Twitter Reportedly Begins Reviews Of Its Policies For Permanent Bans

There has been plenty of activity taking place in the world of Twitter, including the back-and-forth drama regarding billionaire Elon Musk and his ever-changing plans for the mega acquisition deal. But despite that, the app seems to be on a mission to review its policies that surround permanent bans.

With a social platform as famous as this, it makes sense why such an app cannot keep its guard down at any time. There’s a lot at stake and the network is no stranger to imposing such bans.

Yes, it’s the most stringent punishment out there when you’re using the platform. And one of the most prominent examples has to do with former US President Donald Trump. He was barred from the app around two years back. And if we wanted to dig out one of the most recent examples, well, rapper Kanye West has to be it. He’s been called out for his fiery tweets that many call derogatory and unacceptable so we’re seeing them be deleted with immediate effect.

But if Musk does come into power soon, which rumors are deeming to be a reality, there’s going to be a new change on the app as the Tesla billionaire had promised on day one. And that’s become Musk has been very vocal that such bans shouldn’t exist in the first place.

The news comes to us thanks to a new article published by The Financial Times. It speaks in detail about how a permanent ban may be required to replace such a penalty with something major. Moreover, one outlet was seen speaking about the huge penalty getting replaced by something other. And Twitter might be speaking between the lines in this regard as revealed by Reuters recently.

Twitter says they’ve been guiding their work thanks to core factors such as control, choice, equality, and transparency. That is what their foundation is built upon and it’s what will continue to be a part of their approach. With time, things will evolve and so will this approach, making sure core values remain in place.

A few months back, Elon Musk criticized the types of bans in place, calling out all sorts of penalties. He added that such punishments should only be reserved for those people who direct spam accounts. And if there is a real human being that’s putting out a tweet that’s illegal or even destructive, well, the punishment should be something more relaxing.

How about a temporary suspension or even a small timeout perhaps? At the moment, we are not sure if it was Elon Musk’s own comments that may have caused such a discussion to occur in the first place. But it does seem the platform is making way for amendments in the future.

Whether or not the app does change its policy or not, well, only time can tell. But we bet there’s bound to be plenty of discussion on the matter regarding this front. We’re only waiting for the mega $44 billion acquisition deal to come forward.

Read next: Twitter Forces Users To Verify Birthdates Before Viewing Sensitive Content
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Video Sharing App TikTok Has Embraced Rapid Success, Claims New Study

In today’s day and age of digital uprising, social media reigns supreme. Moreover, it’s no wonder why we’re seeing so many social networks pop up and gain success in such a short span of time.

But if we had to pick out one platform that really has outdone all others in terms of performance, popularity, and innovation - TikTok would win hands down.

The platform has seen a widespread era of success in literally no time. It’s almost as if the app was designed to succeed.

Today, the number of active users on major social media app is close to 4.6 billion and if you want to put that into better perspective, well, it’s nearly 60% of the global population out there. And experts claim this figure is most definitely going to rise to about 6 billion in 2027, as suggested by figures projected from Statista Advertising & Media Outlook.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to state that TikTok does stand out from the huge crowd of archrivals and competition in today’s time. The rate at which growth occurs is really extraordinary.

Between the years 2018 to 2022, we saw the app gain immense popularity with nearly 340 million members yearly.

The moment it struck the billion mark for active users happened to be the same time that we all saw a huge spark in the digital world, thanks to the pandemic.

It was a massive digital bloom and that’s when TikTok had overtaken Instagram in terms of user figures in 2021. Now, estimated projections for user rates will reportedly increase to nearly 2 billion in 2024. This is a time when the growth projected will probably see a decline. Who knows, by that time we might be seeing a new uprising star take its place in the social media world.

But it’s fascinating to see how Facebook is still predicted to be the biggest social network of all time. Today, it’s got nearly 2.6 billion users that have active accounts. And these figures are for the year 2022. Moreover, we’ll be seeing these projections grow to nearly 3 billion in the year 2025.

So yes, Meta may have had a tough year with Facebook. And the latter may have experienced some tough times in the recent past too. But it’s still predicted to go strong as proved by Statistica’s recent research.

Read next: TikTok Performance Statistics For 2022
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Freelancer Who Edits Videos For YouTube’s Top Creators Shares Tips For Landing Big-Name Clients

It’s a goal for many creators to be successful on social media. After all, the perks that so many of these platforms provide in terms of turnover for hard work cannot be missed.

One of the most profitable jobs out there has to be related to video editing and today, we’re sharing the insights provided by a young man who managed to land some of the biggest recruitment opportunities out there.

Think along the lines of working for clients like Mr. Beast and more. Now, he’s on a mission to help others get the best job opportunities in terms of highest-paying clients, not to mention a total breakdown of how much revenue he receives for his work.

24-year-old David Stack mentioned how he’s a full-time video editor by profession and has been doing business under the alias titled, ‘Restricted Edits.’ And this includes a job offer that revolves around serving his talent for renowned YouTube Creator Mr. Beast for an entire year.

But after that wonderful, golden opportunity, he now carries out his activities as a freelancer for other big names in the industry and is really making a fortune. Going public with his revenue breakdown just goes to show how profitable the job is and hard work pays off when you work smart.

Starting off his career at the age of just 13, David had no idea what the future would provide for him. He loved the idea of syncing soundtracks with video games as it gave that special touch.

And then by the year 2017, he was a senior in High School and for him, the thought of skipping out on educational activities and making big bucks by doing things you love really began to excite him.

With great attempts made to attend college, he soon realized this was not for him. Hence, he dropped out after serving just 2.5 semesters. For him, the passion to work with the big names in the industry was not something new. It just added a lot of revenue and fame and this was something he really felt was destined for him.

With the passage of time, he searched for more great clients and there was a period where he realized the trick was to stop working for the same client for more than 2 months. After all, how else would he be able to grow and better himself?

As you can imagine, since then, this young man has never looked back. He’s working on bettering himself, his skills, and his career. Before he knew it, he was an introvert and felt staying home and doing work really intrigued him as compared to partying at clubs or hanging out with pals.

After taking a glance at his revenue breakup from the past four months, it’s quite noticeable that his decisions in life really paid off. It’s obvious that freelancing careers aren’t usually a walk in the park and they fluctuate depending on the market and the types of clients.

For him, June was the most profitable where he earned nearly $30,000. But after that, he grabbed a hold of earnings that were just $2100, followed by $14,000, and so on and so forth.

But here, he says that his personal life put him a little off-track because he decided to tie the knot with the love of his life. Hence, he slowed down his work pace to enjoy the new challenges that life would bring forward for him.

Then, the great economic uncertainty that came with this job can’t be denied as the market did fluctuate quite a bit in this manner. He thought smart and decided to raise his prices a bit for clients while promising them superb quality. And it worked.

Over the year, his charges have gone up from just $1000 per video to triple the amount. And as you can imagine, these alter depending on how hard or easy the work is and the great difficulty attached.

The biggest and boldest step was messaging the biggest creator on YouTube through DM on the app. The channel has nearly 100 million subscribers so it was a huge deal. But guess what, he landed the chance to edit one Christmas video. And with time, that slowly turned into a contract of one year. After that, he knew it was time to move on and get more exposure as a freelancer.

H/T: Business Insider

Read next: TikTok Performance Statistics For 2022
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Consumer Survey Reveals What 2022 Holiday Shopping Will Be Like

Most businesses look forward to the end-of-year holidays and dread them at the same time. It’s a period of high sales (particularly in the retail industry), but it is also the most demanding time of the year from a marketing point of view.

Retailers try to attract customers with a wide variety of products, as well as deals and promotions or free shipping. As effective as these strategies are on their own, they work much better when paired with insight into buyer behavior.

With this in mind, the ad design platform Creatopy surveyed over 1,100 U.S. consumers to discover their plans for the upcoming festive season and released a study based on the findings. Here is the when, the what, and the how of 2022 holiday shopping.

The When: Shopping Start Dates

In 2022 the holiday shopping time window will be wider than in previous years. Creatopy’s survey revealed that most individuals will start crossing things off their to-buy lists a month (29.38%), two months (19.97%), or even three months (8.98%) before the holidays.

This means holiday shopping will begin as early as September for some people, and retailers need to stay one step ahead to meet seasonal demand. Not only do supply affairs need to taken care of in advance, but marketing efforts should be timed accordingly, too.

For consumers, the early start could very well be a way to avoid the stress of last-minute shopping. Still, the fact that they plan to monitor prices and search for deals at the same time they want to kick off their holiday shopping indicates that it is a way of smart spending in times of significant price surges.

Consumers’ desire to grab gifts before prices rise indicates they will do some of their holiday shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the days with the greatest discounts.

The What: Shopping Inspiration & Popular Product Categories

With great diversity available on the market, it’s tough to get consumers to pick your products or services, but not impossible, especially when you have insight into their preferences.

So how do U.S. consumers decide what to buy for the holidays?

According to the surveyed individuals, word of mouth is the main purchase driver for this festive season (52.05%). Recommendations coming from family, friends, and acquaintances can weigh in favor or heavily against certain products or services, so businesses should strive to offer top notch customer experiences to everyone.

Next to word of mouth and the power of social proof, online ads are the second biggest source of inspiration for holiday shopping (40.63%). This means display ad campaigns should not be missing from this holiday season’s marketing strategies.

Retailers can also rely on social media channels to drive purchases. Whether that means posting festive content on their business pages, running social media ad campaigns, or dabbling in influencer marketing, there are several ways to connect with consumers on the platforms they frequently spend time on.

Both Thanksgiving weekend (Black Friday and Cyber Monday included) and Christmas will bring increased sales in the apparel, footwear and accessories, toys, games and hobbies and computer/electronics product categories.

We’re also going to see a shift to value, as people will gravitate towards those retailers that give them reasonable prices in accordance with the product’s worth.

The How: Shopping Experiences, Spending & Saving Money

Although the last few years brought an increase in online shopping coupled with a decrease in in-store purchases, people are gradually returning to shopping in person.

As a result, this year, most U.S. consumers (42.89%) will do their online shopping equally online and in-store. However, about the same percentage of individuals (41.24%) plan to make holiday purchases solely online, indicating that e-commerce is still the favorite.

Some consumers even prefer to mix online with in-store purchases, pushing retailers to adopt omnichannel shopping experiences, so don’t be surprised if you’ll see many people order online and pick up in-store this holiday season.

As far as how much they are willing to spend, this year’s festive budgets are under a big question mark. Given the unique circumstances brought about by inflation, no one knows for sure if holiday spending will take a hit. Of course, there is a lot of speculation around it, and assumptions are being made left and right.

The consumers themselves seem to be divided on the matter. Roughly half of the survey’s respondents said they are worried or very worried about inflation impacting their holiday shopping. The other half have neutral feelings or are not concerned about it.

U.S. consumers also seem to have split opinions on whether this year’s holiday budgets will measure up to last year’s. Still, they don’t plan on going above and beyond to save money, as their primary saving methods will consist of buying items on sale (71.58%) and looking for the best deals (54.75%).

Wrapping Up

Holiday shopping will start earlier this year because consumers want to stretch their budgets and avoid stress closer to the holidays. A mix of online and in-store purchases is to be expected as consumers return to their pre-pandemic habits.

At the moment, it seems like budgets won’t be significantly affected by inflation since consumers aren’t very worried about it or convinced to try too many saving methods, but things can change in the following weeks or months.

Read next: New Study Proves Consumers Would Rather Stay In Jail Than Receive Customer Support
by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Relief For Meta Users As The Company Finally Adds Legs To Its VR Avatars

If you’ve been keeping track of the metaverse and happen to be a fan of the VR avatars then we’re sure you’re familiar with the ‘legless avatars’ on display.

But thankfully, you don’t need to worry any longer as the company’s CEO has gone public with his digital creation that is seen with legs. And in case you didn’t know, this was one of the biggest and more requested features of all time. It sounds really odd but one thing is for sure, the Horizon Worlds was looking pretty incomplete with the offering.

Seeing so many digital characters move from one place to another has left people confused. Imagine a person having no lower body. Yes, it’s creepy and strange and that’s why Zuckerberg was super excited to share the great news with his fans today by putting up his own avatar with legs.

Legs are coming soon! Are you excited? 🎉 pic.twitter.com/SB6qSepKm4

— Meta Horizon (@MetaHorizon) October 11, 2022

In case you wondered why it took the firm so long to launch the ordeal is because producing legs in animated versions is not simple. It’s a complex ordeal and not easy to animate. Therefore, creators worried that it could serve as a distraction, more than anything else. As the CEO explained in his past post, it’s hard to recreate and that’s why so many other VR systems don’t include them as well.

So the firm felt why not disregard the lower body as a whole. And turn the entire VR body into a system that feels super immersive. Now, the firm is working hard to ensure the whole body unit functions as one thanks to great computer algorithms on its VR app called Horizon Worlds.

Everything will now come forward in a seamless manner and even if the avatar is seated or staring at a computer screen, you’ll be able to witness the legs in place.

Zuckerberg is also hoping the move will silence critics that called the metaverse project a huge disappointment that is not only underwhelming but a waste of time and resources. Moreover, they even mentioned it was humiliating that such a project came forward in the first place, considering how low-tech in design it was.

In August, the CEO shared a picture that featured his avatar and so many felt it was a replica of the graphics you’d witness across apps like Nintendo Wii that dated back to 2006.

But the firm reportedly mentioned how now, the plan is not only to make a replica that was a full body but one that appeared as realistic as possible. This is why at the recent Meta Connect conference held yesterday, we saw a stellar cutting-edge character in the form of an avatar come forward. And we have to agree that there was not a lot of difference between the avatar and the current CEO’s face.

The results are all thanks to the company’s use of Codec Avatar which is another name reserved for software that makes realistic avatars of people’s faces. Moreover, it’s designed to recreate the most life-life feels and expressions seen while the avatar performs various functions.

Meta knows that this requires state-of-the-art technology to produce avatars of this category. Hence, it’s now making a move to introduce a new feature that will users’ lives so much easier. This is called an ‘instant avatar’ that records videos of your face through different angles and then produces so many types of facial expressions. In a span of a few minutes, you’re done. Yes, it’s not as detail-oriented as expected but super real in terms of looks.

It’s definitely going to take some time to nail the technology and the security risks associated. However, we feel the firm will plan on introducing new legs for such avatars in this app before it moves on to focus on other body parts.

Read next: Meta Launches Its Pricey VR Headset Quest Pro And The Features Are A Step Above The Rest
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

What do people really think about the billionaire class?

They are the masters of the (human) universe, the financial titans with enough power and wealth to tell Prime Ministers and Presidents what to do.

We're talking about the billionaires, that rare class of people who control more resources than some small countries.

And they are a rare breed.

The billionaire club is extremely exclusive. Only around 3,300 people can say they're a paid-up member, and the vast majority of those are men.

Together, billionaires account for just 0.00002484532% of the global population—however, this small, uber-rich clique controls or owns $11.8 trillion. And they're only getting richer. On average, the net worth of billionaires increased by 18% in 2021.

So what do average folk (i.e. the rest of us) think about this tiny group of the super-rich? Do they view them as benevolent overlords, shepherding the world to a brighter future? Or do they see them as a predator class exploiting the many for their own gain?

The researchers at BusinessFinancing wanted to find out. They looked at geotagged tweets mentioning prominent billionaires, then created several maps showing where they're loved and where they are loathed.

What does it take to become a billionaire?

Picking the right job helps. Most of the world's wealthiest people work in tech, real estate, or global finance.

And you need to put in the work. Billionaires don't spend all their time lazing around on luxury yachts puffing $100 cigars. They clock 60+hour work weeks, minimum. Some are confessed workaholics. Tesla boss Elon Musk revealed that he often works 120 hours per week, sleeping in a camp bed in his office to save time driving back and forth to his office.

Family money helps. But self-made billionaires are the rule, not the exception. According to a 2020 report by Statista, less than 10% of billionaires inherited their wealth.

And saving money is just as important as making money. It's a philosophy that's certainly helped Warren Buffet, who is worth a reported $95billion. Despite his colossal fortune, Buffet lives in the same house he bought for $32,000 in 1951 and has used a flip phone for the last two years. According to one legend, Buffet once bought Bill Gates a McDonald's lunch using coupons clipped out of the newspaper.

What can you do with a billion dollars?

A billion is a thousand million. In number terms, that's one followed by nine noughts, which looks like this: 1,000,000,000. That's a lot of zeros.

It's hard to wrap your head around such a gigantic sum. So here's what you could do if you woke up to find a billion dollars sitting in your bank account tomorrow:

• Pay 1,000 of your friends to go to Disney World daily for 25 years.
• Purchase 27,000 high-end sports cars. You could drive a different one every day for 74 years.
• Put in an order for 167 million Big Mac meals, complete with french fries and a soda. Now that is supersize!
• Play 1,739,000 rounds at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, one of the world's most expensive golf resorts.

Billionaires: good or bad?

A study by Pew Research found that roughly 30% of people think billionaires are bad for the economy or a sign of an unfair economic system.

15% believe that billionaires are good for the economy, although this number is down from 19%.

The remainder said they don't know whether billionaires are good or bad. However, many still expressed concerns about seeing so much wealth concentrated in such few hands.

The world's most loved billionaires

Bill Gates is the most loved billionaire in the world, according to the last study from BusinessFinancing.co.uk. The former Microsoft boss turned philanthropist and public health expert received the highest percentage of positive Twitter mentions in 37 countries.

The real-life Tony Stark, aka Elon Musk, came next, followed by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

Boo for the billionaires

Former US President Donald Trump is the most hated billionaire in the world. What a surprise!

Trump won this contest by a real distance. He had the largest percentage of bad tweet mentions in 84 countries, including the USA. Trump's nearest rivals, which include Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg, are 'bad guy number' one in no more than six countries each.

America's favorite billionaire

The USA has the most billionaires living within its borders (975)

Despite a long list of controversial statements - or maybe because of them - Elon Musk is the USA's best-loved billionaire. He gets the most Twitter love in 12 states, including Idaho and Iowa.

Musk may have claimed California too, which is where he launched several of his billion-dollar businesses. But then he started firing a series of his own tweets criticising over-regulation and over-taxation. "California used to be the state of opportunity," tweeted Musk. "Now doing business there is just a massive pain in the butt."

Trump is back

No prizes for guessing who the USA's most hated billionaire is. Yes, it's the orange man again.

Trump won this contest by an absolute landslide, claiming 43 out of the 50 US states.

And this guy is seriously thinking about running for President again? If so, he won't be able to use Twitter to promote himself this time. Trump was permanently suspended from the platform in January 2021 following the unsavory scenes at the Capitol Hill riot; this explains why 61% of Trump-related tweets coming out of Washington are less than complimentary.

Shark Tank star Mark Cuban is probably wondering what he did to offend the people of Delaware. Because they really don't seem to like him. A third of all Delaware-tagged tweets mentioning Cuban are negative.

Trump aside, do any of the uber-rich care about the opinions of Twitter plebs? Probably not. They've got billions of reasons not to.

Read next: Around 3 Billion People In The World Cannot Afford A Healthy Diet And This Is Concerning To Say The Least
by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Users Are Being Spammed With Countless Texts From Businesses Worldwide

Users located in Whatsapp’s largest market are not happy as they’re being bombarded by spam texts.

India is home to the largest number of Whatsapp users worldwide and the people over there are definitely not appreciating being spammed by various brands.

Those with business accounts are facing the dreadful ordeal and they’re hating it. Remember, the news comes at a time when Meta is making the most of its time and efforts on promoting business accounts. It’s one of the firm’s best ways to make money online and with around 2 billion users worldwide, the outlook isn’t that great.

In India alone, we’re talking about nearly 500 million accounts. And these complaints about spam have been going on for the past few months. It’s almost like user experience across this app has altered with time and things need to change soon.

Remember, the app has easily displaced SMS in the country by putting out free messages and that’s just so much more convenient for people.

In the same way, we’ve seen thousands of brands take on WhatsApp business accounts and almost 80% of users did appear satisfied until now. Gone are the days when people solely relied on things like emails and classic text messages. Today, it’s all most apps that provide the convenience that’s free of cost.

One thing that is awfully annoying has to do with how brands that are blocked by a user end up showing again as a new contact with a new number. And it’s getting awfully irritating for so many people.

But some people feel this matter is not a huge surprise. Google has really offered so many people in the nation the chance to use RCS to better their communication skills so that customers across the nation could benefit. For those who aren’t aware, RCS is the name given to Rich Communication Services. It’s the collective effort to supercharge yourself with different SMS using a modern touch. Features like end-to-end subscriptions are included in this.

WhatsApp for business is fast becoming WhatsApp for spam. 🙄

Blocking a couple of accounts every day, these days. PR agencies are also now spamming on WhatsApp. pic.twitter.com/dvgbqx7cz8

— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) September 15, 2022

Just when I thought which brand was missing on my @WhatsApp chats while trying to spam me without my giving them explicit approval to target here, here comes @ChaiPoint_cares pic.twitter.com/1Aq5vXb5pA

— pranjalc.eth (@dcoldmonk) October 10, 2022

WhatsApp is the new spam machine, it has become what it intended to solve with SMS.

Ola / Uber services are no where close to what they were to replace... taxi / cabs.

Every domain, brings up an opportunity to innovate every few years.

— pj (@BeingPractical) June 27, 2022

I miss the spam free WhatsApp, verified business are spamming too much 😡 pic.twitter.com/iSPN9711AX

— Ahila Pillai (@ahilapillai) September 29, 2022

But after a while, we saw Google put an end to the service because some firms began to abuse the firm’s anti-spam policies. And in the end, it sent out a huge promotional message to many people in the Indian nation.

What’s more? We saw a spokesperson from WhatsApp come forward and shed light on how messaging is super important in terms of getting things done right. It’s much more convenient than your classic email or a phone call.

See, the rule is simple, Meta explained. The way to go about a business deal is for users to request an update if they need one. And that obviously happens before a business can message them. But if that’s not the case, they can easily block or report any issues they may be having at any given point in time.

Meta also added how it’s constantly working by the side of so many firms to make sure their texts are helping others and not turning into a burden. Moreover, they’ve even put up some limits on the number of texts received and sent each day.

Read next: WhatsApp Wants To Release New Updates Related To Its Groups Section And Here’s What To Expect
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World