“The misinformation crisis is a symptom of the enormously significant ways that the internet has changed our information ecosystem, which I don’t think anybody, least of all governments and traditional media, has fully got to grips with.” Al Baker, Managing Editor at Logically

If you’ve been on social media at all in the past decade, you’ve likely spoken to at least one synthetic person without even realizing it.

To be honest, probably more than one. In the early months of 2020, Twitter purged 174,000 bots it claimed were being used by the Chinese government.

This is what propaganda looks like today. But no, you say, propaganda is kitschy, cartoonish posters from the 1940s, and, once upon a time, you’d be right. The truth is, though, modern propaganda is almost completely digital – and not nearly as easy to spot.

Dictators use bots to stifle uprisings. Political candidates use bots to promote their platforms. Civil rights advocates use bots to schedule protests and share information. That new startup has bots to raise its brand profile, and if you’ve ever scheduled an automated post, you’ve used one, too.

Like most technology, bots aren’t malevolent by nature; how they’re used, however, is another matter entirely.

This article is going to examine the methods and origins of modern propaganda and what’s been done to combat it.

• Is there a difference between “fake news” and propaganda?
• Is modern propaganda really doing anything new?
• Meet the AI generating synthetic content
• How you can spot modern propaganda

Onward, we go:
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Republican or Democrat. Brexit or remaining in the EU. Pepsi or Coke.

There are some things that people just can’t agree on.

These debates all pale in comparison to the one argument that is so vitriolic, so polemic, and so bitter that it’s infamous the world over: The Mac vs Windows debate.

The heated rivalry has brought out the worst in people, with message boards, forums, and social media threads being the digital battlegrounds for these two factions to clash. The primary method of attack for Windows supporters is to scoff at the price of Apple’s Mac products. Mac aficionados — while they only make up 9-13% of all operating system users — go for the throat by ridiculing how error-prone Windows is.

But I’m glad to say that the operating system war has finally come to an end with a clear victor.

Mac.

With their trojan horse — Big Sur — they’ve created an OS that’s so streamlined, easy to use, and downright fast — all while tying it in with the interface of iPadOS and iOS — that Windows 10’s defeat was inevitable.

But what’s changed, exactly? What are Big Sur’s most exciting features? And, more importantly, when is macOS 11 being released?

Make your way through the following sections in this Process Street post to find out:

• Introducing Big Sur, Apple’s 11th MacOS
• Everything that’s changed since Catalina
• Why Big Sur is such a big success — particularly for productivity
• When is the Big Sur release date?
• Productivity tools to enhance Big Sur even further

Hey, Siri?

Scroll down so the reader can continue on with the post.

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Grover is a state-of-the-art defense against neural fake news, developed in affiliation with the Allen Institute of AI by Rowan Zellers, Ari Holtzman, Hannah Rashkin, Yonatan Bisk, Ali Farhadi, Franziska Roesner, and Yejin Choi from the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering.

Publishing is the future of commerce, and no industry knows this better than the publishing industry. Whether you’re a fine artist like the cast of The Handmaid’s Tale, or a business, no matter your venue, you need to transform your content into a high-quality experience that stands above the competition.

For these noble causes, small and large publishers have joined forces to create the industry’s most powerful collaboration. For years, they’ve developed their own content management systems, (CMS) systems like WordPress, to power their new content. If you’re a writer, you’ve been spending thousands on graphics, forms, and audio equipment, alongside all the other expenses inherent to working with a CMS system. But, now’s the time to update your CMS system and cut out the middleman.
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This is a guest post by Jack Warner. Jack is an accomplished cybersecurity expert with years of experience under his belt at TechWarn, a trusted digital agency to world-class cybersecurity companies. A passionate digital safety advocate himself, Jack frequently contributes to tech blogs and digital media sharing expert insights on topics such as whistleblowing and cybersecurity tools.

Why did you choose the browser you’re currently using?

If your answer is along the lines of “because everyone uses it“, you might want to rethink your choice.

Unfortunately, popularity is not inextricably linked to security. And in a world where cybercrime is ever more prevalent, privacy should be your utmost concern when you’re choosing a browser to surf the web. By 2021, online miscreants are expected to cause a whopping 6 billion dollars in damages. From a business perspective, you have no good reason to shoulder the risk that comes with a lack of sufficient browser security.

In this guest post for Process Street, I’ll discuss how different browsers fare at preserving your privacy and maintaining security, on top of providing ten tips to stop you and your team from falling victim to data breaches.

Read through the following sections to get clued up:

• Web browser security: What are the most secure browsers?
• 10 tips to digitally secure your browser & business properly
• Take control of your IT and security processes with Process Street!

Let’s get started. 👾

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I shouldn’t be here.

I should be sitting in a field, sipping a lukewarm cider, waiting for Aerosmith to come on stage and blow me away.

I should’ve been at the Glastonbury music festival; the UK’s (muddier) equivalent to Coachella.

But thanks to Covid-19 I’m not.

I’m stuck in my hot, stuffy office.

Although it’s heartbreaking, I’m not the only person affected by the decision to cancel the biggest event in my calendar, and music festivals and social occasions aren’t the only events to get canned because of the pandemic.

Most business trips, in-person meetings, and big, costly conferences have also been canceled or postponed.

In fact, talking of conferences, the number of canceled conferences is said to be costing the economy billions. As a direct example, the losses from major tech conferences alone have soared beyond $1 billion.

But, before you start contributing to these losses and canceling your own conferences, there is another way.

Welcome to the world of virtual conferences.

As more and more businesses start to think of new, innovative ways to carry on with ‘business as usual’ during this troubling time, this Process Street post takes a look at the virtual conference. Not only is it a stop-gap until the virus disappears and normal life resumes, but it’s a great permanent replacement for the traditional, physical conference.

Join me as we discover the answers to the following questions:

• What is a virtual conference?
• Why run a virtual conference?
• What should I consider when running a virtual conference?
• How do I run a virtual conference (with Process Street)?

Plus! On top of all that, we’ve developed four virtual conference process templates that you can use, for free, to help you plan and run the best, kick-ass virtual conference.

If you’re itching to see them, dive in and take a sneak peek:

Or pop into any of the other templates in this post directly from this list:

• Planning a Virtual Conference Checklist
• Running a Virtual Conference Checklist
• Process for Troubleshooting Virtual Conference Issues Checklist
• Hosting a Live Webinar Checklist

Take that Covid-19! We’re going virtual…
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This is a guest post by Tom Siani, an online marketing expert with up to 4 years of experience in the digital industry. He is also collaborating with some well-known brands to generate traffic, create a sales funnel, and increase online sales. He has written a considerable number of articles about marketing via social media, brand marketing, blogging, and search visibility.

With over 50% of the world’s population using social media, a number that is only increasing, you can see how social media marketing is critical for reaching potential customers and driving sales.

With this in mind, in this Process Street article we look at how you can improve your social media marketing strategy to get ahead of the game. Specifically, we turn our attention to social media marketing automation.

We’ll explain the advantages of using social media marketing automation as part of your social media marketing strategy, in addition to presenting you with our top 5 social media marketing automation tools you can sign up and use today. Sound good?

But wait there is more!

To kick-off this article, I present Process Street as your critical social media marketing accomplice.

At Process Street, we have been working hard to provide you with practical template tools to assist you in delivering an optimal social media marketing strategy.

These template resources are listed below. Click on the links provided to jump straight in. Alternatively, scroll down to find out more.

• Buffers Social Media Etiquette Checklist
• Social Listening Strategy Process Checklist
• Social Media Image Design
• Social Media Influencer Outreach Checklist
• Social Media Manager Daily Checklist
• Social Media SLA Management Checklist Template
• Social Media SLA Metric Tracking Process Template

If you want to jump to a specific section in this article, click on the relevant subheader below. If not, continue scrolling!

• Use a social media marketing checklist
• Social media marketing automation: What is it, and the benefits of automation
• 5 Top social media marketing tools

Let’s get started!
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This is a guest post by Thornie Longmuir from EssayShark, an on-line academic writing service. Thornie Longmuir is an experienced marketing expert with a deep knowledge of SEO, and over 10 years of experience working within the IT industry. Through his articles, Thornie helps SMEs and entrepreneurs launch their online products or services and teaches them how to promote and sell them. His articles are mainly focused on new and upcoming marketing tools and techniques.

Real estate agents have it tough.

They often work long, anti-social hours, they spend hours driving to and from different locations, they face a lot of rejection, and it can take a long time to become successful.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a new type of technology that can solve these issues.

How?

Let’s find out together by exploring the following topics in this Process Street post:

• What is virtual reality?
• Where did virtual reality come from?
• Virtual reality in real estate
• The benefits of virtual reality real estate

Ready to find out what impact VR is having on the real estate market today?

Let’s go!

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This is a guest post from Emma Lee. Emma Lee is an experienced sales manager and content editor at ProEssayWriter. She is a fan of current technological trends and passionately strives to learn as much as possible about all things SaaS.

As business trends shift from mobile-friendly to mobile-first, more and more businesses are understanding the importance of mobile app marketing. In fact, over 40% of SMEs have a mobile app.

Want to jump on the bandwagon yourself?

It’s definitely a good idea…

But you can’t create an app, publish it, and expect it to work wonders straight away. As a mobile app development company, without a proper mobile app marketing strategy, it will end up in the app graveyard along with thousands of other failed mobile apps!

That’s why, in this guest post for Process Street, I’ll explain what mobile app marketing is. Then, I’ll show you how to prepare a mobile app for launch and market it the right way.

Make your way through the following sections:

• What is mobile app marketing?
• How to prepare your mobile app for launch
• Marketing your mobile app
• Take control of your marketing processes with Process Street!

Let’s get started. 📱

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What do Sony Ericsson, the UK Passport Agency, MT Gox, and Knights Capital all have in common?

They’ve all suffered massive financial and reputational losses following the mismanagement, or non-existent management, of their new and existing IT services.

• Major mobile phone operator, Sony Ericsson failed to renew one of their certificates and left 32-million people unable to use their mobile phones for a WHOLE DAY.
• The UK Passport Agency failed to test its new computer system and left half a million British people without a passport in the UK.
• Japanese bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, failed to spot several weaknesses in their software systems which enabled hackers to STEAL over 850,000 bitcoins.
• Knight Capital Group, one of America’s largest traders, failed to spot a major bug in their trading software which cost them $440 million.

What could they have done to avoid these embarrassing, not to mention financially crippling, technical disasters?

Implemented an IT service management system, like the ITIL Service Lifecycle.

Which, coincidentally, is what this post is all about.

By the time you’ve finished reading this Process Street article, you will have answers to the following questions:

• What is the ITIL Service Lifecycle?
• What are the 5 stages of the ITIL Service Lifecycle?
• How does Disney use the ITIL Service Lifecycle?
• How do I use the ITIL Service Lifecycle in my business?

Ready? Let’s make a start…

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This is a guest post written by Jeff Oxford. Jeff is a tech enthusiast who follows new trends in technology and digital marketing. He had been a speaker at the 2013, 2017, and 2018 IRCE and has written contributions to Forbes.com, InternetRetailer.com, and Infusionsoft.

Staying on top of tasks amid distractions is not a problem exclusive to the 21st century, although today’s folks have to deal with social media. It is the rabbit hole where anyone can willingly spend at least 144 minutes every day.

You can expect this statistic to rise when the expected three billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population in 2021, will join the social networking sites.

With that and other things in mind, it’s no wonder that productivity and efficiency are the main targets of a tireless quest to achieve a productive work life.

According to Google Trends, the interest in productivity peaked in September 2018. While it has sustained some lows, the idea continues to gain attention as we speak.

Efficiency, like productivity, also enjoys high volume searches in the US.

Turning a blind eye on the impact of social media and relevant efficiency killers is counterproductive. Surely, limiting access to Facebook, Twitter, and other sites that compel browsing during office hours can help. Plus, smartphones have to go or be kept out of reach to avoid looking at it every 20 minutes.

It makes even more sense to face the battle head-on, combat technology with technology. Companies can focus their energies on speeding up, streamlining, sorting processes so that people have less time to wonder and wander about in the office.

That’s not to say that you’ll always be able to tell why your productivity plummets.

Every workplace is different, and so are the people that populate it. However, office culture and personal quirks aside, this article will count exemplary technologies and tools that harness, not hinder, workplace productivity.

If you’d like to skip ahead then feel free to use the links below:

• 1. A reliable, fast connection goes a long way
• 2. A project management tool tracks everything
• 3. A time tracking tool gives control
• 4. A chat app provides quick, real-time updates
• 5. Teleconference Equipment Links Teams
• Working with technology is the new productivity
• Boost your productivity today with Process Street!

Let’s dive in!
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