Social Media

After Hillary Clinton had led throughout most of the campaign, she was also ahead in the BBC poll of polls on Tuesday with 48% of the votes to Donald Trump's 44%.

Number cruncher Nate Silver, of statistical analysis website FiveThirtyEight, wrote that morning that Mrs Clinton had a 71.4% chance of winning.

Here five BBC reporters - all women - explain how the photographs below would be perceived in their countries.

Cuddling up

Alma Hassoun (Syria): Pictures of couples cuddling up in public do not usually appear on Facebook. The girl is the one who worries about posting such a photo. This is mainly because if the relationship does not last, photos that indicate a previous relationship with another man might not be socially tolerated. We should remember that family members and neighbours are on the friends' list.

It might be taken for granted - but no previous generation of children will have had the experience of having their entire childhoods intensively and publicly documented in this way.

In the UK, the average parent with a social media account has posted 1,498 photos of their child online by their fifth birthday, according to a survey by domain name company, Nominet.

This might be a global phenomenon for proud parents - but what about the children, who will have been too young to have any choice in the matter.

It occurs when parents share details about their children's lives online, and there are some benefits to "sharenting." Some say they discuss parenting on social media to feel less alone and others post about their family to stay connected with their loved ones.

However, there are potential harms that come with "sharenting" too, that many parents might not recognize, according to new research.

In his own words–“I wrote an arrogant post on Facebook running the drug dealers, mentally ill, prostitutes, and the homeless people on Market Street in San Francisco.” Later, he realized his mistake and publicly apologized on Facebook.

The E! reality star, whose personal life took a sudden turn following her involvement in a Parisian robbery two weeks ago, recently made an unconventionally quiet return to the same platform that many believe threatened her privacy. 

The Home Affairs Select Committee said firms including Facebook, Twitter and Google, which owns YouTube, must show "a greater sense of responsibility".

The three companies have each said they take their role in combating extremism and terrorism very seriously.

Industry body techUK said the MPs had painted "an inaccurate picture" of how much work was being done.

In its report, the committee accuses the companies of "passing the buck" over combating online extremism - although one expert said the conclusions were arguably simplistic and misleading.

WhatsApp announced in a blog post Thursday that it will begin to share phone numbers and other data on the activity of its one billion users with its parent company Facebook (FB, Tech30), more than two years after getting acquired.

Alvarez, a media sales consultant and mother of two from London, isn’t a prolific online sharer so didn’t think too much about posting a photo of her toddler with a bare bottom on her page. “The post was a funny, innocent photo,” she says. “Normally my posts receive a good reception.”

Mummy shaming?

But, after initial likes and positive comments, the criticism started, someone responded with ‘Very funny but take this off. There are a lot of perverts around.’ Then, a barrage of negative comments followed.

Prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu is the latest to appear in a widely disseminated online video, renouncing her legal work for the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm.

She has subsequently been freed, though many people online believe that she made the video under duress.

Televised confessions have become a trend in the past four years under Xi Jinping's presidency, and include confessions of crime, but also confessions of perceived dissent.