Category / Technology

by Kate M

Opinion piece: How Twitter is writing itself into the history books.

With a little blue bird and 140 characters, Twitter is fast writing itself into the history books thanks to the help of the United States 45th president Donald Trump.

Mr Trump has taken to social media in a way that no other president has done before. Unfiltered and clearing speaking his mind, the president uses the platform to directly speak with not only his own country; but also the entire world.

With over 45 million followers, the globe now turns to Twitter each day to find out whether the country is at war with North Korea and the links to the latest New York Times and CNN pieces regarding him.

Quite frankly. Twitter has become the new newspaper when it comes to Mr Trump, America as a country and global politics.

And with all this, the social media giant is able to simply rub its hands together and chuckle, knowing that Mr Trump’s presidential legacy and their application have become indefinitely intertwined and their name is not going anywhere fast.

 

by Kate M

Breaking down: Google maps cupcake controversy

What is it? 

Google recently updated their map application to tell users how many calories they would lose by walking to their destination instead. But before you pull out your devices and look for it… it is already in the process of being revoked.

Why was it criticised?  

Criticism was cropped for the update from a “mini” feature. This feature measured a number of calories the user could lose and compared it to mini cupcakes.

The feature was considered potentially harmful towards those with eating disorders and overall a bit judgemental.

A response provided to BBC  (excerpt below) reflects this criticism also touching on the internal competitiveness and feeling of shame that could unintentionally be brought on through it.

“Although it is good to encourage people to walk more, having the calories used on Google Maps does not seem to be the best way to do this… if people want to count their calories then they should be given the option to do this, rather than it being enforced.”  – Priya Tew, The Association of UK Dietitians

According to The Verge,  A Google spokesperson has indicated that “based on strong user feedback” the update will start to be removed.