Silliest Trolling Unleashed on Meta's Threads with New Hashless Topic Tags

Recently, Meta introduced tags feature on Threads, a microblogging app of Instagram. Users are enjoying this feature and making it a fun way to interact with other users. Threads' "topic tags" resemble hashtags but there’s no hashtag symbol and users can also include spaces, making the hashtags look like regular sentences. As these tags are highlighted in blue and linked to posts like regular hashtags, users are using them to prank others.

One of the Threads users created a post with some text and added a “Show more" tag at the end but it seemed like there’s more text to the post. When the other users clicked "Show more" to view the rest of the post, they were redirected to the page for that tag.

Most users thought that it was a bug and clicked on the tag again and again, but were fooled. Thread user @freezydorito who is an employee in Meta was the one who initiated this hashtag joke. The joke is simple and fun and the fact that the text is blue colored is not a giveaway and people often fall for it. Even on Facebook, the option to see the full post (See More) is often shown in gray color. The blue colored text is linked to X so people thought it was something like that. The users say that this silly trick and joke has transported them back to the lighthearted era of the internet.

The For You feed of Threads is already filled with questionable recommendations and other posts, now the people are posting about this prank and many people are getting fooled. Some may say that users will get bored of this joke soon, maybe in a week or so. It is also worth mentioning that Threads recently got launched in Europe and will surely see a number of more users. Now we will have to see how much time it will take Meta to remove this feature from the app.

Read next: New Study Proves Online Shoppers Rarely Log Into Retail Websites, Posing Challenges With Ad Targeting
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Nearly 1,000 Bank Apps Were Targeted By These 10 Trojans in 2023

Banking trojans have been a thorn in the side of the cybersecurity industry for quite some time now, and it turns out that ten new Trojans have now entered the mix which are making things even worse than might have been the case otherwise. Nearly 1,000 Android banking apps, or 985 to be precise, from over 60 countries were targeted by ten new Trojans that bypassed 2FA protocols, stole credentials and even conducted illicit transactions with all things having been considered and taken into account.

According to Zimperium, a mobile security firm, 19 older Trojan variants were upgraded in 2023, and with the brand new 10 variants, this brings the total number of Trojans that are targeting banking apps on Android devices to 29. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that they are all using automated transfer systems to intercept MFA tokens, and they are also responsible for transferring funds out of accounts.

Malicious actors can also obtain these Trojans through malware as a service deals, with subscriptions to these variants costing anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 per month. They also include screen sharing features that can be used in tandem with social engineering to allow malicious actors to pose as customer service personnel. Such features are risky because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up leading unwary users to downloading the Trojans onto their own systems without realizing the dangers involved.

Nexus is one of the ten Trojans making their way into the financial industry, with 498 variants, live screen sharing capabilities and a footprint across 9 countries and 39 apps. Godfather is a much more widespread Trojan with 1,171 variants that we know of so far. They have all managed to spread to a whopping 57 countries, and 237 banking apps have been impacted by them so far.

Some Trojans have a smaller footprint, such as BrasDex which only targets eight banking apps solely in the nation of Brazil. Others have an international footprint such as Vultur, which only has 9 variants but has spread to 15 countries and targeted somewhere in the region of 122 banking apps.

Read next: US Security Agency Urges Tech Makers To Stop Manufacturing Products With Default Passwords
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

New Study Proves Online Shoppers Rarely Log Into Retail Websites, Posing Challenges With Ad Targeting

When was the last time you shopped online and actually logged into the brand’s website to fill up your cart?

As a whole, the majority of shoppers will rarely embark on that experience and that’s one of the main reasons why brands prefer to market their online apps. This not only strives to add convenience for the customer but can also assist with the company’s ad targeting practices.

The news comes to us thanks to a new survey outlined by Coveo and RSR Research who found 6 in 10 of shoppers (or 59 percent to be exact) log into a webpage 25% of the time while online.

It’s very much in line with those seen with retailers who aren’t performing too well, standing at 53%. This might be why it’s wiser to promote shopping apps for online purchases, more than anything else as is the trend for today.

Nearly 92 retail brands across the US were allocated in this study, generating a yearly revenue of $250 million. Meanwhile, popular strategies used by some top names in the industry include the offering of loyalty programs that would entice more clients to return as they would be rewarded for doing so. This would balance the equilibrium between logging in and how many shoppers are functional online.

More stats from the study proved that 9% of the retailers wished to roll out loyalty cards to make the entire shopping experience one to remember and also one that’s more personalized in nature. This has to do with offers depending on what their past searches were, their recent purchases, and what sort of behavior model they were adopting.

Nearly 55% claimed they made use of behavior data taking place in-session which would personalize such offerings taking place in real-time. On the other hand, 47% would add value offers during checkout as that’s when the clients were seen identifying themselves.

59% spoke about adding further investments in terms of CRM while 55% spoke about their ecommerce apps. 52% preferred to go big on order payment and the necessary processing, not to mention inventory management. Around 50% had greater investments in AI for search and customization.

Meanwhile, just 15% of all giant retailers who witnessed slower growth claimed to make investments in e-commerce apps in 2023 alone, after seeing the bigger response from clients.

It’s also interesting to see how the world of Generative AI has really turned out to be a major focus on this front and that’s why the figures for investments continue to peak as we speak.

Those who are doing well in terms of retail ended up having close to 93% of their capabilities automated through AI technology or prefer to try out capabilities for implementation by next year.

Those who performed on the lower end of the spectrum had 67% of them speaking about the same experience. 40% of retailers on average continue to speak about how they are paving the way for greater reliance on consumer AI chatbots and FAQs to assist with the growing call volumes.

Read next: Study Reveals Why You’re More Likely to Click Ads in Your “For You” Channel But Less Likely To Buy
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

The Highest-Rated PC Parts for Home Builds in 2022/23

Imagine building a PC that's not just good but exceptional in every way, made with the crème de la crème, as voted by the builders themselves.

Well, you don't have to imagine. Instead, just check out this latest study from the team at Electronics Hub. Using data from reviews and comments posted on PCPartPicker.com, it showcases the highest-rated and most popular PC parts for home builds in 2022/23.

As far as PC home building goes, this is as good as it gets.

The Highest Rated PC Parts, Voted for by PC Builders

The Electronics Hub researcher started by creating a blueprint of the best PC build based on the number of 5-star reviews for each component. In effect, this is what the perfect PC build would look like.

When it comes to the brain of the computer, also known as the Central Processing Unit (CPU), nothing runs faster or smoother than the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor. Or at least according to those building PCs. This tiny but powerful piece of tech has impressive reviews, with 98% receiving 5 stars.

Now let's look at the motherboard. This is the main platform for communication between all other hardware components. Think of it as the backbone powering interaction between various parts of a computer system. And according to the feedback posted on PCPartPicker.com, the MEG X570 UNIFY is number one. More than 9 out of 10 reviews for this highly-regarded piece of hardware have the five-star stamp of approval.

The Highest Rated PC parts, According to PC Builders

The fact that 98% of reviews for the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor hit the 5-star benchmark is incredible. It means that almost every single customer using this tech piece thinks it's pretty much perfect. Kudos to the design team.

With a score like that, it's no surprise that this processor is the highest-rated PC part in the entire Electronic Hub study.

But it's not the only piece of PC tech with almost perfect 5-star records. Several other parts scored well into the 90% range.

They include the SeaSonic FOCUS Plus 650 Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply. 97% of its reviews are 5-star, with many praising its compact design, quiet operating noise, efficiency, and power output.

The Nvidia Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3060 video card also received a lot of love, with a five-star rating of 96%. Many of the reviews rave about the RTX 3060's support for real-time ray tracing, which creates realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in games. This is the kind of tech that continues to blur the lines between the virtual world and the 'real' one.

Two Samsung internal drives make it into the top ten list for the most highly rated PC parts. The 980 Pro 1TB and the 980 Pro 2TB both scored a very impressive 95%.

The Samsung 980 PRO range is one of the fastest NVMe SSDs available right now, boasting read speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s and write speeds of up to 5,000 MB/s. It's ideal for tasks requiring rapid data transfer, making it the internal hard drive of choice for gamers, content creators, and data analysts.

What the Most Popular DIY PC Build Would Look Like

Next up, the team behind the study put together a visual representation of a home-built PC made from the most commonly used components.

It features a Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5″ 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive, which has been used in over 14,000 builds.

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor is the CPU. This excellent piece of tech has been featured in over 5,500 builds, primarily due to its superb value for money. If you shop around, you can pick one up for less than $100—a real bargain.

Other components include:

• The MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 970 video card.
• The EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 power supply.
• The Asus TUF X570-Plus motherboard.

It's all held together by a super stylish Fractal Design Meshify C ATX mid-tower case.

Top 10 Most Popular PC Parts

Continuing with the most popular theme, the next graphic looks at the top 10 most commonly used components in PC builds.

The top spot belongs to the 1 TB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive, built by Western Digital. According to the Electronics Hub researchers, it sits inside 14,694 home PC builds mentioned on PCPartPicker.com.

Samsung features heavily in the list, with four pieces of tech making an appearance. They're all versions of Samsung's Internal hard drive.

Anyone with one of these babies in their home PC will be nodding their head in approval. Samsung internal hard drives, especially the SSD (Solid State Drive) range, are well known for their energy efficiency and high read and write speeds. SSDs also have fewer moving parts than traditional HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), making them less prone to physical damage. This gives them a well-earned reputation for their durability and long-term reliability.

A Model of Today's Most Popular PC Build

Every PC builder has their favourite, go-to piece of tech when putting together a new machine. But, at the same time, these tech lovers are always open to new innovations and upgrades.

So what have they been switching over to in the last 12 months? And what would a PC made up of these components look like? That’s what this next graphic is all about,

It shows that the Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus is the most on-trend motherboard.

And when it comes to finding the right processor for a home build, PC lovers are loving the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. It was used in 856 builds catalogued on PCPartPicker.com.

Samsung continues to lead the way for internal hard drives. Its 980 Pro 2 TB SSD made over 1500 appearances in PC builds shared on PCPartPicker.com.

The 10 Most Commonly Used PC Parts in 2022/23

Samsung is the gold standard of hard drives. That's a bold statement. But it's backed up by this last chart, which lists the top 10 most commonly used PC parts in 2022/23.

The top three spots all belong to versions of Samsung's 980 Pro SSD internal hard drive. Collectively, they've been used in over 3,000 home PC builds.

AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X was the most popular CPU over the last year and a half (856 builds).

Corsair can say it built the best mid-tower case of 2022/23. Its 4000D Airflow ATX model was chosen 653 times by PC builders putting together machines over the last 18 months.

How to Plan Your First PC Build

If you're looking to put together your first PC, then follow these key steps during the planning, designing, and building phases:

• Plan Your Budget: Decide on a budget and allocate funds wisely across components.
• Choose the Right CPU: Prioritise based on your needs (gaming, editing, etc.).
• Balance GPU and CPU: Ensure your GPU and CPU are well-matched for efficiency.
• Invest in a Good PSU: Don't skimp on a quality power supply unit.
• Consider Future Upgradability: Choose a motherboard that allows for future upgrades.
• Opt for SSD: Use an SSD for faster boot and load times.
• Proper Cooling: Ensure adequate cooling with good airflow and possibly additional fans.
• RAM Matters: Get enough RAM (16GB is a good starting point for gaming).
• Cable Management: Plan for neat cable management for better airflow.
• Test Before Building: Test components outside the case to ensure they work.

Read next: How To Block Spam Messages on Android — Direct Methods and Third Party Apps
by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World

Study Reveals Why You’re More Likely to Click Ads in Your “For You” Channel But Less Likely To Buy

The “For you” feed is now ubiquitous across digital media platforms, including TikTok, X, Weibo, and Google News. Unlike the “Following” feed that you can meticulously curate by choosing just which accounts and outlets to follow, the “For you” feed seamlessly and mysteriously selects accounts, content, and ads for you using AI-informed algorithms.

Serving you up an endless stream of content based on your past behaviors—such as clicks, likes, views, scrolls, or even just lingering for a few seconds—within a frighteningly short amount of time, the “For you” feed just seems to get you. It’s akin to being served a continuous diet of only the most familiar and comforting foods.

But researchers are warning users against overindulging on the “comfort food” that is your “For you” feed.

Based on a massive field study that analyzed the behavior of millions of users of Weibo, they not only uncovered huge differences in user behavior between the “For you” and “Following” feeds, but also raised red flags about long-term effects on the psychology of users themselves.

“The focus of these platforms is on increasing users’ stickiness,” said Dr. Beibei Dong, an associate professor of marketing in the Lehigh University College of Business and one of the authors of the study. “Or in other words, to hook you.”

The prowess of algorithms on sites such as YouTube, TikTok, and X in hooking and keeping users online is well-documented. However, Dong said, little academic research had previously been conducted to determine how different types of ads performed in the “For you” and “Following” feeds.

That’s both because big tech companies are loath to share proprietary information about their algorithms and because most universities lack the infrastructure required to conduct broad-scale studies, Dong said.

The researchers found their way in by partnering with a Chinese software company that was planning a massive ad campaign on Weibo. The partnership enabled the researchers to analyze data from 297 different ad versions that were served more than 300 million times to Weibo users—a scale unprecedented in U.S. academic research.

After the massive field study, researchers validated their results using laboratory techniques including eye-tracking on smaller groups of participants.

Their findings reiterated that AI can do a great job in getting to “know” users and serving them appealing content and ads. But there are differences in what is best for users, advertisers, and the platforms themselves.

The study, published in the Journal of Marketing, found that native ads served in the “For you” feed had a 20.08% higher click-thru rate than ads served in the “Following” channel.

That’s a big difference. It’s easy to see why platforms are rapidly adopting AI-recommendation channels. After all, they get paid each time a user clicks an ad.

But advertisers may not necessarily be so thrilled with this result. If their aim is simply to increase brand recognition or visibility, then more clicks on their ads is a good thing. But if they’re looking to drive sales, then more clicks isn’t always better.

In fact, the researchers found that ads in the “For you” feed had a 15.6% lower conversion rate—that is, the percentage of clicks that lead to a purchase, or “conversion.”

So why are you so much more likely to click an ad in your “For” you feed but so much less likely to complete a purchase through it?

The answer, Dong says, relates to your level of “cognitive engagement.”

In the “Following” feed, content is organically served from accounts that you have chosen to follow and you’re more likely to find these accounts credible. As Dong said, “perceived control is higher in the subscription channel, and because of this, the level of engagement is higher.”

When you’re investing more cognitive effort in consuming the content, you’re less likely to distractedly click on an intrusive ad. With this higher level of cognitive investment, you’re more likely to click an ad because you’re actually interested in purchasing it.

Advertisers can capitalize on this phenomenon, Dong said, by crafting ads that optimally use informational or emotional appeals and direct or indirect links.

Informational appeals focus on presenting factual information about products, while emotional appeals emphasize the feelings associated with the product experience.

Direct links take users straight to a purchase screen (e.g. “Buy now”), while indirect links lead to other information (e.g. “Click to learn more”).

Within the “Following” feed, to drive more clicks, advertisers should use emotional ads with indirect links, researchers found. To drive conversions, they should use informational ads with indirect links.

Conversely, in the “For you” feed, users tend to slip into a state of lower cognitive engagement. With the lower investment of cognitive effort required, ads begin to feel less intrusive and annoying, and users are more likely to click on them. However, they’re less likely to exert the cognitive effort required to go through with a purchase based on that click.

To optimize their ad spend in the “For you” feed, marketers should use emotional ads with indirect links, which decreased click-thru rates by more than 20% and increased conversions by almost 75%.

To drive more clicks in the “For you” feed, marketers should use informational ads with direct links, which increased click-thru rates by more than 31% but decreased conversion by more than 25%.

Of course, it’s possible that what’s good for platforms and what’s good for advertisers is not what’s good for users. That can be the case when consuming AI-recommended content, researchers warned.

Over time, relying too much on the algorithm to curate your content diet can have long-term cognitive effects. In addition to the temporary “low engagement mode” that leads you to click on more ads, prolonged existence can create a “filter bubble” in which users receive only content that perfectly aligns with what they have already consumed.

As other studies have shown, this can lead users down “rabbit holes” of extreme content, conspiracy theories, and deepened political and cultural divides. Dong cautioned against the effects of the “filter bubble” on users’ critical thinking skills, ability to process new information, and creativity and learning ability.

So while it’s ok to indulge in your favorite digital comfort foods, they should not compromise your entire media diet.

“You can exert a two-way influence on what AI learns about you,” Dong said. “Be more selective in interacting with subscription channels. Just like eating a well-rounded diet is good for you, intentionally seeking out different ideas and perspectives in the media can help fight the negative effects of the filter bubble.”

Photo: DIW-AIgen

Read next: Here’s What Happens on the Internet Every Minute
by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World

Here’s What Happens on the Internet Every Minute

The internet is an ever changing landscape that involves countless bits of information flowing in and out of the system, and the eleventh iteration of the report known as Data Never Sleeps sheds some light on what that data looks like. Released by Domo, this report is a crucial source of information that can clarify what occurs on the internet on a minute to minute basis, and it covers everything from emails to Google Searches.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that around 241 million emails are sent every single minute. That’s up from the 231.4 million that were sent each minute last year, and 204 million in 2013 when the report was first released. The upward trajectory will likely lead to a quarter of a billion emails being sent per minute at some point or another during the 2020s.

As for Google Searches, they much like every other type of internet activity have seen an enormous increase, perhaps even more staggering than that of emails. In 2013, Google Search users input around 2 million search queries per minute. By 2022, this had increased to 5.9 million, and the metric registered another uptick in 2023 to reach 6.3 million per minute.

There’s also a lot more cash being sent through Venmo. Ever since PayPal acquired the service back in 2013, the year the first iteration of this report came out, the company has grown considerably and now $463,000 is transferred between users every minute of every day. This is over $30,000 more than last year’s $437,600 peak, and it’s fairly likely that the company will surpass half a million dollars per minute by 2024 or 2025 at the latest so long as the current trend persists.

These metrics indicate that practically every aspect of the internet is seeing a rise, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, there are some areas which are perhaps not quite as dramatic in their increased. For example, 100,000 Tweets were sent out per minute in 2013, which increased to 347,000 in 2022 and 360,000 in 2023, but this came after a sudden dip in 2021.

Furthermore, the amount of content that is streamed each minute has gone down. The sheer volume of streaming makes it necessary to refer to this number in terms of years rather than hours, and in 2022, around 114 years of content, or 1 million minutes, were streamed per minute.

This year, the number plummeted to just 43 years with all things having been considered and taken into account. That just goes to show that increases are not a given, and that it is entirely possible for certain types of content to see a dramatic decline despite previous growth trends.

Of course, one thing that has trended upwards more than anything else is the percentage of the global population that has access to the internet. Based on the data presented in this report, 64.6% of the world’s population has internet access, which amounts to around 5.2 billion people. This is more than twice the number that had internet access back in 2013, when just 2.1 billion people were able to use the service.

These internet users spend 25.1 hours online every minute, and with internet access spreading at such a rapid rate, this number will reach staggering proportions before the decade is out. It will be interesting to see where things go from here on out, since there are several aspects of this growth that have yet to be determined.

Read next: New Study Reveals The Best Big Tech Companies To Intern At
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Elon Musk's X Unveils Anonymous Access in Spaces

This week, X has come up with a cool new feature for Spaces, giving hosts the power to decide if they want non-logged-in and private users to join their chit-chats on the app, as spotted by an app researcher on Threads named Radu Oncescu.

Now, with this "Allow Incognito" setting, Spaces hosts can be the bosses of their audio discussions. For example – hosts can flick this new switch to say yes or no to anonymous users joining their Spaces chats. Basically, they can lock it down to only logged-in users if that's their desired setting.

This whole anonymous joining vibe is a bit like when X let you hide your verification checkmark back in August. Seems like they get that some folks see it as more of a thumbs-down than a cool thing, totally flipping the script on those blue ticks.

No matter what the world thinks, Elon Musk, the big shot behind X, and his habit of getting into controversies. It makes sense that some of his fans might want to keep a low profile, especially after he rubbed shoulders with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in a Spaces discussion. Sure, it's a chat many would love to listen in on, but not everyone wants to shout from the rooftops that they were there.

• Also read: X's November Update: $6.2M mobile revenue, sluggish Premium Plus adoption, awaiting Grok's impact

Musk even threw in an offer to cover legal fees for anyone caught up in the chaos of X, highlighting the real worries some people have about diving into the app. That's where X's incognito mode comes in handy – it's like slipping on an invisibility cloak for those spicy discussions without attaching your name to it.

Sure, not everyone will be bothered to go undercover in Spaces chats, but having the option is pretty neat. It opens the door for non-logged-in users to join and caters to those who want to be a fly on the wall in heated discussions without the spotlight on them.

This new control feature isn't just a gimmick – it's Spaces hosts waving their digital magic wands, taking charge of how much mystery hangs around in their conversations. Right now, they're testing this feature with a chosen few, promising a different spin to the Spaces experience.

Read next: Most of the Reviews on Amazon are Not as Genuine as They Seem
by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World