India finally banned TikTok along with 59 other mobile phone applications, which are mostly Chinese apps. The ban is applied especially to TikTok, mostly because Indian users wanted it.
The move was taken after several complaints were received by the ministry, alleging theft of users’ data and violations of user privacy. Now, Google and Apple will have to follow the order and remove these apps from the Android and iOS stores.
The Indian Ministry of Information Technology, who authorized the ban today, said it received an “exhaustive recommendation” to ban the 59 Chinese apps from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Furthermore, the ministry also said India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received complaints from users about the privacy and security of the banned apps.
Why India banned these Chinese apps?
Regarding what the Aljazeera website has explained, India’s decision comes as its troops are involved in a tense standoff with Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh in the Himalayas that started last month. India lost 20 soldiers in a June 15 clash that took place approximately 4,500 meters (15,000 feet) above sea level in the Galwan River Valley.
The deaths triggered enormous outrage and street protests in India.
Anti-China sentiment has long simmered in India over accusations of cheap imports flooding the country, but the border clash has brought tensions to the fore with calls being made to boycott Chinese products.
Which Chinese apps are banned in India?
In this section, I want you to have a closer look at which apps India has now banned in the country. Keep up with me to find out more about the apps that are now banned in India.
TikTok, Video Call apps from Xiaomi, two of Alibaba Group’s apps (UC Browser and UC News); Shareit; CM Browser, Club Factory, and ES File Explorer are the biggest names in the list of apps banned by India on Monday night.
Other banned applications are listed in the picture below, by TechCrunch.
In the past few days, twitter has been labeling several tweets that were about COVID-19 as misleading. Most of the tweets were labeled by mistake, which made Twitter apologize for the huge misunderstanding.
Regarding The Verge website, Twitter began fact-checking tweets that linked 5G and the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this month, by adding the label that reads “get the facts about COVID-19” which links to a Twitter moment with “No, 5G isn’t causing coronavirus” as its title
Twitter made excuses claiming that it is operating on strengthening how it labels tweets with problematic 5G or coronavirus content material, and that’s why such minor issues happen.
“In the last few weeks, you may have seen Tweets with labels linking to additional info about COVID-19,” Twitter Help tweeted. “Not all of those Tweets had potentially misleading content associating COVID-19 and 5G.”
The problem was caused by the program that decided which tweet should be flagged as misleading. Users figured out that the program has mistakenly flagged the tweets, which include the words and phrases “oxygen” and “frequency.”
The fact-check label is part of Twitter’s effort to attach warning labels to provide context for tweets with misleading COVID-19 information. In April, the company went so far as to remove misleading COVID-19-related tweets that it viewed as inciting people to engage in “harmful activity.”
Twitter now says it is trying to solve the issue as soon as possible by building new automated capabilities to apply these labels to Tweets we think could be relevant.
Instagram is testing another cool feature on its stand-alone messaging app Threads, which would surely come in handy a lot.
For those who do not know what “Threads” is, Facebook launched the Threads app last year. This app is a messaging app that lets you share photos, videos, messages, Stories, and more with Instagram close friends list.
Instagram is working on “video note,” which helps users stay connected and to keep track of what is being said on a video in theThreads app.
The feature was first announced by mobile developer and tipster Alessandro Paluzzion Twitter.
What exactly does a “Video Note” do?
The new feature will turn the audio of the video into live captions that will be shown in time with the recording.
One of the uses of a “Video Note” is for users with hearing disabilities. The video note feature would also help Threads users understand what their friends are actually meant to say, and respond clearly. “Video Note” is somehow similar to YouTube’s feature “Live captions,” and will be helpful when the accent or audio is not very understandable. Also, Twitter has recently started rolling out “audio tweets” on iOS, which is somehow similar to the new feature.
“You are in control of who can reach you on Threads, and you can customize the experience around the people who matter most,” said Robby Stein, Director of Product, Instagram.
We assume that the “video notes” feature would be a popular one, and users would love using it, and this type of messaging might soon replace texting or typing completely.
As you surely have heard by now, many huge companies and big advertisers are boycotting Facebook for various reasons, such as allowing misinformation or violent content from politicians such as President Donald Trump.
After Facebook came to know it is losing its best brands and businesses, such as Verizon and Unilever, as the result of the global Facebook ads boycott, CEO Mark Zuckerburg decided to take serious action and do something about the issue.
After all the controversy and user complaints, Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new plan to occasionally do something about content that violates Facebook’s policies. This action is not for 100% of the situation and is applied every now and then.
Zuckerburg, who had previously refused to do anything against Trump’s posts suggesting that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud, is now forced to take actions due to the vast complaints and boycotts.
Mark Zuckerburg announced the decision in a Facebook live stream and then an official Facebook post on Friday. He seemingly attempted to mollify critics of his decision to allow a post from Donald Trump threatening violence against protesters with a new policy that may or may not address similar posts by the president in the future.
Below is the written statement Mark made on his Facebook post:
“The policies we’re implementing today are designed to address the reality of the challenges our country is facing and how they’re showing up across our community.”.
“A handful of times a year, we leave up content that would otherwise violate our policies if the public interest value outweighs the risk of harm,” wrote Zuckerberg. “Often, seeing speech from politicians is in the public interest, and in the same way that news outlets will report what a politician says, we think people should generally be able to see it for themselves on our platforms. We will soon start labeling some of the content we leave up because it is deemed newsworthy, so people can know when this is the case.
As a result, Facebook will begin adding new labels to all posts about voting that will direct users to authoritative information from state and local election. officials. Moreover, violating posts from politicians or other people is still allowed but will be labeled as inappropriate by Facebook, just like Twitter.
It has been several years since Facebook is being used as the number one platform for advertising, and a remarkable percentage of marketers have been using Facebook to market their brands and businesses. The main reason which makes Facebook a great place for marketing is its vast amount of audience and popularity among people all over the world.
But in recent days, Facebook is seen from a totally different view, and many users have changed their view on Facebook, and thousands of people have even stopped using it.
Facebook is confronting a new pressure campaign from advertisers, unlike anything it has ever experienced before. A growing number of big household names have joined a Facebook advertising boycott over its handling of hate speech and misinformation, culminating on Friday with the news that home goods giant Unilever would halt ad spending for at least the remainder of the year on Facebook, as well as Twitter.
With major advertisers like Verizon joining the campaign Thursday and Unilever, Coca-Cola and Honda saying they would pull advertising on Friday, Facebook is now facing a snowball effect of advertisers abandoning the site.
Meanwhile, as CNBC explains, Facebook has signaled it intends to do things on its own terms. In a more than 1,600-word memo to advertisers obtained by CNBC, the company’s VP of global business solutions, Carolyn Everson, said, “boycotting, in general, is not the way for us to make progress together.”
“I also really hope by now you know that we do not make policy changes tied to revenue pressure,” Everson said in the memo. “We set our policies based on principles rather than business interests.”
Facebook’s stock closed down more than 8% Friday.
What exactly is the #StopHateForProfit campaign and Where things could go from here
As you might have known a bit about the campaign by now, it is a campaign created by users to boycott Facebook, especially its advertising. The Campaign Forces Zuckerberg to Change Facebook Policies.
This boycott is surely getting Facebook to somewhere bad, and the effects of this act are being shown even now.
Since the boycott launched, over 133 advertisers, including high profile brands and companies, have joined the fight, such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, The North Face, Ben & Jerry’s, REI, Patagonia, Hershey’s, Honda, Levi Strauss, Verizon and many more. As a result, Facebook’s stock dropped more than 8%, roughly $50 billion devaluations.
From my point of view, the campaign is more serious than what Mark Zuckerberg could ever think it to be and if he does not change Facebook’s rules and keep ignoring users’ complaints, soon, there will be not even one well-known brand advertising on Facebook, which is a disaster for the company.
Until Zuckerberg himself decides to change the limits of free expression on his platform, Facebook may simply lose brands until only those that don’t object to the company’s conductor who cannot survive without the platform’s reach are left, Martin said.
TikTok caught red-handed again! TikTok has been having lots of controversies lately, and many users have complained about the way it spies on their data and information or snoops on the data they have on other applications.
Thanks to ios14, iOS’s latest update, the developers have provided a new feature where an alert in TikTok lets the users know if an app is pasting from the clipboard.
How Tiktok’s data snooping was exposed
It all started when Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia posted a tweet yesterday, showing exactly how iOS 14 alerts the tiktok data snooping process. As It is obvious in Jeremy’s tweet, iOS is trying its best and is repeatedly sending a notification at the top of the screen, and it informs Burge that ‘TikTok pasted from Instagram’ as he types in the app.
As social media today best describes the process, the process works like this – when you have something that you’ve cut from someplace else (like a section of text or a URL), it sits on your clipboard, from which you can paste it into another app. The latest version of iOS (14) now informs you when this happens. The process has been happening for years in the background; in various apps, users just haven’t been made aware of such till now.
TikTok is not the only app that was exposed to data snooping and security risks, but since TikTok was being complained about a lot lately, this issue became a huge disaster for the platform.
After the exposure, TikTok was forced to announce that it is going to remove this feature. Now TikTok has said that it will remove this feature, which reads data from the clipboard on user devices as they use TikTok. Such hidden behaviors of TikTok and how it spies on its users have made the politicians and people in so many regions to complain against TikTok or even totally ban the app. We really appreciate the high-security level of the new iOS version. One important security feature included in this new version is that the apps will require permission from the user before tracking them.
To boost your Instagram account use these top 10 tools.
Having an Instagram account now is necessary for every user apart from what they do on Instagram. It can be of great benefit for all kinds of people all around the world. Even Instagram is a place to market your products if you are running a business account.
Making money on Instagram is also possible, once it has a creator’s account option on it. However, tools are an inevitable part of the world of technology. Tools can speed up your actions on Instagram.
But what tools should you use on Instagram? Of course, there are many options out there to use, but not all of them are
1.Instagram Photo editors
Let’s start with what an editor can do for us. With the help of photo editor, not only can you make a picture stunning, but also you can create an Instagram feed that has harmony. Here I would insert some images that give you ideas on how you can get the help of an editor.
For example, if you like to have a modernized Instagram feed, I suggest you use a pure light color on the background. All you need is going to the editor app, choose the picture, select the line with tools there, and change the background to any harmonized colors.
Or you can insert three-pictures with a light color, and three with the dark colors. There are other options, like adding a frame with any colors. This action gives a small space between pictures.
If you are making content, you can add a cover to the video you are making. I would also put the tutorial on how you should add a cover to Instagram videos.
Another important use of video/photo editor is that you can make the posts with the right dimensions.
2. Instagram Video editor
If you are using iPhone, then easily can edit a video from Galley or using iMovie. Completely free tools, available on iOS devices. However, there are other apps; you can also edit videos.
I go to the category of my apps, and find the most rated, reviewed apps in the photo and video editing category. I have shown it in the section mentioned above of editing photos.
3. Schedule Instagram posts
Thanks to the coding that made it easy to send posts in advance! Using an Instagram scheduler is an effective way to save time and energy. However, the functions of the scheduler are different.
Some of them like Facebook creator studio, schedule posts with a single picture, or IGTV. There are many out there like Hootsuite or Later in which you can schedule carousal too.
4. Instagram Repost
If you are going to republish an Instagram post, you no need to download the posts separately and rewrite the caption (as Instagram caption cannot be copied). With the help of the repost app, you can give the app a link (you should copy from the post you are going to republish). The app will make it ready and directly from the app you can publish to Instagram.
5. Posts on Instagram from pc
The first-day Instagram launched, there was no option to post from PC, but now there are many easy ways to publish from laptop or desktop.
Here is the complete guide to how you can post from the computer, but please notice that you can only post (pictures, and IGTV, or sending messages) from PC.
6. Instagram Analytics tools
Some software like Hootsuite gives you Instagram analytics. However, if you want to get free analytics tools, you should link your Instagram account to an Instagram creator studio. In this source, you can read all about the Instagram Creator Studio, how to set it up, and how to use it.
7. Find influencers
The factor in finding the influencers can be the number of followers, posts like comments, their engagement rate, the category of activities. So, if you find a tool that you could filter the factors mentioned above, then you sure can find the influencer you want. Then, you can contact them by the email address they provide on their profile, to collaborate.
8. Hashtag generator
If you search the internet, there are also available free tools, and you can easily use it to generate hashtags for your Instagram posts.
All you need is to type in the keyword and select the hashtags (the number of sharing Is beside the hashtags name) and copy them to the clipboard. Then quickly add them to your posts.
If you are using the Instagram app, then you better open it on a browser, then you can copy and paste while writing the caption.
9. Instagram username generator
If you are looking to find a specific username is available or not, you can get help from Instagram itself. On Android devices, if you go to the Edit Profile, and type in the username you want (before saving the username), Instagram will show the availability by a green button.
There are other available free tools that you can generate the username.
jimpix.co.uk , nordpass.com , lingojam.com are some of the available free tools to generate an Instagram username.
10. Instagram video Downloader
I have always used downloadgram to download my videos. It is of great help and free tools to download all Instagram videos. Please notice you cannot download the videos from private accounts.
I suggest if you are looking to find videos that are easy to download, you should see them from the Instagram explorer.
The best chatbot platform for creating an AI chatbot on Facebook with integrated Facebook commerce. You can create a Facebook message both quickly and easily, no coding required. The platform’s simplicity makes it ideal for entrepreneurs and marketers in smaller companies, while its technology makes it suitable for enterprise customers. You can make a simple bot answering customer service questions or integrate it with Shopify to monetize your Facebook fan pages … where f-commerce and ai-commerce come together … 100% free to get started.
All in all
If you are using Instagram, and you are going to boost your account, you should use the tools mentioned above. It is well worth it.
Facebook dark mode has always been one of the most wanted features of all time. Today Facebook released some good news for all the users out there who have been awaiting this feature for a long time.
Facebook rolled out the Facebook dark mode earlier today on iOS on both iPhone and iPad. Yes, Finally, the popular dark mode is now available. But the unfortunate thing is that not all users have access to the feature.
The dark mode is rolled out to a small percentage of mobile users and is being tested now, so some users are now able to switch to dark mode in the mobile app, and the others need to wait for an unknown time for Facebook to globally roll out the feature to every one of its users and make their old Facebook wish come true.
It is still a wonder why it took Facebook so long to start testing this feature since the Dark mode is already available on many other apps of the Facebook family, including Messenger, Facebook Lite, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The dark mode is even available on Facebook’s recently expanded desktop app refresh.
The first picture of how the dark mode looks like on the Facebook app was published on titter by posted by user @NotFridayCraig.
How to enable Facebook dark mode?
In order to see if you are one of those lucky users who got the dark mode on its beta version, all you have to do is to follow the steps below:
Open the Facebook app on either your iPhone or iPad
Tap the Menu icon (both iPhone and iPad)
Find the “settings and privacy” option and tap on it
If you are given the dark mode, it’d then appear as the fourth option after ‘Your Time on Facebook’ and before ‘App Language’
At the end of the day, whether you’ve been included in the test roll-out of the dark mode or not, it is very good news that after a really long time, all of us are going to have the dark mode on our accounts early in the upcoming future.
You might be curious to know how different social media started working. When they started and who created them. There is a long history behind starting social media, which is well worth knowing. The idea of gathering people and make them contact each other is not new, and it goes back to more than 20 years ago.
Social media timeline
If you study history, you see that there has always been a place that people could share their ideas like Roman forums. Thanks to technology and the modern world, that has changed the way we do all things, including communication. If you search the internet, you realized that nothing like technology and the internet changed the world in the past century.
Creating forums and social networks become the new methods people could share their idea virtually without seeing each other. It was exciting for users to communicate with one another without knowing them or finding people from different parts of the world.
Now, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, and Twitter are the most prominent social networks all over the globe. In this article, we assess the origin and revolution of each one and social media as a whole. Let’s start with the social networks and see which the pioneers are of this competitive market.
When did social media start?
Of course, social media wasn’t what we see today when it first started. There were many concepts and app written before the most popular social media (like Facebook) more than twenty years ago. Most of them were kind of software that allowed users to connect. social media is used for many purposes such as an income source for Influencers, businesses, retailers, etc. so, it is worthy to know more about it.
However, what I mention here is a form of network that people could connect from the web and share their thoughts. Here is the list of different types of social media and their history. You can follow the blog to know about other aspects of social media such as social media marketing.
1973 – Talkomatic
Dave Woolley and Douglas Brown created it at the University of Illinois, as a multi-user chat room application.
1996 – Bolt
Bolt.com was launched as the first social networking and video website SixDegrees.com
1997 – SixDegrees.com
SiXDegrees.com is the first social media, which was created in 1997 on which people could add friends and create a profile. It was sold out for $125 million and closed in 2000.
1997 – AOL
Instant Messenger
1998 – Open Diary
Open Diary launched the first social blogging network, inventing the reader comment and friends-only content
2000 – Hot or Not?
The site for rating others picture founded on by two October 2000 by James Hong and Jim Young, young Ph.D. students of UC Berkeley and engineers at Silicon Valley.
1999 – Yahoo! Messenger
1999 – MSN Messenger
MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger), a messaging, video and voice calling service, launched
1999 – LiveJournal
LiveJournal, a blogging platform and social network
The first social networking site focused on a local area
2006 – Twitter
2006 – VK (VKontakte)
Russian-based social networking service
2007 – Tumblr
A microblogging and social networking website
2007 – FriendFeed
A real-time social media feed aggregator launched
2007 – Justin.tv
A live-streaming allowing users to broadcast video online
2009 – Sina Weibo
A Chinese microblogging website
2010 – Pinterest
Photo sharing website
2010 – Instagram
Photo/video-sharing and social media
2010 – Path
Messaging service for mobile devices and social networking-enabled photo sharing
2010 – Quora
A question-and-answer platform launched
2011 – Snapchat
Photo/video-sharing and social media
2011 – Google Plus
Social networking
2011 – Keek
Social media and video sharing
2011 – Twitch
Live-streaming service
2012 – Tinder
Dating-oriented social networking service
2013 – Google Hangouts
Instant messaging and video/voice calling service
2014 – Musically
Lip-syncing app
2015 – Periscope
Live video sharing app
2015 – Beme
Short video sharing app by Casey Neistat and Matt Hackett
2015 – Discord
Video/voice calling and free instant messaging for gaming
2015 – Meerkat
Application similar to Periscope
2017 – TikTok
Social media and short video sharing
The history of Instagram
Here the common questions about Instagram history. From the first person started working on Instagram, and what was the first photo on Instagram, and also the most critical events on Instagram.
When was Instagram created?
Instagram first launched in October 2010 by Kevin systrom and Mark Krieger. Kevin started working on the Burbn project in 2010, and Krieger joined him in 2010 to complete the project. They first launched Instagram for ios devices, and it reached 100K users in the first week. Soon, Instagram reached 1 million users and 100 million users.
who is Instagram founder?
Kevin started working on the Burbn project, which later changed its name to Instagram, and Mark joined the project, and they both launched the app in October 2010.
What was the first photo on Instagram?
Kevin published the first photo of Instagram, which was the photo of his dog.
Instagram history timeline
Here is a summary of all critical events on Instagram from 2010 to 2020.
2009
October 21
Kevin Systrom started Burbn project
2010
May 19
Mike Krieger joied the Burbn project
2010
October 6
Systrom and Krieger) launched instgaram and hits 100K users in one week
2010
December 12
Instagram reached 1 million users
2011
January
Instagram introduced hashtags to help users find posts
2011
June
Instagram reached 5 million users
2011
September
Instagram reached 10 million users
2012
April 3
Android app for Instagram realized
2012
April 9
Facebook acquired Instagram for US$1 billion in cash and stock.
2012
April 30
Instagram reached 50 million users
2013
February
Instagram reached 100 million users
2013
May
tagging and “Photos of You,” introduced on Instagram
2013
June 13
Instagram launched video sharing
2013
July
links added to embed photos and videos
2013
September
Instagram reached 150 million users
2013
November
Instagram introduced sponsored post advertising targeting US users
2013
December 12
Instagram introduced directly to send posts privately
2014
March
Instagram reached 200 million users
2014
June
editing tools added
2014
December
Instagram reached 300 million users
2015
September 9
Instagram allowed 30-second ads for all advertisers – twice the 15-second limit given for users
2015
September
Instagram ads went global
2015
September
Instagram reached 400 million users
2015
October
Instagram launched Boomerang
2016
February
Instagram started enabling users to switch between multiple accounts easily
2016
March 15
The Instagram algorithm changed the feed from chronological to algorithmically-driven best posts first
2016
May 11
Instgaram icon changed
2016
May
Business analytics was added
2016
June
Instagram reached 500 million users
2016
June
Instagram translation added
2016
July
Comments could be filtered
2016
August 2
Instgaram stories launched
2016
October 13
Instagram launched a desktop version on the Windows 10
2016
November 21
Live video launched
2016
December 15
Instagram had 600 million active users monthly
2017
February 22
Instagram launched a feature allowing users to post multiple photos in one post, in a slideshow-like fashion
2018
May 22
Mute feature added to hide posts and stories of users
2018
June 20
IGTV launched on Instgaram
2019
October
Following activity tab was hidden
2020
July
Instagram announced shopping for business would be easier
All in all
The history of social media is exciting, and I believe that everyone using social media should be aware of its changes over time. If you are keen to know more about social media and its effects on mental health, kids, or social media spending time, you can refer to the articles. It helps us to manage how and why we use social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and youtube.
Good news for marketers and business owners. TikTok can now be used as a marketing platform for all kinds of brands and businesses. TikTok has officially announced the launch of its new platform, which is dedicated to marketers and advertising.
TikTok For Business is where you can unleash your brand’s creative side. A fully immersive no judgment world where there’s an audience for every voice.
No matter how big or small your Business, no matter what you’re making or selling, we believe your brand deserves to be discovered here.
Many marketers and social media managers have been seeking ways to make use of TikTok as a platform for running ads and promotions. That dream came true today as TikTok has decided to make that happen.
“TikTok For Business” is made for brands to manage their ads and marketing campaigns on tikTok.The platform is open to everyone and all kinds of businesses as a solution for marketing.
TikTok for Business Includes different options, which are best explained by Tech Crunch. At launch, the site will include access to TikTok ad formats, including its marque product, TopView, which is the ad that appears when you first launch the TikTok app. Other products under this TikTok for Business umbrella include Brand Takeovers, In-Feed Videos, Hashtag Challenges, and Branded Effects.
Brand Takeovers are the 3-5 second ads that can be either a video or an image. In-Feed Videos can be up to 60 seconds in length and run with the sound on. Hashtag Challenges allow brands to participate in the user community by inviting TikTok users to create content around a hashtag of their choice. This includes Hashtag Plus, which also adds a shopping feature to this experience.
Meanwhile, Branded Effects allow brands to insert themselves more directly into the content creation experience.
The effects allow a brand or product to be added to a video in a 2D, 3D, or now AR format in either the foreground or background of the video. These can also be combined with Hashtag Challenges to boost engagement with the brand With the emergence of this new app, thousands of marketers are going to turn to TikTok for their marketing purposes, and TikTok would once again become a Rival to platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, this time in marketing and attracting businesses.
