Can alternative apps revolutionise social media and fix its problems?
1 year, 11 months ago

Can alternative apps revolutionise social media and fix its problems?

The Hindu  

Published : Jan 03, 2023 14:39 IST Quitting or reducing social media use could be a great New Year’s resolution. This business model is the main driver of the most well-known social media problems: the deteriorating impact on mental health and its addictive potential, data privacy issues, the spread of misinformation, and the formation of echo chambers, where users are mainly exposed to ideas and users that chime in with their own views. “As long as users pay for the usage allowance of a social media service with their own data, I think that these problems will not be solved,” he told DW. How new apps try to fix typical social media problems Alternative social media initiatives attempt to avoid this problem by designing decentralised network structures where, instead of algorithms, users or user communities control the flow of content across the platform. In such a scenario, we would have to imagine paying a subscription fee for decentralised platforms that respect our privacy.” Breaking social media away from a business model that relies on users’ data and time, is the only way we could come up with “healthier” social media, he emphasised.

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History of this topic

How social media has changed the way we spend
2 weeks, 3 days ago

How social media has changed the way we spend

Salon  

Social media isn’t just about catching up with family, old friends or that random person you met at a bar five years ago. According to Capital One Shopping Research, 30% of digital consumers have purchased something because of an influencer or creator’s social media post. Buyer’s remorse When scrolling through social media, something might catch your eye and you immediately …

Reddit overtakes X as the most popular social media platform in the UK
3 weeks, 4 days ago

Reddit overtakes X as the most popular social media platform in the UK

Firstpost  

Reddit’s has seen remarkable growth, with a 47 per cent increase in users compared to May 2023. The platform now sits behind YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok in the UK’s social media standings While Reddit’s user base grew, X experienced an 8 per cent decline in UK users over the same period. Image Credit: Reuters Reddit, the popular online discussion …

Tech Tonic | An elusive social media mirage, and an equally unbothered Elon Musk
4 weeks, 1 day ago

Tech Tonic | An elusive social media mirage, and an equally unbothered Elon Musk

Hindustan Times  

The past few days, felt akin to an unpleasant recall. That, they first said, took that social media platform’s footprint to about 15 million users. Cue headlines such as “users are fleeing Elon Musk’s X…” and that “X is haemorrhaging users…”. For every celebrity and advertiser that’s left Twitter and X in previous months, gone with them are followers who …

Growing social media app vows to shake up ‘toxic’ status quo
1 month ago

Growing social media app vows to shake up ‘toxic’ status quo

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. They've cleverly addicted us to our own egos Zoe Kalar, WeAre8 founder Zoe Kalar, the app’s founder, …

Social Media Swallowed Gen Z. This Film Shows Exactly How
54 years, 11 months ago

Social Media Swallowed Gen Z. This Film Shows Exactly How

Wired  

Twenty years ago, MySpace and Facebook ushered in an inspired age of social media. In June, the US surgeon general, Vivek H. Murthy, called for a warning label on platforms that have played a part in the mental health crisis among young people, of which “social media has emerged as an important contributor.” Social Studies, the new FX docuseries from …

Canada man sues social media giants YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, for being too addictive, causing negative body image
4 months, 1 week ago

Canada man sues social media giants YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, for being too addictive, causing negative body image

Hindustan Times  

A 24 year old man from Montreal, Canada, is launching a class-action lawsuit against social media companies like TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook for being “too addictive.” Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. The man started using social media in 2015, due to which, he claimed …

Politicians say they can make social media less ‘addictive’. Experts aren’t so sure
5 months, 4 weeks ago

Politicians say they can make social media less ‘addictive’. Experts aren’t so sure

BBC  

Politicians say they can make social media less ‘addictive’. Experts aren’t so sure Getty Images New York just passed a law on "addictive" social media feeds for children, but some researchers are questioning what that actually means. "Young people across the nation are facing a mental health crisis fuelled by addictive social media feeds." The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for …

Social media is more 'chaotic' and 'fragmented' than ever, so what's the future of how we live online?
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Social media is more 'chaotic' and 'fragmented' than ever, so what's the future of how we live online?

ABC  

If you've lived online long enough for Facebook to start dredging up embarrassing status updates from a decade ago, chances are you've picked up on a distinct vibe shift in our virtual world. "Platforms are trying to work out what to do about young people's changing uses of social media where they're less inclined to post publicly, much more ephemeral …

Opinion: There’s a clear way to regulate Facebook, TikTok and other social media
9 months ago

Opinion: There’s a clear way to regulate Facebook, TikTok and other social media

LA Times  

Powerful technology has perhaps never presented a bigger set of regulatory challenges for the U.S. government. Congress can create an independent authority responsible for establishing and enforcing baseline safety and privacy rules for social media companies. At minimum, companies would be banned from accepting payment from terrorist groups looking to verify social media accounts, as the Tech Transparency Project found …

TikTok creators warn of economic impact if app sees ban, call it a vital space for the marginalized
9 months, 1 week ago

TikTok creators warn of economic impact if app sees ban, call it a vital space for the marginalized

Hindustan Times  

Alex Pearlman shut the door on dreams of a standup comedy career almost a decade ago, pivoting from the stage to an office cubicle where he worked a customer service job. Pearlman is among the many TikTok creators across the U.S. outraged over a bipartisan bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday that would lead to a nationwide …

Here’s why a SCOTUS ruling on social media rules matters to so many people
9 months, 4 weeks ago

Here’s why a SCOTUS ruling on social media rules matters to so many people

CNN  

These are just some of the widely used online platforms that US Supreme Court justices said this week could be massively disrupted by a pair of Texas and Florida laws that are purportedly aimed at social media, but that could have vast unintended consequences for the rest of the digital economy. But in scrutinizing the laws’ scope and First Amendment …

New era of AI deepfakes complicates 2024 elections
10 months, 1 week ago

New era of AI deepfakes complicates 2024 elections

Live Mint  

The explosion of artificial-intelligence technology makes it easier than ever to deceive people on the internet, and is turning the 2024 U.S. presidential election into an unprecedented test on how to police deceptive content. Two weeks later, the New Hampshire attorney general’s office said it identified a Texas-based company named Life Corp.as the source of the calls and that it …

The one simple change that will improve your media diet in 2024
10 months, 2 weeks ago

The one simple change that will improve your media diet in 2024

BBC  

The one simple change that will improve your media diet in 2024 Javier Hirschfeld Social media is changing how people understand the news Where do you get your news? People who turned to social media for news were less likely to know what was going on in the world – and more likely to have heard false, or unproven, claims …

The year of social media soul-searching: Twitter dies, X and Threads are born and AI gets personal
1 year ago

The year of social media soul-searching: Twitter dies, X and Threads are born and AI gets personal

Associated Press  

We lost Twitter and got X. Here’s a look back at some of the biggest stories in social media in 2023 — and what to watch for next year: GOODBYE TWITTER A little more than a year ago, Elon Musk walked into Twitter ’s San Francisco headquarters, fired its CEO and other top executives and began transforming the social media …

Column: On social media, the ‘fog of war’ is a feature, not a bug
1 year, 2 months ago

Column: On social media, the ‘fog of war’ is a feature, not a bug

LA Times  

The exact size and location of the crater outside the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza was among the factors that internet sleuths seized on to make the case for who was responsible — Israel or Hamas. If you’ve logged on to any given social media platform in the last two weeks, you’ll know what I’m talking about: Ever since Hamas …

The Israel-Hamas war reveals how social media sells you the illusion of reality
1 year, 2 months ago

The Israel-Hamas war reveals how social media sells you the illusion of reality

CNN  

New York CNN — As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the end of its first week, millions have turned to platforms including TikTok and Instagram in hopes of comprehending the brutal conflict in real time. This week, European Union officials sent warnings to TikTok, Facebook and Instagram-parent Meta, YouTube and X, highlighting reports of misleading or illegal content about the war …

Social media is awash in misinformation about Israel-Gaza war, but Musk’s X is the most egregious
1 year, 2 months ago

Social media is awash in misinformation about Israel-Gaza war, but Musk’s X is the most egregious

Associated Press  

While Twitter has always struggled with combating misinformation about major news events, it was still the go-to place to find out what’s happening in the world. Ian Bremmer, a prominent foreign policy expert, posted on X that the level of disinformation on the Israel-Hamas war “being algorithmically promoted” on the platform “is unlike anything I’ve ever been exposed to in …

Social media users should be more careful about its impact, reach: SC
1 year, 4 months ago

Social media users should be more careful about its impact, reach: SC

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said social media users should be careful about its impact and reach as it dismissed a petition filed by actor and former Tamil Nadu MLA S Ve Shekher who is facing cases for sharing a Facebook post in 2018 allegedly containing derogatory remarks against women journalists. “If one uses social media, then he should …

Column: A few sick days made it clear — Twitter is dying, and so is social media as we know it
1 year, 4 months ago

Column: A few sick days made it clear — Twitter is dying, and so is social media as we know it

LA Times  

The state of the social media feed in 2023? The alternatives weren’t much better — Threads, Meta’s competing product, launched by Mark Zuckerberg to much fanfare just weeks ago, felt vaguely cheery but ultimately vacant. I’ve been logging onto Twitter at the start of every working day since, oh, 2011; it’s easy to let muscle memory take over and keep …

Threads vs. Twitter: The new Meta app is already leaning into addiction.
1 year, 4 months ago

Threads vs. Twitter: The new Meta app is already leaning into addiction.

Slate  

Last week, as Twitter struggled to contain the multipronged fallout from its sudden rebrand as X, its competitor from down the San Francisco Peninsula tried to twist the knife. Reporters at the Verge discovered last week that when users browse the app’s newest additions, “Threads will occasionally rehide the Following feed and bring you back to the For You feed …

Social Media Has Run Out of Fresh Ideas
54 years, 11 months ago

Social Media Has Run Out of Fresh Ideas

Wired  

Social media is having its quarter-life crisis, if a quarter-life crisis is a thing, if we can even put a lifespan on social media, which might in fact play a role in our society from now until the end of time. After 25 years of status updates, news feeds, clever tweets, performative photos, and endless scrolls, the US social media …

Elon Musk’s Twitter is now X. Yeah, that’ll fix things!
1 year, 5 months ago

Elon Musk’s Twitter is now X. Yeah, that’ll fix things!

Slate  

Twitter’s name is changing to X. — Elon Musk July 23, 2023 It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. — Linda Yaccarino July 23, 2023 It’s probably not a winning idea, something we can only say with confidence because the majority of Musk’s hallmark …

Over 60% of global population active on social media- New study reveals
1 year, 5 months ago

Over 60% of global population active on social media- New study reveals

India TV News  

According to a recent study by digital advisory firm Kepios, more than 60% of the world's population, nearly five billion people, are actively engaged on social media platforms. Social media usage varies significantly by region, with East and Central Africa having just one out of 11 people using social media, while India sees one out of three people using these …

Column: Social media promised us democracy — but gave us dictatorships
1 year, 5 months ago

Column: Social media promised us democracy — but gave us dictatorships

LA Times  

Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen says she became a whistleblower after coming to believe Mark Zuckerberg’s absolute control of the company made it impervious to reform. “Thirty-plus people across the company,” Haugen recalls in her new book, “ The Power of One,” convened to determine the “conditions under which Facebook should step in and take down speech from political …

The internet has become embarrassingly hostile for millennials like me
1 year, 6 months ago

The internet has become embarrassingly hostile for millennials like me

The Independent  

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

Instagram working on Twitter rival app: Report
1 year, 7 months ago

Instagram working on Twitter rival app: Report

The Hindu  

Meta-owned Instagram is working on a text-based platform that could rival Twitter and be revealed as early as June, according to a report by Bloomberg. Leaked images showed samples of a user interface for “Instagram’s new text-based app for conversations,” reported marketing professor Lia Haberman. pic.twitter.com/xgQa1kUjCl — Lia Haberman May 19, 2023 The app will be decentralised and built over …

The New Social Network That Is Finally Threatening Elon Musk’s Twitter
1 year, 7 months ago

The New Social Network That Is Finally Threatening Elon Musk’s Twitter

Slate  

This article is from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz. With a looseness not seen since Twitter’s early days, they’ve been tweeting on the timeline, demonstrating this new app may indeed be the Twitter alternative some have been waiting for. He has made Twitter’s main tab less relevant by leaning heavily on algorithmic recommendations that pull from outside of …

Bluesky: Twitter alternative surges in popularity as celebrities join and people fight over invites
1 year, 7 months ago

Bluesky: Twitter alternative surges in popularity as celebrities join and people fight over invites

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Bluesky, a Twitter alternative supported by one of its original founders, may be …

BeReal, FB and IG. You Are Burnt Out. And We Are In A Social Media Fatigue
1 year, 8 months ago

BeReal, FB and IG. You Are Burnt Out. And We Are In A Social Media Fatigue

The Quint  

Dear Mark Zuckerberg, You know the phrase, “It’s not you. IG mostly has inauthentic memes borrowed from Twitter with watermarks intact and reels courtesy of TikTok. In other words, it is trying to sell itself as an antithesis of how Big Tech has come to define social media today. I am not an anti-social media advocate waxing nostalgic over BBM …

Not So Social: Utah’s new law to regulate use of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok for kids
1 year, 9 months ago

Not So Social: Utah’s new law to regulate use of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok for kids

Firstpost  

Utah governor signed bills — H.B. While signing the legislation into effect, Utah governor Spencer Cox said, “We’re no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of our youth.” We’re no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of our youth. Utah’s new social media laws, explained On …

TikTok might get banned after ‘disaster’ testimony. Why do some TikTokers not care?
1 year, 9 months ago

TikTok might get banned after ‘disaster’ testimony. Why do some TikTokers not care?

LA Times  

The U.S. government may be inching toward a radical restructuring of TikTok, if not an outright ban on the Chinese-owned social media app. “If ByteDance fights against this forced sale, TikTok will likely be banned in the US by late 2023.” “We would characterize today’s testimony. “It was a reminder that a sound business strategy for me as a content …

Keep It Real or Lose Gen Z
1 year, 11 months ago

Keep It Real or Lose Gen Z

Wired  

In 2023, social media will change, with young users increasingly pushing for more meaningful online interactions. Young people are becoming disillusioned with the legacy experience, whether it’s Instagram’s jumbled content feed of suggested posts and influencer-driven culture; the divisive and combative nature of interactions on Twitter; or ever-changing features that don’t prioritize the user experience—a criticism voiced by some of …

From Twitter chaos to TikTok bans to the metaverse, social media had a rocky 2022
2 years ago

From Twitter chaos to TikTok bans to the metaverse, social media had a rocky 2022

NPR  

From Twitter chaos to TikTok bans to the metaverse, social media had a rocky 2022 Enlarge this image toggle caption Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images 2022 has been a rocky year for social media companies. Enlarge this image toggle caption Mario Tama/Getty Images Mario Tama/Getty Images TikTok's runaway success has companies including Facebook and Google …

Twitter chaos too much? There are plenty of other options
2 years ago

Twitter chaos too much? There are plenty of other options

Associated Press  

Twitter has been engulfed in chaos since billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the helm, cutting the company’s workforce in half, upending the platform’s verification system, reinstating previously banned accounts — including those of white nationalists — and suspending journalists who’ve been covering him. Mastodon’s feed is chronological, unlike Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter, which all use algorithms to get …

Truth Social Is Rising as the Anti-Mastodon
2 years, 1 month ago

Truth Social Is Rising as the Anti-Mastodon

Wired  

Donald Trump is back on Twitter. It would seem Musk’s vows to bring near-absolutist free speech back to Twitter might entice those on Truth Social—a platform that claims to shun “censorship”—to spend more time on Twitter. People are engaging.” Like Mastodon and other Twitter alternatives, Truth Social’s popularity has seen boosts tied to the recent chaotic news cycle. But the …

Musk has a 'super app' plan for Twitter. It's super vague
2 years, 2 months ago

Musk has a 'super app' plan for Twitter. It's super vague

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. During Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting …

DC Edit | Towards a better social media
2 years, 3 months ago

DC Edit | Towards a better social media

Deccan Chronicle  

Social media are not going out of fashion anytime soon. Seasonal trends may see a few platforms go down in popularity while others rise as younger generation users flit on to sites they think are more “hep”. Keeping abreast of user demand for more features, Twitter has responded by saying it is working on an “edit” button that would allow …

The 'anti-Instagram' app that captured a generation
2 years, 3 months ago

The 'anti-Instagram' app that captured a generation

The Telegraph  

Venture capital investors have sniffed an opportunity. “By not focusing on followers, likes and filters, BeReal connects users with spontaneity and authenticity.” While its viral popularity has prompted comparisons to Instagram, BeReal could equally find itself joining the graveyard of gimmicky social media upstarts that have fizzled out of mainstream use. Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, said this could …

More social, less media
2 years, 4 months ago

More social, less media

The Hindu  

Being a 90s kid, as social media lingo defines us, I feel a sense of satisfaction and contentment of being born in an era when something more than just technology defined the social and recreational life of the children of that time. Though I have adopted myself to the social and technological progress very easily, and am myself using some …

BeReal and the Doomed Quest for Online Authenticity
2 years, 4 months ago

BeReal and the Doomed Quest for Online Authenticity

Wired  

On its ascent to the coveted top spot in app store charts, BeReal—the French photo-sharing app launched in 2020—has been heralded as the antidote to social media fakery. The result all but usurped Pepsi’s counterculture image of “impudent insurrectionaries sassy upstarts flouting the dull repressive mores of the past.” As media historian Jefferson Pooley has argued, the more earnestly we …

Elon Musk’s Plan to Open Source the Twitter Algorithm Won’t Solve Anything
54 years, 11 months ago

Elon Musk’s Plan to Open Source the Twitter Algorithm Won’t Solve Anything

Wired  

When Elon Musk victory-tweeted his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on Monday evening, he committed to improving the social network by, among other things, “making the algorithms open source to increase trust.” In a TED talk earlier this month, the entrepreneur suggested that the algorithm that determines how tweets are promoted and demoted could be uploaded to the software hosting …

Elon Musk bought Twitter, you can switch to these social media platforms
2 years, 7 months ago

Elon Musk bought Twitter, you can switch to these social media platforms

India Today  

The news of Elon Musk buying Twitter has left everyone surprised and people have been wondering whether the platform will remain the way it is now. Zeve Sanderson of the NYU Center for Social Media and Politics told Al Jazeera that “If he undoes a lot of the work that has been done to combat hate speech and misinformation, that’s …

Today’s Cache | Trammelling Big Tech
2 years, 7 months ago

Today’s Cache | Trammelling Big Tech

The Hindu  

In late 1940s Harvard Professor James Culliton said that a marketing manager must be a ‘mixer of ingredients.’ That idea caught a fellow colleague’s attention, who coined the phrase ‘marketing mix’ and made it popular by the 1960s. In a 1964 paper titled ‘The concept of the marketing mix’, Professor Neil Borden, explains what the phrase means, and suggests that …

Ex-US President Obama Blames Social Media for 'Weakening of Democracy' Around the World
2 years, 8 months ago

Ex-US President Obama Blames Social Media for 'Weakening of Democracy' Around the World

News 18  

Former President Barack Obama has claimed that the way people consume and share information is eroding democracy around the world, and he blamed the current information ecology, which is fueled by social media corporations, for “turbocharging some of humanity’s worst impulses”. Obama said social media companies’ decisions regarding content moderation and the use of algorithms to rank posts “have made …

Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store
2 years, 8 months ago

Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store

Firstpost  

Twitter occupies a unique niche. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” As a researcher of social media platforms, I find that Musk’s …

Writing on the wall
2 years, 9 months ago

Writing on the wall

The Hindu  

A lot can happen in a year. In January 2021, when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg presented the social media giant’s fourth-quarter earnings, he said he plans to increase privacy-focused features, blend social commerce with messaging applications, and build the next computing platform. Facebook waning Though Facebook does not share data about the number of active users app wise, its core …

Trump's social media site hits the app store a year after he was banned from Twitter
2 years, 10 months ago

Trump's social media site hits the app store a year after he was banned from Twitter

NPR  

Trump's social media site hits the app store a year after he was banned from Twitter Enlarge this image toggle caption Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images Truth Social, the fledgling social media platform created by former President Donald Trump that bills itself as "free from political discrimination," launched Monday. Sponsor Message Truth Social joins a …

Trump’s Truth Social App Debuts But Is Weeks From Being Fully Operational
2 years, 10 months ago

Trump’s Truth Social App Debuts But Is Weeks From Being Fully Operational

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING Truth Social, the social media platform launched by former President Donald Trump, is now available for download in Apple’s app store but without the fanfare of a fully functional platform. Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes told Fox News on Sunday that he thinks the app, which was reportedly designed to be launched on Presidents …

Inside Donald Trump’s new ‘truth’ app
2 years, 10 months ago

Inside Donald Trump’s new ‘truth’ app

The Telegraph  

Truth Social’s first day was as chaotic as any during Donald Trump’s turbulent four years in the White House. Within hours of being released, the “free speech social network” launched by the former president had climbed to the top of the App Store download charts and was trending on Twitter, Trump’s former digital stomping ground. “Truth Social’s profile page is …

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