Is social media addiction a real thing? Experts say yes, and they are seeing more and more people suffering from it.

The number of likes on Instagram. The comments you get on your Facebook post. If it seems, you can't get away from social media. You could have a problem.

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This summer, the American Civil Liberties Union of California requested records from 63 police departments, sheriffs and district attorneys across California. Of the records they received, 40 percent of the agencies (20) used social media surveillance tools, and most of them started using them within the last year.

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RSS offers an efficient way to stay in the know, but the right newsreader can make a big difference. Here are five outstanding Android apps that should do the trick.

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Most people in the tech industry, as well as avid consumers, marketers, and business owners, are always on the lookout for the next big thing.

In the social media world, we have seen a ton of developments over the past decade or so. Apps have become more friendly to mobile devices than desktops, content has become more visual and more immediate, and borderline gimmicky apps have risen to almost inexplicable heights of popularity.

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Looking for a job for the first time in over a decade can be a lot like trying to date again after getting divorced from a long marriage. You can try to do it the same way you did when you were much younger, but you would have much more success using social media to find the right match. If you are not sure where to start, this list will introduce you to how each major social media channel can help build your personal brand online and network like an all-star.

According to a 2016 survey by CareerBuilder, 59 percent of hiring managers use search engines to research job candidates. If you have no presence online, you will be perceived as being out of touch.

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Ladies, gentlemen and all overly anxious Jewish mothers, I recently had a date that was NOT set up via a dating app. Hey, you have to start somewhere, right? Even better, it was a great date.

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Social media monitoring services such as Geofeedia rely on bulk data access to be able to search far larger volumes of social media posts, and more efficiently, than the average user.

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Since January, more than 200,000 posts per month on Instagram, a picture-sharing app owned by Facebook, have been tagged with #ad,  #sp or #sponsored, according to Captiv8, an analytics platform that connects brands to social media influencers. Hiring such influencers allows companies to reach a vast network of potential customers: Mr Ronaldo has a combined following of 240m people across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Threats to humiliate an intimate partner by sharing explicit photos or video is an old problem with a new digital twist, a new study finds.

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A Chicago company has marketed a tool using text, photos and videos gleaned from major social media companies to aid law enforcement surveillance of protesters, civil liberties activists say.

The company, called Geofeedia, used data from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as nine other social media networks, to let users search for social media content in a specific location, as opposed to searching by words or hashtags that would be less likely to reveal an exact location.

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Many information junkies keep up with their favorite Web sites by subscribing to their RSS feeds, pulling the latest updates from those sites into a central location for efficient perusal.

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Twitterfeed is Going Away – Dlvr.it is Here to Stay. Now that I got that out, lets talk about social media automation and RSS feeds. Keeping social media accounts active is one of the most important components of having success with social media.

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Parents have plenty of reasons to worry about what their kids do online.

Dangers seem to lurk in every corner of connected life, especially for children. Remember that federal regulation prohibits children under the age of 13 from joining most social networking sites. Even so, more than 20,000 kids try to sneak their way onto Facebook — with or without their parents help — every single day.

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Social media nurturing has to be a requirement for all businesses. Businesses have turned social media automation into something that seems to resemble broadcast radio by posting large volumes of tweets and updates occurs fast with automation tools. Now imagine every business, regardless of their industry, doing the exact same thing.

Automated postings have inundated social communities to a point that no one is listening anymore.

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Newsletters are not all bad, but getting them in your email can be a bit disruptive. RSS is a good place for them because you are used to a seeing lot of content in that kind of feed and you can look back on it whenever you want. Kill the Newsletter creates a fake email address for you, then creates a RSS feed for any newsletter you send to that email address. It is a super easy to use system that works really well for anyone still holding onto RSS.

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To get started with Feed Hawk, you need to subscribe to one of the RSS feed services listed above. Next, sign into your feed service in Feed Hawk

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The risks are significant for listed companies, in particular, and blowback can be hard when you get it wrong.

At a minimum, CEOs should be having an ongoing dialogue with their Chief Communications Officers and marketing leaders about social media and how it’s being leveraged by their firms.

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Until recently, social media platforms have needed to build and remain inside their walled gardens to avoid sharing their competitive intelligence.

However, Facebooks recent announcement that it would collaborate with third parties to verify its viewing metrics signifies the inevitable and long-awaited validation phase of social media.

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Lets travel back to a simpler time, shall we? It’s November 6, 2007, and Facebook has just launched something called Pages. Now, companies can have an official presence on the network, just like real people! The first day, 100,000 Pages launch, with brands from Coca-Cola to Verizon and Blockbuster getting onboard. In the years afterward, millions of companies raced to build up audiences they can reach directly and on-demand, through the sheer magic of social media.

Fast-forward to the waning months of 2016, and the magic is a little harder to feel. Certain corners of the social world have become uglier places, with some in the business world calling for a draw-down.

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The US government has begun requesting foreign travelers to submit their social media information to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) before traveling into the country. The practice is claimed to be part of broader efforts to identify potential terrorist threats.

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Predicting the future is hardly a precise science, but identifying macro trends and developments can be done by paying close attention to what is happening in an industry. Here is what a handful of small businesses, startups and analysts are seeing in their crystal balls.

1. We will hear more about how autonomous cars connect to the network.
2. Funding will skew toward artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). And most of it will be a bust.
3. Mobile will continue to rise as the primary shopping platform.

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As we wind down the year and look back on 2016, we find that social media is on everyones lips–but perhaps for different reasons than we social media marketers would imagine or prefer. The discussion happening around social media at the end of the year is about responsibility and control.

The outcomes of the EU Referendum in Great Britain and the American presidential election were no doubt influenced to a greater or lesser degree by social media, from President-elect Donald Trump’s insistence on using Twitter as an unfiltered direct communication channel with his followers and critics, to the soul-searching happening in some quarters about the role social media played in serving up news stories to the American electorate.

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1. Avoid use of headlines and writing of tweets that misrepresent and/or oversimplify the content of linked-to articles. Headlines matter as they frame the stories for users.

2. Call racism racism.

3. Call sexism sexism.

4. Call terrorism terrorism, and be consistent in the use of the term regardless of the ethnicity, religion, national origin and ideological motivation(s) of the perpetrator(s).

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Teens spend more time in front of screens than they do sleeping.

According to a 2015 report by Common Sense Media, teens spend upwards of 9 hours a day consuming media on screens. And while the National Sleep Foundation recommends that teenagers get a 9 and 1/2 hours of sleep each night, the average American teenager sleeps around 7 hours each day.

A lack of proper sleep has been connected with reduced cognitive functions and lower academic performance. Teens may be tired because instead of sleeping soundly they are sleeping with their smartphones.

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In 2006, I set out to brand myself. I had an idea that I shared with the owner of the small company at which I was employed. I called it Publish or Perish, and despite the lack of originality, the idea was simple, but purposeful: We needed to elevate the name recognition of our company -- quickly.

The company had made a fortune working with a niche client, but unwisely, it chose to fly under the competitions radar. In other words, it did the opposite of marketing for fear that if competitors knew how much money it was making from this niche client, it would face stiffer competition.

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Writing a blog can be a rewarding way to reach out to your audience, and share your thoughts and knowledge on issues that are relevant to them. When used correctly, your blog posts can increase traffic to your website, and ultimately result in customer conversions.

Of course, this all depends on your ability to get new people interested in your blog each day. If you can do this, your success is all but guaranteed.

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Social media can be a great way to promote your MIT department, lab, center (DLC), or group and to engage with your audience. For those who are new to it, though, running multiple sites for outreach can be daunting. Jenny Fowler, the manager of social media strategy in MITs Communications Initiatives, shares some tips for those starting to build a social media presence.

Which platform?
The most popular platforms are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with Snapchat on the rise. Fowler recommends Facebook for those new to social media.

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With social media substituting real-life communication, one-third of people communicate less face-to-face with their loved ones, a key factor for damaging relationships, a study has found.

The findings showed that a significant third of people communicate less with their parents (31 per cent), children (33 per cent), partners (23 per cent) and friends (35 per cent) because they can see and communicate with them via social media.

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Chances are if you are in sales, social media is already a prominent part of your personal life. And now, thanks to social selling, it is hopefully a big part of your professional life as well. Incorporating social media into the workplace has brought many opportunities, but also many questions. You may be wondering how to best navigate social networks with your sales prospecting goals in mind.

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Chances are if you are in sales, social media is already a prominent part of your personal life. And now, thanks to social selling, it is hopefully a big part of your professional life as well. Incorporating social media into the workplace has brought many opportunities, but also many questions. You may be wondering how to best navigate social networks with your sales prospecting goals in mind.

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Dlvr.it is Here to Stay. Now that I got that out, lets talk about social media automation and RSS feeds. Keeping social media accounts active is one of the most important components of having success with social media. With that in mind, I am going to introduce you to a great RSS feeding tool called dlvr.it. Dlvr.it is used to RSS feed posts to your social media accounts.

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Not familiar with RSS feeds? It is where you compile all of your favorite internet content into one feed, so you do not have to individually be keeping up with health-exercise websites, food blogs, travel diaries, and so on. When you sign up for an RSS feed reader, all those things are in one place.

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Displaying your social media network activity on your website can have tremendous advantages. It shows your readers that you are an active participant in your niche and helps you establish yourself as a thought leader. The best part is that displaying your activity is fast and easy in WordPress.

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The internet is a big place, to say the least. With more than a billion existing pages and thousands more being created each day, there is a wealth of great sites offering fantastic content free of charge. But with such a massive torrent of media being produced each and every day, it can often be tough to keep up with all your favorite websites. So, how do we alleviate this problem?

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In Manilla a  technology law expert casts doubt on the effectiveness of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez's proposed bill seeking to regulate social media use in the Philippines.

Under House Bill 5012, a person can be penalized for creating a social media account using someone elses identity. Alvarezs proposed measure also mandates social media networks to verify the identity of their users.

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Last week, the APA released a study finding that Americans were experiencing the first statistically significant stress increase in the surveys 10-year history. In January, 57 percent of respondents of all political stripes said the U.S. political climate was a very or somewhat significant source of stress, up from 52 percent who said the same thing in August.

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Struggling to edit an RSS Feed? Our advice use FeedForAll for creating and editing existing RSS feeds.

If you have ever bought an item that a celebrity recommended on Twitter or been persuaded by a discussion with a Facebook friend, you know that social media can impact your behavior and opinions. But you might be surprised to know that there is a science behind social media interactions.

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Anyone who has invested time managing and growing a social media following knows that it can turn into a time vacuum. Open up Instagram and suddenly you find yourself scrolling through beautiful photos from your friends excursion to Iceland. Those ponies are so photogenic with their manes blowing in the icy wind! Logging in, posting and getting out without being distracted is a challenge even the most self-disciplined struggle with.

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If you are a news junkie, you probably depend on various and sundry RSS feeds—so you most likely need a handy app to curate them into a single, easy-to-use location. Fortunately, plenty of Android apps are available to handle all your RSS needs.

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What was once a world of snail mail, magazines, and newspapers is now a world of cell phones, email and social media. There is no mistaking the up rise and importance of new technology in what is now a digital age. In the past, advertising was a more simplified process. You could advertise in a newspaper or magazine, or leave flyers on someone’s doorstep or mailbox. You could buy air time for a commercial or buy space on a billboard. However, as technology grew and evolved, so did our methods of advertising.

What should I do to advertise my business?

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If millennials are the yardstick by which we measure what drives communication on social media, then it would seem that all eyes should be on social messaging platforms such as WhatsApp this year. This is the view of Dominique Pienaar, CEO of DUO Marketing & Communications, who says these platforms are becoming increasingly popular due largely to the immediacy of contact and response and are certainly preferred platforms among the millennial market when it comes to one on one, broadcast and group communication.

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Now, analysts at New Yorks University of Rochester are fighting back with an AI of their own.

The team collected about a quarter of a million unique English tweets from between Sept. 23—the first reported incident of hate-code words—and Oct. 18—a week after the second US presidential election debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

There were some interesting observations that we noted.

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Twitter is one of the foremost platforms for gaining information quickly as all the major news publications and companies are breaking news about new happening around the world on Twitter.

Scratch that, even influencers, athletes and other celebrities are constantly divulging information on Twitter and many of you might be interested in not missing out on their tweets.

And for those of you who are in a habit of maintaining an RSS reader to consume information from worldwide publications, authors and people you’re interested in hearing from, here is a tool to help you do so on Twitter.

How to Add a Twitter Feed to Your RSS Reader

Social networks are here to stay, and they are constantly evolving. Globally, more than 2.8 billion people — or 37% of the world's population — use social media, but the way those users interact with each other, and the platforms they adopt, vary widely.

Social Media Demographics

When it comes to social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, I am guarded when it comes to whom I friend or follow. I use Facebook almost exclusively to connect with friends, family or business acquaintances. I use Twitter mostly for news and commentary that's of interest to me personally.

But there is another social media site I use a lot, and that is LinkedIn. LinkedIn differs from Facebook and Twitters generalized social interactions by focusing on helping people make and maintain professional connections. LinkedIn was purchased last year by Microsoft for $26.2 billion, and has become Redmonds foray into social media.

Social Media Security

When Google Reader was discontinued four years ago, many technology experts called it the end of RSS feeds.

And it is true that for some people, social media and other aggregation tools are filling a need that feed readers for RSS, Atom, and other syndication formats once served. But old technologies never really die just because new technologies come along, particularly if the new technology does not perfectly replicate all of the use cases of the old one. The target audience for a technology might change a bit, and the tools people use to consume the technology might change, too.

5 open source RSS feed readers

Back in 1970, the technology writer Alvin Toffler published a book called Future Shock, which became an international bestseller. The book is about how humans struggle with too much technological change in too short a time—and it is all-too relevant today. Social media now dictates how people interact with friends, read the news and navigate their day-to-day existence.

What is all that doing to the human psyche?

Is Social Media Making Me Miserable?

The popular social media platforms are obvious to most people – Facebook has a UK audience of some 40 million, LinkedIn and Twitter both exceed 20 million, and Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat have close to 10 million each. The reach of these platforms makes it clear that social media is now ubiquitous. But for all the big name players, what is the definition of social media? Where did it come from? And how did it gain such an important role in our lives so quickly?

What is social media and how did it grow so quickly?

Many information junkies keep up with their favorite Web sites by subscribing to their RSS feeds, pulling the latest updates from those sites into a central location for efficient perusal.

I rely heavily on RSS to keep me abreast of the latest tech news. I am also addicted to political sites during this years bizarre presidential election, and I have tapped into a host of feeds to keep me up to date on the latest antics from the candidates.

Feed Hawk Is Useful But Not Essential for RSS Junkies