Many Twitter Users, Including Journalists, Feel Stuck on Twitter Despite Elon's New and Problematic Policies

After Elon Musk took over Twitter, that place has become a forever warzone. With new policies implemented every other day, it feels like Twitter isn't the best place for many people now. Elon has openly shared his thoughts towards mainstream media and how much disliking he has towards them. Elon has said that he wants to take away the verified ticks of many well-known journalists and major media accounts like The New York Times and CNN while many of the suspended accounts are getting back on the app. These accounts are back to spending false news and hate speech on Twitter.

Due to all of this, many well-known journalists are concerned about their future on the app while some of them are also shifting platforms and going to Mastodon and Post. Since Twitter came into being, Journalists have been a force on it. Journalists are the ones who spread reliable news on the app which ignites discussions from other people on the app. This news ranges from politics to sports and entertainment to current affairs. The relationship between journalists is the one that tells a new user how consistent and reliable an app is.

Now that Elon is transparent about his view about journalists, why are journalists still on the app? A reporter, Jacob Silverman who has written for news outlets like the New Republic and Washington Post says that he feels like he is stuck. The reporter says that much of the crypto stuff happens on Twitter and you can also get news about it easily on it. So that's how many people find him for the job. He says that many other reporters like him feel the same. Moreover, he said that his relationship with the app seems self-indulgent and torturous. But he says that there is no way out of Twitter for him now.

Silverman said that Twitter is and will be a platform where powerful people can address the general public easily and vice versa. It seems like Musk is addicted to Twitter just like anyone else. Some journalists haven't quit Twitter but they have started writing less on Twitter and more on other apps. Taylor Lorenz says that as a journalist she shifted to other apps like Instagram and TikTok because people are interested in these apps now. She also says that Twitter is more exposed to harassment than any other app. She has 300,000 followers on Twitter but she experienced many hateful comments and even stalkers on the platform.

Musk has also fired several employees so there is no way Taylor Lorenz can talk to someone so they can work on preventing harassment on Twitter. No one wants to work under Elon Musk. Some people are not even leaving Twitter officially. Many news reporters and journalists have started posting and engaging less on the app. It is like a silent announcement that they are done with Twitter.

Many users were anticipating the end of Twitter because there was not much force to handle the functions. But it didn't happen so users didn't leave. Twitter has many influential politicians, journalists, and celebrities on the app but as days are passing, Twitter is becoming more buggy. The alternatives are not equal to Twitter and have many gaps in their technicalities. Now, there are only two ways to use Twitter. Use it as it is or leave the app as soon as you can. But users are hesitant to leave it because it is the fastest source to get information and news from relevant sources. Now Twitter is becoming less welcoming for new as well as old users because of Elon Musk.

Read next: 20% of Remote Workers Still Use Their Own Equipment, Here’s Why That’s Bad
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

United States Is Facing Massive Downfall in Personal Computer Shipments

In the third quarter compared to the previous year, Computer exports in the United States decreased by 12.1 percent. The leading producers are Dell, Hewlett Packard, Apple, and Acer; both Apple and Acer experienced significant growth during the time span of these producers. According to Canalys, computers have seen a 1 percent growth while laptops experienced a 14 percent loss. Lower sales from the consumers and academic areas, along with more cautious business expenditures, were the main causes of the dramatic decline in laptop export volume.

The U.S. Personal Computer market growth accelerates to zero, with shipments down 4% quarter-on-quarter and 11% year-on-year. All markets experienced deep contraction. However, commercial device units grew – which had previously been suffering from a severe impact from saturation in the education and consumer segments.

Personal Computer manufacturers struggled mightily in the 3rd period, and the 4th quarter's outlook doesn't appear to be much improved. The American festive season should boost sales a little, but generally, Canalys predicts that now the marketplace will continue to fall. Individuals are reducing back on their purchases of gadgets as a result of rising prices.

Canalys believes that in the next four to five years it will become easier to build new networks in emerging markets. The demand for education will begin retrieving gradually in the upcoming year and Pickings expects changes in product configurations to be more important in determining future shipment volume.

Despite some growth during Q3 2018, the PC market declined slightly from its performance in Q2. Units shipped and revenue was down every year, as expected given the last 6 quarters’ data was also weaker than expected. As can be seen below, sales were off 22% year on year and shipments declined 20% in comparison to Q3 2017. Apple and Acer were the main 2 organizations to experience favorable growth in Q3 during the year. Dell, though, was able to maintain its top position. It had a market position of 26.1 percent, down from 27.6 percent the year back.

Other than stating that there would be "additional challenges," Canalys did not go into much detail regarding future economic growth for PCs. From an economic standpoint, the Fed Reserve is continuing to raise loan rates, which may result in additional mass layoffs and higher mortgage payments, further reducing expendable cash. The duration of the recovery period will determine when customer need for computers will start to increase.

Read next: Microsoft Windows 10 Market Share Dips by 1.5% as Windows 11 Rises
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Instagram Is Working On BeReal Inspired Options While Rolling Out New ‘Not Interested’ Feature

There is a question that was rightly put out by tech experts recently. And that had to do with the ever-so-trending BeReal app.

Many wondered if this feature of posting images at a particular time in the day would soon fade away or if it was really here to stay?

Remember, we come across viral shifts on a daily basis, and most end up going away. As far as BeReal is concerned, it did win the award for the application of the year on both social media platforms and online stores of Google and Apple.

People really did enjoy that trend that avoided the need for perfectly sculpted posts with a lifetime of airbrushing and more. BeReal really lets that aspect go and it does so magically and with its own creative flair.

But is that it? Does BeReal stop there or can we see something else soon worth exploring? The answer lies in the Instagram application. It’s definitely going that extra mile to explore the endeavor further by working on an array of similar features.

We already know about the Candid offering and now, the app is working on something more along those elements.

For starters, the platform happens to be working on the likes of Roll Call which allows for group chats to enable participants to include images of videos linked to themselves within five minutes.

Reverse engineering expert Alessandro Paluzzi recently shared images to showcase how the BeReal-inspired Instagram offering works on group chats. In the same way, he focused on another interesting feature called Glimpse Stories. And it happens to be working in a similar manner as it uses both front and back cameras to provide more insights to users on what’s going on, at any time of the day.

#Instagram continues to work on "Glimpse stories" 👀 pic.twitter.com/fnFDXu1Pv6

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) December 2, 2022

Both features require the users’ participation, similar to how BeReal functions. And remember, all content submitted is only put on display to those individuals that provide contributions to this offering. But the real question here lies if such offerings may actually end up being a major trend on the platform if such offerings are released to audiences.

Obviously, we will never know the right answer to that, but one thing is for sure. BeReal has witnessed great surges in popularity and many are calling it a complementary offering that would go wonderfully well with different apps.

Some critics feel it’s a fad that might get boring with time and that’s where the challenge lies. People want more real features on Instagram that lead the way to honest and genuine chats on the app.

Such huge platforms are really working to make things more unique and add a new sense of entertainment and value that’s similar to TikTok. It paves the way for engagement and for a period of distraction that veers users far away from the classic era of social connections.

Meanwhile, Instagram has rolled out another new interesting feature for users on its Interactions Page. This offering, as spotted by Hammod Oh, is called ‘Not Interested’ and it works in a manner that is self-explanatory,.

It was shown by avid social media expert Matt Navarra who took to his account on the Twitter app to inform users about the feature.

Now, users will get a chance to see all of those posts that they felt they were not interested in.

Many times, you probably clicked on the option while scrolling because a certain theme failed to excite you or perhaps you just couldn’t be bothered. But now, it’s all going to be in one place for your reference on the app.

Read next: Research highlights the most commonly shared life events across TikTok and Instagram
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google Says The Secret To SEO Success Is Making Sure Your Most Important Page Is Not Terrible

John Mueller from Google is going public with some handy tips regarding the success linked to SEO.

According to the expert, if your website’s most important page is not perfect, then you can’t expect it to do well in terms of rankings. He also added that having other pages that were terrible didn’t matter as much, provided that the most important one was great.

Hence, if you’re a business that might be worried about rankings, then you should probably aim to make that home page perfect if you’d like to rank well on the search engine.

Another emphasis was provided on how people tend to focus more on the likes of archiving orphaned pages and it’s shocking for him. Mueller adds that they shouldn't be looked upon as like a huge deal when it comes down to SEO or even rankings on the search engine.

While speaking on Mastodon recently, he explained how the homepage is pivotal for success and it’s not uncommon for him to come across some terrible home pages or important pages. But seeing people complain about SEO not doing too great is probably linked to this very reason, he confirmed.

John also says that fixing the error is pivotal if the website wishes to succeed in a day and age when there is so much cutthroat competition from all directions.

But that’s when a sudden question started coming his way, thanks to Robb Watts. He wondered what the estimated scale was to determine if a landing page was terrible or not. After all, there must be some sort of criteria to meet before it can be dubbed as terrible.

Well, John says that any page that has unhelpful content is deemed to be bad as it ends up putting down the domain’s performance as a whole. He went on to reiterate that there was no absolute figure or percentage that could be outlined here. It was more linked to what the everyday or average person saw on this website.

It really does not matter how many pages there are or what percentage of pages on a particular website is causing this as he referred to those as arbitrary metrics. Instead, it’s more related to looking at the big picture for the website. So if your best stuff on the webpage is so terrible, then there is no point even considering success for SEO or rankings in the first place.

Read next: Google Takes Steps to Tackle AI Altered Plagiarism
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Amazon Prime Video Beats Out Netflix To Take The Top Ranking For Most US Subscribers

Just when you thought Netflix couldn’t be beaten in terms of being the market leader for the greatest number of subscribers in the US, we’ve got some news for you.

Amazon Prime Video has cinched the top spot, beating out Netflix, which has reigned supreme for quite some time now. But it seems like all good things must come to an end and this is one of them.

The news comes to us thanks to some new rankings published by Parks Associates. And according to them, Netflix is so yesterday and Amazon Prime is leading today.

These particular rankings are all related to estimated figures of different subscribers throughout the month of September of this year, thanks to the company’s OTT Video Market Tracker.

But what we found to be super interesting here is how the researchers of this study failed to highlight the real estimated figures situated outside of this report. Meanwhile, the rankings for this in the US also went on to outline Peacock getting into the list for the top 10, snagging the spot at number 9.

On the other hand, we saw Hulu jump on over and take the lead against Disney+ to attain the top third position. Showtime who was previously entering the rankings at number ten is now off the list.

Amazon Prime Video is getting included in full swing thanks to the company’s aggressive marking tactics for Prime Membership. As it is, Netflix has started to really struggle to attain great growth in America, which is highlighted to be its leading and most saturated consumer market of today.

The VP for Parks Research says there has been a great alteration in terms of today’s marketplace as various other streaming services start to introduce different types of content, services, and even offers.

Parks Vice President Research Jennifer Kent noted that there is significant disruption in the marketplace as streaming services introduce new content, services, and partnerships, adding that Netflix is positioning itself for a possible resurgence in subscribers.

Meanwhile, Netflix has a new ad-supported tier that it feels can help it win back revenue and consumers that it lost by announcing a new subscription that would force people to pay more if they wished to share passwords with their acquaintances.

Read next: Microsoft Windows 10 Market Share Dips by 1.5% as Windows 11 Rises
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Account Takeover Attacks Increased by 131% in H1 2022

Cyber crime comes in a lot of different forms, but perhaps the most cyber attacks of all involve account takeovers. This is when malicious actors conduct identity fraud to gain illicit access to someone’s online accounts, and it can be truly disastrous for the victim in question. A new report from Sift just revealed that there was a massive increase in account takeover attacks, or ATOs for short, in the first half of 2022.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that ATOs saw an incredible 131% increase in the first six months of 2022. Such activities have seen a lot of growth since 2021, which indicates that the criminals behind these attacks are starting to develop increasingly advanced methods to get the job done.

The crypto community has been especially badly hit by these attacks, which might make crypto investing harder than might have been the case otherwise. There was a 79% YoY increase in ATOs targeting crypto users with all things having been considered and taken into account. Recent seismic shifts in the crypto market have made a lot of people ignore their digital wallets. That has given malicious actors the opportunity they need to break in and steal their money.

Businesses who offer online accounts to users are at risk because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making consumers lose trust in them. 43% of the people who responded to this survey said that they would stop buying from a brand if they suffered an ATO on their accounts.

Developing more robust cybersecurity infrastructure will be essential for corporations moving forward. Failing to shore up their cybersecurity could result in a rapid erosion of public trust, but in spite of the fact that this is the case most businesses don’t seem to be prioritizing this as much as they should. Hackers are using a variety of methods and apps to coordinate massive attacks on a grand scale, and things will get worse if necessary steps are not taken.

Read next: Nearly 60 Million Malware Samples Targeted Windows in 2022
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Toxic Social Media Comments Grab More Attention Than Positive Ones According to Eye Tracking Study

If you have noticed yourself getting increasingly angry while using social media, you should know that this is by design. Many social media platforms, with Facebook being perhaps the most egregious example, boost inflammatory and toxic rhetoric through their algorithms because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up driving up user engagement. Psychological studies have revealed that negative comments generally get more focus than positive ones, and a recent report confirmed that.

A study published in Computers in Human Behavior which involved eye tracking revealed that comments that had a toxic or negative spin were far more attention grabbing than their positive counterparts. That might help social media platforms get increased levels of engagement, but in spite of the fact that this is the case this trend is doing a lot of harm with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The study involved 169 participants, all of whom were students. They were only given 30 seconds to read through comments threads to better reflect the attention span of the average user. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this resulted in the negative comments being more memorable and having a longer lasting effect.

The speed at which people scroll through content on their social media timelines may be part of the problem. The human brain is designed to fixate on negative patterns as a defense mechanism. That can negativity stand out more than might have been the case otherwise.

Longer dwell times might not be the answer, though. The longer that students read through comments, the more they started focusing on angry ones as opposed to fearful ones. That seems to suggest that the problem might lie in social media itself. Studying information processing is extremely important given the high quantity of data that people are exposed to each and every day. The findings from this study reveal a truly dire state of affairs, and social media platforms are currently incentivized to maintain this harmful status quo.

Read next: Research highlights the most commonly shared life events across TikTok and Instagram
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World