Seven Days of Scintillating Social Stuff

The Huffington Post's Social Media Editor, Chris York, looks back at the past week and brings you seven interesting/obscure/so bad it's actually good things that happened online.

The Huffington Post's Social Media Editor, Chris York, looks back at the past week and brings you seven interesting/obscure/so bad it's actually good things that happened online....

'ello.

1) A 16-year-old girl in Gaza is doing a better job at reporting the crisis than any of the major news networks.

She appears to be live-tweeting from Gaza, posting incredible - and terrifying - updates, photos and Vines.

Her following has rocketed to 132,000 in the space of a few days is a fantastic example of how social media is changing the way we get information from the ground in conflicts where in the past we had to rely on traditional media and the word of governments.

Israel's usually slick media machine has yet to to catch up.

2) When selfies go very, very wrong.

This is Sanya Sotkin.

Unlike Farah, Sotkin is a little bit inept when it comes to social media.

You see he's a Russian soldier and his obsession with selfies appears to have backfired when he geo-tagged himself in Ukraine - despite Russia's insistence it has no troops there. Oops.

3) The 'best Instagram account on the internet'.

The eagle-eyed girls on the Huffington Post's Lifestyle desk came across a little Instagram gem.

Over to them...

Want to see gloriously ripped men gallivanting about on an Australian beach but can't afford a flight to Australia?

Fear not, men's swimwear and underwear company Aussiebum has some of the hottest models you will see in your entire life - and you can ogle at them from the comfort of your own home on their Instagram account aussiebum_team.

Indeed.

So this is a thing.

A scientist from the University of Liverpool has developed a way for fellow brainy folk to determine if the number of academic citations they have is in any way comparable to how popular Kim Kardashian is on more mainstream social media.

He says: "I am concerned that phenomena similar to that of Kim Kardashian may also exist in the scientific community. I think it is possible that there are individuals who are famous for being famous (or, to put it in science jargon, renowned for being renowned).

And if you're wondering what the formula for this is it's K−index=F(a)F(c). You work it out...

5) The app that's the modern day equivalent of a message in a bottle.

There are loads of messaging apps out there so it's obviously pretty difficult to stand out from the crowd.

But a new app, Fling, is making a pretty decent stab at it.

Basically, it's like any other messaging service in that it sends a message, picture or a video. But where it's different is who it gets sent to.

Fling will send your little piece of digital joy to 50 random users anywhere in the world - if they like it they can message you back.

It's already proving hugely popular although it does remind me a little of Chatroulette - and we all know how that could end up.

6) Twitter fails.

Hilarious for us watching, potentially devastating for whoever is unfortunate enough to mess it up.

Twitter fails can have a seriously negative effect on a company - like when Kellog's heartlessly implored people to save vulnerable kids by retweeting them.

Shameless

So thankfully We Are Social's Sabrina Antoniou has combined this guide on how to avoid it.

Legend.

7) "There are even people who have mastered the art of one-handed typing."

Here's a video guide showing how people had cybersex in the 1990's. It's as cringy as it sounds.

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