Amrit's MEST3 Exam Blog

Facebook shares dip from high as investors fret over costs, future profit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/03/facebook-shares-dip-mark-zuckerberg-ads Summary:"The world’s biggest online social network is searching for new advertising features to supplement main revenue streams that it expects to cool off this year" " Facebook  reported surging quarterly profit and revenue on Wednesday, helped by its fast-growing mobile ad business. But its shares dipped from a record high in after-hours trading as investors showed some nervousness about future earnings."  Earlier in the day, Zuckerberg said the  company would add 3,000 people  over the next year to monitor and remove images of murders, suicides and other  inappropriate material from its network , which have become a threat to Facebook’s valuable public image. Key facts/statistics: Facebook’s shares fell 2.4% in after-hours trading to $148.12. They had closed at an all-time high o...

Facebook employs ex-political aides to help campaigns target voters https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/08/facebook-political-aides-campaigns-target-voters Summary: "Roles for former Conservative and Labour figures prompt fears firm ‘whispering in ears’ of parties to aid micro-targeting of users" " The Guardian has learned Facebook’s recruits have inside knowledge of how the major parties’ general election campaigns are likely to work. They include a former Downing Street adviser to David Cameron, a former aide to Ed Balls and a social media expert who worked with the Conservatives’ election strategist Lynton Crosby." “This is where you can do the interesting stuff,” said the campaigner, who wished to remain anonymous. “You are not just advertising to them once; if they click, you know a specific person has shown an interest. You can feed that back and know who and where they are, down to the postcode. Then you can change the messaging to suit what...

You've now completed a full MEST3 PPE - vital preparation for the real thing in June. The most important aspect of any mock exam is  making mistakes and learning from them . You need to closely analyse your performance across each question and identify specific ways you will improve for the MEST3 exam in the summer. Complete the following  learner response  tasks in a new blogpost on your MEST3 Exam Blog called 'MEST3 PPE learner response': 1) Type up your  feedback  in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to). WWW: Detailed, with a wide range of examples.  EBI: You really need to improve your handwriting and Q1 lacked coverage of the full range of media language.  2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade for A2 Media? If not, how many additional marks do you need across Section A and Section B to achieve your target grade? Yes  Grade boundaries for complete paper (out of 80):...

Facebook and Google were conned out of $100m in phishing scheme https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/28/facebook-google-conned-100m-phishing-scheme   Summary: "Not even two of the biggest US technology firms are safe from fraud, as the social network and the search company named as victims of sophisticated attack"" " Last month it was reported that two major tech companies were tricked by a Lithuanian man into sending him over $100m (£77m). Evaldas Rimasauskas, 48, was  charged with wire fraud , money laundering and aggravated identity theft for impersonating Quanta Computer – a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that includes Google, Facebook and Apple as clients." " The case shows just how big an issue phishing and online fraud has become, with phishing attacks conning people and companies all over the world out of significant sums of money."  Key facts/ statistics:  The National Audit Office warned in Dece...

 How Much Would Facebook Be Worth Today If It Hadn't Bought Instagram? https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2017/04/30/how-much-would-facebook-be-worth-today-if-it-hadnt-bought-instagram/#2f582af69d77  Summary: post in regards to the anniversary Key facts/ statistics: Facebook just did an update last week that Instagram is now up to 700 million monthly active users. A little over 5 years ago, Kevin Systrom - Instagram's founder - agreed to sell his company to Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion of cash and stock. At the time of the deal, Instagram had 30 million users. I've often made the argument that Instagram was/is a generational company - is there a better poster child for a "mobile" company than them? - and that they made a huge mistake selling out to Facebook.  Flickr was yesterday's photo-sharing app. Instagram was today's. It also had all the major celebrities using it. Not only was it clear that they were going to be the dominant mob...

Ladan: Twitter Society, politics, news  online news and social networking  campaigning and oversimplification government surveillance of audience  global connection  #blacklivesmatter social media revolutions  Malcolm Gladwell - activism but not revolutionary change  citizen journalism  "black twitter" - presentation of black identities 15 million active users in the UK 65% under 34  Fake news and politics  echo chamber  terrorism     Twitter seems to be having increased power in terms of its audience influence. Even though it doesn't directly influence audience opinion within the platform due to the existence of echochambers but it does cause them a false sense of support. Therefore audience audiences to feel they are supported when they are not and therefore don't do much campaigning outside of social media and the internet therefore limiting the amount of social change they could potentia...