This video proves we still don’t understand how much we’re sharing on social networks

By Molly McHugh November 18, 2013

video proves still dont understand much sharing social networks how do you know

We’ve been told. And told and told and told: Social networking is not private, the Internet doesn’t forget, and apps can do nearly anything they want with our data. But despite the many warnings, we’re consistently still surprised by how much our digital profiles reveal.

par bear video

Social Media Experiment, a YouTube video created by YouTuber Jack Vale, makes it as undeniable as ever how oblivious we are. Using nothing but geo-tagged Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook posts, he found users in his area and approached them, asking questions related to things they’d uploaded as if he were prescient. The results are hilarious, sobering, and definitely a little sad. Moral of the story: Everyone knows everything about you and it’s totally your fault.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

Photography

Goluk T1 dash cam shares road trip videos instantly to favorite social networks

goluk t1 dash cam

In their simplest form, dash cams are useful tools for documenting accidents or traffic violations in an objective way. They’ve grown increasingly popular in recent years, especially in countries where the practice of throwing oneself onto a stationary car and claiming to be hurt in order to defraud drivers and insurance companies is common. But by nature of being constantly on, dash cams have also captured some shocking, hilarious, and otherwise amazing footage. It’s this second function that Goluk looks to capitalize on with its T1 dash cam.

Looking a bit like a tube of futuristic lipstick (especially in optional pink finish), the cylindrically-shaped T1 slides into an adhesive windshield dock and records video in constant loops. Like some other dash cams, it can auto-detect accidents and sudden stops thanks to a built-in G-sensor. Additionally, it can provide proximity warnings when it detects another vehicle close in front of it. But it goes a step beyond the standard dash cam with the included MagicKey wireless remote. When pressed, the MagicKey (which is essentially a single, watch-sized button) saves a twelve-second video clip and automatically sends it via Wi-Fi from the camera to the Mobile Goluk App (Android or iOS). From there, users can instantly share the clip through a variety of social media, including Goluk’s own community that was created specially for the camera.

Social Media

Unlike Michael Jordan, Bill is someone we don’t want to be

be like bill meme generator annoys facebook users

Have your friends, for some unknown reason, started telling you to be more like them? If you’ve checked your Facebook feed in the past 24 hours, then you were most likely inundated with your friends posting “Be Like (insert their name here)” notifications alongside a drawing of a stick figure. But, just what the hell are these posts about, and why has this meme suddenly taken over Facebook?

The posts are based on a meme called “Be Like Bill,” a fictional character created last year by a Moldovian programmer, Eugeniu Croitoru. Along with his colleague, Debabrata Nath, Croitoru made a series of cartoons that show Bill engaging in various activities and abstaining from others. However, as the BBC points out, Bill is “far too polite to tell you straight out not to do something. Instead he leads by example. But the message is clear and often very funny.” Clearly, the meme is a passive-aggressive commentary on the smug, “look at how cool I am” nature of social media posts.

Web

Americans resigned to their privacy-less fate, but they don’t like it

Tim Cook

In what may be one of the most dejected research results of the year, a new study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication has determined that Americans are painfully aware of just how little control they have over how their data is being used by companies like Facebook and Google, and that they're not happy about it. But despite their displeasure, most Americans seem to view it as a necessary evil, and are begrudgingly engaging in tradeoffs that they view, albeit uncomfortably, as a product of the times. If personal data is the collective American soul, it has been sold to the metaphorical devil of Silicon Valley.

Before this information is somehow mistakenly interpreted to mean that our society is somehow at peace with the way things are, researchers have been quick to point out that, on the contrary, Americans are more afraid than ever, and indeed feel powerless to stop seemingly all-knowing, all-powerful companies from harvesting their data. According to the authors, "Rather than feeling able to make choices, Americans believe it is futile to manage what companies can learn about them. Our study reveals that more than half do not want to lose control over their information but also believe this loss of control has already happened."