Social Media

New social app for mothers launched

Peanut adopts the format of dating apps such as Tinder where mothers upload profiles and pictures and "swipe" to register their interest in each other.

Co-founder Michelle Kennedy was deputy CEO of European dating app Badoo and was also on the board at Bumble.

It is one of a growing number of apps aimed at helping parents to build connections.

Ms Kennedy said she was disappointed by the digital services available to new mums wanting to chat with others when she became a parent herself.

What does this purple bird mean?

If not, it will be only a matter of time before this weird little fellow is as familiar on your feed as a thumbs-up.

Trash Dove, a Facebook sticker which has bowled over social media in Asia, is the cartoon baby of American artist Syd Weiler.

The Florida-based illustrator drew the bird in September 2016 and subsequently created a set of Facebook stickers in January 2017.

Children share photo of terminally ill parents holding hands

The image shows Mike Bennet, 57, and wife Julie, 50, from Irby in Wirral, holding hands in a Merseyside hospice.

It was taken shortly before Mr Bennet died on Monday from a brain tumour.

Relatives and friends have launched a fundraising campaign to help the couple's three children, Oliver, 13, Hannah, 18 and Luke 21.

It raised thousands in the first 24 hours.

Friend Sue Wright said: "I told her the community would come together to help look after her kids - and she opened her eyes and smiled."

Saudi social media users break silence on violence against women

The hashtag #Break_Your_Silence_Speak_Up went viral among Saudi women who started sharing their bitter stories that often go untold.

One woman said that she has been locked up for a year inside the house after her mother learned that her father had raped her over three years. She now needs to be treated for depression as a result of the psychological damage she endured.

Students' 'build a wall' chant goes viral

Shot in a school cafeteria at Royal Oak Middle School, just outside Detroit, you can hear seventh grade students shouting, "Build a wall! Build a wall!" the day after Donald Trump won the presidency.

The chant matches what many of Donald Trump's supporters yelled throughout the presidential campaign whenever the Republican candidate, at rallies, promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

Viral support for meme victim hitting back at body-shamers

Lizzie Velasquez is a motivational speaker who has given TED talks and has thousands of followers.

She was born with a rare, inherited condition which means her body is unable to store fat.

"I'm writing this post not as someone who is a victim but as someone who is using their voice.

"No matter what we look like or what size we are, at the end of the day we are all human," she wrote on Instagram.

As well as Lizzie, other memes feature plus-size women, older people and those with a disfigurement.

Yahoo flaw allowed hackers to read anyone's emails

Jouko Pynnönen, a Finnish Security researcher from security firm Klikki Oy, reported a DOM based persistent XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) in Yahoo mail, which if exploited, allows an attacker to send emails embedded with malicious code.
In his blog post published today, the researcher demonstrated how a malicious attacker could have sent the victim's inbox to an external site, and created a virus that attached itself to all outgoing emails by secretly adding a malicious script to message signatures.

An American university is sending students acceptance Snapchats

Now, as well as posting an acceptance package, the University of Wisconsinin Green Bay will snap the good news too.

It says it's just keeping up with the times and it means potential students get the message much quicker.

"They'll definitely get their snap before they get their mail pack," says Admissions Officer, Katelyn Santy.

"Students get their snaps pretty immediately because it's a place where they are.

"They spend a lot of time there," she told WCMH-TV news.

Trump's win smashes social media records

Tens of millions of people shared their views on Twitter and Facebook during Election Day, a level of interaction that shattered existing records for political discussion.

Twitter (TWTRTech30) said that more than 75 million tweets related to the election had been sent by 3 am ET on Wednesday, the moment Trump claimed victory.

That's far more than the 31 million messages sent on Election Day in 2012.

Can social media be used to predict election results?

After Hillary Clinton had led throughout most of the campaign, she was also ahead in the BBC poll of polls on Tuesday with 48% of the votes to Donald Trump's 44%.

Number cruncher Nate Silver, of statistical analysis website FiveThirtyEight, wrote that morning that Mrs Clinton had a 71.4% chance of winning.