TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: Making plans? We can help. . “Hear about an amazing event but can’t remember where to buy the tickets? Have trouble finding the right activity to do with your sister who has two toddlers? Looking for something fun to do nearby tonight? Now Google can help. Today on the Google app and mobile web in the U.S., doing a search for events brings up a clear summary of activities from sites from across the web like Eventbrite, Meetup and more, that might be just what you’re looking for.”

The Telegram (MA): Transgender history archive at Holy Cross gets funding to expand. “After starting the initiative at Holy Cross two years ago with an $80,000 grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, Mr. Rawson and his team of Holy Cross students received good news this week: They have been selected by the ACLS again to receive a digital extension grant for their project, this time for $150,000. The additional funding, which the archive must spend during the fiscal year starting July 1, will not only allow the team to purchase a new computer and a better scanner as well as hire outside companies to help digitize its expanding collection, but also add a project coordinator and bring on six additional student researchers to join the 15 already working under Mr. Rawson.”

Mashable: Facebook empowers Page owners to politicize their posts. “Facebook users may see more posts nudging them to contact lawmakers. A recent update to the social network lets Page owners create individual posts that include a button for Facebook users to contact their local representatives.”

TechCrunch: Facebook downranks News Feed links to crappy sites smothered in ads. “Facebook will bury links to low-quality websites and refuse to carry ads pointing to them in a News Feed algorithm change announced today. Facebook defines a ‘low-quality site’ as one ‘containing little substantive content, and that is covered in disruptive, shocking or malicious ads.’ This includes hosting pop-up and interstitial ads, adult ads or eye-catching but disgusting ads for products that fight fat or foot fungus.”

USEFUL STUFF

Small Biz Trends: Live Leap App Allows You To Share Facebook Live – Everywhere . “Enter the Live Leap app, the world’s first Facebook Live sharing tool and the only one officially approved by Facebook. The tool does a great job of overcoming Facebook Live’s limitations. Live Leap not only lets you sync your video throughout all your Facebook profiles, but it allows you to simultaneously broadcast on other social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn and even to your personal email list. The ability to simultaneously cast your Facebook Live video feed opens many opportunities. Businesses are now able to leverage Live Leap as an integrative communication tool.” This service is not free, just FYI.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

ZDNet: Anti-net neutrality spammers are flooding FCC’s pages with fake comments. “The comments follow the same pattern: The bot appears to cycle through names in an alphabetical order, leaving the person’s name, postal address, and zip code. We reached out to two-dozen people by phone, and we left voicemails when nobody picked up. A couple of people late Tuesday called back and confirmed that they had not left any messages on the FCC’s website. One of the returning callers specifically said they didn’t know what net neutrality was, and a third person reached in a Facebook message Tuesday also confirmed that they had not left any comments on any website.”

Gizmodo: An Old Satellite Dish Found On Google Maps Is Becoming West Africa’s First Radio Telescope. “There are telescopes in all sorts of places — Hawaii, the desolate Chilean desert, heck, there’s even one at the South Pole. But Africa has plenty of old telecommunications dishes poised to serve a new purpose. And now, one of those dishes in Ghana is being turned into the first African radio telescope outside South Africa.”

Washington Post: Snap shares plummet as investors worry it’s not growing fast enough. “Investors sent the stock down 25 percent to $17.22 per share, after Snap reported a $2.2 billion loss; much of that comes from $2 billion in charges related to the company’s initial public offering. S&P Global Market Intelligence said last month that polled analysts don’t expect Snap to make a profit until at least 2019.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Bleeping Computer: Keylogger Found in Audio Driver of HP Laptops. “The audio driver installed on some HP laptops includes a feature that could best be described as a keylogger, which records all the user’s keystrokes and saves the information to a local file, accessible to anyone or any third-party software or malware that knows where to look. Swiss cyber-security firm modzero discovered the keylogger on April 28 and made its findings public today.”

Government Executive: Weather Service Employees File Unfair Labor Charge Over Restrictions on Social Media Use . “A Commerce Department directive from March that laid out restrictions on employees’ personal use of social media has prompted the National Weather Service Employees Organization to file an unfair labor practices complaint.”

CBS News: Trump campaign changes web privacy policy after questions from CBS News. “For roughly half a day Tuesday, anyone who visited President Donald Trump’s newly-redesigned campaign website was tacitly agreeing to allow the campaign, its site and associated apps to collect their location information based on their proximity to ‘beacons,’ according to a privacy policy that was quickly altered after CBS News made inquiries.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Recode: Snapchat has almost as many teens as Facebook, despite being an eighth of its size. “Most importantly to a company that relies on ads for revenue, Snapchat bills itself as an app for the young — catnip for advertisers trying to reach hard-to-find millennials. Ahead of its first quarterly earnings report since going public in March, just how popular is Snapchat among young people? Not as popular as Facebook, but very impressive considering how much smaller it is.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!