Mediaboss Marketing

Ivan Mehta writes via TechCrunch: Reddit said Wednesday that the platform is revamping its privacy settings with an aim to make ad personalization and account visibility toggles consistent. Most notably though, it is removing the ability to opt out of ad personalization based on Reddit activity. The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in "select countries" without specifying which ones. It mentioned in a blog post that users won't see more ads but they will see better-targeted ads following this change.

The company is essentially removing the option to not track you based on whatever you do on Reddit. Additionally, Reddit is consolidating two toggles on showing ads based on activity and information from partners into one toggle. So there is no way to separate those two settings now. Reddit is seemingly removing toggles for getting post recommendations based on "general location" and activity on partner sites and apps. It's not clear if this means those parameters will be used for post suggestions by default and there is no way to turn them off.

The social network said it will also roll out controls to limit certain advertising categories such as alcohol, weight loss, dating, gambling pregnancy and parenting. The company noted that ad-limiting controls will possibly show you fewer ads from mentioned categories if the toggles are turned off, but won't possibly filter out all ads. Reddit justified this by saying it uses manual tagging and machine learning to label ads, so there is a chance that it is not 100% accurate. Reddit is also simplifying its location customization setting under a single menu, which will be easily accessible through settings on apps and on the web.

Here is the original post:
Reddit Is Removing Ability To Opt Out of Ad Personalization Based ... - Slashdot

New submitter AsylumWraith shares a report: The US government aims to restore sweeping regulations for high-speed internet providers, such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, reviving "net neutrality" rules for the broadband industry -- and an ongoing debate about the internet's future. The proposed rules from the Federal Communications Commission will designate internet service -- both the wired kind found in homes and businesses as well as mobile data on cellphones -- as "essential telecommunications" akin to traditional telephone services, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. The rules would ban internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or slowing down access to websites and online content, the people told CNN.

Agency chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel plans to unveil the proposal in a speech at the National Press Club on Tuesday, the people added, saying the FCC plans to vote Oct. 19 on whether to advance the draft rules by soliciting public feedback on them -- a step that would precede the creation of any final rules. In addition to the prohibitions on blocking and throttling internet traffic, the draft rules also seek to prevent ISPs from selectively speeding up service to favored websites or to those that agree to pay extra fees, the people added, a move designed to prevent the emergence of "fast lanes" on the web that could give some websites a paid advantage over others.

Continue reading here:
FCC To Reintroduce Rules Protecting Net Neutrality - Slashdot

Elon Musk better watch out because Mark Zuckerberg is back with a new social network that aims to steal plenty of users away from Twitter. Threads by Instagram is now live and has already grown by tens of millions of users overnight thanks to Meta's easy sign-up process. If you've got an Instagram account, signing up with Threads just takes a few taps.

Threads by Instagram surprisingly launched as a new chat app for Instagram users way back in 2019 and was looking to challenge Snapchat at the time. Now, the relaunch is squarely aimed at the Twitter crowd, likely aiming to help users migrate to a different-yet-similar platform if they're unhappy with the change in management over at the blue bird social network.

Threads can be downloaded on Android or iOS for free. As many had pointed out leading up to the launch of the new social network, the app collects a lot of data and seems to be in line with Meta's normal data collection policies. If you're a Facebook or Instagram user, you're likely already well acquainted with how much data Meta collects on its users.

Threads is fairly simple at the moment, with a Twitter-like UI and a home feed that currently displays a lot of public profiles and doesn't yet seem to have a way to only view accounts you follow.

There's also no desktop interface at the moment although you can install the app on a Windows 11-based PC but it works really well on all the best phones. It also doesn't have a tablet UI so it'll show up as a vertical app on foldables. Despite this, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that over 30 million people have already signed up in less than 24 hours since the app launched.

View original post here:
Instagram's new Threads social network is live and growing fast - Android Central

Georgia; Marietta When we hear social media, usually, what comes to mind is posting and uploading pictures of family, friends, and fun times. I immediately picture networking and compelling messaging.

Social media is a powerful tool. Presumably, many young people ages 14 to 25 realize how helpful the platforms are for professional and personal use. Statistics show that teenagers and adolescents have mental illnesses from those who spend three hours scrolling through social media. Mental illnesses among young adolescents and teenagers are depression and anxiety disorders. Whether social media is to blame for mental health issues or whether users are responsible for monitoring how and when they use social media is debatable.

Even though social media can be viewed as both a positive and a harmful component depending on a user's perspective, it is still a powerful tool where users can establish lasting professional and personal relationships. I use my social media, Linkedin and Instagram, to advocate for specific causes and encourage people to get civically involved.

I entered the Instagram world in September 2018 during my high school sophomore year. Creating social media ever since I was younger, I recall witnessing my peers getting their accounts formed at such young ages before peaking in high school. I pleaded with my parents to allow me to do the same, but fortunately, they had me wait until high school. Waiting until high school to create an Instagram account made me consider why I should have social media.

Since using social media, I have built lasting connections with Wendy Starland (discovered Lady Gaga), Trinity Rose, New York Times Author Harlan Cohen, and Gina Rodriguez, who gave me a shout-out at age 16 for encouraging people to vote for Georgia's 2018 governor campaign. The following individuals are influential individuals I have met through social media and have sincerely connected with to demonstrate that anything is possible if one knows how to leverage these platforms for networking and does not shy away from being authentic.

My social media purpose from the start was to use it as a platform to demonstrate community involvement and empower users to discover their potential and then pursue it by getting involved and putting their passion into existence. Social media has enabled me to organize and mobilize around voting and immigration rights and demonstrate how to be more than words. In addition to showcasing their involvement within the community, users can post content that encourages others to become involved and provides instructions for how to do so.

Consistent posting and engaging with others is critical to growing an account. It takes more than effort to build a platform but also requires patience and a focus on one's actions instead of the actions of others. Therefore, before pressing Create an Account, I encourage those young folks to think about their intentions and goals for setting up an account. That way, people can use social media with a purpose and inspire those around them to do the same.

Ashleigh Ewald (she/her/hers) is a Georgia-based journalist who attends Oglethorpe University. Follow her on IG: @ashleighewaldofficial.

Edited by NaTyshca Pickett

Visit link:
The Power of Social Media for Mobilizing and Networking - YR Media

An era of the internet is ending, and were watching it happen practically in real time. Twitter has been on a steep and seemingly inexorable decline for, well, years, but especially since Elon Musk bought the company last fall and made a mess of the place. Reddit has spent the last couple of months self-immolating in similar ways, alienating its developers and users and hoping it can survive by sticking its head in the sand until the battles over. (I thought for a while that Reddit would eventually be the last good place left, but nope.) TikTok remains ascendent and looks ever more likely to be banned in some meaningful way. Instagram has turned into an entertainment platform; nobodys on Facebook anymore.

You could argue, I suppose, that this is just the natural end of a specific part of the internet. We spent the last two decades answering a question what would happen if you put everyone on the planet into a room and let them all talk to each other? and now were moving onto the next one. It might be better this way. But the way it has all changed, and the speed with which it has happened, has left an everybody-sized hole in the internet. For all these years, we all hung out together on the internet. And now thats just gone.

Why is this all happening right now? Lots of reasons, actually, most of them at least somewhat defensible. The economy has gone sour, and after more than a decade of low interest rates and access to nearly unlimited and nearly free money, companies are finding their funding sources to be fewer and more finicky than ever. Those investors are also asking for real returns on that funding, so all these companies have had to switch from growth at all costs to actually make some money. Few social networking companies have ever made real money, and so theyre scrambling for new features and pivoting to whatever smells like quarterly results.

The rise of AI is also sending all these companies into a tizzy. Large language models from companies like OpenAI and Google are built on top of data collected from the open web. Suddenly, having all your users and content publicly available and easily found has gone from a growth hack to capitalistic suicide; companies around the industry are closing their walls, because theyre hoping to sell their data to AI providers rather than have it all scraped for free. Much of Reddits current chaos started with CEO Steve Huffman saying that the company realized that the platform is filled with good information, and we dont need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free. On Saturday, Elon Musk introduced Twitters new login gate and view count restrictions to address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation.

Add it all up, and the social web is changing in three crucial ways: Its going from public to private; its shifting from growth and engagement, which broadly involves building good products that people like, to increasing revenue no matter the tradeoff; and its turning into an entertainment business. It turns out theres no money in connecting people to each other, but theres a fortune in putting ads between vertically scrolling videos that lots of people watch. So the social media era is giving way to the media with a comments section era, and everything is an entertainment platform now. Or, I guess, trying to do payments. Sometimes both. It gets weird.

As far as how humans connect to one another, whats next appears to be group chats and private messaging and forums, returning back to a time when we mostly just talked to the people we know. Maybe thats a better, less problematic way to live life. Maybe feed and algorithms and the global town square were a bad idea. But I find myself desperately looking for new places that feel like everyones there. The place where I can simultaneously hear about NBA rumors and cool new AI apps, where I can chat with my friends and coworkers and Nicki Minaj. For a while, there were a few platforms that felt like they had everybody together, hanging out in a single space. Now there are none.

Whats next appears to be group chats and private messaging and forums

Id love to follow that up with, and heres the new thing coming next! But Im not sure there is one. Theres simply no place left on the internet that feels like a good, healthy, worthwhile place to hang out. Its not just that theres no sufficiently popular place; I actually think enough people are looking for a new home on the internet that engineering the network effects wouldnt be that hard. Its just that the platform doesnt exist. Its not LinkedIn or Tumblr, its not upstarts like Post or Vero or Spoutable or Hive Social. Its definitely not Clubhouse or BeReal. It doesnt exist.

Long-term, Im bullish on fediverse apps like Mastodon and Bluesky, because I absolutely believe in the possibility of the social web, a decentralized universe powered by ActivityPub and other open protocols that bring us together without forcing us to live inside some companys business model. Done right, these tools can be the right mix of everybodys here and youre still in control.

The fediverse isnt ready to take over yet

But the fediverse isnt ready. Not by a long shot. The growth that Mastodon has seen thanks to a Twitter exodus has only exposed how hard it is to join the platform, and more importantly how hard it is to find anyone and anything else once youre there. Lemmy, the go-to decentralized Reddit alternative, has been around since 2019 but has some big gaps in its feature offering and its privacy policies the platform is absolutely not ready for an influx of angry Redditors. Neither is Kbin, which doesnt even have mobile apps and cautions new users that it is very early beta software. Flipboard and Mozilla and Tumblr are all working on interesting stuff in this space, but without much to show so far. The upcoming Threads app from Instagram should immediately be the biggest and most powerful thing in this space, but Im not exactly confident in Metas long-term interest in building a better social platform.

So if not that, what? Theres a good case to be made for apps like WhatsApp and Signal, which at least bring some extra privacy muscle to the table. WhatsApp has been adding more social features over time, particularly Channels, a one-to-many way for creators and brands to talk to all their followers at once. (Telegram is also doing some interesting stuff in this space.) But thats not social, thats a news feed. These are still chat apps, meant for talking to one or a few people at a time.

Discord is probably the tool best-suited to capture users social needs right now. Its definitely the best Reddit alternative we have. Its a clever mix of chat app and broadcast tool, a place where lots of like-minded people could conceivably hang out and connect. But, uh, have you ever been in a Discord with thousands of people? Its pure chaos, and requires you to either devote your life to keeping up or resolve yourself to missing everything. Discords moderation tools are a mess, too, and everyones still mad about changing their username.

For all its mess, the social networking era did a uniquely good job of just putting people together in a single place. You didnt have to pick a server or declare your interests ahead of time; you just showed up, set a password, and got to work. Because everyone was together, these platforms were able to make it trivially easy to find people you like and content that interests you. They were able to learn about you over time, and proactively show you those people and that content before you even had to ask.

This all, of course, came with huge downsides. Retweets and quote tweets made it easy for good content to travel, but also made it easy to mass-harass anyone on Twitter. Metas knowledge of its users makes your Explore page more interesting, and only extends the dossier on you available to advertisers. Im not sure its possible to have the good without the bad, and I think the bad might outweigh the good. (As a white guy in America, I also experience the bad far less than many users, and I suspect Id feel differently about the end of this era if I werent quite so privileged here.) But I cant help but think its possible to at least do better.

Maybe we should all embrace the downfall of social networks, and maybe my (and our) need for a global water cooler is just a vestigial feeling well all be rid of in a few years. But even before this era fully ends, before Twitter and Reddit turn into MySpace and Friendfeed and basically disappear from my life, I find myself longing for what they once were. Still are, maybe, just not for long. I miss everybody, and I dont know if Ill ever find them again.

Excerpt from:
So where are we all supposed to go now? - The Verge