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Social media is a term that is used for the websites that are used for communication, content-sharing and interaction via the internet. Yahoos Geocities was the earliest of its kind, it was developed in 1995. Geocities was first known as BHI, abbreviated for Beverly Hills Internet. Which was just a web directory (also called link directory) which was organized into six-neighborhoods; Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Wall Street, Colosseum, West Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. The company decided to give its user the abilities to create free homepages in these six neighborhoods. Theoretically, Geocities created a virtual world of its own, which later evolved into the social media world we have today.

But in 2004, the world of social media stepped into a new era when a group of Harvard students invented Facebook, which was supposed to be a web directory for Harvard students only. But the membership expanded to other universities in the USA to 2006, when anyone who is above the age of 13 can register themselves up on Facebook. Facebook completely revamped the social media space. It went from being a university dating site to what we have today a multi-purpose social networking platform that allows user to communicate and even play games.

Today, Meta formerly known as Facebook developed by Mark Zuckerberg dominates the world in terms of users, with being the top social media website/application in 154 countries. According to Facebook, it is home to almost 1.8 billion monthly users and growing. According to a blog on Weforum if Facebook, was a country it would be even bigger than China. However, Facebooks presence in Asia is weaker as compared to the other continents even though Asia has 1.2 billion active users/month which is almost half of the amount of its active users. It is than followed by Europe with almost 0.413 billion active user and North America in the third with almost 0.2 billion active users per month.

According to Vincos, the world map in terms of social media dominance is quite diverse, first being the former territories of USSR which is dominated by VKontakte of Pavel Durov who is also the founder of instant messaging app called Telegram and Megafon. The Russian network, VK has almost 14 million active mobile users according the latest observation. VK is followed up by Odnoklassniki which is also owned by the Mail.ru group with almost 200 million registered users.

The second block of the social media belongs to China. The region is dominated by WeChat, which is a multi-purpose social media and instant messaging app developed by Tencent. WeChat brings almost 1.2 billion active users per month into the contest. This government owned app not only allows chatting but also gaming on its platform. Since Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all blocked in China. QZone, which is the Chinese version of Facebook is the second most used social media website. Other than that, Asia holds a lot more surprises such as LinkedIn is the second most used social network in India, Twitter is the most used social media network in Japan. Vietnam and Latvia have their own local network called Draugiem and Zing.

As for Africa, Meta platform Incs Instagram takes the lead with almost 600 million monthly users, it is the second most used social media service in almost 37 countries that includes Indonesia, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and even Iran, where its hard to use Facebook due to the censorship by the Persian government.

Moreover, Australia and Canadas second most used social media network is neither Instagram nor Twitter like rest of the world but its Reddit.

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Here's How The Social Media Dominance Looks Like Around The World Map - Digital Information World

For years, Meta has tried to become less dependent on Apple, which holds the key to iPhone users, and to shift away from social networking controversies involving misinformation and hate speech. So in October, Mr. Zuckerberg announced that he planned for his company to take a new path toward the metaverse. He renamed Facebook as Meta. Since then, the company has embarked on a sweeping internal transformation, restructuring itself and pushing employees to join teams working on augmented reality and virtual reality.

Metas spending is unlikely to subside anytime soon, especially as it is in a full-throttled race against other technology giants to claim ground in the theoretical metaverse. Last month, when Microsoft said it was buying the video game maker Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion, the software maker cited the deal as a building block for the metaverse, even though Activision does not produce virtual reality games. Google has been working on metaverse-related technology for years, and Apple has its own devices in the works.

At the same time, Metas wildly profitable businesses are in a period of change. Sheryl Sandberg, Metas chief operating officer, said on the call with investors Wednesday that Instagram was heavily promoting a video product called Reels, which competes with TikTok. While Reels is the biggest contributor to Instagrams growth, it does not make as much money from ads as other Instagram products like Stories and the main photo feed.

In the call, Mr. Zuckerberg also pointed to the difficulties of competing with TikTok, which has grown increasingly popular with younger audiences. David Wehner, Metas chief financial officer, added that Apples iOS changes buoyed the ad business of Google, which is not dependent on Apple for advertising data.

The origins. The word metaverse describes a fully realized digital worldthat exists beyond the one in which we live. It was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, andthe concept was further explored byErnest Clinein hisnovel Ready Player One.

The future. Many people in tech believe the metaverse will herald an era in whichour virtual lives will play as important a role as our physical realities. Some experts warn that it could still turn out to be a fad or even dangerous.

Alphabet, Googles parent company, on Tuesday reported a 36 percent increase in profit and a 32 percent jump in revenue in the last three months of 2021 from a year earlier.

Still, the number of users for Metas social networking apps continued to rise. The monthly active users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other apps increased 9 percent, to 3.59 billion, in the quarter from a year earlier, the company said. The company added that more than one billion users interact with business accounts using services such as WhatsApp and Messenger every week.

Yet the main Facebook app appeared to hit a ceiling in at least some markets; the app lost one million users globally for the first time in the quarter, down from the prior quarter.

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Meta Spent $10 billion on the Metaverse in 2021, Dragging Down Profit - The New York Times

Sex happens. Its why Im here. Its and I hate to disgust you why youre here. Your parents had sex. Their parents had sex. We have all had, or likely will have, sex. But on social media, many of us arent having sex. Were having seggs, secs or s3x.

Log onto some of the worlds most popular social media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok, and youll often find a sexless world but one thats plenty seggsy. As part of a growing trend to remove legitimately harmful content online, social media platforms are clamping down on sex and sexual terms. And the move is forcing users to resort to clever phonetics and emojis to talk openly about sex while avoiding account suspensions or permanent bans.

Platforms are essentially declaring war on sex, nudity and sexuality, says Carolina Are, a London-based content moderation academic and pole dance instruction. Most of the major social media platforms are based in the US, and as such are adhering to rules decreed in Washington. Theyre cracking down on potential solicitation and nudity or sexual activity, which I can only assume is on the back of FOSTA-SESTA [two US Senate and House bills that became law in 2018].

FOSTA-SESTA was designed to halt sex trafficking, but, in Ares opinion, it has caught many other innocent people in its drag net. She has had her Instagram account deleted once, and her TikTok account has been temporarily blocked a number of times. Obviously, I dont want that to happen again, so I sometimes change the language. Search TikTok for #sextoys and you wont find the hashtag, she says, but search #femalepleasure and youll find the equivalent.

Sexual content and the spaces for it are really shrinking on social media, she says. I think that says a lot about the relationship users have with those platforms. They live in fear of being censored or being deleted. And they have to protect themselves while still talking about the issues that matter to them the most.

One influencer trapped in that bind is Vista Wife, an advocate and educator on the swinging lifestyle, who has 150,000 followers on TikTok, 10,000 on Instagram, and 7,500 on Twitter. Youve just got to be really cautious about it, she says. She finds she has to be far more careful about her content on Instagram and TikTok both of which have comparatively younger user bases than Twitter.

We always live on the principle of: Ooh, should I say that? Can I say that? What can I say?she says. Vista Wife and her husband often host TikTok Live sessions, answering questions from newcomers to swinging, but these have now become a tightrope walk. Its nerve-wracking, she says, because if you said something in a discussion and TikTok go: Woah, hang on a minute, [and] they just block your account. You start having to think about everything that youre saying every little detail to make sure you can still be there and present.

The practice of employing a near second language of phonetic and emoji terms to talk openly about sex has long been known to users of Grindr, says Max Morris, a lecturer in criminology at Oxford Brookes University who focuses on queer theory. Lots of these kinds of codes emerged on Grindr because the app had quite a censorious approach to certain things drugs and sex work primarily, but also more explicit photos. Grindrs approach (which has been relaxed in the last year towards explicit photos) was driven by the need to meet Apples strict criteria for listing on the App Store. Without following their rules, apps arent able to access the primary form of distribution to users on phones.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and Grindrs user base came up with their own underground code designed to evade the censors. Rather than explicitly saying users could be paid for sex, which the app monitored and banned, sex workers began using the banknote emoji instead. When Grindr recognised the tide had shifted and started taking action against that, they moved on to the diamond emoji. People will always find ways to get around sexual censorship, but I would look at what the platforms explicitly allow or don't allow, rather than asking why users go to these lengths, says Morris.

While those misspelt homonyms and emoji may seem like a solution, Are isnt entirely sure. Her research, and communications with Instagram, show that when one term is shadowbanned and placed onto the list of forbidden hashtags, some terms that sound similar are also shadowbanned. Just as Grindr eventually caught up with the banknote emoji users, theyre also likely to crack down on the deployment of diamonds.

In a request for comment, TikTok told VICE that it doesnt allow sexually explicit content on the platform including behaviours that mimic, imply or display sex acts. The word sex itself isnt banned on TikTok, VICE understands, nor does using it impact the performance of your video. Its about how the word is used and in what context. An Instagram spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

This crackdown on sexualised hashtags, words and phrases shouldnt just worry those engaged in sex work. In 2022, social media is the public sphere; its where people come to talk about their concerns and queries; to learn and ask questions. And if theyre unable to find answers particularly around vexed issues of sex and consent that can have problematic consequences.

This trickles down to different types of sexual expression, to sex education, to information and networking-related stuff for survivors that becomes difficult to talk about, Are says. It affects everyday users as much as it can sex work. It could have some really worrying offline consequences if, for example, sex education isnt available anymore.

Its a really tricky one, says Vista Wife. Youve got children using these apps, and that content can go to children. But I think children should be taught more about sex and it should be more of a conversation.

A vacuum of information could push the topic of sex even further into the shadows of society and make people feel ashamed about discussing it directly. This has the potential to create a vicious circle: the less social media platforms allow us to talk about sex, the less comfortable we feel doing so in our everyday lives. It shouldnt be something that people should have to hide away, says Vista Wife. Itd be more healthy if people could speak about it more and not be as prudish.

@stokel

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'What Does Seggs Mean?' The Rise of Sex Euphemisms on Social Media - VICE UK

StackCommerce

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Learn how to boost your brand with Google Analytics and social media for $35 - ZDNet

While social media for many of us is about filters, feeling envious of our friends holiday photos and following our favourite influencers, for Gen Z its all about being their authentic selves and discussing the things that matter most to them.

At Yubo, the social networking platform, whats important is life, not likes, and creating a safe place for young people to make friends, find their voice and feel empowered. Last year alone nearly four million rooms were created on Yubo by users to debate how they can revolutionise the fight for racial justice with one million profiles including the black raised fist emoji to show solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement. When it comes to education around other cultures, racial justice advocate Kaia (above) thinks it should start from a young age.

I educate my peers on injustices and anti-racism when the topic comes up, or prompt discussions to be had. However, Black and African cultures werent on the curriculum in school, amongst so many important aspects that are in need to be implemented. Its very important, especially living in a multicultural country, that we learn about the people we coexist with and learn about the other cultures around us.

Unlike other social media platforms, Yubo is all about friends, not followers, and theres not an influencer in sight trying to sell you something. Because Yubo focusses on live-streaming, users dont need to post, hoping for likes, they can broadcast in real-time to discuss the issues most important to them. And others can tune in to share in the experience, to chat, debate and build genuine connections that go way beyond the usual #followforfollow.

Influencer and LGBTQI+ ambassador Coach Woodzy aims to use the platform to help others. Over two million profiles included the pride flag in 2021, with LGBTQI+ live streams increasing by a whopping 411%. Discussing ways of helping affirm others gender identities he said, Ask yourself about the stories you make up in your head about others. Why is it so hard to accept their pronouns, why do you think they look weird in those clothes or with that haircut? Why do you think their name should be different?

The more that we notice the stories we build in our heads, the more we can get curious about those stories and work to unpack them so we can offer your best efforts in supporting everyone around us for being themselves not just who we think they should be.

Gen Zers have never known a world without social media. And Yubo is leading the way for a positive change against the pressures of perfection and the need for likes and follows, with over five million rooms dedicated to giving users a safe space to vent their frustrations, find a sympathetic ear and discuss ways of limiting the negative effects of social media.

Yubo is a place to be the real you, to socialise virtually in real time, allowing for genuine interactions and true friendships without the usual pressures of social media.

Whatever is important to you, whatever you believe in, you have a voice and Yubo is the perfect space for you make it heard.

Find out more about Yubo here

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For Gen Z social media isnt just about selfies, with Yubo, its about the important things, too - Grazia