Tag: social media

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Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk quotes Eminem in legal battle over his Twitter account

In the middle-aged man’s latest example of desperately trying to seem younger and more hip, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has cited a song from Eminem in court.

The businessman is currently calling on the U.S.’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to throw out a 2018 agreement requiring Tesla lawyers to vet his tweets. In a court filing, Musk quoted rapper Eminem’s 2002 hit “Without Me” and replaced “FCC” with “SEC.”

“The [SEC] won’t let me be or let me be me so let me see / They tried to shut me down,” said Musk via his lawyers.

For context, Eminem originally said that following a Colorado radio station being fined for playing an edited version of his 2000 song “The Real Slim Shady,” which it argued featured “indecent language.” The fee was ultimately rescinded, with the FCC noting that it “did not violate the applicable statute or our indecency rule, and that no sanction is warranted.”

Now, Musk’s lawyers are making the same case for Musk, arguing that “the First Amendment requires that agencies proceed with caution when constitutional rights are at stake.” On Twitter, Musk added in a tongue-in-cheek tweet that he and Eminem are “basically identical [with] a few differences maybe.”

The agreement to have Musk’s tweets vetted came about in 2018 after the Tesla CEO tweeted that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420” per share. The SEC accused Musk of misleading investors, and Musk eventually signed an agreement to allow his lawyers to approve any tweets containing information that could affect the company’s stock price.

While it remains to be seen what will come out of this legal dispute, Musk is already looking beyond Twitter. After questioning whether Twitter adheres to the principles of free speech, Musk said he’s “giving serious thought” to building a new social platform.

Source: SEC Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Three trends that will dominate Twitter in Canada this year

Multiple trends go viral every year, and Twitter wants to ensure its users know what lies ahead.

The social media giant analyzed billions of tweets over two years and believes three trends surrounding the environment, digital fans, and finance “are about to go big” in Canada this year.

The Great Restoration

The past two years spent under the dark cloud of COVID-19 have shifted the way people talk about the planet. Burnout has led people to focus on wellness differently, prioritizing reclaiming green space and building connections that improve their health and the people around them.

“Instead of obsessing with everything wrong with the world, “the planet will restore when we do” is an attitude shift that no one saw coming,” the analysis notes.

Fan-Built Worlds

“Fans no longer just follow, they’re calling the shots,” Twitter notes in its analysis. Fans have morphed from being dedicated to a person, cause, or group, to being part of the process. The analysis showed that the term “stanning,” or being an overzealous fan, decreased by 53 percent.

“This is an epic shift in power,” the analysis notes. People are no longer waving from the sidelines; they’re a part of the process of collaboration that puts them in the (shared) owner’s seat.

Finance Goes Social

Older generations would build wealth by buying property. Today, property ownership is not something a lot of people can afford. Young people have shifted the way they’re building wealth, focusing on virtual means instead, and it’s easy to do so. Gatekeeping financial information was left behind with the older generation as experts now freely share their finance knowledge with all. Tweets on finance have increased by 173 percent yearly among users who aren’t financial experts.

Source: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter could soon let users add pronouns to profiles

It looks like Twitter might soon allow users to add pronouns to their profile.

Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi has discovered proof that the social media platform is developing a pronoun feature and that it might currently be testing the functionality.

It’s odd this feature hasn’t hit Twitter yet. Facebook users have been able to choose pronouns for a while, and Instagram let its users add pronouns last year. Even Slack, Zoom and LinkedIn users can add preferred pronouns.

Twitter will likely make a formal announcement regarding the feature soon.

Source: Alessandro Paluzzi Via: Engadget

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Mobile Syrup

Toronto-based HVR wants to change the way you browse the internet

Bouncing between social media pages and different websites to access content is a thing of the past, according to the people behind HVR.

HVR is a Toronto-based social media tech company, and it wants to reinvent the way people browse the internet through a mobile app under the same name.

CEO Nelson Thall describes it as a “mobile browser that’s also social,” which makes it “easy to discover and discuss the web in one place.”

He says the app is the “world’s first social surfing platform.” It’s about having everything available in one place, scrapping the need to go between websites and social media apps, and giving website owners their engagement back.

Internet users wanting to discover new content, publishers and brands serve as the target audience.

Thall says the app allows users to follow people and websites to create a curated web page. Users can post comments and photos on the websites they visit through the app.

Mockups of HVR’s platform. Image credit: HVR

“It’s a streamlined way to discuss the articles, brands and products that you love with other people who share your interests,” Thall told MobileSyrup.

Having the option to do that in one place will benefit users and publishers, who’ve had no choice but to give their engagement to social media giants like Twitter and Facebook.

“Discussing the web by copy-pasting and sharing links to countless other platforms is inefficient for users and debilitating for web publishers who rarely receive the full monetization benefits of the conversations happening as a result of their content.”

Thall previously owned shares of Canada’s largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, along with members of his family. It was a practice that ran in the family ever since his grandfather bought a fifth of the company in the 1950s.

Thall told MobileSyrup user engagement was something his family felt “insecure” about. Instead of wanting Thall and his brother to submit photographs of issues around Toronto, they were told there were photographers and journalists to capture that.

“Because of this, there was no way they were going to thrive on the web.” While the family sold off shares, Thall said things didn’t change. People still have to copy links to emails and multiple networks to share thoughts on the web.

Along with his brother Henry, they thought it would be great to have discussions on the web for anyone to see. They asked people how the web could work better for them. The feedback included users wanting to organize and share their passions more easily. Eventually, HVR was born.

HVR also has a site partner program that allows website owners to host and grow their community through the app. Aimed at bloggers, publishers, and brands, it allows website owners to maximize their engagement and earnings while allowing their followers to easily access their content.

While the app is available to download on iOS and Android at this time, only those sent a link by an existing user can sign up. Users can request to be notified on when they can sign up.

Image credit: HVR

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter rolls out new storefront feature for select merchants in the U.S.

Twitter is rolling out a new e-commerce feature on its platform which will allow small and large businesses, individual sellers and everyday Twitter users to transform their profile to a virtual storefront.

The new feature, Twitter Shops, will allow users to showcase up to 50 products on their profile, and is free to use.

As of today, the ability to display products on their profile is only available to select merchants in the United States, namely @Verizon, @ArdenCove, @LatinxInPower, @GayPrideApp, and @AllIDoIsCookUS. Additionally, the ability to view and interact with said storefronts currently rests with users in the United States who use Twitter in English on an iPhone.

The feature works similarly to how it is on TikTok. Potential shoppers have the option to browse products in the “View Shop” section, which would appear on the merchant’s profile. From there, you can browse through the 50 products on display and be redirected to the merchant’s website through an in-app browser, if you choose to buy something.

“As we continue to test, we’ll explore how to make Shops more discoverable; adding new ways for merchants to tell their brand story through their Shops; expanding the number of products merchants can showcase, and bringing Twitter Shops to more merchants and more people,” concludes Twitter’s blog post.

The storefront feature comes soon after it was revealed that Twitter is working on a new podcast tab for the platform.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

TikTok adds support for 10-minute videos, gives creators an alternative to YouTube

Russia, Kazan May 28 2019: Tik Tok application icon on Apple iPhone X screen close-up. Tik Tok icon. tik tok application. Tiktok Social media network

TikTok, the platform that rose to popularity because of its short-video model, is now allowing users to upload up to 10-minute long videos after experimenting with three-minute videos back in December 2020.

“We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” said a TikTok spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

“Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.”

By adding support for longer videos, TikTok just dealt the Uno reverse card to the likes of YouTube, which has recently incorporated short videos (YouTube Shorts) to its platform to capitalize on the trend.

While it will take a lot of effort and time for TikTok to gain a long-form audience as big as YouTube, it definitely is a step in the right direction and proves that the controversy-ridden platform isn’t just a fad.

The move should help creators who focused on in-depth content and earlier had to split their content into multiple short videos and also serve as an alternative to YouTube.

According to TikTok, the feature is currently rolling out, and will be widely available over the weeks ahead. Users who get access to the feature will get a notification from the app, similar to the one below:

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Instagram ups its ‘Daily Time Limit’ reminder to 30 minutes

Instagram feature a built-in section that allows you to check how much time you spend on the social media application, along with an option to set daily usage limits.

The shortest daily limit you could set was 10 minutes, but the Meta-owned company is now updating the section and increasing the minimum daily limit to 30 minutes, as reported by TechCrunch.

Information about the update was shared by a TechCrunch reader who said they were nudged by Instagram to update their usage time limit, along with a note stating that they can retain their original (10 minute) time limit as well.

See images below for reference:

Additionally, the reader also stated that the app nudged them to update their time limit setting for a couple of weeks, and if they entered the setting tab, there was no option to exit it until a new time limit had been selected. “They don’t force the change but if you go into the edit screen as it tells you to, then you have to force quit the app to get out without changing it,” the reader told TechCrunch.

Instagram has since confirmed that it has updated the daily time limit feature to offer a minimum of thirty minutes. The feature comes soon after Instagram rolled out its “Take a break” feature that sends periodic reminders to users who have been using the app constantly for a long time.

While increasing the time limit seems counter-intuitive, especially when compared to its take a break feature, Instagram says the take a break feature can be set to remind users to cool off every ten minutes, so it is, in turn, replacing the time limit functionality.

The change could also simply be a tactic to garner higher user usage time since other apps — specifically TikTok — has leeched off Instagram’s user base since its rise to popularity in early 2020.

Image credit: Instagram

Via: TechCrunch

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Mobile Syrup

Yes, Slack is down

Pack it in, the day is already over.

If you haven’t been able to access your workplace’s Slack account this morning, you’re not alone. The collaboration platform is experiencing issues, resulting in some users being unable to log into the service or send/receive messages.

Slack’s Status Twitter account says that “Some customer[s] may be experiencing issues with loading Slack.”

On Down Detector, there’s a massive influx of reported Slack outages starting at roughly 9am ET/6am PT.

It’s unclear when Slack will be back online. In the past, the platform has fixed services relatively quickly, though in early January the service was down for several hours.

This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

Source: @SlackStatus

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Mobile Syrup

Instagram is rolling out the ability to privately like stories

Instagram is testing out a new feature that will help users keep their inboxes uncluttered. The feature lets users send private likes in reply to a story, instead of having to send a message or an emoji to display their affection.

The messaging functionality, which was first shared by the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, is now rolling out for all Instagram users.

According to Mosseri, “the idea here is to make sure that people can express more support for each other, but also to clean up DMs a little bit.” As part of the update, a new heart icon will now appear between the pill-shaped send message bar and the airplane icon, when you’re viewing a story.

Before this update, if you had to show appreciation or affection to someone’s story, you’d have to send them a message, and it would pop up in their DMs, but now, all you need to do is press the new heart icon on their story and they will be able to see it in their ‘viewer sheet.’

While not a monumental feature, the new update is sure to help you organize your DMs better, and if you’re on the other side of the equation, make it easier to show love.

Source: @mosseri

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter is testing out a YouTube-like video playback speed feature

Russia, Kazan Sep 2 2019: Twitter application icon on Apple iPhone X smartphone screen close-up. Twitter app icon. Social media icon. Social network

Twitter is testing out a new feature that will let users adjust video playback speed (similar to YouTube and Netflix) on the web and Android.

The new feature is currently in testing, and has been rolled out for select users only.

Judging by the image in the announcement Tweet, users would be able to press a gear icon on the top right of the video tab and adjust the playback speed in .25 increments, ranging from 0.25x on the slow side to 2x on the fast side.

The Tweet doesn’t go into much detail, and as is the case with every Twitter Support announcement, the comment section is filled with bots, so nothing constructive could be deduced from the engagement.

The Verge, however, got a statement from Twitter spokesperson Joseph Nuñez who said the playback speed option will be available across Tweet Videos, Amplify Videos, Voice Tweets, videos in DMs, and Video Live Replays.

Funnily enough, while Twitter’s own post shows the feature in action on an iOS device, the playback speed functionality is currently only being tested for Android and web. Twitter didn’t reveal when we can expect the feature to be rolled out widely.

Source: @TwitterSupport