Public shaming is back on the agenda. From fears of being photographed eating on the tube, to apps that erase pics from the night before – the spectre of public criticism looms large. Has social media revived this age-old mechanism of control? Or can shame be a force for positive change?

In a recent survey of 5,000 teenagers, more than half thought that online abuse was worse than face-to-face abuse, with the anonymity of the internet making for an ominous culture of cyberbullying. ReThink is a piece of software hoping to put a stop to it, making cyberbullies think twice.

Have you ever seen a dog with the face of a girl? Or your best mate with the face of their mum? Darling of iPhone camera rolls, Facebook feeds and Buzzfeed listicles alike, face swapping has become a ritual of friendship in a digital age. But what explains the lasting appeal of weirdness on the web?

Memes are part of the fabric of internet culture. But at a time when there’s such a disparity between reality and social media perfection, the subversion of the classic meme format reflects a shift in how people express themselves digitally. How do nihilist memes show the silver lining of sadness?