New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

Extend the Flawless Beauty: Facetune Video Further Goes against Beauty Activism

With TikTok becoming increasingly popular in people’s daily life, such global prevalence of applications that focus on instant short video feeds indicates that people’s quest for a flawless face and a well-proportioned body shape no longer stops at still...

By on 09/28/20 Comments Off

“Encrypt your face”: protestors Signal digital data privacy fears with new face-blurring feature

In the wake of George Floyd’s death, protestors flocked to encrypted messaging application (“app”) Signal to plan events and share content. In response, a new tool was quickly released that allows faces to be blurred in photos. These events...

By Paul Bugeja on 09/28/20 Comments Off

Wingman: a true matchmaker or another step away from a social society?

The typical love stories you mostly hear from your parents or their friends are getting distinct. Nowadays, a lot of the relationships between humans emerge via online dating, and amongst the younger generation, via dating apps such as Tinder,...

By Puck Stallinga on 09/24/18 Comments Off

Technology in the Workplace, Slack and Privacy Issues

(Figure 1, Screenshot of Slack website page. Source: Slack, 2018) 1)- Technology in the Workplace: “As innovations in technology continue to proliferate, employees working in the modern workplace have access to an ever-increasing number of new technologies” (Swaya...

By Meriam Telhig on 09/24/18 Comments Off

Can we “unplug online”? The Paradox of Meditation Apps and Mindfulness

In our digitized world, people long more and more for taking a step back from social media and the overload of information to focus on their ‘inner self’ and guess what – there’s an app for that! Using...

By Annika Heinemeyer on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Who controls your voice controlled world?

One of the latest trends in the tech world is the development of the smart digital voice assistant. It was first popularized by iPhone’s Siri, and now companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft are developing software and hardware technology...

By Aleksandra Straczek on 10/24/17 Comments Off

“ToScan”: Media Literacy and Understanding of Terms of Service

We are posing the question “how can we operationalise a form of privacy literacy in order to better understand social media terms of service?” In this research we engage in an academic debate and as an end result propose...

By Gergana Ivanova on 10/21/17 Comments Off

The clever dispenser that nobody asked for

A young Silicon Valley start-up just launched a product of arguable novelty. This product is a dispenser customized with some edgy additional features such as the Wi-Fi, several cameras and an app. The start-up, named Bodega, created...

By Elodie Mugrefya on 09/25/17 Comments Off

Your Bike Solution: An Exploration of Solutionism

Nowadays technological solutions are everywhere and many more solutions are offered to make our lives easier and more convenient. Many posts on this blog discuss certain technological developments and solutions. In this research we want to reflect on the...

By Manon vanHoek on 10/21/16 Comments Off

The Swipe Society: Tindoption

Has it ever occurred to you how much of our precious time can be wasted while struggling to create a family or adopt a child? And we don’t blame you, who does not want that picturesque family idylle. At...

By Emilija Jokubauskaite on 10/21/16 Comments Off

Volunteering at Hand

A critical alternative to matching the needs of communities Current events in the world, such as poverty, wars, and national disasters, bring forth a rise in volunteering organisations and activities. Therefore, it is surprising that in many countries the...

By Sabina B. on 10/21/16 Comments Off

#CopyPaste – The battle between Instagram and Snapchat

There is a battle going on between Instagram and Snapchat.. but who is on the winning hand? A-team Instagram is a mobile phone photo-sharing, video-sharing and social network service. It enables users to take pictures and videos and...

By Arabella Memdouh on 09/21/16 Comments Off

Trading Location For Communication

Yik Yak: What Is It? Yik Yak is a fairly recently launched social media app for both iOS and Android users, introduced in 2013. This app, developed by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington allows users to share their thoughts...

By Monique Varhaftig on 09/21/16 Comments Off

Clinton’s campaign app – play for presidency

Traditional campaigning is not enough anymore – politicians need to follow technological trends. Fittingly, the Hillary Clinton campaign developed its own app for the upcoming US presidential elections. Launched this July, “Hillary 2016” lets users compete challenges in their personalized...

By Vincent Buss on 09/19/16 Comments Off

Prisma: The Photo App With Its Own Charisma!

All the Instagram addicts must have already tried out or, at least, come across with artsy photos badged with the #prisma hashtag. For those of you who (strangely enough) haven’t seen or heard of it before, Prisma is...

By Christina Panteli on 09/19/16 Comments Off

Rixi: The Altruistic Transporter or the new Capitalistic Platform?

The digital landscape in Pakistan, is currently progressing and has had quite an impact on the transport industry. With public transport previously being unreliable at best, and Uber and its competitors entering the arena, the stage is all set...

By Maria Hayat on 09/19/16 Comments Off

Safety Net – Play With Privacy or It Will Play You

Have you ever used a website that uses cookies? “Liked” a photo on Facebook? Geo-tagged your location in a post or used Google Maps? Of course you have. But were you aware of how the information you...

By Deniz Gulsoken on 10/16/15 Comments Off

Spy me, please!

A project, brought to you by Afra Suci Ramadhon, Alina Niemann, Kimberly Leerkes, Kyra Teklu and Radina Teodosieva The exhibitionist beginning Several weeks ago we were presented with an assignment - to create a new media project, intervening an...

By Radina Teodosieva on 10/16/15 Comments Off

The end of Secret, the end of anonymous social media apps?

How to stay anonymous on the web? It sounds like a trick question when the web constantly tracks your online behaviour and requires you to upload a user account on nearly every website you visit. However, the solution seems...

By Laura Nusser on 09/16/15 Comments Off

When in doubt: choose Dvel

Making choices isn’t something you have to do completely on your own; there are more than enough tools, websites and apps that can help you with that rather than discussing issues with your family and friends for instance. But...

By Lisa Langenkamp on 09/15/15 Comments Off

Beme: Will Authenticity Form New Aesthetics?

Everyday I get on Casey Neistat’s YouTube channel to watch his daily vlogs. Last week he announced that Beme codes are no longer necessarily to use the app. Before that Beme was only available on invite only basis. It...

By Ka-Tjun Hau on 09/15/15 Comments Off

Live Photo: the new “modern magic” of Apple’s iPhone 6

During a special media event organized on September 9th, in San Francisco, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, officially introduced to the public the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. Alongside with user friendly updates...

By Daniela Demarchi on 09/14/15 Comments Off

What’s it like to BeMe?

Curated Self-Publishing Scrolling down the Facbebook or Instagram newsfeed you see all these nice pictures and videos of beautiful and happy people going out for dinner at fancy restaurants with their lover or travelling around the world with their...

By Felicitas Deiler on 09/14/15 Comments Off

HipsterFlipster: A Critical Alternative to Algorithmic Ranking Systems

It’s friday night, weekend has just begun and you and your friends are looking for a nice bar, club or restaurant to drink some beers. But where to go to? Just download the HipsterFlipster app on your cellphone, and...

By Roy Schutte on 10/17/14 Comments Off