Twitter has some new metrics to display and this platform will lets users know the total reply counts on their tweets. The new system also ranks replies based on a number of factors. Read this article to learn more about Twitter’s new metric. #Ranking #TwitterAnalytics
A new malware that downloads itself to your computer could be ambushing your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. The file encrypts your files and demands half a bitcoin in return to access the key. Looks like there is going to be a lot of criminal activities online, thanks to people making more transactions online. #security #malware
Radio content may soon adopt a new avatar all thanks to the BBC. BBC just announced that it would be bringing its best content on a Netflix-like platform, where people can listen to the radio on demand. This will prove to be very useful to people who do not have access to other kinds of media. #media
Telegram- the secure messaging platform, now allows you to publish stories online without you having to register for an account. This lightweight blogging platform is easy to access and all one needs to do is visit telegra.ph, add a title, and start blogging. Formatting, editing, and other tasks can easily be managed with Markdown. #cms
It’s been a while since we read that Google passed Apple to become the world’s most valuable company. Google’s parent company Alphabet overtook Apple in May, with respect to market capitalization. However, Apple is back at the top, with a market capitalization of $568 billion. Google’s market capitalization of $547 isn’t far behind. It holds the second place now. What is really revealing is that Facebook is now the 5th most valued company in the world, after Microsoft & Amazon. What does this tell us? The fact that a social networking company is one of the biggest 5 is a revealing trend. What it is also revealing is that Apple’s business is kind of slinking. Its iPhones are not generating as much money as they used to do previously, and it is left wondering if it should focus on its Macs or its iPads. Google’s business isn’t doing very well, especially when it comes to its ad business. The reasons could be many, but at the moment, what we need to notice is, Google and Apple continue to remain at the top, while Facebook is slowly clawing its way to the top. Microsoft is falling, and Amazon has plateaued. It tells us where we are in the world of technology. With both Apple and Google being the traditional tech companies, that have focused on mobile development, is it soon enough to say that the mobile bubble getting ready to burst? Not really! On the contrary, mobile usage is plateauing, and the market is becoming more and more mature. With maximum people having access to tools that get them online (such as mobile devices), it is only for Facebook to see an upward surge, which focuses on its social platform and ads. Similarly, more people are buying online, which leads us to believe that mobile is keeping Amazon’s growth at a steady pace. While there do not seem to be any disruptions coming our way, the trend clearly is towards the social. Social platforms have long been seen as the next big thing, and now they are getting their due respect, and Facebook’s case is just an example of the trend. On the other hand, both Google and Apple are struggling to retain their coveted places, which show us that previous business models may soon change, and they may need to innovate in order to stay at their top forms. Looking forward Both Google and Apple might begin to focus on not just their mobile businesses, but also their social side of their business. For example, Google may invest more on making algorithms social-search friendly, whereas, Apple is likely to focus on Apple Music’s inherent social capabilities. Music is the next big untapped source of social revolution and Apple is certainly well equipped to handle that. We need to wait and watch how these older companies will handle this situation, while social networking companies continue to see the growth that we all expected.
Facebook has long been banned in China for fears of not being able to censor Chinese citizens’ voices. The Chinese government worries quite a lot about dissent, and public speech and right to information are severely restricted. Facebook has been working on a technology that allows it to comply with Chinese censorship rules, and thus get back to China officially. #China #Socialmedia #facebook
A few months ago, there was an uproar across the world when it was revealed that Facebook’s trending topics had a liberal slant. Former employees of Facebook admitted that sometimes they consciously suppressed conservative topics and ideas. This led to a backlash and an inquiry, for which Facebook responded by saying that most of the trends were neutral because they were chosen by an algorithm. That is quite true and we could possibly believe that. Facebook’s ad business runs on algorithms and it does not stand to benefit anything from suppressing topics or ideas from various political entities. On the other hand, questions need to be raised about algorithms themselves, and their place in our society. Algorithms are increasingly influencing what we read, what music we listen to, and how we choose things that we want to buy. In fact, more than the companies, it is the algorithms that they develop, which have control over suppressing or releasing information or trends. It is not possible to say whether they are developed to be biased or not. In fact, the chances are very high that an algorithm can have an in-built bias. On the other hand, algorithms are designed by programmers who do not understand the ramifications of what the algorithms will do. In other words, the real bias arises from the viewer or user, who sees what is displayed by the algorithm, and how he or she chooses to see it. [php snippet=1] What an algorithm does? When you listen to Apple Music, you might have noticed how it fetches certain genres of music, based on what you listened. Similarly, Facebook ads are shown depending on what you might have liked or said on Facebook. Facebook Trends on the other hand, depend on your location, and also on the algorithm which might see what’s worthy of being shown. It has been taught to deliver content that might be viral, argument-provoking, catchy and entertaining. This does not mean news and analysis that is not catchy or viral is not important. Here lies the problem with algorithms and all the artificial intelligence as we know them today. While inherently an algorithm is not biased, the way a programmer develops it may make it bring biased results. This is clearly the case with Facebook Trends. Coders and algorithms aren’t the problem Do we blame the developers of Facebook Trends then? Not at all. They only write codes. What we need to understand is, algorithms are not biased, and social media is not inherently flawed. What is flawed is the way we approach social media. Choosing other sources of information is also a good thing to do. If not that, one can always take the information we find on the internet with a pinch of salt. At least, it is not clear that Facebook isn’t biased, and we do not have to start distrusting social media. We just need to understand that certain qualities of content will likely be picked up by algorithms. Our constant endeavor must be to search for these qualities and use them while publishing content.
