“Yellow journalism” websites are using social media to capitalize on popular ideology. And they’re making a bundle.
New York City recently passed the country’s first law protecting the wages of “gig economy” workers. The Wall Street Journal published an illuminating infographic illustrating who’s making a living that way.
Twitter suspended high-profile accounts associated with the “alt-right” movement.
A state law kept 43,000 wannabe Uber users in upstate New York from ordering a car from the ride-hailing service on Thanksgiving eve.
PayPal reported some surprising statistics about this year’s online shopping over Thanksgiving weekend. Check out our own blog post from last year on how social commerce is killing off both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Two new ethics opinions from the D.C. Bar provide an excellent overview of potential ethical issues raised by social media use by attorneys; among other things, the opinions highlight the need for lawyers to exercise caution when tweeting or posting positions on legal issues (which could potentially create an inadvertent conflict with a client’s interest), and in allowing social media platforms to access their email contacts (which could potentially identify clients or divulge information for which there is an ethical obligation to protect from disclosure). The opinions can be reviewed here and here.
Apparently vlogging can be a grind even for the most financially successful social media stars.
This New York Times piece exploring how Snapchat revolutionized social media discusses some of the unique platform and business model features that we cited last year as responsible for Snapchat’s success.
CNN bought a social media company founded by a YouTube star with a millennial following.
Speaking of CNN, that company and other prominent news publishers are getting low app store ratings from people claiming that such publishers have a liberal bias.
Google Maps just made it easier to snag a table at usually-crowded restaurants and watering holes.
Think twice before giving out your cellphone number.
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