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Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
World Social Media Day: 10 golden rules to be 'social', responsibly
Remember the saying, 'Think, before you speak?' In today's digital world, it's 'Pause, before you share!' Every June 30, the digital world pauses to celebrate World Social Media Day, a global festivity to honor how platforms like Facebook, X (formerly, Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp have reshaped our conversations and connections. What began as a nod to the rapid evolution of online communication has grown into an annual reminder: social media connects nearly half the world, sparking movements, lifelong friendships, and sometimes, strife. But beyond likes and hashtags lies a deeper question – how do we stay 'social' without losing our humanity and mental sanity? On this special day, let's explore ten golden rules to help you post, connect, and engage responsibly – so the next scroll, tweet, or share becomes a mindful exchange that uplifts rather than divides. After all, good digital manners make good human connections. Let's dive in! Know the day, know the history Understanding why we celebrate grounds our behavior. On June 30, 2010, Mashable initiated this day to mark the global impact of social networks. Since then, users have grown to approximately 4.9 billion globally in 2024. It's a reminder that what began as entertainment has evolved into instruments of learning, activism, and community. Recognizing the day's origin reminds us that social media isn't merely entertainment – it's an evolving force for communication, learning, and even mobilization. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo Celebrate the good, but stay critical Social media has fueled grassroots activism – from the Twitter-fueled protests in Iran and Egypt during the Arab Spring to activist hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. These show social media's power – but with influence comes responsibility. Alongside sharing, we must also question, verify, and stay alert to echo chambers and misinformation. Be a thoughtful sharer: Verify before you amplify As we said, 'Pause, before you share.' Remember, clicking 'share' adds you to the content's diffusion chain. Before hitting 'share,' pause. Experts stress the need to 'pause and verify' before resharing, a major theme from UN and EU campaigns. According to spectrum-guided etiquette, always verify sources and intent – is it accurate, current, relevant? Misleading posts cause real-world harm. Make it your personal mantra: if you're unsure of the source, don't share. It's a simple step to curb the spread of fake news. One golden rule: don't click 'share' unless you'd share it face‑to‑face. Better safe than viral – but wrong. Hashtag activism: Use hashtags wisely Hashtags can unite people, ignite change, and frame narratives. But 'hashtag activism' isn't activism unless followed by action – real-world or online. Remember, hashtags are tools, not bandwagons. #MarchForOurLives drew millions of voices; the real measure came when those voices joined protests. Movements like #MeToo (over 19 million mentions) show that hashtags can catalyze action – but real impact comes afterward. #Hashtag activism raises awareness, but it's not enough. Don't just tag – support, donate, volunteer, and engage thoughtfully. Mind the algorithm (but don't become its puppet) Social media platforms rely on algorithms to curate your feed – and these invisible scripts can narrow what you see. Leading figures like Spain's Prime Minister Sánchez are calling for algorithm transparency and accountability. You can't rewrite the code – but you can diversify your network, follow different viewpoints, and turn off personalization settings for more balance. Be kind, not combative Online anonymity often emboldens nasty behavior. Spain's leader is even urging governments to tie accounts to real identities to curb abuse. Meanwhile, various communities, like Reddit's r/WomenInNews, instituted rules banning unverifiable screenshots to slow misinformation (no sharing content without attribution or verification). Be courteous. No trolling, no harassment – if/when provoked, don't respond. Trolls seek attention and reaction. Ignore, block, or mute trolls instead of fueling negativity. Save your energy for people and discussions that matter. Keep in mind, 'netiquette' matters: don't say online what you wouldn't say in person. Safeguard privacy – yours and others' Social isn't oversharing. Refrain from sharing personal details – like home addresses, GPS check-ins. Respect boundaries: don't tag people in everything, don't screenshot private moments, don't post addresses or personal info. Privacy guidelines stress using strong settings, being selective about friends, and respecting confidentiality. Digital footprints last forever: post with care. Balance engagement with purpose Strive for authenticity: mix positivity, insight, and inspiration. Whether sharing news, personal stories, or user-generated content, tag thoughtfully, credit sources, and offer context. A well-balanced feed builds trust and connection. Influencers and creators can build communities, but labels matter. Use your platform for authenticity, not just clicks. If you're blogging, vlogging, or even posting family photos, remember the power these share to create digital footprints – both uplifting and permanent. Maintain your mental space Social media is a double-edged sword – entertaining, but potentially overwhelming. Practice digital self-care: mute toxic comments, unfollow negativity, and set usage times. Just like one Redditor suggested, 'delete or turn off comments…comments can change the context of your message.' Mental health matters. It's okay to curate your experience. Social media should serve you, not stress you. Reflect and recharge: Be social offline Social isn't just digital. No substitute exists for laughter in the room, hugs, and shared meals. Step away, breathe, and connect face-to-face. Social Media Day is a great reminder to balance virtual friendships with real ones. Treat it like celebrating your birthday: take a moment offline to enjoy life beyond the feed. Celebrate real-world community: reach out to a friend, walk in the park, savor the moment – real life matters the most. Prince Harry's Shocking Speech at NYC Summit: Meghan's Online Torment Unveiled
The Independent
08-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
DNC chair unloads on David Hogg in Zoom call: ‘It's really frustrating'
Democratic Party chair Ken Martin said Sunday that he wasn't stepping down from the job after Politico obtained audio of a meeting at which Martin expressed doubts about his ability and willingness to unify the party. In the audio recording, Martin lays the blame on the party's continued infighting at the feet of one of his youngest colleagues, March for our Lives co-founder David Hogg, and claimed that Hogg had 'destroyed' his ability to lead the party out of an electoral abyss it found itself in after 2024. 'I don't think you intended this, but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to. So it's really frustrating,' Martin told Hogg on the Zoom call, according to Politico, after stating:'No one knows who the hell I am, right?' 'I'm trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to to put ourselves in a position to win,' claimed the chair on the call. On the same Zoom, Martin would go on to make a frank admission: that he'd faced his first doubts about his desire to hold his job any longer. 'I'll be very honest with you, for the first time in my 100 days on this job … the other night I said to myself for the first time, I don't know if I wanna do this anymore,' said Martin on the May 15 call. The Independent reached out to the Democratic National Committee for comment. A spokesperson for the party released a statement from Martin to Politico, in which Martin said he was 'not going anywhere.' 'I took this job to fight Republicans, not Democrats,' said the chair, according to Politico. 'As I said when I was elected, our fight is not within the Democratic Party, our fight is and has to be solely focused on Donald Trump and the disastrous Republican agenda. That's the work that I will continue to do every day.' Martin's gripes are at least somewhat grounded in reality. The relatively unknown Minnesota Democrat-Farmer-Labor party chair was selected to lead the party after 2024 over several other candidates including at least one with arguably better name recognition: Ben Wikler of neighboring Wisconsin's Democratic Party. Since his election, Martin has not been timid from news cameras but has still struggled to step out of the shadow of Hogg, whose activism in the wake of the Parkland school shooting propelled him to national prominence long before Martin. Hogg, as well, continues to generate headlines — further complicating Martin's position. The brash, young DNC vice chair vowed earlier this year to support primary challenges against the party's graying electeds in Congress, drawing immediate and visceral anger from the party's chastened yet still powerful establishment. Hogg and Martin personally clashed over this issue, and have apparently not reached an amicable compromise. There's also the issue of the party's overall brand, which is in tatters after the 2024 election. A botched campaign season saw former President Joe Biden, wracked by physical and mental decline, run for re-election until the summer, well past any viable point for his party to hold a primary to select his replacement. He then was unceremoniously jettisoned from the Democratic ticket in favor of his former running mate, Kamala Harris, after he appeared lost and confused onstage during a debate with Donald Trump — who'd go on to win the general election. Martin and others face questions about why those closest to Biden, including Martin's predecessor, insisted for months (years, even) that Biden's decline was a right-wing conspiracy and a result of journalists ginning up a fake story. Harris's defeat in 2024 also saw the party fail to make gains in the House while losing multiple seats in the Senate, ending a Democratic Senate majority.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
David Hogg draws attacks from both sides as his star rises
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg is seeing his political star rise — along with the number of attacks lobbed at him from both parties. Hogg has drawn ire and praise from Democrats for his move to get involved in the party's congressional primaries, part of what he says is an effort to bring about generational change. Republicans, meanwhile, have long sought to turn him into a foil. And now that the 25-year-old activist-turned-party-leader finds himself at the center of a feud among Democrats, the GOP sees a golden opportunity. 'Someone brought up to me today that your average voter doesn't know who David Hogg is,' said one national Republican operative. 'What's your strategy? Why are you guys talking about him so much?' 'It's the most obvious point to show the national media, which is the Hogg wing taking over the Democratic Party,' the operative continued. Hogg has seen his profile steadily grow since he first burst onto the political scene following the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when he was a senior. He quickly became one of the leading voices of the gun control movement and later co-founded March for Our Lives. In February, he was elected a vice chair of the DNC. And in April, he made waves when his group Leaders We Deserve launched a $20 million initiative aimed at primarying incumbent Democrats in safe House seats with the hope of electing a new generation of members. Hogg explicitly noted that the group would not target front-line members or members in competitive districts. So far, the group has only publicly endorsed one candidate, backing Illinois state Sen. Robert Peters (D) in the open seat race for the state's 2nd Congressional District. But Hogg's decision to engage in the primaries has drawn criticism. While many members of the party acknowledge that Democrats need to do a better job of paving the way for new voices and a cohort that's more responsive to the party's needs, others have criticized him for overseeing the effort while serving as a DNC leader. Now, the Gen Z firebrand is contending with the possibility of losing his DNC position altogether. Members of the organization's Rules and Bylaws Committee decided earlier this month that they would hold an electronic vote in June to determine whether they should redo the elections of the vice chair positions won by Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. The decision was made after one of the candidates who lost, Kalyn Free, challenged the way the election was conducted. Free's challenge is unrelated to Hogg's efforts to primary Democratic incumbents. Hogg has criticized the move, saying it's 'impossible to ignore the broader context' in which it's being implemented — a nod to the criticism of his primary efforts. Other Democrats have pushed back on Hogg's claims, including Kenyatta. 'David's first statement out of the gate was, here's the Democratic Party doing some maniacal thing to push me out because of what he's doing with his PAC,' Kenyatta said in an interview with MSNBC earlier in May. 'David knows that that is not true.' In an interview with Fast Company, Hogg did not go into detail about his conversations with Kenyatta but said he sees their disagreement as a 'strategic' one. Howard Chou, a DNC member from Colorado who voted for Kenyatta but not Hogg during the initial vice chair election, praised Hogg and his ascension within the party, saying that for Hogg 'to rise to a level that he's gotten to is pretty impressive, to be honest.' But Chou acknowledged Hogg's DNC vice chair tenure 'can be seen as tumultuous' and said he disagreed with the idea of engaging in primaries as an official. 'He's done some revolutionary things, but we should still hold to standards and rules of … what we're doing here … we're the governing body of the national Democratic Party,' Chou said. DNC Chair Ken Martin, who has lauded Hogg as an 'amazing young leader' and said he had 'great respect' for him, has also told reporters he's against Hogg primarying members while holding the vice chair position. 'No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election,' Martin said on a press call last month. Some Democrats are more conflicted. For Paul Eckerstrom, senior vice chair of the Arizona Democratic Party and a former DNC member, it's a question he has struggled with. 'Whether a challenger in a primary is successful or not, I think it's probably a good thing even for the sitting congressperson to at least, you know, pay attention to their constituency, pay attention to certain issues and not get complacent,' Eckerstrom said. 'So I have a hard time criticizing David for doing what he's doing.' At the same time, Eckerstrom added, 'maybe Ken's got a point' about not primarying members while being a sitting DNC member. Hogg has defended his plans and says Democrats need to better meet the moment as the party looks to reset heading into 2026 and 2028. 'We can't just hope that Donald Trump screws everything up so much that voters come begging back to us for any alternative.' he told Fast Company. 'We don't want people to feel like they're just voting for the less bad of two options. What we're trying to do is light a fire under everybody's ass in our party. And frankly, if that makes you uncomfortable, maybe you should question whether or not you should run.' Still, the drama surrounding Hogg and Free's efforts to challenge the election results are threatening to deepen divisions within the party as Democrats look to win back the House and possibly the Senate next year. Republicans, for their part, can't get enough of Hogg. The party has sought to paint Hogg as a liability for Democrats, tying him to every young, progressive Democrat primarying an incumbent. 'If he wants to work to elect more Democrat crazies and encourage more wokeism and nonsense, I'd say fantastic,' said Brian Seitchik, an Arizona Republican strategist and alum of President Trump's campaign. Democrats do not necessarily look at Hogg as a threat to their incumbents. While they argue Hogg has seen major success in the activist space in co-founding March for Our Lives, some Democrats note he is not the only influential player in the party and still has more experience to gain. 'He's an unbelievably talented activist and advocate, and he certainly has the ear of many influential people and in the progressive movement he's an all-star,' said one Democratic strategist. However, the strategist added that they did not understand how Hogg's group primarying other Democrats would be beneficial to the party. 'He's leading an organization that is publicly calling for primaries against longstanding Democrats on the basis of are they good? Like let's define that,' the strategist said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Head of Democrat campaign arm David Hogg to be FIRED as turmoil rocks the party
The tenure of Democrat National Committee (DNC) vice chairs David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta could be short-lived as the party is still dealing with fallout from Donald Trump 's sweep in the 2024 election. A decision made by the party's credentials committee shockingly alleges that the duo were improperly elected in February. A survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Hogg parlayed the tragedy into a career in anti-gun activism, predominantly as a founder and board member of March for Our Lives before his winning bid to be a DNC vice chair earlier this year. Hogg's tenure as one of the five vice chairs of the DNC has been marred in controversy. Outside of his DNC vice chair role, Hogg runs his own political action committee - Leaders We Deserve - which holds as a key tenet a promise to raise primary challenges to incumbent Democrats. In April, DNC Chair Ken Martin publicly blasted Hogg, stating that 'no DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger.' Hogg's group believes that too many current elected Democrats are 'unwilling or unable to meet the moment and are asleep at the wheel while Trump is demolishing the economy, challenging the foundations of our democracy, and creating new existential crises for our country by the day.' Leaders We Deserve has raised over $1.5 million since January of 2025, and raised over $11 million in the 2024 electoral cycle. In total, the group has pledged a '20 million investment to usher in the next generation of Democrats.' The entire membership of the DNC will vote next upon the whether to accept or reject the recommendation of the credentials committee to hold another vote for the two vice chair seats. If another election is held, all five original candidates would be able to seek the two seats again, including Hogg and Kenyatta. In the wake of the decision by the Credentials Committee, Kenyatta posted a thread on X with his take on the announcement. 'The credentials committee believed, as they stated, that they are remedying a procedural flaw,' Kenyatta wrote. 'But doing so the way they did, is a slap in my face. I'm frustrated, but I'll be ok,' Kenyatta added. The original complaint about the vice chair election was raised by Kalyn Free, a Democrat party activist from Oklahoma who was one of the original five candidates. Free's challenge argued that the DNC did not follow its own rules meant to ensure gender parity in party leadership. Free claimed that the procedure used was unfair to female candidates and all but ensured the election of male candidates.
The Independent
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Parkland survivor David Hogg to be ousted from DNC following investigation into his election
A Democratic National Committee panel has found that gun control activist David Hogg and a colleague were not properly elected to be among its five vice chairs earlier this year, paving the way for their removal. Hogg, 25, rose to national prominence after surviving the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, and co-founding March for Our Lives. Donald Trump and the Democratic Party's failure to earn the trust of the electorate. Hogg made waves last month by announcing that his new organization, Leaders We Deserve, co-founded with Kevin Lata – the former campaign manager of Florida Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the first Gen-Z member of Congress – intends to support primary challengers to 'out-of-touch, ineffective' House Democrats occupying safe congressional seats that, it believes, have not done enough to oppose the Trump administration. In what has already been interpreted as an attack on that strategy, the DNC's Credentials Committee on Monday upheld a complaint brought by Oklahoma activist Kalyn Free, who lost out on one of the vice chair positions in February 1's elections and subsequently accused the DNC of breaking its own rules on gender diversity, potentially invalidating the elections of Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta. A full DNC vote will now be held on the committee's findings, which could mean new elections being staged, with the same five candidates, including Hogg and Kenyatta, on the ballot once again. 'While this vote was based on how the DNC conducted its officers' elections, which I had nothing to do with, it is also impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party which loomed large over this vote,' Hogg responded in a statement. 'I ran to be DNC Vice Chair to help make the Democratic Party better, not to defend an indefensible status quo that has caused voters in almost every demographic group to move away from us. 'The DNC has pledged to remove me, and this vote has provided an avenue to fast-track that effort.' Kenyatta also reacted strongly, calling it 'a slap in the face' and complaining that he had 'worked [his] a** off to get this role and have done the job every day since I've held it.' He also rejected media framing of the ruling as an internal effort to oust Hogg, saying the story was not only about his colleague, 'even though he clearly wants it to be.' For his part, DNC Chairman Ken Martin said: 'I am disappointed to learn that before I became chair, there was a procedural error in the February vice chair elections. 'The Credentials Committee has issued their recommendation, and I trust that the DNC members will carefully review the committee's resolution and resolve this matter fairly. 'I thank all of our officers for their service, including Vice Chairs Kenyatta and Hogg, and look forward to continuing to work with them in their officer posts as this matter is resolved.' Before Monday's ruling, Martin had posted on X: 'I am more committed than ever to introduce the slate of structural reforms that enshrine these values into the official rules of the Democratic Party. These reforms will require all party officers – including myself – to remain neutral in primaries. 'They will ensure no party official can abuse their position to tilt the outcome of an election. Whether you're a challenger or an incumbent, 18 or 80, the rules must apply equally. 'Do I have opinions? Of course. But when you lead the institution tasked with calling the balls and strikes, you don't get to also swing the bat.' His thread could likewise be construed as a rebuke of Hogg, whose plans to put the heat under Democrats he considers complacent have ruffled the feathers of party elders, most notably Bill Clinton's former strategist James Carville, who labelled him 'a contemptible little twerp' in a NewsNation interview before changing his tune.
