(CNN) — One of the nurses duped by a prank phone call about Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, apparently committed suicide on Friday, and many social media users were quick to point fingers at the two radio hosts who made the call and then promoted it on Facebook.

Australian radio station 2DayFM posted audio of the call on its Facebook page Wednesday with the caption, “Listen to the prank that the world is talking about. Can you believe Mel and MC got away with these dodgy accents?”

The hashtag #royalprank was retweeted more than 15,000 times on Twitter after the radio station began promoting the call. It continued to be used after news of the nurse’s death.

Catherine, the pregnant wife of Britain’s Prince William, had been hospitalized with severe morning sickness. The prank became worldwide news as the nurse, believing the DJs were Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, forwarded the call to a second nurse who eventually revealed details of the former Kate Middleton’s condition.

Concerns over privacy and the media, which had surfaced in England during the News of the World scandal and again when topless photos taken of Catherine were published, were quickly reignited.

But Prince Charles himself joked about the incident after being contacted by the radio station. News of the prank was also widely shared on social networks, with at least 5,000 links created and shared between Tuesday and Thursday.

At the time, royal commentator Robert Jobson said he did not believe the radio call had been intended as a serious invasion of privacy.

The hospital identified the nurse as Jacintha Saldanha. As news of her death spread, commenters flooded the 2DayFM Facebook page.

A user named Gary Dawson posted, “Shame for still having this sick call on website!! Shame on the DJs and shame on the radio station.”

At 10:54 a.m. ET, 700 comments had been posted since Wednesday. By 11:15 a.m. ET, the number had risen to more than 1,100 and was still growing rapidly. The Facebook page Hot30 Countdown, also used to promote the two DJs, did not have a post about the prank, but that didn’t stop people from commenting there.

The 2DayFM posts, including the audio of the prank, were deleted by 11:41 a.m.

Although it is unclear what scrutiny Saldanha had been under since the prank, the hospital said in a statement that it had been supporting her. Neither police nor the hospital had publicly blamed the radio station for Saldanha’s death.

But on Saturday the hospital released this statement:

“King Edward VII’s Hospital cares for sick people, and it was extremely foolish of your presenters even to consider trying to lie their way through to one of our patients, let alone actually make the call,” wrote hospital chairman Lord Glenarthur.

Management’s decision then to broadcast the recorded call “was truly appalling,” said Lord Glenarthur in the letter addressed to Max Moore-Wilton, chairman of Southern Cross Austereo, which owns the radio station.

“The immediate consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing their job tending to their patients.

“The longer term consequence has been reported around the world and is, frankly, tragic beyond words.”

Lord Glenarthur called on the radio station to take steps “to ensure that such an incident could never be repeated.”

At St. James’s Palace, a spokesman said, “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha Saldanha.”

The Twitter account for radio host Michael Christian (@MContheradio) had included five updates about the prank on Friday morning. By 11:22 a.m., the account had been deleted. The account for co-host Mel Greig (@MelGreigHot30) was also deleted. The station and its parent company, Southern Cross Austereo released the following:

“Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran has spoken with the presenters, they are both deeply shocked and at this time we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances. SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy.”

The full statement was also posted to the 2Day FM Facebook page and in one hour received more than 4,400 comments and 234 shares. One comment linked to an online petition to fire Greig and Christian. At the time of this writing it had received 1,985 online signatures from around the world. The introduction states, “Journalists should be held to higher standards.”

But there were also calls for a step back from the immediate tragedy.

“Do you know why patriots like myself defend this kind of speech until my dying breath?” posted a CNN commenter. “To find that answer, ask yourself this: Who decides what kind of speech is appropriate or inappropriate? Who decides what kind of speech is offensive or not? What if you have the power to decide? At what point does an opinion that differs from yours become offensive to you? And what will be the penalty for my supposed offense?

“We can never afford to go down the road if defining right speech from wrong speech. It throws everything else into doubt and opens the doorway for tyrants and the fringe to persecute those who are not like minded.

“The nurse, for whatever personal reasons she might have clearly over-reacted. It is sad. But that is all it is. Nobody should be prosecuted or penalized over this.”

Others fired back, arguing that not all speech is protected and that no one has immunity from the negative effects of reckless actions. Still others said the discussion was pointless, since “Australia does not have explicit freedom of speech in any constitutional or statutory declaration of rights”

Another CNN commenter offered this:

“Let us also remember that she was not a native English speaker – she was front line reception at a major international private hospital where ability in many languages is the priority, and those calling may be all of stressed, powerful, and arrogant – not people to be called upon to give references before being given assistance. And that could not have been changed simply because a UK royal was in the building. So the supposed point of the “prank” – Australian xenophobic mockery of an English accent – was actually a gross exhibition of cruel racism in a world far larger than they could apparently imagine, on top of a gross breach of medical privacy, data protection, and journalistic ethics, which the radio station should never have allowed, and no one should have re-broadcast.”

“Here’s a social experiment for you,” wrote James Breen on the Hot30 Countdown page. “Try treating people with common decency and respect.”

Before the puck is dropped, before the first jump ball, before the players take to the field, the action often first takes place in social media.

Going Social

• Social media makes teamwork easier
• Social media doesn’t wait to spread the news
• Social media becomes a scoreboard
• Social media: Friending a cause
• Social media by the numbers

Whether they are posts of motivation, announcements, or words of encouragement, social media can now be as much a part of the game as any playbook, piece of equipment or strategy.

Games are rescheduled and canceled, fundraisers begin, concession stands get staffed, news is broken, coaches and players communicate and communities lend support — all in social media.

The high school sports climate is changing.

“I came from the newspaper industry” Shannon Kinney, owner of Dream Local Digital in Rockland, said. ”It used to be that you’d wait for the newspaper to come out in the morning, or the 6 o’clock news at night, to know what happened in the world that day. Now that’s not how it works at all. Now things are getting pushed to us on our phone. We’re seeing things via email. You might be on Facebook or something else to see what happened that day.”

Kinney delivers presentations around the country on the subject of social media. Her business helps companies develop strategies to keep up with the changing times. She recently spoke to authors at Maine Authors Publishing about marketing. Social media isn’t just changing the world, she told them, it’s changing the conversation.

“Marketing today is very conversational,” Kinney said. “The way you interact with people is different now. It’s much more about connecting and about conversation. It’s about interacting with people in this way.”

Kinney said statistics show that 2.7 billion times each day, somebody posts something on Facebook to which someone else responds, whether by liking it or sharing it. That’s 2.7 billion conversations happening in a 24-hour period.

At the high school sports level, many of those conversations deal with upcoming games and events. The days of a phone chain to inform people of cancellations is long gone.

“It’s a different world today than when I was coaching 10 or 12 years ago,” said Ted Moccia, the principal at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and a former football coach. “There are ways to use it to coordinate and communicate to kids and talk to kids.”

Student athletes’ increased activity on social media sites has forced adults to keep pace by learning Facebook and Twitter to stay connected. In some schools, teachers and coaches are adapting and using what social media has to offer. They are taking that social media conversation and expanding it.

“If you’re reaching kids, you’ve got to be there,” Kinney said. “If you’re not reaching kids, you’ve still got to be there.”

Social acceptance

The Winthrop High School field hockey team won the Eastern Class C title this fall and advanced to the state championship. They were the talk of the town, and received their share of verbal congratulations from the community.

But those well wishes extended well beyond the town line. Through Facebook, friends and alumni were encouraging the Ramblers from afar.

“I think that’s pretty important,” junior Alyssa Arsenault said. “It pumps me up to see all the fans that we have saying good luck to us. I find it encouraging.”

Winthrop field hockey had its own Facebook team page. The team used it to share photos and motivational quotes, and established their bond as a team through social media, as well as in person. Alumni and friends of the program were also part of the conversation.

“We had every member of the team in our group,” senior Jessica Scott said. “Before every game and before states, everyone was posting big paragraphs that were encouraging or motivational. It was a good way to pump each other up.”

Many teams are using the team page concept. Some have open groups while some are private and members need to be approved. Such pages not only include announcements and changes to game and practice schedules, but also provide a forum to share photos, videos and encouragement. Many coaches offer instruction or motivation to their players prior to games on their pages. Others recognize players  following a game.

When Lewiston High School was looking for a new girls’ soccer coach, players organized a page to entice eventual coach Butch Dow to apply for the job. When he saw the support he had, it was an easy decision. The page had more than 100 followers by the time he was officially named the coach.

“That wasn’t the kind of support I was (expecting), but I was really taken aback by some of the alumni that commented on there and wrote letters of support and thanks for me,” Dow said at the time. “It was really heartfelt. Knowing that I had the support of so many alumni made me feel like I was ready for this position.”

Social media isn’t just a quicker and easier way to communicate. It allows for new ways to communicate. Artists use social media to sell their wares. Restaurants use it to entice diners. Businesses don’t just promote products, but build followings. Sports fans find scores and sports news while sharing comments and opinions. The Maine Principals’ Association, which governs interscholastic activity across the state, is even in the process of creating its own Facebook page.

The social aspect makes it more interactive. It promotes conversations and expands the dialogue, whether it be products, sharing of photos, scores or other news from high school sports. There’s also an underlying theme that is more than just conversation. The discussions often lead to actions, whether it is being enticed to buy a product, eat out or go to a particular game, support a team or donate to a cause.

“The impact of social media is changing the way people communicate,” said Kinney. “Egypt was brought down by people who gathered and mobilized on Twitter.”

Socially unacceptable

While schools and athletic programs are finding ways to benefit from social media, there are also misuses. Social media can be dangerous and hurtful, if used inappropriately. A public forum and a lack of sound judgement can make trouble.

“When I read these cases, I realize that common sense isn’t quite as common as we’d like it to be,” said Lee Green, a business and economic professor at Baker University in Kansas.

Green’s expertise is sports law, which has included issues with social media.

“There are so many athletic directors and principals who have coaches, assistant coaches and trainers at a school and a vast majority of them are great people and wouldn’t do anything inappropriate,” he said, “but it seems like at every school there’s that one knucklehead that ends up posting something that’s totally inappropriate.”

Facebook began in 2004 while Twitter followed in 2007. Since then, abuses have been on the rise. They include students threatening students or posting inappropriate photos. There have been students that have found Facebook pages created in their name by someone else, or students creating a page to mock a teacher or coach. Quite often, school administrators arrive to work Monday morning and face problems created in social media over the weekend.

“There’s been a flood of cases since 2004,” Green said. “It wasn’t until 2006, 2007 and 2008 that these issues started to arise.”

Many schools have student codes of conduct and student athlete codes of conduct that set a standard for student behavior. In dealing with social-media issues, the real legal issue is drawing the line between policing the student body and infringing  upon the students’ right to free speech.

Green says the standard for these cases dates back to a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case that says students don’t shed their constitutional right at the school door, and that students do have free speech rights.

“But then, they modified that by saying that schools do have the authority to suspend students if the student’s speech creates a material or substantial disruption of the educational environment,” Green said.

The problem social media creates is that some issues take place off campus, and on personal social-media accounts.

“So the question, which is not entirely, clearly answered yet, is what is the authority of schools to discipline students for off-campus speech?” Green said.

In 2011 there were six significant Superior Federal Court cases that dealt with social media. Five of those cases were ultimately decided on appeal. All six tried to appeal to the Supreme Court but were turned down.

“What they basically said was that the substantial disruption standard is the standard that should be used,” Green said. “In the six cases, three of them were won by the students and the discipline was overturned by the courts.”

One of Maine’s highest-profile incidents happened at Oxford Hills, when a coach accidentally posted inappropriate photos of himself on his personal Facebook page. Oxford Hills dealt with the situation swiftly, and the coach resigned his position as a teacher and coach.

“I think we were very fortunate that we do have good policies in place and good regulations,” Moccia said. “We followed those and that allowed us to handle it successfully. I think any time you talk about social media, it’s about that. You’ve got to have appropriate policies in place.”

Between Internet access and the use of school computers, schools have had policies dealing with online use and abuse for years. Moccia said the policy must also constantly evolve, not because technology is advancing, but because of how student communication is evolving.

“Our adolescents today are so connected and feel this need to be connected,” Moccia said. “So it becomes, what policies do you put in place to ensure they’re safe with it, but yet understanding when they are being connected individuals?”

Oxford Hills has three policies that deal with computer use — an electronic social media networking policy, a student computer/Internet policy and an employee computer/Internet policy. All three set boundaries to protect from inappropriate use of social media, but they also try to set standards.

“Realistically, it’s looking at what are people doing on our network and our server … but it’s also about teaching responsibility when you go to Cafe Nomad, a local restaurant, and you have school equipment. What are you doing with it? What’s the expectation and how do you use it appropriately?”

Expanding boundaries

Coaches and team pages take social media use another level further away from school grounds. At Leavitt Area High School, Athletic Director Jeff Ramich is active on both Facebook and Twitter and has coaches that are, as well. He says it is important to have boundaries for both adults and students when it comes to social-media use.

“I want adults to run team pages,” Ramich said, “so they’re the ones that are in charge of who’s allowed to see it. Most are private and by invitation only. That’s the way it should be. They have the ability to delete any negative comments. If someone wants to have a team page, I’m all for it. I really am because of the ability to share information. But I also want an adult running it.”

Florida and Missouri drafted legislation trying to prohibit teachers from using social media to communicate with their students. Neither was ever enacted because teacher’s unions threatened action on the grounds of allowing free speech.

Moccia said Oxford Hills doesn’t want to police social media and restrict usage. The goal is to educate students on how to use it properly and appropriately. When they stray across the line, the administration is prepared to deal with it.

“It really is how you educate your students as to what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate,” Moccia said. “We want our students to have a good understanding of what is a good search engine, and where am I finding accurate information and where am I not? These pieces are important, too. It’s really about the educational component.”

Green said the problems with social media and the issues that schools have to deal with won’t be going away any time soon.

“In all honesty, I think the problem’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “The 20,000 high schools in the United States and all the K-through-12 schools are struggling with how to deal with this. Part of the problem is that there isn’t a clear legal standard yet. Problems are already rampant, but I think it will take a few years for the issue to get sorted out.”

Because the Supreme Court has yet to address any case regarding social media, the standard remains the same. The definition of what constitutes a “substantial disruption to the school” is what muddies things.

“One of the court of appeals cases said that it did create a kind of buzz back at the school, everyone was talking about it, but the court very specifically said that a generated buzz is not a substantial disruption,” Green said. “When does it reach that dividing line? If you’re a principal, athletic director or coach trying to discipline a student or student athlete, it’s a tough call to make.

“It isn’t until we have a uniform, national standard that schools will really know what they’re allowed to do,” he said

kmills@sunjournal.com

First I would like to explain this strange headline to my international readers. “Grow a pair” (not ot be confused with “grow a pear”) is American slang for stepping up to be tough and bold. Now, on with the show.

There is an infection overwhelming social media strategy development and the virus is fear.

I just read a number of reports all showing how CMO’s are still confused about what to do about social media. Really? It’s been on the table for at least 3-4 years now. Isn’t it time to figure things out?

I’ve had the true honor of working with some of America’s most beloved brands over the past few years. And I can report that the overwhelming reaction to social media by many successful companies is: “Can we please just make this go away!”

Once they learn that they can’t make it go away, they do the next best thing.: Shove it off to an advertising agency.

The fact of the matter is, “fear of change” is always the biggest obstacle to progress. Many of today’s CMO’s did not cut their teeth in the digital world, have not immersed themselves in the social web, and simply do not understand it.

It’s time these business leaders stop whining about social media, shatter the status quo, and grow a pair for the new year.

• Stop abdicating leadership to advertising agencies who just made Timmy from Accounting your community manager because he’s 23 and enjoys Facebook.
• If you still have a firewall to keep employees from the social web, grow a pair. Are you shaking your employees down for crossword puzzle books when they punch the time clock?
• Quit fighting over who owns social media strategy. It’s Marketing. Glad to be of help.
• Stop hiding behind your legal department as an excuse to not do anything. If you help them understand what’s at stake, they will help you. Lawyers care about your business too.
• Quit whining about how much time it takes to do social media. Take a little of that newspaper ad budget you’re wasting and re-direct some resources to the digital space.
• If you’re in pharma or another highly-regulated industry, stop waiting for guidance from the FDA or whatever agency and just figure it out. Whoever finally does that is going to have a remarkable competitive advantage.
• If you’re in the insurance, banking or wealth management industries, grow a pair and stop treating your employees like idiots who could not manage to send out a tweet without violating a freaking SEC regulation.
• Stop following a soul-less, cookie-cutter social media playbook devised by your agency. Learn enough about this new channel so you can ask the right questions and be a real leader in this space.
• If you are overwhelmed about social media and don’t know where to start, bring in help. If you want to find an advisor you can really trust, call me. I know a few I could recommend! Also, I recommend the Rutgers University CMD program (where I teach). In this remarkable executive program, you can get up to speed on the digital marketing landscape in one week.
• And most of all, please, please, please quit asking about the ROI of social media when this is simply code for: “If I keep asking for spreadsheets I can stall this thing until I hit retirement.”

So there. (Taking deep breath).

Please. Look around you. Which companies are creating new value today and achieving breath-taking business results? Which companies are declining quickly, and why? You’ll discover that if you don’t have a digital strategy, you are most likely on a path to irrelevance. Don’t go there.

In 2013 it’s time to do this thing. How are you going to integrate social media and digital marketing so that you’re not just checking a box. It’s time to master these platforms to make them work for you. Are you with me?

Mark Schaefer is a marketing consultant, author and college educator who blogs at {grow}. You can also follow him on Twitter: @markwschaefer.

This article originally appeared on {grow} and has been republished with permission.

Find out how to syndicate your content with Business 2 Community.

The emails arrived in quick succession and got progressively worse. The nasty name-calling turned into to vague threats.

Several years ago, Kailee Kovach, now a 15-year-old ninth-grader in cyber school, got the burst of messages from an unknown sender one evening while at her Pittston home. Not surprisingly, the threats were frightening, Kovach said, as she didn’t immediately know the source. But she was struggling with a bully in school, so she soon had a pretty good idea.

Back in the old days (as in 10 years ago), kids suffering from schoolyard tormenters could at least find sanctuary when they got home. No more. The blinding rise of cellphones, the Internet and social media sites have made it easy for the harassment to continue at any time, day or night.

With the holiday season upon us and kids no doubt asking for gifts of even more technology and devices, parents “really need to understand what they’re putting into their son or daughter’s hands,” said Charles Balogh, a detective from the Luzerne County District Attorney’s office who specializes in cybercrimes. “It could be just as dangerous as a gun, or handing your son or daughter – who’s not 16 and does not drive – the keys to your car.”

Janene Holter, a special agent from Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office who travels the state giving presentation to schools on cyberbullying, was even more succinct.

“Don’t buy it if you don’t know how to use it,” she said.

Balogh strongly suggests parents monitor their children’s use of technology, not only to check for signs of bullying, but also to be sure they’re not the ones unleashing the harassment themselves.

For those on the receiving end of cyberbullying, one silver lining is though it can touch you anywhere, it also leaves hard evidence and a trail.

While the urge to immediately delete cruel texts or Facebook posts is understandable, Balogh said parents and kids should save and print the messages and turn them over to local police department. If that doesn’t go anywhere, take it directly to the District Attorney’s office. Even in the case of anonymous messages, law enforcement “can pinpoint where it’s coming from,” Balogh said.

The crime of “harassment,” which includes bullying by email and texts, can be punishable with a maximum $300 fine for a juvenile, and adults could also face a 90-day jail sentence, Shickshinny Magisterial Judge John Hasay said.

If the messages include a physical or death threat to another, as in Kovach’s case, the penalty is exponentially higher.

That crime of making “terroristic threats” is considered a first-degree misdemeanor or in some cases a third-degree felony, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine. On top of any harsh penalties a judge decided to give out, perpetrators could also be financially on the hook for any costs their threat caused, such as the evacuation of a building or emergency responders.

In her presentations to students, Holter tells the cautionary tale of a juvenile she names only as Gabby who made a death threat to another girl after the pair traded a series of escalating back-and-forth insults online. When police saw the evidence, she was immediately arrested in school and taken to a juvenile detention center.

Parents are not the only ones who can stop cyberbullying before it reaches such a critical level. Kids witnessing the attacks should step up and say something to an authority figure as well, Holter said.

Ignoring bullying can be a good initial tactic, but if it continues, action needs to be taken before it gets worse and children start to hurt themselves as a response, Balogh said.

It’s no secret that if it remains hidden and isolated, cyberbullying can be extremely harmful. With the explosion of technology, there are a multitude of ways for kids to communicate. And to attack.

“It’s happening every day,” Balogh said.

pcameron@citizensvoice.com

Last week I wrote an article about younger and older generations’ communication styles and career priorities.

Learning about each generation has made me wonder how my own age group shapes me. I was born in 1989 — the Millennial generation — and from personal experience, I think the Internet and mobile device boom is what has shaped my generation the most.

By the time I was 18, I had a multiple email accounts, Myspace (remember that?), Facebook, a cellphone and a laptop.

Now I always have my phone on hand, either to read texts or emails, listen to podcasts or Pandora, check Twitter and Facebook or browse Pinterest, YouTube or online articles.

I don’t realize how much I rely on the Internet until I have to go without it. This summer I went on a 24-hour camping trip and was shocked at how much I missed the web. I use it for work — often visiting more than 100 sites a day — entertainment and social connection.

There’s a line of thought that social media stifles Millennials’ real life relationships. As one person put it, Millennials are both more connected and less connected than any other generation.

I found myself agreeing with this opinion until I examined it more closely. Facebook is a pretty amazing tool — pictures and updates about friends and family from all over the world are all centralized in one convenient location. And when a funny picture or saying reminds me of someone, I can easily post it on their page.

The danger is when convenience breeds laziness. Facebook is a great tool for keeping up with long-distance loved ones, but when it becomes the No. 1 way you keep up with your friends across town, maybe there’s a problem.

I’m grateful for the opportunities the Internet and social media provide. The trick for Millennials — and all age groups — is learning the best approach to all these new(er) developments.

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MANILA, Philippines – It was a sad week in the Philippines, as typhoon Pablo hit Visayas, Mindanao, and parts of Luzon.

As of posting, nearly 500 are dead and more than 500 are missing due to the typhoon.

This week’s social media wRap takes on a more somber note as we list down the stories that made us remember how fragile life can be.

In the midst of all the sadness though, a post or two inspired and reminded us that there is hope.

#PabloPH: tragedy, painful lessons, and hope
MoodMeter: Sad

As it made its way through different cities and provinces, Pablo toppled trees, uprooted crops, destroyed homes and tore families apart. Rappler stands in solidarity with the victims of Pablo as they begin the difficult task of rebuilding their lives.

So let us absorb the mass of unwanted shared personal information and images that wash over one, like some great viscous tide full of stuff one would rather not think about — other people’s need for Icelandic lumpfish caviar, their numb faces at the dentist, their waffles and sausage, their appointments with their therapists, their personal hygiene, their pimples and pets, their late babysitters, their grumpy starts to the day, their rude exchanges, their leaking roofs, their faith in homeopathy, their stressing out, and all the rest.

Now, I’ve been on Twitter for a long time, Facebook even longer, though in a more limited capacity. And I’ve never noticed these topics permeating my timeline. Let’s just take a look. These are summaries of the first 20 tweets on my timeline:

1. Link to story on Wall Street job losses.

2. Link to story about startup funding.

3. Joke about Senate’s Jim Demint.

4. Link to a robotic arm project created by teenagers.

5. Link to story about nuclear energy news in 2012.

6. Link to two podcasts about social science and free speech.

7. Joke about Harvard and the presidency (part of a longer conversation).

8. Link to a story about a new drilling permit in the Arctic.

9. Link to John McAfee blogging story.

10. Link to story about Jim Demint resigning.

11. Link to new Star Trek movie teaser.

12. Link to story about The Verge party.

13. Link to story poking fun at Financial Times for lame hip hop references.

14. Link to M83 music video.

15. Link to story about tax incentives in New York.

16. Link to a Montreal comedy festival.

17. Quote from a link proffered elsewhere in my timeline.

18. Analysis of recent election.

19. Difficult to parse joke.

20. Link to Polish children’s books from the 1950s.

Now, you may or may not consider this an interesting set of information, but I do. And that’s the point! You’ve got the big political news of the day (Demint), the big financial news (job cuts at Citi), a continuing big tech story (McAfee), a story about an area of interest (startup funding), a neat thing (robotic arm!), a whimsical thing (Polish children’s books!), energy news, movie news, party news, new podcasts, and a music video from a band I like.

Sadly, though, there is nothing in this stream about waffles or the dentist, anyone’s therapist, pimples, roofs, grumps, homeopathy, or any kind of Icelandic specialty food item.

My diagnosis is simple, Roger: your friends and associates are terrible and boring. Being that you are a smart and interesting guy who would distill only the finest information from any social network, the problem is the garbage going into your feed, which can only come out as garbage in your column. And that garbage is being created by the people who you choose to follow and know.

So, the manly, un-Generation Wuss thing to do, would be to simply stop communicating with all of your friends. You can finally stop hearing about all their loathsome life activities like getting psychological help, petting their animals, and having a hard day sometimes. Maybe stop talking with people all together. Without their insufferable problems like enjoying eating and having their teeth cleaned, you will be able to think in peace.

Perhaps you should get back to the classics of Western Civilization. I mean, does Job complain about his hard days? Does Ulysses go to the dentist? Does P.G. Wodehouse eat Icelandic lumpfish caviar? Who needs friends when you have these men of intellect and action?

Or, if you want (I’m serious here!), I’ll provide you with some more detailed social media consulting, helping you create a presence that’s actually useful. These tools are only as good as the network you create on them. And if you’re being honest about what you see on Twitter and Facebook, you’re a terrible builder.

Americans, you are spending every waking minute of your life online—or at least a sizable portion of your days.

According to Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report released this week, Americans spent 121 billion minutes on social networking sites between July 2011 and July 2012, up from 88 billion the previous year. Apps captured a large portion of those minutes, accounting for a third of overall social networking time.

Source: Nielsen

Facebook topped the list of most-visited social networks, as expected, but time spent on Pinterest’s website increased by more than 1000 percent year-over-year. Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter are also growing in popularity (and sucking away more of your time).

Apparently, spending all this time socializing online makes us feel really good about life. Nielsen reports that 76 percent of users have positive feelings after checking in on social networking sites. (Another fun fact: a third of 18- to 34-year-olds are on social media sites while using the bathroom. Way to multitask, everyone.)

Source: Nielsen

So, what exactly are we talking about when we’re Facebooking, tweeting, Tumbling, and pinning? A lot of our conversations revolve around what we’re watching on TV and trouble we’re having with companies. Data on the “second screen” phenomenon—using your smartphone or tablet while watching TV—is solidifying. Nielsen reports that 44 percent of American tablet owners and 38 percent of smartphone users have their devices in hand while watching TV. Almost half of those surveyed by Nielsen said they used social media to reach out to companies’ customer service arms.

Not surprisingly, mobile Web and smartphone apps are driving the increase in our online time, by 82 percent and 85 percent, respectively. Now that we carry our computers around with us wherever we go, tweeting or checking Facebook to pass the time has replaced reading a book or people-watching (unless you’re tweeting about the people you watch).

Social media traffic on PCs has dropped 5 percent in the last year, though time spent on social sites has increased 24 percent, Nielsen says. We may be turning to our phones for Web-surfing, but when we do use PCs, we’re on them for increasingly longer periods of time.

Now put down that phone for a bit and go outside.

(CORDIS) — From the city’s mean streets to Facebook, the police are responding to ever-changing developments and have expanded their beat from the streets outside our door to the virtual pathways of social media, and in so doing, making sure that people are kept safe and criminals apprehended.

A new report discusses in detail how social media can be used to support police work – from compiling criminal profiles based on their ‘Likes’, to communicating with the general public. The study is an outcome of the COMPOSITE (‘Comparative police studies in the EU’) project, which is funded with more than EUR 6.6 million under the Security Theme of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

The report, ‘Best Practice in Police Social Media Adaptation’, is based on in-depth analyses, interviews and group discussions with information technology (IT) experts and officers representing the police forces of 13 European countries. The report reveals that, used in the right way, social media can help to improve trust and understanding between the people in an area and their police.

This is COMPOSITE’s second report on technology adaptation and it effectively brings together the experiences of the pioneers and early adopters of social media among the European police forces.

One example from the United Kingdom reveals that many police stations actively use social media as a regular part of their normal business. The police officers act as their own press office and use the social media to keep the people in their constabulary informed about their activities, and publish warnings or search warrants.

Project coordinator, Dr Sebastian Denef, from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT) explains that moving into cyberspace and using these social media platforms is in part inevitable, and that positive outcomes can be achieved if properly embraced.

“Police work in general and specific incidents are discussed in the social media anyway. Therefore, the question is not whether the social media are appropriate for police topics, but how the police forces get involved and reap the benefits. If the police is not active, others fill the void,” remarked Dr Denef.

One example is an unofficial Facebook page offering news on the Berlin police, with more than 15,000 fans. And in the Dutch region of Haaglanden, a Twitter channel of a self-appointed police fan has some 2,500 followers. The lack of a trustworthy police presence in the social media can thus provide a fertile ground for rumours, speculations and misunderstandings.

Another outcome of the report in favour of social media is revealing that traditional communication platforms such as newspapers, TV and radio are not effective channels communicating with the younger segments of the population, groups that are very important for many aspects of police work. Social media also proved to be very useful in exceptional situations like a terrorist attack or a disaster. In a major crisis, social media are a proven means of communication to keep people informed independent of the police IT infrastructure.

The report examines case studies, one of which was conducted during and following the 2011 United Kingdom riots and allowed the researchers to add insights from a situation where British police forces used social media during a crisis situation. The researchers can see social media as new public spaces – where the police must be present and visible.

Another example occurred in April 2011 when the Helsinki police assigned three officers full-time to the task of producing a virtual police station on a number of social media platforms. In the first few months alone, they received about 250 reports from the public. The Netherlands, too, already has virtual police stations in operation.

In spite of the potential benefits, important questions still remain to be answered; for Germany there are legal issues, while in other countries, such as Great Britain or the Netherlands, the legal hurdles appear to be lower. A major legal and procedural issue for the police forces is cooperation with service providers like Facebook or Twitter, private companies that are based abroad, under foreign jurisdiction. Here, the police forces will have to collect and evaluate additional experience. However, these efforts are seen as worthwhile against the potential benefits of social media use for the police, which are described in the report.

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