior police officer told the Hindu

As per our phone discussion with Sub-Inspector Govindraj of D3 Police Station. The old lady has been reunited safely with her family and everyone is happy now.
- Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) 9 April 2018

4. Mother reunited with 5-year-old son after Las Vegas shooting

Doris Huser was on her way back from the bathroom when gunfire rang out at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas. When people started fleeing 64-year-old Stephen Paddock's rain of gunshots, Doris lost her son in the crowd that came running towards her.

The whole crowd just started rushing right at me," Doris said. "I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but screaming did no good. It did nothing, we couldn't find them."

It was 26-year-old Lindsey Rodgers who kept Aden, who was left utterly confused, safe with her. Chris Cunningham, an off-duty Las Vegas police officer who was with Rodgers, posted an image of Aden online and he was eventually reunited with his mum.

5. Father finds daughter after 39 years

In a desperate attempt to find his long-lost daughter, this US man turned to the internet. In a viral Facebook post, , Jerry Miller said that he had a baby girl with a woman named Kathy in Georgia, but the baby was put up for adoption after she suffered some medical complications.

Since then, Miller said he has never stopped looking for her and posted a plea for help on Facebook. And now nearly 40 years later, Miller was finally able to locate his daughter.

6. Indian Man Finds His Mother After 25 Years Using Google Earth

This is the well-known story of an Indian man named Saroo Brierly, which was made into an Oscar-winning movie named Lion. It tells the story of how, in 1986, Saroo, an illiterate, impoverished five-year-old in rural central India, got separated from his brother at a railway station in Burhanpur, and accidentally ended up alone on a train that took him almost a thousand miles to Kolkata.

YouTube/Lion

He was then taken into a shelter where an Australian family adopted him. Years later, he started his journey to trace his family back to India and he ended finding his mother with the help of Google Earth.

7. Long-Lost Siblings Find Each Other on Facebook

Thanks to a lucky Facebook post, two sisters were reunited with their long-lost brother. McCloskey was living with her sister, Betty Jean Musselman, and infant brother in South Carolina in the 1950s when the state removed them from an unsafe household, according to ABC news http://www.wpbf.com/article/sisters-reunite-with-brother-after-60-years-apart/1325462. The sisters reunited shortly thereafter, but their brother was still missing.
Youtube
According to the report, the picture they posted on Facebook asking for the public's help actually helped the reunion. The man didn't even know that he had sisters!

8. When Facebook helped this mother reunite with her baby after the France attack

When Tiava Banner was separated from her eight-month-old baby, she put out a desperate plea on Facebook saying," "We have lost BB 8 months. Nice friends if you've seen him if you were there if you have collected please contact me!!!!!"

The post gained more than 21,000 shares. And within a few hours she updated her Facebook appeal to reveal she had been reunited with the child.

9. Separated for 25 years, twin sisters find each other on YouTube

Anais Bordier and Samantha Futerman are twins who were seperated for over 25 years. According to a CNN report, Anais, who was adopted in early childhood, found her twin sister through YouTube network. While Anais Bordier grew up in France, her long lost sister was a young actress from America.
YouTube
After finding each other, they decided to take a DNA test and found out that they were born in Seoul on November 19th, 1987.

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9 Times The Internet Helped People Reunite With Their Loved Ones

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This article is about the times when social media stepped in to help families desperate to find loved ones who went missing. From YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, you name people have been able to track down relatives they didn't know could even be alive.

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Social media can be used in a positive way or as a benefit and an example would be the foundation "Hidden Battles". It is a website that has information about suicide awareness and many ways to help if you are depressed or have other mental illness. The website is posted on Facebook and fundraisers are also posted for Hidden battles on other social media platforms.

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Hidden Battles is a non-profit organization that strives to help preserve the healthy minds of Military / Veterans, Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, Dispatch, and Nursing through treatment and counseling for depression, suicidal tendencies, and PTSD.

Our defenders are absorbing the horrors of their occupations. They struggle with the hidden battles fought in their minds on a daily basis. Whether it is the horrors of war, personal injury or a fatal car crash, the effects are everlasting. Over the course of their careers, the stress piles up to sometimes a fatal level.

Our returning soldiers, fire fighters, police officers and other first responders need an outlet.

Whether it is a peer group, a service dog or team building therapy we need to provide them with the programs and services to protect them from internal harm.

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Hidden Battles Foundation - Helping Veterans & First Responders - PTSD, Depression, Suicide

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Hidden Battles is a non-profit organization that strives to help preserve the healthy minds of Military / Veterans, Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, Dispatch, and Nursing through treatment and counseling for depression, suicidal tendencies, and PTSD. Our defenders are absorbing the horrors of their occupations.

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A 21 year old man was attending a College in Colorado when he was kicked out and suspended for 21 months. This happened because he made an inappropriate comment on a #blackwomenmatter post.

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A small liberal arts school in Colorado has kicked out two of its students for anonymously penning offensive social media posts and sharing a screenshot from an episode of South Park.

Thaddeus Pryor, a junior at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, learned on November 20 that he had received a 21-month suspension for something he posted two weeks earlier on Yik Yak, a social media application which allows users to broadcast a message to others located within a given range.

Responding to someone in the area who posted "#blackwomenmatter," Mr. Pryor said: "They matter, they're just not hot." The message was penned anonymously, but the student admitted his role when approached by campus officials who had been tipped-off.

"It could be considered as mean," the student told The Colorado Springs Gazette last week. "But I did not mean it as hateful or violent or anything of that sort."

Mr. Pryor can stay enrolled with roughly 2,000 other students at Colorado College, but can't set foot on campus or earn credit elsewhere until 2017; the same can't be said for his housemate, Lou Henriques, however, who was informed by the school on Nov. 20 that he was being expelled permanently for his Yik Yak posts, including one in which he shared a screenshot from an 8-year-old episode of South Park in which a character incorrectly answers a "People Who Annoy You" puzzle on Wheel of Fortune with the N-word rather than "NAGGERS."

Henriques had also posted the words "RACE WAR" on Yik Yak, the private school's Catalyst newspaper reported, which he said were in reference to another episode of the animated series.
SEE ALSO: JebBush.com redirects to Donald Trump's campaign website
"I'm sorry that people were offended by them," he told the Catalyst. "I said them merely as jokes. I understand that they were offensive."

Indeed, the college largely failed to see the humor and, in addition to taking action against the students, also hosted a school-wide forum on racism directly as a result of the Yik Yak scandal.

Both students were quick to appeal the disciplinary actions, and while Mr. Pryor is still awaiting a decision, Mr. Henriques has agreed to withdraw from the college rather than be formally expelled, the Catalyst reported.

"I don't think the student body condones or should condone what I said, and I don't expect them to," Mr. Henriques told the paper. "I also don't think many students condone the expulsion. The school took a very hard line and was probably reacting to the racism going on at colleges throughout the country."

Mr. Pryor, meanwhile, has since garnered the support of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE - a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that fights for freedom of speech - as he attempts to be readmitted on campus.

"Colorado College's disciplinary action toward Pryor - a 21 month suspension - for posting what was intended to be a joke on social media completely contradicts the school's promises of freedom of speech," FIRE Senior Program Officer Ari Cohn said in a statement. "The college's punitive and heavy-handed overreaction to Pryor's social media post will have a chilling effect on campus discourse."
SEE ALSO: San Bernardino shooters had target practice before massacre: FBI
College officials cannot legally discuss the issue due to privacy laws, the Catalyst reported, and Mr. Pryor told the Gazette that a ruling on his appeal is expected later this year.

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Colorado college kicks out students for social media posts, South Park screenshot

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A small liberal arts school in Colorado has kicked out two of its students for anonymously penning offensive social media posts and sharing a screenshot from an episode of South Park.

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A huge benefit of social media is being able to reach very large audiences. The benefit of reaching large audiences is that you can convey a message or beliefs to a large group that could make a change in a good way. "There are millions of people using social media platforms. It’s a great opportunity for your business to reach a large pool of people that are interested in your products or services"
https://www.webfx.com/internet-marketing/social-media-marketing-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

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The article tells you to be careful of what you are posting on your pages on the social media platforms you participate in.
https://news.clearancejobs.com/2020/08/12/dont-lose-your-job-or-reputation-from-social-media/

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Social media can be used in positive ways such as communicating and entertainment.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/social-media-positive-mental-health/

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The Ice Bucket Challenge spread awareness about ALS and helped raise money for it. It helped researches significantly in trying to find a cure for it.

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Washington, D.C. (June 4, 2019) - An independent research organization reported that donations from the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to increase its annual funding for research around the world by 187 percent. During this time, ALS researchers made scientific advances, care for people living with ALS expanded and investment in disease research from the federal government grew.

The report from RTI International documents and quantifies the outcomes of spending from the $115 million dollars in donations the Association raised through the Challenge. RTI International is an independent consulting firm that helps governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations around the world objectively analyze programs and measure impact.

"Five years after the Ice Bucket Challenge soaked the world, the pace of discovery has increased tremendously, bringing ALS researchers closer than they have ever been to real breakthroughs in diagnosing, treating, and eventually curing this disease," said Calaneet Balas, president and CEO of The ALS Association.

RTI evaluated the Association's grant records and NIH funding records, data from research projects funded through Ice Bucket funding and surveys of ALS researchers worldwide to understand the impact of Ice Bucket Challenge investments.

The Association's investment of Ice Bucket Challenge funds had a direct impact on the fight against ALS, including the discovery of five new genes connected to ALS. Researchers used their funding for new clinical trials to test potential treatments, and the Association's clinical network saw a 50 percent expansion, RTI found.

The ALS Association committed nearly $90 million around the world in research funding between 2014 and 2018, including $81.2 million across 275 research grants in the United States and an additional $8.5 million internationally.

The Association also used Ice Bucket Challenge money to invest in more researchers, expanding the network of scientists working to develop treatments and a cure. From 2014 to 2018, The ALS Association awarded 322 grants to 237 different scientists for ALS research, RTI reported.

Both the size and density of the Association's network of scientists increased from 2014 to 2018, as researchers around the world found new ways to work together and share resources. Collaborations increased from 71 grantees forming 229 unique co-author pairs in 2014 to 96 grantees forming 471 unique co-author pairs in 2018.

The increase in the number of awards and collaboration among researchers helped foster the spread of knowledge about the disease, as represented by an increase in ALS research papers published in peer-reviewed journals, RTI reported.

"Since the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, researchers funded by the Association collectively increased their scientific output by 20 percent, measured by the annual count of published journal articles authored by at least one grantee," said Sarah Parvanta of RTI. "This number is expected to increase once all published articles from 2018 have been catalogued in bibliographic databases. The number of peer-reviewed articles acknowledging the support of The ALS Association more than doubled since the Challenge."

"The Ice Bucket Challenge has been transformative in the field of ALS genomics. We built one of the largest resources of ALS whole genome-sequencing data. This resource has been shared with partners all over the world. It has accelerated the pace of ALS gene discovery and has led to the largest ALS sequencing study in the United States" said Hemali Phatnani, director of the Center for Genomics of Neurodegenerative Disease at the New York Genome Center.

"We need lots of people working together, and we need these tools and these resources to be available quickly and broadly," Phatnani added.

According to RTI, the Association and the researchers it funds have also effectively leveraged Ice Bucket Challenge donations to increase funding of ALS-related research from the NIH, the world's largest funder of research. Since the Challenge, NIH has invested $415.9 million in researchers funded by the Association, including $208.6 million in follow-on funding.

Since the Ice Bucket Challenge, The ALS Association also expanded its network of clinical providers from 100 Certified Treatment Centers of Excellence, Recognized Treatment Centers, and Affiliated Clinics in 2014 to 156 today.

"The expansion of our clinical network means more people with ALS receive better care than they received before the Ice Bucket Challenge, and our network continues to grow. In fact, our network of multidisciplinary clinics - the Certified Centers of Excellence and Recognized Treatment Centers - has nearly doubled in the last five years," said Dr. Neil Thakur, executive vice president of mission strategy for The ALS Association.

RTI reached out directly to researchers who received support from The ALS Association to ask about the impact of Ice Bucket Challenge resources. They reported that 84 percent of respondents said support from the Association since the Challenge accelerated their work quite a bit or very much, while 72 percent of respondents said funding from the Association improved their ability to receive additional funding.

"Thank you to every single person who took the Challenge five years ago. All of you are stakeholders in the progress we have made and investors in the successes of the future, not just in ALS but in all diseases," Balas said.

Click here to download the full report.

About ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that afflicts approximately 16,000 people in the United States and a comparable number of patients in Europe. Approximately 5,000 new cases of ALS are diagnosed each year in the United States. The average life expectancy of an ALS patient is approximately two to five years after diagnosis and only approximately 10 percent of patients survive for more than 10 years. Death is usually due to respiratory failure because of diminished strength in the skeletal muscles responsible for breathing. Few treatment options exist for these patients, resulting in a high unmet need for new therapies to address functional deficits and disease progression.

About The ALS Association
The ALS Association is the largest private funder of ALS research in the world. The Association funds global research collaborations, provides assistance for people with ALS and their families through our nationwide network of chapters and certified clinical care centers, and advocates for better public policies for people with ALS. The ALS Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while urgently searching for new treatments and a cure. For more information about The ALS Association, visit our website at www.als.org.

About RTI International
RTI International is an independent, nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach - one that integrates expertise across the social and laboratory sciences, engineering, and international development. We believe in the promise of science, and we are inspired every day to deliver on that promise for the good of people, communities, and businesses around the world. For more information, visit https://www.rti.org.

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Ice Bucket Challenge dramatically accelerated the fight against ALS

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An independent research organization reported that donations from the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to increase its annual funding for research around the world by 187 percent. During this time, ALS researchers made scientific advances, care for people living with ALS expanded and investment in disease research from the federal government grew.

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Many negative impacts have been directly connected to social media and the entertainment industry. Some of these impacts include impact on sleep, mental health and even suicide.

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Underlying problems may make some young people particularly vulnerable to what they find on social media, an expert says.

Credit... iStock

There has been a lot of worry about adolescents and social media over the past couple of weeks, with new studies and reports raising questions about mental health and vulnerability, sleep and suicide. I recently wrote about the question of whether the word "addiction" is helpful in understanding our worries about adolescents and their relationships to the devices that connect them to their friends and their world.

In mid-May, a report in JAMA looked at suicide rates among those aged 10 to 19 over the period from 1975 to 2016; boys have traditionally had higher suicide rates, but the gap has narrowed as rates rose among adolescent girls, with the largest percentage increases among girls aged 10 to 14. The study was accompanied by an editorial calling the role of social media use among adolescents "an urgent public health issue that merits further investigation."

Another study, just published in JAMA Psychiatry, showed a suicide bump among 10- to 19-year-olds (both boys and girls, but a larger increase in girls) at the time of the release of the Netflix series "13 Reasons Why"; the study shows association, not causation, but raises the question of "media contagion" - that is, the possibility that the show and the intense discussion of it on social media may have led to some imitative behavior, and cites "the need for safer and more thoughtful portrayal of suicide in the media."

Dr. Michael Rich, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children's Hospital, cautioned against the impulse to look for binary answers to complex problems by drawing too-simple connections between social media and suicide, or video games and violence.

"What we need to do is look at the whole picture around these young people; we need to look at how kids and how we all are using social media," he said.

Children may use interactive media in problematic or dangerous ways because of underlying problems, or they may be particularly vulnerable to what they find on social media. And even while the specific links between social media use and mental health (in both directions) are debated, and researchers try to elucidate the connections and the risks, there is a general acknowledgment that the emotional landscape of the next generation is increasingly tied to those online connections, for better and for worse.

"The technology isn't the problem, we're the problem," Dr. Rich said. "It's the interactivity that draws some kids in." At Boston Children's Hospital's Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders, he said, they are seeing four manifestations of what they call problematic interactive media use, including gaming (mostly boys), and social media (mostly girls). And then there is pornography, "which is touching kids younger and more profoundly than anyone imagines," he said. And finally there is "information bingeing," with kids "disappearing down a rabbit warren of hot links."

What these different problematic behaviors have in common, Dr. Rich said, is that many of the children involved had underlying issues to start with, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, social anxiety or depression. He and his colleagues are coming to believe, he said, that the problematic use of interactive media "is not a diagnosis at all, but is a syndrome of these other already established psychiatric disorders."

And when kids get treatment for that underlying problem, he said, "We often find these behaviors disappear or get much more manageable."

Dr. Ana Radovic, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, an adolescent medicine specialist who does research in mental health services, said that only about a third of teenagers with depression get treatment, and it can take a long time.

At a clinic that serves teenagers who are severely depressed or suicidal, she began doing interviews about how they were using social media, and found she was hearing both positive and negative stories. "For example, there was one teen who shared with me that she enjoyed following a band that she liked on Instagram, and it made her feel better," Dr. Radovic said. "And then all of a sudden she saw a picture of the band member self-harming and cutting her arm."

Other adolescents talked about finding help through online groups - perhaps they found support through L.G.B.T.Q. sites which they didn't find at home with their families - or about being talked out of suicidal thoughts on Reddit. "It's a balancing act for some of these teens, finding help and support online but not being able to filter out the negative things," Dr. Radovic said.

And a great deal of that balancing act may have to do with how teenagers are feeling before they go on social media, which then affects what they do on their devices, as well as how they react. Kids who are already feeling depressed have a negative cognitive bias, which affects how they interpret what happens on social media, Dr. Radovic said: "It's a complex relationship, where you start off, what happens to you online, how you interpret what happens to you."

"Teens are really driven by their peers, really rewarded by peer interactions," Dr. Radovic said. "They're exploring their identity, being creative, and sharing things that they've done, but it's difficult for them to filter out the negative," she said, and even more so when they are already vulnerable.

There are changes that tech companies could make in how social media works, Dr. Radovic said, which might reduce some of those negatives and change the online experience. For example, Instagram is looking at doing away with "likes" in a pilot program in Canada, to reduce social pressure and comparisons. There are ways to make things safer, she said, and even helpful; social media could play a part in the "safety plans" that teenagers make to handle suicidal feelings, if they come.

On the other hand, Dr. Radovic said, "there's more and more evidence about sleep and suicidality," with poor sleep a risk factor. And a new report from Common Sense Media emphasizes the ways that mobile devices have invaded our bedrooms, with both teenagers and their parents reporting waking up to check their devices, and using them right before falling asleep - and first thing on waking up.

The ways we use our devices, and the ways our children use their devices reflect who we are and how we're doing, but they also reflect the power of the technology. Dr. Radovic asked, "Can we change how people are using their social media so they're not multitasking constantly, not having it keep them up?" Can we help teenagers filter their online experience to stay away from negative exposure? Or even help them figure out how to use social media to get help when they need it?

"We have sort of checked out of parenting in the digital domain and had them do their own thing both because we felt completely inept next to them, but also because they said, 'this is my space, not yours,'" Dr. Rich said.

"They need us in that space - we draw an artificial distinction between online and offline, real world and virtual world," while for them it is a seamless reality, he said. "We need to parent them in that space."

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When Social Media Is Really Problematic for Adolescents (Published 2019)

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Underlying problems may make some young people particularly vulnerable to what they find on social media, an expert says. There has been a lot of worry about adolescents and social media over the past couple of weeks, with new studies and reports raising questions about mental health and vulnerability, sleep and suicide.

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The article has examples of what employers may look for in your social media, and how it could affect your work life.

https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/these-social-media-mistakes-can-actually-disqualify-you-from-a-job

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This article talks about 15 times social media was used to find missing people, thereby reuniting them with their family.

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As of 2016, there were over 88,000 missing person cases in the United States alone, with almost 40% of those being children under the age of 18. But, the digital age we live in has tremendously helped locate missing persons compared to a decade or so ago. Before, families relied on newspapers, television news, and flyers to locate missing family members. Now, social media can spread the news of a missing person in seconds - literally.

Missing children can really tug on the heartstrings of everyone. It's no wonder, then, that when social media users see a post about a missing child, they're likely to share it to help the child get reunited with their family as fast as possible. It's easy to picture themselves in the same situation, frantically searching for their own children and hoping everyone they know simply shares a photo to help bring a child back home.

With 81% of the United States population currently using social media, there's a good chance that someone will recognize a missing child from pictures he or she has seen on social media. So, continue to share away. Make them go viral. These cases are proof that social media can help bring little loved ones home.

15 Searching For Clues

In September 2016, 15-year-old Arthur Heeler-Frood disappeared from his home in the UK. His parents' only clue was a letter he left them, saying that he was bored with his life, he'd return within a year, and to please not search for him. It was clear that Heeler-Frood wanted to leave on his own terms and didn't want anyone to find him.

But, that certainly didn't settle well with his parents. They enlisted the help of police, who were able to help his parents gain access to his Facebook account to search for clues as to where he could be. Family and friends also shared about his disappearance on their Facebook profiles, leading to Heeler-Frood returning home on his own once he saw how frantic everyone was over his disappearance.

14 Do-Gooder Quarterback

In one of the most recent social media success stories, Oakland Raiders' quarterback, Derek Carr, is credited with helping to locate a missing toddler on Amber Alert. The 3-year-old went missing in Oakland, California in January, and his case was quickly picked up by the Oakland police department, who issued an Amber Alert for fear of the child's safety. After the department tweeted about the missing child, Carr sent out a retweet to his 277,000 followers.

One of Carr's followers saw a vehicle matching the description in the Amber Alert and swiftly called the police department, leading to the missing toddler, who was found with a family friend. The Oakland police department credited Carr and personally thanked him via Twitter for helping to quickly find the child and return him home safely.

13 Toddler Rescue

Lana Lowther, 2 years old, went missing from her home on a cold, snowy night in February 2016. Friends and family immediately shared her photo and story on Facebook and it quickly went viral. A stranger, Andrew Tornabene, shared the post to his own profile that night, but he had no idea he'd soon meet the little girl himself.

Around 1 a.m., he left his sister's home and saw the little girl wandering alone in her pajamas. He stopped his car and ran to the girl, who immediately put her hands up to be held, almost as if she knew Tornabene was rescuing her. Tornabene said that Lowther relaxed as soon as she sat in the car. He called 911 and rescuers quickly responded to get the girl home safely and make sure she had no health issues resulting from the incident.

12 Found In Translation

16-year-old Faisal Fri went missing in Saudi Arabia in 2011. The family posted a tweet about his disappearance, and it quickly picked up speed on Twitter, even resulting in its own hashtag: #faisalDH. But, when a Twitter user decided to translate the original tweet to English, it quickly ran rampant through Twitter, even making it to one of the Top Tweet positions. What's truly remarkable is that this user, @Modhayan, only had about 300 followers. But, because of retweets and mentions, it quickly outranked other tweets and got tons of Twitter eyeballs on it.

That tweet is what eventually led to the teen being found in only three hours. The link contained information to contact the child's father, and a Twitter user was able to contact him with information about his son. One Twitter user who retweeted the information said, "[this] proves to me that Twitter can do it all." Indeed!

11 Home Intruder

A woman from New Zealand had read about a missing toddler on Facebook. The boy was only 18 months old and had disappeared from his family's home in the early hours of the morning in December 2016. It appeared that the boy had either been taken or escaped from a window in their home. His dad immediately put a post on Facebook with a photo of his son and he and the mother went to search for the boy.

The woman had just finished reading the post on Facebook when her daughter alerted her that she found a young boy in their home. The woman went to see the boy and, sure enough, it was the missing child from Facebook. The toddler was safely returned to his family within just a few hours of him going missing.

10 Twitter Bands Together For A Teen

It's truly amazing what can happen through social media when an Amber Alert gets posted. Case in point: the story of a 14-year-old girl named Jennifer Frisina, who went missing from her Denver home in 2009. A reporter for the local newspaper continuously reported on the girl on the website and her social media channels, eventually leading to the girl's safe return home only four days later.

The girl's family and friends began retweeting and sharing Facebook posts hoping to find someone who knew something about her disappearance. Soon, Frisina's photos and story were being shared all over social media by people around the country. Twitter was especially helpful in this case, after big-name Twitter accounts with thousands of followers began sharing a tweet about the Amber Alert first posted by the sheriff's department.

9 Three-Hour Miracle

A Massachusetts Amber Alert ended in only three hours, thanks to the power of social media. In February 2010, 1-year-old Jaylin was kidnapped at a gas station just before 1 pm. Her mother went into the gas station for a moment, and when she returned, Jaylin was nowhere to be found. Her mom immediately contacted police, who issued an Amber Alert for Jaylin.

The Amber Alert quickly spread on Facebook, including photos of the child and information on who they believed to have taken Jaylin: the mom's half-sister. Right around 4 pm, a utility worker found Jaylin alone in a parking lot next to her car seat. He had seen the Amber Alert on Facebook and immediately called police to let them know he found the missing child. Her aunt was eventually charged with kidnapping.

8 Happy Ending For Missing Kids

In November 2011, 13-year-old Allie Loftis ran away from home, leaving zero clues of her whereabouts. Her father, Tony, spread the news of her disappearance on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, in the hope that someone would know something about where she was and if she was safe.

Allie was returned home safely just a few days later after her photos and story spread on social media. She ended up in the hands of a sexual predator and was found before any harm came to her. Tony has since launched Find Your Missing Child, an organization that employs the help of social media to quickly find missing children all over the country. Loftis encourages other parents to use the power of social media in these types of emergency situations and credits it for saving his daughter.

7 The Sister Kidnapper

In 2015, John Truong's sister dropped off her boyfriend's son at his home for what was supposed to be a couple of hours one evening. Truong thought nothing of it, especially since he had met the boy before and didn't suspect his own sister of foul play.

But, Truong's sister didn't come back that night to get him and, the next morning, he got an Amber Alert message through Facebook about a missing child who matched the description of the boy he was watching. He immediately called the police. They found that Truong's sister and her boyfriend were responsible for tying up the boy's mother and kidnapping the boy, all unbeknownst to Truong.

Fortunately, the mom was able to escape and notify the police of what happened, prompting the Amber Alert and its Facebook shares.

6 Teacher Troubles

In one of the most recent child abduction cases, teacher Tad Cummins took off with his 15-year-old student, Elizabeth Thomas, and led police on a wild goose chase across the country. The case immediately took hold of social media channels, with news stories, photos, and leads getting posted all over Facebook and Twitter. Almost everyone in the United States knew what the pair looked like thanks to social media.

They were found about 5 weeks later in California thanks to tips from worried people who continued to alert the police with any information or leads. One caller was able to provide a description of the vehicle that matched the description of Cummins' vehicle in the Amber Alerts spread on social media, ultimately leading to his and Elizabeth's capture in an isolated cabin.

5 Facebook Search Success

This is one amazing story! A father kidnaps both of his children, a son and daughter, from the family home in 1995. The mother consistently works with police to try to find them over the years, but has no luck finding a trace of them. All she knows for sure is that their father has them.

In 2010, the mother decided to search her children's names on Facebook. To her surprise, she was able to locate her daughter. She exchanged messages with her, but the girl had been told bad things about her mother by her father and didn't want to continue speaking. She then deleted her profile. But, mom alerted police with the information she found through Facebook and both children were found safe 15 years later. They were 17 and 16 years old when they got to reunite with their mother.

4 Fame And The Facebook Post

It's awesome when celebrities join in to help people find people's missing children. They have incredible social media presence that can get the word out in no time! Nicholas Cage decided to help a man find his missing 15-year-old step-daughter in 2015 when the man found out Cage was in the area filming his latest movie.

The photo quickly spread on social media and the girl was returned home safely after less than a month. She was kidnapped by a man she met through the Kik app, who held her against her will until she was found. The step-father believes that the viral photo with Nicholas Cage certainly played a role in the girl's rescue. In this case, the police department also used subpoenaed information from the girl's Facebook account to gain new leads to her whereabouts.

3 Happy Reunion

Lorena Perez hasn't seen her son, Isaiah, in over 5 years after his father abducted him from their home when he was just a baby. Unfortunately, no custody orders were in place so she couldn't file kidnapping charges. Since then, Lorena and her friends and family had never stopped working to get her baby home, posting his photos and story on their Facebook profiles and on missing children Facebook pages.

In 2010, one woman had seen the boy's photo on a Facebook page for missing kids. She dated the boy's father for a period of time and immediately recognized the little boy in the photos. She called police and made them aware of the father's location, helping mother and son reunite after a long 5 years. Lorena completely credits Facebook for helping to find her little boy.

2 Sherriff Shares

It's great that more law enforcement departments are jumping on board the social media wagon because it gets more eyeballs on missing child cases, which often have sensitive time periods before things can really go wrong. In 2016, a local sheriff's office posted a Facebook message urging people in the area to keep an eye out for the three young daughters of a man who believed their mother and her boyfriend took.

Within a day, the sherriff's office post was shared over 1200 times, and law enforcement was able to find the missing girls the next morning, thanks to leads they got from the Facebook post. The mother's vehicle information had also been included, and several people had spotted the vehicle based on the post and were able to alert police.

1 A Viral Plea

In July 2016, Nice, France was the subject of a terror attack when a man drove a van through a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day, killing nearly 100 people and injuring many more. A young baby boy went missing in the attack, and a friend of his mother's took to Facebook to seek help from other social media users in locating him.

She posted the above message, which spread rapidly among her friends and strangers. Merely two hours after the post went live, the friend received word that the baby had been taken in by a woman who found him after the attack was over. The baby was reunited with his mother only a few days later, and the original poster updated her post to let everyone know he was safe and sound, thanks to them.

Sources: ABCNews.go.com, AOL.com, CNN.com, DaytonDailyNews.com, HuffingtonPost.com, Mashable.com, NBCConnecticut.com, TheGuardian.co.uk, Twitter.com
About The Author

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15 Crazy Times Social Media Saved These Missing Kids

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As of 2016, there were over 88,000 missing person cases in the United States alone, with almost 40% of those being children under the age of 18. But, the digital age we live in has tremendously helped locate missing persons compared to a decade or so ago.

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Social Media can be used positively & it provides connections, as well as educating people.

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Social media has changed the way we communicate today. It's in our best interest to be informed about all of the new possibilities to manage our online reputation. The lines between professional and personal are blurring online and many times, we refer to our online presence as our "Personal Brand." Your Personal Brand can be both the personal and professional "YOU."

Here are five benefits of using social media:

1. Build relationships.

Social media is not just about brands connecting with their customers. In fact, at its root, social media is about connecting people to people. If you've attended a Social Shift training session I've led, chances are you've heard that almost every single friend I have in San Francisco, I met through social media.

From a professional perspective, you can grow your professional network online tremendously by connecting with colleagues, mentors, role models and other professionals. If you nurture those relationships, you have a whole new network to tap when you're looking for opportunities or professional guidance.

2. Share your expertise.

Social media gives you an opportunity to talk about what you know and what you want to be known for. Sharing your expertise will attract potential professional and personal connections. Learn how to present your professional experience, achievements and results and you will get more and more opportunities to connect with like-minded people.

If you share content on topics that you know much about, you can begin to build credibility. This doesn't only go for your online presence. If you live your personal brand and your actions reflect your online presence, it validates that you can be trusted and those relationships you are building will be that much more authentic and valuable.

3. Increase your visibility.

If you spend time honing in on your expertise, consistently managing your social channels, then you have the potential to greatly increase your visibility and even become a thought-leader in your space. Good content gets shared, so if you are consistently posting quality content, the more people who share it, the more people see it.

It's not just about pushing content, however. You also need to be engaging with other people's content. Following people and interacting with them on social media will work to build relationships (we keep coming back to this one!) and will help to get your name out there for people to turn to.

4. Educate yourself.

There is a lot of noise on the Internet. Social media allows you to hone in on what you really care about and what you really want to read. You can create lists that curate content from your favorite people, thought leaders in the space, or media outlets. You can easily learn about current events and things taking place near you.

5. Connect anytime

I know to some of you this may sound like a disadvantage. But, the advantage of being able to communicate and connect with anyone instantly outweighs the potential negative.

Social media can help you connect before, during and after networking events, a conference or a meeting. People can get to know you prior to meeting you and be better equipped to talk in person. I know I've met people in person for the first time after following them online for a while and we felt like long lost friends!

Social media is a land of new opportunity. There are countless personal and professional benefits of using social media. With a little love and care, we can start to build and shape our personal brands into an epicenter of opportunity.

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Social media has changed the way we communicate today. It's in our best interest to be informed about all of the new possibilities to manage our online reputation.

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Social media is used for entertainment but it can also be helpful if the police are trying to find a suspect or a missing person. This article talks about police using the power of social media to look for missing children.

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"If a person goes missing, commands make initial notifications on social media. Then posters are made," said Zachary Tumin, deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives and leader of the NYPD's social media efforts. "As that information gets retweeted by police and the public, word spreads very quickly to be on the lookout for that missing person."

Tumin considers the NYPD's new initiative to be an uncontrolled experiment. It took time, he says, for commands to gain followership from New Yorkers they wanted to connect with. Initial followers were mainly reporters and members of police departments from around the country.

"First year results aren't in yet, but I think we've been successful. We currently have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and we have to take advantage of that going forward," he said.

The NYPD's Twitter campaign comes three years after the creation of its Facebook page, which currently has more than 380,000 likes. Tumin expects all police officers to be issued their own smartphones in the next year or two; that will help them push out information quickly.

Before social media, spreading the word about the missing was hampered by limited outreach to those in direct position to help. Amber Alerts were mainly broadcasted on television, radio and on highways. Distribution of missing posters was also limited, only displayed in communities in which the individual was last seen and or lived.

Now, organizations like National Center for Missing & Exploited Children can increase the likelihood missing children are found thanks to more immediate and full-range awareness raised on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These social media platforms have 1.2 billion, 288 million and 300 million monthly active users, respectively.

"Our social media properties allow us the ability to geo-target our missing children's posters. In doing so, we are able to reach people who may be in a direct position to help," said Ashley Iodice, spokesperson for the National Center.

In March, the non-profit ramped up video production across all its social media platforms and launched videos that feature family members of lost children. Center staffers find video posts to be more effective than those with a photo and written description of the missing child.

"We have found that video elements in the digital media space garner more viewership, which we believe will help in finding more missing children," said Iodice.

Facebook, in partnership with the center, started showing Amber Alerts on user's newsfeeds in January to further aid in searches. An alert appears if a user is in the same location as a recently abducted child. Alerts, however, are rare and most users will never see one.

Timothy Griffin, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nevada at Reno, is skeptical that using social media can enhance the life-saving effects of any missing persons system, but is hopeful he can be proven wrong.

"The constraints to the effectiveness of AMBER Alert, in my opinion, are not technological they are criminological," said Griffin. "For the system to work the abduction needs to be reported immediately and the alert sent out with similar haste. But this hardly ever happens."

Photo by Levi Sharpe

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Social Media's Role in Finding the Missing

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"If a person goes missing, commands make initial notifications on social media. Then posters are made," said Zachary Tumin, deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives and leader of the NYPD's social media efforts. "As that information gets retweeted by police and the public, word spreads very quickly to be on the lookout for that missing person."

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Starting with one post earlier this year, it has turned into a whole movement. The black lives matter movement started with one post on social media and has expanded to a global movement.

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Black Lives Matter: From social media post to global movement

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Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, grass-roots organisations, and a collective of activists.

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cyberbullying has been a topic of conversation for a pretty long time now but it is even more of an issue now because people are starting to join social media at a younger age and it is exposing them to more hate and bullying than anyone should ever have to go through.

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Advancing Equity and Innovation in Higher Education

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A concern of social media is the possibility of embarrassment. When putting something out for all to see, people could look at it a different way and criticize you for it. Maybe you post something without thinking and you could get in trouble if it is something bad.
https://www.webfx.com/internet-marketing/social-media-marketing-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

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Due to the attention racism has been receiving lately, mostly because of the George Floyd incident, many colleges have been taking back their college admissions to people who were seen posting racist things on social media.

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As Black Lives Matter protests continue across the country, at least a dozen schools have rescinded student admissions offers over racist social media posts.

Marquette University revoked an acceptance after an incoming lacrosse player trivialized George Floyd's death. One high school valedictorian lost her spot at the University of Florida after she admitted to being a "racist person" and called two Black classmates "crackwhores." And a Cornell University football recruit will have to find somewhere else to play after he was caught on video using a racial slur.

Many education officials believe rescinding college offers is a necessary consequence of such blatantly racist behavior. Others - including some Black social justice leaders - caution that schools might be missing out on an opportunity to help these young adults learn empathy and grow as human beings.
Watch TODAY All Day! Get the best news, information and inspiration from TODAY, all day long.
Kyla Brinkley, a University of Georgia graduate who said she endured racist behavior from a white sorority sister, is glad the bad apples are being weeded out.

"I think it's important that people understand that there are repercussions," Brinkley, 24, told TODAY Parents. "Even if you apologize and say you didn't mean it, it's still something you at one point believed."

Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi who spent eight years as a member of a violent skinhead group, is an example of how people can change and grow. Picciolini now helps people leave extremist groups through his organization, The Free Radicals Projects, and his book, "Breaking Hate."

"There's this cancel culture going on right now," Picciolini told TODAY Parents. "But with college, if we take away their opportunity to learn and evolve, we're kind of sentencing them to be stuck there. They need guidance. Hate is learned, so it can be unlearned."

Picciolini said he understands that schools want to keep their students safe.

"I get that," he said. "But if the student hasn't committed a violent act, are we policing thought too much without offering an opportunity to change?"

Tiffany Dena Loftin, director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, said reversing admissions offers can be a fine short-term solution, but she notes that racist posts are a symptom of larger problems that need to be addressed.

"I do think that a precedent needs to be set that it's not OK to mock George Floyd on social media or to use the N-word," Loftin told TODAY Parents. "But there are institutional problems. There are systemic problems. And I don't think that reversing college admissions gets to solving or answering any of those issues."

Loftin noted that the person behind the racist post likely will find another school to attend.

"Rescinding an offer does not fix or teach the student anything," she explained. "Until we address racism at the root, all the other things we are doing are just Band-Aids."

When Missouri State University President Clif Smart learned about racist social media posts shared by two incoming students, he said he initially wanted to rescind their offers. He eventually changed his mind. (The students chose to withdraw from the university anyway.)

"We cannot expect or require that students come to us fully formed, possessing all of the skills and characteristics that exemplify Citizen Scholars," Smart wrote in a blog post explaining his decision last month. "It is our job and our duty to help them develop these traits through education and exposure. ...

"We had planned to allow them to join our campus community in the fall, knowing that this decision would be ridiculed, questioned and second-guessed. But it was under the conditions that they participate in additional education and training."

Clay Calvert, a professor of law and journalism at the University of Florida, noted that while the First Amendment gives you the right to speak freely, it doesn't give you the right to attend a public university.

"Certainly these students are entitled to say what they want," Calvert told TODAY Parents. "(But) the right of institutional academic freedom encompasses the right of a university to choose the students that it feels are going to be best suited for joining its community of scholars."

Picciolini said that he's seen several apologies where students simply chalked the racist behavior up to being young and stupid.

"Don't defend your bad behavior. Take ownership of it and find ways to repair it," Picciolini said. "Prove it, not in your words, but in your actions. I've been doing that for 25 years."

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Should colleges revoke admissions due to racist social media posts?

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As Black Lives Matter protests continue across the country, at least a dozen schools have rescinded student admissions offers over racist social media posts. Marquette University revoked an acceptance after an incoming lacrosse player trivialized George Floyd's death.

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Recently, Tetris Holding, Inc. took down Tetra Online with a DMCA claim. Tetra Online is a game that was released just a few days ago, but unfortunately is gone now. So, in many tetris communities, I have seen people posting links to the gofundme page below to support the developer of the game, as well as generally making people aware of this event, as it is very unfortunate that Tetris decided to take it down, and many people think that it is unfair. So, social media is helping the developer of the game by trying to get it back, and even if that doesn't work, at least the developer will be able to get some money from the gofundme page and can be happier reading all the nice things people are saying about him online.

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Mine is a 16 year old from Chile who poured his heart and soul into Tetra Online since November 2019, before it was DMCA'd by the The Tetris Company a few days after its release on December 9th. This GoFundMe is to help Mine get back on his feet after pouring so many resources into his game, especially in the ways of getting a new computer to help with game development, as well as fix a power problem that his family can't afford. This would be the best Christmas gift, to help him and his family get back on his feet again.

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Support for Mine, Tetra Online Developer, organized by Moose Moose

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Mine is a 16 year old from Chile who poured his heart and soul into Tetra Online since November 2019, before it was DMCA'd by the The Tetris Company a few days after its release on December 9th.

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This article is about how marketers use social media to increase their business exposure. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram help brands become more popular and well known.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/331004

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This article is about the disadvantages of social media. For example, they talk about how kids have a lack of face-to-face communication , emotional connection, etc. 

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This article is about the disadvantages of social media. For example, they talk about how kids have a lack of face-to-face communication , emotional connection, etc.

https://www.rootsofaction.com/disadvantages-of-social-networking/

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Most companies these days use social media as a way to advertise for their company. The article contains multiple examples of how a company could get into legal trouble by using social media, such as leaking confidential information or illegally using copyrighted work.

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Nearly 2/3 of people who use social media use it for the purpose of staying in touch with family or friends. Some also use social media to reconnect with old friends.

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Roughly two-thirds (67%) of social media users say that staying in touch with current friends and family members is a major reason they use these social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn.