Supporters of the white police officer who faces a murder charge for shooting an unarmed black man in South Carolina, have started a campaignon a popular crowd funding site – but another site halted fundraising efforts.
Within 24 hours, as writer Dave Weigel noted, new Daily Show host Trevor Noah went from “progressive icon to villain”. The cause? A social media record that showed Noah cracking jokes that many found in poor taste – and worse, unfunny.
In the wake of several high-profile cases of white police officers killing unarmed black men, some Americans have been defending police by posting pictures of officers being helpful. “Police officers that do the wrong thing seem to be getting all the press coverage,” Chris Hall wrote on Facebook, underneath the above photo of an Ohio State Patrol officer changing a car tyre for a African-American woman. “This officer proves that for every one that does the wrong thing, there are thousands out there doing the right thing every day.”
As one of the most famous politicians in the world announced her intention to run for US president, her opponents hit back on social media. Hillary Clinton’s announcement on Sunday that she would be running for president wasn’t exactly a surprise. She made the long-anticipated declaration in a YouTube video and followed up with a tweet. But some of her opponents had already organised a welcoming party on social med
Marilyn Mosby has captured the world’s attention after she announced she was pressing charges against Baltimore officers in the death of Freddie Gray. By the end of her speech, the Baltimore prosecutor’s name was a top trending term on Twitter in the United States. The #MarilynMosby hashtag has been used over 700,000 times on Twitter in the week since the protests began.
Some children get rid of wobbly milk teeth using a piece of string attached to a slammed door but US Olympic gold medal-winning athlete Bryan Clay had other ideas when he helped his daughter, Ellie, remove her loose tooth using one of his javelins. The 2008 Olympic decathlon champion posted a video of the feat on Twitter writing: “What you use javelins for once you’re retired.” It was retweeted over 1,600 times.
With water levels at a record low in California, vigilantes are using social media to shame their neighbours into saving more water. #Droughtshaming – a practice that began online last year – is back again as California enters its fourth summer of extreme drought. Residents who catch their neighbours wasting water are posting pictures and videos, often with addresses, on Facebook and Twitter as well as via apps. (It is the home of Silicon Valley, after all.)
Anna Gensler, an artist from Maryland, was horrified by the offensive texts she received from men on Tindr. So she decided to give the men a taste of their own medicine by publishing their comments on her Instagram accompanied by a drawing of the guy in question in the most unflattering of lights.
How often have you looked around at a meeting or in the office, lecture hall or event space and seen a room full of just men?
Now one website is pointing out this phenomenon by publishing photos of all-male panels, or “manels”. The site is a Tumblr blog, sarcastically called, Congrats! You Have an All-Male Panel.
It started in February and features 200 photos, submitted from people from about 10 countries. The simple but now-viral idea is a project of the Finnish feminist researcher and artist Saara Sarma, who specializes in internet parody images and memes.
Pesky colleagues always asking about your love life? Nosy parents want to know how they can expect to become grandparents if you’re not on the dating scene? Or are your loved-up friends determined to set you up because you can’t possibly be happy and single?
A new dating app in the US is providing a solution for this relationship pressure with a “cover-up” service called The Invisible Boyfriend, which lets you text an imaginary partner. But while some are using the service to get themselves off the hook, others are finding the app a little too convincing.