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  Geebo 9:18 am on November 8, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Election ( 21 ), Google ( 29 ), lyft ( 15 ), politics, Uber ( 24 ), voting ( 4 )   

  Get out and vote! 

  

  It’s finally here. Today is election day in what is possibly the most important and controversial election in decades. While we’re not here to tell you who to vote for, we do have some information to help you along with the voting process.

  NBC News has a guide to some helpful tech tips for the election including some helpful apps and how to find your voting place with your smart phone. Speaking of technical tips, Google is claiming that they will have election results as soon as the respective polls are closed.

  In case you need a ride to the polls, ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft are offering either free or discounted rides.

  If you’re thinking about foregoing voting today because you’re afraid the election will be hacked, you can put that thought out of your head. Not only is the government on high alert for such an attack, the real threat to hacking the election is good old-fashioned misinformation and misdirection.

  Lastly, please don’t forget that if you’re in line to vote when the polls close they still have to let you vote.

  Now you have no excuses, get out and vote as every vote really does count, especially in this crucial election.

   

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  Geebo 10:09 am on October 13, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Election ( 21 ), Facebook ( 178 ), politics, voting ( 4 )   

  Facebook gives rise to new voters, but are they informed? 

  

  Facebook is being credited with sparking a spike in voter registration thanks to their campaign to get their US users to vote. It really should come as no surprise as Facebook has become a daily utility that has almost become a public service. Providing easy access to state voter registration resources more than likely encouraged many people who may have not registered otherwise.

  While this is encouraging that more people are registering to vote in such a pivotal election that could have repercussions for generations, Facebook is not really the ideal environment for political discourse and learning. When it comes to discussing politics on Facebook, it’s usually nothing more than the reposting of meme, shouting into the echo chamber, or the sharing of misinformed or even completely fake articles.

  While mostly everyone has the right to vote are we raising a generation of misinformed voters? While the internet gives us access to much of the world’s information it also allows us to engage in our biases and surround ourselves in comfortable lies rather than inconvenient truths.

   
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  Geebo 10:11 am on August 16, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Donald Trump ( 11 ), Election ( 21 ), Facebook ( 178 ), Hillary Clinton, politics   

  Sorry Facebook pundits, you’re not convincing anyone 

  

  Even long before the nominees were determined for each party during this presidential election season, many people were posting their political punditry on Facebook. Whether it be the Donald Trump memes or the ‘lies’ of Hillary Clinton or even lamenting the fact that Bernie Sanders was not nominated, virtually no one is having their political views changed on Facebook.

  According to survey of 10,000 Facebook users, over 90% of respondents have not had their minds changed on a political issue due to anything posted on Facebook. However the political postings have had some effect as 13% of respondents say they’ve unfriended someone on Facebook because of a political post.

  It used to be said that in polite company you should never talk about sex, politics and religion. Since Facebook it’s now so ubiquitous in our lives should those same courtesies be extended to Facebook, or is Facebook more akin to a graffiti laden restroom wall? Maybe we would be more united as a country if we used Facebook as a forum of discussion rather than a series of megaphones projecting a cacophony of political clamor.

   
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  Geebo 9:34 am on May 13, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook ( 178 ), politics   

  Off topic Friday: Is Facebook censoring conservative news stories? 

  

  DISCLAIMER: This blog post is not endorsing one political party or candidate over another. It is merely discussing a topic where politics is involved.

  Earlier this week an anonymous former Facebook employee claimed to the media that Facebook purposely tries to keep conservative news topics out if its trending news subjects. It’s gotten so much attention in some conservative circles that US Senator John Thune from South Dakota has called upon Facebook to provide information to Congress about the allegations. Some have said that Congress should not be getting involved in how Facebook conducts their business however studies have shown that 30 percent of Americans get their news from Facebook.

  Then there’s the argument that if Facebook is secretly promoting progressive news stories is that really censorship? The concept of censorship can only be really carried out by an agent of the state, i.e. the government. Facebook is a private tech entity and legally could exercise any kind of political leaning it wished. However one would think it would be a bad business decision to alienate possibly half of their userbase.

  What do you think? Is Facebook purposely squelching conservative leaning stories or is it just paranoia among some politicos?

   
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  Geebo 9:29 am on April 29, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: politics, selfies, voting ( 4 )   

  Off Topic Friday: Ballot Box Selfies 

  

  Love’ em or hate ‘em selfies are here to stay. They are a way of expression that almost an entire generation of young adults uses. A lot of these young adults are now registered voters and want to show their civic pride by taking a selfie in the voting booth or by the ballot box. While a number of states do allow these selfies many still do not. For example New York does allow the practice while neighboring New Jersey does not.  Many laws enacted to prevent photography in the polling place were made in order to discourage voter fraud but those were written decades ago. Do they still apply in today’s ‘photograph everything’ society?

  Mobile video sharing app Snapchat says no. Recently they filed a 28-page friend of the court brief in New Hampshire asking the Granite State to repeal their photography ban claiming it is a First Amendment right.

  What do you think? Are ballot box or voting booth selfies a protected form of expression or is it trivializing the voting process? Please leave your response.