Using Twitter as a Posse Comitatus

Reading this piece about an African chief’s use of Twitter I was immediately reminded of the old English practice of hue and cry which is akin to the American posse comitatus. The parallels are not entirely exact but similar enough to be worth noting:

When an incident occurs, the victims or eyewitnesses send text messages to the chief, describing the nature of the incident, the place and the nearest known landmark. The chief then broadcasts his instructions to the community through Twitter.

While not everyone has 3G-enabled cellphones here, many just subscribe to follow Kariuki’s account through their local service providers and receive his tweets by text message.

When the chief sends out a message, in a matter of seconds the entire location goes into action as directed.

“If the chief’s message is about robbery, we come out in large numbers. As other residents move to the scene of crime, others block all escape routes, especially for carjacking and livestock thefts,” David Waweru, a village elder, says.

That old English hue and cry was something imposed by the legal system from above, this African variation is not directed by the State but by the community (although the extent to which a chief’s desires are or not the State rather than the community is of course arguable) but the effects seem similar:

In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.

By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I cc. 1 and 4, it was provided that anyone, either a constable or a private citizen, who witnessed a crime shall make hue and cry, and that the hue and cry must be kept up against the fleeing criminal from town to town and from county to county, until the felon is apprehended and delivered to the sheriff. All able-bodied men, upon hearing the shouts, were obliged to assist in the pursuit of the criminal, which makes it comparable to the posse comitatus.

I rather like the way in which something incredibly new, this Twitter thing, ends up being just a new way to do something terribly old, raise the population against those who would prey upon them.

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/02/04/using-twitter-as-a-posse-comitatus/

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Super Tweeters! Another record-breaker coming for Super Bowl 46?

INDIANAPOLIS • Attention, SB46 fans: Looking for a celebrity? Need a parking spot or a bathroom? How about a place to eat without waiting for hours? The answers could be just a tweet away.

A year after Super Bowl 45 set a record 4,064 tweets per second during the fourth quarter of the game, organizers are aiming to make this year’s game in Indianapolis the most connected Super Bowl ever.

Dozens of volunteers are stationed along downtown streets, armed with tablets and walkie-talkies that connect them to the game’s first-ever social media command center. There, volunteers mine Twitter, Facebook and other social networks for real-time news that can help fans avoid hassles that could ruin their Super Bowl experience.

More than 37,000 fans are following the host committee on Facebook and through the game’s official Twitter account, SuperBowl2012, where pleas for trash removal mingle with requests for tickets to a Lucas Oil Stadium tour. Thousands more have texted SB2012 for weather, traffic and other information.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, there’s an app for that: The NFL also has created an official “SB XLVI Guide” app for iPhone, iPad and Android phones with a 3D map of Indianapolis that includes road closures and a parking restaurants and events guide. Ticket holders can also type in their seat section and see where they’ll be sitting on game day.

Curious? Here’s a user guide to digitally exploring the Super Bowl:

WHERE’S JIMMY?

Celebrity-spotting has become a social media sport, and it’s in high gear this week in Indy. Want to know where to spot Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow or halftime performer Madonna? Search the game’s official hashtag, SB46.

• Published Feb 4, 2012 12:37:30PM 0 Comments

• Published Feb 4, 2012 01:01:07AM 0 Comments

• Published Feb 4, 2012 12:30:52AM 0 Comments

Host Jimmy Fallon, taping his “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at the Hilbert Circle Theatre this week, has used his Twitter account, jimmyfallon, to post photos of him enjoying the city, from a ride on the 800-foot-long zip line that soars above Super Bowl Village to a walk around Monument Circle, the war memorial-and-fountain adorned center of downtown, in drag. He’s given a boost to local restaurants, tweeting about the food and staff. And fans hoping to catch the show live have been checking Twitter to see how long the line is and whether standby tickets are available.

But star watchers, beware. Twitter never promised accuracy.

At one point this week, actor Ryan Gosling was seen at a downtown restaurant, somewhere in nearby suburb Zionsville or an hour away in Columbus, Ind., with Brad Pitt, all around the same time.

GET ME OUT OF THIS CAR:

Last week, a spike in complaints about not being able to find parking led to the creation of an interactive downtown parking map (http://4rd.ca/aaaDPJ), which pinpoints every garage in the area for desperate drivers. But those stuck in traffic might be served just as well to pick up their smartphones.

While driving from Bloomington with her friends Wednesday to see a taping of Fallon’s show in Indianapolis, Laura Hunsucker checked the SuperBowl2012 Twitter account for advice on the best routes.

The directions she found there took her group straight to a parking garage with plenty of spaces just a few blocks from Super Bowl Village.

“I never would have thought to take that route if I hadn’t seen it on Twitter,” Hunsucker said.

Next Page »

Article source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/53444724-68/super-bowl-twitter-game.html.csp

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

IBM Says Twitter Prefers Eli

Barton Silverman/The New York TimesTwitter and Facebook have increasingly supported Eli Manning this week, according to IBM, with the positive sentiment toward the Giants quarterback outpacing that for Tom Brady.

Football players love to talk about heart and how it can’t be measured. As it currently stands, IBM may only be a few years away from having the technology to change that.

In a joint project with the University of Southern California Annenberg Innovation Lab, IBM has taken to Twitter and Facebook to analyze public sentiment heading into the Super Bowl. The goal is to quantify not only who the public is pulling for, but also why they are doing so.

On Friday, the race for positive sentiment among the game’s quarterbacks was turned on its head.

“Tom Brady was leading Eli Manning in the positive sentiment all week and then yesterday we saw this big shift,” Michael Azzi of IBM communications said. “And really, what caused that was a backlash against all the publicity that Peyton Manning has been getting. People were getting tired of hearing about Peyton Manning and saying ‘Hey, this is really Eli’s moment in the sun.’”

While the technology was developed to help companies better understand their customers, applying it to the biggest sports event of the year does result in some interesting observations.

One big surprise is that while Brady leads all players in total volume of online chatter, the two players with the highest positive sentiments, or T-Scores in IBM parlance, are wide receivers Wes Welker and Victor Cruz (70 and 68 percent positive, respectively).

While football players may appear dissimilar to companies like Abercrombie Fitch or Lowe’s, the data streams are actually similar.

“What we’ve found is that brands, whether they are human beings or companies or institutions pretty much move at the same unpredictable rates online no matter what they are,” Azzi said. “All kinds of factors can affect a brand online. It could be something that brand or person or company actually did. It could be completely out of their control.”

To that notion, Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw entered the top-10 in T-Score late this week based on the public’s belief that if the Patriots are focusing on shutting down Manning, then there could be strong opportunities for the running game.

Using key terms and phrases to try to find a pattern in a world of 800 million Facebook users and 200 million daily posts to Twitter would seem to be a massive undertaking, and figuring out who is being genuine and who is being snarky or sarcastic would also seem to be a big challenge, but IBM is confident that it has the proper filters to understand the nuance.

“You have to look at association of words, you can’t just look at a number,” Azzi said. “You look at the way terms are used and the way words interplay with one another to decipher the real emotion behind the phrase.”

The experiment with the N.F.L. is a way for the company to showcase how the technology works to potential customers.

“Our goal is the elimination of spam and unwanted marketing,” Azzi said. “It’s about people wanting to opt in to what they want and having companies be the beneficiary of that as well as the customer.”

For athletes the information offers the unique opportunity to get in front of a story. Should Manning do something the public finds unfavorable, a shift in his T-score would allow him to address the concerns immediately.

“It’s sort of like the stock market, you just don’t know why the market moves and the sentiment market is like that,” Azzi said. “That’s why we developed these tools. The key is understanding it in real-time. It doesn’t help you to understand it one or two days later. That’s too late. You can make a brand or you can break a brand in one or two days. You’ve got to understand it in the moment and be able to adjust to it.”

Article source: http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/ibm-says-twitter-prefers-eli/

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Zuckerberg May Sell $1.67B in Facebook Stock

Enlarge image

Mark Zuckerberg

Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle/Corbis

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduces new features for Facebook during the keynote at f8 in San Francisco.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduces new features for Facebook during the keynote at f8 in San Francisco. Photographer: Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle/Corbis

Mark Zuckerberg may sell about $1.67
billion of Facebook Inc. stock in the company’s initial public
offering to pay off taxes he will owe when he exercises options
to buy 120 million shares.

The social network’s chief executive officer will owe taxes
on gains related to the award of options, the Menlo Park,
California-based company said this week in its IPO prospectus.
The options were granted to Zuckerberg in 2005 and expire in
2015, and he’ll sell stock to cover liabilities, Facebook said.

“We expect that substantially all of the net proceeds Mr.
Zuckerberg will receive upon such sale will be used to satisfy
taxes that he will incur upon his exercise of an outstanding
stock option to purchase 120,000,000 shares” of common stock,
according to the filing.

Zuckerberg, 27, stands to become one of richest people in
the world with a stake in Facebook that could be worth as much
as $28.4 billion. His company, which filed on Feb. 1 to raise as
much as $5 billion in an IPO, is discussing a valuation of $75
billion to $100 billion, two people familiar with the matter
said last week.

At the high end of that range, assuming roughly 2.51
billion Facebook shares outstanding, each share may be worth
about $39.79. The awarded shares carry an exercise price of 6
cents. Assuming Zuckerberg buys all 120 million shares at that
price, his gains would total about $4.77 billion.

Zuckerberg’s tax rate will be 35 percent, said Victor Fleischer, associate professor of law at the University of
Colorado. That means his bill would be about $1.67 billion.

Larry Yu, a spokesman for Facebook, declined to comment.

The social network had a valuation of at least $94 billion,
or about $40 a share, in an auction of its shares on the private
market earlier this week.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at
dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net.
Jesse Drucker in New York at
jdrucker4@bloomberg.net
Brian Womack in San Francisco at
bwomack1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

• Tweet

• More

• Print
• Email

<!—->

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-04/zuckerberg-may-sell-1-67-billion-in-facebook-stock-to-cover-options-taxes.html

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Facebook Details Continue to Emerge Following IPO Announcement

Facebook’s coziness with Washington and the astronomical tax bill its founder could face by exercising a huge cache of stock options are some of the latest details to emerge about the social network following its IPO announcement.

Since Facebook filed papers this week stating its plans to go public, a wealth of information about Mark Zuckerberg and the company he founded in a Harvard dorm room has been made public.

Here’s a rundown of the most recent dish.

Taxes

Zuckerberg plans to exercise an estimated $5 billion worth of stock options ahead of Facebook’s IPO. According to The New York Times, that could create a tax bill of $2 billion, which is probably one of the highest ever for an individual.

In comparison, government data shows the 400 wealthiest filers paid an average of $48 million in federal income taxes in 2009. To put it into further perspective, billionaire Warren Buffett paid less than $7 million in taxes in 2010.

Political Insiders

Facebook is getting cozier than ever with Washington. That’s according to The Washington Post, which has laid out the extent to which the social network has put political veterans in key executive roles and board positions as well as created a powerful lobbying operation.

Recent hires include Marne Levine, who was chief of staff to President Barack Obama’s former chief economic adviser and appointed as head of global public policy; Theodore Ullyot, who was deputy assistant to former President George W. Bush and appointed as general counsel; and Joe Lockhart, who was former President Bill Clinton’s press secretary and appointed as Facebook’s vice president of communications.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is also a political veteran and was chief of staff for Larry Summers when he served as Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. The company’s Washington office has also grown to an estimated 22 registered lobbyists and policy experts and recently hired Chris Herndon, who was the senior Republican counsel to the Senate body that oversees the Internet industry.

Facebook will need its political heft because of investigations into privacy violations and varying international regulations that affect how the company operates outside of the United States.

Other Details

Mark ZuckerbergPCWorld‘s Ian Paul recently reported several other interesting Facebook facts that surfaced after it filed papers to go public. Raking in $1 billion in profit last year, the company will likely hit the one-billion-users mark in 2012. It also revealed that more than half of Facebook’s monthly active users visit the social network from mobile devices, and about 80 percent of Facebook’s fans are outside the U.S. and Canada.

And PCWorld editor David Daw has pointed out that if everything goes as planned, Facebook’s IPO could create between 500 to 1000 new millionaires at the company, giving seven-figure payouts to nearly one-third of its workforce.

Facebook is expected to trade on the NYSE under the symbol FB, although there’s no firm date when you can expect to buy stock in the company.

Follow Christina on Twitter and Google+ for even more tech news and commentary and follow Today@PCWorld on Twitter, too.

Article source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/249311/facebook_details_continue_to_emerge_following_ipo_announcement.html/

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

For Facebook ‘Hacker Way’ Is Way of Life

Facebook’s billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls himself a “hacker”.

For most people, that word means something malicious — shady criminals who listen in on private voicemails, or anonymous villains who cripple websites and break into email accounts.

For Facebook, though, “hacker” means something different. It’s an ideal that permeates the company’s culture. It explains the push to try new ideas (even if they fail), and to promote new products quickly (even if they’re imperfect). The hacker approach has made Facebook one of the world’s most valuable Internet companies.

Hackers “believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete,” Zuckerberg explains. “They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.”

Zuckerberg penned those words in a 479-word essay called “The Hacker Way”, which he included in the document the company filed with government regulators about its plans for an initial public offering. The company is seeking $5 billion from investors in a deal that could value Facebook at as much as $100 billion.

The 27-year-old, who has a $28.4 billion stake in the stock deal, uses the H-word 12 times in the essay; “shareholder” appears just once. Should Zuckerberg have left those references out of his IPO manifesto, knowing full-well it could scare off potential investors? He could easily have described Facebook as “nimble” or “agile” instead.

“Symbolically, it doesn’t bode well to Facebook and to potential investors,” says Robert D’Ovidio, an associate professor of criminal justice at Drexel University in Philadelphia who studies computer crime. “I think it shows maybe an immaturity on his part. He should definitely know better.”

By using the word, Zuckerberg is also trying to reclaim it. To him, Steve Jobs and the founders of many of the world’s biggest technology companies were hackers.

“The word ‘hacker’ has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers,” Zuckerberg writes. “In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done.”

To be fair, the meaning has become complicated. Bad hackers destroy things with evil intentions. They break into the voicemails of crime victims and celebrities in search of a hot news story. They breach security systems to steal credit card data. Just this week, members of the loose-knit group Anonymous hacked into law enforcement websites around the world and gained access to information about government informants and other sensitive information.

Good hackers break things, too, sometimes. But they do it in the name of innovation. They call themselves “white hat” hackers to counter the criminal “black hats.” Often, they’re hired to expose security vulnerabilities at big corporations. Kevin Mitnick, who was convicted and sent to prison in the 1990s for computer hacking, now works as a security consultant. It’s the flip side of his past life, when he spent years stealing secrets from some of the world’s largest corporations.

“I break into computers to find holes before the bad guys do,” he says.

To Mitnick, Zuckerberg’s “Hacker Way” is about finding clever ways to fix problems. It can also mean identifying a new use for something old.

Article source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/facebook-hacker-life-15513105

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

#SB46 fans take to social media to navigate Indy

INDIANAPOLIS –  Attention, SB46 fans: Looking for a celebrity? Need a parking spot or a bathroom? How about a place to eat without waiting for hours? The answers could be just a tweet away.

A year after Super Bowl 45 set a record 4,064 tweets per second during the fourth quarter of the game, organizers are aiming to make this year’s game in Indianapolis the most connected Super Bowl ever.

Dozens of volunteers are stationed along downtown streets, armed with tablets and walkie-talkies that connect them to the game’s first-ever social media command center. There, volunteers mine Twitter, Facebook and other social networks for real-time news that can help fans avoid hassles that could ruin their Super Bowl experience.

More than 37,000 fans are following the host committee on Facebook and through the game’s official Twitter account, SuperBowl2012, where pleas for trash removal mingle with requests for tickets to a Lucas Oil Stadium tour. Thousands more have texted SB2012 for weather, traffic and other information.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, there’s an app for that: The NFL also has created an official “SB XLVI Guide” app for iPhone, iPad and Android phones with a 3D map of Indianapolis that includes road closures and a parking restaurants and events guide. Ticket holders can also type in their seat section and see where they’ll be sitting on game day.

Curious? Here’s a user guide to digitally exploring the Super Bowl:

WHERE’S JIMMY?

Celebrity-spotting has become a social media sport, and it’s in high gear this week in Indy. Want to know where to spot Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow or halftime performer Madonna? Search the game’s official hashtag, SB46.

Host Jimmy Fallon, taping his “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at the Hilbert Circle Theatre this week, has used his Twitter account, jimmyfallon, to post photos of him enjoying the city, from a ride on the 800-foot-long zip line that soars above Super Bowl Village to a walk around Monument Circle, the war memorial-and-fountain adorned center of downtown, in drag. He’s given a boost to local restaurants, tweeting about the food and staff. And fans hoping to catch the show live have been checking Twitter to see how long the line is and whether standby tickets are available.

But star watchers, beware. Twitter never promised accuracy.

At one point this week, actor Ryan Gosling was seen at a downtown restaurant, somewhere in nearby suburb Zionsville or an hour away in Columbus, Ind., with Brad Pitt, all around the same time.

GET ME OUT OF THIS CAR:

Last week, a spike in complaints about not being able to find parking led to the creation of an interactive downtown parking map (http://4rd.ca/aaaDPJ), which pinpoints every garage in the area for desperate drivers. But those stuck in traffic might be served just as well to pick up their smartphones.

While driving from Bloomington with her friends Wednesday to see a taping of Fallon’s show in Indianapolis, Laura Hunsucker checked the SuperBowl2012 Twitter account for advice on the best routes.

The directions she found there took her group straight to a parking garage with plenty of spaces just a few blocks from Super Bowl Village.

“I never would have thought to take that route if I hadn’t seen it on Twitter,” Hunsucker said.

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY:

Local restaurants are participating in the host committee’s “Text Times” program. When restaurants have wait times of less than 45 minutes, they text the command center, where volunteers relay the actual wait time to street teams armed with tablets and wearing large orange Super Bowl flags to make them easy to find in crowds.

Volunteer Scott Blake sports a walkie-talkie with an earpiece that gives him a direct connection to the command center. When a visitor has a question he can’t readily answer, like where the nearest karaoke bar is, Blake can call and get an answer in minutes.

It’s also his connection to the “Text Times” program. Earlier this week, a couple stopped to ask where they could eat nearby. A quick check with the command center and they were on their way to the nearby Colts Grille, where there was no wait.

“My job is to help people with whatever they need and welcome them to downtown,” Blake said.

TALK TO THE PLAYERS:

Even the teams are getting in on the act. On Thursday, four Giants players took part in the team’s Social Media Night. Fans had a 15-minute window with each player, posting questions to Twitter with appropriate hashtags. Safety Tyler Sash fielded questions to askSash about what it was like to make the Super Bowl in his first NFL season, while tight end Jake Ballard (askBallard) was questioned about his pre-game rituals.

The Giants also chose 20 fans for a live video chat with players through Google+.

While the Patriots haven’t planned any social-media gatherings, they’re not being neglected online. Chevrolet has been tracking Twitter mentions for the two teams on its “Road to the SuperBowl” site, and the Patriots have dominated. Receiver Chad Ochocinco has been mentioned more than 100,000 times, nearly four times the mentions received by the Giants’ Victor Cruz.

____

AP journalists are tweeting from the Super Bowl, too! Follow AP_NFL, or find our individual journalists at http://apne.ws/z7jYCe -BW.

Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/02/03/sb46-fans-take-to-social-media-to-navigate-indy/

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Super Bowl advertisers go after “second screens”

Call it the “second-screen” Super Bowl.

About two-thirds of smartphone and tablet owners use their gadgets to do things like text or post on Twitter while watching TV, according to research firm Nielsen. So, for Sunday’s game, companies from Coke to Chevy are trying to reach fans on all the “second screens” they have.

Chevrolet rolled out the first Super Bowl smartphone app that allows Big Game watchers to enter a contest to win everything from pizza to a new Camaro. Kia is the first company to show its Super Bowl ad ahead of the game in movie theaters. And Coca-Cola set up a Facebook page and website so viewers can see its animated polar bears — one cheering for the New England Patriots and the other for the New York Giants — reacting to the game in real time.

“The world is changing,” says Pio Schunker, Coca-Cola’s vice president for creative excellence. “We needed to come to the party with something new and different.”

Advertisers have big incentives to stand out. With more than 111 million viewers expected to tune into the game, the Super Bowl is by far the biggest stage for marketers. It’s also not cheap — NBC is charging an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second spot. And the competition is fierce: There will be more than 70 TV ads during the Super Bowl battling for attention.

To create buzz, it no longer is enough for marketers to simply get people talking at the water cooler the morning after the game. They also want to engage the people who like reacting to big events like the Super Bowl by posting on Twitter or Facebook or texting their friends, says David Berkowitz, vice president at digital marketing agency 360i.

“People are glued to their digital devices, sometimes sharing far more that way than they are with others in the same room,” says Berkowitz, whose firm created Coke’s online Super Bowl campaign. “Being social means something very different now.”

About a dozen companies have put up their Super Bowl spots on video-sharing website YouTube this year, up from a handful last year. The amount companies have spent on sponsoring YouTube’s Ad Blitz, a site for Super Bowl ads, has doubled compared with last year although it declined to say by how much.

• Published Feb 4, 2012 12:30:52AM 0 Comments

• Published Feb 3, 2012 06:10:03PM 0 Comments

• Published Feb 3, 2012 04:50:03PM 0 Comments

And in another sign that marketers are trying to engage viewers over social media websites: USA Today’s Ad Meter, which ranks the popularity of ads, is for the first time allowing viewers to vote for their favorite spot on Facebook.

“This year, we’re seeing a whole new level of social media activity for Super Bowl advertisers,” said Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

This is the first year that advertisers have tapped into the growing number of users of iPhones and other smartphones during the Super Bowl. In its ads, domain-name hosting site Godaddy.com will feature a QR code, a black-and-white two-dimensional code that people can scan by putting their smartphones up to the TV so they can go to the company’s website. This is a first for a Super Bowl ad.

Chevy’s free smartphone app for the Super Bowl, called Chevy Game Time, allows people to enter a contest to win prizes from Chevy and other Super Bowl advertisers, including Bridgestone and Motorola. Users also will get a code. If the code matches the license plates in Chevy ads during the game, they win one of 20 cars being given away, including the Camaro, Silverado and Sonic. App users also can answer trivia questions or polls to win prizes.

Other advertisers are going after the laptop and tablet crowd. As part of Toyota’s Super Bowl campaign to showcase its “reinvented” Camry, the company is asking Twitter users to use the hashtag, or search term, “(hash)Reinvented,” to post or “Tweet” about what other kinds of products should be reinvented. Some will get a response back with an illustration of the “reinvented” product.

Volkswagen released a teaser of its 60-second Super Bowl ad on YouTube.com. The ad, which shows dogs in “Star Wars” costumes barking the “Imperial March” song, was released on the site on Jan. 18 and has 10 million views. Volkswagen also created a dedicated Super Bowl on its Facebook page.

For all their attempts to reach people on their “second screens,” Calkins, the marketing professor, says advertisers won’t know what works until Game Day.

“The question is which of the advertisers will really manage to connect on the day of the Super Bowl,” Calkins said. “It’s never entirely clear which ones are going to stand out.”

Article source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/53434218-79/bowl-super-advertisers-game.html.csp

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Aussie mothers protest against Facebook for removing breastfeeding photos

At least 375 users have been temporarily banned for posting breastfeeding photos. Picture: Facebook
Source: Supplied

ANGRY mums have organised a protest at Facebook’s Australian offices next week after the social network suspended users who had posted images of themselves breastfeeding.

bSydneysider Lucy Allen, 21, had her Facebook account deactivated for two days in July last year after she posted a photo of herself breastfeeding and pumping milk at the same time.

“Facebook didn’t actually give me a reason,” Ms Allen said. “They just said it was a breach of their terms of use.”

You be the judge. Scroll down to see the photo that was removed.

Ms Allen said that she used the image to explain to women that breastfeeding and pumping at the same time helped milk production.

“I use the photo a lot to give new mothers a visual example of how it’s done,” she said.

Ms Allen said she had since re-uploaded the photo and so far Facebook had not taken it down again.

Facebook’s terms of use state that users cannot post content that is hateful, pornographic, contains nudity or incites violence.

It also reserves the right to remove any content that infringes or violates another’s rights or the law.

The policy has led to the creation of a group, “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”, which this week alone had 257,000 supporters removed from its social networking site internationally.

Stay-at-home mum April Bevin, 24, is another joining the “Boob Out” protest set to take place at Facebook’s Sydney offices in King Street at noon on February 7.

Facebook removed Ms Bevin’s breastfeeding images late last year because they had been deemed sexually explicit and pornographic.

“It’s just really crappy,” Ms Bevin said. “Part of me was furious, another part just felt pretty upset.

“To me it’s just a normal part of my everyday life. My kid was just having lunch.

“It’s just really frustrating and upsetting and I think for a lot of other women they feel shamed.

“Here they are just doing a normal everyday thing and they’re told they’re performing sexually explicit and pornographic acts.”

So far 391 people have been recorded as having had breastfeeding photos removed by Facebook, according to website Tera.ca which was set up to collect all the images Facebook has taken down.

Of those, 375 have been temporarily banned from using Facebook – sometimes more than once.

Founder of the site, Paul Rappapport, wrote that it is likely many more people have been banned from Facebook than have actually been collected, explaining that he can only collect images of mothers who have reported the take down to him.

Facebook told news.com.au that breastfeeding photos were only ever removed after they had been brought to the social networking site’s attention by other users who report them as violations.

All photos are reviewed by Facebook before they are removed.

“Facebook is glad that mothers and their families – including many who work at Facebook – use Facebook to share their parenting experiences, including breastfeeding their children,” a spokesperson said.

“By uploading photos, joining groups, and engaging with different organisations, these families are able to share and connect on a very important topic, and we are thrilled they are using Facebook to do so.

“When it comes to uploaded photos on Facebook, the vast majority of breastfeeding photos comply with our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which closely mirrors the policy that governs broadcast television, and which places limitations on nudity due to the presence of minors on our site.

“On some occasions, breastfeeding photos contain nudity – for example an exposed breast that is not being used for feeding – and therefore violate our terms. When such photos are reported to us and are found to violate our policies, the person who posted the photo is contacted, and the photos are removed.

“Our policies strive to fit the needs of a diverse community while respecting everyone’s interest in sharing content that is important to them, including experiences related to breastfeeding. “

Article source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/facebook-bans-photos-of-breastfeeding-mothers/story-e6frfro0-1226261942485

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Playing Facebook With Puts

Facebook’s initial public stock offering will be hot. Its bearish put options probably will be hotter.

Facebook announced Wednesday that it expects to sell $5 billion worth of stock on an as yet unidentified exchange. The timing of the IPO isn’t yet known, and neither is the ultimate price. But that price is likely to be high enough to keep the total of shares offered relatively low. (For more on the offering, see “At Long Last, Facebook.”)

Thus, the stock is expected to appear immediately on Wall Street’s hard-to-borrow list, making it difficult to short and creating an options-trading opportunity.

The options action will start six days after Facebook starts trading, when industry rules will allow the initial listing of puts and calls on the shares.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, after Facebook’s stock begins trading, some investors will view it as overpriced and try to bet on its decline. With Facebook shares hard to short, they will instead buy Facebook puts, which would rise in value if the stock were to slide.

On the other hand, anyone who wants to effectively bet that Facebook’s stock will climb can sell puts, rather than buy them. This probably is the safer course.

Says a senior trader at a major market-making firm: “There’s going to be lovers. There’s going to be haters. The haters won’t be able to express their view because the float is so small. It’s probably going to be a tough borrow.”

Puts, of course, give their buyers the right to sell, or “put,” shares at a certain price to whoever sold the puts to them. A put’s value increases as the price of the associated stock falls.

If lots of investors suddenly want to buy Facebook puts, options dealers could be in trouble if they can’t short the stock to hedge those sales. To discourage heavy put buying, the dealers are likely to effectively jack up the puts’ implied volatility—the critical part of an option’s price—which means that the puts would fetch a premium price and that the stock would have to move very sharply before it overtook the puts’ implied volatility premium.

TO SET THE IMPLIED VOLATILITY of a new stock, options dealers try to determine what existing issues it most resembles.

Dealers are likely to conclude that Facebook’s stock is similar to tech stocks with relatively high volatility, like, say, a Zynga (ZNGA), a Google (GOOG) or a Salesforce.com (CRM).

Using options to trade an initial public offering, especially one that is as hyped as Facebook’s, is not for the meek or the slow. And individuals must realize that they will be placing bets at the same time that extremely sophisticated options market-making firms and their computerized pricing models are trying to determine the real value of Facebook’s stock.

But if you are willing to buy Facebook’s shares, the bet to make is to sell puts.

If the shares continue to advance, and never fall below your put’s strike price, the money received from the sale will be yours to keep. And should the stock slip below the put’s strike price, congratulations! You’ve bought the stock at a discount to what you would have paid if you had purchased it when it debuted. 

Comments:
steve.sears@barrons.com

http://twitter.com/sm_sears

Article source: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748703964504577193180256297296.html?mod=BOL_twm_mw

This day in history...


Powered By WPHistory

Next Page »