TikTokers Are Struggling To Make A Decent Income From The App’s Creator Fund

While TikTok may be considered one of the world’s leading apps, it might not be doing too great in terms of giving back to its creator community.

A new report is shedding light on how so many TikTokers are struggling to make a decent income from the app that they can rely on. Moreover, it’s coming to a point where many feel the struggle has started to affect their mental health.

Others are going as far as mentioning how they plan on quitting because they just don’t feel that their efforts are being acknowledged and the entire process is so demoralizing for them.

One creator was reportedly caught mentioning how she just doesn’t feel like making content anymore because that’s how drastic the entire ordeal has been for her.

TikTok did recently mention how it was doing everything to try and give back to its creator ecosystem by launching a creator fund, solely dedicated to this purpose. But news went viral when one of the app’s leading content creators was paid just $12.50 for a video that achieved 3 million views.

30-year-old Yatshushiro mentioned during a recent interview with Insider how the low amount shocked him and made him as him his worth wasn’t being appreciated. He also recalled the effect it took on his overall mental health.

But this is just one example of so many other content creators who are now feeling the same about TikTok. They’re criticizing the app for their extra low payments from the Creator Fund. This is also against the company’s own promises that it had made in 2020.

During that time, we saw TikTok making a pledge of $1 billion to help assist the creator economy which many feel super doubtful about.

Creators like Yatsushiro who have a mega fanbase of nearly 590,000 followers say he withdrew himself from the fund altogether. Instead, he felt the time had come for him to move on to better and bigger opportunities that actually appreciated his contribution and efforts. Hence, that came in the form of a full-time job at a mega-corporation.

But he is clearly not the only one in that boat as the feeling is mutual among plenty who say they’d rather get zero than be paid peanuts for their viral content.

Other creators are diverting their attention and content to places that they feel pay more. Common examples include apps like Instagram and even Pinterest which are affiliated with programs that payout creators directly.

Instagram’s Reels program adds a special bonus for those who make viral content. One content creator mentioned how the returns from Pinterest are about $1000 to $2000 each month. On the other hand, when it comes to Instagram, it’s nearly double that.

Other famous content creators like Nikki Apostolou revealed how hard she has worked to get the love and support from her thousands of followers. But TikTok fails to recognize this, giving her barely anything for viral content that comes in the form of three videos per day.

On average, she makes just $20 to $30 and for her, it’s beyond heartbreaking. For now, she has no plans to quit because according to her philosophy, each penny in life counts.

Creators are asking for transparency and for TikTok to realize that a fixed pay rate is a way to go. So many content creators have even addressed their concerns to the app’s community heads but it has been in vain, they claim.

Others have poured in plenty of suggestions regarding how TikTok can make the creator fund more competitive and worthwhile for all but again, they feel it's a tone-deaf affair.

Read next: TikTok Announces New Filters To Limit Unwanted Content Exposure For Younger Audiences
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google is now adding a new feature that will allow users to create automated responses for FAQs on their profile

Running a business is not an easy task especially if you are working alone. Most of the time managing a successful business requires at least two people or maybe more. In this entire hustle and bustle the consumers who have questions about the service or the product, often receive late replies leading to them losing interest.

If you have just started your business then Google might be your best friend with workspace apps and the Google business profile to help you along the road, and now Google is working on another feature that will not only allow you to set up a FAQ section, but it will also let you automate the chats with the consumers.

With this new feature, which BTW was seen by Stefan Somborac who is an SEO professional, business profile users can suggest questions for the consumer to ask when they massage your business on your business profile, like how a chatbot works. And along with it, you can set up the bot to answer the questions for you.

While there have not been any formal announcements regarding this feature from Google we can confidently tell you that it is very much true and that this feature does work. One more thing is that when checking the older cached versions of the page, the FAQ section is absent, which leads us to believe that this feature might be released in the past few weeks.

Now since we are all caught up on the history of the feature, let’s dive in as to how it works.

If you are a business that regularly gets the same questions from a lot of customers, then this might be a lifesaver for you as you could pre-set a list of questions that you expect from customers and then automate the replies to those questions. Thus, your consumers will get their reply in time, and you won’t have to worry about replying to everyone.

This feature could also be used to direct the customers toward a page on your website that will answer their query by adding a link to the response to the question asked.

Now to enable this feature on your business profile all you have to do is to follow these steps. First, go to the browser and search “My Business” on Google. Then click Customers and then Messages. After that click Menu and then Message settings, after clicking on “Manage Frequently Asked Questions.” Lastly, click on +add a Question and add how many questions you want.

Read next: Google’s Adorable Weather Frog Character Has Stopped Wearing A Face Mask On The Search App
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

European Commission Criticized And Sued For Breaching Its Own Data Protection Laws

In what is being described as a series of ironic and twisted events, the European Commission is being sued for failing to follow its own data protection laws.

The branch of the EU is being accused of breaching its own laws that were originally outlined for data protection.

A citizen from Germany has gone as far as alleging how the regulatory body has been busy transferring data belonging to citizens into the US, after extracting it from one of its own websites.

The German organization named EuGD offers support for so many customers in regards to making sure consumers’ rights stand guarded and are protected at all times. But they have been receiving reports from one German national over the failure of following the GDPR, which they consider alarming.

The news of users’ personal data being shared is definitely a huge shocker for obvious reasons. And while many people may be arguing about how the GDPR shouldn’t be affecting nations like Germany directly, they’re designed to follow a similar set of regulations that more or less resembles the GDPR.

Moreover, both legislations have been designed using assistance from the Commission.

There was a recently published press release that went as far as claiming how the cloud service that’s based in the US was able to transfer personal data such as IP addresses to another unsafe nation after a phone call was made to the website for the registration of an event taking place in that location.

It was appalling to see how there were no safeguarding rules being followed in this regard and just not enough data protection was present to prevent such incidents from ever taking place again.

The EuGD further elaborated upon how the event in focus was the Conference For Europe’s Future and it was being hosted by the AWS. Hence, anyone coming forward and asking for registration would now be unknowingly giving out their IP addresses to those located in the US.

Let’s not forget how certain data transfers between the European Union and the US were already dubbed to be illegal by the EU’s Court of Justice as per a previously declared ruling.

The court spoke out boldly against how the laws for data protection in America were clearly inadequate and that would give so many US-based authorities the chance to gain access to the information of EU citizens, without having any interference from judicial supervision.

This lawsuit has also gone on to mention how the EC’s website manages to link the login service of apps like Facebook. And that’s quite interesting because, at the moment, a regulatory body in Ireland is trying to carry out an investigation about whether Meta’s Facebook and Instagram are transferring user data from the EU to the US as per the regulations outlined.

This new lawsuit is being deemed as one that serves as a clear warning that the European Commission isn’t following rules and how so many European users’ data could be at stake of getting passed on to others without users' consent being taken.

H/T: Euractiv

Read next: Apple Says Its Products Improve Health Outcomes And Encourage People To Lead Healthier Lives
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Apple Says Its Products Improve Health Outcomes And Encourage People To Lead Healthier Lives

It’s not uncommon to come across a keynote by Apple where the tech giant can be seen sparing a few minutes to discuss health.

Over the years, we’ve seen Apple encourage so many of its users to focus on their general wellbeing and to take the subject of their health seriously.

The company continues to work hard at bringing forward the best hardware and software out there today that’s designed to ensure people are mindful of their health. This includes giving them a clear picture of where they stand with the help of metrics.

One of the best examples has to be related to the Apple Watch which continues to provide wearers with certain health concerns that they might not be aware of. For instance, the device’s ‘fall detection’ is a great indicator for users because it dials up emergency services in situations where the wearer has fallen or slipped.

But the magic doesn’t end there. Apple is planning on introducing more innovative features for wearers of the Apple Watch Series 9 which will be seen as supporting reminders for taking medication.

On the other hand, the iPhone 16 is rumored to include a new fitness application whose entire purpose is to bring forward health benefits for those that might not be using the Apple Watch.

Additionally, there are so many reports that prove how closely Apple works alongside leading health firms so that it can indulge in the latest advances in research for the field of medicine.

Just recently, Apple put forward a new report that proves to the world how much Apple is spending and how hard they’re working to empower citizens of the world to gain the best health data.

The company’s COO put forward a recent message where he outlined how seriously Apple considers its users’ health to be. There was a strong emphasis on how the technology of today has the capability to enhance health outcomes while making sure people lead healthier lives on a daily basis.

In addition to that, Jeff Williams spoke about how grateful Apple feels to positively impact so many people’s lives with the best health-related devices and those pertaining to the fitness world too.

Similarly, there was an emphasis on how Apple’s technology was being used by countless health organizations, developers, and other institutions for advancement in the world of medicine.

Apple hopes to similarly equip so many other people with even better technology and data that behaves like a guardian for the betterment of their wellness. Williams concluded by mentioning how Apple wants people to be in the driver’s seat of their health and that means having more control over their conditions with meaningful insights into what’s really going on in their systems.

It’s quite clear to us that Apple’s clear focus has always been on health too, among other things. And that’s proven with the chance it's giving its users to store more than 150 different kinds of data of theirs in a Health app.

Let’s not forget the fact that 800 different institutions will soon be offering storage of health records through iPhones too.

Read next: Apple Announces Big Changes For 2023 Including Slower Hiring And Reduced Team Spending
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

WhatsApp tests Avatars as a part of its latest update

WhatsApp is now joining the bandwagon of the ‘Avatar’ trend and we’re not sure how we feel about it.

WhatsApp has announced multiple new updates in the Google Play Beta Program, version 2.22.16.11. Among all these updates, the one that caught our attention was the development of Avatars.

The feature is still under development and will be available in the future, hopefully. Since it is still not completed, it is not even available to the Beta users just yet. We understand why the update is taking forever to complete since this is a completely new concept for WhatsApp.

What we are skeptical about is the saturation of this feature. All the big platforms including Snapchat, Instagram, and now even Facebook, have Avatars, each with its twist. Seeing the same on WhatsApp might become a little monotonous and boring. It might even receive the same backlash as in the past. When WhatsApp launched the ‘story’ feature, after it was introduced by Instagram and Messenger, with Snapchat being the primary inventor, users were not happy. This can be prevented if WhatsApp comes up with something innovative but for that, we’ll have to wait and see.

WhatsApp even claims that users will be able to use Avatars as a mask when placing video calls and use them as stickers as well in the future. All of the Avatar updates will be available under a new section that is being worked on.

When the image was launched by WhatsApp along with the update, it showed the Avatars were similar to Facebook, hence they had been connected and exported from there. Although it does lower the originality marker for us, we surely are excited to see WhatsApp take on Avatars.

Since we have no idea when it will launch, we can only sit back and speculate, hoping it will launch soon!

Read next: WhatsApp has made one new improvement to the app and is working on another
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Is Adding A New Info To Its Photos Platform, Allowing Content To Be Categorized By When It Was Backed Up

Google has introduced a new Backed Up section to its Photos platform, allowing users to recognize photos using yet another metric.

Currently, individual photos in Google Photos are stored using a bunch of different categories and metrics. We have our usual bunch of data, file type, and file size. We even have two new categories of information: Uploaded From, which details which device uploaded a photo to the Photos account, and Shared By, which highlights which phone or account a photo was shared by. Ultimately, these are just markers via which categorization of content on the Photos platform becomes easier for users to deal with. Now, there’s a new contender to add to the mix: Backed Up.

Let’s take a tiny step back before we discuss what Backed Up means and take a look at why so many new metrics are being introduced to Photos overall. Much of this has to do with the 2021 policy changes that Google introduced to the platform. Google introduced a storage policy in which new high-quality photos being added to Photos would immediately start counting towards the free 15 GBs that a user already has at their disposal, while previously this limit was not applied to any content. This has to do with Photos’ widespread usage, which led to the tech company imposing limits to not drown in the process of providing everyone with unlimited access to HQ photo uploads. Of course, 15 GB is still a decent amount, and people can still buy more space. Yes, I know I always have something negative to offer about Google’s oft-shady practices, but this seems pretty cut and dry. No worries, however, I’m sure it’ll mess up in some way down the line, just give it a month or so.

With these new changes, and users suddenly becoming more aware of how they’d utilize storage space, it also became important to allow those very users new metrics via which photos could be kept track. That explains why pictures can now be sorted via quality and uploader data. In the spree of introducing new categorization tags, Google decided to rush right in and introduce yet another. Which is fine, honestly, you can never have enough tags for pictures, especially with 15 GBs worth of free space. There’s not much else to the feature, and it’s been rolling out across Android and iOS for a while now. Check your Photos account out, and you’ll probably find the new Backed Up tag right underneath Uploaded From.

H/T: 9to5G

Read next: Google’s Adorable Weather Frog Character Has Stopped Wearing A Face Mask On The Search App
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Business Web Apps for Shopify, Zendesk and Others Found to Have Massive Cybersecurity Weaknesses

With cybersecurity incidents increasing at such a rapid rate, proper password hygiene has become essential because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up keeping cyberattacks at bay. In spite of the fact that this is the case, an analysis by Specopssoft has revealed that some of the most popular web apps for businesses lack basic password requirements that can shore up their systems from potential attacks from cybercriminals.

For example, with Zendesk the researchers found that only about 2% of passwords met basic requirements. The platform’s own requirements were a bit too broad, such as requiring that users don’t use their email addresses as their passwords. Other requirements such as a minimum password length of 5 characters are also somewhat underwhelming, and Zendesk like so many other contemporaries does nothing to make its users add unique characters to their passwords to keep them from getting into the wrong hands.

Similarly, when looking into about a billion Shopify accounts that had been breached and had their passwords leaked, analysts found that almost every single password, or 99.7% of them to be precise, met Shopify’s password requirements with all things having been considered and taken into account. This means that Shopify’s password guidance tips are sorely lacking, and informing users about proper password hygiene might reduce the number of accounts who have their credentials stolen.

The increase in cybercrime is definitely a cause for concern, but it should be noted that many breached accounts could have been protected had they followed simple password hygiene protocols. Out of all of the platforms that were studied, only Mailchimp was found to encourage good password hygiene.

This platform managed to block around 98% of passwords that were commonly breached and compromised. It also had some of the most stringent password requirements such as requiring at least eight characters and forcing users to mix numerals, upper and lower case letters as well as special characters so that only high end brute forcing can hack into the accounts which can improve their security quite a bit.

Read next: 96% of Organizations Faced Phishing Attempts in the Past Year, New Survey Reveals
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World