The proposal, which comes from the state department, would require most visa applicants to give details of their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

They would have to disclose all social media identities used in the past five years.

About 14.7 million people a year would be affected by the proposals.

The information would be used to identify and vet those seeking both immigrant and non-immigrant visas.

Applicants would also be asked for five years of their telephone numbers, email addresses and travel history. They would be required to say if they had ever been deported from a country, or if any relatives had been involved in terrorist activity.

The proposal would not affect citizens from countries to which the US grants visa-free travel status – among them the UK, Canada, France and Germany. However, citizens from non-exempt countries like India, China and Mexico could be embroiled if they visit the US for work or a holiday.

What’s the current stance on requesting social media?
Under rules brought in last May, officials were told to seek people’s social media handles only if they felt “that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting”, a state department official said at the time.

The tougher proposal comes after President Trump promised to implement “extreme vetting” for foreigners entering the US, which he said was to combat terrorism.

“Maintaining robust screening standards for visa applicants is a dynamic practice that must adapt to emerging threats,” the state department said in a statement, quoted by the New York Times.

“We already request limited contact information, travel history, family member information, and previous addresses from all visa applicants. Collecting this additional information from visa applicants will strengthen our process for vetting these applicants and confirming their identity.”

Who decides if it happens?
The idea is subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget.

The public will have two months to comment on the proposal before it makes a decision.

How does this affect free speech?
Civil liberties groups have condemned the policy as an invasion of privacy that could damage free speech.

“People will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or misunderstood by a government official,” said Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We’re also concerned about how the Trump administration defines the vague and over-broad term ‘terrorist activities’ because it is inherently political and can be used to discriminate against immigrants who have done nothing wrong,” she said.

The social media platforms covered in the proposal include US-based entities such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit and YouTube. However, the New York Times reports that overseas platforms such as China’s Sina Weibo and Russia’s VK social network would also be included.

–

Source: BBC

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People posting extreme far-right and Islamist content in the UK were identified and contacted in an attempt to challenge their views.

Of the 569 people contacted, 76 had a conversation of five or more messages and eight showed signs it had a positive impact, researchers claim.

Privacy campaigners say it means Facebook is straying into surveillance.

Technology companies have been urged to do more to stop extremist material littering their sites following a series of cases involving people who were radicalised online.

This pilot was led by the counter-extremism organisation Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), which says it was trying to mimic extremists’ own recruitment methods.

It told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme and BBC World Service’s World Hacks it used software to scan several far-right and Islamist pages on Facebook for targets. It then manually looked at their profiles looking for instances of violent, dehumanising and hateful language.

Terrorism survivors

It employed 11 “intervention providers” – either former extremists, survivors of terrorism or trained counsellors, who were paid £25 per hour for eight hours’ work a week.

One was Colin Bidwell, who was caught up in the Tunisia terror attack in 2015.

Under a fake profile, he spoke to people who appeared to support Islamist extremism, including some who may support the Tunisia gunman, and was tasked with challenging their views with chatty conversation and questions.

“I think I’m entitled to ask those questions after what I’ve been through,” he explained. “If there’s the smallest chance that I could make some form of difference or awareness, for me I’m in.”

Many did not respond, but some entered into long conversations. Mr Bidwell would talk a little about religion, about the effect the attack has had on his wife and how he worries for the future of his children in “such a violent world”.

“One of the things I would say is, ‘You can have your extreme beliefs, but when it gets to the extreme violence – that’s the bit I don’t understand’,” he said.

Other intervention providers would use different tactics depending on their background – a former extremist targeted young women telling them she used to think like they did, but that violence was not the answer.

‘Back from the edge’

Roughly half the people they chose to try and chat with had showed support for Islamist extremism and half had far-right sympathies. The group was also split evenly between men and women.

The aim was to “walk them back from the edge, potentially, of violence”, said Sasha Havlicek, the chief executive of the ISD.

“We were trying to fill a really big gap in responses to online recruitment and radicalisation and that gap is in the direct messaging space.

“There’s quite a lot of work being done to counter general propaganda with counter-speech and the removal of content, but we know that extremists are very effective in direct messaging,” she explained.

“And yet there’s no systematic work being done to reach out on that direct engagement basis with individuals being drawn into these groups.”

Privacy campaigners are concerned about the project, especially that Facebook funded something that broke its own rules by creating fake profiles.

Millie Graham Wood, a solicitor at the Privacy International charity, said: “If there’s stuff that they’re identifying that shouldn’t be there, Facebook should be taking it down.

“Even if the organisation [ISD] itself may have been involved in doing research over many years, that does not mean that they’re qualified to carry out this sort of… surveillance role.”

‘Really authentic’

Facebook funded the initiative but would not disclose how much it had spent. It said it did not give ISD special access to its users’ profiles.

Its public policy manager, Karim Palant, said the company does not allow the creation of fake profiles – which the project relied on – and said that the research was done without Facebook interference.

“The research techniques and exactly what they did was a matter for them,” he said.

During conversations, the intervention providers did not volunteer the fact that they were working for the ISD, unless asked directly. This happened seven times during the project, and on those occasions, the conversation ended, sometimes after a row.

Overall, of the 569 people contacted, researchers claim eight of the people contacted showed signs, in the conversations, of rethinking their views.

Despite the small numbers involved, the ISD argue the pilot showed online counter-extremism conversations can make a difference.

It wants to now explore how it could be expanded both in the UK, and overseas, and how a similar method could be used on platforms such as Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter.

–

Source: BBC

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Researchers from the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany recruited a total of 531 Facebook users (mostly college students) to take an online survey.

The volunteers answered questions revealing how they used Facebook, such as how often they posted pictures or looked at relationship statuses, but they also revealed their personalities by rating how much they agreed with certain statements.

Answers helped rate how materialistic they were (e.g. “My life would be better if I owned certain things I don’t have.”) and how much they compared themselves to others, as well as whether they thought Facebook friends made them successful or helped them achieve their goals.

Find out which of the four types of Facebook users you are.

The survey first went out to a group of 242 users, then to 289 participants, but the results were the same, according to results in the journal Heliyon. Materialistic people have significantly more friends than people who care less about possessions.

“They tend to objectify their Facebook friends,” lead author Phillip Ozimek, MSc, says in a statement. “They acquire Facebook friends to increase their possession.”

The study didn’t specify how many friends the average materialist had, but participants in the first and second study had around 284 and 318 friends, respectively.

It wasn’t just about the number of friends materialists had, though—it was also about how they used them. Materialists are more likely to consider having lots of Facebook friends a sign of success and to use those friends for their own personal goals.

“As narcissists use Facebook for self-glorification, or people with low self-esteem for interacting with others and feeling better, materialists use it to acquire and promote possessions,” the authors write. Don’t miss this other personality disorder a Facebook obsession could feed.

The researchers also found a link between social comparisons and materialism. Participants who admitted often comparing themselves to their Facebook friends also tended to be more materialistic.

In the paper, the authors point out that they can’t be sure whether the materialism is a cause or effect. Maybe materialistic people like to “collect” friends, or maybe having a lot of friends means seeing the highlight reels of more people and then wanting what those people have. (Here are 9 ways to tell if you’re addicted to Facebook.)

Regardless of where the link comes from, the researchers stress social media isn’t necessarily bad; it can also be a fun way to keep in touch and feel good. “Social media platforms are not that different from other activities in life,” Dr. Ozimek says in a statement. “They are functional tools for people who want to attain goals in life, and some might have negative consequences for them or society.”

Want to see how you’d react from some time off social media? Learn how a Facebook break could boost your well-being.

–

Source: ScienceDaily

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Today, GoFundMe is debuting a new operation called GoFundMe Studios, which will make films both as short movies and clips, based on select campaigns on the platform.

The studio will be led by two people: Wil Tidman, who had been the VP of creative, strategy and original productions for GoPro — the camera maker that once had high hopes of its own move into content before shutting down its entertainment unit in 2016 amid many other cuts (but didn’t exit content altogether: Tidman was actually in his role there until May 2017); and Chris Neil, who has a long list of production credits in Hollywood films to his name.

The studio is releasing its first film today, a nine-minute short called “Jim Ford, Repo Man” (embedded below), and there are several other films already in production. They sound pretty compelling, I have to admit, above and beyond the donation aspect, which speaks a lot to the emotive nature of GoFundMe (and, perhaps, what makes the content world go round these days).

Others in production include a film about a reformed Klansman; a film about bulls that escape from a slaughterhouse.

“In my career, I have yet to come across so many truly incredible stories as the ones we’ve found on GoFundMe,” said Tidman in a statement. “GoFundMe Studios will showcase the extraordinary stories of humans changing the world through the simple act of giving. Through a documentary storytelling lens, we aim to inspire our community and the world to turn compassion into action.”

“Now is the time for these stories,” added Neil. “With so much tragic news these days, people are hungry for artfully told, real-life stories that remind us of the transformative power of kindness and compassion.”

The idea behind the new division, according to Raquel Rozas, CMO of GoFundMe, is (fittingly) one of marketing: it will be used both to spread the word about interesting campaigns, to get more people to contribute; and by association, spreading the word about GoFundMe as a place to start fundraising for a cause.

“Wil and his team will be working with different formats, from one to two-minute short moments to more in-depth docu-series in order to bring these stories to life,” she said in an emailed interview. She said GoFundMe is  aiming to release at least one film a month and a shorter “moment” every week.

“We will share these with a wide audience over our social channels, and we  are also talking with networks and digital platforms who are interested in helping our community by amplifying these stories,” she added.

It is not — at this point — a mission to replace all the video on GoFundMe with video natively created by or on GoFundMe’s platforms.

The in-house studio is an interesting twist on the concept of native content — which today has largely become a term that is equated with advertising. As with the rest of GoFundMe, while this is a kind of advertising of its own as well, it’s in aid of the cause itself.

For now, GoFundMe is hand-selecting the causes that it will choose to profile in video form — one example of which you can see below.

It’s early days but you can see how this might develop over time. Video, potentially, could be an interesting and extra line of revenue for the company, if they decided to make this into a service.

Today, those making campaigns can create and upload their own videos, and many do, often using other platforms like YouTube, so there is clearly an appetite for using video to build stories, and this is GoFundMe’s way of tapping into that and potentially getting involved in that part of the process.

Rozas declined to comment on any plans, if they exist, to open up the service to any and all campaign creators as a paid or free service, nor would she say anything about whether GoFundMe planned to and add in any other features to those videos, such as the ability to, say, donate directly during the videos themselves — both features that would make sense in GoFundMe videos.

“Right now we are focused on launching GoFundMe studios and sharing these powerful stories,” she said, “but we are always looking for ways to help amplify more stories, and bring more features and tools to our community to make helping even easier.”

To date, GoFundMe has not disclosed the total amount it has raised in venture funding, nor its valuation. The company counts Accel, Iconiq, TCV, Stripes and more among its investors. The company typically charges 7.9 percent + $.30 processing fee for personal or charity campaigns and competes against the likes of Facebook (which natively hosts much of the video posted on its site), JustGiving and more.

–

Source: TechCrunch

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Last week, I watched in amazement as a Manchester United fan passionately cheered and prayed that Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus would score a hattrick. In my confusion, I asked why a United fan would so badly want a City player to succeed. “He’s in my fantasy team,” he said.

That’s the power of digitalization. Several thousands of miles away, and this fan is not only connected to his favorite club, but all of his other favorite players in the English Premier League through the Fantasy League app.

All around the world, digital media is changing the sports experience and transforming the sporting landscape. Sadly, the Ghana Premier League has failed spectacularly to take advantage of this new media to reach new audience.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are nearly ten million internet users in Ghana as at June 2017. In other words, a whopping 34.7% of Ghana’s population uses the internet on a daily basis. Of this number, four million of them are on Facebook alone– representing 14%.

With attendance to Ghana premier league matches continuously on the decline, I don’t see the sense in the GPL’s failure to embrace and invest in reaching the digital audience. Globally, with the proliferation of HDTVs, smartphones and social media, attendance to stadia is on the decline. This has forced so many leagues across the world to evolve and embrace new forms of marketing their products to the public.

To lure fans to a game against the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns offered a money-back guarantee on tickets, promising that fans could get a refund if they weren’t satisfied with the team’s performance.

The EPL is the most popular league in the world but that has not stopped them from actively involved in social media for example. Every day, the EPL’s twitter handle is flooded with tweets and short catchy videos – whether it’s celebrating an old hero of the league or merely reminding followers of a particular day in the history of the league – the premier league’s sixteen million followers on twitter are staying closer to their favorite league.

The GPL only created a twitter handle last year with just over 11,000 followers. But don’t get your hopes high because that twitter handle is as quiescent as an employees’ Whatsapp group with the CEO in it. The last tweet was over 6 days ago at the time of writing. With so many twists and turns heading to the final round of matches in the Ghana Premier League, followers of that handle were deserted and left in total darkness.

The Ghana Premier League’s Facebook account is largely inactive with their last post to their 13,000 followers coming way back in August. In comparison, their compatriots in Nigeria – League Management of Nigeria – managers of the Nigerian Professional League, has over 70,000 followers on twitter and a further 38,000 likes on Facebook.

The Nigeria premier league ended in September, just before the start of the WAFU 2017 tournament. But check their handle, and you’d find a tweet few hours ago on the Nigeria Professional League. Social Media is a full-time job for leagues the world over. The Ghana premier league hasn’t even taken it seriously enough to be considered a part time job to them.

Apart from the obvious benefits of reaching a much younger and vibrant audience with social media, building a huge following on that platform has the potential to increase the league’s commercial value.

In 2014 for example, FC Barcelona engaged sports marketing agency IMG to examine what value social media adds to its shirt sponsorship rights.

Over one weekend, there were 61 million web impressions of the Qatar Foundation’s sponsorship of the club’s shirts, causing Barcelona to renegotiate their deal with the Foundation.

During the WAFU 2017 tournament, the Ghana Football Association’s communications department was heavily involved in developing a social media strategy for the tournament. People were hired specifically for that purpose and they executed WAFU’s tournament coverage on social media excellently. So it’s not an issue of personnel; it’s one of a disinterest, and that’s destroying our league.

Another entity that has surprisingly not taken digital and social media seriously is the media sponsor of the GPL – StarTimes Ghana. All around the world, sponsors have played a massive role in the promotion of competitions they sponsor with short video previews, interviews, reactions posted on social media so fans can access on the go.

StarTimes Ghana has yet to embrace this. Their twitter handle has 951 followers, and they have only tweeted 925 times with their last tweet coming six days ago. And while they post short video previews to the entertainment content on their channels, same is not done for the GPL. With three million followers on Facebook, the potential reach of anything on Startimes’ Facebook is enormous. Unfortunately, they have not invested same energy into the promotion of the Ghana Premier League.

StarTimes should be running short quizzes, predictions, posting short interviews, conducting polls and asking fans to vote for favorite goals, plays etc. The winner of these short competitions could be taken along with the TV crew to experience how coverage of a game is done. It’s a small gesture that would stay with that fan forever. This is how to build loyalty.

In the just ended season, a group of friends from GHPLLIVE created a Ghana Premier League fantasy league. It was a simple process of posting fixtures two days before every match day and asking people to predict scores of each match in the comment section, with 4 points allocated for a perfect score and 1 mark for correct prediction.

It started with just 10 people in the first week, and by week five, they had to cut the numbers. The interest this generated was beyond imagination. It forced people to pay attention to the league and the discussion that followed each match week in the comment section of this fantasy prediction was ridiculous.

With a great percentage of Ghanaians on social media between the ages of 15 and 45, developing a digital media strategy that goes beyond just sending out tweets and Facebook posts, could introduce the league to a new range of audience that has fast slipped away. And just then, maybe, we could get them to love our league again.
–
By: Fentuo Tahiru/ [email protected]/ The writer is a Sports Journalist at Citi FM.

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It said the public must verify supposed tweets or facebook posts from the President via his official verified accounts on both platforms, before sharing or taking them seriously.

The caution comes after some unscrupulous persons circulated ‘photoshopped’ tweets alleged to be emanating from President Akufo-Addo’s twitter account.

Following a historic cruiser-weight non-title bout between Bastie Samir and  Bukom Banku on Saturday night, fake images of a supposed tweet from the President went viral on social media.

The fake post, supposedly congratulated Bastie Samir for his victory against Bukom Banku and invited the former for a meal at the Flagstaff House.

But the Presidency has denied it made such a post on social media.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Counsel and Social Media Manager for the President, Kow Essuman, Esq. called on the public not to be swayed by such fake publications.

He said “while we congratulate Bastir on his success in the bout against Bukom Banku, we wish to draw the general public’s attention to the fact that the purported tweet is fake and a creation of the imagination of certain mischievous persons.”

Read the statement below:

Our attention has been drawn to a screenshot being circulated on social media platforms, to the effect that the President purportedly sent out a tweet, at 7:55AM on 22nd October, 2017, to congratulate Bastir and inviting him to the Flagstaff House to eat Banku.

While we congratulate Bastir on his success in the bout against Bukom Banku, we wish to draw the general public’s attention to the fact that the purported tweet is fake and a creation of the imagination of certain mischievous persons.

The President has not sent out any such tweet and therefore, we entreat the general public to disregard the purported tweet being circulated on social media platforms.

We also entreat the public to take note of the President’s Official social media handles, to avoid being unsuspecting agents of these mischievous persons. The President’s handles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are @NAkufoAddo and all handles have been verified.

Thank you.

Signed:

Kow Essuman, Esq.

Counsel and Social Media Manager for

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield said Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and YouTube had “not done enough” to clarify their policies.

She simplified the websites’ terms and conditions with privacy law firm Schillings.

But Instagram said the simplified version of its terms contained “a number of inaccuracies”.

The slimmed-down guides are a response to the Commissioner’s Growing Up Digital report, which found that most children do not understand the agreements they sign when they create social media accounts.

All the sites require children to be over 13 to create an account.

“Children have absolutely no idea that they are giving away the right to privacy or the ownership of their data or the material they post online,” said Ms Longfield.

She is urging the UK government to adopt the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which requires all companies offering digital services used by children in the EU to simplify their terms and conditions by May 2018.

She said “much more needs to be done” by all of the social media giants to “make them more accountable and transparent”.

‘Inaccuracies’

However, Instagram said there were inaccuracies in the simplified version of its policies.

In a statement, it said: “It is wrong to suggest we share young people’s personal information, contact details or content of direct messages with advertisers without their permission. Nor do we share details of who people are messaging with.”

The commissioner had criticised Instagram for its 17-page, 5,000-word terms and conditions.

But Robert Lands, from law firm Howard Kennedy, said shortening terms and conditions can often create confusion rather than clarity.

“There are a number of reasons that terms and conditions are quite long,” he told the BBC.

“It’s not to confuse people, it’s the opposite. When you need to explain difficult concepts, sometimes it takes words to do it.”

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company wanted everyone to feel “safe and secure” when using the platform.

“Our resources – such as our parents portal, privacy basics tool and safety centre – are easy to understand and used every day by young people and parents looking for clear and simple advice,” she said.

Snapchat said its terms and conditions and privacy policy were “as clear and free from unnecessary legalese as possible”.

Katie O’Donovan, public policy manager at YouTube, said the company “is always looking for ways to improve” and will continue working with the commissioner to refine its resources.

WhatsApp could not be reached for comment.

–

Source: BBC

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At the Ghana ICT and Telecom Awards (GITTA) held recently, the Smartphone Network was presented with the “Most Innovative use of Social Media” Award, for the second consecutive year, in recognition of the company’s dexterity at using Social Media to engage with customers.

The Awards recognises Airtel Ghana for effectively using social media to provide relevant content that inspires and connects with customers and followers, as well as for adopting a proactive strategy to engage and respond to queries and customer complaints in a timely manner.

This recognition is however not new to a company that has led the industry in driving innovation – pushing the boundaries in product and services innovation across different products and customer segments.

For example, Airtel Ghana was the first telecom provider in Ghana to launch free Facebook and for zero-rating over 40 sites to promote digital inclusion. Within a few months after launching free Facebook, Airtel introduced a first to market innovation – Bundles on Facebook – to enable customers purchase data bundles on Facebook in real time. So instead of customers looking for agents to buy a recharge card and subsequently bundling data packages, customers have the convenience to purchase bundles right on Facebook with a click of a button.

Such innovations have driven data uptake for the Smartphone Network with more than 60% of the entire customer base using data services. By effectively innovating product and services around Social Media and supporting this with a deliberate engagement strategy that enables the Smartphone Network to extend its reach to customers – to engage, respond to queries and inspire customers to action, it is no wonder that the company continues to lead on the use of Social Media to engage customers and to drive real commercial value.

Over the last two years, Airtel Ghana has dominated the Social Media space – from the way the company engages customers to its influence on the platform.

In late 2015, Airtel Ghana emerged as the Most Influential telecommunications company on Social Media in a rankings released by the Ghana Social Media Rankings (GSMR).

The comprehensive annual rankings measures a company or brand’s social media engagement, post reach, mentions and activations across key social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Airtel Ghana clearly led the telecommunications industry across the various channels.

Last year, Airtel maintained its position as one of the two most Influential telecom companies on Social media missing the first slot with the slimmest of margins.

On multiple occasions, Airtel Ghana has been recognised as the most Socially Devoted brand by Socialbakers – a global Social Media analytics firm which monitors over 8 million social profiles across all the major Social Media platforms of companies on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and VK to set a benchmark for response times and response rates to questions from fans and customers of multiple companies. Airtel Ghana has consistently led with over 90% response rates across different platforms.

Airtel Ghana continues to demonstrate the real value in driving meaningful engagements on Social Media with the plethora of awards and visible results from such engagements – from product campaigns to customer complaint handling and resolution.

–

Credit: Airtel Ghana

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Ambassador Amihere expressed his displeasure that social media had suddenly become such a consuming passion for school children to an extent that it undermines academic performance and exposes children to a myriad of character-damaging pitfalls on the information highway.

He was addressing parents and school children at the seventh graduation, speech and prize-giving day of Delsi Montessori School, held at the weekend under the theme ‘Advancing quality education through teacher-parent involvement’. Delsi Montessori School, located at New-Achimota in Accra is one of the capital’s most accomplished Montessori institutions.

Speaking on ‘the benefits and dangers of social media to school children’, Mr. Amihere warned that uncontrolled use of social media among children affects their personality and character formation, weakens the bonds of interpersonal relations within the family and worst of all, exposes children to countless destructive vices.

“But it will be pointless to attempt to prevent or ban our children from accessing and using social media because it is such a valuable source of knowledge and information and can be used to support academic studies at school and at home,” Mr. Amihere explained.

“Since the use of phones at school is prohibited, our parents must start showing an interest in what their wards do on social media back at home and must make it a point to constantly monitor and control when and what their children access on social media.”

Delivering the keynote address earlier, Mrs. Ellen Sam, a renowned pharmacist and pastor, stressed that in the grooming of children, a clear distinction needed to be drawn between ‘education’ and ‘quality education’.

“Yes. There is a marked difference between education and quality education. People can finish school and still not have the requisite skills to show for it,” she contended, adding that quality education serves to expand the child’s knowledge base and provides children with capabilities required to make them ‘economically productive, develop sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful and democratic societies and enhance individual wellbeing’.

Mrs. Sam said the responsibility of imparting quality education to children rests equally with parents and school teachers.

‘Quality education is so complex and exacting that it cannot be given by schools alone. Parents are stakeholders and must get involved. So, as parents or guardians, let us collaborate in every way possible with the schools to provide quality education for our children,’ she said.

Twenty-nine pupils graduated from kindergarten to primary – a number described by the proprietress, Rev. Mrs. Lawrencia Dafeamekpor, as the highest since the school was founded in 2004.

‘Delsi Montessori School began 12 years ago with just six toddlers. Today, we have reason to rejoice because the school has literally graduated through the years to the Junior High School level and here we are, about to induct 29 wonderful pupils from Kindergarten to primary school,’ Rev. Mrs. Dafeamekpor said.

The graduation ceremony took place at the Auditorium of the Grace Chapel International and was characterized by colourful theatrical performances and cultural displays by school children and the award of prizes to deserving pupils and members of the teaching staff.

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Forty per cent said they felt bad if nobody liked their selfie and 35% said their confidence was directly linked to the number of followers they had.

One in three said they lived in fear of cyber-bullying, with appearance cited as the most likely topic for abuse.

One expert said children were growing up in “a culture of antagonism”.

The survey, of more than 10,000 young people aged 12 to 20, suggested that cyber-bullying is widespread, with nearly 70% of youngsters admitting to being abusive towards another person online and 17% claiming to have been bullied online.

Nearly half (47%) said they wouldn’t discuss bad things in their lives on social media and many offered only an edited version of their lives.

“There is a trend towards people augmenting their personalities online and not showing the reality,” said Ditch the Label’s chief executive Liam Hackett.

It found that Instagram was the vehicle most used for mean comments.

Mr Hackett said: “Cyber-bullying continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing young people.

“Not only is the internet redefining the climate of bullying, but also it is having clear impacts upon the identity, behaviours and personality of its young users.”

He called on social networks to put more resources into policing the comments people post online and responding to complaints in a more timely manner.

His views were echoed by Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, who also called for a government ombudsman to be set up to mediate between the social network firms and children who are having problems.

She also called for “compulsory digital citizenship classes” in schools.

The findings appear to contradict research from the Oxford Internet Institute(OII) earlier this month that suggested cyber-bullying was relatively rare.

The OII research – which concentrated on 15-year-olds – found that, while 30% reported regular bullying, only 3% said it happened both off and online.

The huge variation of findings between surveys is often down to how questions are worded, said Lauren Seager-Smith, chief executive of charity Kidscape,

“This survey paints a bleak picture but there is a great variance in these studies. Part of this is about how you ask the question, who you ask and what age they are.”

She said that she was not surprised by Ditch the Label’s findings.

“We are living in a culture of antagonism. That sadly is the climate our children are growing up in,” she said.

“The jury is out on quite how damaging social media is and whether we all need to spend less time on such networks.”

But, she added, adults also needed to think about their usage.

“Often parents are equally addicted and they have to ask what impact that is having on family life. It could be time for them to say that there is more to life than social networks and the glossy picture of life that it often shows.”

–

Source: BBC

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