Social media is a highly valuable tool for retailers. eBay's research predicts that UK retail sales directly via social media are forecast to grow to £290m by 2014 from £210m.
Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images "How do I look? " It's the classic question women ask their friend in the shop changing room. Getting a friend's advice on a new piece of clothing, or even a new car, is all part of the shopping experience. But this is harder to do when shopping online or through a mobile. New innovations in social media are set to change this, and what people are calling 'social shopping' is predicted to boom. The very nature of social media means the platforms and the way they are used don't stand still. Social shopping may be in its infancy, but it's only going to grow. Our research predicts that UK retail sales directly via social media are forecast to grow to £290m by 2014 from £210m (a rise of 44%) as more and more retailers target consumers with personalised offers and deals on social networks.
Sweetie avatar by Lemz wins Dutch Design Award 2014. News: Amsterdam agency Lemz has taken away the top honour at this year's Dutch Design Awards for Sweetie: a virtual 10-year-old girl created to catch perpetrators of webcam child sex tourism (+ movie).
Lemz topped the Service and Systems category then beat five other category winners to be announced as the overall winner of the Dutch Design Awards, during a ceremony in Eindhoven last night. "Sweetie is not only a convincing example of what design can do for us, but it also questions the role of design," said the jury, chaired by head of Dutch science research company DSM, Atzo Nicolai. Lemz began the project to help international children's aid organisation Terre des Hommes raise awareness of webcam child sex tourism (WCST) and catch the offenders. "Men from rich countries pay children in poor countries to perform sexual acts in front of webcams," said Lemz.
They replicated the facial features and actions of a real child to create the digital avatar. Cyber-blackmailers 'abusing hundreds of UK children' 20 September 2013Last updated at 07:22 ET Blackmailers had demanded thousands of pounds from Daniel Perry before he killed himself Hundreds of British children are being blackmailed into performing sex acts online, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre has warned.
Abusers posing online as children talk victims into sexual acts or sharing of images, then threaten to send pictures to the child's family and friends. Ceop said in 12 cases over two years, 424 children had been blackmailed in this way - 184 of them in the UK. Deputy chief executive Andy Baker said the abuse "escalates really quickly". He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it could take as little as four minutes "to go from, 'Hi, do you want to get naked? ' Seven victims have killed themselves, including a 17-year-old in the UK. Another seven seriously self-harmed, of whom six were from the UK.
Mr Baker said: "We're talking about a very small dark percentage of [the internet] and this is what we need to police". One Click from Danger. During Panorama's investigation into the vulnerability of youngsters online, we found a number of cases in which teenagers and younger children had been approached by predators on social networking sites.
Keen to understand more about how this works and, by extension, how children might avoid such dangers, a researcher in our office set up a virtual identity of a 14-year-old girl on three social networking sites. She took on the name Jane Brown and this is her diary. "I've just moved hear wiv my family. Its well scary starting a new skool, hope I make sum mates soon :-S" Days 1 and 2 Set up profiles of my new virtual identity as 'Jane Brown' on three different social networking sites. Jane is a typical 14-year-old girl who likes dancing, singing, watching 'America's Next Top Model' and listening to Girls Aloud. She also writes spontaneously and doesn't worry about spelling mistakes. Jane has just started at a new school and is hoping to make some new friends of her own age. Days 6-13 Day 14.
Young net users engage in 'risky' behaviour. 20 October 2013Last updated at 19:38 ET Many children aged nine to 11 are indulging in very risky behaviour online, suggests a survey.
Many are sharing personal information and playing games rated for much older children, found the survey drawn up by the ISC2 IT security education group. In addition, 18% of the 1,162 children queried said they had arranged offline meetings with friends made via the web. Meanwhile, a second survey suggests 55% of young people in England accept cyberbullying as part of everyday life. Security experts have urged parents to help their offspring stay safe by being more involved with what they do online. "[Many] primary school children know far more about the internet than their parents do," said Tim Wilson, an information security worker who carried out the survey for the ISC2 organisation which helps schools educate children about web safety.