Social Networks

Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan

At the Start
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Messages
4,337
After Hamm berating every social network on the net and coming across as a total grumpy old man, what is everyones thoughts on them? A waste of space which ruin real socialising or a useful tool in a busy modern world?

Personally, I think Facebook is excellent for keeping in touch with friends who are geographically not very close. I enjoy seeing friends photos from travelling etc., seeing what links friends have shared and the live chat function is useful for real time conversations in one place. My only gripe with Facebook is sometimes when you bump into someone you've not seen for a while, you both know what you've been doing etc. because you've seen it all on Facebook!

I mainly use Twitter for keeping up to date with racing news and berating jockeys or X-Factor! I firmly believe Twitter will be the place people get most of their news from in ten years time. Twitter is also useful for getting instant answers to questions on specific topics that your followers would know, for example, if you were unsure how to get to Longchamp by public transport, you could tweet it and you'd have an answer within a few minutes.

As I have a longish commute every day (an hour) I also find them both good ways to pass the time when I'm too tired to do some work or read etc.
 
I'm honestly not sure what all of them are for, Gamla. With 'phones' which are virtually mobile offices these days, couldn't you just send photos to your chums and texts by those, rather than put yourself out into public space? I'm not sure why there's this (apparent) need for constant, instant communication, other than 'because it's there'. I suppose it could be (shock, horror) an age thing with me, especially without the usual baggage of a wrinkly old husband who might want to witter on about his tomato crop or the state of the nation, and how badly behaved the grandchildren are. But do you really keep up any better with your distant rellies or chums via these sites than with Skype or Blackberries?
 
Twitter is fun. Facebook is balls. Myspace, Bebo etc. are deservedly lying dead in a ditch.
 
I think google+ will, in time, take over everything like facebook. Combining everying into one will get people on and stay there. Daft things like auto uploading of photos from android phone is good too.
 
What's Google+'s killer feature that will make people take the time to use it alongside, and eventually in place of, Facebook & Twitter?
 
because it has everything in one, well maybe not twitter, but the circles are pretty much facebook, email, blogging, instant messenging etc all in one place, plus the seamless integration with android phones is a definate plus
 
Using Twitter after drink is no joke it seems. If I was his barrister I would have searched through the archives of Twitter for countless examples of other racist tweets that were not taken to court. Has a dangerous precedent not been set?



Man jailed for posting racist tweets on Muamba

Posted at March 19, 2012 | By : donald | Categories : Race and Ethnicity | 0 Comment
For a long period of time here at Equal and Diverse we have been monitoring the growing number of individuals who have been arrested and charged following racist tweets. Yet even we were shocked when we read that Welsh police had arrested a man on suspicion of racist incitement following a Twitter post on the critically ill Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba.
Former England youth international Muamba is currently fighting for his life in London Chest Hospital after he collapsed during his side’s FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur.
It has since been revealed that the 23-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest on the White Hart Lane pitch. Footballers and supporters took to Twitter to post messages of support for Muamba.
The student has been jailed for 56 days. Swansea University student Liam Stacey, 21, from Pontypridd, admitted inciting racial hatred over remarks.
A district judge in Swansea called the comments “vile and abhorrent”.* Sentencing Stacey at Swansea Magistrates’ Court, District Judge John Charles told him: “In my view, there is no alternative to an immediate prison sentence.
“It was not the football world who was praying for [Muamba]…. everybody was praying for his life.”
Stacey broke down in tears as he was led away to begin his jail term.
Yet again the anonymity – or perceived anonymity of Twitter allows the raw undercurrent of racist ignorance to show itself – thankfully the police now act in most instances in a speedy manner.
Source: Sports Mole and the BBC
Dr Donald Macaskill
www.equalanddiverse.co.uk


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Embarassing.

As is people's reactions to Muamba. It's desperately sad for him and people who know him, but not for the general public. This competitive grieving is a sad indictment of our time.

I walk home and have homeless people and their children living at the end of my street. Can you imagine, a 4 year old sleeping on the street? People would want to open their eyes to the tragedies around their own lives rather than getting upset about a footballer they don't know or can't see.
 
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Would you agree Hamm that a dangerous precedent has been set by the judge? I'm pretty sure I could easily make 10 racist tweets (if I was that way inclined) and not a word would be said about it.
 
Yes, definitely.

Most of what is written on the Mail is a bigoted opinion in one way or another. Do they now all go to jail? :ninja:
 
I've just typed the word racist into the search on Twitter. Quite a few tweets in there from people who need to be locked up according to today's judgement. Could the lad not just have had his Twitter account suspended and be given a warming from police? Was his crime that he was being racist against the backdrop of a public outpouring of crocodile tears? I suppose to suggest Gary Speed was a coward for killing himself on Twitter would get you locked up too?

More to the point, presumably this tweet was sent via a smartphone? How could the court prove that the owner of the phone sent those tweets? A friend of mine was interviewed by the gardai for texts sent off a threatening nature. His reply was that his phone was on the bar counter all night and that anyone in his company could have sent the messages.


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Sky News are now reporting that he is basically being made an example of. So this is Britush justice? I'd have serious questions to ask my barrister if I ended up in prison for a tweet. He's been completely stitched up.


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The Youtube clip showing his texts is not pleasant reading and he had to be stopped.

But I don't think a jail sentence was appropriate. Overly severe punishments risk increasing sympathy for racists rather than discouraging them.

Mind you I think enforcement, sentencing and public attitudes to offenders are generally tougher in the UK for most offences than in Ireland, so it's not for me as an outsider to judge.

By the way, was it not a mistake to plead guilty to incitement, which is notoriously difficult to prove? Not only did it leave him open to a prison sentence but presumably it limits his avenues of appeal as well.
 
That's my point Grey, he's been absolutely stitched up by his barrister. I could have got him off of these charge. He's a victim of the mob mentality that anyone not on their knees praying for an ill footballer needs to go to jail. His barrister was asked to comment on the likely hood of him being expelled from his college. His reply was "it's not looking good"! How much are they paying this joker? Where were his witnesses to stress he's not racist etc etc. John Terry has had his case put back to July 9th but this lad will do well to recover from being made an example off for the rest of his life.

Justice? My bollocks.


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Yes, definitely.

Most of what is written on the Mail is a bigoted opinion in one way or another. Do they now all go to jail?
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Not a nice paper but it was the paper which campaigned hardest for justice for Stephen Lawrence

But why not throw the lefts favourite bigot (and his islamic friends who consider the "nazis a gift from god") Ken livingstone in with them. "rich jews" etc etc

Sky News are now reporting that he is basically being made an example of. So this is Britush justice? I'd have serious questions to ask my barrister if I ended up in prison for a tweet. He's been completely stitched up.
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Exactly. Its ludicrous
 
His reply was that his phone was on the bar counter all night and that anyone in his company could have sent the messages.
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Thats right. we nicked a mates phone and sent "i want to ... over your ... " to a few of the female names on his list. Including his mum apparently (maybe she was ok with it..i dont know)
 
SlimChance said:
He's a victim of the mob mentality that anyone not on their knees praying for an ill footballer needs to go to jail.
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Surely there is a difference between that and taking it upon yourself to take to Twitter and post seriously insensitive, racist nonsense?

Whatever about the punishment - which looks excessive - I don't understand how he is the victim of a 'mob mentality' when he could have just kept his mouth shut in the first place.
 
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