Social Media

Traffic on Bluesky, an X competitor, is up 500% since the election. How will they handle the surge?

Unlike other social media sites, Bluesky allows users to create their own algorithm. The site does not have ads, nor harvest data for artificial intelligence training. But it is still very small, and it does not make money.

Australia will require social media platforms to act to prevent online harm to users

Australia plans to require social media platforms to act to prevent online harms to users such as bullying, predatory behavior and algorithms pushing destructive content, the government said Thursday.

Ban social media for kids? Fed-up parents in Senate say yes

Sen. Katie Britt says she hears about it constantly when she is at home in Alabama. “Parent after parent” come up to her wanting to discuss the way social media was harming their kids.

Widening Rifts and Unfriending in Politically Tense Times

Thirteen percent of people, according to one survey say they blocked, unfriended, or stopped following someone on social media because of what they posted about politics. Haden Holmes Brown takes a look at tensions over politics three months into President Donald Trump's time in office.

Sen. Cam Ward On Bill to Thwart Inappropriate Teacher-Student Contact

Recent reports have referred to Alabama as "ground zero" for incidents of teacher-student sex. Whether that's fair or not, most agree there's a serious problem. So state senator Cam Ward of Alabaster has sponsored a bill to mandate an hour of training for educators on appropriate teacher-student interaction in the age of social media.

Crime in Greater Birmingham: Impact of Social Media

Elizabeth Sanfelippo is an energy consultant who lives in Birmingham’s upscale Highland Park neighborhood. She grew up outside of Birmingham, and lived in Vermont and New York before coming back to her beloved hometown. When she wants to know what’s happening in the area, she picks up her smartphone and presses a green icon with a white house on it, opening the Nextdoor app.