New app aims to prevent drunken Facebook updates
Social networkers have a new tool to prevent them from posting ill-advised late-night messages on sites like Facebook and Twitter.
The Social Media Sobriety Test from US-based Webroot Software requires users to perform a series of online co-ordination tests before allowing them to post potentially regrettable messages or photos.
Users of networks including MySpace, Flickr and YouTube will be able to protect themselves with the tool by choosing which sites to block and selecting the hours they consider themselves most at risk from drunken decisions.
Access to the sites during these hours will require the user passing a randomly-selected sobriety test such as dragging the mouse in a straight line or typing the alphabet backwards.
The website socialmediasobrietytest.com reads: “Nothing good happens online after 1am,” and promises to “put an end to the embarrassment that follows regrettable, late-night posts with three easy steps”.
Google also offers a tool for its Gmail service designed to prevent users from sending drunken emails.
Mail Goggles forces users to solve five simple maths problems in less than a minute in order to send a late-night message.
