Threads App's EU Odyssey: A Tale of Patience and Promise

The much-anticipated Threads app by Meta, a Twitter-like platform, is causing quite a stir worldwide, with one big exception: it is not yet available in the European Union (EU). Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri admitted bluntly that EU residents might have to wait many months to get their hands on the app owing to EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) restrictions.

The DMA seeks to protect user rights, maintain data management, and prevent digital behemoths from monopolizing the market. While the statute primarily targets Google and Apple, Meta has also been included since Threads is an extension of Instagram. As a result, before launching Threads in the EU, Meta must guarantee that it complies with all requirements.

Meta's Threads app, like a prized possession, is still out of reach for EU residents. Blame it on the strict EU Digital Markets Act, which was meant to protect user privacy and limit the competitive preferences of internet behemoths. While Meta works hard to meet all regulatory requirements, Adam Mosseri recognizes that the wait may be long.

Adam Mosseri stressed the team's attempts to become less US-centric and comply with future 2024 legislation, but the process would take time. This implies that certain EU users who previously used VPN to access Threads can no longer do so since Meta has put a stop to it.



Despite these obstacles, Threads is growing in other places, with 150 million users. However, the app's early buzz has worn down, with fewer daily active users and less time spent on it since its release. The app is still under development, and engagement may vary when Meta adds more features like a follow feed, a desktop version, and enhanced suggestions. Mosseri recognizes the app's potential, highlighting the need for follow feeds, a desktop version, and improved suggestions to level the playing field.

Although particular data is unavailable, Adam Mosseri stated that Threads' retention and engagement exceeded expectations. While it is too soon to draw solid conclusions, it is clear that the app's popularity represents a promising start for Meta.

Finally, while EU residents will have to wait patiently for Threads to become available, Meta's commitment to comply with legislation is admirable. Threads' outstanding user base and early engagement levels indicate promise, and as Meta adds necessary functionality, it is expected to become a formidable player in the social media world. For now, EU users may have to rely on Twitter, but the future of Threads is bright and exciting.

Read next: To Join Threads, Anticipate These Potential Risks on Your User Data
by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World

Gamers on a Midnight Quest for WiFi: The Wild World of Video Game Addiction

In an odd and amusing twist, teenage gamers hooked to video games are going to extreme measures, such as running away from home in the middle of the night, all in search of that elusive internet connection. Yes, you read that correctly!

An expert from a UK facility that specializes in treating video game addiction shared some incredible stories. Despite its initial goal of serving approximately 50 individuals each year, the clinic has received over 850 referrals since its beginning in 2020. Who'd have imagined gaming could get so out of han?

The National Centre for Gaming Disorders' director, Henrietta Bowden-Jones, spilled the beans in a first-person story for The Guardian. She told heartbreaking anecdotes about youngsters seeking WiFi on odd doorsteps after their parents dared to disconnect their internet connection. It's like a real-life video game adventure, except without the dragons!

But wait, there's more! Some children claimed that they would sooner die than give up gaming. Talk about commitment! Unfortunately, the fury of gaming confrontations frequently results in shattered items and sometimes hurts gamers. Who knew pixels could be so destructive?

The title for this strange ailment is Internet Gaming Disorder, characterized by nine symptoms, such as losing interest in non-gaming activities and exploiting the digital world to avoid bad feelings. Sounds like a digital disaster waiting to happen!

To make matters worse, several games now include loot boxes, essentially surprise presents purchased with real money or in-game cash. Some are excessively expensive, such as an in-game axe that costs $178! Talk about a failed virtual buying spree.

With games devouring their cash, some youngsters turn to borrowing or even stealing money to support their gaming addiction. It's no surprise that Dr. Bowden-Jones noticed a link between video game spending and home instability.

The main question now is whether these prize boxes are gambling. The UK government has yet to make a decision, while other nations have taken stringent measures to protect young gamers. But rest assured, "almost no one" treated by the clinic showed signs of gaming and gambling disorders—so there's some hope.

Young patients at the clinic appear to be more interested in competing and mastering the games than in winning the lottery. It's all about the rush of success and the joy of progressing! While gaming may be a great entertainment and social connection source, overuse can have significant effects.

As the gaming world expands, it's critical to strike a balance between enjoying the virtual universe and remaining anchored in reality. The facility handles everyone from children to a grandmother in her seventies. It appears that gaming has no age limits.

So, the next time you see a youngster prowling outside your door in the middle of the night clutching a gaming controller, it may be a heroic quest for WiFi! Gaming may be an exciting experience, but let's hope we don't become engrossed in its virtual environment. Happy gaming, and please play responsibly!

Read next: Unveiling the Ripple Effects: How Inflation is Reshaping US Consumer Landscape
by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World

ChatGPT Chronicles: A Hilarious AI Banter Blitz!

With so much chanting on the internet, ChatGPT is making its way into the news as usual. According to a new diverting investigation, people have been tapping into their inventiveness and humor when speaking using ChatGPT, the talkative language model. The bright guys at Semrush, who enjoy crunching data, examined 5,054 talks to unravel the secrets of human purpose and behavior in these AI encounters.

Semrush began the data dance by gathering publicly posted links to genuine ChatGPT interactions in May and June. They got their hands on this treasure trove courtesy of Datos, a worldwide behavior data supplier that acts as a virtual library.

This is when it gets interesting! Creating a prompt for ChatGPT is similar to doing word gymnastics. Some prefer short and quick explanations, while others channel their inner Shakespeare with lengthy descriptions filled with action-packed verbs and exciting nouns. It's as if they're casting a spell on the AI, hoping to discover the mysteries of the cosmos!

In these digital dialogues, users typically exchange eight messages. But wait, the narrative thickens—the most typical ChatGPT conversation duration is three messages. It's a short and sweet fight vs. lengthy and extravagant, and we're ready for it!

The crown jewel, ladies and gentlemen, was a massive 692-message discourse centered on the intriguing area of financial risk management. Move over, binge-worthy TV series, because we've got a true drama going on right here in the discussion!

Most preferred to ride the elevator to the top level with their questions, keeping them quick and sharp. The average message length, often known as the middle child, is only 15 words. But, hey, some people enjoy taking the scenic road, which raises the average to 86 words. After all, why be ordinary when you can be extravagant?

Did you also know? These internet conversations include a hidden society! Links appear in around 16% of ChatGPT talks. But hold your horses; just 6% of users utilize plug-ins to access additional features. Those plug-ins come with an exclusive ChatGPT Plus account—indeed, VIP service!

Undoubtedly, it is getting attractive as the layers take off. Let's take a look at the intriguing world of conversation starters. The magical words "write," "make," "create," and "provide" open the door to ChatGPT's AI world. It's like a secret password to get past a club's bouncer. You're in if you can demonstrate your writing prowess!

But hold on; there's more to the story! The specified actions and words are like an all-you-can-eat buffet of data and information. Users use their word wands to cast spells, such as writing code, making tables, and providing examples. Move over, novelists: these people are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence for their programming and business management needs!

And prepare yourself: 64% of the time, the subjects mentioned were all about programming, as though wizards were approaching the AI oracle for coding assistance. Social media, information retrieval, business management, AI, and machine learning were all invited to the ChatGPT party.

And the icing on the cake? ChatGPT is being used for more than simply monotonous activities. They've used this virtual assistant like a pro. They are managers, specialists, and LEADERS! By taking on these roles, they unleash answer accuracy and relevance and ultimately dominate the game of human-chatterbot bonding.

So there you have it, the odd and intriguing world of ChatGPT discussions. People are discovering new methods to express their intents and want, from short and quick to extensive and expensive. You're invited to a virtual party! So go ahead and join the club and talk to ChatGPT—you might be amazed at what you learn.

Read next: 86% of Consumers Are Willing to Share Their Email Address, Here’s Why That Matters
by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World

Here Are the 5 Most Stressed Cities in the US

It seems like there is a new cause for stress every day for people living across the US, with inflation, rampant rises in crime and many other problems coming to the fore. The team over at WalletHub recently analyzed 180 American cities because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up revealing which ones provide the most stressful lifestyle for its inhabitants.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Cleveland had the dubious honor of occupying the very bottom of the list. Not only does it have the highest divorce rate of the entire US, but it also has the second highest rate of poverty.

This makes life in Cleveland far more stressful than might have been the case otherwise, with inhabitants of this urban agglomeration also receiving the second least hours of sleep on a nightly basis. Cleveland received a total score of 62.62, which is the highest score in a list where lower scores were much preferered.

In terms of poverty and average sleep hours, Cleveland was second only to Detroit. Hence, it stands to reason that this manufacturing hub in Michigan will occupy the second worst ranking on this list with all things having been considered and taken into account. Detroit received a total score of 57.75.

Baltimore came in third, with the crime ridden city becoming famous for its drug wars and gang violence. This gave it a score of 57.43. Alabama and Philadelphia rounded off the top five list, occupying 4th and 5th places respectively. Their scores were 57.11 and 55.29.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, not everything boils down to crime. For example, the nation’s capital of Washington DC ended up ranking the highest in terms of the level of work stress that the people living there have to endure. Chicago was the second worst society when it came to how much work stress you might experience, with New York City occupying third place in this regard.

If we were to take a look at the specific type of stress that comes from family environments, Fresno, California came out on top. It was followed by North Las Vegas in second place, with Cleveland, Ohio getting ranked third.

As for the opposite end of the spectrum, namely cities that provided the best quality of life and the lowest levels of stress of all, South Burlington in Vermont got the highest ranking of all. It received a very low score of 23.43. Fremont in California also did quite well, with a total score of 27.04. Overland Park in the state of Kansas came in it a close third with 27.83.

Coming in at number 4 was Fargo, North Dakota. Its score of 28.6 reveals just how little stress people there experience as compared to other cities across the US. Lincoln, Nebrasks was ranked fifth, with a score of 29.63. It bears mentioning that the city that elected Bernie Sanders as mayor, Burlington, Vermont, occupied 6th place with a score of 29.69. No other city in the US was able to manage a score of under 30.

Read next: Mobile App Economy Surges: Global In-App Expenditure Skyrockets to Record $67.5 Billion In H1 2023
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

44% of Hypercasual Gamers Opt In for Ads

The release of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency protocol could have been a death knell for many industries because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making it impossible to target users with ads. However, it seems that the opt-in rate for ads is growing. Data that was just released by Adjust revealed that 37% of app users on Apple devices are opting in for ads with all things having been considered and taken into account.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that hypercasual games perform even better in this metric. 44% of people that play games of the hypercasual variety prefer to opt in for ads even though this may result in a decreased level of privacy than might have been the case otherwise.

The gaming industry in general is doing well at enticing users into opting in for ads and allowing the developers to gain access to their personal data. The sports gaming sector saw a 44% opt in rate as well, with racing games enjoying a 40% opt in rate.

This just goes to show that the gaming industry is offering good incentives that make the opt in worthwhile for users across the board. Players of these games are acutely aware of the benefits of targeted ads, namely that they can aid them in finding the next game that they would like to play.

Now, according to Adjust, there are certain tactics that can be implemented to drive the opt-in rate even further up than it currently is. For example, experimenting with cross promotion can yield exceptional results, with opt-in rates potentially reaching 59% or even beyond this.

Instead of trying to work around ATT, marketers would do well to factor it into the equation. Sweetening the deal for users can lead to mutually beneficial data sharing, so in a way, Apple was successful in its attempts to make the industry less unseemly and force things to happen over the table instead of under it which was how it used to be done.

Read next: Apps Will Spend 20% More to Fuel Installs By 2025
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Threads In The Spotlight: How Is Meta’s Popular App Doing Now And What Its Future Has In Store

It’s safe to say that the success that Meta’s Threads arrived with could never be estimated.

Nobody had the slightest hint that the figure for signups would cross the 100 million mark in less than a week. Moreover, it’s taken some leading corporations months to achieve what Threads did in a couple of days.

Today, the platform has close to 150 million downloads and it just keeps on getting better. But after the explosive start, new stats claim that engagement and growth of the popular texting platform have declined. However, it’s too early to predict anything just yet.

At the start, we saw Meta’s employees take part in an interesting question and answer session yesterday. This is where a lot of things were put into perspective including the types of Thread posts that were first put out by leading names in the industry.

They were briefed about what some celebs and prominent personalities had to say after arriving on the app and how the platform attained a whopping 70 million downloads in just a span of 48 hours.

We have to agree that it was a major victory for a firm that failed to roll out any kind of successful platform from the start. But the thing that really caught our attention as well as our eye at the launch was how the head Adam Mosseri described in detail the manner in which the app was designed.

It came about with the assistance of three top-of-the-line product managers, a group of 50 engineers, and also only three designers. These creative minds put their heads together and gave us a brilliant final product in just five months.

Keeping in mind such constraints, any firm in the tech sector could relate to how that’s near to impossible but the way it happened is fabulous. So what’s next is a question on people’s minds and the answer is simple. It’s got to do with how to keep users entertained and make sure they retain on the app.

As it is, Zuckerberg is currently celebrating Facebook reaching a whopping 3 billion users each month. This also happens to be the first time that we’ve seen the app’s usage among the younger lot increase after so many years. So as you can see, Facebook is not falling behind and as the platform’s head mentioned yesterday, they’re in it to win it.

So Zuckerberg is really reigning supreme and must be keen on making Instagram and Threads get the same type of success soon. But remember, it’s been a tough climb for Facebook and won’t be easy for Meta’s other apps but it’s the efforts worth a mention here.

The latest stats proved that there were more than 70 billion impressions. Then the current figure for posts is more than 450 million while likes are hitting the 4.5 billion mark. Yes, that’s remarkable but it’s just the start.

More details unveiled by Threads showed how it’s doing the best in the US and showing great acceptance in Brazil as well. But Instagram’s chief Adam Mosseri says he’s trying to make the entity a place that people will come back to after a month because signups are simple but making sure users return is just as difficult. And that’s where the company’s focus is right now, ensuring great retention.

H/T: The Verge

Read next: New Study Shows Over 16 Billion Accounts Have Been Breached Around the World
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Unveiling the Ripple Effects: How Inflation is Reshaping US Consumer Landscape

The outbreak of the Ukraine War disrupted the United States' path to economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This global conflict caused supply chain disruptions in various industries. As a result, it increased energy and manufacturing costs that impacted consumers' budgets. It also caused a decline in digital spending and changes in consumer behavior.

According to a report by Similarweb, there has been a 6% decrease year-over-year in desktop Converted Visits for the top 2251 e-commerce websites across different industries. McKinsey's recent findings support this. It indicates a drop in consumer spending for the second consecutive month in May 2023 compared to the previous year. Furthermore, a survey of 2,507 participants found that 43% of customers are saving less money than the previous year. At the same time, 87% of them blame inflation for this decrease in extra spending money.

Generational differences have become more evident during this time of inflation. Younger consumers, particularly those in the Gen Z age group, have been less affected by the cost of living crisis. This is attributed to many factors. These include smaller households and living with their parents to save on rental expenses.

In contrast, price hikes have had a higher effect on older individuals. It is because they tend to have larger households of three or more people. Survey results show that 46% of Gen Z Americans reported having more disposable earnings than the previous year. In comparison, only 27% of consumers aged 55 and above have reported the same.

Various industries have seen changes in consumer behavior amid inflation. Fashion retailers, auto parts suppliers, and cosmetics and beauty retailers have experienced an increase in Converted Visits year over year. The increase in auto parts purchases indicates that consumers seek to reduce repair expenses by performing the work themselves.

But, fashion brands have seen a decline in brand loyalty even after increased consumer purchases from fashion retailers. This highlights the necessity of establishing brand loyalty programs to draw and keep customers.

Furthermore, the travel and experiences sectors also witnessed a growth in Converted Visits year over year. Tours significantly increased by 62%, while cruises and tickets/events saw respective increases of 23% and 8%.

In contrast, industries such as meal kits, restaurants, and food delivery services have faced a significant decline in Converted Visits due to rising food prices. Similarly, financial services and consumer electronics have experienced a drop in consumer interest.

Despite the challenges, opportunities still exist in the market. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels have obtained positive feedback, with high-tech appliance DTC sites surpassing the market in the consumer electronics sector. Athletic apparel brands have witnessed a decrease in Converted Visits by 35% YoY but have seen growth in their DTC sites by 27%.

Consumers have also adopted strategies such as exploring inexpensive alternatives or convenient financing options to deal with the rising cost of living.

A new trend among Gen Z consumers involves seeking out inexpensive copies or dupes of well-known and often pricey items. This trend has gained momentum on TikTok, where young Americans share their experiences. As of early May 2023, the hashtag #dupes on TikTok generated over 2.5 billion impressions. This contributed to a 9% year-over-year increase in traffic to the top 100 beauty industry websites.

Additionally, consumers are becoming more accepting of retailers' private label brands, which are cheaper than national brands. Recognizing this opportunity, Amazon has launched its range of private-label brands in various categories.

Despite rising living costs, the "Buy Now, Pay Later" trend has gained popularity among US consumers. Visits to airlines' "BNPL" departments have increased by 64% year over year. This shows a strong desire of US consumers to keep traveling with flexible payment options.

Questions continue to linger about a possible recession in the US. The future success of e-commerce industries relies on their capability to recognize and take advantage of new trends. It is crucial to understand customer behavior and know opportunities are still available.

Read next: The Energy Crunch: AI Data Centers and the Battle for Power
by Syeda Maleeka Zehra via Digital Information World