TWEAKS AND UPDATES

I must admit, when I think of sites celebrating Black History Month, Giphy does not jump to the front of my mind. Maybe it should. “Timed with Black History Month, GIPHY has made a dedicated effort to provide users with GIFs showing the black American experience. From iconic civil rights activists to #BlackGirlMagic, the GIF search engine is honoring black culture by creating and curating GIFs that help fill a gaping hole in representation online — this February and beyond.”

Google is killing off Google Site Search. “Existing customers can keep using GSS for the life of their current license, but Google will stop selling new licenses and renewals as of April 1, according the email viewed by Fortune. Once a customer’s allocation of search queries is exhausted, the account will ‘automatically convert’ to the company’s Custom Search Engine, or CSE for short.” So automatically convert to Google having more advertising opportunities?

TheNextWeb: Customer service on Twitter is about to get more human. “If you’ve got a problem that can only be resolved by speaking to a human being, you need Twitter. From airlines to supermarkets, companies have whole-heartedly embraced the platform as a way to acknowledge and resolve the issues of their customers. But there’s a problem. It’s a bit weird – inhuman, even – to hold a conversation with Tesco or United Airlines. They’re not people. They’re companies.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 5 Best LastPass Alternatives to Manage Your Passwords “Most people consider LastPass to be the king of password managers — it’s packed with features and boasts more users than any of its competitors. But it’s far from being the only option. In this article, I’m going to introduce you to some alternatives. For each suggestion, I’ll give you one core benefit that distinguishes it from its ubiquitous rival.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

NPR: What Students Can Learn By Writing For Wikipedia. “Today, educators are among those more concerned than ever with standards of truth and evidence and with the lightning-fast spread of misinformation online. And the Wiki Education Foundation, a freestanding nonprofit, is sharing Wikipedia’s methods with a growing number of college students, and striking a blow for digital literacy along the way.”

YouTube Blog: YouTube goes to the movies. “The Oscars are just days away—which means movie fans are locking in their predictions, nominees are putting the finishing touches on their red-carpet looks, and we’re ready to name the most popular movie trailer on YouTube.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Neowin: Microsoft releases critical security update for Flash on Windows after Patch Tuesday delay. “Microsoft has released an unexpected security update for Adobe Flash Player across multiple Windows versions, addressing an issue marked with a ‘critical’ security rating.”

From the Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): National Police Form New Unit to Tackle ‘Fake News’ on Social Media. “The unit, known as the Multimedia Bureau, will be tasked with conducting ‘cyber-patrols’ on the internet. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said the new unit will monitor and tackle fake news on social media platforms, distribute information regarding public order and educate social media users.”

RESEARCH AND OPINION

Science Daily:
Likelihood of dieting success lies within your tweets. “There is a direct link between a person’s attitude on social media and the likelihood that their dieting efforts will succeed. In fact, researchers have now determined that dieting success ­– or failure — can be predicted with an accuracy rate of 77 percent based on the sentiment of the words and phrases one uses on Twitter.”

Harvard Business Review: Why Some Crowdsourcing Efforts Work and Others Don’t. “Organizations strive to tap into the potential of crowdsourcing by asking people around the world to come up with ideas. But what makes crowdsourcing work? We conducted a large-scale research project to understand why some organizations succeed to attract crowds and others fail.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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