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2:51 PM

Did you know Google Chrome is releasing a new progressive web application user interface installation for Android users

Progression Web Application or PWA is an application software that is manufactured using common web technologies such as HTML, Java Script and CSS. The main aim of this software is to work on different platforms that can use standard-compliant browsers through different devices such as desktops and mobile phones. It basically features a lighter version of an actual full app. PWA includes features that can help improve the experience of any user who wants to surf through web pages from a mobile phone, it provides features like home screen icon, full screen capabilities, push notifications and what not that can increases user engagement on a large scale. These progression web installs will now be looking more like native app installs in Chrome for Android that is Google is releasing a new PWA install user interface (UI) that resembles closely to its Google Play Store user interface, having the similar features like app name, description, a few screenshots and also an Install option. PWA has contributed to many benefits like increasing mobile traffic, improving load and installation speed, increasing average conversion, session and of course engagement.

This news was announced by Chrome Developers on Twitter via a tweet, saying that the new install UI for PWA is much better. The user will just have to click on the Install option as they usually do when installing apps from the Google Play Store and the new UI will be installed. Developers can adopt this progressive web application installs as well.

For developers to adopt this, they just need to add the screenshots and descriptions to utilize this new user interface and Chrome for Android will then use this user interface for their progressive web app install. To add images to the app, the width and height of the images should be 320px to the minimum and 3840px to the maximum, the same criteria goes for the screenshots as well. The format to be used for the screenshots should be JPG or PNG file format and the maximum dimension mentioned cannot be twice larger than the minimum dimension. With following these requirements, the progressive web app installation of the user will then look similar to the native app installation. This will make more users to install different applications on their phones.

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2:47 PM

Did you know Young people with eating disorders are being triggered by the body-editing apps promoted on Instagram and TikTok

Social Media apps, Tiktok and Instagram are once again trending in an online argument. It is believed that these two platforms are hosting advertisements of body changing apps that might trigger young people with eating disorders.

These body changing apps can alter the whole outlook of anyone with just one click. People can change the size of their waist, can alter the size of their limbs and can even add muscles to make themselves look more fit and healthy. Such body alteration apps and filters are creating an unhealthy environment where it disapproves someone being obese and on the other hand it favours someone being slim and smart, creating an uneven ground.

A large number of teenagers are found to be more affected by such divisions. As a result the eating disorder has gone up at an alarming rate . According to an Eating Disorder Charity Seed, the disorder rate among children ranging from 10-19 years has gone up to around 68%.

This increment has alarmed many Eating Disorder’s campaigner, who are now demanding the Social Media companies to account and to stop such unhealthy and unhelpful messaging. The famous leading and award winning advocate for people with eating disorders, Hope Virgo showed her concerns that the undeniable fact that both Instagram and Tiktok are hosting body changing apps might further fuel this Eating Disorder epidemic.

Many health journalist came up in support with this argument, one of them is Danae Mercer , who herself has an history of Eating Disorder and regularly promotes body positivity on her Instagram and Tiktok by sharing the behind the curtain reality . In an interview with a renowned television network, BBC, Danae stated that from her personal experience she can relate how such apps can influence anyone with Eating Disorder . She further added that these apps are capable of doing things that make it look like unachievable in real life even if they put in all of their efforts.

It is believed that such apps can add so much unnecessary pressure on teenagers, such as when they use these apps to alter their body for their social media life but would be pressurized when needed to face the real world. According to the Tiktok's management, such advertisements do not go against their guidance provided for advertisements but they further added that they do make sure to review their policies in order to support and promote a body positive environment. In past, the Social media platform has already banned advertisements that were subjected to promote weight loss and fasting among teenagers.

Another eating disorder charity, Beat, stated that ,“body changing apps that encourages the stigmatization of weight or promote the idealization of thinness, could cause distress for people suffering from an eating disorder or vulnerable to one”.

The external affairs department of Beat has also tried to encourage people to report triggering content wherever possible so it could be notified to the authorities before causing distress to anyone else.

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2:44 PM

You know Beware Social Media Users! A New 'Change Facebook Color' Scam Is Making Rounds On Facebook To Steal Your Account Credentials

Different social media sites are coming up with many new features everyday making things easier for their users, specially during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic we saw these social media platforms come up with tools and creative features that helped greatly with the content creation and communication, not only that we saw these social media platforms be a huge helping hand to the people who desperately needed in this period but with all of these things we cannot ignore the fact that various forms of cybercrime activities has also been reported.

Various forms of cybercrime on the Internet have been seen in these recent years this includes using of fake email addresses or fake accounts on social media platforms to get personal information from users, misusing personal information, hacking in to different accounts, websites or computer networks, spreading hate and also committing frauds through different ways. Jane Manchun Wong is a name that is known to many in the tech space, she is a blogger who posts about apps reverse engineering related stuff every now and then, recently the app researcher tweeted that bad actors are trying to steal users account via a "Change Facebook Color" scam.

Facebook is a multinational tech giant company that is known to have such experiences in the past as well. Jane reported that a phishing scam is going on Facebook that is using her screenshots as some Facebook color change feature which is representing itself as something special and never seen before, this so called special feature is leading people to a fake login page that in turn is stealing the users' login details (mostly username and password). Though a real feature similar to this is also reported recently, the under-development feature includes unique, adaptive and attractive color backgrounds for your Facebook profile, but the color changing feature has not been officially released for public.

Unfortunately, Facebook's response to this incident was extremely lousy, upon Jane's request Facebook's support team reviewed the reported post and informed her that the post (promoting phishing links) doesn't go against Facebook Community Standards.

Being a responsible social media platform, Facebook should seriously look into this matter as such incidents can lead to huge grievances and can cause less tech-savvy people to lose a lot. But it appears the social network is preferring not to take action on phishers and scammers this time.

Meanwhile, users are advised to put their credentials only through Facebook's official login pages/website and stay away from scam/fraud campaigns (including websites and apps) that offer feature that can change Facebook app colors.

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2:40 PM

Did you know Don’t be fooled by Instagram DM phishing scams, secure your account by turning on 2-factor authentication

From phishing emails to spam texts to secretive login attempts, the security of digital accounts has become much important now as it was never been. You should do every step to secure your accounts from hackers and blatant scams. Now the hackers are using sophisticated techniques to steal your important information including your passwords, usernames, credit card information, etc. As recently, hackers are trying to steal information through software updates on Android devices. Now the main problem is not every scam is so obvious that you can easily figure out what is happening to you. Therefore, Instagram tweeted out a word of warning about DMs which many people are receiving that is deemed to be from the company.

According to Instagram, some users are getting DMs that looks like these messages are from the company’s "Copyright Help Center", in which users have been informed that their posts has a violation of copyright, and consequently, the DM threaten the users for their account will shut down if they don’t provide the feedback on copyright issue that why this post does not infringe on any copyrights. Actually, this threat in DM does not give the user a choice of deleting the post, and a link is also attached at the bottom of the DM to a site that is not owned and controlled by Facebook.

Instagram warned its users in a tweet to keep your account safe from scams emails and DM that will look like they are from Instagram and actually that will not from the company. To confirm that whether the company has contacted you, you can go to setting, and if nothing here means that it’s not from the company. And you should turn on 2FA (Two Factor Authentication). Instagram does not DM you about the copyright violation and it also does not ask for personal information like your passwords etc. Instagram has also shown a video in a tweet that Instagram has a legitimate way to contact you and it will never send you DM and to check whether the company has sent you a message or not you can go to Settings>Security>Emails from Instagram.

Even if you think that you are safe and you have never received a DM, it is still suggested to turn on 2FA to keep your account safe. If you don’t know how to turn on 2FA, you can simply click the account icon in the bottom right corner of the screen and click on the 3-lines icon in the top right and then go to settings then security, and then you can turn on 2FA. You can also link your phone number. In this way, you can keep your account safe from scammers.

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10:52 AM

Did you  know People during the Pandemic; have spent most of their time on the usage of apps like finance, social media, and lifestyle especially led by Generation Z

Most of the people are bound to stay at home so they can’t really plan to go out with their friends and family during the pandemic situation. However, people have found a way to spend their all day by using different types of apps which connect them with their friends. The routine of many people has changed in this scenario; especially Gen Z spends most of their time on mobile apps and on social media. Generation Z are youngsters ranging from 18-23 years who used finance, social media, and lifestyle apps more than ever in a year during the lockdown situation. Recent research by Global Wireless Solutions has found that this Gen Z is dominating many apps categories in usage during the period of a year.

So the kinds of apps which are attracting to most of the youngsters are finance or trading apps as you might come across the advertisements of trading apps that you can earn some money just by investing low amount from home. Now you cannot say that these are genuine apps and all people are earning a huge amount, well, probably not, but yes some people have earned from these apps and the main thing is these trading apps are sponsoring many YouTube content creators so you see their advertisement in almost every video which attracts a lot of youngsters that they can earn a lot just in days. The usage of these finance or trading apps has increased up to 63% in the volume of hours. The usage of these finance apps like Cash app, Robinhood, and FreshEBT have increased by the percentage of 186%, 183%, 152% volume of hours as compared to their usage before the quarantine situation.

The social media category has also seen a rise of 25% led by Gen Z, which means that Gen Z has spent 62 minutes per day on social media apps, TikTok is at the top of the list being used by these youngsters as it has seen a rise of 380%, and 39% rise in average daily minutes. Because people find this app interesting especially its features like duets, etc.

Lifestyle category is at third number with a rise of 19% in volume of hours. However, the usage of food delivery service apps is also used most of the time as these apps has seen about 50% increases. Normally, the average number of minutes spent by all of us on video content per day is 42 minutes, but, Gen Z has also given it a big rise of about a 44% increase as compared to the previous year. People spent most of their time watching YouTube videos, free streaming, Disney, etc.

Gaming culture has increased a lot during the pandemic situation as it saw a huge rise of 15,471% in usage and Roblox has increased its usage by 101% during the year. While people have almost left sports during these pandemic situations as it saw a reduction of about 32% as compared to the prior year.


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10:48 AM

Did you know 4 in 10 of the top apps in the US ask for background location access to track your every single move, while same is the case for half of the apps in China

Do you remember how many times you have clicked "I agree" on never-ending terms and conditions of apps and how many times you have given access to your location when downloading or using an app? So when you install an app on your device from app stores, you see many pop-up listing all the permissions it requires including location access. This includes the permission on your phone to fulfill their functionality, for instance, if you install a photo editor app, that asks for access to photos so that it will be able to edit your photos which are saved in your phone that makes a sense, but there are several permissions which are unnecessary including location access. According to a report from Apptopia (shared by Forbes), there are around 40% of apps in the US that are for asks for background location access, and this percentage even jumps up to 51% in China.

There are mostly three permissions that the top iPhone apps asked the most that are photos, camera access, and location data. 1 in 4 of the top apps mostly ask for contact details and Bluetooth permission which can also be used by those apps to track your location. There are only a few apps (hardly 1 percent) that ask for HomeKit integration so that they can ask Siri to switch on the lights.

Apple in iOS 14 talked about the transparency in apps about what these apps do with the data they get from different access including location access. It means that the analytic company can combine permission requests from all App Store to get a bird-eye view on the privacy policy. John Koetsier recently asked Apptopia for the permissions that the top 1500 apps ask from the user. The top permission by these apps asked was photo access. More than 2/3 of apps ask for camera access because of photographic capability. But, around 66% of the apps in the US ask for foreground location access that is comparatively safer because it will ask for the current location when you are using this app, while in the background location access the app can track your location even when you are not using the app and there are almost 40% apps which ask for background location access.

You can check the details about the privacy label of an app in the App Store, for instance, if you check the privacy label of the Instagram app, it asks for precise and coarse location, to find out which access you have given, you can go to the setting, find the app and then click on the permission you want more details from.

But, in China, these percentages are even high, as 91% of apps ask for photo access as compared to the 77% apps of the US, 85% of apps in China ask for camera access compared to 68% of apps in American region ask the same permission. 76% of apps in China ask for location access, while in the US, this percentage is 66%. Apple’s new transparency policy will care about the privacy of the users in the iOS 14.5 update, as 73% of people want more privacy of their data and they are even ready to pay for it. It is hoped that man users will know exactly what these apps are doing with your data in the new privacy policy of Apple.



 


10:42 AM

Did you know 53 percent of consumers say that they get irritated when they see too many ads of a brand

The marketing efforts of any company or brands have a direct impact on sales, but these are not only the factors that positively influence their business. Creating a positive brand image in the eyes of the consumer is a key factor for a successful promotional campaign. Brands make a huge investment in various platforms to positively influence the behavior of consumers. However, the advertisement on every platform has a different arrangement that engages the consumer in a diverse way. It happens that sometimes brands do not think carefully about the mentality of consumers and just make a lot of ads and it tries to show too many ads on the same screen of the consumer which creates a negative image of the brand for the consumer. Brands should understand that how today's consumer will get attracted to their product or service. According to a report from Global Web Index (GWI), following factors negatively impact the view of a brand.

First of all when consumers try to search for a product they see too many ads at the same time on a screen and they get irritated because this is not the right way to promote a product when a customer does not want to see the promotion or ads. Marketers should show only one ad at a time so that potential customers can properly view an ad. If they will see too many ads they will most probably skip all of them because of information fatigue. As per survey conducted by GWI, around 53 percent of consumers say that they get irritated when they see too many ads of a brand, which is also a biggest culprit when it comes to negatively impacting a brand's image.

The second factor which also negatively impacts the view of a brand is blocking the content a viewer is trying to access, one thing brands should understand that they should not forcefully promote their products to the consumers because they will get annoyed. Brands should adopt a different strategy to promote their product or service. Survey shows, 39 percent of the consumers get annoyed by those ads that block or get in the way of consuming a piece of content (an example of this we mostly see on YouTube in the form of pre-roll ad).

Brands should get the complete data about the likings of the viewer and then show relevant kinds of ads to attract more consumers. In most cases, a 60 years old person will never get attracted all the times to the ads of toys. According to GWI, 37% of consumers say that not relevant ads create a bad image of the brand.

Brands should be careful while the ads should be appropriate so that a consumer of any age can view such ads otherwise it will create a bad image instead, 31% of people say that ads that are next to inappropriate content should be avoided. Around 29% of consumers say that ads that seem to follow them would negatively impact their view of the brand. 20% of people get annoyed by the targeted ads.

Almost 15% of people say that brands should include diversity/inclusivity in their ads because an ad without diversity creates a negative impact. Ads that are not sensitive to pandemic create a negative impact on about 13% of people according to GWI report which surveyed around 2,103 US consumers and 2,000 users of the UK aged from 16 years to 64 years.

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10:38 AM

You know Study: Nearly 2 Out of 3 Web Pages have ZERO Backlinks, While 9 Out Of 10 Web Pages Get No Organic Search Visitors From Google

A few months ago, Ahrefs rolled out a report revolving around the presence of backlinks on web pages. Perhaps the most interesting finding of the said study was that out of almost two million pages, over 94% didn’t manage to get even one visitor from Google. However, this wasn’t the only finding. In fact, numerous other jaw-dropping revelations were made in the report in question.

For starters, it was found out that about 66.31% of web pages were unable to garner even a single link meaning that they have zero backlinks. Yes, that’s right, not even one! Similarly, about 26.29% of web pages have between one and three referring domains. Additionally, only 2.19% have links from more than 10 websites.

For this study, nearly 1 billion pages in Ahref’s Content Explorer were taken into consideration. What’s even concerning is the fact that many of the pages having backlinks could be using some strange link programs to build shady links. If there was a way to separate such links from the authentic ones, the findings could have been even more shocking.

For those of you unaware, a backlink refers to a link from a particular site to another. These links are vital to improving the SEO ranking of a website. How is that so? Well, most of the time, popular search engines such as Google assess the noteworthiness or authority of a website’s content based on how many sites link to it along with other signals. 


Source: Ahrefs.

10:34 AM

You know New study reveals employees want to work remotely, at least some of the time, ushering in a new era for businesses (infographic)

The pandemic brought with itself a huge lifestyle shift. With the entire world locked within the four walls of their homes and offices and schools literally moving within homes with online schooling and work from home as the new set up, a lot changed a year ago and what people’s preferences were back then and are now.
When the lockdown initially started we all thought this was for a few weeks and we will be back to our normal lives soon but it took a year for things to finally make sense as they used to and now when offices are opening back up full time a majority of people are not happy about it.

Call it the lockdown making them lazy or people just liking working from home more the Harvard study revealed that out of the 1500 professional workers they surveyed 81 percent of them do not want to fully go back to the office and will prefer a hybrid system which allows them to work from home a few shifts while they can work the rest of the shifts within the office environment. 61 percent from the survey would prefer two to three days as work from home as well while 27 percent said that they wish to work from home full time. One sole reason for this could be because when the survey was taken it was revealed that one out of every three workers believe that working from home has improved their quality of work and have made them more focused, all of which makes them complete their tasks and projects before or on time rather than in comparison to the pre lockdown period. However, 18 percent of the people wished to return back to the office full time as they preferred working from office more as it made them feel more focused or because they miss their work pals.

The pandemic has changed the mindset of a lot of people in many different ways and it has opened the doors of a different lifestyle for people compared to the one they were used to and people have different opinions about it. While some enjoy this new life more there are a couple of people which want their old life back. However, what we wish is for the pandemic to get over soon and life to get back to normal. Until then mask up and stay safe.

Take a look at this infogaphic for more insights:

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10:31 AM

Did you know Facebook and Google to Launch Two New Under Sea Cables from North America to Singapore and Indonesia

Last May, Facebook announced plans to build a 37,000-kilometer (22,991-mile) long undersea cable around Africa to provide it with better internet access and now Facebook and Google have other big plans for the future. The two companies are working on two undersea cables that will connect the U.S. West Coast to Singapore and Indonesia which are South East Asia’s biggest economy providers and now a home to the largest population of smart phone users.

73 percent out of the 250 million Indonesian Population is online but the country does not have the accessibility to a proper internet connection, with majority of the percentage using cellular data and only 10 percent using broadband connection, a large part of the country still remains without internet access. Therefore, Facebook decided to put an end to this and through the efforts of Facebook and Google the country will soon be receiving an active internet connection.

Facebook said that is working with Google and other regional telecommunication companies to provide two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia, and North America in order to boost the internet capacity within these regions.

The cables are called “Echo” and “Bifrost” and will be the first two cables which will increase the data capacity between the regions by 70% and improve internet reliability and availability. While Google is investing in both the cables Google is only investing in Echo.

The cost for the cables have not been disclosed by the company but we know that the two cables will be needing regulatory approvals considering the previous investments by Facebook to build up connectivity in Indonesia, one of its top five markets globally.

It has been told that Echo is being built in partnership with Alphabet's Google and Indonesian telecommunications' company XL Axiata and should be completed by 2023 while Bifrost, which is being done in partnership with Telin, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Telkomsel, and Singaporean conglomerate Keppel is due to be completed by the late end of 2024.

It is great that both Facebook and Google are looking in depth at the future and trying to provide areas which do not have proper means of internet with a better internet sustainability so that they can also move forward in the world at the same pace as other first world countries. Facebook and Google both have similar projects like this one currently going on in different areas which are yet to be completed.

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10:24 AM

You know Trump’s Words Are a Reason for the Increase in Online Harassment Against the Asian Community

It is true when they say that influencers and well known public figures should use their words carefully as even the tiniest of unwise communication can have massive effects on their surroundings. People look up to celebrities and influential people and even if they don’t sometimes their words can hit a cord and can start wars.
Something similar happened with the former president of United States, Donald Trump’s speech in which he referred the ongoing pandemic originally known as the corona virus as the “Chinese Virus” and the “Kung Flu” and many other names. Not only Trump but several other US officials took part in such an act and it was soon realized and warned to them that this may start hateful speech and harassment against the Asian Americans and that is exactly what happened.

A study took out by an Anti-Defamation League showed the public that with the increase in the Pandemic the rise in hate speech and harassment on social networks aimed at Asian Americans has been directly proportional and while they do not claim that all of it is because of the statements and names of the pandemic displayed by Trump and other officials, they certainly do have a part in it.

The report revealed that online harassment has increased by 6 points from 2020 to 2021 directed at the Asian American community and it is among the largest rise of any community within that time span. Furthermore, online harassment experienced by Asian American increased to the percentage of 17% really quick while previously it was only 11 percent and a decrease in online harassment was observed among All Americans by 3 points.

The researchers have also concluded that Trump’s first use of the bigotry nickname of the virus “China virus” had since the start of the pandemic increased harassment online and started Anti-Asian American hashtags on Twitter and 85 percent increase in Asian American sentiments was observed after Trump contracted the novel virus.

A lot of harassment was seen online on various social media sites and since then tech companies are trying their best to address user’s safety and prevent harmful content from being posted specially Twitter which says that they have developed a longer more in-depth training for its internal teams but as such no massive improvements have been seen on any social media application.

However, since Trump has left office, some leaders have been voicing their concerns against this ongoing harassment and hate speech towards the Asian American community and Biden after joining the office issues a memo in which he condemned these acts.


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10:20 AM

Did you know TikTok is seen to be prompting accounts that circulate hate and misinformation

There is no denying the fact that social media platforms play a huge role in whatever matter is taking place whether in political, economical or environmental space. Social media platforms provide a huge space where people can voice out their opinions and make a difference that can help out others but these very networks can also be a space that generates a toxic environment causing an impact not only on one state but globally as well. Even though such social media apps have tried their level best to create an environment that is healthy and informative for all but some people who support extremist groups make the overall app toxic to use causing an impact on everyone's mental health.

One such app is Tiktok which since a day of its release has been much loved and used by everyone. In recent years every trend that has been seen go viral on social media platforms is one that got generated from Tiktok. Many content creators got the boost they needed for their careers to flourish through this platform. Even during this pandemic Tiktok was one of the apps that provided basic tools and features to help out small businesses and other people in general but there's also no denying the fact that TikTok has become a platform that spreads hate and violent activities too.

Like every other social media app Tiktok has set up an algorithm where it recommends its users' accounts to follow which they think their users' will be interested in, this is named as 'For You' on the app. Recently it has come to notice that the only type of accounts Tiktok recommends are the ones that support conspiracy movements like QAnon, Three Percenters and Oath Keepers. This comes from an investigation that was carried out by a media group from Media Matters for America. TikTok has been seen to continuously recommend content and accounts which other social media apps have banned and which even TikTok too has claimed to banners as well. For those who don't know QAnon followers are those which support conspiracy theories, Three Percenters are an American and Canadian anti government militia movement that is run by Michael Brian Vanderboegh and the Oath Keepers which is also an anti government militia organization that contains former and current military and police.

Tiktok told a media outlet that the platform works very efficiently to stop the spread of any type of misinformation and violence and even claimed that it has banned such accounts and its followers from the social media app but the investigation tells otherwise. If a user follows such an account the app will quickly recommend another account of such type.

These accounts were also involved with spreading misinformation of covid-19 vaccines and are also known to spread violence. Even though these four movements hold different meaning, their followers are seen to be spreading similar content. The investigation found 6 common scenarios that showed only some specific accounts to be coming up on the 'For You' section on Tiktok, it has been said that this is of course is very harmful and such information should not be put out there especially for the younger generation to see who can be brainwashed from such activities causing an impact globally.

We really hope strong action to be taken by Tiktok as such activities are not only toxic but dangerous to extreme levels as well.

10:15 AM

Did you know Facebook is being accused of taking over most of the GIFs market through its deal with Giphy


Giphy is an American online search engine founded by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke in February of 2013. It is a platform that allows its users to search for short looping videos that have no sound and share it with their friends. These short looping videos resemble animated GIF files. Giphy was bought by Facebook in May of 2020 for valued at 300 or 400 million dollars.

Giphy is said to be Facebook's largest deal ever. It has been reported that the United Kingdom's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is accusing Facebook of taking over most of the supply of GIFs through its acquisition of Giphy. The competition after Facebook's complete acquisition of this search engine Giphy is almost gone. When Facebook made this deal both the parties at the UK and Australia showed their disapproval at this deal because buying rivals almost kills the competition from the market and because of this deal Facebook even faced two major antitrust lawsuit from the United States last year and this isn't the only time that Facebook faced such a situation.

Giphy is a search engine that supplies around 10 billion GIFs to millions of people every day and claims to be the second largest search engine in the world. Gippy has also made an attempt to compete with major tech companies such as Google. Giphy's founder Alex Chung, in an interview told New Atlas that the whole goal of Giphy was to see if they can revolutionize search engine market, not in the category of information but in ways through which people express their emotions and can define their culture that is, through GIFs.

The CMA feel that Giphy will soon have less motivation and resources for it to expand its digital advertising and that Facebook will then increase its power of interaction with rival platforms so as to not risk its position and power. When there were several oppositions to this deal of Gippy and Facebook, both of these tech giants assured that other networks will still get their regular supply of GIFs but since May, Giphy has not supplied its GIFs to other new networks. When the deal was made and other networks were worried for their GIFs supply, social media platforms like Signal and Telegram said that if such a situation was to arise, then they will come up with other preventive measures to apply in order to not let their services be affected by this deal.

CMA has given Facebook a deadline, and if Facebook fails to respond within that, then it will carry a full investigation over this alleged monopoly. 

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10:10 AM

Did you know Android, Windows and iOS: These are the most popular operating systems globally

We are familiar with the concept of operating systems. Over the years we have seen different tech companies coming up with their operating systems to be used specifically on their devices, of course this creates competitions and results come in showing different statistics.

Users operate through these operating systems by using different platforms; such platforms include desktops, tablets and mobile phones. Through desktops it is seen that Windows has the highest rate of 75.89% of user activity, followed by OS X with 16.74%, Chrome’s Operating System with 1.99% and that is followed by a very close margin of Linux with 1.98%. On tablets, iOS takes the lead with 56.31%, followed by of course Android with 43.56%, Windows having 0.09% then Linux with 0.03%. The results are as expected because when it comes to devices like tablets, iOS and Android always take the lead. For smartphones, Android operating systems take the stage with 71.9% of user activity, followed by iOS with 27.33% then Samsung with 0.39% having Linux in the last with only 0.02% of user activity.

The statistics for Windows operating system versions shows that Windows 10 has the lead with about having 77.65% of user usage, followed by Windows 7 in the second place with having 16.55%, Windows 8.1 having 3.66%, and Windows Vista having the least percentage of 0.29%. If we look at the statistics of the Desktop mac operating system version’s market share in the world, we will see that the most popular is macOS 10.15 with 67.04%, the rest include macOS Mojave having 10.92%, macOS High Sierra with 9.09%, OS X 10.10 having 5.13%, macOS Sierra with 3.59% and in the last place is the OS X EI Capitan with only 2.95% of user usage. Apple has a separate operating system installed for its phones and tablets. Uptil now, iOS 14.4 is the most popular one with over 45.8%, followed by iOS 14.3 with 21.27%, iOS 14.2 with 6.65%, then iOS 12.5 with 3.64% having iOS 14.0 AND 12.4 in the least positions having a small margin between them of 2.52% and 2.38% respectively.

By looking at the results region wise, in Africa, Google's Android is seen in front with 53.46%, Microsoft's Windows with 27.87% followed by Apple's iOS with 12.04% and Linux again having least percentage of 0.52%. Asia, the largest continent in the world is also seen depicting similar results, with Android having 54.95% of most user activity, Windows having 27.25%, IOS having 11.74% and Linux in the last place with 0.68%. In Europe it’s a little different with Windows taking the lead with 40.43%, Android up next with 31.75%, followed by iOS with 15.52% and Linux in the last place with 1.2%.

In the United States of America, every operating system is equally in demand; iOS has 30.65% of user activity, Windows 30.15%, Android has 19.66% and OS X with 14.58%, Chrome OS with 3.13% and Linux having least user activity of 0.81%. In the United Kingdom, Windows is mostly used with having 33.53% of user activity, iOS in the second place with 26.67% then Android with 23.12%, OS X with 13.57% and Chrome OS being used the least with 1.29%.

In Canada, Windows takes the lead with 40.2% of user activity, then that is followed by iOS with 23.2%, closely behind is Android with 18.75%, then OS X with 14.34%, Chrome OS with 1.52% and as usually, Linux in the last with 0.85%.

Overall, in 2021, Android can be seen to be in the lead with 40.39% market share, Windows (32.34%) close behind, then iOS and OS X behind these two operating systems (which comes under Apple inc. umbrella). Looking at the recent history, Android and Windows were found to be in quite close in demands all year long with iOS and OS X behind these two operating systems.

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2:48 PM

Did you know Google Zero-Click Searches Rose To 65 Percent In 2020, The Search Giant Denies All The Claims

According to a recent study by SparkToro, almost a 65 percent of Google searches are generates no click.

As described by SparkToro, 64.82 percent searches on Google.com on desktop as well as Smartphones, ended up in the search results, that too without the need of clicking to another web page. The data includes statistics from January 2020 to December 2020. And all of them are mostly Google voice searches, and this is what we have been calling “zero-click searches.”

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practitioners and web marketers are analyzing the situation, as most have observed that Google limits and diverts a large portion of internet traffic to its own properties, through, feature snippets, info panels, videos, and other means.

SERP (Search Engine Result Pages) should include the above-mentioned factors, in order to broaden the search results. But then maybe everything is turning out in favor of Google.

According to the SimilarWeb stats, a total of 5.1 trillion searches around the globe were made, including the iOS and Android as well as desktop and Smartphones.

Following the questions raised at Google, it has issued an official response which says that as many of the SEO practitioners have discovered the data is purely based on the “flawed methodology” that does not know how the data searches are used by people. In reality, the Google search engine sends “billions of clicks” to the websites on a daily basis. Danny Sullivan, Google's Public Liaison explained that "we’ve sent more traffic to the open web every year since Google was first created".

Obviously, the search engine giant does not at all seem happy with the allegations it is put through so to make the people understand better it said “that most of the people start searching in a generalized manner because they do not exactly know how to type a query, so when they go searching from searching for “shoes” to “black leather formal shoes”. They are considered zero-click searches.

Google insisted that many times the search takes people directly to an app, instead of the website. The search giant called the SparkToro's study as misleading.

"Some searches take people directly to apps, rather than to websites. For example, if you search for a TV show, you'll see links to various streaming providers like Netflix or Hulu. If you have that streaming app on your phone, these links will take you directly into the app. The same is true for many other apps, such as Instagram, Amazon, Spotify and more.", explained Google in a blog post, adding further, "our search results page, which used to show 10 blue links (i.e. websites from open web), now shows an average of 26 links to websites on a single search results page on mobile (which means searchers are exposed to more websites on mobile devices)."

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2:42 PM

Did you know Gismart and Snapchat have made a multi-game partnership to introduce Crazy Run games into the app

Snap Inc. recently made a multi-game partnership to launch Gismart’s second game on Snapchat, Crazy Run. For those who don’t know Gismart is one of the leading developer and publisher of mobile games that focuses on entertainment apps. Founded in 2013, it has over 600 million downloads. The games that will be on Snapchat in collaboration with Gismart will include the game characters as the user’s Bitmoji; this for sure is a cool way to increase more engagement among users. Gismart’s introduction was with Perfect Expert 3D, and it never fails to bring something fun, easily accessible and engaging games to the table. With Gismart launching its games on Snapchat, both of these platforms are sure to get a huge boost from this partnership. Snapchat is unleashing its interactive and creative tools to Gismart through having users Bitmoji character as game players.

This multi-game partnership is definitely a great way of Gismart showing their commitment into developing fun and interactive games for the users of Snapchat by also including Bitmoji characters in its own mobile gaming apps. Since Gismart released the game in January, the game achieved a total of 41 million players having a total screen time of 15,500 million hours in the game. The game gets at least 721,000 minimum users every day.

Crazy Run is a competitive multiplayer game that allows multiple players to play as their Bitmoji to overcome obstacles in order to reach the finish line, Gismart increased their user engagement rate by adding the friend-matching feature where Snapchatters can get matched to their friends before matching with other Snapchatters, this game in particular since its release in 2021 has reached over 7 million players. Gismart is actually one of the first developers that are introducing Bitmoji into their Games with their hyper casual title Perfect Expert 3D, with this inclusion, and the avatars that the users will be able to bring through any device that they choose to play with, is a highly innovative idea.

With the partnership between these two huge platforms, the engagement between users will definitely increase, Snapchatters can play with each other without installing a separate app. Snapchat is a platform where conversations via text and snaps takes please every day and over 75% of the 13-34 year old US population uses this app. Snapchat is one of the most used and highly popular apps out there and with this partnership Gismart will get the exposure that it likely deserves.

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2:35 PM

Did you know The Tech Companies Ages and How They Impacted the World

The tech world is a giant one and there have been many companies that have come in existence since the beginning off its time. Over the years there have been many platforms and companies that have been launched, some became popular but soon died down because of the rapid changes in world of technology and newer inventions and applications but all of them have played a role in shaping the tech world to what it is today.

Though there has been a vast amount of apps launched over the years but down below we will discuss the main ones which impacted the world and brought about a change in the past 100 years. So if you are interested in finding and comparing between the digital platforms, social networks and companies between you and your grandfathers time continue reading below.

The most rapidly growing and the latest application present on the social media is the video creating application called “TikTok” which was launched almost 5 years ago and gives you a chance to express yourself through creating videos and moving onto the latest beats.

The second one on the list is the application which introduced the concept of forming a story through your pictures. That is right Snapchat is the application which allows you to share your pictures and experiences with the world in the form of many pictures called snap stories and this application was launched almost 10 years ago.

Twitter and Facebook were launched 15 and 17 years ago respectively and both allows users to share their feelings. The former one in the form of tweets and pictures while the latter one through funny memes, pics and statuses. Google was launched 23 years ago and since then has been answering our questions which we are too afraid to ask out loud because we think people will call us dumb while Netflix was launched 24 years ago and has completely changed the experiences of shows and movies for the better. Amazon came into existence 27 years ago and after a lot of struggle and hardships it has finally reached its desired potential.

Apple was launched 45 years ago and since then has been making one of the best and most popular phones in the world with newer and better features year after year. Microsoft came about 46 years ago and has been a source of our operating systems working efficiently since then.

Intel and HP came about 53 and 82 years ago respectively and both of them have launched the best computers and laptops year after year with newer and sleek designs and better working.

The Walt Disney Company came 98 years ago and has shaped and made our entire childhood with the most beautiful movies it has produced.

The last one our list is a company formed over ten decades ago which is called IBM better known as International Business Machines Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 170 countries.

It is great to know how some companies have stood tall and strong over all these years and provided the community with the best it has to offer while shaping the world at the same time. It is not the end for them though because they have still a lot to offer in the coming years.


 Chart: Statista.

2:29 PM

You know Microsoft Review Reveals Increasing Presence of Ad Fraud

The quality of ads tends to be the sort of thing that can have a pretty massive impact on the kind of experience that users would be able to obtain on the internet. A recent report released by Microsoft Bing has revealed that fraudulent and low quality ads are on the rise on the Microsoft Advertising platform. Over 300,000 accounts that had previously been able to put up ads ended up being suspended in 2020, and well over a billion and a half ads had also been removed.

This seems to support Google’s findings that the ad fraud is on the rise. With the coronavirus pandemic making it so that each and every person needs to stay at home for their own safety, scammers have begun using ads to try and trick said users. Spending more time online might make you more amenable to these kinds of tricks which is why people are being scammed a lot more often as well, and the fact that these scam artists are not just trying more often but also being more successful is even more concerning since it will greatly compromise the integrity of the internet into the future.

There was also a demand for new kinds of products including testing kits for the virus, and many scammers tried to use this to their advantage by advertising such products even though they didn’t have any in stock. They would then charge customers money for them and disappear after they had earned enough, leaving the customers with no way to get a refund and no testing kit either. This has also applied to masks and the like, and with people so desperate to figure out a way to keep themselves safe it is understandable that they might not be all that discerning with regards to the kinds of ads that they would end up clicking on.


 Photo: Rvolkan via Getty Images

2:17 PM

Did you know Facebook is introducing new tools for eCommerce field and for content creators to claim their stolen content

In this age where the world of social media is on the lead with content creators from every genre presenting their creative content to the world. The idea of someone stealing or mimicking the concepts of someone else’s concept is quite common. Different social media platforms have introduced tools from where you can report such heinous acts but sometimes they go un-noticed as well. Some accounts go on to this far by stealing pictures from public accounts and post them as their own content. Such things are seen on the internet every day and it is up to these digital platforms to come with strong and effective measures against these acts.

Recently YouTube introduced the concept of allowing content creators to detect and report their stolen content, following this is yet another tech giant Facebook adding more features to its Brand Safety and Intellectual Property tools by introducing this feature where content creators can detect and then claim the right of their content that is stolen from other account and pages. Facebook announced this feature through a blog post saying that through Rights Manager, copyright owners can now claim and collect their ad earnings from their copyrighted content that got stolen from other accounts that meet the Community Standard set by Facebook and their monetization policies. This means that Facebook is introducing an expansion on their brand safety by allowing content creators to even earn the money through their stolen content that got posted from another page’s account. Creating any type of content requires a lot of hard work and this concept from Facebook is a great way for content creators to even earn money after their content got stolen, although, the content that got claimed would first have to meet with Facebook’s monetization policies and then only it will be considered as stolen content otherwise not. So basically, Facebook has opted for a better optimistic view, where the claimed content, instead of being permanently removed after getting claimed, can simply get the rights back to the original creator and enable them to earn money from that point of view. This too is great perspective from Facebook’s part.

Along with this Facebook is also planning to launch more updates to its Commerce and Ads IPS Tool to help businesses identify their products that get sold from Facebook to avoid any copyright claim from that product’s firm. The new update will consist of image search feature which will allow businesses to post their products images with matching it with Facebook’s listings. The matches will display results from both Facebook and Instagram Shops with product tags. Facebook can be seen taking an interest in the eCommerce field; recently the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is a home for over a million active shops with over 250 million people using this for their shopping.

2:12 PM

Did you know Instagram Testing to Introduce a “Message” Feature Under its Posts

Instagram is one of the most popular social media applications to exist currently and it has a massive following to it. The company therefore strives to do so much better each passing day in order to make sure its growth remains intact and increasing and to also provide their community a safe and easy to use platform so that they enjoy their time spent online. Therefore, the tech giant keeps testing and introducing new and better features every now and then.

Recently, Samarth noted that Instagram is testing yet another new feature which will allow its users to send a direct message through a comment on a post.

Currently under a comment there are two options that are like and reply, like obviously means you can heart a comment while the reply option gives you the allowance of replying o that commenter right under the comment. Well, in a tweet Samarth posted a screenshot of his Instagram comment section, which revealed that now next to the reply option the tech giant is introducing another option which is called “Message.”

Though the Instagram has not said anything about any such feature nor a lot has been spoken about it the tweeter further posted a screenshot showing what it does. You can tap on message directly on the Instagram posts and write what you want to say and that message will directly be delivered into the DMs of the respected person with a notification saying “You responded to a comment on the (said username) made on your post.” This will notify the users that you have responded to their comment through a message and they can respond back in the DMs as well.

Well, you may be thinking if such a feature has come into existence why can’t I see it on my profile. The thing is Instagram tests features on a certain number of people from different regions first before it releases something officially in order to check the general publics reactions to it and if the feature is liked by the public or not. If it liked it makes its appearance full time throughout the world, and if I do not the feature is immediate cancelled before it even makes an appearance. So this feature might be under testing and therefore not available to you at the moment and if the company thinks it will benefit them you might me seeing it on your screens as well in a few weeks.

2:06 PM

Did you know The CCDH have held responsible 12 influencers for spreading misinformation online related to the COVID-19 vaccine

We all are familiar with the horror stories that were bestowed upon us due to the corona virus global outbreak in 2020. With many clinical trials, the corona virus vaccine finally got available to majority parts of the world in 2021. Since then, much has been said about the vaccines. Many people all around the world have spread a lot of misinformation related to it. Numerous social media platforms have been the source through which this misinformation got spread, due to which these social media platforms faced a lot of heat and had to do some major damage control.

The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) which is an international non-profitable NGO that looks into these sensitive matters of online hate and spreading of lies, conducted an investigation which resulted to them urging major social media platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter to ban specific 12 people that have been found responsible to this spreading of misinformation, they are responsible to spreading about two-thirds of anti-vaccination content through these social media apps. Among them was also a well reputed name found to be Robert F Kennedy Junior, son of the late Democratic senator Robert F Kennedy and also the alternative medicine entrepreneur Joseph Mercola.

The chief executive of the CCDH announced that Facebook, Twitter and Google have already placed policies to prevent such spread of anti-vaccine information that can encourage people into not taking the vaccine, but to this date each one of these platforms have failed to achieve any result through these policies as the people who want to spread misinformation related to the vaccine are still able to do so. The major works here was of these platforms to take strict measures but even after enforcing their policies such crimes were still committed. The one platform that failed the most and through which the information got spread the most was Facebook and the tech giant is getting its fair share of backlash from people on its own. To this, Kevin McAlister the spokesperson for Facebook said that they have updated their policies in order to take action against such accounts that break the COVID-19 and vaccine rules set by the company and that Facebook has already taken some action against such groups who were doing things like these. Twitter until now has taken the best initiative for this; Twitter has released a cleared strike system where if one account puts misleading content repeatedly resulting in total five strikes, then that account will get permanently banned.

As more vaccines are now available to different parts of the world the doctors have shifted their focus into making people agree to take the vaccine.

H/T: Engadget.

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2:01 PM

You know Trillions of Searches Create Self Enclosed Loops that Benefit Google

It’s fair to say that for any website to end up surviving on the internet, especially if it is a website that is meant to earn any kind of profit and achieve widespread visibility, that site would need to get listed on Google because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up bringing it into contact with the vast majority of internet users who would pretty much only ever interact with a site if it’s on Google in the first please.

Hence, this essentially means that getting listed on Google is in many ways a mark of reliability and authenticity. Users tend not to trust sites that are not listed on the search engine, and if one looks at this like a mutually beneficial arrangement then there really is nothing wrong with it. After all, Google can help sites that would otherwise have not been found to acquire an audience that is really quite massive.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study from Sparktoro that analyzed trillions of Google searches indicated that 2 out of every 3 search results began and ended with Google. This essentially means that these search results gave users the information that they might have been looking for on Google itself. We have already seen this trend emerge and it has resulted in a lot of sites not getting the same amount of traffic that they used to which is quite dangerous since these sites rely on a heavy amount of traffic to make it so that they can maintain a reasonable level of profitability into the future.

An example of how Google is creating these enclosed loops can be seen with general queries. For example, if you make a query that involves any kind of basic calculation, you will receive the answer on the top of the search results page itself. General knowledge questions also tend to be answered on the search engine results page, and the terrible thing about this is that Google is taking this information from various websites thereby preventing these websites from gaining the traffic that they deserve.

This kind of phenomenon is referred to as a zero click search, and they have been getting more and more common as time passes. Last year, just over fifty percent of searches were zero click searches that started and ended with Google search. This year, the number has gone up to 65%. The truly concerning thing is that this doesn’t include voice searches, and many mobile searches are probably not being included as well.

Google has an incentive to keep users on its own platform. The more users stay on Google properties, the more money Google is going to end up earning. Websites depend on Google, and this is turning into a power dynamic that is benefiting Google at the expense of others. Actions need to be taken to democratize the internet and make it so that pretty much everyone has an equal shot of looking into how they can make the information they provide more prominent all in all.



 


1:55 PM

Did you know Google Discusses Its Value as a Learning Tool

Google used to be a way for people to search up random things on the internet, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that the search engine platform has now become a pretty essential way for people to get their hands on information that they might need on a daily basis. In this manner, Google has turned into a learning tool, one that can be used to educate people on a wide range of issues all of which would be incredibly important for them if you think about it.

Earlier this week, Google talked about how it is evolving and turning into an even better learning tool that everyone can end up using. Google’s new LEARN initiative is going to focus one STEM concepts and thereby create a situation wherein educational resources will be emphasized and optimized. Drawing from a range of educational sources, this new initiative is going to make it so that learning can end up being done on the search engine itself, with the second phase allowing users to practice the concepts that they have learned and gain a better understanding of what they might all be about.


Augmented reality is going to be incorporated into the mix as well, with Google’s diverse array of educational platforms all contributing to helping to make the world a far more educated place. Some are criticizing this move, however, after Google has been found to create loops where people making queries would engage in zero click search results since they would get the information they’d need from Google itself. 


Google might be taking traffic away from actual educational websites and the like which is the sort of thing that would make it difficult for them to survive in an increasingly competitive internet landscape.

8:12 AM

You know Apple says that they haven’t put any sort of restrictions on their users over using anything else other than App Store and has even provided them with alternatives

The Apple App Store was released in July of 2010 and it is the official app store for iOS users. The ACCC, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently released a report in which they believe that Apple considers its app store to have a dominant position in the internet, but Apple recently cleared all that and said that Apple isn’t even in the position.

People at Apple said that even though Apple does treat other platforms other than iOS a little as competition and treats other platforms a little different, Apple certainly does not believe that it has any power any other developers and neither is in the position to not pay attention to the environment where the whole market place lies given the global pandemic everyone is in right now. Apple did not even acknowledge ACCA’s false characterization and didn’t accept the statement that they issues saying that Apple App Store is the most dominant app in the market place by a huge margin.

Apple says that whatever margin that there is in competition between Apple and other multinational tech giants, Apple treats it like a healthy competition and nothing else. Apple said that they even examined the assumptions that were made and released by ACCA and said that the assumptions that are made by the ACCA are not based around facts and maybe the organization themselves did not look into it enough before passing their remarks. Apple believes that the ACCA did not even properly examine the way the app market operates and is concerned about the other assumptions made by ACCA as they might be without any solid base as well. Both the app store of Google and Apple are under the radar by the ACCA as part of the duty as a digital platform that provides examination upon these things. The ACCA in its report also said that they are actually concerned with the situation the marketplace is in these days and that the market power rules by these two the giants that is Google and Apple, in the marketplace is concerning too, but ACCA also believes that no matter the overall situation, there is still a much healthier competition between Google and Apple.

Apple says that even if a user only owns iOS based devices, the distribution is not at all limited and the developers have also provided with multiple alternative platforms to come in use for the user. The company even said that the whole internet is available to the Apple users and the company has put no such restrictions over their utilization nor does it has any control over it too.

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8:10 AM

You know Twitter Is Testing Ways To Bring Facebook-Like Emoji Reactions And Reddit-Inspired Voting System

According to a recent Twitter's feedback survey, the micro-blogging platform is looking for new ways to help the users communicate through various options. The experiment is in the early stages right now, but one thing is sure that just like Facebook react button, Twitter may also insert extra emojis along with the current heart (like) button.

Keeping in mind the backlash by the Twitteratis followed by the replacement of stars with hearts, this change can impact the users immensely and also hurt the feelings of many Twitter users. Considering this scenario, Twitter has been doing surveys all around the globe to get an idea of how the Twitterati will react to this drastic change.

According to the survey, there is more than one set of emojis that are under consideration including laughing face with tears, heart, sad face, and thinking face, alongside others. Which can be fire emoji or shocked face or hug, all of which express different emotions.

Also, thumbs up or thumbs down for like and dislike, red down or green up arrow for the voting, that often takes place on Reddit, as well as green or red color to approve or disapprove is being surveyed.

Inside the survey, the users are asked if they will, in reply to a tweet, use the reaction or the down voting option. And what will be their stance if their own tweet got down voted or negative response emojis, will they take it as a constructive criticism, or will be demoralized by it?

Furthermore, Instagram is also coming with sticker reactions for their stories which include happy, sad, love, and funny and others containing the teary-eyed, clap, fire, celebration, laughing, surprised, heart eyes, and several more. We don’t know when it is coming out but right now it is in testing phase.

Many other apps like Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Pandora, and Imgur amongst others have the “like” option for a long time now. And the use of other emojis came in 2015 on Facebook and afterward LinkedIn. One thing Twitter is concerned about is whether to display the negative emojis beside the post or hide them from the public. Stay tuned for more updates.

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