These Are The Stickiest Social Media Apps in 2023 As Per Sensor Tower Data

In this digital age, we heavily rely on apps for almost everything, whether we’re looking for entertainment, connections, information on anything at all, or even home automation. Nowadays, we have all types of apps available with a wide variety of options to choose from, to aid us in every part of life. How do we know which apps are the best option for us?

The apps that keep users engaged with their splendid software, resources, and variety of functions and features. These types of apps are called sticky apps that the users keep coming back to. To measure the stickiness of any app it is dependent on how frequently the users engage and return to the app and how long they remain active within it.

Hearing this, a lot of apps come to mind but which ones are statistically the most beloved around the globe? App stickiness is important to determine exactly that, the more user engagement, revenue, and retention, the more likely it is for the apps to be the user’s favorite. This measuring of apps helps developers also analyze, improve, and shape their creations to fit better the users' needs and ultimately, help developers and users enjoy better and evolved apps

The Sensor Tower’s Power User data revealed Instagram to be the most sticky of all the apps. This social media app has 44 percent of its users opening the app every day in February 2023. In the second place, TikTok users frequently visit the app bringing it to 33 percent, whereas Facebook is at 31 percent, followed by Snapchat with 28 percent, and last on our list; Twitter with 20 percent.

Instagram being the top choice of users at this time, has reached heights of success that can be attributed to its legacy features, such as the photo and video feed, stories, reels, and messaging. Reels is a new feature introduced by Instagram that gained popularity among its users in merely a short amount of time.

By creating an app that provides a valuable and enjoyable user experience, apps can increase their stickiness and win users over time. This can result in increased user retention, engagement, positive referrals, and ultimately, revenue growth. Instagram and other apps on this list have one thing in common; that is that they focused and improved based on reviews, user experience, and retention rate, and gained millions of satisfied users as well the title of the “stickiest” apps.

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by Ayesha Hasnain via Digital Information World

Apple Faces New Probe From French Regulators Over Manipulative Marketing And Product Obsolesce

Tech giant Apple is being investigated again and this time around, it’s a probe that comes from French regulators.

The leading Cupertino firm is being called out for deceptive marketing techniques that end up manipulating buyers and at the same time, it’s getting called out for product obsolesce as well.

This news was first published by a leading media outlet in France called AFP News which was later verified by sources such as Reuters.

The whole probe began toward the end of last year and now, it has to do with Apple linking the serial number of several repair components to the serial figures seen on Apple devices such as iPads and Macs.

As recently mentioned by the AFP News media outlet, such a probe was first begun after an allegation was made through a firm that is designed to fight against such behavior. Moreover, as a part of this complaint, the firm was seen setting out targets for Apple and its respective policy of repair. It claimed such a firm was trying to link serial numbers of spare components to that seen on smart devices.

The translated version for such complaints had been put up on the website and it was clearly seen outlining some major issues linked to serial numbers of parts.

The issue is really highlighting a practice that people call out as pairing. It allocates serial numbers randomly to certain parts of products like the iPhone and microchips. And that has really affected most parts that are frequently linked to breakdowns.

In the same way, it enables manufacturers to reduce chances for repairs to occur and that’s really the case when you’ve got people that are unapproved to fix such matters.

The complaints were mostly linked to parts of a device that malfunctioned despite being fixed with a part from the firm. Even if it was the right one was selected, it just was not up to the mark and the whole ended up getting defaulted despite being an original.

This might also arise during an update when the part added fails to function with the latest iOS update the user. Therefore, such behavior not only violates the user’s right of carrying out a repair but even the idea of reconditioning for smartphones. And that’s because if a device like that goes back into circulatory motion, it might suffer from some serious malfunctions.

For now, we know that Apple has its own Self Service program where users can repair the device by themselves. It was rolled out at the end of 2022 in France and all users of Apple had to do was put in serial codes for their iPhones that they don’t wish to purchase a new part for. This code needs to match that of the part which was returned so as to attain the credit from Apple for that particular part.

That program has long been praised but we need to understand that although it’s a great initiative, it’s far from perfect and needs plenty of work as shown in May of last year.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Invaluable Tips To Optimize Your E-commerce Business Operations

In recent years, the increasing number of physical shopping outlets transposing their sales to an online context has exponentially increased. Today, seemingly infinite e-commerce businesses provide innumerable goods and services to a worldwide customer base. With such an expanse of competition providing every conceivable product and service, it can be challenging for an e-commerce startup to increase website visibility and attract potential customers. However, there are several effective means of increasing online traffic and sales including implementing a proper SEO strategy, POS payments optimization, and reducing website response time. This article will give a brief overview of several tips for e-commerce startups seeking some fundamental strategies.

Focus on SEO and implement a solid strategy

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of maximizing website traffic quantitatively and qualitatively, ensuring the site appears higher in particular search engine results. Although SEO is complex to work with in greater depth, it is relatively easy to understand and apply. In simple terms, SEO involves the implementation of keywords - searchable words or phrases relevant to your e-commerce business. On-page SEO for e-commerce platforms is ultimately about ensuring your specific keywords appear in the correct places and that search engines understand the content of your page. Furthermore, optimizing your product pages and enabling products to be indexed will enhance SEO success rates. Overall, on-page SEO is vital for e-commerce businesses to appear in other Search Engine Results Page (SERP) features to attract the most appropriate customers and potentially increase sales.

Make use of a POS system

Point of sale systems (POS) are widely used by most major e-commerce businesses. Primarily used to efficiently process transactions, the advancement of technology has resulted in POS systems that combine software and hardware to operate multiple operations within your business. This can include monitoring inventory, assessing purchasing trends, tracking pricing accuracies, and obtaining valuable marketing data. POS can track what products might benefit from increased promotion and order more stock at the optimal time. In addition, it can automatically move stock between different locations, such as from warehouse to customer. Moreover, POS systems are evolving to become more interactive, where clients can place orders, make service reservations, and pay bills online. Lastly, POS software can organize company invoices and tax returns to streamline and digitize substantial paperwork backlogs.

Reduce website response time

It is intuitive for any prospective e-commerce startup to construct a website that customers can easily navigate without lag. A website response time refers to the speed at which a server can respond to a request - optimized websites facilitate a response time range of between 200 milliseconds and 1 second. However, e-commerce businesses frequently utilize large video files or high-resolution images that can slow browser efficiency. Ultimately, for increased visitor satisfaction, any response time exceeding 1 second is highly problematic and must be reduced. Without a streamlined, navigable platform that responds to requests quickly, the chances of customers leaving the site before completing a purchase are significantly higher. A superior operating system that can accommodate sophisticated content without increasing the response time is ultimately worth the investment.

Do not underestimate the mobile experience

Mobile-first design is becoming essential for e-commerce startups to remain competitive and relevant in the smartphone era. This is largely attributable to the ubiquity of smartphones that has now surpassed laptops and tablets as the primary means of accessing online content. Mobile-first design is the process of optimizing an e-commerce (or any other) website for mobile devices that improves and enhances the user experience and results in better engagement rates through streamlined usability. Optimizing your website for handheld devices can improve customer satisfaction and sales, promote higher search engine rankings, increase traffic, is cost-effective and will keep your business competitive with the latest trends.

Provide quality content

Quality e-commerce content is critical to attracting customers and building trust. Successful brands create superlative content to present information through many channels and mediums. The connection between e-commerce and online material is not to be underestimated - appealing to customers with great products and consistently engaging can be achieved through strong content that encompasses both text and images. It is vital to provide comprehensive, authoritative material that is also accessible and concisely describes why a particular product or service is the solution to their specific problem or requirement. Providing content that is conducive to providing a positive connection between customers and your brand can result in higher brand awareness, increased sales, build trust and encourage client loyalty, promote more organic website traffic, and provide stronger engagement with (and understanding of) customers.

Final thoughts

Establishing a successful e-commerce startup can be a formidable and challenging undertaking. However, this article has provided a set of fundamentals to follow that will assist you to initiate your venture. Ultimately, it is highly recommended in this exceptionally competitive online climate to remain adaptable and creative to stay current with myriad trends that will govern the future direction of e-commerce.

by Web Desk via Digital Information World

New Warning Issued Against Millions Of Infected Android Devices Being Shipped Out Of Factories

Top researchers from the cybersecurity industry are ringing the alarm against a huge supply of infected Android devices being shipped out of factories.

The news comes to us thanks to security experts at Trend Micro who says the matter is a huge and worrisome problem that entails a massive attack on the phone industry’s supply chain. This is because it’s not often that you hear about brand new devices having malware installed into them, right before they leave the manufacturing plant and enter the market.

And it’s shocking to note how those affected the most are budget-friendly devices but such an attack is also now going into a series of other tech gadgets like televisions, devices, and smartwatches too.

The issue was highlighted recently at a conference related to cybersecurity in Singapore where the experts claim the root of the cause might be due to harsh competition between the various equipment producers.

When experts went down to investigate what the matter was all about, that’s when it was mentioned how those in charge of producing such devices were not producing all of their parts. Some parts such as firmware were getting designed by third parties. And since the costs of such firmware continued to drop, the makers couldn’t charge funds for such devices.

Therefore, the goods began ending up with some extra silent plugins that were certainly not wanted to begin with.

Meanwhile, new reports from Trend Micro saw dozens of pictures in search of malware-infected software and around 80 kinds of plugins. Furthermore, researchers saw plenty of plugins that became a part of a big business model.

These happened to be a part of a large business model that had skyrocketing sales on the dark web and had been promoted across leading blogs as well social media apps too. Moreover, they’re they also have the tendency to steal sensitive data from one device and grab a hold of SMS texts while controlling accounts on leading platforms and making use of the products for advertising and related frauds.

The list of malicious activities taking place was quite extensive and that’s what is worrying people the most. Such plugins enable buyers to grab control of devices for nearly five minutes and make use of like exit points.

Right now, Trend Micro unveiled how the number or figure of Android device shipments has crossed the nine million count. These were shipped to various destinations around the globe and that is what’s causing more fear as millions are going to be affected.

Therefore, it’s a very serious attack on the supply chain and cannot be ignored for obvious reasons. Most devices were shipped in the Southeast Asian region as well as various parts of Eastern Europe.

Moreover, researchers claim right now that they are not willing to name the people in charge of this unlawful crime. However, at the same time, they did reveal the word China on several occasions.

Read next: 2023 Marked an Alarming Upsurge in Cyber Assaults on Governments
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

LinkedIn Helps Creators Build Their Presence On The App With The Addition Of Topic And Post Prompts

Top professional networking platform LinkedIn is launching new features to help creators design a better presence on the app. This includes prompts for both topics as well as posts so it gets much simpler for users to handle the content.

The news comes as we just witnessed the firm roll out a series of features related to creator analytics to facilitate creators. This included a new dashboard for those making use of a Creator Mode which converted in the past few months.

The goal behind the initiative was to give users a complete image of their performance of the content and some more tools that were super specific in nature.

This new feature was seen across the left portion of the side application’s side panel and it would reveal how poorly or well creators did on the app with time and which topics were hits and which were misses.

This entailed a complete listing of various elements from a creator that was up for grabs on the app. As mentioned in the past, the platform has been busy launching this to a few people since the start of February. But only recently did we see it including more elements to the dashboard of Creators. This includes a tab that featured the ‘Conversations taking place now’ tab and another stating Post Ideas.

In chats happening now, users get to witness a number of experimental posts that might be beneficial to them or their respective target audience. This is totally based on what they’ve posted in the past and which topics audience members would be keen on seeing in the future. For more details, they can press on them, and take a closer look at the review and if it’s going to be worth their while in terms of making commentary to join chats.

This initiative happens to be a component of LinkedIn’s goals to promote more users of the platform to set out posts at a more frequent rate as it joins the AI bandwagon to help make people think about things that garner the greatest amount of engagement within the app’s audience.

• Also read: Gamers are increasingly reporting incidents of online harassment, which is a growing issue

While some people might call this behavior far from reality, the entire idea here appears to be getting people to use this Creator Mode and put their best skills on focus with necessary information on a certain niche. For now, the app seems to be doing the curation part and that means it might end up helping more by providing less oversight to attain that notorious status.

This matter could be worse when you make use of AI to make such opinion posts as the app gets flooded with so many empty opinions that are based upon giving rise to genuine insights and interactions with professionals in the industry.

Some fear the feature might be misused by those trying to enhance their current standing with less research.

Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure. It’s going to facilitate the entire process of engagement that continues to reach new records of growth.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

European Smartphone Sector Suffers Biggest Slump in a Decade: Shipments Tumble by 22% in the First Quarter of 2023

In the 1st quarter of 2023, the European mobile phone market encountered a substantial annual drop of 23 percent, with only 35 million plus units shipped. This was the multiple down quarter total recorded since the 2nd quarter of 2012. Despite the overall slump, Samsung managed to keep its oversight standing in the industry. However, the firm still suffered a 25% plus annual freight drop. Fortunately, the liftoff of its new flagship Galaxy S23 sequel helped Samsung to retain its standing as the market leader.

While most retailers struggled to maintain their market share, Apple managed to increase its share marginally. However, this was more a result of the company falling fewer than half of other suppliers, rather than a significant gain in market share. Despite the challenges faced by the industry, Xiaomi was the sole main supplier to achieve an annual shift in the 1st quarter of 2023. This change was due to a comeback from a deficient 1st quarter of 2022 highlighting that the company's strategy is paying off.

According to Counterpoint Research, the European mobile phone industry faced a challenging first quarter of 2023 as freight decreased by 22% annually due to persistently difficult economic conditions. High price hikes, mortgage prices, and expenses for energy, coupled with geopolitical tensions such as the Russo-Ukrainian dispute, contributed to a conservative strategy among buyers concerning the independent expenditure.

The 1st interval of 2023 marked the most helpless quarter for Android phone sales in the area since the 2nd quarter of 2012, resulting from the extended fall in the Android phone market. Sellers must adapt to these tough situations and provide creative solutions that align with growing customer choices if they hope to succeed in this highly competitive market.

Jan Stryjak, AD (Associate Director) at CR, sheds light on the ongoing price hikes that inflicted distress upon European buyers, pushing for a hard beginning to 2023 for the smartphone market. Despite this, there were a few rays of sunshine. Samsung was able to keep up its role as the market director, thanks to the victorious liftoff of its latest Galaxy S23 sequel, surpassing its predecessors. While Apple managed to attain only a slight annual share, it managed to decline not as much as its rivals.

However, the star of the show was the brand Xiaomi, the best main seller to show freight shift by healing from a disastrous first quarter of 2022. As the market resumes to grapple with economic and geopolitical uncertainties, retailers will need to embrace innovative techniques to stay ahead in the game.

Regarding the 2023 perspective, Stryjak said, as we anticipated, the challenging circumstances persisted and worsened, issuing the most unfavorable interval for Android phone freight in Europe in more than ten years. Despite this, he stays positive that the financial stress should reduce in the coming quarters, which should increase consumer trust and guide to fair performance for the rest of the cycle.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Gamers are increasingly reporting incidents of online harassment, which is a growing issue

Harassment is a familiar term that has been prevalent across generations. Both women and men have reported experiencing various forms of harassment, including physical, mental, and verbal abuse, among others. Regrettably, it is not uncommon for individuals to have experienced harassment at some point in their lives. With the advent of technology and its integration into our daily lives, harassment has found a new avenue through the online gaming community. Unfortunately, throughout time, harassment has constantly increased.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there is a high probability that you or someone close to you has encountered hate speech or harassment inside gaming communities considering the widespread nature of online gaming.

Based on the study, conducted by the “Casino EN Ligne” a Canadian based French online gambling company. There has been an upward trend in the number of people who have ever reported experiencing any form of harassment. It was 74% in 2019; in 2020, it increased to 81%; to 83% in 2021; and to 86% in 2022. In addition, the research found that 77% of respondents said they had endured serious harassment.

Engaging in the use of derogatory language, being the target of trolling or griefing, experiencing discrimination, feeling self-conscious, dealing with persistent harassment, receiving physical threats, being stalked, experiencing sexual harassment, and being doxed or swatted are just a few examples of the many different types of harassment listed in the report. Unfortunately, the prevalence of some forms of harassment is rising.

These results underline the urgent need to confront and resolve the harassment problem in online gaming groups.

The representative for Casinos En Ligne emphasizes that there is a serious issue with harassment and hate crimes in the online gambling industry. A warning should be sent to both game companies and the gaming community given the rate at which instances like doxxing and swatting are on the rise. The ADL defines “doxing” as the public disclosure of personally identifying information, whereas “swatting” refers to the falsely reporting of an emergency in order to target a specific person.

Furthermore, research addresses the issue of identity harassment and especially covers the games with the highest percentage of harassment events.

The ADL reports that a startling 44% and 47% spike in harassment, respectively, has been recorded by female gamers and gamers who identify as African Americans. Furthermore, between 2019 and 2022, there was a 55% rise in abuse directed towards Jewish online multiplayer players. These figures demonstrate the alarming increase in harassment directed towards particular gaming populations.

Lastly, Based on the percentage of reported harassment events, a list of the online games with the greatest percentage of reported harassment events is also provided by the survey. With an astounding 86% of recorded events, Counter Strike leads the list, closely followed by Valorant (84%). League of Legends and PUBG: Battlegrounds both have high rates of harassment, 83% and 81%, respectively. 80% of recorded occurrences are from Call of Duty, which completes the list.

These figures show how common harassment is in these well-known online games, highlighting the urgent need for action to address and lessen these problems.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World