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"McDonald's is testing the waters for a Twitter hashtag campaign again with its first TV ad directing users to join the conversation on Twitter. The effort, which began Monday, supports the brand's Pro Bowl tie-in. For 20 days this month, McDonald's will drop one ticket a day to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii in a package of 20-piece McNuggets. (The item will contain a paper certificate saying so, in the tradition of Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket.) The brand will also give away one ticket on Twitter and randomly award prizes to people who tweet with the #mcdprobowl hashtag from the ad. Prizes include coupons for a free 20-piece McNuggets, a year's supply of McNugget sauce and personalized tweets from NFL players to fans, among others. Rick Wion, director of social media for McDonald's, says that the brand chose Twitter because of "the amount of conversation going on there" around the game."

"How does Twitter change the way people get news? What kinds of thought leaders, journalists and organizations do people follow on the network? How are these Twitter followers different than those on other social networks? And how are people reacting to added elements on Twitter, such as advertising and promoted tweets?"

"In the lead-up to tonight's film, Generation Like, we've been asking our Facebook and Twitter communities to tell us why you use social and how it's affecting your lives. Hundreds of you have told us about the choices you're making - and why you're making them. We've asked a few writers who've thought a lot about social media to read your comments and reflect on them in the context of tonight's film. We also want to hear from you! Share your reactions below in the comments. Does Social Media Empower or Exploit? Douglas Rushkoff, Generation Like correspondent Douglas Rushkoff: Does Social Media Empower or Exploit? Generation Like correspondent Douglas Rushkoff is the author, most recently, of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, as well a dozen other books on media, technology and culture. He was correspondent on three previous FRONTLINE films, The Merchants of Cool (2001), The Persuaders (2004), and Digital Nation (2010). Follow him on Twitter @Rushkoff. In the lead-up to Generation Like, FRONTLINE has been asking questions about social media on social media. As I wade through the many responses, I am reminded of my own questions about these platforms when I began making this documentary. Like me, many of you are thrilled by the opportunity for connection and self-expression that social media offer.   Calum James Facebook is the best communication tool ever created. February 12 at 7:02pm   But many of you also share a sense of skepticism about what it is that social media - and the companies behind them - ask from us in return.   We all know this has something to do with our data. We create consumer profiles for the unseen companies on the other side of the screen, and enter into a relationship with them that isn't entirely clear. "Who is doing what for whom, and to what end?" The need to understand this better - and what it means for the young people using this stuff - is what set us on our journey to explor

"n Thursday, Twitter released a look back at 2013 and the news that hashtagged its way around the world. Gabriel Stricker, Twitter's vice president of marketing and communications, writes that this year, people used Twitter "to add an extra and distinctive element to global news stories." Here's a quick look at several moments from the last year."

"The Twitchhiker: one man on a Twitter travel mission Meet the Twitchhiker. His quest - to see how far he can travel in 30 days relying solely on the hospitality and advice of the Twitter community, and raising money for charity as he goes"

"Kmart's "Jingle Bells" ad has become the most viral of the early holiday season and is already among the biggest hits of 2013. So what's a rival retailer to do? For JC Penney, a lighthearted exchange on Twitter over the mildly risqué ad seems to have done the trick. The brand trolled Twitter on Nov. 16, and a humorous exchange ensued:"

"Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has temporarily lost some Twitter privileges over breaking the site's rules against abusive behavior. Last week, the company was a notable exception after a wave of other major tech companies banned Jones and his main channels. The penalties to Alex Jones' personal account, @RealAlexJones, are for one week. The Twitter page for his website Infowars posted screenshots of the notice that Twitter apparently sent Jones."

"In a 2011 op-ed about media literacy I posited the following questions: "Are you illiterate if you don't know how to interpret a tweet? If you can't tell the difference between fact and fiction on Twitter, does that mean you are lacking media literacy skills?" If you can't make a determination of truth about the content in your Twitter and Facebook feed, or if you can't figure out which sources are trustworthy in a set of Google search results, then all that information is doing you a disservice. As our technology evolves, and our streams become even more packed with tweets, articles, videos, pictures and posts, the concept of media literacy evolves with it."

Andy Carvin calls himself an "oral historian" and created a new genre of news coverage by blanketing Twitter during the Arab Spring and RT'ing and crowdsourcing the news as it spread on social networks. When the Newtown massacre happened last Friday, Carvin was covering it once again as the news broke, which led to mocking criticism of Carvin by media gadfly Michael Wolff at the Guardian, calling Carvin a "fevered spreader of misinformation." But Carvin was really putting each rumor that flew on social media out into the public sphere for discussion and trying to get at the truth. He might not have been there, but he did observe what was going on with a critical eye. Yesterday morning, he was defending himself on the Facebook Social Journalism Group a

"It started with a post on social media. Or, to be more exact, a series of posts about a visit to McDonald's to buy a milkshake. Within hours, Josh Raby's gripping account on Twitter was international news, covered by respected outlets on both sides of the Atlantic. "This guy's story about trying to buy a McDonald's milkshake turned into a bit of a mission and the internet can't get enough of it," read the headline on Indy100, the Independent's sister title. The New York Daily News said he'd been "tortured". Except, as McDonald's pointed out - and Raby himself later admitted - the story was embellished to entertain his Twitter followers, although he says he based it on real events. Raby's was the latest thinly sourced story that, on closer inspection, turned out not to be as billed. The phenomenon is largely a product of the increasing pressure in newsrooms that have had their resources slashed, then been recalibrated to care more about traffic figures. And, beyond professional journalists, there is also a "whole cottage industry of people who put out fake news", says Brooke Binkowski, an editor at debunking website Snopes. "They profit from it quite a lot in advertising when people start sharing the stories. They are often protected because they call themselves 'satire' or say in tiny fine print that they are for entertainment purposes only.""

"Facebook's News Feed, a homepage built by our friends and organized by our clicks and likes, isn't really a "news" feed. It's an entertainment portal for stories that remind us of our lives and offer something like an emotional popper. In fact, news readers self-identify as a minority on Facebook: Fewer than half ever read "news" on the site, according to a 2013 Pew study, and just 10 percent of them go to Facebook to get the news on purpose, as opposed, say, being assaulted by a breaking news event when you're just scanning baby photos. To see this more clearly, let's compare the BuzzFeed network's most viral stories-i.e.: the stories that go biggest on Facebook-to the top stories on Twitter and the most-searched stories. First, here are the top stories on Twitter in 2013. It's a blend of news, like terrorist attacks and music shows, and evergreen silliness with Ryan Gosling and Kim Kardashian. "

"We saw, once again, how quickly Twitter can spread news, both accurate and damaging. We saw the power a tweet can exert when a brand uses it right (Oreo's "Dunk in the Dark" during the Super Bowl), and the anguish it can cause when a brand uses it wrong (we're looking at you, Epicurious). From the laudable to the laughable, here's a look at the tweets, story lines, and business decisions that made 2013 Twitter's biggest year yet."

I've agreed to put my life in the hands of nearly 2,000 complete strangers in the belief that their support, goodwill and generosity will propel me across the globe. Equally, I could spend two days contracting pneumonia on a park bench in Byker. This is the life that awaits me when I adopt my alter-ego of the Twitchhiker on 1 March. As you may have guessed by the less-than-creative name, the challenge owes its origins to Twitter, the social networking service seeping into the mainstream consciousness.

"Falsehoods almost always beat out the truth on Twitter, penetrating further, faster, and deeper into the social network than accurate information."

"A suspended Twitter account appears to have help spread video of a controversial encounter between a group of Catholic school boys and a Native American elder."

"According to Recode, Dorsey said that the company is considering a tool for people to explain or expand on their old tweets, an idea that Dorsey said arose after the company noticed "people quote-unquote 'being cancelled' because of past things that they've said on Twitter or various other places in social media." "

"Falsehoods almost always beat out the truth on Twitter, penetrating further, faster, and deeper into the social network than accurate information."

"Trends are the topics for which we see noteworthy spikes in Twitter conversations. The 2012 Trends reveal what captured our attention, rather than what terms were consistently popular."

"Movie producer Ross Putman reads scripts for a living. He sees countless female characters introduced in over-the-top, absurd ways that usually focus only on the character's body type, age and sexual attractiveness. So Putman decided to keep track of these female character introductions by creating a Twitter account called @femscriptintros. Each tweet highlights the ridiculous (and sometimes rather depressing) ways women are being described in screenplays."

"Automated social media accounts can create "misinformation networks" that spread falsehoods and fan the flames of partisan disagreement"