The Insta drug deal

Forget ‘Silk Road’, the newest way of selling and buying drugs is through the widely publicised photo/video sharing site, Instagram. The web’s favourite illegal drug market where buyers are anonymous finds itself competing with the very public, selfie-central networking site. So why do drug dealers post on Instagram?

The hashtags used on Instagram, for example ‘#drugsforsale’ which has 408 photos captioned, attracts thousands of people to look at pictures and profiles. The more popular the hashtag, the more people will look at, ‘like’ or even comment on the photo. If searched #drugsforsale this profile is shown displaying explicit pictures of different drugs.

These are the comments for this photograph, many people are asking for prices and where the dealer will send the drugs to. This user’s bio starts with “If anyone wants to request a certain pill hit me up!” By writing this, anyone that views his profile will know he sells and are likely to private message him for more information.

Users ignore the social media site’s rules "People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos." Instagram, owned by Facebook, have blocked certain hashtags associated with the selling and buying of drugs but there is not much they can do. Not every photo hashtagged with ‘drugs’ will be a picture of a drug substance, and there are many more abbreviations that will be labelled, this making it almost impossible to block them all. Police state it is classed as a low priority crime and with so many people online it would be difficult to track them all down.

A popular drug selling Instagram profile with 2593 followers, but don’t be fooled. ‘Acidelivered’ has been uncovered as a fake selling profile, copying pictures from ‘ISdelivered’. The fake profiles send unsafe drugs to buyers which can potentially kill them.

The account provides an email address to get in touch, looking through the profile it is obvious that people are very happy with the drugs and class them as ‘safe’. The payments are often taken through MoneyPak which is a system that uses an untraceable, prepaid credit card. This account has left an email address but most dealers use Kik or Whatsapp to finish the sale and remain anonymous off of Instagram.

Illegal activities on social media sites are inevitable; the large audience range makes it an opportunity to take. Users of Instagram are mainly aged 18-34, which is also the main age range for use of recreational drugs. These are often used for nights out and can be obtained by dealers in clubs; the most popular U.S club scene drug is now 2CI. This is a new drug which mimics the effects of ecstasy and LSD, they are not available in the UK yet so many social media dealers from the US are sending them to the UK buyers.

Although certain hashtags are now banned, there will be no stopping the controversial use of recreational drugs over social media sites. How long before Twitter starts dealing? It is apparent these illegal activities cannot be avoided and will undoubtedly never end.

What do you think?

Twitter Updates its Direct Messages System

Twitter has recently introduced a new feature that gives the user the option to send a direct message (DM) to users who don’t follow them. This is a change from the previous direct messaging system which only let users send direct messages to people who mutually followed each other. Although it may lead to more spam messages received for some people, it also could be beneficial to some brands and companies who use Twitter for customer service issues or as a marketing tool.

The new direct message feature has been rolling out to certain users over the last few weeks, testing a setting that allows users to send and receive direct messages from others without needing to mutually follow one another. This latest update has already been featuring on the site for specific users for a couple of months – for instance, the Twitter account Magic Recs, which sent follower recommendations in direct messages to users who decided to follow their Magic Recs account.

This new direct message feature has led to discussions of whether Twitter will launch a standalone direct-message application separate from the Twitter app, showing more similarity to WhatsApp messenger or Facebook messenger app. Twitter has also been learning from the success of Snapchat, which has managed to engage many users through their instant picture messaging platform. Twitter’s latest app update, specifically for Android Tablet users, appears to have borrowed heavily from Snapchat by providing users the ability to draw on images that they tweet, or illustrate their own whole image.

Currently, the direct messages are used a lot for spam messages, however, they do also have more valuable uses for brands and companies. Direct messages still work in a similar way to tweets, only allowing a maximum of 140 characters for each one sent, but they have the added benefit of being private. This means the new change to the DM system will be very beneficial for brands that use Twitter as a customer service channel. If these brands allow their accounts to accept DMs from anyone (and not just those that they also follow) they will then be able to receive private customer service messages from customers, even if they aren’t already following them. This will allow customers with problems, that they wish for customer service to solve, to send their queries over a private channel instead of publicly broadcasting it across the net. This can benefit some companies because it moves complaints out of the public eye, as they do not necessarily want all their customers to see that someone has disapproved of their service.

However, at times having customer service in the public eye can be beneficial because it means that a customer service channel does not have to respond to every individual query as others might be able to search through the hashtags for a similar problem finding the answer without sending in a query themselves. This is one of the benefits of Twitter – that it is in the public eye and conversations are shared in a public manner making them searchable. If these conversations are moved into a private arena, then it takes away some of the value of the site.

The move is likely to have been introduced as a method of allowing brands and businesses to receive private messages from their followers, as opposed to allowing companies or individuals to spam Twitter users. The move comes following Twitter’s recent partnership with the TV provider Comcast, in an attempt to promote its service and create a new form of social TV. This new DM feature allows Twitter users who use features like this to communicate with brands and companies without being followed by the brand itself.

However, this new feature will only work if a user has opted in to allow messages to be sent to them by any user, which might be important for your brand. Yet the average Twitter user will not want an influx of spam messages into their individual direct message inboxes, so if you do not want to be sent unwanted inbox messages make sure you check your Twitter settings and be sure that “Receive direct messages from any follower” is unchecked.

What do you think?

Do you think it is beneficial to be able to send Direct Messages to any user on Twitter?

Is there potential for a ‘superpower’ social media site?

With so many people having more than one social media network on which they post and keep updated with their friends, it can be hard to keep track of all the latest developments. Does this provide the space for a potential merger between social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook to create one ‘superpower’ social media? Or are the main social media networks too far developed to be able to join with each other?

Image – www.insidefacebook.com

When Twitter was still a start-up and emerging as a new social network some rumoured about the potential for Facebook to buy Twitter, however, with the way that both social media sites have now established themselves individually, the potential joining forces has disappeared. There are a number of reasons why it does not seem feasible for Twitter and Facebook to join forces, primarily because they are fundamentally different social media networks – used for different purposes, attracting different audiences and different formats.

Facebook is a site used to keep in contact with friends and family, in which you have a network of people who you know and would be happy to call a ‘friend’ and therefore would share pictures and more personal news with. On the other hand, Twitter provides a level of anonymity – you can use a username and create an alias if you wish – this detaches from the personal nature of social networking where you are connecting with friends. On Twitter you may have followers who you personally do not know – it can be a way to follow and receive updates from your favourite celebrity, your favourite sports side or companies relevant to your professional work life. Subsequently the nature of what you choose to share on these sites will vary. These fundamental differences between Twitter and Facebook therefore mean that it would be difficult to combine the two without confusion of what content you would choose to post. The reason people choose to have accounts for multiple social network sites is because they use them for different purposes – therefore there is little point in trying to merge their use.

Not only is the purpose of these social media platforms essentially different, their communication styles and formatting are at odds. The short and snappy sentences that are used on Twitter, with a maximum of 140 characters per post, are far from the 420 character potential with which you can create a Facebook status. Although both have the similar options of a ‘Like’ or ‘Favourite’, Twitter also features the ability to retweet (RT@) and to reply (@). Even though Facebook has taken some inspiration from Twitter by introducing the hashtag (#) on Facebook, this has been done as a way for users to follow specific topic of conversation within a social network’s stream of user comments. Due to the privacy of most Facebook accounts, this still provides a slightly different service to the one which is offered on Twitter. The addition of hashtags to Facebook will make it easier for friends to see what other friends are talking about via topic, acting as a sorting mechanism so one can filter the information that they really want to see on Facebook. Facebook called it a “first step” in their announcement of hashtags – indicating that there may well be further developments to sort how you view information on Facebook. However, some may argue that this change has come in response to people using hashtags in their Facebook posts, implying that they post similar content to what they would on Twitter, but this still does not suggest that the two sites could function together efficiently if they were merged.

Image – www.insidefacebook.com

For those who do wish to combine their Twitter and Facebook feed and make it easier to access their tweets and status updates in one place it is possible to add Twitter to your Facebook page, this enables you to share your tweets to your Facebook friends. However, this does rely on you using Facebook and Twitter in the same way, for instance the majority of your Facebook friends will not be interested in your tweets relating to what you are working on in your professional life. Therefore, there are still barriers to whether Facebook and Twitter could be used in the same way.

What do you think?

Would there ever be potential for Twitter and Facebook to merge? What do you use these social networks for, do you post similar content on both?

Instagram Tips: 5 Unmissable Techniques To Get Massive Likes On Instagram

#1 Using popular hashtags

Hashtags provide a good way to get likes on Instagram for your photos. Hashtags can be based on the subject matter, the style of photography or processing, Instagram filters, location or your apps. You can also choose from one of the popular tags used frequently, such as #photooftheday, #instagood or #tigers. Explore the hashtags used by other users. If you feel that adding these tags from your phone is difficult, you can post your photo from the phone. Then using Instagram's web based interface, copy and paste the hashtags from a draft in your email, a saved document or use Tagstagram.

#2 Participate in community activities

Innumerable Instagram activities on mobile social networks provide options for you to participate. One of the biggest community activities is perhaps JJ's daily forum that was started by Josh Johnson, an Instagram user with nearly 280,000 followers. With thousands of members, his forum has expanded to now include a network of editors working to highlight photos every day. To participate, follow Josh Johnson, find out the daily theme and submit your photos. The themes are generally based on style or content, such as black and white or reflections. Other Instagram communities include Steetphoto bw, Photooftheday, Ampt, EyeEm and many others.

#3 Give and take

The most important element for success at Instagram is engagement, just like any other community or social network. The more you give your time to other members and interact with them the more they would do the same for you. Like others' photos and leave thoughtful comments to catch their attention. Paying more attention to photos by people outside your immediate group of friends will get you more likes and followers. In turn, their friends will notice you and your network will expand faster. Be selective about the photos you like, since it pays to engage with Instagrammers interested in similar kinds to photography.

#4 Be creative with photo-editing

You might want to try Instagram's filters, but don't stop there. Although they are amazing, there are unlimited options with Android and iOS apps for enthusiastic mobile photographers. Use Adobe Photoshop Express or Snapseed for photo-editing, or PicCollage or Fuzel, creative apps that let you generate striking collages. Create your signature style and add your mark to your photos. Once you establish your distinctive niche or style, you will get noticed more easily and soon build a substantial following.

#5 Get featured by Instagram

While getting featured by Instagram is rather difficult, this could get you thousands of followers in a day. Instagram has not disclosed its policy or criteria for choosing users for their suggested users' list. If you do get selected, you would stay on for one week, giving you the greatest possible exposure on the social network. If you don't know about the suggested users' list, you can check it out in settings-find and invite friends-suggested users. The list varies immensely and you could feature on it for an interesting perspective, a unique style or for your niche.

Facebook Is Testing A ‘Trending’ Feature In The News Feed

Following on from the introduction of hashtags to the site in June, Facebook is experimenting with a new feature, similar toTwitter’s ‘what’s trending’, which lists, alongside the News Feed, popular topics being discussed on the site in real-time.

The Wall Street Journal was the first publication to report the development, releasing the screenshot above, as well as an official comment from a Facebook spokesperson, who said that the social media giant would release further details if the feature was released globally:

We are running a small test of a unit on News Feed. Right now it’s only available to a small percentage of US users and it is still in the early stages of development.

Facebook has made no attempt to disguise the fact that they are trying to break into the real-time conversation racket, a racket currently wielded almost exclusively by Twitter. Twitter has had a trending box for a while, allowing users to find and follow the most popular conversations in their area, as well as discover what is being discussed around the world.

Twitter was also the first site to introduce hastags, a feature only recently adopted by main rivals Facebook and Google+. Hashtags, if you don’t know, allow users to tag their posts and tweets so that they become part of a specific conversation. Facebook also tested a trending section on its mobile website earlier in the year.

If Facebook’s new features manage to promote real-time conversation on the site, users will spend more time looking through their News Feeds in order to follow, and become part of, the chatter. The more time users spend in the News Feed, the more adverts they will see. Driving real-time conversation on the site, then, could greatly increase Facebook’s ad revenue.

The ‘Twittersphere’, the nickname giving to the world inhabited by all the threads of real-time conversation bouncing around the microblogging site, could soon have a rival: The ‘Effbeesphere’, perhaps?

What do you think of Facebook’s trending feature? Is it a big threat to Twitter?