Friday, June 10, 2022

Google Experiments With New Search Filter Side Bar

Google has expanded its horizons to include several products under its umbrella, but in spite of the fact that this is the case its main product has been and continues to be its search engine platform. The tech giant has been working tirelessly to improve the functionality of its search engine...

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Thursday, June 9, 2022

WhatsApp Develops New Order Creation Chat Shortcut Among Other Updates

WhatsApp’s main focus these past few years has been to position itself as a central place in which ecommerce can be done because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing it to capitalize on the massive ecommerce trend that has emerged. This instant messaging...

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

New Data From Snapchat Reveals Usefulness of AR in Marketing Campaigns

Snapchat has become a useful resource for marketers that are trying to tackle younger demographics because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to place ads right where the younger crowd happens to hang out in a digital way. In an attempt to help...

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Morning Consult Conducted Surveys In 15 Countries To Gauge Opinions On Ad-Based Subscription Tiers Across Streaming Services

Netflix recently made the decision of opening up a new, cheaper, ad-supported tier for consumers. While it’s had mixed reactions across the board, Morning Consult decided to conduct a survey on the matter to really nail down opinions on the matter.

Streaming’s getting sort of expensive, no doubt, especially with just how much content individual platforms have to keep generating to maintain relevance nowadays. With sites such as Netflix, which are already struggling to keep up revenue, relatively drastic measures need to be taken. We already lost MoviePass to a business model that ultimately couldn’t manage both audience expectations and income, pretty sure no one else wants to go down the same way. Well, with Netflix recording the first time its lost subscribers in the past 10 years just recently, it’s decided to help users by providing cheaper options. One of these is a new ad-supported subscription tier, which will allow users to purvey Netflix’s catalog of content at a lower rate, but with ads dispersed in between individual pieces of content (i.e. between episodes, between movies). Of course, with the new tier projected to be released at the end of 2022, things could still change. Maybe they’ll start dispersing advertisements within the individual episodes and movies too.

Advertising’s an annoying beast to deal with, and the internet’s frustration with it is rather high. What with corporation trying to tie it into videos, posts, memes, social media, you name it, everyone’s tired of the unnecessary pandering. Then again, it’s what pays the bills (and a bit too effectively, judging by how many billionaires ads have made of people). Apparently, people have managed to catch onto this as well, and have begun to see ad-related content tiers as a necessity for more affordable entertainment. In surveys that Morning Consult conducted across fifteen countries, fourteen had a higher percentage of individuals willing to settle for cheaper subscriptions even if it meant dealing with ads. Japan was the sole exception, with 48% of individuals having no defined opinion on the matter, 37% settling for ads, and 14% adamantly against them.

Netflix isn’t even the only platform engaging with such services. Almost every major platform such as HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Prime will eventually have ad based subscriptions, if they don’t already have them in the first place. Primetime TV and entertainment as a whole is are media built upon advertising; don’t expect them to disappear anytime soon.


Read next: Why Is The World Going Crazy Over The Metaverse? Here Are The Real Reasons Why You’ll Want It Too
by Unknown via Digital Information World

Can Facebook Survive With Mark Zuckerberg At the Helm? This Whistleblower Thinks Otherwise

The decline of Facebook is something that many people started to predict during the middle of the 2010s, when the social media platform became embroiled in a series of controversies that revealed the extent of the privacy violations that it often gleefully committed. However, are these problems inherent to the company, or are they byproducts of the decisions made by its controversial leader, Mark Zuckerberg?

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Frances Haugen, who gained notoriety as a whistleblower after exposing some of Facebook’s questionable algorithmic practices, thinks that the company can’t survive if Zuckerberg continues to lead it. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Haugen spoke out about how Zuckerberg has been surrounded by yes men since he started his career at the young age of 19, and that has led to him refusing to take opposing viewpoints seriously with all things having been considered and taken into account.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, he continues to hold a 56% share of Facebook’s total voting rights, something that can’t be seen in any other Big Tech company out there. Such voting power is concerning because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving Zuckerberg complete authoritarian control over the company, and since he thinks that there is nothing wrong with how it is operating it seems unlikely that it will be able to reverse its recent decline if steps aren’t taken to improve matters.

One of the things that Haugen spoke about was Facebook’s tweak to its algorithm in 2018 which resulted in inciting reactions from users. Since anger and outrage are some of the most potent emotions that anyone can feel, Facebook tried to promote content that would lead to people feeling these things in an attempt to boost engagement. This is just one example of how Facebook’s decisions that come from Zuckerberg are not sustainable and will inevitably result in its demise if changes are not made.


Read next: Facebook Set to Lose 1.4 Million Users This Year Amidst Rapid Decline
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Twitter Tries to Optimize Downvotes by Letting Users Select a Reason

The standard way for users to interact with a social media post during the initial rise of this industry was twofold: they could either comment on a post or give it a sign of appreciation such as a Like or a Favorite. This soon changed into a much more diverse way of interacting, with Facebook giving users multiple new reactions. One social media platform that forged a different path was Reddit, with its upvote and downvote feature being one of the most iconic aspects of its user interface.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Twitter has been trying to implement something similar too because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving the conversations that occur on its platform a bit more nuance. Twitter has been experimenting with an improved version of downvote button that users can use to interact with a comment left in the reply thread of a tweet, and it is now trying to get some data from this feature.

The micro blogging platform will now allow users to give a reason for downvoting a particular reply. These reasons include disagreement, misleading information, irrelevance or offensiveness with all things having been considered and taken into account. Twitter claims that it will not be providing this data to the author of the tweet. This coupled with the specific reasons that users can select from suggests that Twitter will be using this to harvest data that it can then use to optimize its algorithm and rank comments and replies accordingly.

The quantity of replies that Tweets can get are quite massive, and users previously did not have a way of responding to a comment that they disagreed with or didn’t like other than replying to it which provided it even more engagement thereby boosting its relevance in the algorithm. This new method might change that, and if users provide accurate reasoning Twitter could leverage this data to vastly improve the user experience and see some stronger rates of growth in the future.


H/T: Chris Messina

Read next: Twitter Helps The Visually Impaired By Releasing New Option To Translate Charts Into Audio Elements
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

YouTube Releases New Updates Including Tarot Card Readings And Mobile Data Story Among Others

YouTube has recently announced a series of customized readings for users interested in tarot cards. And that too with an enthusiastic involvement with some of the app’s leading creators.

The company made the announcement in a unique manner today where it displayed some of the familiar faces of the app as a part of its displays on the cards.

In its public announcement, YouTube says its tarot community is super excited to make the reveal, especially after seeing how much interest people have in this genre that continues to grow over the years.


Last year, we saw plenty of videos in the tarot section gain massive fame with views that crossed the 250 million mark in the country. To help celebrate the notion, the company has collaborated with leading creators as well as artists to release a more customized experience in the world of tarot card reading.

To simply gain access to this particular reading, all users need to do is click on the YouTube logo and select their preference.

The leading social media app has mentioned the name of several of its famous creators that will carry out the readings from a deck of cards that YouTube has customized with leading names or familiar faces.

This includes the likes of BLACKPINK and Safiya Nygaard, amongst so many other artists as well as famous content creators.

In the same way, the functionality hopes to incorporate a new soul card that’s calculated on the basis of your birth date while sharing some personal insights like character traits and other personal preferences in this world.

If users find it comfortable, they’re given the chance to share their readings across other social media platforms for a fun and interesting twist.

While some might find the new initiative by YouTube a little bit bizarre and over the top, those interested in the realm of wizards and unicorns will surely be captivated.

Remember that in 2020, Snapchat made headlines when it chose to add the unique functionality in the form of Astrological profiles. And the reason was the same as here, people were interested and they wanted to engage in it.

Considering the great amount of engagement attached to the world of mystic arts, we certainly think the new feature will be a fit for those that take it seriously. While for the rest, well, you can focus on the other update announced by the company recently.

Next up, YouTube is conducting trials for its mobile data story. The company says it’s on a mission to help its creators get a better understanding of their performance in the form of the app’s analytics.

Without a doubt, it’s hard sometimes to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together and that’s why the app is going the extra mile for adding convenience to its users.

For the update, creators will be provided with a mobile data story card that gives an analysis of where their viewership is falling and where it’s increasing.

Lastly, the app is busy experimenting with a channel page navigation bar. The whole idea is to better optimize users' experience when they’re navigating through channels. And they’re planning to do that by removing the navigation bar from the screen’s top under the creator profile on mobiles.

This not only allows for users to stay in context with the channel in a more meaningful manner but also provides so much easier access to like, subscribe, or join a membership.

The company is waiting for user feedback on both the trials being conducted as they claim both the new additions are sure to add a source of added convenience.

Read next: Elon Musk Calls Out YouTube For Producing Huge Amounts Of Scam Ads On A Regular Basis
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World