July, 2020 | InoSocial

Snap’s first diversity report says only 4 percent of the company identifies as Black

After so many years of not exposing such information, Snap, the company behind Snapchat, has decided to share its Citizen Snap Report, outlining the company’s diversity, community, and environmental efforts over the past year.

Without a surprise, more than 70 percent of Director-level jobs were held by white people. Snap is overwhelmingly staffed by white men. So where are the black?

Keep up with me to find out the exact statistics of the black working for Snap and the percentage of male and female staff of the company.

Snap’s diversity report

The report has detailed so much information about the diversity of the Snap Staff. According to The Verge, the report details the minimal growth. The 3,195-person company has made in regards to hiring people of color and women. Black and African American people only represent 4.1 percent of the entire workforce, the report states, and Hispanic / Latinx people make up 6.8 percent. Both groups account for only 3.2 percent of leadership; Black and African American people make up 2.3 percent of tech roles while Hispanic/LatinX account for 3.4 percent.

Meanwhile, women only make up 32.9 percent of Snap’s workforce, with only 16 percent in technical roles. Along with the numbers, Snap says it’s setting new goals, including doubling the number of women in tech at Snap by 2023 and doubling the number of underrepresented US racial and ethnic minorities at Snap by 2025. Long-term, the team says it wants to “reflect the racial and gender diversity (including non-binary) of the different places where we operate.”

In leadership roles, forget about it. More than 70 percent of Director-level jobs were held by white people, with 16.5 percent held by Asians, 2.6 percent held by Black/African American employees, and just 2.6 percent held by Hispanic/Latinx workers.

91 percent of employees in tech roles were either white or Asian. Ninety-one percent.

“We also collected a more inclusive DEI data set: Our first DEI Self-ID Survey enabled US-based employees to self-identify as LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, veterans, or first generation in their family to attend college. The Self-ID data collection is voluntary, and 60 percent of our US team completed the survey. Later this year, we will begin a global rollout of this expanded data collection,” the company reported.

How to change YouTube channel name?

YouTube is the largest video sharing platform and a social channel too. Not only to can you share the videos and edit the shared ones, but also can you send stories, live videos, and get in touch with friends and family. YouTube is getting bigger and bigger, and it is worth to be active on this social platform.

If you are new to a social media like YouTube or you have not been that active, you might not know how to fix some issues on the YouTube channel. Once you open the YouTube app or on the desktop, it looks confusing. Here I would explain how to change the YouTube name on both apps and desktop. So, you can do it with any devices. Remember that you should read the limitations of changing a name on YouTube.

How to change a simple YouTube channel name on mobile?

As you know, the name of the channel is significant to get more subscribers on YouTube. The more the name is close to the people’s needs, the more they would follow you on YouTube. So, it is better to select a name that best defines your channel. The character limit of choosing YouTube channel name is characters with space. The YouTube account name also can be changed, and the military is characters with space.

To change the name of the account on a mobile phone

To change the channel name of a mobile phone

Open the YouTube app on your mobile phone
Login to your account
Tap your profile picture (if any) on top right corner
Tap your channel
Tap setting (a gear icon)
Add a new name
Tap mark icon to save the changes

Done!

How to change YouTube name without changing Google name

You should connect your channel to a Brand Account if you want to have a different channel name than your Google account. A Brand Account is a type of account that supports businesses or brads on YouTube apart from your google account.

What will happen if you connect your YouTube channel to a Brand Account:

You can manage the brand account which is connected to a YouTube channel with your Google account
You can access the brand account using google account
You can hide your email address and information on a brand account unless you make them public
You can manage multiple YouTube channels with only one google account
You can have team workers, admins, managers, or any other member for your channel.

Differences between YouTube channel and brand account

A YouTube brand account is created through a personal YouTube channel. The difference between having a standard YouTube channel and having a YouTube Brand Account is that with the latter, you have the option to change owners and managers, while a YouTube channel is always associated with a specific person and their email address.
Another useful option for the brand accounts is that YouTube adds channel managers to these accounts.

Google Account: You need a Google Account to sign in to YouTube. Your channel name is automatically the same as the one on your Google Account.

Brand Account: A Brand Account is an account that is specifically for your brand. This account is different from your personal Google account. If a channel is linked to a Brand Account, multiple people can manage it from their Google Accounts.

Change YouTube channel to brand account

A brand account is a google account that is created from a google account, but it is not connected to the google account. So, you can add any channel inside it and change everything without having changes on your google account.

To create a new Brand account, follow the instruction below:

First, check to see if you already have a brand account.
Sign in to YouTube.
Go to your channel list.
Click Create a new channel.
Fill out the details to name the Brand Account and verify your account.
Then, click Create.

Now you can see your brand account. From here, you should connect the channel to this brand account. Once you connect it, you can change the channel name, without changing your google account.

Switch between YouTube accounts

If you want to manage your account or your channels, you can switch between the brand account or google account.

Go to YouTube website
Login to your account
Click the profile picture in the top-right corner.
Click the Switch account.
Choose the account you want to use with YouTube from the list.

How to change YouTube channel URL?

it is good to have an easy to read web address, so fans and friends may distinguish or find it easier and more convenient.

The URL can be a link based on your name, username or the name of your website. You can also capitalize on the URL for ease of reading.

Please note that You can’t edit a custom URL. Instead, you should claim a new URL, and delete your existing one. Once it is removed, that is free for another creator to choose. However, you should check your eligibility before changing the URL.

To create a custom URL, your account needs to:

Have 100 or more subscribers.
Be at least 30 days old.
Have a photo as a channel icon.

If you were eligible to change the URL of your channel, you could see the notification in the advanced account setting, or your creator studio dashboard.

You cannot edit your custom URL later. So, make sure you entered the right one.

Sign in to YouTube.
Click on your profile picture in the top right corner
Go to Setting
Go to Advanced setting
Under “Channel settings,” choose the link next to You’re eligible for a custom URL. You cannot see the link if you are not qualified.
In the “Get a custom URL” box, you should see the custom URL(s) you’ve been approved for. You cannot make changes to the part in the gray box, but you can add a few letters or numbers to make it unique.
Read the “Custom URL Terms of Use,” select the box to agree to them, then click Change URL.
Once it is approved, you can’t change it, so make sure this is the URL you want before clicking Confirm.

Overall

Making some changes to the YouTube channel is a good idea once you are going to boost your YouTube channel. It is good to change the name and make it different from the google account. Or even change the YouTube channel URL for ease of access and reading of your fans and subscribers.

WhatsApp could finally let you mute those pesky group chats forever

Whatsapp is working to roll out an option we have all been waiting for really long. WhatsApp will soon let you mute your chats and groups FOREVER and not only for 8 hours, a week, or a year.

Since the very beginning of Whatsapp’s emergence, one of the biggest issues with the app was that it doesn’t let you permanently mute a contact or group. But now the app could soon let you permanently mute groups and contacts.

Regarding serial leaker, WABetaInfo has uncovered evidence that the WhatsApp team is working on the ability to permanently mute contacts and groups.

The screenshot suggests that the “always” option will replace the “one year” option when muting notifications. Check out the screenshot below.

That is a blessing for someone like me who always mutes chats and especially groups. But that was really hard that the last option I had was to mute notifications for a year. After all, I have to mute those groups all over again in 365 days. The only other option right now is to simply leave those groups — not ideal for the likes of family chats and workgroups.

Enabling this option, after it is globally rolled out, is as before, and all you have to do is to long press and hold on a chat or group and choose “Mute” and then “Always”.

This reported tweak also comes a few days after more evidence surfaced for multiple device support in the chat app. So here’s hoping we see both features coming soon.

Facebook Releases New Web Collage App via its Experimental NPE Team

Facebook has rolled out a new app that is not like any of the apps it has made before. Facebook’s experimental NPE team has released its tenth new app, this time with an early-internet inspired collage board tool called E.gg. Under the banner “Free your Creativity,” this new app from Facebook’s NPE team is a nostalgic call to bring back “the raw and exploratory spirit that was so emblematic of The Early Internet.”

E.gg is an experimental new platform for weird and wonderful expressions of who you are and what you love. E.gg was inspired by early web platforms like Geocities and MySpace.

What are E.gg’s functions?

E.gg enables users to create what it calls ‘canvases.’ Free-form mixed media collages/pages that let you express anything from your favorite films/albums/novels to a collage of succulent pics to, say, an about page for an app. You can add various types of media, re-size and shape them to fit your display, then paste them to your canvas, which you can then share with other E.gg users.

Canvasses are created within the E.gg app, but they can be viewed and shared across the web via personalized e.gg URLs, with no logins or downloads required. Despite it being a Facebook app, there are no likes or comments possible on canvasses. Toff explained that such metrics were seen as limitations to creative exploration.

There are a lot more about E.gg which is still not known but here is a glimpse of what they have to say about themselves on their about page:

“We started working on E.gg after a few of us found ourselves missing a certain raw and exploratory spirit that was so emblematic of The Early Internet. Sure, it was clumsy to use — dangerous at times, even — but in that awkward mess was a weird and enlivening bazaar of manically-blinking GIFs, passionate guestbook entries, personal webpages made by people who cared deeply about a niche interest of theirs and wanted simply to carve out their own digital space.

So we wondered: Is this misplaced nostalgia? What if people could express themselves more freely today? Can we make more room for the weird and off-beat? Give creative control back to people? Create a low-pressure space for the really unpolished and mismatched things?

We offer to you our experiment at recapturing that atmosphere.”

E.gg has divided its features into three different categories, as mentioned on their website:

Create

Create without constraints. Bring a wide variety of content into the E.gg app, which can then be freely positioned and sized to look; however, you want. To encourage experimental content, we left out like counts and comments.

Share

Share anywhere on the web. Canvases are created in the iOS app, but you can view and share them anywhere on the web via a personalized e.gg URL. No logins or downloads required.

Discover

Discover others w/ similar tastes. Bits can be used and reused across multiple canvases, and because canvases are linked by these bits, you can easily discover new canvases and other creators by following bits you like.

Anyways, I can estimate that E.gg would be welcomed really warmly, especially by creators and artists. To see how users would like it, all we have to do is to wait until it is more official, and more people start using it and leave feedback on it.

‘Vicariously’ app lets you snoop on other people’s Twitter timelines

Get out of your Twitter bubble and into someone else’s. Today, a very interesting Twitter tool is rolled out, which most of you, Twitter users would find very cool.

‘Vicariously’ app lets you snoop on other people’s Twitter timelines, and it finally lets you find out what Trump’s Twitter feed looks like (if you really want to).

This tool is created by ilk co-founder Jake Harding. One of the main options of Vicariously is that it lets you create Twitter lists automatically based on the following of other Twitter users. So if you want to know what scrolling through Donald Trump, Kanye West, J.K. Rowling, or Hozier’s Twitter feeds might be like, this app can give you an idea.

As Jake Harding, The founder of Vicariously stated in his latest tweet, he has been thinking about ways to overhaul Twitter experience, so he built Vicariously, and he is pretty happy with the end results. It’s an easy way to create (and sync) lists based on the follows of another user.

What does Vicariously do?

As mentioned earlier, one of the main functions of this app is that it offers the easiest way to create Twitter lists based on the following of other users. In addition, Vicariously syncs lists daily to ensure they’re always up to date.

Regarding further details by Mashable, The app doesn’t just let you straight up snoop on who someone follows, though. Vicariously also lets you create lists that combine the follows of multiple accounts, only show the shared follows of multiple accounts, only show the follows of one account that aren’t also followed by another, or only show the following that different accounts don’t have in common.

It further allows you to pin your lists to the top of your home timeline for easy access, for a bit of extra convenience

Vicariously seems like a pretty nifty app, but it may not be long for this world if it doesn’t grow up quickly. Some people have expressed concern about privacy and complained that others using the app spammed them with Twitter notifications telling them they’d been added to various lists.

The app has been out for just a couple of weeks, and it now allows free users to create private lists, lets people stop others from creating lists based on who they follow, and lets people prevent others from adding them to lists.

What is Twitter’s reaction to Vicariously?

Twitter has expressed that it is impressed by the idea of Vicariously and how it works, but since some users have expressed privacy concerns, Twitter has also started to see the bad effects of the app.

Twitter told TechCrunch that while it “loves that Vicariously uses Lists to help people find new accounts to follow and get new perspectives,” the app violates its rules concerning automation.

“We’ve reached out to them to find a way to bring the app into compliance with our rules,” said Twitter. Ultimately, we all hope that Twitter sorts out their issues with the app and lets users make the best use of Vicariously to use Twitter in a much more useful and interesting way.

What are the best Shopify alternatives?

Nowadays, having an online store is necessary for all kinds of businesses with ever-increasing issues of a pandemic. All companies can set up an eCommerce using ready themes and sell their products there, even if the store is closed.

Why Shopify alternatives?

Building an eCommerce website is necessary for all kinds of businesses, including small, medium, or large ones. Most probably all large, or even medium-sized business have their eCommerce platform already. But these are small businesses, and retailers should think about making an online store that is accessible for all.

Why do we need an eCommerce website instead of a complete website? The reason is apparent. Now, many platforms are providing ready themes making an online store without having coding knowledge or being worry about the domain name, host, or anything else.

Shopify pros

Of course, Shopify is one of the best leading eCommerce platforms, but the main point about Shopify is that it is not suitable for all.
It seems that Shopify does work for large sales.
Of course, its features, designs, integration with Ordorro, being available on Instagram, user-friendly environments make it the right choice.

Shopify cons

extra transaction fees – you should pay about 2% for every transaction on Shopify. So, if you have recently started the online store, or you think that is too much for you, you should try Shopify alternatives.
You can only use the gift card if you have an advanced plan. There are also some features like real-time shipping rates that are locked unless you pay the extra money.
Because of the plugins and rough URLs, unfortunately, Shopify does not rank you on Google, and the not being optimized for search engines is its weakness if you want to have customers from Google too.

Best Shopify alternative

iLink is an eCommerce platform that helps individuals or brands to create their landing pages and online store. Using iLink iStore, you can build an online store, add your products (physical, digital, services) there, and add details, prices, purchase links, etc.

iLink landing page is a free service and is useful if you have multiple URLs. You can gather all the links on one web page and design it as you want.

ILink iStore is also customizable, and you can change it based on your need. Here I would mention some of the main benefits of using iLink iStore to build an online store.

Sorting out the products in iLink

While you can add iStore in your Instagram bio, or any other place, your audience can visit the page and sort out the products based on their popularities, prices, categories, brands, etc.

This would help serious buyers to choose better and faster. They can find the base of the product don the brands and prices they are looking for. Even if they are new to your store, they can see a wide verity of options in front of them, which can be sorted out based on their needs. So, using an online store catalog, you can tell customers what you have for them!

No competitors

If you sell on the other websites like Amazon, you realize that the algorithm would suggest other brands or competitors for the visitors. Even when customers are searching on Instagram explore, they face many companies selling the same products. Even Instagram would suggest similar accounts. However, when customers visit your iStore page (for example, from Instagram bio), they will not see any other suggestions from your competitors. This leads to more sales for your brands because all they see is your products.

Stunning online store

Being different has always been the key to success. iLink iStore has provided many fantastic options on their dashboard to look at the web page stunning. This would attract customers and keep them in your online store, which leads to more sales. You can build a modern online store with your design.

Customers from Google

iLink iStore is an SEO friendly eCommerce platform, and you will come to Google search. When you log in to your dashboard, on iLink website, when adding a product, you can add extra details describing the products. iLink is a blog and online store together, which helps you create the content of your product too. This will take you on the Google search engine, and users would visit the products directly from Google.

No coding knowledge

You may hear about how difficult it is running a website from choosing a domain name, hosting, coding, and all necessary items. However, using iLink you can build an eCommerce website with no coding knowledge, even with no specific knowledge about the online stores. All you need is uploading the pictures, adding the detail, title, purchase links, information, and info like this. You will enjoy making your eCommerce website with fast and efficiently.

Linktree alternatives

If you have already used Linktree to make your landing page, now you can have both an online store and landing page in one place and from a single dashboard. Building a landing page is another primary service of iLink, and you can even have an advanced design with iLink pro. The main point of this is you can create all with one account, and no need to have a separate dashboard, or report to build an online store, and landing pages.

Ever-increasing grow

ILink rank is going up day by day, and soon it becomes a leading eCommerce platform. So, having a unique username might be difficult later, like Instagram and Facebook. So, it is useful if you create your account (you can log in with Google too), and have iLink iStore in your bio of social channels.

Affordability

If you are more prominent or you are selling online from home, you might know how expensive it could be to create a website. However, with less than $10 per month, you can own an eCommerce website selling online. It is well worth it.

Growcer

Growcer is another major contender in the space of eCommerce platforms and is an excellent Shopify alternative. Developed by FATbit Technologies, Growcer is a grocery ecommerce platform that is designed especially for different niches in the retail or FMCG industry.

With Growcer, entrepreneurs can build, maintain and manage their online grocery marketplace with ease. A hyperlocal solution acts as a bridge to unify the gap between grocery retailers and consumers. Retailers can list their grocery items online for consumers to purchase using the platform.

Designed to boost sales and drive business growth, Growcer comes equipped with robust mobile apps for both buyers and delivery staff. Being a ready-made turn-key solution, Growcer comes with a myriad of outstanding features. Mentioned below are a few benefits of Growcer:

Interactive Interface

Growcer has been impeccably designed after rigorous brainstorming sessions. In the process, many ideas were scrapped to make the front-end design attractive and user-friendly.

Aesthetically pleasing, Growcer has an interactive interface with intuitive navigation. Its enriching appeal provides a coherent experience with better customer acquisition.

The UX/UI elements are carefully planned and placed to serve the users appropriately. This means that the interface design facilitates smooth user interaction, rather than expecting them to adjust their behavior to the product. The user-centered design approach amplifies engagement.

Fully Customizable and Lifetime License

Built with agile methodologies, Growcer is a fully customizable white-label solution that offers a lifetime license. Tailored to meet business requirements, the look and feel of the product can be enhanced to make it more appealing to users’ eyes. With direct access to eCommerce developers, Growcer can be custom-built to match your brand’s identity.

PWA and Mobile Apps

Growcer comes equipped with easy-to-use Progressive Web Apps that go in sync with your eCommerce marketplace. Being a mobile-friendly platform, users on any device like laptop, tablet, desktop, and more can be captured by Growcer. It also provides robust and intuitive apps for buyers and delivery staff.

Can Launch Marketplaces in Different Niches

Having a marketplace that caters to a specific niche has an advantage over other platforms. As there is domain specialization, the products and services offered by a niche-based marketplace are more specific.

Growcer, in conjunction with customized features and functionalities, can be used to launch marketplaces in several niches. These are – grocery, pet supplies, electronics, pharmacy, liquor/wine, farmer products, and more.

Impeccable Features for All Users (Admin, Seller, Buyer, Delivery Staff)

Growcer is an effective eCommerce solution that helps you streamline crucial components for your online grocery marketplace. It has in-built features for admin, sellers, buyers, and delivery staff that offer radical flexibility for an enthralling experience. Listed below, are a few elements:

Admin:

Product Catalog System,
Delivery Staff Management,
Multiple Revenue Channels,
Advanced Reports and Statistics,
And More.

Sellers:

Delivery Slot Management,
Order Cancellation Request Management,
Order Refund Request Management,
Subscription Plans,
And More.

Buyers:

Order Tracking,
Multicart,
Guest-User Checkout,
Single Item Cancellation,
And More.

Delivery Staff:

Define Radius,
Delivery Order Management,
Accept or Reject Orders,
Route Navigation to Sellers and Buyers Location,
And More.

Free 1-Year Technical Support

The team of Growcer believes in maintaining long-term relations with its clients and customers. For a smooth ruffle-free experience, Growcer offers 1-Year of free technical support to look after any unforeseen surprises like:

a) Server-side scripting/programming errors/bugs

b) Logical bugs/calculation-related errors/bugs

c) Connection errors/API integration errors

That said, Growcer improves transparency between clients and their customers by eliminating the chances of any lags or errors.

Yo!rent

The aforementioned eCommerce platforms are suited for online selling operations and daily deliveries. However, not every online business follows these business models. With the expansion of the rental industry, online rental businesses also require a robust eCommerce solution to suit their needs. Yo!Rent is one such solution that is precisely developed to resolve the various problems of online rental businesses.

With the help of Yo!Rent entrepreneurs can launch a single vendor or multi-vendor rental eCommerce store. Through this store, they can rent out several types of products including furniture, medical equipment, adventure gear, party supplies, boats, cars, bikes, trucks, RVs and various other vehicles.

In terms of launching an online rental business, Yo!Rent is not only an alternative to Shopify but even better and more reliable in several terms.

Dedicated Features to Resolve Rental Challenges

Rental businesses face problems like complex pricing, inventory management, return management, repair and maintenance of damaged goods and much more. With features such as advanced booking calendar, rental security deposit, eSign, agreement management, product inspection and return, Yo!Rent stands out as one of the only few rental platforms meticulously developed to support essential and non-essential rental operations.

20+ Payment Gateways and Tons of APIs

Irrespective of rental or selling model, cart abandonment rate is a serious problem for all eCommerce businesses. Poor choice of payment options is one of the reasons behind high cart abandonment rate. With 20+ payment gateways, Yo!Rent makes it possible for business owners to provide customers with their preferred payment methods with minimum transaction rate.

On the other hand, Yo!Rent also supports various third-party business tools like MailChimp, Aftership, Taxjar and Quickbooks to help rental business owners simplify numerous business operations. They can select a tool that they trust and continue lending products.

Localization

Localization settings are important for an online rental business. Yo!Rent has features like multi-currency and multilingual support, GPS enabled map view, location-based product sorting and custom pickup slots.

It also has a price surge feature that enables business owners to capitalize on sudden increase in demand in particular regions for products like wedding dresses, RVs and cars.

The chat module allows customers and product owners to handle local matters, such as negotiate pricing, clear queries or discuss the pickup location.

Tailored Themes for Various Niches

The team behind Yo!Rent has also developed captivating themes for various industrial niches. These themes use color psychology to represent the ideal expectations of the industry and leave a powerful impact on first impression, making your online rental business look professional and formidable.

As Yo!Rent is fully customizable, business owners can also customize its themes any time they want.

One Year of Free Technical Support

Like Growcer, Yo!Rent also offers one year of free technical support to all its clients. This support is to ensure that the platform does not hurdle your business operations due to any technical flaws.

Array of Helpful Features

Along with the aforementioned features, Yo!Rent also has an array of various other important features including:

Bulk import/export
Catalogue management
Tax management
SEO optimization
PPC module
Multi-user CMS
Promotions and discount codes
Loyalty program
Bulk discounts
Real time stock availability
Multiple revenue streams

Other eCommerce platforms

You can also try some other eCommerce platforms, like, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Volusion, LemonStand, 3dcart, BigCartel, Magento, and Wix.

All of them helping users to create their eCommerce platform. However, not all of them are easy to set up or user friendly like iLink, but you can give a try.

Overall

It seems that Shopify is the most popular eCommerce builder website on the market, but it looks not fit for all size businesses. Small businesses or retailers might not be able to pay all transaction fees, or fees for extra features to sell on Shopify. So, it is logical to get other alternatives like iLink that have the same quality at affordable prices. It is well worth it to try.

Instagram will fix the bug that mistakenly shows camera as ‘on’ in iOS 14

The latest version of iOS is showing some other minor issues and some unexpected behaviors. The latest misbehavior of this iOS version made users angry. Some users reported that they were seeing the green “camera on” indicator while using Instagram when they were just scrolling through their feeds, not taking a photo or video.

One of Instagram’s speakers said to The Verge that this issue was just a bug that is being fixed.

“We only access your camera when you tell us to — for example when you swipe from Feed to Camera. We found and are fixing a bug in iOS 14 Beta that mistakenly indicates that some people are using the camera when they aren’t,” the spokesperson said. “We do not access your camera in those instances, and no content is recorded.”

The behavior looks to be yet another of iOS 14’s aggressive new user notifications, which alert users to app behaviors like clipboard copying. Several iOS apps, including TikTok, LinkedIn, and Reddit, were discovered to be accessing users’ clipboard content since whenever a third-party app accesses the clipboard of a device with iOS 14, a notification pops up.

Something similar to this issue happened to Facebook as well. Facebook fixed a bug in its iOS app last year that appeared to be activating devices’ cameras in the background without users’ knowledge.

Anyways, the bug is now being fixed, and meanwhile, if you are having this problem and it will be gone in no time.

Telegram Introducing New Update(Profile Videos, Sharing Files up to 2 GB, Group Stats, and More)

Today Telegram rolled out a new round of cool updates for the app on both Mobile and Desktop. Some new features that we have never thought of, and which are very fun and cool.

Telegram has today on 26th of July 2020 introduced these features for their messaging app:

Profile Videos
Improved People Nearby features
Unlimited file sharing with up to 2 Gigabytes per file,
Mini-thumbnails for your chat list and notifications,
Group stats
Skin Softener
More Animated Emoji
Multiple Accounts on Telegram Desktop
And much more

Telegram has made a statement that indirectly points out to one of Whatsapp’s weaknesses, which is not allowing users to share media larger 16MB. Telegram shared the statement below:

Telegram users have been sharing files up to 1,5 GB each, which happens to be 93 times larger than 16 MB (which is a totally random number, we have no idea what it could possibly mean.)

Telegram Profile Views

This one is the coolest feature out of them all. With profile videos, we are now able to add videos instead of pictures to our profiles. Incredible isn’t it?

Capture yourself in action, or wink and wave at people like you’re in a magical picture from Harry Potter.

You can edit your profile video before setting it to your profile. Same as with any videos you upload, the media editor will help you enhance the quality or decorate yourself with animated stickers.

Telegram Skin Softener

No need to worry about bad skin day, freckles, wounds, or much more. Telegram now lets you edit your pictures and videos and make your skin shine before using the media. Speaking of the media editor, any photo or video you take with the front-facing camera now has a softened skin option in the media editor. But you don’t need it to look fabulous; you already are fabulous.

Improved People Nearby

You can now find out how far your friends or contacts are in the new Telegram update.

When people contact you via the People Nearby section, you will see how far away they are. And when you start a chat with someone nearby, Telegram will suggest a greeting sticker to break the ice. Luckily, all our stickers are extroverts.

Head over to Contacts > Find People Nearby and try tapping on’ Make myself visible.’

Mini-thumbnails

You can now see a small preview of the media sent to you by other Telegram users and choose whether or not you want to open the message now or later.

Ever wondered whether the incoming picture is just another meme or that selfie you’ve been waiting for? Get an idea of what media is in a message right away, thanks to the new chat list thumbnails.

The new thumbnails also appear in notifications and message search results. Never lose a cat photo again.

Group Stats

According to the official Telegram website, Owners of large groups with over 500 members can now view beautiful, detailed graphs about their activity and growth. Group stats also show a list of top members by the number of messages and average message length.

By the way, the minimum number of subscribers to get Channel Stats has been reduced to 500 as well.

Android Extras

On Android, the music player has been redesigned with sleek new icons and an expandable tracklist. Tap the button on the left to control looping, shuffling, and to reverse the track order so your playlist can moonwalk with you.

The message input bar will grow smoothly as you type a long message. And the video editor now allows cropping and rotating videos to help you hide any evidence you were filming vertically.

Multiple Accounts on Telegram Desktop

Telegram lets you stay signed in on three accounts from different phone numbers without logging out. Telegram mobile users have been enjoying this feature since 2017, and today it’s coming to the multi-platform Telegram Desktop.

More Animated Emoji

Telegram’s animated emoji army keeps growing (note to self: build a bigger barracks). To get one of these in a chat, simply send a message with a single emoji, and watch it jump to life.

These new Telegram features have surely thrilled you enough, and you cannot wait to get these updates as soon as possible. So do I. We are excited to see more fun and useful Telegram updates for its upcoming versions, and we hope they’d be as great as these ones.

Microsoft Taps into the Popularity of Snapchat Lenses for Major New Xbox Campaign

Microsoft has partnered with Snapchat on a new AR campaign, which will see a series of game-themed AR Lenses showcased within the app of its next-generation Xbox series.

This week Microsoft is showing off its coming, next-gen Xbox Series X gaming console at its Xbox Games Showcase event, and it has officially announced that it has teamed up with Snapchat for better results and much more fun.

Snapchat has announced this news by sharing the statement below:

“To celebrate the Xbox Games Showcase, and provide fans at home with an immediate way to interact with the brand-new games being shown, Xbox worked with AR agency Look Mister to create 12 unique Snapchat Lenses based on many of the biggest game reveals from the show.”

As it is obviously shown in the picture below, the 12 new lenses have their own sections within the Snap camera platform, and they can also be uses on the main app.

Per reports, the lenses, which are based on game titles including “Halo Infinite,” “Minecraft,” “Destiny 2,” and “Forza Motorsport,” are available on Snapchat and the Snap Camera desktop platform.

What are the benefits of Microsft adding Snapchat lenses?

There are, for sure, some advantages that made Microsft choose to partner with Snapchat. Some of these benefits are mentioned by the Mobile Marketer website that you can read about below.

Microsoft’s promotion on Snapchat aims to build excitement for its updated Xbox gaming console and video game titles that will be released during the holiday shopping season. The company hosted the first Xbox Games Showcase, its biggest gaming event of the year, with a live-streamed presentation that lets viewers see a demonstration of the next Xbox X console while also practicing social distancing.

By creating AR lenses on Snapchat, Microsoft can engage a younger audience that’s more likely than older generations to play video games. Among Snapchat’s 238 million daily active users (DAUs), more than 180 million engaged with AR at least once a day in Q2. Snapchat each month reaches more than 100 million people in the U.S., including more than 90% of people ages 13 to 24 and more than 75% of people ages 13 to 34, per information provided by Snap. Those demographics match the profile of the 75% of U.S. households that have at least one gamer, as measured by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

The promotion is especially important in urging gamers to upgrade to the Xbox X, Microsoft’s first video game console in seven years. The company seeks to grow its share of the global video game market, which is forecast to expand 9.3% to $159 billion this year, per Newzoo. Xbox is the latest brand to create AR lenses on Snapchat to engage smartphone users with a more immersive experience. With many people placing delivery orders for food while stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, DoorDash in May sponsored AR lenses that let Snapchat users immerse themselves in virtual versions of popular restaurant chains, including Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s and Outback Steakhouse. The same month, the financial services company USAA this month introduced its first AR lens as part of its annual Memorial Day event. Universal Pictures in April created an AR lens that let Snapchat users transform themselves into characters from the movie “Trolls World Tour,” which was released straight to video-on-demand (VOD) platforms.

TikTok Adds ‘Gamified Brand Effect’ Templates to Help Businesses Create More Engaging Promotions

TikTok has made another new and interesting move for business by rolling an interactive brand promotion option, which they have called “Gamified Branded Effects.”

TikTok has announced the new update on their Facebook, officially earlier today. Flip the creative script and engage the TikTok community by integrating your brand into an interactive effect that users can make their own.

These new Branded Effects are available in more than 20 formats and customizable to your campaign, Gamified Branded Effect invites creators to interact with branded elements through facial expressions, poses and other movements for a fun and competitive video shooting experience. You can also build branded games into your TikTok clips.

From now on, there is no need to make boring ads. Make (Gamified) TikToks, which is both interesting and much more effective.

All TikTokers would have access to this new option soon and within TikTok’s self-serve ad platform, which it opened up to all businesses earlier this month.

The idea would turn TikTok into even more fun and interactive platform and can be a very engaging TikTok experience.

However, you would also suspect that there would be some creative limits to such. If a lot of brands end up using certain templates, for example, the process could start to feel stale pretty quickly – but through specific audience targeting and customization, there, ideally, won’t be a significant crossover with similar campaigns.

For sure, a lot of you are thrilled to use these “Gamified Branded Effects,” especially brand and business owners. We recommend every advertiser to start using this new feature as soon as it became available because that is surely going to make a revolution on their advertising efforts. ‘