Taiwanese fashion designer Ming-Pin Tein named his AW13 collection ‘Bye Bye Youth’. He sent the models down the catwalk to Wankelmut’s remix of One day/Reckoning, in knitted beanie hats and oversized white clothes. The clothes were structured, with clean lines. I loved the music, and I loved the clothes. Thumbs up.
In today’s world it seems that everyone is online. Whether having fun or working. This means the criminals have an entire new world to exploit. From phishing for your personal details, domain squatting – where people buy domains as soon as possible if they are associated with a brand, and counterfeit good. It is estimated that 1 in 6 products bought online are now fake.
This is why you need a brand protection services. Just like people need car insurance and home insurance, you need to protect your brand, and yourself, online. A company such as Netnames can help you to get covered.
Another way to protect yourself is to be vigilant. If you get an email that just does not look right, then don’t click on it. Be careful about putting your date of birth online. With your name and date of birth people can access some of your online account and maybe even your bank account.
Also make sure you have a good password. The most popular password is actually ‘password’. Have a hard password which includes numbers and upper case letters.
If you have your own blog or website then make sure you have some security. As many as 40,000 websites are compromised per week. You work hard to build your brand, so protect it.
Have you had a bad experience online? How do you protect your brand? Comment below.
BRIT Awards – Emile Sande, Ben Howard see social media surge, Muse get little
New figures reveal that Brit Winners saw a significant rise in new social media fans following her win and performance at the BRIT Awards ceremony.
Emeli Sand, who picked up the awards for Best British Female and Best British Album, saw a 60% increase in the number of people choosing to follow her on Twitter.
According to figures released by Musicmetric, the global music analysts, in the 24 hours following the Brits Sande the number of people following Sande on social media increased by 100% to 20,000, compared with 10,000 in the 24 hours leading up to the awards ceremony. Her Twitter growth was the most notable with nearly 15,000 new followers compared to almost 9,000 the day before.
Sande wasn’t the only big winner at last night’s star-studded ceremony; relative newcomer Ben Howard who took home the prizes for Best Male Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist saw a massive spike in his new social media fans with an almost 250% increase on the previous day. The singer saw the most substantial leap in his new Facebook fans jumping to nearly 4000 in the last 24 hours compared to 600 the previous day.
Growing popularity on social media was also reflected in the iTunes charts. Emeli Sande, Grammy winners Mumford & Sons and Brit nominee Jake Bugg have all seen their albums enter the top ten of iTunes’ UK album chart.
Devon glam-rockers Muse, in spite their performance with a 60-piece orchestra, did not see a significant increase in fan uptake. On the day of the Brits, Muse gained 12,000 new fans on social media platforms, compared with the previous week’s peak of 15,000 new fans on the 15th February.
Gregory Mead, chief executive of Musicmetric, said:
“Awards ceremonies – like album releases, marriages, and deaths – have a big impact the online profile of artists.
“With more and more music fans are choosing to listen to and discover music online through social media and platforms such as Spotify, it is important that music industry bosses understand this activity in order to maximise revenue.”
| Artist | New social media fans:Pre-Brits
(Previous 24hrs: Feb 19th-20th) |
New social media fans:Post-Brits
(Last 24hrs: Feb 20-21st) |
Percentage change |
| Emeli Sande | 8,737 | 27,433 | 213.99 |
| Ben Howard | 1,243 | 4,241 | 241.19 |
| Muse | 9,753 | 11,969 | 22.72 |
| Adele | 44,915 | 48,927 | 8.93 |
Forget the metronomic RPGs, the mindless shooters and embrace the true epicness that is the Real Time Strategy genre. It has been a sad time for the RTS game recently. The shift to consoles and mobile gaming has not been kind. That said 2013 is setting up to be a great year with both Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, and Rome Total War 2 set to be released. Here are my all time favourite top ten RTS missions. Apologies for those which I have left out, there will probably be many. Please add comments if you think I’ve missed something.
10. Homeworld 2 – Mission 9 Counter attack
Homeworld 2 has some very tough and challenging missions. In every mission you fight as an underdog and occasionally I found it a bit frustrating. It takes you so many missions to find the Dreadnought (a very powerful war ship) and capture the damn thing that the best Homeworld 2 mission has to be mission 9, the mission when you finally get to use it. The trouble is its main weapon, the ion cannon, is knocked out of commission almost immediately and swarms of enemy soon approach. This a very challenging and enjoyable mission.
9. Starcraft 2 – Defend to the Last Missions
Some of my favourite RTS missions are where you have to just hold out and survive for long enough against overwhelming force. In Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty there are three of these missions (if you include the last Protoss mission) and they are all brilliant. There is something very satisfying about mowing down millions of Zerg units as they batter uselessly against your walls. The missions in Wings of Liberty are by in large excellent. Cleverly designed and very fun to play.
8. CnC Red Alert 2 –Allies Cuba Mission
Red Alert 2 was a great follow up to Red Alert 1 even if it wasn’t quite as good as its predecessor. There are a tonne of very cleverly designed and fun missions. The best is probably mission 11: Operation Fallout where you have to stop nuclear missiles being launched from Cuba using the chronosphere.
7. Gettysburg Scourge of War – On to the Roundtops
This relatively unknown highly realistic game is fantastic and one of my favourite games of all time. Superb if you’re a fan of history. Every mission has different scenarios (all of which can play out differently for replay-ability and they are all excellent and tremendous fun to play. My favourite has to be the ‘On to the Round tops’ mission. You must lead your rebel division to reverse history and capture and hold Devils Den and Little Round Top.
6. Cossacks – Ukrainian Mission 1
A simply brilliant mission as many are in the excellent ‘Cossacks’ but this was definitely my favourite. Being the first mission of this campaign you might think it would be easy and short. You would be wrong! This mission is hard and then some. Starting off as a small group of Serdiuks (a unit which has no melee ability, a problem in this period in history!) you must fight your way through to a friendly village. Upon reaching the temporary safety of the village you are soon overwhelmed by the innumerous enemy. Your only hope? A thin palisade wall which will fall quickly.
If you somehow survive you must fight your way out across the map to save your captive Cossack brothers before it’s too late. A very difficult but extremely rewarding mission which is brilliantly designed.
5. Hearts of Iron 2 – Poland
Without doubt one of the best RTS games ever created although its tremendous depth and steep learning curve will not appeal to everybody.
The game lets you recreate the events leading up to and through WWII as any country in the World. My favourite and most challenging option was taking over Poland in 1936 and preparing and attempting to stop the coming German invasion. It should be impossible but it’s not. Once you’re done with Germany you can then go about taking over the rest of the world.
Berlin falls!
4. Rome Total War – Julli campaign
You can’t have any RTS list without including a total war game. Rome Total War is the best game in the series so far (Rome Total War 2 is coming out this year). I really liked the way you took over one of three roman families (something which won’t be available in the sequel) and the ultimately took over the whole of Rome for yourself. My favourite was the Julii family
3. Supreme Commander – UEF mission 5
This game blew me away the first time I played it. It is truly epic and was miles ahead of its time. There are many great missions. What is unique about Supreme Commander is that your game map continues to expand throughout the mission. So you start off in a relatively small area and the map expands as you complete objectives. I really liked the fifth UEF mission operation forge. The opening briefing sets the mood very well. The war is going against you and you are now the last hope. It’s very challenging. You have to build defences against nuclear missiles and defend against constant attacks. ‘The strategic launch detected’ warning chills you to the bone the first time you hear it. A great game and a great mission
2. CnC Red Alert – Spy mission
There are many great missions in this brilliant game but the absolute best has to be the fantastic allies mission 10. One of the best RTS missions ever. Stalin is losing the war and in fury he’s about to launch a mass nuclear strike. Your only hope is to get to his launch controls and blow the missiles up in mid-air.
This mission starts off as a standard but excellent base mission. You mine resources build units and kill your enemy. But after you capture the enemy control centre that’s not the end as the mission continues inside. Your small specialist team of spies, engineers, medics marines and yes Tanya (if you can find her) must deactivate all those missiles before time runs out. It feels like a James Bond mission but as an RTS. Brilliant!
1. Starcraft Brood War – Patriot’s Blood (The traitor mission)
Zerg!
The best RTS mission has to come from the best RTS game of all time. Starcraft: Brood War. The only installation mission on Brood War, and my all-time favourite mission. What makes this mission so great is how its woven into the plot of the whole game and a major plot point takes place during it.
You start the mission in a Terran installation with nine marines. Your mission without wanting to give too much away, assassinate the traitor. But before you know it objectives and the whole story line have changed. Now the entire facility has been penetrated by the Zerg and there all coming for you! You’re going to have to fight your way through but the damn critters are burrowed in the walls and floor all around you. Worse still you’re running out of time. No mission encapsulates the true fear and horror of the Zerg as well as this one. I remember the first time I played this over ten years ago being absolutely terrified as I desperately tried to keep my small band of units together as I fought through the swarm. Without doubt the best RTS mission of all time.
Liz Earle’s Detox Tips
When I was first told that fasting on a fruit only diet would give me more energy, or that giving up some of my favourite foods and cups of coffee would leave my skin glowing, I was skeptical. But the principals of detoxification are based on traditional “cures” practiced by European naturopaths for centuries. Giving up certain foods, or existing on fruit alone for twenty-four hours, is not hard, especially when the benefits are so great. I now give my system a regular detox boost, even if it is only over the weekend. A short detox programme is a great way to feel more energised and refreshed. It is the perfect way to revitalise the body, renew energy levels and restore glowing skin and when you have finished you will feel far fitter and healthier and motivated not to return to bad habits.
Better Breakfasts
Starting with a healthy breakfast is not only the best way to boost energy levels for the day ahead, but is an easy, positive and delicious daily start to a new you. Refined sugars, found in most breakfast cereals, are the first thing I give up if I’m embarking on a health spring-clean and cutting them out gives me far more sustained energy throughout the day. On cold winter mornings, I switch to a bowl of porridge made with water and sweetened with honey, complete with a sprinkling of sunflower seeds. Or if I’m craving for something fresh, I opt for chopped fruit and berries with a dollop of natural yoghurt. You also can’t beat a protein-packed organic boiled egg that also contains useful vitamins A, B-complex and E, as well as minerals such as zinc, served up with toasted wholemeal soldiers and a glass of orange juice (vitamin C will help increase your uptake of iron from the egg yolk).
Midday Meals
Not only is eating soup (of any kind) a good way to get various vitamins and vegetable fibre in a simple, healthy way, it’s also been proven to help shed a few pounds. This is because when food and water are finely mixed to make soup, they enter the stomach together and stay held in a homogenised state as they pass through our intestines. The increased volume of water and semi-solid food then stays in our system for longer than if we were eating food and drinking liquid separately, so we feel fuller for longer. According to researchers at Nottingham University, this means we are much less likely to over-eat. This is especially true of whizzed-up blended soups which reduce hunger-pangs the most due to this homogenisation effect. Never more useful than at this time of year, I’m swapping lunchtime sandwiches for a simple home-made soup and even pop mine into a thermos if I’m out and about, so I don’t miss out on the health and beauty benefits.
Winding Down
If a little overindulgence has left you feeling a little ‘liverish’, you might like to try a ‘liver wrap’ – a simple but highly effective way to stimulate the detoxification process in the liver. You will need: A hot water bottle, a flannel and a small fluffy towel. Wearing just a dressing gown, gather everything together and lie down somewhere comfortable. Start by applying the cold damp flannel to the right-hand side of your body just beneath the ribcage to cover the liver area. The coldness felt by the skin briefly lowers the temperature of the tissues beneath and your body’s reflexes respond by increasing circulation in that area. Next, place a really warm hot water bottle on top of the damp flannel to retain moisture and stimulate the autonomic nervous system. This in turn boosts blood flow to the liver and supports its detoxification activity. Cover the hot water bottle with a soft towel and rest on a sofa or go to bed. This is a useful therapeutic treatment to carry out at bedtime and you can even fall asleep with the hot water bottle in place. Otherwise, simply put your feet up and rest for 30 minutes (the longer the better). Three things to love about the liver wrap – it’s inexpensive, simple and it works.
Follow @LizEarleMe on Twitter for more tips on wellbeing. You can buy Liz Earle products at Boots.
It seems 2012 has come and gone! We have gone through the best and worst of Hollywood and I am here to bring you my personal favourites and least favourites of the year that was apparently and supposedly to doom us all! I should note that I have not yet seen some movies that may (or may not) have ended up on this list, such as Beasts of the Southern Wild and Battleship for examples.
(Note: In alphabetical order)
– BEST –
1) Argo: Ben Affleck has not only grown to be a very sophisticated actor but also an exceptional filmmaker. It’s a movie that is so bizarre that it could only work as a true story. The cast nothing short but fantastic, Alan Arkin and John Goodman bring great performances and the tension is absolutely thrilling. A great authentic thriller that feels like it belongs to the great thrillers of the 70s like All the Presidents Men.
2) Amour: Making a film about love is quite hard to pull off, without having the emotions feeling forced or contrived. Michael Haneke delivers one of the most heart-breaking but inspiring pieces of work he has made to date! Emmanuelle Riva’s performance is astounding, really capturing the effects of old age and truly pulled my heart strings. The film may leave audiences cold but it has that brutal honesty about the themes of age, time and (inevitable) death. It certainly left me touched on a personal level (which is a rarity in this day of age).
3) Skyfall: Bond certainly came back with a bang! Sam Mendes promised to deliver a respectful tribute to this 50th anniversary of the film franchise. Not only was it one of my favourite Bond films but it was my favourite blockbuster of the year (yes, even found it better than The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man). Javier Bardem makes one of the most memorable Bond villains in a long time and it is quite refreshing the film overall is having fun rather than being grim (i.e. Quantum of Solace). The cinematography by Roger Deakins is beautiful as ever and Thomas Newman’s score all sounds very modern but also rings back to the classic Bond we know and love. I am certainly looking forward to Bond’s return.
4) Zero Dark Thirty: Quickly making a film about the manhunt of Osama bin Laden was going to be a hard task. Though with director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal (the same team behind the Oscar winning The Hurt Locker), all made sense that they were suitable with this material. Jessica Chastain delivers a strong and memorable performance that actually comes across as a character that has a lot of depth and subtlety. The fact that Bigelow knows how everything is going to end but still makes it one of the most exciting sequences on film. The huge plus about the film is it doesn’t glorify their success, they show you how it was done and you decide how you feel about it.
Honourable mentions; The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Looper and The Master.
– WORST –
1) The Amazing Spider-Man: I really wanted to like this film, I really did but it was even worse than Spider-Man 3. Andrew Garfield is a really good actor (see The Social Network for proof) and the idea of casting him as Peter Parker/Spider-Man did actually sound really good. Although the material he’s been given is awful, and it doesn’t help he’s going against one of the most one-dimensional villains I’ve seen. The visual effects looks terrible, as if they came out of a PS2 cut-scene and it also features one of the most cheesiest scene since Spider-Man. The only decent part of the film is Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy was a smart and self-dependent character rather being the damsel-in-distress.
2) The Expendables 2: This macho rubbish has gone on a bit too long, even whilst I was watching the first film. The Expendables are once again on a mission to fight one man and his army, and that bad guy is played by Jean-Claude Van Damme as Vilain (no, really! That’s his name). We still know nothing about the characters, the most we get is a running gag that Gunnar has an advance degree of chemical engineering (when in real life, Lundgren has a master’s degree in chemical engineering). This isn’t a case of ‘it’s so bad, it’s good’, it’s just a bad action movie that doesn’t separate itself from the next. This really wants to be a nostalgic trip of the action movies of the 80s and 90s, when all it makes me want to do is watch the movies that made them famous!
3) Taken 2: I was never a fan of Taken to begin with. It’s a mediocre action film that’s taking the story from Commando but is treated like an episode of 24. Liam Neeson looks incredibly bored and seems to being doing this sequel waiting for a cheque. The villains this time round are a lot dumber and don’t even make sure he has any chance of escaping. The worst part is there’s somehow going to be a third one in the works!
4) This Means War: For someone like McG that is still making movies to this day still shocks me! After the dreadful Charlie’s Angels movies and the incredibly underwhelming Terminator Salvation, he really brings his career to a whole new low! You have three talented actors from Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon in this unfunny, misogynistic and boring action/rom/com. The fact we’re supposed to be rooting one or the other when they’re clearly a bunch of juvenile agents who wasting the agencies time and effort to impress a woman is something I find really cringe worthy.
Dishonourable mentions: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dark Shadows, Lockout and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
– SURPRISE MOVIE OF THE YEAR –
Dredd: I was not expecting anything from this film but hearing the (somewhat) positive buzz, my curiosity grew and decided to give it a go! To my much surprise, it was really entertaining and very well done. The film is grim and violent but what did you expect from a Judge Dredd movie? Karl Urban makes the character worth rooting for and at least brings some charisma (despite going all Dirty Harry on his perps). The interactions between Dredd and Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) is the most interesting part of the film, showing the different perspectives of the law. It is a shame it wasn’t a box-office success but I believe it’ll have a cult-following in the near future.
– DISAPPOINTING MOVIE OF THE YEAR –
Prometheus: Now I’m not saying the film is bad (though depends how you look at this film), the production design, costumes and visual effects are top notch. The idea about faith and creation are all interesting but if only it had nothing to do with the Alien franchise. The mysterious derelict ship from Alien has lost its intrigue and the result is a bit puzzling. Not to mention the characters aren’t as memorable as Dallas and his crew in Alien (or even James Cameron’s Aliens). The reason I didn’t really put this on the worst list is because it did have some positives to the film (i.e. Michael Fassbender’s David was the most interesting character in the entire film).
– MOST ANTICIPATED FILM OF 2013 –
Man of Steel: 2013 is going to have another hefty year of comic book films, with Marvel initiating phase two to lead up The Avengers 2 with Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 3 (Captain America: Winter Soldier will be released in 2014). Though my interest is the upcoming Superman reboot, why you ask? Well it has been seven years since Superman Returns (remember that movie?) and it’ll be the first time that is not part of Richard Donner’s Superman. Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, the team behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, has created a story that feels relevant and interesting for a Superman movie. Zack Snyder is sitting on the directors chair and British actor Henry Cavill will be donning the suit (first time for a non-American actor to play Superman). What interests me is how this film will be received? It was just as intriguing back in 2004 that a Batman reboot was going to be made, and expectations were a bit low since the last Batman film at that time was Batman & Robin (remember THAT movie?). I’m very excited to see this version of Superman and I really do hope he soars this time round.
So it’s finally going to be here – On Wednesday night at 23.15 GMT Sony officially announced the Playstation 4 which will be available “holiday season 2013”.
In a live online broadcast viewed by over 16 million Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Andrew House took to the stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios in New York to reveal the name of Sony’s next-generation console.
The exec said Sony’s “most powerful platform ever” will allow “worlds to come alive with greater fidelity and intensity than ever before”.
House also noted that “ease of access regardless of location or device has been a priority” in the system’s development”.
“Our vision for the future is consumer centric and developer inspired,” he added, stressing that Sony is keen to enable developers to utilise “new business models that enable more flexibility including episodic and free-to-play”.
Lead PS4 system architect Mark Cerny was up on stage next. “We wanted to make sure nothing would come between the player, the platform and play,” he said. “Our main goal was to architect the system so as to support a breadth of experiences.”
Boasting 8GB of unified system memory, PS4 houses a “highly enhanced” PC GPU “containing a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two”.
It is also “centred around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor”.
Cerny then showed off the new Dual Shock 4 which will include many new features such as enhanced rumble, a touchpad, a headphone jack and a new Share button, which will allow players to record gameplay or screenshots and share them instantly. “Our goal is to make the sharing of video on PS4 as popular as the sharing of screenshots is today,” he said. PS4 will also support cross-game chat.
Then came the games. Games of note included Killzone: Shadow Fall was first; a First Person shooter which showed the main character in an epic shoot out in what seemed to be a shopping mall only to leap on to a wire being dragged along by a helicopter matrix style shooting out both adversaries on the ground and in the copter only to land on a building where the action cut and the share button was used.
This was followed Sucker Punch’s Infamous: Second Son. The demo showed a heavily-militarised city where citizens are closely monitored. However, people have started developing superpowers and revolting against big brother. There was no sign of series protagonist Cole.
Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono appeared on stage to demo Capcom’s new engine, Panta Rhei, which is being used to develop a new IP for the PS4 called Deep Down. There was raw response though when he said he was not there to talk about the next Street-Fighter game or the eagerly awaited Tekken vs Streetfigher – Missed opportunity I thought!
Unfortunately in the whole event the actual machine was not shown which lead to speculation that there would not be a physical machine at all as the majority of the software would be accessible via cloud gaming platform Gaikai. However since the launch this has been dismissed as the console’s actual specs have been announced.
This is really exciting news I think, if games players are truly honest games have been getting stale – although there have been original ideas and the PS3 has had a terrific run, it simply needs more power open to developers. You can always tell after a while because games tend to look the same across the genre.
Every life cycle of the Playstation has brought something new – for the PS1 it was games on CDs – its amazing to think now that a measly 700mb could power a game but it was the case back then and Ridge Racer was one such favourite. With PS2 it was games on DVDs. It is arguable now that the PS2 brought DVD media into the family home. Then we had the PS3 and with it not only did Blue Ray Dual layer Discs enter the home but HD TVs and gaming. They didn’t just arrive but was there to stay because now with the right TV you could watch HD Films and play the games without forking out on the expensive players. It doing so it beat the Microsoft brand in establishing itself as the High Definition disc brand of choice. Lets not also forget about 3D gaming that really the PS3 became a reason to don the specs outside of the frankly rubbish channels and over-expensive Blue-Ray players and 3D movies available.
I for one am really excited about what is yet to come. The price of the new console has been placed £400 (cheaper than the PS3 at launch but more expensive than the PS2 was). Even without a physical machine to view, it is already on pre-order from most stockists. Have a look at the trailers and view for yourself. I think the leap in technology is not as shocking as the transition from PS1 to PS2 but if you look closely the devil is in the detail. Not only that but as every gamer knows, it takes time for the best games to surface and it is still very early days yet.
Enjoy!
Drive Club
Watch Dogs
New research from youth charity reveals youngsters are facing rising abuse online – but also that more and more are becoming trolls themselves
YOUNG people are battling a tide of vicious internet troll attacks, with almost a third (32%) falling victim to cruel online comments in the last six months, a shocking new survey from youth volunteer charity vInspired, as part of its Do Something UK initiative, reveals.
Worryingly, more than two thirds (67%) of 14 to 18 year olds received the vile messages from someone they know – shattering the myth that troll attacks are only perpetrated by strangers.
A quarter (26%) of the 2,000 youngsters polled said they face regular attacks and have been trolled ‘many times’ during the last six months.
But the research also revealed that a huge one in ten young people (9%) actually admit to being trolls themselves by sending negative or abusive messages to someone they know, while eight per cent admit to targeting a celebrity online in this way.
Worryingly, there is evidence of a ‘digital disconnect’ about trolling, with one in five (18%) thinking messages sent in cyberspace are less damaging than insults hurled face to face – and with 16 per cent claiming they didn’t think the messages would hurt the recipient and nearly half (49%) believing it’s ok to say things online that you wouldn’t to someone’s face.
However the majority of youngsters (60%) agree sending trolling messages is wrong. In fact, almost a fifth (17%) are adamant trolling is worse than bullying in person.
And over a quarter (28%) think that trolls send messages online due to the anonymity of their actions, with 30 per cent believing trolls are too scared to do it in person.
Shockingly, nearly a quarter (23%) did so as they thought it was funny, with nearly a third (29%) trolling because their friends were doing it too and almost a fifth (18%) because they thought the person ‘deserved’ it.
The comprehensive study shows that Facebook is the most common place for victims to be trolled, with 45 per cent of those who have experienced it having had abusive messages posted on their own walls, while 28 per cent are the subject of slurs posted on someone else’s.
Of those who are trolled, one in five (23%) receive the abusive messages on Twitter, a further one in 14 (7%) are attacked on YouTube and one in 20 (6%) are abused on their own or on another person’s blog.
While the majority of messages (40%) denigrated a victim’s personal appearance such as their weight, 16 per cent focused on the victim’s religion and race. One in ten (8%) were even aimed at getting (boyfriends or girlfriends) friends to break up with the victim.
Almost a quarter (22%) rubbished pictures posted by the victim while one in 20 (5%) posted snaps the victim did not want to share. And in a sinister twist, one in 40 (3%) admit they have been blackmailed by a troll over intimate pictures.
The effect of the electronic messages is devastating, with almost a third (29%) of youngsters receiving them confiding they had ‘lost confidence’ after the attacks.
One in five (19%) felt they could ‘no longer trust those around me’ while 12 per cent admitted that they felt alone.
SO, in order to combat this rising tide of trolling, vInspired has launched a new campaign ‘Lolz not Trolls’, aimed at educating young people on the effects of their attacks and help them to learn how to behave correctly online.
Social media expert Professor Mark Griffiths, who is working with vInspired on the Lolz Not Trolls campaign, said the phenomenon is growing as more youngsters grow up in the digital world.
He defines trolling as: “An act of intentionally provoking and/or antagonising users by posting inflammatory messages in an online environment with the aim of provoking an emotional response from who the message has been sent to.”
But despite the wave of troll attacks engulfing the internet, young people feel there is very little help or guidance for how to tackle trolling.
Half (50%) of those questioned don’t know where to go for more information on trolling, with 38 per cent wanting to learn more about the issue from social network channel themselves, such as Facebook and Twitter.
A quarter (25%) are desperate for a comprehensive guide on how to use social media correctly, with 24 per cent asking for information on how to support victims of trolling and 26 per cent wanting to know where to go for support if they are being trolled.
The Wanted, Pop band
“Through the years we have met a lot of fans, ranging from all ages around the world. It would be horrible to think that these young people are becoming the victims of trolling, or are even trolling themselves. We’d like to encourage people to sign up to the Do Something campaign and pledge their support through the Facebook page.
Show that you can make a difference!”
Delilah, musician
These days if you are a teenager, the chances are that you have been born and brought up with a computer and you will know exactly the impact that things like trolling have on web users. Log onto Facebook and pledge your support to be more positive online!
Jazmine Franks, Hollyoaks actress currently going through a Trolling storyline
I recently had first-hand experience on Hollyoaks of exactly what trolling entails as my character Esther was pushed to try to commit suicide due to both on and offline bullying – it’s an awful situation for anyone to find themselves in. Thankfully many instances of trolling aren’t as severe but it’s not an experience anyone should ever have to go through.
In the 21st century, bullying doesn’t just stay in the playground, it follows you home to your computer and it’s getting harder to escape being victimised.It’s surprising how many young people don’t realise that what they write is sdo hurtful and the impact they have on the recipient. This is why the vInspired’s Lolz not Trolls Do Something campaign is so important – educating young people on how to behave online and empowering them to stand up and be counted against the trolls. This is why I urge you to pledge your support and sign up to take the pledge online at www.facebook.com/DoSomethingUK to be Lol, not Troll and help make the internet a happier, safer place.
So to help youngsters become aware of correct online ‘netiquette’, vInspired, together with Professor Griffiths, have created a downloadable guide on the top ‘dos and don’ts’ for using social media, with all the tips crowd-sourced from youngsters themselves.
This guide is available from the campaign Facebook page where youngsters are also encouraged to sign up and take a ‘pledge’ to ensure they use social media correctly:
· Look at what I write before I post – recognise how it might make someone feel
· Own what I write – take responsibility for what I say
· Live online the way I live offline – treat others how I would want to be treated
vInspired has also created a ‘Trolling under the Bridge’ experience at Waterloo’s IMAX underpass to show people the real effect that negative messages can have on people.
On 22nd February, displays of real life trolling messages will be projected and written on the walls of the underpass and people’s mood and response to these being measured to show the impact these do have.
Professor Mark Griffiths, Director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, said: “The ability to remain anonymous online can lead to people saying what they may not in person over social networking channels. Young people need to understand the consequences that these comments can have, and it’s important to teach them how to use social media correctly, to make the internet a safer and happier place.”
Terry Ryall, CEO at vInspired, said: “We have all heard of cases where youngsters have harmed themselves due to troll attacks – so writing a trolling message isn’t harmless fun, it’s potentially deadly. Our aim isn’t to attack the trolls, but instead to get young people to do something positive and pledge not to be a troll themselves, abiding by the ‘netiquette’ guide we have created.
“Through our campaign ‘Lolz not Trolls’ we are hoping to make a real difference to the way young people behave – and are therefore treated – online. We are encouraging all young people to sign up to our campaign page on Facebook – www.facebook.com/DoSomethingUK to take a positive step towards making the internet a more secure and enjoyable experience for everyone.”