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Welcome to Our Generation USA!
Social Networking
whether through Internet Messaging or other Communications Apps to improve productivity and keeping in touch, for business and personal benefits!
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The inspiration for this web page came from a Washington Post article about how, during this period of self-quarantine to prevent the spread of Covid-19, we can still keep in touch with each other, thanks to the Internet!
Social Media
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Social media are interactive digital channels that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.
While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available, there are some common features:
The term "social" in regard to media suggests that platforms are user-centric and enable communal activity. As such, social media can be viewed as online facilitators or enhancers of human networks—webs of individuals who enhance social connectivity.
Users usually access social media services through web-based apps on desktops or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets).
As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate, and modify user-generated or self-curated content posted online.
Additionally, social media are used to document memories, learn about and explore things, advertise oneself, and form friendships along with the growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites. This changing relationship between humans and technology is the focus of the emerging field of technological self-studies.
Some of the most popular social media websites, with more than 100 million registered users, include:
Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include:
Wikis are examples of collaborative content creation.
Social media outlets differ from traditional media (e.g., print magazines and newspapers, TV, and radio broadcasting) in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, relevancy, and permanence.
Additionally, social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system, i.e., many sources to many receivers, while traditional media outlets operate under a monologic transmission model (i.e., one source to many receivers).
For instance, a newspaper is delivered to many subscribers, and a radio station broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Since the dramatic expansion of the Internet, digital media or digital rhetoric can be used to represent or identify a culture. Studying how the rhetoric that exists in the digital environment has become a crucial new process for many scholars.
Observers have noted a wide range of positive and negative impacts when it comes to the use of social media. Social media can help to improve an individual's sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments.
Observers have also seen that there has been a rise in social movements using social media as a tool for communicating and organizing in times of political unrest.
History of social media:
See also: Timeline of social media
Early computing:
The PLATO system was launched in 1960, after being developed at the University of Illinois and subsequently commercially marketed by Control Data Corporation. It offered early forms of social media features with 1973-era innovations such as:
ARPANET, which first came online in 1967, had by the late-1970s developed a rich cultural exchange of non-government/business ideas and communication, as evidenced by the network etiquette (or 'netiquette') described in a 1982 handbook on computing at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
ARPANET evolved into the Internet following the publication of the first Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) specification, RFC 675 (Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program), written by Vint Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine in 1974.
This became the foundation of Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, and established in 1980.
A precursor of the electronic bulletin board system (BBS), known as Community Memory, appeared by 1973. True electronic BBSs arrived with the Computer Bulletin Board System in Chicago, which first came online on February 16, 1978.
Before long, most major cities had more than one BBS running on TRS-80, Apple II, Atari, IBM PC, Commodore 64, Sinclair, and similar personal computers.
The IBM PC was introduced in 1981, and subsequent models of both Mac computers and PCs were used throughout the 1980s. Multiple modems, followed by specialized telecommunication hardware, allowed many users to be online simultaneously.
Compuserve, Prodigy, and AOL were three of the largest BBS companies and were the first to migrate to the Internet in the 1990s. Between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, BBSes numbered in the tens of thousands in North America alone.
Message forums (a specific structure of social media) arose with the BBS phenomenon throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
When the World Wide Web (WWW, or 'the web') was added to the Internet in the mid-1990s, message forums migrated to the web, becoming Internet forums, primarily due to cheaper per-person access as well as the ability to handle far more people simultaneously than telco modem banks.
Digital imaging and semiconductor image sensor technology facilitated the development and rise of social media. Advances in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) semiconductor device fabrication, reaching smaller micron and then sub-micron levels during the 1980s–1990s, led to the development of the NMOS (n-type MOS) active-pixel sensor (APS) at Olympus in 1985, and then the complementary MOS (CMOS) active-pixel sensor (CMOS sensor) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1993.
CMOS sensors enabled the mass proliferation of digital cameras and camera phones, which bolstered the rise of social media.
Development of social-media platforms:
When Tim Berners-Lee connected hypertext software to the Internet in 1991, he developed the World Wide Web, which created the modern era of networked communication. Weblogs, list servers, and e-mail services all aided in the formation of online communities and the support of offline groups. Online services evolved from providing conduits for networked communication to being interactive, two-way vehicles for networked sociality with the introduction of Web 2.0.
The development of social media began with simple platforms. GeoCities was one of the earliest social networking services, launched in November 1994, followed by Classmates.com in December 1995 and SixDegrees.com in May 1997.
Unlike instant-messaging clients (e.g., ICQ and AOL's AIM) or chat clients (e.g., IRC, iChat, or Chat Television), SixDegrees was the first online business that was created for real people, using their real names. As such, according to CBS News, SixDegrees is "widely considered to be the very first social networking site," as it included "profiles, friends lists, and school affiliations" that could be used by registered users.
The name references to the "six degrees of separation" concept, which posits that "everyone on the planet is only six degrees apart from everyone else." It was the first website to provide users the option of creating a profile.
Research from 2015 shows that the world spent 22% of their online time on social networks, thus suggesting the popularity of social media platforms. It is speculated that the increase in social media's popularity is due to the widespread daily use of smartphones.
As many as 4.08 billion social media users worldwide were found active on smartphones as of October 2020.
Definition and features:
The idea that social media are defined simply by their ability to bring people together has been seen as too broad, as this would suggest that fundamentally different technologies like the telegraph and telephone are also social media.
The terminology is unclear, with some early researchers referring to social media as social networks or social networking services in the mid 2000s. A more recent paper from 2015 reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four common features unique to then-current social media services:
In 2019, Merriam-Webster defined social media as "forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)."
While the variety of evolving stand-alone and built-in social media services makes it challenging to define them, marketing and social media experts broadly agree that social media includes the following 13 types:
Mobile social media:
Mobile social media refers to the use of social media on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Mobile social media are useful applications of mobile marketing because the creation, exchange, and circulation of user-generated content can assist companies with marketing research, communication, and relationship development.
Mobile social media differ from others because they incorporate the current location of the user (location-sensitivity) or the time delay between sending and receiving messages.
Social media promotes users to share content with others and display content in order to enhance a particular brand or product. Social media allows people to be creative and share interesting ideas with their followers or fans.
Certain social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are places where users share specific political or sports content. Many reporters and journalists produce updates and information on sports and political news. It can truly give users pertinent and necessary information to stay up to date on relevant news stories and topics.
However, there is a down side to it. Users are advised to exercise due diligence when they are using social media platforms.
According to Andreas Kaplan, mobile social media applications can be differentiated among four types:
Elements and function:
Viral content:
Main article: Viral phenomenon
Some social media sites have the potential for content posted there to spread virally over social networks. The term is an analogy to the concept of viral infections, which can spread rapidly from individual to individual.
In a social media context, content or websites that are 'viral' (or which 'go viral') are those with a greater likelihood that users will re-share content posted (by another user) to their social network, leading to further sharing. In some cases, posts containing popular content or fast-breaking news have been rapidly shared and re-shared by a huge number of users.
Businesses have a particular interest in viral marketing tactics because a viral campaign can achieve widespread advertising coverage (particularly if the viral reposting itself makes the news) for a fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing campaign, which typically uses printed materials, like newspapers, magazines, mailings, and billboards, and television and radio commercials.
Nonprofit organizations and activists may have similar interests in posting content on social media sites with the aim of it going viral.
Many social media sites provide specific functionality to help users re-share (also known as re-blogging) content, such as Twitter's 'retweet' button, Pinterest's 'pin' function, Facebook's 'share' option, or Tumblr's 're-blog' function.
Re-sharing (or, in this case, retweeting) is an especially popular component and feature of Twitter, allowing its users to keep up with important events and stay connected with their peers, as well as contributing in various ways throughout social media. When certain posts become popular, they start to get retweeted over and over again, becoming viral. Hashtags can be used in tweets, and can also be used to take count of how many people have used that hashtag.
Bots:
Main article: Internet bot
Bots are automated programs that operate on the Internet, which have grown in demand, due to their ability to automate many communication tasks, leading to the creation of a new industry of bot providers.
Chatbots and social bots are programmed to mimic natural human interactions such as liking, commenting, following, and unfollowing on social media platforms. As companies aim for greater market shares and increased audiences, internet bots have also been developed to facilitate social media marketing.
With the existence of social bots and chatbots, however, the marketing industry has also met an analytical crisis, as these bots make it difficult to differentiate between human interactions and automated bot interactions. For instance, marketing data has been negatively affected by some bots, causing "digital cannibalism" in social media marketing.
Additionally, some bots violate the terms of use on many social media platforms such as Instagram, which can result in profiles being taken down and banned.
'Cyborgs'—either bot-assisted humans or human-assisted bots—are used for a number of different purposes both legitimate and illegitimate, from spreading fake news to creating marketing buzz.
A common legitimate use includes using automated programs to post on social media at a specific time. In these cases, often, the human writes the post content and the bot schedules the time of posting.
In other cases, the cyborgs are more nefarious, e.g., contributing to the spread of fake news and misinformation. Often these accounts blend human and bot activity in a strategic way, so that when an automated account is publicly identified, the human half of the cyborg is able to take over and could protest that the account has been used manually all along.
In many cases, these accounts that are being used in a more illegitimate fashion try to pose as real people; in particular, the number of their friends or followers resemble that of a real person. Cyborgs are also related to sock puppet accounts, where one human pretends to be someone else, but can also include one human operating multiple cyborg accounts.
New social media technology:
Main article: Software patent
There has been rapid growth in the number of U.S. patent applications that cover new technologies that are related to social media, and the number of them that are published has been growing rapidly over the past five years.
As of 2020, there are over 5000 published patent applications in the United States. As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that have not been published yet; however, only slightly over 100 of these applications have issued as patents, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents, i.e., patents that outline and claim new methods of doing business.
Platform convergence:
As an instance of technological convergence, various social media platforms of different kinds adapted functionality beyond their original scope, increasingly overlapping with each other over time, albeit usually not implemented as completely as on dedicated platforms.
Examples are the social hub site Facebook launching an integrated video platform in May 2007, and Instagram, whose original scope was low-resolution photo sharing, introducing the ability to share quarter-minute 640×640 pixel videos in 2013 (later extended to a minute with increased resolution), acting like a minimal video platform without video seek bar.
Instagram later implemented stories (short videos self-destructing after 24 hours), a concept popularized by Snapchat, as well as IGTV, for seekable videos of up to ten minutes or one hour depending on account status. Stories have been later adapted by the dedicated video platform YouTube in 2018, although access is restricted to the mobile apps, excluding mobile and desktop websites.
Twitter, whose original scope was text-based microblogging, later adapted photo sharing functionality (deprecating third-party services such as TwitPic), later video sharing with 140-second time limit and view counter but no manual quality selection or subtitles like on dedicated video platforms, and originally only available to mobile app users but later implemented in their website front ends. Then a media studio feature for business users, which resembles YouTube's Creator Studio.
The discussion platform Reddit added an integrated image hoster in June 2016 after Reddit users commonly relied on the external standalone image sharing platform Imgur, and an internal video hoster around a year later.
In July 2020, the ability to share multiple images in a single post (image galleries), a feature known from Imgur, was implemented. Imgur itself implemented sharing videos of up to 30 seconds in May 2018, later extended to one minute.
Starting in 2018, the dedicated video platform YouTube rolled out a Community feature accessible through a channel tab (which usurps the previous Discussion channel tab), where text-only posts, as well as polls can be shared. To be enabled, channels have to pass a subscriber count threshold which has been lowered over time.
Statistics on usage and membership:
According to Statista, it is estimated that, in 2022, there are around 3.96 billion people using social media around the globe; up from 3.6 billion in 2020. This number is expected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025.
Most popular social networking services:
The following is a list of the most popular social networking services based on the number of active users as of January 2022 per Statista.
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Usage: Before the COVID-19 pandemic:
A study from 2009 suggests that there may be individual differences that help explain who uses social media and who does not: extraversion and openness have a positive relationship with social media, while emotional stability has a negative sloping relationship with social media.
A separate study from 2015 found that people with a higher social comparison orientation appear to use social media more heavily than people with low social comparison orientation.
Data from Common Sense Media has suggested that children under the age of 13 in the United States use social networking services despite the fact that many social media sites have policies that state one must be at least 13-years old or older to join.
In 2017, Common Sense Media conducted a nationally representative survey of parents of children from birth to age 8 and found that 4% of children at this age used social media sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, or (now-defunct) Musical.ly “often” or “sometimes.”
A different nationally representative survey by Common Sense in 2019 surveyed young Americans ages 8–16 and found that about 31% of children ages 8–12 ever use social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook.
In that same survey, when American teens ages 16–18 were asked when they started using social media, 28% said they started to use it before they were 13-years-old. However, the median age of starting to use social media was 14-years-old.
Usage: During the COVID-19 pandemic:
Amount of usage by minors: In June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationally representative survey by Cartoon Network and the Cyberbullying Research Center surveyed Americans tweens (ages 9–12) found that the most popular overall application in the past year was YouTube (67%). (In general, as age increased, the tweens were more likely to have used major social media apps and games.)
Similarly, a nationally representative survey by Common Sense Media conducted in 2020 of Americans ages 13–18 found that YouTube was also the most popular social media service (used by 86% of 13- to 18-year-old Americans in the past year). As children grow older, they utilize certain social media services on a frequent basis and often use the application YouTube to consume content.
The use of social media certainly increases as people grow older and it has become a customary thing to have an Instagram and Twitter account.
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Reasons for use by adults:
While adults were already using social media before the COVID-19 pandemic, more started using it to stay socially connected and to get updates on the pandemic.
"Social media have become popularly use to seek for medical information and have fascinated the general public to collect information regarding corona virus pandemics in various perspectives. During these days, people are forced to stay at home and the social media have connected and supported awareness and pandemic updates."
This also made healthcare workers and systems more aware of social media as a place people were getting health information about the pandemic: "During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media use has accelerated to the point of becoming a ubiquitous part of modern healthcare systems."
Though this also led to the spread of disinformation, indeed, on December 11, 2020, the CDC put out a "Call to Action: Managing the Infodemic". Some healthcare organizations even used hashtags as interventions and published articles on their Twitter data:
"Promotion of the joint usage of #PedsICU and #COVID19 throughout the international pediatric critical care community in tweets relevant to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and pediatric critical care."
However others in the medical community were concerned about social media addiction, due to it as an increasingly important context and therefore "source of social validation and reinforcement" and are unsure if increased social media use is a coping mechanism or harmful.
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Timeline of Social Media (1973-2021):
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Use at the organizational level:
Governments:
Governments may use social media to (for example):
Law enforcement and investigations:
Social media has been used extensively in civil and criminal investigations. It has also been used to assist in searches for missing persons. Police departments often make use of official social media accounts to engage with the public, publicize police activity, and burnish law enforcement's image; conversely, video footage of citizen-documented police brutality and other misconduct has sometimes been posted to social media.
In the United States U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identifies and track individuals via social media, and also has apprehended some people via social media based sting operations.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (also known as CPB) and the United States Department of Homeland Security use social media data as influencing factors during the visa process, and continue to monitor individuals after they have entered the country.
CPB officers have also been documented performing searches of electronics and social media behavior at the border, searching both citizens and non-citizens without first obtaining a warrant.
Government reputation management:
As social media gained momentum among the younger generations, governments began using it to improve their image, especially among the youth. In January 2021, Egyptian authorities were found to be using Instagram influencers as part of its media ambassadors program. The program was designed to revamp Egypt’s image and to counter the bad press Egypt had received because of the country's human rights record.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates participated in similar programs. Similarly, Dubai has also extensively relied on social media and influencers to promote tourism.
However, the restrictive laws of Dubai have always kept these influencers within the limits to not offend the authorities, or to criticize the city, politics or religion. The content of these foreign influencers is controlled to make sure that nothing portrays Dubai in a negative light.
Businesses:
Main article: Social media use by businesses
Businesses can use social media tools for marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, informal employee-learning/organizational development, relationship development/loyalty programs, and e-Commerce.
Companies are increasingly using social-media monitoring tools to monitor, track, and analyze online conversations on the Web about their brand or products or about related topics of interest. This can prove useful in public relations management and advertising-campaign tracking, allowing analysts to measure return on investment for their social media ad spending, competitor-auditing, and for public engagement.
Tools range from free, basic applications to subscription-based, more in-depth tools. Often social media can become a good source of information and/or explanation of industry trends for a business to embrace change.
Within the financial industry, companies can utilize the power of social media as a tool for analyzing the sentiment of financial markets. These range from the marketing of financial products, gaining insights into market sentiment, future market predictions, and as a tool to identify insider trading.
To properly take advantage of these benefits, businesses need to have a set of guidelines that they can use on different social media platforms.
Social media can enhance a brand through a process called "building social authority". However, this process can be difficult, because one of the foundational concepts in social media is that one cannot completely control one's message through social media but rather one can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that one can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.
Because of the wide use of social media by consumers and their own employees, companies use social media on a customer-organizational level; and an intra-organizational level.
Social media, by connecting individuals to new ties via the social network can increase entrepreneurship and innovation, especially for those individuals who lack conventional information channels due to their lower socioeconomic background.
Social media marketing:
Main article: Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service and also to establish a connection with its customers. Social media marketing has increased due to the growing active user rates on social media sites. Though these numbers are not exponential.
For example, as of 2018 Facebook had 2.2 billion users, Twitter had 330 million active users and Instagram had 800 million users. Then in 2021 Facebook had 2.89 billion users and Twitter had 206 million users.
Similar to traditional advertising, all of social media marketing can be divided into three types:
Paid social media is when a firm directly buys advertising on a social media platform.
Earned social media is when the firms does something that impresses its consumers or other stakeholders and they spontaneously post their own content about it on social media.
Owned social media is when the firm itself owns the social media channel and creates content for its followers.
One of the main uses is to interact with audiences to create awareness of the company or organization, with the main idea of creating a two-way communication system where the audience and/or customers can interact; e.g., customers can provide feedback on the firm's products.
However, since social media allows consumers to spread opinions and share experiences in a peer-to-peer fashion, this has shifted some of the power from the organization to consumers, since these messages can be transparent and honest. Or at least appear so (more on this at influencers).
Social media can also be used to directly advertise; placing an advert on Facebook's Newsfeed, for example, can provide exposure of the brand to a large number of people.
Social media platforms also enable targeting specific audiences with advertising. Users of social media are then able to like, share, and comment on the advert; this turns the passive advertising consumers into active advertising producers since they can pass the advert's message on to their friends.
Companies using social media marketing have to keep up with the different social media platforms and stay on top of ongoing trends. Since the different platforms and trends attract different audiences, firms must be strategic about their use of social media to attract the right audience.
Moreover, the tone of the content can affect the efficacy of social media marketing. Companies such as fast food franchise Wendy's have used humor (such as shitposting) to advertise their products by poking fun at competitors such as McDonald's and Burger King. This particular example spawned a lot of fanart of the Wendy's mascot which circulated widely online, (particularly on sites like DeviantArt increasing the effect of the marketing campaign.
Other companies such as Juul have used hashtags (such as #ejuice and #eliquid) to promote themselves and their products.
Social media personalities, often referred to as "influencers", who are internet celebrities who have been employed and/or sponsored by marketers to promote products online. Research shows that digital endorsements seem to be successfully attracting social media users, especially younger consumers who have grown up in the digital age.
In 2013, the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) began to advise celebrities and sports stars to make it clear if they had been paid to tweet about a product or service by using the hashtag #spon or #ad within tweets containing endorsements, and the US Federal Trade Commission has issued similar guidelines.
The practice of harnessing social media personalities to market or promote a product or service to their following is commonly referred to as Influencer Marketing.
In 2019 The Cambridge Dictionary defines an "influencer" as any person (personality, blogger, journalist, celebrity) who has the ability to affect the opinions, behaviors, or purchases of others through the use of social media.
Marketing efforts can also take advantage of the peer effects in social media. Consumers tend to treat content on social media differently from traditional advertising (such as print ads), but these messages may be part of an interactive marketing strategy involving modeling, reinforcement, and social interaction mechanisms.
A 2012 study focused on this communication described how communication between peers through social media can affect purchase intentions: a direct impact through conformity, and an indirect impact by stressing product engagement. This study indicated that social media communication between peers about a product had a positive relationship with product engagement.
Politics:
Main article: Social media use in politics
See also:
Social media have a range of uses in political processes and activities. Social media have been championed as allowing anyone with access to an Internet connection to become a content creator and as empowering users.
The role of social media in democratizing media participation, which proponents herald as ushering in a new era of participatory democracy, with all users able to contribute news and comments, may fall short of the ideals, given that many often follow like-minded individuals, as noted by Philip Pond and Jeff Lewis.
Online-media audience-members are largely passive consumers, while content creation is dominated by a small number of users who post comments and write new content.
Online engagement does not always translate into real-world action, and Howard, Busch and Sheets have argued that there is a digital divide in North America because of the continent's history, culture, and geography.
Younger generations are becoming more involved in politics due to the increase of political news posted on social media. Political campaigns are targeting millennials online via social-media posts in hope that they will increase their political engagement.
Social media was influential in the widespread attention given to the revolutionary outbreaks in the Middle East and North Africa during 2011.
During the Tunisian revolution in 2011, people used Facebook to organize meetings and protests. However, debate persists about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of political change.
Social-media footprints of candidates for political office have grown during the last decade - the 2016 United States presidential election provided good examples. Dounoucos et al. noted that Twitter use by candidates was unprecedented during that election cycle. Most candidates in the United States have a Twitter account. The public has also increased their reliance on social-media sites for political information. In the European Union, social media have amplified political messages.
Militant groups have begun to see social media as a major organizing and recruiting tool. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as ISIL, ISIS, and Daesh) has used social media to promote its cause. In 2014, #AllEyesonISIS went viral on Arabic Twitter.
ISIS produces an online magazine named the Islamic State Report to recruit more fighters. State-sponsored cyber-groups have weaponized social-media platforms to attack governments in the United States, the European Union, and the Middle East.
Although phishing attacks via email are the most commonly used tactic to breach government networks, phishing attacks on social media rose 500% in 2016.
Increasing political influence on social media saw several campaigns running from one political side against another. Often, foreign-originated social-media campaigns have sought to influence political opinion in another country. For example, a Twitter campaign run in Saudi Arabia produced thousands of tweets about Hillary Clinton's trending on #HillaryEmails by supporters of Mohammed bin Salman.
It also involved Riyadh's social-marketing firm, SMAAT, which had a history of running such campaigns on Twitter. Politicians themselves use social media to their advantage - and to spread their campaign messages and to influence voters.
Due to the growing abuse of human rights in Bahrain, activists have used social media to report acts of violence and injustice. They publicized the brutality of government authorities and police, who were detaining, torturing and threatening many individuals.
On the other hand, Bahrain's government was using social media to track and target rights activists and individuals who were critical of the authorities; the government has stripped citizenship from over 1,000 activists as punishment.
Hiring:
Main article: Social media use in hiring
Some employers examine job applicants' social media profiles as part of the hiring assessment. This issue raises many ethical questions that some consider an employer's right and others consider discrimination. Many Western-European countries have already implemented laws that restrict the regulation of social media in the workplace.
States including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin have passed legislation that protects potential employees and current employees from employers that demand that they provide their usernames and/or passwords for any social media accounts.
Use of social media by young people has caused significant problems for some applicants who are active on social media when they try to enter the job market. A survey of 17,000 young people in six countries in 2013 found that 1 in 10 people aged 16 to 34 have been rejected for a job because of online comments they made on social media websites.
For potential employees, Social media services such as LinkedIn have shown to affect deception in resumes. While these services do not affect how often deception happens, they affect the types of deception that occur. LinkedIn resumes are less deceptive about prior work experience but more deceptive about interests and hobbies.
Science:
The use of social media in science communications offers extensive opportunities for exchanging scientific information, ideas, opinions and publications. Scientists use social media to share their scientific knowledge and new findings on platforms such as ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Academia.edu.
Among these the most common type of social media that scientists use is Twitter and blogs. It has been found that Twitter increased the scientific impact in the community. The use of social media has improved and elevated the interaction between scientists, reporters, and the general public.
Over 495,000 opinions were shared on Twitter related to science in one year (between September 1, 2010, and August 31, 2011), which was an increase compared with past years. Science related blogs motivate public interest in learning, following, and discussing science. Blogs use textual depth and graphical videos that provide the reader with a dynamic way to interact with scientific information.
Both Twitter and blogs can be written quickly and allow the reader to interact in real time with the authors. However, the popularity of social media platforms changes quickly and scientists need to keep pace with changes in social media. In terms of organized uses of scientific social media, one study in the context of climate change has shown that climate scientist and scientific institutions played a minimal role in online debate, while nongovernmental organizations played a larger role.
Academia:
Signals from social media are used to assess academic publications, as well as for different scientific approaches. Another study found that most of the health science students acquiring academic materials from others through social media.
School admissions:
It is not only an issue in the workplace but an issue in post-secondary school admissions as well. There have been situations where students have been forced to give up their social media passwords to school administrators. There are inadequate laws to protect a student's social media privacy, and organizations such as the ACLU are pushing for more privacy protection, as it is an invasion.
They urge students who are pressured to give up their account information to tell the administrators to contact a parent or lawyer before they take the matter any further. Although they are students, they still have the right to keep their password-protected information private.
According to a 2007 journal, before social media admissions officials in the United States used SAT and other standardized test scores, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, and high school report cards to determine whether to accept or deny an applicant.
In the 2010s, while colleges and universities still used these traditional methods to evaluate applicants, these institutions were increasingly accessing applicants' social media profiles to learn about their character and activities. According to Kaplan, Inc, a corporation that provides higher education preparation, in 2012 27% of admissions officers used Google to learn more about an applicant, with 26% checking Facebook.
Students whose social media pages include offensive jokes or photos, racist or homophobic comments, photos depicting the applicant engaging in illegal drug use or drunkenness, and so on, may be screened out from admission processes.
"One survey in July 2017, by the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers, found that 11 percent of respondents said they had refused to admit an applicant based on social media content. This includes 8 percent of public institutions, where the First Amendment applies. The survey found that 30 percent of institutions acknowledged reviewing the personal social media accounts of applicants at least some of the time."
Court cases:
Social media comments and images are being used in a range of court cases including employment law, child custody/child support and insurance disability claims. After an Apple employee criticized his employer on Facebook, he was fired. When the former employee sued Apple for unfair dismissal, the court, after seeing the man's Facebook posts, found in favor of Apple, as the man's social media comments breached Apple's policies.
After a heterosexual couple broke up, the man posted "violent rap lyrics from a song that talked about fantasies of killing the rapper's ex-wife" and made threats against him. The court found him guilty and he was sentenced to jail.
In a disability claims case, a woman who fell at work claimed that she was permanently injured; the employer used the social media posts of her travels and activities to counter her claims.
Courts do not always admit social media evidence, in part, because screenshots can be faked or tampered with. Judges are taking emojis into account to assess statements made on social media; in one Michigan case where a person alleged that another person had defamed them in an online comment, the judge disagreed, noting that there was an emoji after the comment which indicated that it was a joke.
In a 2014 case in Ontario against a police officer regarding alleged assault of a protester during the G20 summit, the court rejected the Crown's application to use a digital photo of the protest that was anonymously posted online, because there was no metadata proving when the photo was taken and it could have been digitally altered.
Use by individuals:
As a news source:
Main article: Social media as a news source
As of March 2010, in the United States, 81% of users look online for news of the weather, first and foremost, with the percentage seeking national news at 73%, 52% for sports news, and 41% for entertainment or celebrity news.
According to CNN, in 2010 75% of people got their news forwarded through e-mail or social media posts, whereas 37% of people shared a news item via Facebook or Twitter. Facebook and Twitter make news a more participatory experience than before as people share news articles and comment on other people's posts.
Rainie and Wellman (2012) have argued that media making now has become a participation work, which changes communication systems. However, 27% of respondents worry about the accuracy of a story on a blog. From a 2019 poll, Pew Research Center found that Americans are wary about the ways that social media sites share news and certain content.
This wariness of accuracy is on the rise as social media sites are increasingly exploited by aggregated new sources which stitch together multiple feeds to develop plausible correlations. Hemsley and colleagues (2018) refer to this phenomenon as "pseudoknowledge" which develop false narratives and fake news that are supported through general analysis and ideology rather than facts.
Social media as a news source was further questioned as spikes in evidence surround major news events such as was captured in the United States 2016 presidential election and again during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
As a social tool:
Social media are used to fulfill perceived social needs such as socializing with friends and family as well as romance and flirting, but not all needs can be fulfilled by social media. For example, a 2003 article found that lonely individuals are more likely to use the Internet for emotional support than those who are not lonely.
A nationally representative survey from Common Sense Media in 2018 found that 40% of American teens ages 13–17 thought that social media was “extremely” or “very” important for them to keep up with their friends on a day-to-basis. The same survey found that 33% of teens said social media was extremely or very important to have meaningful conversations with close friends, and 23% of teens said social media was extremely or very important to document and share highlights from their lives.
Recently, a Gallup poll from May 2020 showed that 53% of adult social media users in the United States thought that social media was a very or moderately important way to keep in touch with those they cannot otherwise see in-person due to social distancing measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sherry Turkle explores this topic in her book Alone Together as she discusses how people confuse social media usage with authentic communication. She posits that people tend to act differently online and are less afraid to hurt each other's feelings.
Additionally, some online behaviors can cause stress and anxiety, due to the permanence of online posts, the fear of being hacked, or of universities and employers exploring social media pages. Turkle also speculates that people are beginning to prefer texting to face-to-face communication, which can contribute to feelings of loneliness.
Nationally representative surveys from 2019 have found this to be the case with teens in the United States and Mexico. Some researchers have also found that exchanges that involved direct communication and reciprocation of messages correlated with fewer feelings of loneliness.
However, that same study showed that passively using social media without sending or receiving messages does not make people feel less lonely unless they were lonely to begin with.
The term social media "stalking" or "creeping" have been popularized over the years, and this refers to looking at the person's "timeline, status updates, tweets, and online bios" to find information about them and their activities.
While social media creeping is common, it is considered to be poor form to admit to a new acquaintance or new date that you have looked through his or her social media posts, particularly older posts, as this will indicate that you were going through their old history.
A sub-category of creeping is creeping ex-partners' social media posts after a breakup to investigate if there is a new partner or new dating; this can lead to preoccupation with the ex, rumination, and negative feelings, all of which postpone recovery and increase feelings of loss.
Catfishing has become more prevalent since the advent of social media. Relationships formed with catfish can lead to actions such as supporting them with money and catfish will typically make excuses as to why they cannot meet up or be viewed on camera.
As a self-presentational tool:
The more time people spend on Facebook, the less satisfied they feel about their life. Self-presentation theory explains that people will consciously manage their self-image or identity related information in social contexts.
In fact, a critical aspect of social networking sites is the time invested in customizing a personal profile, and encourage a sort of social currency based on likes, followers, and comments. Users also tend to segment their audiences based on the image they want to present, pseudonymity and use of multiple accounts across the same platform remain popular ways to negotiate platform expectations and segment audiences.
However, users may feel pressure to gain their peers' acceptance of their self-presentation.
For example, in a 2016 peer-reviewed article by Trudy Hui Hui Chua and Leanne Chang, the authors found that teenage girls manipulate their self-presentation on social media to achieve a sense of beauty that is projected by their peers.
These authors also discovered that teenage girls compare themselves to their peers on social media and present themselves in certain ways in an effort to earn regard and acceptance. However, when users do not feel like they reached this regard and acceptance, this can actually lead to problems with self-confidence and self-satisfaction.
A nationally representative survey of American teens ages 13–17 by Common Sense Media found that 45% said getting “likes” on posts is at least somewhat important, and 26% at least somewhat agreed that they feel bad about themselves if nobody comments on or “likes” their photos.
Some evidence suggests that perceived rejection may lead to feeling emotional pain, and some may partake in online retaliation such as online bullying. Conversely, according to research from UCLA, users' reward circuits in their brains are more active when their own photos are liked by more peers.
Literature suggests that social media can breed a negative feedback loop of viewing and uploading photos, self-comparison, feelings of disappointment when perceived social success is not achieved, and disordered body perception.
In fact, one study shows that the microblogging platform, Pinterest is directly associated with disordered dieting behavior, indicating that for those who frequently look at exercise or dieting "pins" there is a greater chance that they will engage in extreme weight-loss and dieting behavior.
As a health behavior change and reinforcement tool:
Social media can also function as a supportive system for adolescents' health, because by using social media, adolescents are able to mobilize around health issues that they themselves deem relevant. For example, in a clinical study among adolescent patients undergoing treatment for obesity, the participants' expressed that through social media, they could find personalized weight-loss content as well as social support among other adolescents with obesity.
While, social media can provide such information there are a considerable amount of uninformed and incorrect sources which promote unhealthy and dangerous methods of weight loss.
As stated by the national eating disorder association there is a high correlation between weight loss content and disorderly eating among women who have been influenced by this negative content.
Therefore, there is a need for people to evaluate and identify reliable health information, competencies commonly known as health literacy. This has led to efforts by governments and public health organizations to use social media to interact with users, to limited success.
Other social media, such as pro-anorexia sites, have been found in studies to cause significant risk of harm by reinforcing negative health-related behaviors through social networking, especially in adolescents.
Social media affects the way a person views themselves. The constant comparison to edited photos, of other individual's and their living situations, can cause many negative emotions.
This can lead to not eating, and isolation. As more and more people continue to use social media for the wrong reasons, it increases the feeling of loneliness in adults.
Further information:
During the coronavirus pandemic, the spread of information throughout social media regarding treatments against the virus has also influenced different health behaviors.
For example, People who use more social media and belief more in conspiracy theory in social media during the COVID-19 pandemic had worse mental health and is predictive of their compliance to health behaviors such as hand-washing during the pandemic.
Effects on individual and collective memory:
News media and television journalism have been a key feature in the shaping of American collective memory for much of the 20th century. Indeed, since the colonial era of the United States, news media has influenced collective memory and discourse about national development and trauma.
In many ways, mainstream journalists have maintained an authoritative voice as the storytellers of the American past. Their documentary-style narratives, detailed exposés, and their positions in the present make them prime sources for public memory.
Specifically, news media journalists have shaped collective memory on nearly every major national event—from the deaths of social and political figures to the progression of political hopefuls.
Journalists provide elaborate descriptions of commemorative events in U.S. history and contemporary popular cultural sensations. Many Americans learn the significance of historical events and political issues through news media, as they are presented on popular news stations.
However, journalistic influence has grown less important, whereas social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, provide a constant supply of alternative news sources for users.
As social networking becomes more popular among older and younger generations, sites such as Facebook and YouTube can gradually undermine the traditionally authoritative voices of news media. For example, American citizens contest media coverage of various social and political events as they see fit, inserting their voices into the narratives about America's past and present and shaping their own collective memories.
An example of this is the public explosion of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Sanford, Florida. News media coverage of the incident was minimal until social media users made the story recognizable through their constant discussion of the case. Approximately one month after Martin's death, its online coverage by everyday Americans garnered national attention from mainstream media journalists, in turn exemplifying media activism.
In some ways, the spread of this tragic event through alternative news sources parallels that of Emmett Till—whose murder by lynching in 1955 became a national story after it was circulated in African-American and Communist newspapers.
Negative interpersonal interactions:
Further information: Cyberbullying
Social media use sometimes involves negative interactions between users. Angry or emotional conversations can lead to real-world interactions, which can get users into dangerous situations. Some users have experienced threats of violence online and have feared these threats manifesting themselves offline.
Related issues include cyberbullying, online harassment, and 'trolling'. According to cyberbullying statistics from the i-Safe Foundation, over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyberbullying. Both the bully and the victim are negatively affected, and the intensity, duration, and frequency of bullying are the three aspects that increase the negative effects on both of them.
Social comparison:
One phenomenon that is commonly studied with social media is the issue of social comparison. People compare their own lives to the lives of their friends through their friends' posts.
Because people are motivated to portray themselves in a way that is appropriate to the situation and serves their best interests, often the things posted online are the positive aspects of people's lives, making other people question why their own lives are not as exciting or fulfilling.
One study in 2017 found that problematic social media use (i.e., feeling addicted to social media) was related to lower life satisfaction and self-esteem scores; the authors speculate that users may feel if their life is not exciting enough to put online it is not as good as their friends or family.
Studies have shown that self-comparison on social media can have dire effects on physical and mental health because they give us the ability to seek approval and compare ourselves.
In one study, women reported that social media are the most influential sources of their body image satisfaction; while men reported them as the second most impacting factor.
Social media has allowed for people to be constantly surrounded and aware of celebrity images and influencers who hold strong online presence with the number of followers they have. This constant online presence has meant that people are far more aware of what others look like and as such body comparisons have become an issue, as people are far more aware of what the desired body type is.
A study produced by King university showed that 87% of women and 65% of men compared themselves to images found on social media.
There are efforts to combat these negative effects, such as the use of the tag #instagramversusreality and #instagramversusreallife, that have been used to promote body positivity.
In a related study, women aged 18–30 were shown posts using this hashtag that contained side-by-side images of women in the same clothes and setting, but one image was enhanced for Instagram, while the other was an unedited, “realistic” version. Women who participated in this experiment noted a decrease in body dissatisfaction.
Sleep disturbance:
According to a study released in 2017 by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the link between sleep disturbance and the use of social media was clear. It concluded that blue light had a part to play—and how often they logged on, rather than time spent on social media sites, was a higher predictor of disturbed sleep, suggesting "an obsessive 'checking'".
The strong relationship of social media use and sleep disturbance has significant clinical ramifications for younger adults health and well-being. In a recent study, we have learned that people in the highest quartile for social media use per week report the most sleep disturbance. The median number of minutes of social media use per day is 61 minutes.
Lastly, we have learned that females are more inclined to experience high levels of sleep disturbance than males. Many teenagers suffer from sleep deprivation as they spend long hours at night on their phones, and this, in turn, could affect grades as they will be tired and unfocused in school.
In a study from 2011, it was found that time spent on Facebook has a strong negative relationship with overall GPA, but it was unclear if this was related to sleep disturbances. Since blue light has increasingly become an issue smartphone developers have added a night mode feature that does not cause as much strain to the eyes as a blue light would.
Emotional effects:
See also: Social media and suicide
One studied emotional effect of social media is 'Facebook depression', which is a type of depression that affects adolescents who spend too much of their free time engaging with social media sites. This may lead to problems such as reclusiveness which can negatively damage one's health by creating feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem among young people.
Using a phone to look at social media before bed has become a popular trend among teenagers and this has led to a lack of sleep and inability to stay awake during school. Social media applications curate content that encourages users to keep scrolling to the point where they lose track of time.
There are studies that show children's self-esteem is positively affected by positive comments on social media and negatively affected self-esteem by negative comments. This affects the way that people look at themselves on a "worthiness" scale.
A 2017 study of almost 6,000 adolescent students showed that those who self-reported addiction-like symptoms of social media use were more likely to report low self-esteem and high levels of depressive symptoms. From the findings on a population-based study, there is about 37% increase in the likelihood of major depression among adolescents.
In a different study conducted in 2007, those who used the most multiple social media platforms (7 to 11) had more than three times the risk of depression and anxiety than people who used the fewest (0 to 2).
A second emotional effect is social media burnout, which is defined by Bo Han as ambivalence, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. Ambivalence refers to a user's confusion about the benefits she can get from using a social media site. Emotional exhaustion refers to the stress a user has when using a social media site.
Depersonalization refers to the emotional detachment from a social media site a user experiences. The three burnout factors can all negatively influence the user's social media continuance. This study provides an instrument to measure the burnout a user can experience when his or her social media "friends" are generating an overwhelming amount of useless information (e.g., "what I had for dinner", "where I am now").
A third emotional effect is the "fear of missing out" (FOMO), which is defined as the "pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent." FOMO has been classified by some as a form of social anxiety. It is associated with checking updates on friends' activities on social media.
Some speculate that checking updates on friends' activities on social media may be associated with negative influences on people's psychological health and well-being because it could contribute to negative mood and depressed feelings.
Looking at friends' stories or posts on various social media applications can lead users to feel left out and become upset because they are not having as fun as others. This is a very common issue between teen users of certain apps and it continues to affect their personal well-being.
On the other hand, social media can sometimes have a supportive effect on individuals who use it. Twitter has been used more by the medical community. While Twitter can facilitate academic discussion among health professionals and students, it can also provide a supportive community for these individuals by fostering a sense of community and allowing individuals to support each other through tweets, likes, and comments.
Social impacts:
Disparity:
Further information: Digital divide
The digital divide is a measure of disparity in the level of access to technology between households, socioeconomic levels or other demographic categories. People who are homeless, living in poverty, elderly people and those living in rural or remote communities may have little or no access to computers and the Internet; in contrast, middle class and upper-class people in urban areas have very high rates of computer and Internet access.
Other models argue that within a modern information society, some individuals produce Internet content while others only consume it, which could be a result of disparities in the education system where only some teachers integrate technology into the classroom and teach critical thinking. While social media has differences among age groups, a 2010 study in the United States found no racial divide.
Some zero-rating programs offer subsidized data access to certain websites on low-cost plans. Critics say that this is an anti-competitive program that undermines net neutrality and creates a "walled garden" for platforms like Facebook Zero. A 2015 study found that 65% of Nigerians, 61% of Indonesians, and 58% of Indians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in the US.
Eric Ehrmann contends that social media in the form of public diplomacy create a patina of inclusiveness that covers traditional economic interests that are structured to ensure that wealth is pumped up to the top of the economic pyramid, perpetuating the digital divide and post-Marxian class conflict.
He also voices concern over the trend that finds social utilities operating in a quasi-libertarian global environment of oligopoly that requires users in economically challenged nations to spend high percentages of annual income to pay for devices and services to participate in the social media lifestyle.
Neil Postman also contends that social media will increase an information disparity between "winners" – who are able to use the social media actively – and "losers" – who are not familiar with modern technologies or who do not have access to them.
People with high social media skills may have better access to information about job opportunities, potential new friends, and social activities in their area, which may enable them to improve their standard of living and their quality of life.
Political polarization:
Further information on the political effects of media in general: Mediatization (media)
According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans at least occasionally receive news from social media. Because of algorithms on social media which filter and display news content which are likely to match their users' political preferences (known as a filter bubble), a potential impact of receiving news from social media includes an increase in political polarization due to selective exposure.
Political polarization refers to when an individual's stance on a topic is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a specific political party or ideology than on other factors. Selective exposure occurs when an individual favors information that supports their beliefs and avoids information that conflicts with their beliefs.
A study by Hayat and Samuel-Azran conducted during the 2016 U.S. presidential election observed an "echo chamber" effect of selective exposure among 27,811 Twitter users following the content of cable news shows.
The Twitter users observed in the study were found to have little interaction with users and content whose beliefs were different from their own, possibly heightening polarization effects.
Another 2016 study using U.S. elections, conducted by Evans and Clark, revealed gender differences in the political use of Twitter between candidates. While politics is a male dominated arena, on social media the situation appears to be the opposite, with women discussing policy issues at a higher rate than their male counterparts.
The study concluded that an increase in female candidates directly correlates to an increase in the amount of attention paid to policy issues, potentially heightening political polarization.
Efforts to combat selective exposure in social media may also cause an increase in political polarization. A study examining Twitter activity conducted by Bail et al. paid Democrat and Republican participants to follow Twitter handles whose content was different from their political beliefs (Republicans received liberal content and Democrats received conservative content) over a six-week period.
At the end of the study, both Democrat and Republican participants were found to have increased political polarization in favor of their own parties, though only Republican participants had an increase that was statistically significant.
Though research has shown evidence that social media plays a role in increasing political polarization, it has also shown evidence that social media use leads to a persuasion of political beliefs.
An online survey consisting of 1,024 U.S. participants was conducted by Diehl, Weeks, and Gil de Zuñiga, which found that individuals who use social media were more likely to have their political beliefs persuaded than those who did not. In particular, those using social media as a means to receive their news were the most likely to have their political beliefs changed.
Diehl et al. found that the persuasion reported by participants was influenced by the exposure to diverse viewpoints they experienced, both in the content they saw as well as the political discussions they participated in.
Similarly, a study by Hardy and colleagues conducted with 189 students from a Midwestern state university examined the persuasive effect of watching a political comedy video on Facebook.
Hardy et al. found that after watching a Facebook video of the comedian/political commentator John Oliver performing a segment on his show, participants were likely to be persuaded to change their viewpoint on the topic they watched (either payday lending or the Ferguson protests) to one that was closer to the opinion expressed by Oliver.
Furthermore, the persuasion experienced by the participants was found to be reduced if they viewed comments by Facebook users which contradicted the arguments made by Oliver.
Research has also shown that social media use may not have an effect on polarization at all. A U.S. national survey of 1,032 participants conducted by Lee et al. found that participants who used social media were more likely to be exposed to a diverse number of people and amount of opinion than those who did not, although using social media was not correlated with a change in political polarization for these participants.
In a study examining the potential polarizing effects of social media on the political views of its users, Mihailidis and Viotty suggest that a new way of engaging with social media must occur to avoid polarization.
The authors note that media literacies (described as methods which give people skills to critique and create media) are important to using social media in a responsible and productive way, and state that these literacies must be changed further in order to have the most effectiveness.
In order to decrease polarization and encourage cooperation among social media users, Mihailidis and Viotty suggest that media literacies must focus on teaching individuals how to connect with other people in a caring way, embrace differences, and understand the ways in which social media has a real impact on the political, social, and cultural issues of the society they are a part of.
Stereotyping:
Recent research has demonstrated that social media, and media in general, have the power to increase the scope of stereotypes not only in children but people of all ages. Both cases of stereotyping of the youth and the elderly are prime examples of ageism. The presumed characteristics of the individual being stereotyped can have both negative and positive connotations but frequently carry an opposing viewpoint.
For example, the youth on social media platforms are often depicted as lazy, immature individuals who oftentimes have no drive or passion for other activities. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the youth were accused for spreading the disease and were blamed for the continuous lockdowns across the world.
These misrepresentations make it difficult for the youth to find new efforts and prove others wrong, especially when a large group of individuals believe that the stereotypes are highly accurate. Considering the youthful groups that are present on social media are frequently in a new stage of their lives and preparing to make life-changing decisions, it is essential that the stereotypes are diminished so that they don’t feel invalidated.
Further, stereotyping often occurs for the elderly as they are presumed to be a group of individuals who are unaware of the proper functions and slang usage on social media.
These stereotypes often seek to exclude older generations from participating in trends or engaging them in other activities on digital platforms.
In Spain:
Three researchers at Blanquerna University, Spain, examined how adolescents interact with social media and specifically Facebook. They suggest that interactions on the website encourage representing oneself in the traditional gender constructs, which helps maintain gender stereotypes.
The authors noted that girls generally show more emotion in their posts and more frequently change their profile pictures, which according to some psychologists can lead to self-objectification.
On the other hand, the researchers found that boys prefer to portray themselves as strong, independent, and powerful. For example, men often post pictures of objects and not themselves, and rarely change their profile pictures; using the pages more for entertainment and pragmatic reasons.
In contrast, girls generally post more images that include themselves, friends and things they have emotional ties to, which the researchers attributed that to the higher emotional intelligence of girls at a younger age.
The authors sampled over 632 girls and boys from the ages of 12–16 from Spain in an effort to confirm their beliefs. The researchers concluded that masculinity is more commonly associated with positive psychological well-being, while femininity displays less psychological well-being.
Furthermore, the researchers discovered that people tend not to completely conform to either stereotype, and encompass desirable parts of both. Users of Facebook generally use their profiles to reflect that they are a "normal" person. In that study, social media was found to uphold gender stereotypes both feminine and masculine.
The researchers also noted that traditional stereotypes are often upheld by boys more so than girls. The authors described how neither stereotype was entirely positive, but most people viewed masculine values as more positive.
Effects on youth communication:
Social media has allowed for mass cultural exchange and intercultural communication. As different cultures have different value systems, cultural themes, grammar, and world views, they also communicate differently.
The emergence of social media platforms fused together different cultures and their communication methods, blending together various cultural thinking patterns and expression styles.
Social media has affected the way youth communicate, by introducing new forms of language. Abbreviations have been introduced to cut down on the time it takes to respond online. The commonly known "LOL" has become globally recognized as the abbreviation for "laugh out loud" thanks to social media and use by people of all ages particularly as people grow up.
Another trend that influences the way youth communicates is (through) the use of hashtags. With the introduction of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the hashtag was created to easily organize and search for information. Hashtags can be used when people want to advocate for a movement, store content or tweets from a movement for future use, and allow other social media users to contribute to a discussion about a certain movement by using existing hashtags.
Using hashtags as a way to advocate for something online makes it easier and more accessible for more people to acknowledge it around the world. As hashtags such as #tbt ("throwback Thursday") become a part of online communication, it influenced the way in which youth share and communicate in their daily lives.
Because of these changes in linguistics and communication etiquette, researchers of media semiotics have found that this has altered youth's communications habits and more.
Social media has offered a new platform for peer pressure with both positive and negative communication. From Facebook comments to likes on Instagram, how the youth communicate, and what is socially acceptable is now heavily based on social media.
Social media does make kids and young adults more susceptible to peer pressure. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also shown that bullying, the making of non-inclusive friend groups, and sexual experimentation have increased situations related to cyberbullying, issues with privacy, and the act of sending sexual images or messages to someone's mobile device.
This includes issues of sexting and revenge porn among minors, and the resulting legal implications and issues, and resulting risk of trauma. On the other hand, social media also benefits the youth and how they communicate. Adolescents can learn basic social and technical skills that are essential in society.
Through the use of social media, kids and young adults are able to strengthen relationships by keeping in touch with friends and family, make more friends, and participate in community engagement activities and services.
Criticism, debate and controversy:
Criticisms of social media range from criticisms of the ease of use of specific platforms and their capabilities, disparity of information available, issues with trustworthiness and reliability of information presented, the impact of social media use on an individual's concentration, ownership of media content, and the meaning of interactions created by social media.
Although some social media platforms, such as servers in the decentralized Fediverse, offer users the opportunity to cross-post between independently run servers using a standard protocol such as ActivityPub, the dominant social network platforms have been criticized for poor interoperability between platforms, which leads to the creation of information silos, viz. isolated pockets of data contained in one social media platform.
However, it is also argued that social media has positive effects, such as allowing the democratization of the Internet while also allowing individuals to advertise themselves and form friendships.
Others have noted that the term "social" cannot account for technological features of a platform alone, hence the level of sociability should be determined by the actual performances of its users. There has been a dramatic decrease in face-to-face interactions as more and more social media platforms have been introduced with the threat of cyber-bullying and online sexual predators including groomers being more prevalent.
Social media may expose children to images of alcohol, tobacco, and sexual behaviors. In regards to cyber-bullying, it has been proven that individuals who have no experience with cyber-bullying often have a better well-being than individuals who have been bullied online.
Twitter is increasingly a target of heavy activity of marketers. Their actions focused on gaining massive numbers of followers, include use of advanced scripts and manipulation techniques that distort the prime idea of social media by abusing human trustfulness.
British-American entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen criticized social media in his 2007 book The Cult of the Amateur, writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."
This is also relative to the issue "justice" in the social network. For example, the phenomenon "Human flesh search engine" in Asia raised the discussion of "private-law" brought by social network platform.
Comparative media professor José van Dijck contends in her book The Culture of Connectivity (2013) that to understand the full weight of social media, their technological dimensions should be connected to the social and the cultural. She critically describes six social media platforms.
One of her findings is the way Facebook had been successful in framing the term 'sharing' in such a way that third party use of user data is neglected in favor of intra-user connectedness. The fragmentation of modern society, in part due to social media, has been likened to a modern Tower of Babel.
Essena O'Neill attracted international coverage when she explicitly left social media.
Trustworthiness and reliability:
There has been speculation that social media has become perceived as a trustworthy source of information by a large number of people. The continuous interpersonal connectivity on social media, for example, may lead to people regarding peer recommendations as indicators of the reliability of information sources. This trust can be exploited by marketers, who can utilize consumer-created content about brands and products to influence public perceptions.
The trustworthiness of information can be improved by fact-checking. Some social media has started to employ this.
Evgeny Morozov, a 2009–2010 Yahoo fellow at Georgetown University, contended that information uploaded to Twitter may have little relevance to the masses of people who do not use Twitter. In an article for the magazine Dissent titled "Iran: Downside to the 'Twitter Revolution'", Morozov wrote:
Professor Matthew Auer of Bates College casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that social media are open and participatory. He also speculates on the emergence of "anti-social media" used as "instruments of pure control".
Data harvesting and data mining:
Further information: Social media mining
Social media 'mining' is a type of data mining, a technique of analyzing data to detect patterns. Social media mining is a process of representing, analyzing, and extracting actionable patterns from data collected from people's activities on social media.
Google mines data in many ways including using an algorithm in Gmail to analyze information in emails. This use of the information will then affect the type of advertisements shown to the user when they use Gmail.
Facebook has partnered with many data mining companies such as Datalogix and BlueKai to use customer information for targeted advertising. Massive amounts of data from social platforms allows scientists and machine learning researchers to extract insights and build product features.
Ethical questions of the extent to which a company should be able to utilize a user's information have been called "big data". Users tend to click through Terms of Use agreements when signing up on social media platforms, and they do not know how their information will be used by companies. This leads to questions of privacy and surveillance when user data is recorded. Some social media outlets have added capture time and Geotagging that helps provide information about the context of the data as well as making their data more accurate.
On April 10, 2018, in a hearing held in response to revelations of data harvesting by Cambridge Analytica, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, faced questions from senators on a variety of issues, from privacy to the company's business model and the company's mishandling of data.
This was Mr. Zuckerberg's first appearance before Congress, prompted by the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign, harvested the data of an estimated 87 million Facebook users to psychologically profile voters during the 2016 election.
Zuckerberg was pressed to account for how third-party partners could take data without users’ knowledge. Lawmakers grilled the 33-year-old executive on the proliferation of so-called fake news on Facebook, Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and censorship of conservative media.
Critique of activism:
Further information: Social media activism
For The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, the role of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, in revolutions and protests is overstated. On one hand, social media makes it easier for individuals, and in this case activists, to express themselves. On the other hand, it is harder for that expression to have an impact.
Gladwell distinguishes between social media activism and high-risk activism, which brings real changes. Activism and especially high-risk activism involves strong-tie relationships, hierarchies, coordination, motivation, exposing oneself to high risks, making sacrifices.
Gladwell discusses that social media are built around weak ties and he argues that "social networks are effective at increasing participation — by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires." According to him, "Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice, but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice."
Disputing Gladwell's theory, in the study "Perceptions of Social Media for Politics: Testing the Slacktivism Hypothesis", Kwak and colleagues (2018) conducted a survey which found that people who are politically expressive on social media are also more likely to participate in offline political activity.
Ownership of content:
Social media content is generated through social media interactions done by users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms because it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Added to this is the danger to the security of information, which can be leaked to third parties with economic interests in the platform, or parasites who comb the data for their own databases.
Privacy:
Main article: Privacy concerns with social networking services
Privacy rights advocates warn users on social media about the collection of their personal data. Some information is captured without the user's knowledge or consent through electronic tracking and third-party applications.
Data may also be collected for law enforcement and governmental purposes, by social media intelligence using data mining techniques. Data and information may also be collected for third party use. When information is shared on social media, that information is no longer private.
There have been many cases in which young persons especially, share personal information, which can attract predators. It is very important to monitor what you share and to be aware of who you could potentially be sharing that information with.
Teens especially share significantly more information on the internet now than they have in the past. Teens are much more likely to share their personal information, such as email address, phone number, and school names.
Studies suggest that teens are not aware of what they are posting and how much of that information can be accessed by third parties.
There are arguments that "privacy is dead" and that with social media growing more and more, some heavy social media users appear to have become quite unconcerned with privacy.
Others argue, however, that people are still very concerned about their privacy, but are being ignored by the companies running these social networks, who can sometimes make a profit off of sharing someone's personal information. There is also a disconnect between social media user's words and their actions.
Studies suggest that surveys show that people want to keep their lives private, but their actions on social media suggest otherwise. Everyone leaves a trail when they use social media.
Every time someone creates a new social media account, they provide personal information that can include their name, birthdate, geographic location, and personal interests.
In addition, companies collect data on user behaviors. All of this data is stored and leveraged by companies to better target advertising to their users.
Another factor is ignorance of how accessible social media posts are. Some social media users who have been criticized for inappropriate comments stated that they did not realize that anyone outside their circle of friends would read their posts; in fact, on some social media sites, unless a user selects higher privacy settings, their content is shared with a wide audience.
According to a 2016 article diving into the topic of sharing privately and the effect social media has on expectations of privacy, "1.18 billion people will log into their Facebook accounts, 500 million tweets will be sent, and there will be 95 million photos and videos posted on Instagram" in a day.
Much of the privacy concerns individuals face stem from their own posts on a form of a social network. Users have the choice to share voluntarily and have been ingrained into society as routine and normative. Social media are a snapshot of our lives; a community we have created on the behaviors of sharing, posting, liking, and communicating. Sharing has become a phenomenon which social media and networks have uprooted and introduced to the world.
The idea of privacy is redundant; once something is posted, its accessibility remains constant even if we select who is potentially able to view it. People desire privacy in some shape or form, yet also contribute to social media, which makes it difficult to maintain privacy.
Mills offers options for reform which include copyright and the application of the law of confidence; more radically, a change to the concept of privacy itself.
A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 91% of Americans "agree" or "strongly agree" that people have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by all kinds of entities.
Some 80% of social media users said they were concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they share on social media platforms, and 64% said the government should do more to regulate advertisers.
According to the Wall Street Journal published on February 17, 2019, According to UK law, Facebook did not protect certain aspects of the user data.
The US government announced banning TikTok and WeChat from the States over national security concerns. The shutdown was announced for September 20, 2020. Access to TikTok was extended till 12 November 2020, and a federal court ruling on October 30, 2020, has blocked further implementation of restrictions that would lead to TikTok's shutdown.
Criticism of commercialization:
The commercial development of social media has been criticized as the actions of consumers in these settings have become increasingly value-creating, for example when consumers contribute to the marketing and branding of specific products by posting positive reviews.
As such, value-creating activities also increase the value of a specific product, which could, according to marketing professors Bernad Cova and Daniele Dalli (2009), lead to what they refer to as "double exploitation". Companies are getting consumers to create content for the companies' websites for which the consumers are not paid.
As social media usage has become increasingly widespread, social media has to a large extent come to be subjected to commercialization by marketing companies and advertising agencies.
In 2014 Christofer Laurell, a digital marketing researcher, suggested that the social media landscape currently consists of three types of places because of this development: consumer-dominated places, professionally dominated places and places undergoing commercialization.
As social media becomes commercialized, this process has been shown to create novel forms of value networks stretching between consumer and producer in which a combination of personal, private and commercial contents are created.
Debate over addiction:
Main article: Problematic social media
As one of the biggest preoccupations among adolescents is social media usage, in 2011 researchers began using the term "Facebook addiction disorder" (F.A.D.), a form of internet addiction disorder.
FAD is characterized by compulsive use of the social networking site Facebook, which generally results in physical or psychological complications. The disorder, although not classified in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or by the World Health Organization, has been the subject of several studies focusing on the negative effects of social media use on the psyche.
One German study published in 2017 investigated a correlation between extensive use of the social networking site and narcissism; the results were published in the journal PLoS One. According to the findings: "FAD was significantly positively related to the personality trait [of] narcissism and to negative mental health variables (depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms)."
As the number of SNS users increases, "SNS addiction" is emerging as a social problem. Concerns about excessive use of smartphones are not new, but the tendency to accelerate, especially in the COVID-19 era, seems clear. One thing that's creepy is that SNS addiction is not based on an individual's disposition or personality, but rather a result of the sophisticated design of SNS. (See Netflix series - Social dilemma)
When users take a break from SNS, they send all kinds of alarms to attract attention. They send an alarm to see who left a comment, who pressed like, and even to the comments that my acquaintance left elsewhere. AI is behind all these processes.
In the United States, the harmful effects of SNS addiction are revealed as the timing of the spread of SNS coincides with the rapid increase in suicide rates and suicide attempts among teenagers. There are only two types of industries that call customers "users", one for drugs and one for software, which is significant.
While these issues regarding social media addiction are continuous and increasing, there are ways to help reduce and curb one's social media obsessions. Turning off social media notifications (temporary or long-term) is one solution that can reduce social media addiction by reducing distraction, for those who struggle with the habit of constantly "refreshing" social media platforms and checking for new notifications.
However, a platform that came up with measures to prevent such addiction of SNS users has also emerged. Instagram has upgraded its function to inform users that they have seen all new posts by introducing the "all court up" function. Instagram also announced that it will soon add a "Usage checks" function that shows how much time it spends on Instagram. Experts advise that we should have a firm will to overcome SNS addiction.
Some feel that modern problems require modern solutions, so we are starting to see modern approaches like that of Dr. Alok Kanojia (a psychiatrist known online as Dr. K) who runs not only a coaching program but also YouTube and Twitch channels called HealthyGamerGG, where he talks about mental health and gaming, and conducts interviews.
Debate over use in academic settings:
Main articles:
Having social media in the classroom was a controversial topic in the 2010s. Many parents and educators have been fearful of the repercussions of having social media in the classroom.
There are concerns that social media tools can be misused for cyberbullying or sharing inappropriate content. As result, cell phones have been banned from some classrooms, and some schools have blocked many popular social media websites.
Many schools have realized that they need to loosen restrictions, teach digital citizenship skills, and even incorporate these tools into classrooms. Some schools permit students to use smartphones or tablet computers in class, as long as the students are using these devices for academic purposes, such as doing research.
Using Facebook in class allows for the integration of multimodal content such as student-created photographs and video and URLs to other texts, in a platform that many students are already familiar with.
Twitter can be used to enhance communication building and critical thinking and it provides students with an informal "back channel", and extend discussion outside of class time.
Censorship by governments:
Main article: Internet censorship
Social media often features in political struggles to control public perception and online activity.
In some countries, Internet police or secret police monitor or control citizens' use of social media. For example, in 2013 some social media was banned in Turkey after the Taksim Gezi Park protests.
Both Twitter and YouTube were temporarily suspended in the country by a court's decision. A new law, passed by Turkish Parliament, has granted immunity to Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) personnel. The TİB was also given the authority to block access to specific websites without the need for a court order. Yet TİB's 2014 blocking of Twitter was ruled by the constitutional court to violate free speech.
More recently, in the 2014 Thai coup d'état, the public was explicitly instructed not to 'share' or 'like' dissenting views on social media or face prison. In July of that same year, in response to WikiLeaks' release of a secret suppression order made by the Victorian Supreme Court, media lawyers were quoted in the Australian media to the effect that "anyone who tweets a link to the WikiLeaks report, posts it on Facebook, or shares it in any way online could also face charges".
On 27 July 2020, in Egypt, two women were sentenced to two years of imprisonment for posting TikTok videos, which the government claims are “violating family values”.
Decentralization and open standards:
Mastodon, GNU social, Diaspora, Friendica and other compatible software packages operate as a loose federation of mostly volunteer-operated servers, called the Fediverse, which connect with each other through the open source protocol ActivityPub.
In early 2019, Mastodon successfully blocked the spread of violent right-wing extremism when the Twitter alternative Gab tried to associate with Mastodon, and their independent servers quickly contained its dissemination.
In December 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made a similar suggestion, stating that efforts would be taken to achieve an "open and decentralized standard for social media". Rather than "de-platforming", such standards would allow a more scalable, and customizable approach to content moderation and censorship, and involve a number of companies, in the way that e-mail servers work.
Deplatforming:
Main articles: Deplatforming and Twitter suspensions
Deplatforming is a form of Internet censorship in which controversial speakers or speech are suspended, banned, or otherwise shut down by social media platforms and other service providers that normally provide a venue for free expression.
These kinds of actions are similar to alternative dispute resolution. As early as 2015, platforms such as Reddit began to enforce selective bans based, for example, on terms of service that prohibit "hate speech".
According to technology journalist Declan McCullagh, "Silicon Valley's efforts to pull the plug on dissenting opinions" have included, as of 2018, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube "devising excuses to suspend ideologically disfavored accounts".
Law professor Glenn Reynolds dubbed 2018 the "Year of De-platforming", in an August 2018 article in The Wall Street Journal. According to Reynolds, in 2018, "the internet giants decided to slam the gates on a number of people and ideas they don't like. If you rely on someone else's platform to express unpopular ideas, especially ideas on the right, you're now at risk."
Reynolds cited Alex Jones, Gavin McInnes and Dennis Prager as prominent 2018 victims of deplatforming based on their political views, noting, "Extremists and controversialists on the left have been relatively safe from de-platforming."
Most people see social media platforms as censoring objectionable political views.
Reproduction of class distinctions:
According to Danah Boyd (2011), the media plays a large role in shaping people's perceptions of specific social networking services.
When looking at the site MySpace, after adults started to realize how popular the site was becoming with teens, news media became heavily concerned with teen participation and the potential dangers they faced using the site. As a result, teens avoided joining the site because of the associated risks (e.g. child predators and lack of control), and parents began to publicly denounce the site. Ultimately, the site was labeled as dangerous, and many were detracted from interacting with the site.
As Boyd also describes, when Facebook initially launched in 2004, it solely targeted college students and access was intentionally limited. Facebook started as a Harvard-only social networking service before expanding to all other Ivy League schools. It then made its way to other top universities and ultimately to a wider range of schools.
Because of its origins, some saw Facebook as an "elite" social networking service. While it was very open and accepting to some, it seemed to outlaw and shun out most others who didn't fit that "elite" categorization. These narratives propagated by the media influenced the large movement of teenage users from one social networking service to another.
Use by extremist groups:
Main article: Terrorism and social media
According to LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media (2018) by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, the use of effective social media marketing techniques is not only limited to celebrities, corporations, and governments, but also extremist groups to carry out political objectives based on extremist ideologies.
The use of social media by ISIS and Al-Qaeda has been used primarily to influence operations in areas of operation and gain the attention of sympathizers of extremist ideologies.
Social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and various encrypted-messaging applications have been used to increase the recruiting of members into these extremist groups, both locally and internationally.
Larger platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and various others have received backlash for allowing this type of content on their platform (see Use of social media by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The use of social media to further extremist objectives is not only limited to Islamic terrorism, but also extreme nationalist groups across the world, and more prominently, right wing extremist groups based out of the United States.
2021 United States Capitol attack:
Main article: 2021 United States Capitol attack
As many of the traditional social media platforms banned hate speech (see Online hate speech), several platforms have become popular among right-wing extremists to carry out planning and communication of thoughts and organized events; these application became known as "Alt-tech".
Platforms such as Telegram, Parler, and Gab were used during the 2021 storming of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. The use of this social media was used to coordinate attacks on the Capitol.
Several members within these groups shared tips on how to avoid law enforcement and what their plans were with regards to carrying out their objectives; some users called for killings of law enforcement and politicians.
Deceased users:
Further information: Death and the Internet
Social media content, like most content on the web, will continue to persist unless the user deletes it. This brings up the inevitable question of what to do once a social media user dies, and no longer has access to their content.
As it is a topic that is often left undiscussed, it is important to note that each social media platform, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, has created its own guidelines for users who have died.
In most cases on social media, the platforms require a next-of-kin to prove that the user is deceased, and then give them the option of closing the account or maintaining it in a 'legacy' status. Ultimately, social media users should make decisions about what happens to their social media accounts before they pass, and make sure their instructions are passed on to their next-of-kin.
See also:
While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available, there are some common features:
- Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
- User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the lifeblood of social media.
- Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
- Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.
The term "social" in regard to media suggests that platforms are user-centric and enable communal activity. As such, social media can be viewed as online facilitators or enhancers of human networks—webs of individuals who enhance social connectivity.
Users usually access social media services through web-based apps on desktops or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets).
As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate, and modify user-generated or self-curated content posted online.
Additionally, social media are used to document memories, learn about and explore things, advertise oneself, and form friendships along with the growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites. This changing relationship between humans and technology is the focus of the emerging field of technological self-studies.
Some of the most popular social media websites, with more than 100 million registered users, include:
- Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger),
- TikTok,
- WeChat,
- Instagram,
- QZone,
- Weibo,
- Twitter,
- Tumblr,
- Baidu Tieba,
- and LinkedIn.
Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include:
- YouTube,
- QQ,
- Quora,
- Telegram,
- WhatsApp,
- Signal,
- LINE,
- Snapchat,
- Pinterest,
- Viber,
- Reddit,
- Discord,
- VK,
- Microsoft Teams,
- and more.
Wikis are examples of collaborative content creation.
Social media outlets differ from traditional media (e.g., print magazines and newspapers, TV, and radio broadcasting) in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, relevancy, and permanence.
Additionally, social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system, i.e., many sources to many receivers, while traditional media outlets operate under a monologic transmission model (i.e., one source to many receivers).
For instance, a newspaper is delivered to many subscribers, and a radio station broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Since the dramatic expansion of the Internet, digital media or digital rhetoric can be used to represent or identify a culture. Studying how the rhetoric that exists in the digital environment has become a crucial new process for many scholars.
Observers have noted a wide range of positive and negative impacts when it comes to the use of social media. Social media can help to improve an individual's sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments.
Observers have also seen that there has been a rise in social movements using social media as a tool for communicating and organizing in times of political unrest.
History of social media:
See also: Timeline of social media
Early computing:
The PLATO system was launched in 1960, after being developed at the University of Illinois and subsequently commercially marketed by Control Data Corporation. It offered early forms of social media features with 1973-era innovations such as:
- Notes, PLATO's message-forum application;
- TERM-talk, its instant-messaging feature;
- Talkomatic, perhaps the first online chat room;
- News Report, a crowdsourced online newspaper, and blog and Access Lists, enabling the owner of a note file or other application to limit access to a certain set of users, for example, only friends, classmates, or co-workers.
ARPANET, which first came online in 1967, had by the late-1970s developed a rich cultural exchange of non-government/business ideas and communication, as evidenced by the network etiquette (or 'netiquette') described in a 1982 handbook on computing at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
ARPANET evolved into the Internet following the publication of the first Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) specification, RFC 675 (Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program), written by Vint Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine in 1974.
This became the foundation of Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, and established in 1980.
A precursor of the electronic bulletin board system (BBS), known as Community Memory, appeared by 1973. True electronic BBSs arrived with the Computer Bulletin Board System in Chicago, which first came online on February 16, 1978.
Before long, most major cities had more than one BBS running on TRS-80, Apple II, Atari, IBM PC, Commodore 64, Sinclair, and similar personal computers.
The IBM PC was introduced in 1981, and subsequent models of both Mac computers and PCs were used throughout the 1980s. Multiple modems, followed by specialized telecommunication hardware, allowed many users to be online simultaneously.
Compuserve, Prodigy, and AOL were three of the largest BBS companies and were the first to migrate to the Internet in the 1990s. Between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, BBSes numbered in the tens of thousands in North America alone.
Message forums (a specific structure of social media) arose with the BBS phenomenon throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
When the World Wide Web (WWW, or 'the web') was added to the Internet in the mid-1990s, message forums migrated to the web, becoming Internet forums, primarily due to cheaper per-person access as well as the ability to handle far more people simultaneously than telco modem banks.
Digital imaging and semiconductor image sensor technology facilitated the development and rise of social media. Advances in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) semiconductor device fabrication, reaching smaller micron and then sub-micron levels during the 1980s–1990s, led to the development of the NMOS (n-type MOS) active-pixel sensor (APS) at Olympus in 1985, and then the complementary MOS (CMOS) active-pixel sensor (CMOS sensor) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1993.
CMOS sensors enabled the mass proliferation of digital cameras and camera phones, which bolstered the rise of social media.
Development of social-media platforms:
When Tim Berners-Lee connected hypertext software to the Internet in 1991, he developed the World Wide Web, which created the modern era of networked communication. Weblogs, list servers, and e-mail services all aided in the formation of online communities and the support of offline groups. Online services evolved from providing conduits for networked communication to being interactive, two-way vehicles for networked sociality with the introduction of Web 2.0.
The development of social media began with simple platforms. GeoCities was one of the earliest social networking services, launched in November 1994, followed by Classmates.com in December 1995 and SixDegrees.com in May 1997.
Unlike instant-messaging clients (e.g., ICQ and AOL's AIM) or chat clients (e.g., IRC, iChat, or Chat Television), SixDegrees was the first online business that was created for real people, using their real names. As such, according to CBS News, SixDegrees is "widely considered to be the very first social networking site," as it included "profiles, friends lists, and school affiliations" that could be used by registered users.
The name references to the "six degrees of separation" concept, which posits that "everyone on the planet is only six degrees apart from everyone else." It was the first website to provide users the option of creating a profile.
Research from 2015 shows that the world spent 22% of their online time on social networks, thus suggesting the popularity of social media platforms. It is speculated that the increase in social media's popularity is due to the widespread daily use of smartphones.
As many as 4.08 billion social media users worldwide were found active on smartphones as of October 2020.
Definition and features:
The idea that social media are defined simply by their ability to bring people together has been seen as too broad, as this would suggest that fundamentally different technologies like the telegraph and telephone are also social media.
The terminology is unclear, with some early researchers referring to social media as social networks or social networking services in the mid 2000s. A more recent paper from 2015 reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four common features unique to then-current social media services:
- Social media are Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
- User-generated content (UGC) is the lifeblood of the social media organism.
- Users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
- Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.
In 2019, Merriam-Webster defined social media as "forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)."
While the variety of evolving stand-alone and built-in social media services makes it challenging to define them, marketing and social media experts broadly agree that social media includes the following 13 types:
- Blogs (ex. Huffington Post, Boing Boing)
- Business networks (ex. LinkedIn, XING)
- Collaborative projects (ex. Wikipedia, Mozilla)
- Enterprise social networks (ex. Yammer, Socialcast)
- Forums (ex. Gaia Online, IGN Boards)
- Microblogs (ex. Twitter, Tumblr)
- Photo sharing (ex. Flickr, Photobucket)
- Products/services review (ex. Amazon, Elance)
- Social bookmarking (ex. Delicious, Pinterest)
- Social gaming (ex. Mafia Wars)
- Social network sites (ex. Facebook, Google+)
- Video sharing (ex. YouTube, Vimeo)
- Virtual worlds (ex. Second Life, Twinity)
Mobile social media:
Mobile social media refers to the use of social media on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Mobile social media are useful applications of mobile marketing because the creation, exchange, and circulation of user-generated content can assist companies with marketing research, communication, and relationship development.
Mobile social media differ from others because they incorporate the current location of the user (location-sensitivity) or the time delay between sending and receiving messages.
Social media promotes users to share content with others and display content in order to enhance a particular brand or product. Social media allows people to be creative and share interesting ideas with their followers or fans.
Certain social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are places where users share specific political or sports content. Many reporters and journalists produce updates and information on sports and political news. It can truly give users pertinent and necessary information to stay up to date on relevant news stories and topics.
However, there is a down side to it. Users are advised to exercise due diligence when they are using social media platforms.
According to Andreas Kaplan, mobile social media applications can be differentiated among four types:
- Space-timers (location and time-sensitive): Exchange of messages with relevance mostly for one specific location at one specific point in time (e.g. Facebook Places, WhatsApp, Foursquare)
- Space-locators (only location sensitive): Exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location, which is tagged to a certain place and read later by others (e.g. Yelp, Qype, Tumblr, Fishbrain)
- Quick-timers (only time sensitive): Transfer of traditional social media mobile apps to increase immediacy (e.g. posting on Twitter or status updates on Facebook)
- Slow-timers (neither location nor time sensitive): Transfer of traditional social media applications to mobile devices (e.g. watching a YouTube video or reading/editing a Wikipedia article)
Elements and function:
Viral content:
Main article: Viral phenomenon
Some social media sites have the potential for content posted there to spread virally over social networks. The term is an analogy to the concept of viral infections, which can spread rapidly from individual to individual.
In a social media context, content or websites that are 'viral' (or which 'go viral') are those with a greater likelihood that users will re-share content posted (by another user) to their social network, leading to further sharing. In some cases, posts containing popular content or fast-breaking news have been rapidly shared and re-shared by a huge number of users.
Businesses have a particular interest in viral marketing tactics because a viral campaign can achieve widespread advertising coverage (particularly if the viral reposting itself makes the news) for a fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing campaign, which typically uses printed materials, like newspapers, magazines, mailings, and billboards, and television and radio commercials.
Nonprofit organizations and activists may have similar interests in posting content on social media sites with the aim of it going viral.
Many social media sites provide specific functionality to help users re-share (also known as re-blogging) content, such as Twitter's 'retweet' button, Pinterest's 'pin' function, Facebook's 'share' option, or Tumblr's 're-blog' function.
Re-sharing (or, in this case, retweeting) is an especially popular component and feature of Twitter, allowing its users to keep up with important events and stay connected with their peers, as well as contributing in various ways throughout social media. When certain posts become popular, they start to get retweeted over and over again, becoming viral. Hashtags can be used in tweets, and can also be used to take count of how many people have used that hashtag.
Bots:
Main article: Internet bot
Bots are automated programs that operate on the Internet, which have grown in demand, due to their ability to automate many communication tasks, leading to the creation of a new industry of bot providers.
Chatbots and social bots are programmed to mimic natural human interactions such as liking, commenting, following, and unfollowing on social media platforms. As companies aim for greater market shares and increased audiences, internet bots have also been developed to facilitate social media marketing.
With the existence of social bots and chatbots, however, the marketing industry has also met an analytical crisis, as these bots make it difficult to differentiate between human interactions and automated bot interactions. For instance, marketing data has been negatively affected by some bots, causing "digital cannibalism" in social media marketing.
Additionally, some bots violate the terms of use on many social media platforms such as Instagram, which can result in profiles being taken down and banned.
'Cyborgs'—either bot-assisted humans or human-assisted bots—are used for a number of different purposes both legitimate and illegitimate, from spreading fake news to creating marketing buzz.
A common legitimate use includes using automated programs to post on social media at a specific time. In these cases, often, the human writes the post content and the bot schedules the time of posting.
In other cases, the cyborgs are more nefarious, e.g., contributing to the spread of fake news and misinformation. Often these accounts blend human and bot activity in a strategic way, so that when an automated account is publicly identified, the human half of the cyborg is able to take over and could protest that the account has been used manually all along.
In many cases, these accounts that are being used in a more illegitimate fashion try to pose as real people; in particular, the number of their friends or followers resemble that of a real person. Cyborgs are also related to sock puppet accounts, where one human pretends to be someone else, but can also include one human operating multiple cyborg accounts.
New social media technology:
Main article: Software patent
There has been rapid growth in the number of U.S. patent applications that cover new technologies that are related to social media, and the number of them that are published has been growing rapidly over the past five years.
As of 2020, there are over 5000 published patent applications in the United States. As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that have not been published yet; however, only slightly over 100 of these applications have issued as patents, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents, i.e., patents that outline and claim new methods of doing business.
Platform convergence:
As an instance of technological convergence, various social media platforms of different kinds adapted functionality beyond their original scope, increasingly overlapping with each other over time, albeit usually not implemented as completely as on dedicated platforms.
Examples are the social hub site Facebook launching an integrated video platform in May 2007, and Instagram, whose original scope was low-resolution photo sharing, introducing the ability to share quarter-minute 640×640 pixel videos in 2013 (later extended to a minute with increased resolution), acting like a minimal video platform without video seek bar.
Instagram later implemented stories (short videos self-destructing after 24 hours), a concept popularized by Snapchat, as well as IGTV, for seekable videos of up to ten minutes or one hour depending on account status. Stories have been later adapted by the dedicated video platform YouTube in 2018, although access is restricted to the mobile apps, excluding mobile and desktop websites.
Twitter, whose original scope was text-based microblogging, later adapted photo sharing functionality (deprecating third-party services such as TwitPic), later video sharing with 140-second time limit and view counter but no manual quality selection or subtitles like on dedicated video platforms, and originally only available to mobile app users but later implemented in their website front ends. Then a media studio feature for business users, which resembles YouTube's Creator Studio.
The discussion platform Reddit added an integrated image hoster in June 2016 after Reddit users commonly relied on the external standalone image sharing platform Imgur, and an internal video hoster around a year later.
In July 2020, the ability to share multiple images in a single post (image galleries), a feature known from Imgur, was implemented. Imgur itself implemented sharing videos of up to 30 seconds in May 2018, later extended to one minute.
Starting in 2018, the dedicated video platform YouTube rolled out a Community feature accessible through a channel tab (which usurps the previous Discussion channel tab), where text-only posts, as well as polls can be shared. To be enabled, channels have to pass a subscriber count threshold which has been lowered over time.
Statistics on usage and membership:
According to Statista, it is estimated that, in 2022, there are around 3.96 billion people using social media around the globe; up from 3.6 billion in 2020. This number is expected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025.
Most popular social networking services:
The following is a list of the most popular social networking services based on the number of active users as of January 2022 per Statista.
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Usage: Before the COVID-19 pandemic:
A study from 2009 suggests that there may be individual differences that help explain who uses social media and who does not: extraversion and openness have a positive relationship with social media, while emotional stability has a negative sloping relationship with social media.
A separate study from 2015 found that people with a higher social comparison orientation appear to use social media more heavily than people with low social comparison orientation.
Data from Common Sense Media has suggested that children under the age of 13 in the United States use social networking services despite the fact that many social media sites have policies that state one must be at least 13-years old or older to join.
In 2017, Common Sense Media conducted a nationally representative survey of parents of children from birth to age 8 and found that 4% of children at this age used social media sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, or (now-defunct) Musical.ly “often” or “sometimes.”
A different nationally representative survey by Common Sense in 2019 surveyed young Americans ages 8–16 and found that about 31% of children ages 8–12 ever use social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook.
In that same survey, when American teens ages 16–18 were asked when they started using social media, 28% said they started to use it before they were 13-years-old. However, the median age of starting to use social media was 14-years-old.
Usage: During the COVID-19 pandemic:
Amount of usage by minors: In June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationally representative survey by Cartoon Network and the Cyberbullying Research Center surveyed Americans tweens (ages 9–12) found that the most popular overall application in the past year was YouTube (67%). (In general, as age increased, the tweens were more likely to have used major social media apps and games.)
Similarly, a nationally representative survey by Common Sense Media conducted in 2020 of Americans ages 13–18 found that YouTube was also the most popular social media service (used by 86% of 13- to 18-year-old Americans in the past year). As children grow older, they utilize certain social media services on a frequent basis and often use the application YouTube to consume content.
The use of social media certainly increases as people grow older and it has become a customary thing to have an Instagram and Twitter account.
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Reasons for use by adults:
While adults were already using social media before the COVID-19 pandemic, more started using it to stay socially connected and to get updates on the pandemic.
"Social media have become popularly use to seek for medical information and have fascinated the general public to collect information regarding corona virus pandemics in various perspectives. During these days, people are forced to stay at home and the social media have connected and supported awareness and pandemic updates."
This also made healthcare workers and systems more aware of social media as a place people were getting health information about the pandemic: "During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media use has accelerated to the point of becoming a ubiquitous part of modern healthcare systems."
Though this also led to the spread of disinformation, indeed, on December 11, 2020, the CDC put out a "Call to Action: Managing the Infodemic". Some healthcare organizations even used hashtags as interventions and published articles on their Twitter data:
"Promotion of the joint usage of #PedsICU and #COVID19 throughout the international pediatric critical care community in tweets relevant to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and pediatric critical care."
However others in the medical community were concerned about social media addiction, due to it as an increasingly important context and therefore "source of social validation and reinforcement" and are unsure if increased social media use is a coping mechanism or harmful.
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Timeline of Social Media (1973-2021):
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Use at the organizational level:
Governments:
Governments may use social media to (for example):
- inform their opinions to public
- interact with citizens
- foster citizen participation
- further open government
- analyze/monitor public opinion and activities
- educate the public about risks and public health.
Law enforcement and investigations:
Social media has been used extensively in civil and criminal investigations. It has also been used to assist in searches for missing persons. Police departments often make use of official social media accounts to engage with the public, publicize police activity, and burnish law enforcement's image; conversely, video footage of citizen-documented police brutality and other misconduct has sometimes been posted to social media.
In the United States U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identifies and track individuals via social media, and also has apprehended some people via social media based sting operations.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (also known as CPB) and the United States Department of Homeland Security use social media data as influencing factors during the visa process, and continue to monitor individuals after they have entered the country.
CPB officers have also been documented performing searches of electronics and social media behavior at the border, searching both citizens and non-citizens without first obtaining a warrant.
Government reputation management:
As social media gained momentum among the younger generations, governments began using it to improve their image, especially among the youth. In January 2021, Egyptian authorities were found to be using Instagram influencers as part of its media ambassadors program. The program was designed to revamp Egypt’s image and to counter the bad press Egypt had received because of the country's human rights record.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates participated in similar programs. Similarly, Dubai has also extensively relied on social media and influencers to promote tourism.
However, the restrictive laws of Dubai have always kept these influencers within the limits to not offend the authorities, or to criticize the city, politics or religion. The content of these foreign influencers is controlled to make sure that nothing portrays Dubai in a negative light.
Businesses:
Main article: Social media use by businesses
Businesses can use social media tools for marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, informal employee-learning/organizational development, relationship development/loyalty programs, and e-Commerce.
Companies are increasingly using social-media monitoring tools to monitor, track, and analyze online conversations on the Web about their brand or products or about related topics of interest. This can prove useful in public relations management and advertising-campaign tracking, allowing analysts to measure return on investment for their social media ad spending, competitor-auditing, and for public engagement.
Tools range from free, basic applications to subscription-based, more in-depth tools. Often social media can become a good source of information and/or explanation of industry trends for a business to embrace change.
Within the financial industry, companies can utilize the power of social media as a tool for analyzing the sentiment of financial markets. These range from the marketing of financial products, gaining insights into market sentiment, future market predictions, and as a tool to identify insider trading.
To properly take advantage of these benefits, businesses need to have a set of guidelines that they can use on different social media platforms.
Social media can enhance a brand through a process called "building social authority". However, this process can be difficult, because one of the foundational concepts in social media is that one cannot completely control one's message through social media but rather one can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that one can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.
Because of the wide use of social media by consumers and their own employees, companies use social media on a customer-organizational level; and an intra-organizational level.
Social media, by connecting individuals to new ties via the social network can increase entrepreneurship and innovation, especially for those individuals who lack conventional information channels due to their lower socioeconomic background.
Social media marketing:
Main article: Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service and also to establish a connection with its customers. Social media marketing has increased due to the growing active user rates on social media sites. Though these numbers are not exponential.
For example, as of 2018 Facebook had 2.2 billion users, Twitter had 330 million active users and Instagram had 800 million users. Then in 2021 Facebook had 2.89 billion users and Twitter had 206 million users.
Similar to traditional advertising, all of social media marketing can be divided into three types:
- paid media,
- earned media,
- owned media.
Paid social media is when a firm directly buys advertising on a social media platform.
Earned social media is when the firms does something that impresses its consumers or other stakeholders and they spontaneously post their own content about it on social media.
Owned social media is when the firm itself owns the social media channel and creates content for its followers.
One of the main uses is to interact with audiences to create awareness of the company or organization, with the main idea of creating a two-way communication system where the audience and/or customers can interact; e.g., customers can provide feedback on the firm's products.
However, since social media allows consumers to spread opinions and share experiences in a peer-to-peer fashion, this has shifted some of the power from the organization to consumers, since these messages can be transparent and honest. Or at least appear so (more on this at influencers).
Social media can also be used to directly advertise; placing an advert on Facebook's Newsfeed, for example, can provide exposure of the brand to a large number of people.
Social media platforms also enable targeting specific audiences with advertising. Users of social media are then able to like, share, and comment on the advert; this turns the passive advertising consumers into active advertising producers since they can pass the advert's message on to their friends.
Companies using social media marketing have to keep up with the different social media platforms and stay on top of ongoing trends. Since the different platforms and trends attract different audiences, firms must be strategic about their use of social media to attract the right audience.
Moreover, the tone of the content can affect the efficacy of social media marketing. Companies such as fast food franchise Wendy's have used humor (such as shitposting) to advertise their products by poking fun at competitors such as McDonald's and Burger King. This particular example spawned a lot of fanart of the Wendy's mascot which circulated widely online, (particularly on sites like DeviantArt increasing the effect of the marketing campaign.
Other companies such as Juul have used hashtags (such as #ejuice and #eliquid) to promote themselves and their products.
Social media personalities, often referred to as "influencers", who are internet celebrities who have been employed and/or sponsored by marketers to promote products online. Research shows that digital endorsements seem to be successfully attracting social media users, especially younger consumers who have grown up in the digital age.
In 2013, the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) began to advise celebrities and sports stars to make it clear if they had been paid to tweet about a product or service by using the hashtag #spon or #ad within tweets containing endorsements, and the US Federal Trade Commission has issued similar guidelines.
The practice of harnessing social media personalities to market or promote a product or service to their following is commonly referred to as Influencer Marketing.
In 2019 The Cambridge Dictionary defines an "influencer" as any person (personality, blogger, journalist, celebrity) who has the ability to affect the opinions, behaviors, or purchases of others through the use of social media.
Marketing efforts can also take advantage of the peer effects in social media. Consumers tend to treat content on social media differently from traditional advertising (such as print ads), but these messages may be part of an interactive marketing strategy involving modeling, reinforcement, and social interaction mechanisms.
A 2012 study focused on this communication described how communication between peers through social media can affect purchase intentions: a direct impact through conformity, and an indirect impact by stressing product engagement. This study indicated that social media communication between peers about a product had a positive relationship with product engagement.
Politics:
Main article: Social media use in politics
See also:
- Social impact of YouTube,
- Use of social media in the Wisconsin protests,
- and Social media and political communication in the United States
Social media have a range of uses in political processes and activities. Social media have been championed as allowing anyone with access to an Internet connection to become a content creator and as empowering users.
The role of social media in democratizing media participation, which proponents herald as ushering in a new era of participatory democracy, with all users able to contribute news and comments, may fall short of the ideals, given that many often follow like-minded individuals, as noted by Philip Pond and Jeff Lewis.
Online-media audience-members are largely passive consumers, while content creation is dominated by a small number of users who post comments and write new content.
Online engagement does not always translate into real-world action, and Howard, Busch and Sheets have argued that there is a digital divide in North America because of the continent's history, culture, and geography.
Younger generations are becoming more involved in politics due to the increase of political news posted on social media. Political campaigns are targeting millennials online via social-media posts in hope that they will increase their political engagement.
Social media was influential in the widespread attention given to the revolutionary outbreaks in the Middle East and North Africa during 2011.
During the Tunisian revolution in 2011, people used Facebook to organize meetings and protests. However, debate persists about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of political change.
Social-media footprints of candidates for political office have grown during the last decade - the 2016 United States presidential election provided good examples. Dounoucos et al. noted that Twitter use by candidates was unprecedented during that election cycle. Most candidates in the United States have a Twitter account. The public has also increased their reliance on social-media sites for political information. In the European Union, social media have amplified political messages.
Militant groups have begun to see social media as a major organizing and recruiting tool. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as ISIL, ISIS, and Daesh) has used social media to promote its cause. In 2014, #AllEyesonISIS went viral on Arabic Twitter.
ISIS produces an online magazine named the Islamic State Report to recruit more fighters. State-sponsored cyber-groups have weaponized social-media platforms to attack governments in the United States, the European Union, and the Middle East.
Although phishing attacks via email are the most commonly used tactic to breach government networks, phishing attacks on social media rose 500% in 2016.
Increasing political influence on social media saw several campaigns running from one political side against another. Often, foreign-originated social-media campaigns have sought to influence political opinion in another country. For example, a Twitter campaign run in Saudi Arabia produced thousands of tweets about Hillary Clinton's trending on #HillaryEmails by supporters of Mohammed bin Salman.
It also involved Riyadh's social-marketing firm, SMAAT, which had a history of running such campaigns on Twitter. Politicians themselves use social media to their advantage - and to spread their campaign messages and to influence voters.
Due to the growing abuse of human rights in Bahrain, activists have used social media to report acts of violence and injustice. They publicized the brutality of government authorities and police, who were detaining, torturing and threatening many individuals.
On the other hand, Bahrain's government was using social media to track and target rights activists and individuals who were critical of the authorities; the government has stripped citizenship from over 1,000 activists as punishment.
Hiring:
Main article: Social media use in hiring
Some employers examine job applicants' social media profiles as part of the hiring assessment. This issue raises many ethical questions that some consider an employer's right and others consider discrimination. Many Western-European countries have already implemented laws that restrict the regulation of social media in the workplace.
States including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin have passed legislation that protects potential employees and current employees from employers that demand that they provide their usernames and/or passwords for any social media accounts.
Use of social media by young people has caused significant problems for some applicants who are active on social media when they try to enter the job market. A survey of 17,000 young people in six countries in 2013 found that 1 in 10 people aged 16 to 34 have been rejected for a job because of online comments they made on social media websites.
For potential employees, Social media services such as LinkedIn have shown to affect deception in resumes. While these services do not affect how often deception happens, they affect the types of deception that occur. LinkedIn resumes are less deceptive about prior work experience but more deceptive about interests and hobbies.
Science:
The use of social media in science communications offers extensive opportunities for exchanging scientific information, ideas, opinions and publications. Scientists use social media to share their scientific knowledge and new findings on platforms such as ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Academia.edu.
Among these the most common type of social media that scientists use is Twitter and blogs. It has been found that Twitter increased the scientific impact in the community. The use of social media has improved and elevated the interaction between scientists, reporters, and the general public.
Over 495,000 opinions were shared on Twitter related to science in one year (between September 1, 2010, and August 31, 2011), which was an increase compared with past years. Science related blogs motivate public interest in learning, following, and discussing science. Blogs use textual depth and graphical videos that provide the reader with a dynamic way to interact with scientific information.
Both Twitter and blogs can be written quickly and allow the reader to interact in real time with the authors. However, the popularity of social media platforms changes quickly and scientists need to keep pace with changes in social media. In terms of organized uses of scientific social media, one study in the context of climate change has shown that climate scientist and scientific institutions played a minimal role in online debate, while nongovernmental organizations played a larger role.
Academia:
Signals from social media are used to assess academic publications, as well as for different scientific approaches. Another study found that most of the health science students acquiring academic materials from others through social media.
School admissions:
It is not only an issue in the workplace but an issue in post-secondary school admissions as well. There have been situations where students have been forced to give up their social media passwords to school administrators. There are inadequate laws to protect a student's social media privacy, and organizations such as the ACLU are pushing for more privacy protection, as it is an invasion.
They urge students who are pressured to give up their account information to tell the administrators to contact a parent or lawyer before they take the matter any further. Although they are students, they still have the right to keep their password-protected information private.
According to a 2007 journal, before social media admissions officials in the United States used SAT and other standardized test scores, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, and high school report cards to determine whether to accept or deny an applicant.
In the 2010s, while colleges and universities still used these traditional methods to evaluate applicants, these institutions were increasingly accessing applicants' social media profiles to learn about their character and activities. According to Kaplan, Inc, a corporation that provides higher education preparation, in 2012 27% of admissions officers used Google to learn more about an applicant, with 26% checking Facebook.
Students whose social media pages include offensive jokes or photos, racist or homophobic comments, photos depicting the applicant engaging in illegal drug use or drunkenness, and so on, may be screened out from admission processes.
"One survey in July 2017, by the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers, found that 11 percent of respondents said they had refused to admit an applicant based on social media content. This includes 8 percent of public institutions, where the First Amendment applies. The survey found that 30 percent of institutions acknowledged reviewing the personal social media accounts of applicants at least some of the time."
Court cases:
Social media comments and images are being used in a range of court cases including employment law, child custody/child support and insurance disability claims. After an Apple employee criticized his employer on Facebook, he was fired. When the former employee sued Apple for unfair dismissal, the court, after seeing the man's Facebook posts, found in favor of Apple, as the man's social media comments breached Apple's policies.
After a heterosexual couple broke up, the man posted "violent rap lyrics from a song that talked about fantasies of killing the rapper's ex-wife" and made threats against him. The court found him guilty and he was sentenced to jail.
In a disability claims case, a woman who fell at work claimed that she was permanently injured; the employer used the social media posts of her travels and activities to counter her claims.
Courts do not always admit social media evidence, in part, because screenshots can be faked or tampered with. Judges are taking emojis into account to assess statements made on social media; in one Michigan case where a person alleged that another person had defamed them in an online comment, the judge disagreed, noting that there was an emoji after the comment which indicated that it was a joke.
In a 2014 case in Ontario against a police officer regarding alleged assault of a protester during the G20 summit, the court rejected the Crown's application to use a digital photo of the protest that was anonymously posted online, because there was no metadata proving when the photo was taken and it could have been digitally altered.
Use by individuals:
As a news source:
Main article: Social media as a news source
As of March 2010, in the United States, 81% of users look online for news of the weather, first and foremost, with the percentage seeking national news at 73%, 52% for sports news, and 41% for entertainment or celebrity news.
According to CNN, in 2010 75% of people got their news forwarded through e-mail or social media posts, whereas 37% of people shared a news item via Facebook or Twitter. Facebook and Twitter make news a more participatory experience than before as people share news articles and comment on other people's posts.
Rainie and Wellman (2012) have argued that media making now has become a participation work, which changes communication systems. However, 27% of respondents worry about the accuracy of a story on a blog. From a 2019 poll, Pew Research Center found that Americans are wary about the ways that social media sites share news and certain content.
This wariness of accuracy is on the rise as social media sites are increasingly exploited by aggregated new sources which stitch together multiple feeds to develop plausible correlations. Hemsley and colleagues (2018) refer to this phenomenon as "pseudoknowledge" which develop false narratives and fake news that are supported through general analysis and ideology rather than facts.
Social media as a news source was further questioned as spikes in evidence surround major news events such as was captured in the United States 2016 presidential election and again during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
As a social tool:
Social media are used to fulfill perceived social needs such as socializing with friends and family as well as romance and flirting, but not all needs can be fulfilled by social media. For example, a 2003 article found that lonely individuals are more likely to use the Internet for emotional support than those who are not lonely.
A nationally representative survey from Common Sense Media in 2018 found that 40% of American teens ages 13–17 thought that social media was “extremely” or “very” important for them to keep up with their friends on a day-to-basis. The same survey found that 33% of teens said social media was extremely or very important to have meaningful conversations with close friends, and 23% of teens said social media was extremely or very important to document and share highlights from their lives.
Recently, a Gallup poll from May 2020 showed that 53% of adult social media users in the United States thought that social media was a very or moderately important way to keep in touch with those they cannot otherwise see in-person due to social distancing measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sherry Turkle explores this topic in her book Alone Together as she discusses how people confuse social media usage with authentic communication. She posits that people tend to act differently online and are less afraid to hurt each other's feelings.
Additionally, some online behaviors can cause stress and anxiety, due to the permanence of online posts, the fear of being hacked, or of universities and employers exploring social media pages. Turkle also speculates that people are beginning to prefer texting to face-to-face communication, which can contribute to feelings of loneliness.
Nationally representative surveys from 2019 have found this to be the case with teens in the United States and Mexico. Some researchers have also found that exchanges that involved direct communication and reciprocation of messages correlated with fewer feelings of loneliness.
However, that same study showed that passively using social media without sending or receiving messages does not make people feel less lonely unless they were lonely to begin with.
The term social media "stalking" or "creeping" have been popularized over the years, and this refers to looking at the person's "timeline, status updates, tweets, and online bios" to find information about them and their activities.
While social media creeping is common, it is considered to be poor form to admit to a new acquaintance or new date that you have looked through his or her social media posts, particularly older posts, as this will indicate that you were going through their old history.
A sub-category of creeping is creeping ex-partners' social media posts after a breakup to investigate if there is a new partner or new dating; this can lead to preoccupation with the ex, rumination, and negative feelings, all of which postpone recovery and increase feelings of loss.
Catfishing has become more prevalent since the advent of social media. Relationships formed with catfish can lead to actions such as supporting them with money and catfish will typically make excuses as to why they cannot meet up or be viewed on camera.
As a self-presentational tool:
The more time people spend on Facebook, the less satisfied they feel about their life. Self-presentation theory explains that people will consciously manage their self-image or identity related information in social contexts.
In fact, a critical aspect of social networking sites is the time invested in customizing a personal profile, and encourage a sort of social currency based on likes, followers, and comments. Users also tend to segment their audiences based on the image they want to present, pseudonymity and use of multiple accounts across the same platform remain popular ways to negotiate platform expectations and segment audiences.
However, users may feel pressure to gain their peers' acceptance of their self-presentation.
For example, in a 2016 peer-reviewed article by Trudy Hui Hui Chua and Leanne Chang, the authors found that teenage girls manipulate their self-presentation on social media to achieve a sense of beauty that is projected by their peers.
These authors also discovered that teenage girls compare themselves to their peers on social media and present themselves in certain ways in an effort to earn regard and acceptance. However, when users do not feel like they reached this regard and acceptance, this can actually lead to problems with self-confidence and self-satisfaction.
A nationally representative survey of American teens ages 13–17 by Common Sense Media found that 45% said getting “likes” on posts is at least somewhat important, and 26% at least somewhat agreed that they feel bad about themselves if nobody comments on or “likes” their photos.
Some evidence suggests that perceived rejection may lead to feeling emotional pain, and some may partake in online retaliation such as online bullying. Conversely, according to research from UCLA, users' reward circuits in their brains are more active when their own photos are liked by more peers.
Literature suggests that social media can breed a negative feedback loop of viewing and uploading photos, self-comparison, feelings of disappointment when perceived social success is not achieved, and disordered body perception.
In fact, one study shows that the microblogging platform, Pinterest is directly associated with disordered dieting behavior, indicating that for those who frequently look at exercise or dieting "pins" there is a greater chance that they will engage in extreme weight-loss and dieting behavior.
As a health behavior change and reinforcement tool:
Social media can also function as a supportive system for adolescents' health, because by using social media, adolescents are able to mobilize around health issues that they themselves deem relevant. For example, in a clinical study among adolescent patients undergoing treatment for obesity, the participants' expressed that through social media, they could find personalized weight-loss content as well as social support among other adolescents with obesity.
While, social media can provide such information there are a considerable amount of uninformed and incorrect sources which promote unhealthy and dangerous methods of weight loss.
As stated by the national eating disorder association there is a high correlation between weight loss content and disorderly eating among women who have been influenced by this negative content.
Therefore, there is a need for people to evaluate and identify reliable health information, competencies commonly known as health literacy. This has led to efforts by governments and public health organizations to use social media to interact with users, to limited success.
Other social media, such as pro-anorexia sites, have been found in studies to cause significant risk of harm by reinforcing negative health-related behaviors through social networking, especially in adolescents.
Social media affects the way a person views themselves. The constant comparison to edited photos, of other individual's and their living situations, can cause many negative emotions.
This can lead to not eating, and isolation. As more and more people continue to use social media for the wrong reasons, it increases the feeling of loneliness in adults.
Further information:
During the coronavirus pandemic, the spread of information throughout social media regarding treatments against the virus has also influenced different health behaviors.
For example, People who use more social media and belief more in conspiracy theory in social media during the COVID-19 pandemic had worse mental health and is predictive of their compliance to health behaviors such as hand-washing during the pandemic.
Effects on individual and collective memory:
News media and television journalism have been a key feature in the shaping of American collective memory for much of the 20th century. Indeed, since the colonial era of the United States, news media has influenced collective memory and discourse about national development and trauma.
In many ways, mainstream journalists have maintained an authoritative voice as the storytellers of the American past. Their documentary-style narratives, detailed exposés, and their positions in the present make them prime sources for public memory.
Specifically, news media journalists have shaped collective memory on nearly every major national event—from the deaths of social and political figures to the progression of political hopefuls.
Journalists provide elaborate descriptions of commemorative events in U.S. history and contemporary popular cultural sensations. Many Americans learn the significance of historical events and political issues through news media, as they are presented on popular news stations.
However, journalistic influence has grown less important, whereas social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, provide a constant supply of alternative news sources for users.
As social networking becomes more popular among older and younger generations, sites such as Facebook and YouTube can gradually undermine the traditionally authoritative voices of news media. For example, American citizens contest media coverage of various social and political events as they see fit, inserting their voices into the narratives about America's past and present and shaping their own collective memories.
An example of this is the public explosion of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Sanford, Florida. News media coverage of the incident was minimal until social media users made the story recognizable through their constant discussion of the case. Approximately one month after Martin's death, its online coverage by everyday Americans garnered national attention from mainstream media journalists, in turn exemplifying media activism.
In some ways, the spread of this tragic event through alternative news sources parallels that of Emmett Till—whose murder by lynching in 1955 became a national story after it was circulated in African-American and Communist newspapers.
Negative interpersonal interactions:
Further information: Cyberbullying
Social media use sometimes involves negative interactions between users. Angry or emotional conversations can lead to real-world interactions, which can get users into dangerous situations. Some users have experienced threats of violence online and have feared these threats manifesting themselves offline.
Related issues include cyberbullying, online harassment, and 'trolling'. According to cyberbullying statistics from the i-Safe Foundation, over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyberbullying. Both the bully and the victim are negatively affected, and the intensity, duration, and frequency of bullying are the three aspects that increase the negative effects on both of them.
Social comparison:
One phenomenon that is commonly studied with social media is the issue of social comparison. People compare their own lives to the lives of their friends through their friends' posts.
Because people are motivated to portray themselves in a way that is appropriate to the situation and serves their best interests, often the things posted online are the positive aspects of people's lives, making other people question why their own lives are not as exciting or fulfilling.
One study in 2017 found that problematic social media use (i.e., feeling addicted to social media) was related to lower life satisfaction and self-esteem scores; the authors speculate that users may feel if their life is not exciting enough to put online it is not as good as their friends or family.
Studies have shown that self-comparison on social media can have dire effects on physical and mental health because they give us the ability to seek approval and compare ourselves.
In one study, women reported that social media are the most influential sources of their body image satisfaction; while men reported them as the second most impacting factor.
Social media has allowed for people to be constantly surrounded and aware of celebrity images and influencers who hold strong online presence with the number of followers they have. This constant online presence has meant that people are far more aware of what others look like and as such body comparisons have become an issue, as people are far more aware of what the desired body type is.
A study produced by King university showed that 87% of women and 65% of men compared themselves to images found on social media.
There are efforts to combat these negative effects, such as the use of the tag #instagramversusreality and #instagramversusreallife, that have been used to promote body positivity.
In a related study, women aged 18–30 were shown posts using this hashtag that contained side-by-side images of women in the same clothes and setting, but one image was enhanced for Instagram, while the other was an unedited, “realistic” version. Women who participated in this experiment noted a decrease in body dissatisfaction.
Sleep disturbance:
According to a study released in 2017 by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the link between sleep disturbance and the use of social media was clear. It concluded that blue light had a part to play—and how often they logged on, rather than time spent on social media sites, was a higher predictor of disturbed sleep, suggesting "an obsessive 'checking'".
The strong relationship of social media use and sleep disturbance has significant clinical ramifications for younger adults health and well-being. In a recent study, we have learned that people in the highest quartile for social media use per week report the most sleep disturbance. The median number of minutes of social media use per day is 61 minutes.
Lastly, we have learned that females are more inclined to experience high levels of sleep disturbance than males. Many teenagers suffer from sleep deprivation as they spend long hours at night on their phones, and this, in turn, could affect grades as they will be tired and unfocused in school.
In a study from 2011, it was found that time spent on Facebook has a strong negative relationship with overall GPA, but it was unclear if this was related to sleep disturbances. Since blue light has increasingly become an issue smartphone developers have added a night mode feature that does not cause as much strain to the eyes as a blue light would.
Emotional effects:
See also: Social media and suicide
One studied emotional effect of social media is 'Facebook depression', which is a type of depression that affects adolescents who spend too much of their free time engaging with social media sites. This may lead to problems such as reclusiveness which can negatively damage one's health by creating feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem among young people.
Using a phone to look at social media before bed has become a popular trend among teenagers and this has led to a lack of sleep and inability to stay awake during school. Social media applications curate content that encourages users to keep scrolling to the point where they lose track of time.
There are studies that show children's self-esteem is positively affected by positive comments on social media and negatively affected self-esteem by negative comments. This affects the way that people look at themselves on a "worthiness" scale.
A 2017 study of almost 6,000 adolescent students showed that those who self-reported addiction-like symptoms of social media use were more likely to report low self-esteem and high levels of depressive symptoms. From the findings on a population-based study, there is about 37% increase in the likelihood of major depression among adolescents.
In a different study conducted in 2007, those who used the most multiple social media platforms (7 to 11) had more than three times the risk of depression and anxiety than people who used the fewest (0 to 2).
A second emotional effect is social media burnout, which is defined by Bo Han as ambivalence, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. Ambivalence refers to a user's confusion about the benefits she can get from using a social media site. Emotional exhaustion refers to the stress a user has when using a social media site.
Depersonalization refers to the emotional detachment from a social media site a user experiences. The three burnout factors can all negatively influence the user's social media continuance. This study provides an instrument to measure the burnout a user can experience when his or her social media "friends" are generating an overwhelming amount of useless information (e.g., "what I had for dinner", "where I am now").
A third emotional effect is the "fear of missing out" (FOMO), which is defined as the "pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent." FOMO has been classified by some as a form of social anxiety. It is associated with checking updates on friends' activities on social media.
Some speculate that checking updates on friends' activities on social media may be associated with negative influences on people's psychological health and well-being because it could contribute to negative mood and depressed feelings.
Looking at friends' stories or posts on various social media applications can lead users to feel left out and become upset because they are not having as fun as others. This is a very common issue between teen users of certain apps and it continues to affect their personal well-being.
On the other hand, social media can sometimes have a supportive effect on individuals who use it. Twitter has been used more by the medical community. While Twitter can facilitate academic discussion among health professionals and students, it can also provide a supportive community for these individuals by fostering a sense of community and allowing individuals to support each other through tweets, likes, and comments.
Social impacts:
Disparity:
Further information: Digital divide
The digital divide is a measure of disparity in the level of access to technology between households, socioeconomic levels or other demographic categories. People who are homeless, living in poverty, elderly people and those living in rural or remote communities may have little or no access to computers and the Internet; in contrast, middle class and upper-class people in urban areas have very high rates of computer and Internet access.
Other models argue that within a modern information society, some individuals produce Internet content while others only consume it, which could be a result of disparities in the education system where only some teachers integrate technology into the classroom and teach critical thinking. While social media has differences among age groups, a 2010 study in the United States found no racial divide.
Some zero-rating programs offer subsidized data access to certain websites on low-cost plans. Critics say that this is an anti-competitive program that undermines net neutrality and creates a "walled garden" for platforms like Facebook Zero. A 2015 study found that 65% of Nigerians, 61% of Indonesians, and 58% of Indians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in the US.
Eric Ehrmann contends that social media in the form of public diplomacy create a patina of inclusiveness that covers traditional economic interests that are structured to ensure that wealth is pumped up to the top of the economic pyramid, perpetuating the digital divide and post-Marxian class conflict.
He also voices concern over the trend that finds social utilities operating in a quasi-libertarian global environment of oligopoly that requires users in economically challenged nations to spend high percentages of annual income to pay for devices and services to participate in the social media lifestyle.
Neil Postman also contends that social media will increase an information disparity between "winners" – who are able to use the social media actively – and "losers" – who are not familiar with modern technologies or who do not have access to them.
People with high social media skills may have better access to information about job opportunities, potential new friends, and social activities in their area, which may enable them to improve their standard of living and their quality of life.
Political polarization:
Further information on the political effects of media in general: Mediatization (media)
According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans at least occasionally receive news from social media. Because of algorithms on social media which filter and display news content which are likely to match their users' political preferences (known as a filter bubble), a potential impact of receiving news from social media includes an increase in political polarization due to selective exposure.
Political polarization refers to when an individual's stance on a topic is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a specific political party or ideology than on other factors. Selective exposure occurs when an individual favors information that supports their beliefs and avoids information that conflicts with their beliefs.
A study by Hayat and Samuel-Azran conducted during the 2016 U.S. presidential election observed an "echo chamber" effect of selective exposure among 27,811 Twitter users following the content of cable news shows.
The Twitter users observed in the study were found to have little interaction with users and content whose beliefs were different from their own, possibly heightening polarization effects.
Another 2016 study using U.S. elections, conducted by Evans and Clark, revealed gender differences in the political use of Twitter between candidates. While politics is a male dominated arena, on social media the situation appears to be the opposite, with women discussing policy issues at a higher rate than their male counterparts.
The study concluded that an increase in female candidates directly correlates to an increase in the amount of attention paid to policy issues, potentially heightening political polarization.
Efforts to combat selective exposure in social media may also cause an increase in political polarization. A study examining Twitter activity conducted by Bail et al. paid Democrat and Republican participants to follow Twitter handles whose content was different from their political beliefs (Republicans received liberal content and Democrats received conservative content) over a six-week period.
At the end of the study, both Democrat and Republican participants were found to have increased political polarization in favor of their own parties, though only Republican participants had an increase that was statistically significant.
Though research has shown evidence that social media plays a role in increasing political polarization, it has also shown evidence that social media use leads to a persuasion of political beliefs.
An online survey consisting of 1,024 U.S. participants was conducted by Diehl, Weeks, and Gil de Zuñiga, which found that individuals who use social media were more likely to have their political beliefs persuaded than those who did not. In particular, those using social media as a means to receive their news were the most likely to have their political beliefs changed.
Diehl et al. found that the persuasion reported by participants was influenced by the exposure to diverse viewpoints they experienced, both in the content they saw as well as the political discussions they participated in.
Similarly, a study by Hardy and colleagues conducted with 189 students from a Midwestern state university examined the persuasive effect of watching a political comedy video on Facebook.
Hardy et al. found that after watching a Facebook video of the comedian/political commentator John Oliver performing a segment on his show, participants were likely to be persuaded to change their viewpoint on the topic they watched (either payday lending or the Ferguson protests) to one that was closer to the opinion expressed by Oliver.
Furthermore, the persuasion experienced by the participants was found to be reduced if they viewed comments by Facebook users which contradicted the arguments made by Oliver.
Research has also shown that social media use may not have an effect on polarization at all. A U.S. national survey of 1,032 participants conducted by Lee et al. found that participants who used social media were more likely to be exposed to a diverse number of people and amount of opinion than those who did not, although using social media was not correlated with a change in political polarization for these participants.
In a study examining the potential polarizing effects of social media on the political views of its users, Mihailidis and Viotty suggest that a new way of engaging with social media must occur to avoid polarization.
The authors note that media literacies (described as methods which give people skills to critique and create media) are important to using social media in a responsible and productive way, and state that these literacies must be changed further in order to have the most effectiveness.
In order to decrease polarization and encourage cooperation among social media users, Mihailidis and Viotty suggest that media literacies must focus on teaching individuals how to connect with other people in a caring way, embrace differences, and understand the ways in which social media has a real impact on the political, social, and cultural issues of the society they are a part of.
Stereotyping:
Recent research has demonstrated that social media, and media in general, have the power to increase the scope of stereotypes not only in children but people of all ages. Both cases of stereotyping of the youth and the elderly are prime examples of ageism. The presumed characteristics of the individual being stereotyped can have both negative and positive connotations but frequently carry an opposing viewpoint.
For example, the youth on social media platforms are often depicted as lazy, immature individuals who oftentimes have no drive or passion for other activities. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the youth were accused for spreading the disease and were blamed for the continuous lockdowns across the world.
These misrepresentations make it difficult for the youth to find new efforts and prove others wrong, especially when a large group of individuals believe that the stereotypes are highly accurate. Considering the youthful groups that are present on social media are frequently in a new stage of their lives and preparing to make life-changing decisions, it is essential that the stereotypes are diminished so that they don’t feel invalidated.
Further, stereotyping often occurs for the elderly as they are presumed to be a group of individuals who are unaware of the proper functions and slang usage on social media.
These stereotypes often seek to exclude older generations from participating in trends or engaging them in other activities on digital platforms.
In Spain:
Three researchers at Blanquerna University, Spain, examined how adolescents interact with social media and specifically Facebook. They suggest that interactions on the website encourage representing oneself in the traditional gender constructs, which helps maintain gender stereotypes.
The authors noted that girls generally show more emotion in their posts and more frequently change their profile pictures, which according to some psychologists can lead to self-objectification.
On the other hand, the researchers found that boys prefer to portray themselves as strong, independent, and powerful. For example, men often post pictures of objects and not themselves, and rarely change their profile pictures; using the pages more for entertainment and pragmatic reasons.
In contrast, girls generally post more images that include themselves, friends and things they have emotional ties to, which the researchers attributed that to the higher emotional intelligence of girls at a younger age.
The authors sampled over 632 girls and boys from the ages of 12–16 from Spain in an effort to confirm their beliefs. The researchers concluded that masculinity is more commonly associated with positive psychological well-being, while femininity displays less psychological well-being.
Furthermore, the researchers discovered that people tend not to completely conform to either stereotype, and encompass desirable parts of both. Users of Facebook generally use their profiles to reflect that they are a "normal" person. In that study, social media was found to uphold gender stereotypes both feminine and masculine.
The researchers also noted that traditional stereotypes are often upheld by boys more so than girls. The authors described how neither stereotype was entirely positive, but most people viewed masculine values as more positive.
Effects on youth communication:
Social media has allowed for mass cultural exchange and intercultural communication. As different cultures have different value systems, cultural themes, grammar, and world views, they also communicate differently.
The emergence of social media platforms fused together different cultures and their communication methods, blending together various cultural thinking patterns and expression styles.
Social media has affected the way youth communicate, by introducing new forms of language. Abbreviations have been introduced to cut down on the time it takes to respond online. The commonly known "LOL" has become globally recognized as the abbreviation for "laugh out loud" thanks to social media and use by people of all ages particularly as people grow up.
Another trend that influences the way youth communicates is (through) the use of hashtags. With the introduction of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the hashtag was created to easily organize and search for information. Hashtags can be used when people want to advocate for a movement, store content or tweets from a movement for future use, and allow other social media users to contribute to a discussion about a certain movement by using existing hashtags.
Using hashtags as a way to advocate for something online makes it easier and more accessible for more people to acknowledge it around the world. As hashtags such as #tbt ("throwback Thursday") become a part of online communication, it influenced the way in which youth share and communicate in their daily lives.
Because of these changes in linguistics and communication etiquette, researchers of media semiotics have found that this has altered youth's communications habits and more.
Social media has offered a new platform for peer pressure with both positive and negative communication. From Facebook comments to likes on Instagram, how the youth communicate, and what is socially acceptable is now heavily based on social media.
Social media does make kids and young adults more susceptible to peer pressure. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also shown that bullying, the making of non-inclusive friend groups, and sexual experimentation have increased situations related to cyberbullying, issues with privacy, and the act of sending sexual images or messages to someone's mobile device.
This includes issues of sexting and revenge porn among minors, and the resulting legal implications and issues, and resulting risk of trauma. On the other hand, social media also benefits the youth and how they communicate. Adolescents can learn basic social and technical skills that are essential in society.
Through the use of social media, kids and young adults are able to strengthen relationships by keeping in touch with friends and family, make more friends, and participate in community engagement activities and services.
Criticism, debate and controversy:
Criticisms of social media range from criticisms of the ease of use of specific platforms and their capabilities, disparity of information available, issues with trustworthiness and reliability of information presented, the impact of social media use on an individual's concentration, ownership of media content, and the meaning of interactions created by social media.
Although some social media platforms, such as servers in the decentralized Fediverse, offer users the opportunity to cross-post between independently run servers using a standard protocol such as ActivityPub, the dominant social network platforms have been criticized for poor interoperability between platforms, which leads to the creation of information silos, viz. isolated pockets of data contained in one social media platform.
However, it is also argued that social media has positive effects, such as allowing the democratization of the Internet while also allowing individuals to advertise themselves and form friendships.
Others have noted that the term "social" cannot account for technological features of a platform alone, hence the level of sociability should be determined by the actual performances of its users. There has been a dramatic decrease in face-to-face interactions as more and more social media platforms have been introduced with the threat of cyber-bullying and online sexual predators including groomers being more prevalent.
Social media may expose children to images of alcohol, tobacco, and sexual behaviors. In regards to cyber-bullying, it has been proven that individuals who have no experience with cyber-bullying often have a better well-being than individuals who have been bullied online.
Twitter is increasingly a target of heavy activity of marketers. Their actions focused on gaining massive numbers of followers, include use of advanced scripts and manipulation techniques that distort the prime idea of social media by abusing human trustfulness.
British-American entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen criticized social media in his 2007 book The Cult of the Amateur, writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."
This is also relative to the issue "justice" in the social network. For example, the phenomenon "Human flesh search engine" in Asia raised the discussion of "private-law" brought by social network platform.
Comparative media professor José van Dijck contends in her book The Culture of Connectivity (2013) that to understand the full weight of social media, their technological dimensions should be connected to the social and the cultural. She critically describes six social media platforms.
One of her findings is the way Facebook had been successful in framing the term 'sharing' in such a way that third party use of user data is neglected in favor of intra-user connectedness. The fragmentation of modern society, in part due to social media, has been likened to a modern Tower of Babel.
Essena O'Neill attracted international coverage when she explicitly left social media.
Trustworthiness and reliability:
There has been speculation that social media has become perceived as a trustworthy source of information by a large number of people. The continuous interpersonal connectivity on social media, for example, may lead to people regarding peer recommendations as indicators of the reliability of information sources. This trust can be exploited by marketers, who can utilize consumer-created content about brands and products to influence public perceptions.
The trustworthiness of information can be improved by fact-checking. Some social media has started to employ this.
Evgeny Morozov, a 2009–2010 Yahoo fellow at Georgetown University, contended that information uploaded to Twitter may have little relevance to the masses of people who do not use Twitter. In an article for the magazine Dissent titled "Iran: Downside to the 'Twitter Revolution'", Morozov wrote:
- [B]y its very design Twitter only adds to the noise: it's simply impossible to pack much context into its 140 characters.
- All other biases are present as well: in a country like Iran it's mostly pro-Western, technology-friendly and iPod-carrying young people who are the natural and most frequent users of Twitter. They are a tiny and, most important, extremely untypical segment of the Iranian population (the number of Twitter users in Iran — a country of more than seventy million people — was estimated at less than twenty thousand before the protests).
- In contrast, in the United States (where Twitter originated), the social network had 306 million accounts as of 2012.
Professor Matthew Auer of Bates College casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that social media are open and participatory. He also speculates on the emergence of "anti-social media" used as "instruments of pure control".
Data harvesting and data mining:
Further information: Social media mining
Social media 'mining' is a type of data mining, a technique of analyzing data to detect patterns. Social media mining is a process of representing, analyzing, and extracting actionable patterns from data collected from people's activities on social media.
Google mines data in many ways including using an algorithm in Gmail to analyze information in emails. This use of the information will then affect the type of advertisements shown to the user when they use Gmail.
Facebook has partnered with many data mining companies such as Datalogix and BlueKai to use customer information for targeted advertising. Massive amounts of data from social platforms allows scientists and machine learning researchers to extract insights and build product features.
Ethical questions of the extent to which a company should be able to utilize a user's information have been called "big data". Users tend to click through Terms of Use agreements when signing up on social media platforms, and they do not know how their information will be used by companies. This leads to questions of privacy and surveillance when user data is recorded. Some social media outlets have added capture time and Geotagging that helps provide information about the context of the data as well as making their data more accurate.
On April 10, 2018, in a hearing held in response to revelations of data harvesting by Cambridge Analytica, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, faced questions from senators on a variety of issues, from privacy to the company's business model and the company's mishandling of data.
This was Mr. Zuckerberg's first appearance before Congress, prompted by the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign, harvested the data of an estimated 87 million Facebook users to psychologically profile voters during the 2016 election.
Zuckerberg was pressed to account for how third-party partners could take data without users’ knowledge. Lawmakers grilled the 33-year-old executive on the proliferation of so-called fake news on Facebook, Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and censorship of conservative media.
Critique of activism:
Further information: Social media activism
For The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, the role of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, in revolutions and protests is overstated. On one hand, social media makes it easier for individuals, and in this case activists, to express themselves. On the other hand, it is harder for that expression to have an impact.
Gladwell distinguishes between social media activism and high-risk activism, which brings real changes. Activism and especially high-risk activism involves strong-tie relationships, hierarchies, coordination, motivation, exposing oneself to high risks, making sacrifices.
Gladwell discusses that social media are built around weak ties and he argues that "social networks are effective at increasing participation — by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires." According to him, "Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice, but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice."
Disputing Gladwell's theory, in the study "Perceptions of Social Media for Politics: Testing the Slacktivism Hypothesis", Kwak and colleagues (2018) conducted a survey which found that people who are politically expressive on social media are also more likely to participate in offline political activity.
Ownership of content:
Social media content is generated through social media interactions done by users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms because it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Added to this is the danger to the security of information, which can be leaked to third parties with economic interests in the platform, or parasites who comb the data for their own databases.
Privacy:
Main article: Privacy concerns with social networking services
Privacy rights advocates warn users on social media about the collection of their personal data. Some information is captured without the user's knowledge or consent through electronic tracking and third-party applications.
Data may also be collected for law enforcement and governmental purposes, by social media intelligence using data mining techniques. Data and information may also be collected for third party use. When information is shared on social media, that information is no longer private.
There have been many cases in which young persons especially, share personal information, which can attract predators. It is very important to monitor what you share and to be aware of who you could potentially be sharing that information with.
Teens especially share significantly more information on the internet now than they have in the past. Teens are much more likely to share their personal information, such as email address, phone number, and school names.
Studies suggest that teens are not aware of what they are posting and how much of that information can be accessed by third parties.
There are arguments that "privacy is dead" and that with social media growing more and more, some heavy social media users appear to have become quite unconcerned with privacy.
Others argue, however, that people are still very concerned about their privacy, but are being ignored by the companies running these social networks, who can sometimes make a profit off of sharing someone's personal information. There is also a disconnect between social media user's words and their actions.
Studies suggest that surveys show that people want to keep their lives private, but their actions on social media suggest otherwise. Everyone leaves a trail when they use social media.
Every time someone creates a new social media account, they provide personal information that can include their name, birthdate, geographic location, and personal interests.
In addition, companies collect data on user behaviors. All of this data is stored and leveraged by companies to better target advertising to their users.
Another factor is ignorance of how accessible social media posts are. Some social media users who have been criticized for inappropriate comments stated that they did not realize that anyone outside their circle of friends would read their posts; in fact, on some social media sites, unless a user selects higher privacy settings, their content is shared with a wide audience.
According to a 2016 article diving into the topic of sharing privately and the effect social media has on expectations of privacy, "1.18 billion people will log into their Facebook accounts, 500 million tweets will be sent, and there will be 95 million photos and videos posted on Instagram" in a day.
Much of the privacy concerns individuals face stem from their own posts on a form of a social network. Users have the choice to share voluntarily and have been ingrained into society as routine and normative. Social media are a snapshot of our lives; a community we have created on the behaviors of sharing, posting, liking, and communicating. Sharing has become a phenomenon which social media and networks have uprooted and introduced to the world.
The idea of privacy is redundant; once something is posted, its accessibility remains constant even if we select who is potentially able to view it. People desire privacy in some shape or form, yet also contribute to social media, which makes it difficult to maintain privacy.
Mills offers options for reform which include copyright and the application of the law of confidence; more radically, a change to the concept of privacy itself.
A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 91% of Americans "agree" or "strongly agree" that people have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by all kinds of entities.
Some 80% of social media users said they were concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they share on social media platforms, and 64% said the government should do more to regulate advertisers.
According to the Wall Street Journal published on February 17, 2019, According to UK law, Facebook did not protect certain aspects of the user data.
The US government announced banning TikTok and WeChat from the States over national security concerns. The shutdown was announced for September 20, 2020. Access to TikTok was extended till 12 November 2020, and a federal court ruling on October 30, 2020, has blocked further implementation of restrictions that would lead to TikTok's shutdown.
Criticism of commercialization:
The commercial development of social media has been criticized as the actions of consumers in these settings have become increasingly value-creating, for example when consumers contribute to the marketing and branding of specific products by posting positive reviews.
As such, value-creating activities also increase the value of a specific product, which could, according to marketing professors Bernad Cova and Daniele Dalli (2009), lead to what they refer to as "double exploitation". Companies are getting consumers to create content for the companies' websites for which the consumers are not paid.
As social media usage has become increasingly widespread, social media has to a large extent come to be subjected to commercialization by marketing companies and advertising agencies.
In 2014 Christofer Laurell, a digital marketing researcher, suggested that the social media landscape currently consists of three types of places because of this development: consumer-dominated places, professionally dominated places and places undergoing commercialization.
As social media becomes commercialized, this process has been shown to create novel forms of value networks stretching between consumer and producer in which a combination of personal, private and commercial contents are created.
Debate over addiction:
Main article: Problematic social media
As one of the biggest preoccupations among adolescents is social media usage, in 2011 researchers began using the term "Facebook addiction disorder" (F.A.D.), a form of internet addiction disorder.
FAD is characterized by compulsive use of the social networking site Facebook, which generally results in physical or psychological complications. The disorder, although not classified in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or by the World Health Organization, has been the subject of several studies focusing on the negative effects of social media use on the psyche.
One German study published in 2017 investigated a correlation between extensive use of the social networking site and narcissism; the results were published in the journal PLoS One. According to the findings: "FAD was significantly positively related to the personality trait [of] narcissism and to negative mental health variables (depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms)."
As the number of SNS users increases, "SNS addiction" is emerging as a social problem. Concerns about excessive use of smartphones are not new, but the tendency to accelerate, especially in the COVID-19 era, seems clear. One thing that's creepy is that SNS addiction is not based on an individual's disposition or personality, but rather a result of the sophisticated design of SNS. (See Netflix series - Social dilemma)
When users take a break from SNS, they send all kinds of alarms to attract attention. They send an alarm to see who left a comment, who pressed like, and even to the comments that my acquaintance left elsewhere. AI is behind all these processes.
In the United States, the harmful effects of SNS addiction are revealed as the timing of the spread of SNS coincides with the rapid increase in suicide rates and suicide attempts among teenagers. There are only two types of industries that call customers "users", one for drugs and one for software, which is significant.
While these issues regarding social media addiction are continuous and increasing, there are ways to help reduce and curb one's social media obsessions. Turning off social media notifications (temporary or long-term) is one solution that can reduce social media addiction by reducing distraction, for those who struggle with the habit of constantly "refreshing" social media platforms and checking for new notifications.
However, a platform that came up with measures to prevent such addiction of SNS users has also emerged. Instagram has upgraded its function to inform users that they have seen all new posts by introducing the "all court up" function. Instagram also announced that it will soon add a "Usage checks" function that shows how much time it spends on Instagram. Experts advise that we should have a firm will to overcome SNS addiction.
Some feel that modern problems require modern solutions, so we are starting to see modern approaches like that of Dr. Alok Kanojia (a psychiatrist known online as Dr. K) who runs not only a coaching program but also YouTube and Twitch channels called HealthyGamerGG, where he talks about mental health and gaming, and conducts interviews.
Debate over use in academic settings:
Main articles:
Having social media in the classroom was a controversial topic in the 2010s. Many parents and educators have been fearful of the repercussions of having social media in the classroom.
There are concerns that social media tools can be misused for cyberbullying or sharing inappropriate content. As result, cell phones have been banned from some classrooms, and some schools have blocked many popular social media websites.
Many schools have realized that they need to loosen restrictions, teach digital citizenship skills, and even incorporate these tools into classrooms. Some schools permit students to use smartphones or tablet computers in class, as long as the students are using these devices for academic purposes, such as doing research.
Using Facebook in class allows for the integration of multimodal content such as student-created photographs and video and URLs to other texts, in a platform that many students are already familiar with.
Twitter can be used to enhance communication building and critical thinking and it provides students with an informal "back channel", and extend discussion outside of class time.
Censorship by governments:
Main article: Internet censorship
Social media often features in political struggles to control public perception and online activity.
In some countries, Internet police or secret police monitor or control citizens' use of social media. For example, in 2013 some social media was banned in Turkey after the Taksim Gezi Park protests.
Both Twitter and YouTube were temporarily suspended in the country by a court's decision. A new law, passed by Turkish Parliament, has granted immunity to Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) personnel. The TİB was also given the authority to block access to specific websites without the need for a court order. Yet TİB's 2014 blocking of Twitter was ruled by the constitutional court to violate free speech.
More recently, in the 2014 Thai coup d'état, the public was explicitly instructed not to 'share' or 'like' dissenting views on social media or face prison. In July of that same year, in response to WikiLeaks' release of a secret suppression order made by the Victorian Supreme Court, media lawyers were quoted in the Australian media to the effect that "anyone who tweets a link to the WikiLeaks report, posts it on Facebook, or shares it in any way online could also face charges".
On 27 July 2020, in Egypt, two women were sentenced to two years of imprisonment for posting TikTok videos, which the government claims are “violating family values”.
Decentralization and open standards:
Mastodon, GNU social, Diaspora, Friendica and other compatible software packages operate as a loose federation of mostly volunteer-operated servers, called the Fediverse, which connect with each other through the open source protocol ActivityPub.
In early 2019, Mastodon successfully blocked the spread of violent right-wing extremism when the Twitter alternative Gab tried to associate with Mastodon, and their independent servers quickly contained its dissemination.
In December 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made a similar suggestion, stating that efforts would be taken to achieve an "open and decentralized standard for social media". Rather than "de-platforming", such standards would allow a more scalable, and customizable approach to content moderation and censorship, and involve a number of companies, in the way that e-mail servers work.
Deplatforming:
Main articles: Deplatforming and Twitter suspensions
Deplatforming is a form of Internet censorship in which controversial speakers or speech are suspended, banned, or otherwise shut down by social media platforms and other service providers that normally provide a venue for free expression.
These kinds of actions are similar to alternative dispute resolution. As early as 2015, platforms such as Reddit began to enforce selective bans based, for example, on terms of service that prohibit "hate speech".
According to technology journalist Declan McCullagh, "Silicon Valley's efforts to pull the plug on dissenting opinions" have included, as of 2018, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube "devising excuses to suspend ideologically disfavored accounts".
Law professor Glenn Reynolds dubbed 2018 the "Year of De-platforming", in an August 2018 article in The Wall Street Journal. According to Reynolds, in 2018, "the internet giants decided to slam the gates on a number of people and ideas they don't like. If you rely on someone else's platform to express unpopular ideas, especially ideas on the right, you're now at risk."
Reynolds cited Alex Jones, Gavin McInnes and Dennis Prager as prominent 2018 victims of deplatforming based on their political views, noting, "Extremists and controversialists on the left have been relatively safe from de-platforming."
Most people see social media platforms as censoring objectionable political views.
Reproduction of class distinctions:
According to Danah Boyd (2011), the media plays a large role in shaping people's perceptions of specific social networking services.
When looking at the site MySpace, after adults started to realize how popular the site was becoming with teens, news media became heavily concerned with teen participation and the potential dangers they faced using the site. As a result, teens avoided joining the site because of the associated risks (e.g. child predators and lack of control), and parents began to publicly denounce the site. Ultimately, the site was labeled as dangerous, and many were detracted from interacting with the site.
As Boyd also describes, when Facebook initially launched in 2004, it solely targeted college students and access was intentionally limited. Facebook started as a Harvard-only social networking service before expanding to all other Ivy League schools. It then made its way to other top universities and ultimately to a wider range of schools.
Because of its origins, some saw Facebook as an "elite" social networking service. While it was very open and accepting to some, it seemed to outlaw and shun out most others who didn't fit that "elite" categorization. These narratives propagated by the media influenced the large movement of teenage users from one social networking service to another.
Use by extremist groups:
Main article: Terrorism and social media
According to LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media (2018) by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, the use of effective social media marketing techniques is not only limited to celebrities, corporations, and governments, but also extremist groups to carry out political objectives based on extremist ideologies.
The use of social media by ISIS and Al-Qaeda has been used primarily to influence operations in areas of operation and gain the attention of sympathizers of extremist ideologies.
Social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and various encrypted-messaging applications have been used to increase the recruiting of members into these extremist groups, both locally and internationally.
Larger platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and various others have received backlash for allowing this type of content on their platform (see Use of social media by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The use of social media to further extremist objectives is not only limited to Islamic terrorism, but also extreme nationalist groups across the world, and more prominently, right wing extremist groups based out of the United States.
2021 United States Capitol attack:
Main article: 2021 United States Capitol attack
As many of the traditional social media platforms banned hate speech (see Online hate speech), several platforms have become popular among right-wing extremists to carry out planning and communication of thoughts and organized events; these application became known as "Alt-tech".
Platforms such as Telegram, Parler, and Gab were used during the 2021 storming of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. The use of this social media was used to coordinate attacks on the Capitol.
Several members within these groups shared tips on how to avoid law enforcement and what their plans were with regards to carrying out their objectives; some users called for killings of law enforcement and politicians.
Deceased users:
Further information: Death and the Internet
Social media content, like most content on the web, will continue to persist unless the user deletes it. This brings up the inevitable question of what to do once a social media user dies, and no longer has access to their content.
As it is a topic that is often left undiscussed, it is important to note that each social media platform, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, has created its own guidelines for users who have died.
In most cases on social media, the platforms require a next-of-kin to prove that the user is deceased, and then give them the option of closing the account or maintaining it in a 'legacy' status. Ultimately, social media users should make decisions about what happens to their social media accounts before they pass, and make sure their instructions are passed on to their next-of-kin.
See also:
- Attention inequality
- Augmented reality
- Citizen media
- Coke Zero Facial Profiler
- Connectivism (learning theory)
- Connectivity (media)
- Culture jamming
- Deplatforming
- Human impact of Internet use
- Internet politics
- List of online video platforms
- List of photo sharing websites
- List of social bookmarking websites
- List of social networking services
- Metcalfe's law
- MMORPG
- Networked learning
- New media
- Online presence management
- Online research community
- Participatory media
- Social media and the Arab Spring
- Social media and psychology
- Social media detoxification
- Social media mining
- Social media optimization
- Social media surgery
- Media related to Social media at Wikimedia Commons
Below, we present alternatives to Zoom, as provided by PC Magazine
Zoom Alternatives: Best Free Services for Group Video Chatting During the Pandemic
Zoom Meetings has been the breakout hit for connecting while quarantined, but not everyone can or should use it. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent choices for group video chats—for both work and play. By Michael Muchmore April 9, 2020
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
Pictured below: Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans
Zoom Alternatives: Best Free Services for Group Video Chatting During the Pandemic
Zoom Meetings has been the breakout hit for connecting while quarantined, but not everyone can or should use it. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent choices for group video chats—for both work and play. By Michael Muchmore April 9, 2020
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
Pictured below: Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans
Zoom Meetings is a wildly popular videoconferencing solution that was previously mainly known by those who frequent board rooms and business-huddle rooms. Thanks to the social distancing that has become the norm during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom has entered the national consciousness.
With all the prohibitions against in-person gatherings, most business and education has moved online, and as a consequence Zoom's users have has grown from about 10 million daily to over 200 million, according to the company's blog. And it’s not just businesses, either. A free version lets any group create video rooms for people to socialize in. People are using it to stay in touch with families, hold book club meetings, and even host virtual parties.
The Problem With Zoom:
But it hasn't been all good news for Zoom: The service has been criticized for privacy and security issues, and the term zoom bombing—when unwanted interlopers interrupt a group video session—has entered the lexicon. This has particularly been a problem for schools, some of which have actually banned Zoom.
Zoom has been working hard to fix these issues, but if you've been put off by these missteps—or you just prefer another service for your personal video chatting, there are plenty of excellent choices out there, as you'll see below.
Note that we aren't talking here about about business videoconferencing services—BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, RingCentral, Webex, and the like.
PCMag has reviewed those extensively elsewhere. While several of those are currently offering expanded free service during the current stay-at-home health crisis, here we're concerned with personal group video.
Zoom vs. the World:
Zoom lets free users conduct video meetings of up to 100 participants (with up to 49 visible at once) for a maximum of 40 minutes. Organizers can send a meeting link over messaging, email, or social network posts so that participants can easily join.
Some of the services below have lower participant limits, but most don't cut your group off after a specified time. Paid Zoom plans start at just $14.99, increasing the time limit to 24 hours and adding a meeting recording feature.
All the services included below have free accounts for the public to use, but they vary greatly in functionality. Read on for the details on each—how many participants they allow, the platforms they work on, and their special features or requirements.
___________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans:
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
With all the prohibitions against in-person gatherings, most business and education has moved online, and as a consequence Zoom's users have has grown from about 10 million daily to over 200 million, according to the company's blog. And it’s not just businesses, either. A free version lets any group create video rooms for people to socialize in. People are using it to stay in touch with families, hold book club meetings, and even host virtual parties.
The Problem With Zoom:
But it hasn't been all good news for Zoom: The service has been criticized for privacy and security issues, and the term zoom bombing—when unwanted interlopers interrupt a group video session—has entered the lexicon. This has particularly been a problem for schools, some of which have actually banned Zoom.
Zoom has been working hard to fix these issues, but if you've been put off by these missteps—or you just prefer another service for your personal video chatting, there are plenty of excellent choices out there, as you'll see below.
Note that we aren't talking here about about business videoconferencing services—BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, RingCentral, Webex, and the like.
PCMag has reviewed those extensively elsewhere. While several of those are currently offering expanded free service during the current stay-at-home health crisis, here we're concerned with personal group video.
Zoom vs. the World:
Zoom lets free users conduct video meetings of up to 100 participants (with up to 49 visible at once) for a maximum of 40 minutes. Organizers can send a meeting link over messaging, email, or social network posts so that participants can easily join.
Some of the services below have lower participant limits, but most don't cut your group off after a specified time. Paid Zoom plans start at just $14.99, increasing the time limit to 24 hours and adding a meeting recording feature.
All the services included below have free accounts for the public to use, but they vary greatly in functionality. Read on for the details on each—how many participants they allow, the platforms they work on, and their special features or requirements.
___________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans:
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
The social network of record just launched a Mac desktop version of its billion-user-plus popular chatting app and updated its Windows store app with goodies like dark mode and a Live Tile in Windows, and group video calling.
With Messenger, you can continue text chatting, spice up your chat with stickers, and apply filters that adorn your face.
Messenger works on all major platforms—Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and web—along with the company's own device dedicated largely to video calling via Messenger, Facebook Portal. There's a kid-specific version, Messenger Kids, which also offers group video, but with parental controls like blocking and monitoring.
You can't simply invite participants by sending a link, however; you need to add them individually and they need an account. On the plus side, you can create persistent groups for easy meeting starting. Up to 50 people can join a group call, but only six of them can be seen at a time. You don't need participants' email address or phone number, but you can invite with those as well as using Facebook usernames.
Read our collection of Cool Tricks and Secret Gems Inside Facebook Messenger to help you make the most of your use of the app.
FaceTime: Best for iPhone & Mac Users:
YouTube Video: How to Use FaceTime
With Messenger, you can continue text chatting, spice up your chat with stickers, and apply filters that adorn your face.
Messenger works on all major platforms—Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and web—along with the company's own device dedicated largely to video calling via Messenger, Facebook Portal. There's a kid-specific version, Messenger Kids, which also offers group video, but with parental controls like blocking and monitoring.
You can't simply invite participants by sending a link, however; you need to add them individually and they need an account. On the plus side, you can create persistent groups for easy meeting starting. Up to 50 people can join a group call, but only six of them can be seen at a time. You don't need participants' email address or phone number, but you can invite with those as well as using Facebook usernames.
Read our collection of Cool Tricks and Secret Gems Inside Facebook Messenger to help you make the most of your use of the app.
- Maximum users: 50 (with six visible at once)
- Platforms: Android, Facebook Portal, iOS, macOS, web browser, Windows.
- Use type: Personal
FaceTime: Best for iPhone & Mac Users:
YouTube Video: How to Use FaceTime
Facetime is a terrific service with great image quality, but it only works if everyone in your chat group is using an Apple device. Group video came to FaceTime in 2018, and quickly met with a privacy scare that has since been plugged up. Unlike Zoom and the other services here, you can't simply send prospective attendees a link to join your group video call; you have to add them with their phone number or Apple ID.
FaceTime allows up to 32 participants in a group video chat, but those talking get larger images in the interface. It integrates with iMessage, so you can start a video with a text chat message. You can add text, stickers, or Animoji during group video chats. For more, read Ready to Video Chat? How to Group FaceTime.
Google Hangouts: Best for Web-Based Video Calling:
YouTube Video: How to Use Google Hangouts
FaceTime allows up to 32 participants in a group video chat, but those talking get larger images in the interface. It integrates with iMessage, so you can start a video with a text chat message. You can add text, stickers, or Animoji during group video chats. For more, read Ready to Video Chat? How to Group FaceTime.
- Maximum users: 32
- Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS
- Use type: Personal
Google Hangouts: Best for Web-Based Video Calling:
YouTube Video: How to Use Google Hangouts
The search ad giant has separated its business and personal video calling services, with the former becoming Google Meet and the latter remaining as Hangouts. Google's consumer video chat service allows up to 25 participants, though only 10 can appear on-screen at once.
You need a Google account (normally in the form of a Gmail account), and can invite participants via email or by sending or posting a public link.
During a call, you can continue text messaging and share your screen. It's a very simple, clear interface, though the business-targeted G Suite Meet product offers more features, and
Google is increasing the video limit to 250 participants for Basic G Suite subscribers through September. Those accounts start at $6 per person per month.
Houseparty: Best for Mobile Socializing:
YouTube Video: How to Use Houseparty
You need a Google account (normally in the form of a Gmail account), and can invite participants via email or by sending or posting a public link.
During a call, you can continue text messaging and share your screen. It's a very simple, clear interface, though the business-targeted G Suite Meet product offers more features, and
Google is increasing the video limit to 250 participants for Basic G Suite subscribers through September. Those accounts start at $6 per person per month.
- Maximum number of participants: 25 with 10 visible
- Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser
- Use type: Personal and Business
Houseparty: Best for Mobile Socializing:
YouTube Video: How to Use Houseparty
Risen from the ashes of failed Twitter Periscope competitor Meerkat, Houseparty is a venture-capital success story, having been gobbled up by Epic games, maker of Fortnight and Gears of War.
Unsurprisingly, the "face to face social network" lets you play games while connected with up to seven other users. It notifies your group whenever you open the app. The app's maker, Life on Air, has denied recent accusations that Houseparty was hacked, leaking users' Netflix, Spotify, and bank account details.
The service requires a mobile phone SMS verification to create an account, though I managed to get into the web beta version without this step. Optionally, you can connect your
Facebook contacts to add them to your Houseparty calls. You can also create a link to add people to your party, or search for any user on the service and send a request for them to accept your add. Once your chat room is going, you can lock it to prevent anyone else from joining.
Houseparty's Pass a Note feature (can you guess the app's target demographic from that?), lets users send direct messages and the desktop version lets you share your screen. Among the casual party games available, the highest profile is Heads Up, since it was promoted by Ellen DeGeneres, thanks to a partnership with the comedian's Ellen Digital Network.
Microsoft Teams: Best for Large Groups and Organizations:
YouTube Video: How to Use the Microsoft Teams App
Unsurprisingly, the "face to face social network" lets you play games while connected with up to seven other users. It notifies your group whenever you open the app. The app's maker, Life on Air, has denied recent accusations that Houseparty was hacked, leaking users' Netflix, Spotify, and bank account details.
The service requires a mobile phone SMS verification to create an account, though I managed to get into the web beta version without this step. Optionally, you can connect your
Facebook contacts to add them to your Houseparty calls. You can also create a link to add people to your party, or search for any user on the service and send a request for them to accept your add. Once your chat room is going, you can lock it to prevent anyone else from joining.
Houseparty's Pass a Note feature (can you guess the app's target demographic from that?), lets users send direct messages and the desktop version lets you share your screen. Among the casual party games available, the highest profile is Heads Up, since it was promoted by Ellen DeGeneres, thanks to a partnership with the comedian's Ellen Digital Network.
- Maximum group video participants: 8
- Platforms: Android, iOS, macOS, web browser.
- Use type: Personal
Microsoft Teams: Best for Large Groups and Organizations:
YouTube Video: How to Use the Microsoft Teams App
The software giant's relatively recent entry in videoconferencing, started as a business-only solution, but now it's free and available to the public at large. Microsoft Teams offers nifty features like background blur (also available in Zoom) and AI-powered noise suppression, so that one participant's rattling bag of chips doesn't upstage what people are trying to say.
Teams will soon become part of the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions, which also include Office apps and Parental safety features. Those are priced the same as Office 365—$79.99 per year for a family of six, with each getting 1TB cloud storage and downloadable Office applications. The business version of Teams starts at $5 per user per month.
As with Zoom, Teams primarily targets business and educational customers, but the free account (which requires a Microsoft account, such as an Outlook.com email address) also is available for any organization. For friends and family use, you'll be directed to Skype (see next alternative), though there's no verification required. That said, Teams includes a lot of Slack-like business tools, such as file sharing, wiki creation, and a host of third-party business integrations—even, ironically, Zoom.
Maximum group video participants: 250
Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser, Windows.
Use type: Personal and Business
___________________________________________________________________________
Skype: Best for Loads of Features and Platforms:
YouTube Video: Getting the Most Out of Skype
Teams will soon become part of the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions, which also include Office apps and Parental safety features. Those are priced the same as Office 365—$79.99 per year for a family of six, with each getting 1TB cloud storage and downloadable Office applications. The business version of Teams starts at $5 per user per month.
As with Zoom, Teams primarily targets business and educational customers, but the free account (which requires a Microsoft account, such as an Outlook.com email address) also is available for any organization. For friends and family use, you'll be directed to Skype (see next alternative), though there's no verification required. That said, Teams includes a lot of Slack-like business tools, such as file sharing, wiki creation, and a host of third-party business integrations—even, ironically, Zoom.
Maximum group video participants: 250
Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser, Windows.
Use type: Personal and Business
___________________________________________________________________________
Skype: Best for Loads of Features and Platforms:
YouTube Video: Getting the Most Out of Skype
Skype has been around longer than any other video chat service in this roundup and has evolved a feature-packed but refined interface.
The now-Microsoft-owned (though still Luxembourg based) service works on more platforms than most, and it allows free group video rooms with up to 50 participants. You can create a Skype video chat room without a Microsoft account, but if you do have one, you'll be able to save your conversation history and contacts.
The new Skype Meet Now feature lets anyone start an ad hoc video conference. You can start or participate either in a web browser or in the Skype app. Like Hangouts, Skype lets you continue text chatting, along with stickers, file sharing, and desktop sharing. In addition, you can create polls, send money, and even share Spotify tracks. If you haven't used Skype in a while, you may be surprised at how far it's come.
For more enjoyment with the service, read Skype Tips for Cheap and Easy Chats.
WhatsApp: Best for Private Chats With up to Three Friends
YouTube Video: How Do You Use WhatsApp?
The now-Microsoft-owned (though still Luxembourg based) service works on more platforms than most, and it allows free group video rooms with up to 50 participants. You can create a Skype video chat room without a Microsoft account, but if you do have one, you'll be able to save your conversation history and contacts.
The new Skype Meet Now feature lets anyone start an ad hoc video conference. You can start or participate either in a web browser or in the Skype app. Like Hangouts, Skype lets you continue text chatting, along with stickers, file sharing, and desktop sharing. In addition, you can create polls, send money, and even share Spotify tracks. If you haven't used Skype in a while, you may be surprised at how far it's come.
For more enjoyment with the service, read Skype Tips for Cheap and Easy Chats.
- Maximum group video participants: 50
- Platforms: Alexa, Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Linux, macOS, web browser, Windows, Xbox.
- Use type: Personal and Business
WhatsApp: Best for Private Chats With up to Three Friends
YouTube Video: How Do You Use WhatsApp?
The massively popular texting and calling app allows group video chats of up to four participants. Sure, that's a far cry from Zoom's limit of 100, but maybe it suits your needs, and it doesn't have Zoom's 40-minute time limit for free group calls.
Note that you can't access it without a mobile phone, and the desktop apps don't support video calling. Nor is there anything in the way of emoji or text chatting during group video calls.
In a test group call, the image quality on my iPhone X was excellent, with one participant saying she looked better in it than she does in FaceTime sessions. Though WhatsApp allows group chats with up to 256 participants, group video is limited to just four. A big plus for privacy fans: WhatsApp video calls are end-to-end encrypted, according to the company's FAQ.
As an added perk: WhatsApp has added a Coronavirus hub to provide reliable information on the pandemic. For more WhatsApp power, read our Essential WhatsApp Tips.
Note that you can't access it without a mobile phone, and the desktop apps don't support video calling. Nor is there anything in the way of emoji or text chatting during group video calls.
In a test group call, the image quality on my iPhone X was excellent, with one participant saying she looked better in it than she does in FaceTime sessions. Though WhatsApp allows group chats with up to 256 participants, group video is limited to just four. A big plus for privacy fans: WhatsApp video calls are end-to-end encrypted, according to the company's FAQ.
As an added perk: WhatsApp has added a Coronavirus hub to provide reliable information on the pandemic. For more WhatsApp power, read our Essential WhatsApp Tips.
- Maximum group video participants: 4
- Platforms: Android, iOS
- Use type: Personal
Social networking service
- YouTube Video: Advanced Privacy Settings for Facebook
- YouTube Video: How to Use Instagram (2020 Beginner's Guide)
- YouTube Video: How To Get More Views On YouTube Using TWITTER!
A social networking service (also social networking site or social media) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationship with other people who share similar personal or career interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections.
Social networking services vary in format and the number of features. They can incorporate a range of new information and communication tools, operating on desktops and on laptops, on mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones. They may feature digital photo/video/sharing and diary entries online (blogging).
Online community services are sometimes considered social-network services by developers and users, though in a broader sense, a social-network service usually provides an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered.
Defined as "websites that facilitate the building of a network of contacts in order to exchange various types of content online," social networking sites provide a space for interaction to continue beyond in person interactions. These computer mediated interactions link members of various networks and may help to both maintain and develop new social and professional relationships
Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, digital photos and videos, posts, and to inform others about online or real-world activities and events with people in their network.
While in-person social networking – such as gathering in a village market to talk about events – has existed since the earliest development of towns, the web enables people to connect with others who live in different locations, ranging from across a city to across the world.
Depending on the social media platform, members may be able to contact any other member.
In other cases, members can contact anyone they have a connection to, and subsequently anyone that contact has a connection to, and so on.
The success of social networking services can be seen in their dominance in society today, with Facebook having a massive 2.13 billion active monthly users and an average of 1.4 billion daily active users in 2017. LinkedIn, a career-oriented social-networking service, generally requires that a member personally know another member in real life before they contact them online. Some services require members to have a preexisting connection to contact other members.
The main types of social networking services contain category places (such as age or occupation or religion), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust. One can categorize social-network services into four types:
There have been attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard). A study reveals that India recorded world's largest growth in terms of social media users in 2013. A 2013 survey found that 73% of U.S. adults use social-networking sites
Definition:
There is a variety of social networking services available online. However, most incorporate common features:
A challenge of definition:
The variety and evolving range of stand-alone and built-in social networking services in the online space introduces a challenge of definition. Furthermore, the idea that these services are defined by their ability to bring people together and provides too broad a definition. Such a broad definition would suggest that the telegraph and telephone were social networking services – not the Internet technologies scholars are intending to describe.
The terminology is also unclear, with some referring to social networking services as social media.
Attempting definition:
A recent attempt at providing a clear definition reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four commonalities unique to current social networking services:
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Social Networking Services:
Social networking services vary in format and the number of features. They can incorporate a range of new information and communication tools, operating on desktops and on laptops, on mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones. They may feature digital photo/video/sharing and diary entries online (blogging).
Online community services are sometimes considered social-network services by developers and users, though in a broader sense, a social-network service usually provides an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered.
Defined as "websites that facilitate the building of a network of contacts in order to exchange various types of content online," social networking sites provide a space for interaction to continue beyond in person interactions. These computer mediated interactions link members of various networks and may help to both maintain and develop new social and professional relationships
Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, digital photos and videos, posts, and to inform others about online or real-world activities and events with people in their network.
While in-person social networking – such as gathering in a village market to talk about events – has existed since the earliest development of towns, the web enables people to connect with others who live in different locations, ranging from across a city to across the world.
Depending on the social media platform, members may be able to contact any other member.
In other cases, members can contact anyone they have a connection to, and subsequently anyone that contact has a connection to, and so on.
The success of social networking services can be seen in their dominance in society today, with Facebook having a massive 2.13 billion active monthly users and an average of 1.4 billion daily active users in 2017. LinkedIn, a career-oriented social-networking service, generally requires that a member personally know another member in real life before they contact them online. Some services require members to have a preexisting connection to contact other members.
The main types of social networking services contain category places (such as age or occupation or religion), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust. One can categorize social-network services into four types:
- socializing social network services used primarily for socializing with existing friends (e.g., Facebook)
- online social networks are decentralized and distributed computer networks where users communicate with each other through internet services.
- networking social network services used primarily for non-social interpersonal communication (e.g., LinkedIn, a career- and employment-oriented site)
- social navigation social network services used primarily for helping users to find specific information or resources (e.g., Goodreads for books)
There have been attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard). A study reveals that India recorded world's largest growth in terms of social media users in 2013. A 2013 survey found that 73% of U.S. adults use social-networking sites
Definition:
There is a variety of social networking services available online. However, most incorporate common features:
- social networking services are Web 2.0, Internet-based applications
- user-generated content (UGC) is the lifeblood of social networking services.
- users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the SNS organization
- social networking services facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.
A challenge of definition:
The variety and evolving range of stand-alone and built-in social networking services in the online space introduces a challenge of definition. Furthermore, the idea that these services are defined by their ability to bring people together and provides too broad a definition. Such a broad definition would suggest that the telegraph and telephone were social networking services – not the Internet technologies scholars are intending to describe.
The terminology is also unclear, with some referring to social networking services as social media.
Attempting definition:
A recent attempt at providing a clear definition reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four commonalities unique to current social networking services:
- social networking services are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications,
- user-generated content (UGC), such as user-submitted digital photos, text posts, "tagging", online comments, and diary-style "web logs" (blogs), is the lifeblood of the SNS organism,
- users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the SNS organization,
- social networking services facilitate the development of social networks online by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Social Networking Services:
- Offline and online social networking services
- History
- Social impact
- Features
- Emerging trends
- Issues
- Spamming
- Privacy
- Data mining
- Notifications
- Access to information
- Impact on employability
- Potential for misuse
- Unauthorized access
- Risk for child safety
- Trolling
- Online bullying
- Interpersonal communication
- Psychological effects of social networking
- Patents
- Workers' rights
- Decentralized architecture
- Virtual identity suicide
- Breaking up
- Social overload
- Social anxiety
- Effects on personal relationships and social capital
- Investigations
- Application domains
- Open source software
- Largest social networking services
- In the media
- See also:
- Anonymous social media
- Collective intelligence
- Comparison of research networking tools and research profiling systems
- Distributed social network
- Enterprise bookmarking
- Gender differences in social network service use
- Geosocial networking
- Internet
- Internet forum
- Internet think tanks
- Lateral diffusion
- List of social networking websites
- Mass collaboration
- Mobile social network
- Personal network
- Professional network service
- Online volunteering
- Social aspects of television
- Social bookmark link generator
- Social identity
- Social media
- Social network aggregation
- Social software
- Social television
- The rise of social media, by Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (Our World in Data, Sep 18, 2019) - Includes graph showing exponential growth
Social Networks including a List of social networking websites
- YouTube Video: Social Networks and Coronavirus Pandemic
- YouTube Video: Social Distancing in times of coronavirus
- YouTube Video: Reaching out on social media during pandemic
* -- Article in Time Magazine March 16, 2020 issue follows:
As many school districts across the nation close to prevent the spread of COVID-19, social media groups and comments sections are becoming ground zero for intense arguments over whether such measures are warranted.
“Classic overreaction,” wrote one Facebook user, remarking on a March 4 decision by Washington State’s Northshore School District to close their facilities for 14 days. Others in the thread of more than 250 comments supported the move, congratulating administrators for their rapid response. Still others brought up practical concerns on many a parent’s mind this week. “This great and all, but I still need to go to work,” wrote one.
Such conversations are just one way that social media is both offering a window into our collective response to the coronavirus outbreak, as well as shaping our reaction in the first place — for good and for ill. As COVID-19 spreads in the U.S., social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which didn’t exist or barely existed during past major outbreaks, are facilitating important conversations about the virus, while at the same time allowing sensationalism and misinformation to spread.
Furthermore, the unprecedented level of real-time information at our fingertips can both give us the tools we need to make smart decisions, but also make us more anxious about what’s to come, experts say.
The optimistic view is that social media could prove useful at a time when many of us are otherwise isolated from one another. Conversations around the coronavirus, especially those at the community level, can help us navigate this crisis, says Jeff Hancock, a professor of communication at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Media Lab.
Those discussions are “reflecting how society is thinking and reacting to the crisis,” Hancock says. “They’re allowing society to sort of talk its way through what is an unprecedented kind of threat.” Scientists and other public health experts are also using social media to more directly engage with the public or discuss emerging research, while community leaders are using it to form ad-hoc volunteer networks to help vulnerable neighbors.
But for every expert trying to share accurate information or community leader organizing a grocery run, there are thousands of users spreading rumors, sensationalism, and other forms of disinformation.
“It pulls everyone out of the woodwork,” says Daniel Rogers, an assistant professor at New York University and co-founder of the nonprofit Global Disinformation Index, which works to counter false information sources on the internet. “Every scam artist, every bunk cure peddler … every conspirator, every internet troll.”
With contradictory information about COVID-19 emerging from the highest levels of government, disinformation experts say it’s more important than ever for those with accurate information to be sure they’re being heard. That’s easier said than done.
The algorithms that shape what we see on social media typically promote content that garners the most engagement; posts that draw the most eyeballs get spread farthest. Researchers say that model is partially responsible for the spread of misinformation and sensationalism online, since shocking or emotionally-charged content is especially good at getting people’s attention.
Rogers says that social media platforms have generally taken an aggressive stance toward countering coronavirus misinformation. In part, that’s because moderating such content runs less risk of angering users than acting as referee on more politically sensitive disinformation.
But even these efforts are a game of “whack-a-mole,” he says, as misleading content spreads faster than these platforms can fight it. More effective efforts to police false content would require a much greater investment of resources on the part of social media companies.
Beyond serving as an arena or community forum, experts say social media is actually changing the way society is perceiving and responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. Humans take cues from other humans, and they may be more likely to panic-buy if they see other people posting about their panic-buying, says Santosh Vijaykumar, a health and risk communication researcher at Northumbria University.
“We’re seeing a worrying trend where specific behaviors triggered by fear and anxiety — such as loading up on toilet rolls or hand sanitizers — get normalized and further diffused because they are constantly discussed on social media,” he writes over email. The flip side could be true, too — if people see photos their friends out and about on Instagram, ignoring the call to practice “social distancing,” they might be more likely to go out, too.
Furthermore, footage and data from hard-hit places like China and Italy have given us ample reason to prepare for what we know is coming.
But Dr. Lee Riley, chair of the Division of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, says that the daily deluge of infection numbers (due in part to faster, cheaper testing protocols around the world) also adds a frightening dimension to our understanding of the virus’s worldwide spread, contributing to an air of anxiety and even paralysis. “What makes it different this time is this technology that we have for mass communication and social network media,” says Riley, comparing COVID-19 to past outbreaks.
Still, some experts say a healthy dose of fear might be just what we need during a potentially world-altering crisis like this. Khudejah Ali, a fake news and disease communication researcher, has studied how public health officials can design health-risk messages during outbreaks.
She found that “a moderate level of fear-arousing sensationalism” in such messages could increase user engagement. Over email, she says that when such messages are combined with useful information that helps people protect themselves or diagnose symptoms, the combination can “become a powerful and actionable health communication message, and result in wide sharing and engagement across populations.”
And as Hancock explains, in the midst of a public health crisis, it’s not necessarily a problem for people to be nervous, so long as that anxiety motivates them to prepare and stay safe, and they don’t cross into a full-blown panic. “Oftentimes we think anxiety is a bad thing, but sometimes it’s an appropriate response,” he says. “It means people are paying more attention.”
[End of Time Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Social network:
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures.
The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.
Social networks and the analysis of them is an inherently interdisciplinary academic field which emerged from social psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph theory.
Georg Simmel authored early structural theories in sociology emphasizing the dynamics of triads and "web of group affiliations". Jacob Moreno is credited with developing the first sociograms in the 1930s to study interpersonal relationships. These approaches were mathematically formalized in the 1950s and theories and methods of social networks became pervasive in the social and behavioral sciences by the 1980s.
Social network analysis is now one of the major paradigms in contemporary sociology, and is also employed in a number of other social and formal sciences. Together with other complex networks, it forms part of the nascent field of network science.
Overview:
The social network is a theoretical construct useful in the social sciences to study relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies (social units, see differentiation). The term is used to describe a social structure determined by such interactions.
The ties through which any given social unit connects represent the convergence of the various social contacts of that unit. This theoretical approach is, necessarily, relational.
An axiom of the social network approach to understanding social interaction is that social phenomena should be primarily conceived and investigated through the properties of relations between and within units, instead of the properties of these units themselves.
Thus, one common criticism of social network theory is that individual agency is often ignored although this may not be the case in practice (see agent-based modeling).
Precisely because many different types of relations, singular or in combination, form these network configurations, network analytics are useful to a broad range of research enterprises.
In social science, these fields of study include, but are not limited to:
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Social Networks:
___________________________________________________________________________
List of Social Networking Websites
This is a list of major active social networking websites and excludes dating websites (see Comparison of online dating websites). For defunct social networking websites, see List of defunct social networking websites.
Click here for the List of Social Networking Websites.
As many school districts across the nation close to prevent the spread of COVID-19, social media groups and comments sections are becoming ground zero for intense arguments over whether such measures are warranted.
“Classic overreaction,” wrote one Facebook user, remarking on a March 4 decision by Washington State’s Northshore School District to close their facilities for 14 days. Others in the thread of more than 250 comments supported the move, congratulating administrators for their rapid response. Still others brought up practical concerns on many a parent’s mind this week. “This great and all, but I still need to go to work,” wrote one.
Such conversations are just one way that social media is both offering a window into our collective response to the coronavirus outbreak, as well as shaping our reaction in the first place — for good and for ill. As COVID-19 spreads in the U.S., social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which didn’t exist or barely existed during past major outbreaks, are facilitating important conversations about the virus, while at the same time allowing sensationalism and misinformation to spread.
Furthermore, the unprecedented level of real-time information at our fingertips can both give us the tools we need to make smart decisions, but also make us more anxious about what’s to come, experts say.
The optimistic view is that social media could prove useful at a time when many of us are otherwise isolated from one another. Conversations around the coronavirus, especially those at the community level, can help us navigate this crisis, says Jeff Hancock, a professor of communication at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Media Lab.
Those discussions are “reflecting how society is thinking and reacting to the crisis,” Hancock says. “They’re allowing society to sort of talk its way through what is an unprecedented kind of threat.” Scientists and other public health experts are also using social media to more directly engage with the public or discuss emerging research, while community leaders are using it to form ad-hoc volunteer networks to help vulnerable neighbors.
But for every expert trying to share accurate information or community leader organizing a grocery run, there are thousands of users spreading rumors, sensationalism, and other forms of disinformation.
“It pulls everyone out of the woodwork,” says Daniel Rogers, an assistant professor at New York University and co-founder of the nonprofit Global Disinformation Index, which works to counter false information sources on the internet. “Every scam artist, every bunk cure peddler … every conspirator, every internet troll.”
With contradictory information about COVID-19 emerging from the highest levels of government, disinformation experts say it’s more important than ever for those with accurate information to be sure they’re being heard. That’s easier said than done.
The algorithms that shape what we see on social media typically promote content that garners the most engagement; posts that draw the most eyeballs get spread farthest. Researchers say that model is partially responsible for the spread of misinformation and sensationalism online, since shocking or emotionally-charged content is especially good at getting people’s attention.
Rogers says that social media platforms have generally taken an aggressive stance toward countering coronavirus misinformation. In part, that’s because moderating such content runs less risk of angering users than acting as referee on more politically sensitive disinformation.
But even these efforts are a game of “whack-a-mole,” he says, as misleading content spreads faster than these platforms can fight it. More effective efforts to police false content would require a much greater investment of resources on the part of social media companies.
Beyond serving as an arena or community forum, experts say social media is actually changing the way society is perceiving and responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. Humans take cues from other humans, and they may be more likely to panic-buy if they see other people posting about their panic-buying, says Santosh Vijaykumar, a health and risk communication researcher at Northumbria University.
“We’re seeing a worrying trend where specific behaviors triggered by fear and anxiety — such as loading up on toilet rolls or hand sanitizers — get normalized and further diffused because they are constantly discussed on social media,” he writes over email. The flip side could be true, too — if people see photos their friends out and about on Instagram, ignoring the call to practice “social distancing,” they might be more likely to go out, too.
Furthermore, footage and data from hard-hit places like China and Italy have given us ample reason to prepare for what we know is coming.
But Dr. Lee Riley, chair of the Division of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, says that the daily deluge of infection numbers (due in part to faster, cheaper testing protocols around the world) also adds a frightening dimension to our understanding of the virus’s worldwide spread, contributing to an air of anxiety and even paralysis. “What makes it different this time is this technology that we have for mass communication and social network media,” says Riley, comparing COVID-19 to past outbreaks.
Still, some experts say a healthy dose of fear might be just what we need during a potentially world-altering crisis like this. Khudejah Ali, a fake news and disease communication researcher, has studied how public health officials can design health-risk messages during outbreaks.
She found that “a moderate level of fear-arousing sensationalism” in such messages could increase user engagement. Over email, she says that when such messages are combined with useful information that helps people protect themselves or diagnose symptoms, the combination can “become a powerful and actionable health communication message, and result in wide sharing and engagement across populations.”
And as Hancock explains, in the midst of a public health crisis, it’s not necessarily a problem for people to be nervous, so long as that anxiety motivates them to prepare and stay safe, and they don’t cross into a full-blown panic. “Oftentimes we think anxiety is a bad thing, but sometimes it’s an appropriate response,” he says. “It means people are paying more attention.”
[End of Time Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Social network:
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures.
The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.
Social networks and the analysis of them is an inherently interdisciplinary academic field which emerged from social psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph theory.
Georg Simmel authored early structural theories in sociology emphasizing the dynamics of triads and "web of group affiliations". Jacob Moreno is credited with developing the first sociograms in the 1930s to study interpersonal relationships. These approaches were mathematically formalized in the 1950s and theories and methods of social networks became pervasive in the social and behavioral sciences by the 1980s.
Social network analysis is now one of the major paradigms in contemporary sociology, and is also employed in a number of other social and formal sciences. Together with other complex networks, it forms part of the nascent field of network science.
Overview:
The social network is a theoretical construct useful in the social sciences to study relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies (social units, see differentiation). The term is used to describe a social structure determined by such interactions.
The ties through which any given social unit connects represent the convergence of the various social contacts of that unit. This theoretical approach is, necessarily, relational.
An axiom of the social network approach to understanding social interaction is that social phenomena should be primarily conceived and investigated through the properties of relations between and within units, instead of the properties of these units themselves.
Thus, one common criticism of social network theory is that individual agency is often ignored although this may not be the case in practice (see agent-based modeling).
Precisely because many different types of relations, singular or in combination, form these network configurations, network analytics are useful to a broad range of research enterprises.
In social science, these fields of study include, but are not limited to:
- anthropology,
- biology,
- communication studies,
- economics,
- geography,
- information science,
- organizational studies,
- social psychology,
- sociology,
- and sociolinguistics.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Social Networks:
- History
- Levels of analysis
- Theoretical links
- Structural holes
- Research clusters
- See also:
- Bibliography of sociology
- Business networking
- Collective network
- International Network for Social Network Analysis
- Network society
- Network theory
- Semiotics of social networking
- Scientific collaboration network
- Social network analysis
- Social network (sociolinguistics)
- Social networking service
- Social web
- Structural fold
- Organizations:
- Peer-reviewed journals:
- Social Networks
- Network Science
- Journal of Social Structure
- Journal of Mathematical Sociology
- Social Network Analysis and Mining (SNAM)
- "INSNA - Connections Journal". Connections Bulletin of the International Network for Social Network Analysis. Toronto: International Network for Social Network Analysis. ISSN 0226-1766. Archived from the original on 2013-07-18.
- Textbooks and educational resources:
- Networks, Crowds, and Markets (2010) by D. Easley & J. Kleinberg
- Introduction to Social Networks Methods (2005) by R. Hanneman & M. Riddle
- Social Network Analysis Instructional Web Site by S. Borgatti
- Guide for virtual social networks for public administrations (2015) by Mauro D. Ríos (in Spanish)
- Data sets:
___________________________________________________________________________
List of Social Networking Websites
This is a list of major active social networking websites and excludes dating websites (see Comparison of online dating websites). For defunct social networking websites, see List of defunct social networking websites.
Click here for the List of Social Networking Websites.
Web Conferencing
- YouTube Video: How Does Web Conferencing Work?
- YouTube Video: How to Set Up a Web Conferencing Meeting
- YouTube Video: The Best Online Meeting Software For Your Business
Web conferencing may be used as an umbrella term for various types of online collaborative services including webinars ("web seminars"), webcasts, and peer-level web meetings. It may also be used in a more narrow sense to refer only to the peer-level web meeting context, in an attempt to disambiguate it from the other types of collaborative sessions. Terminology related to these technologies is inexact, and no generally agreed upon source or standards organization exists to provide an established usage reference.
In general, web conferencing is made possible by Internet technologies, particularly on TCP/IP connections. Services may allow real-time point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers. It offers data streams of text-based messages, voice and video chat to be shared simultaneously, across geographically dispersed locations. Applications for web conferencing include meetings, training events, lectures, or presentations from a web-connected computer to other web-connected computers.
Installation and operation:
Web conferencing software is invoked by all participants in a web meeting. Some technologies include software and functionality that differs for presenters and attendees. Software may run as a web browser application (often relying on Adobe Flash, Java, or WebRTC to provide the operational platform).
Other web conferencing technologies require download and installation of software on each participant's computer, which is invoked as a local application. Many web conferencing vendors provide the central connectivity and provisioning of meeting "ports" or "seats" as a hosted web service, while others allow the web conference host to install and run the software on its own local servers. Another installation option from certain vendors allows for use of a proprietary computer appliance that is installed at the hosting company's physical location.
Depending on the technology being used, participants may speak and listen to audio over standard telephone lines or via computer microphones and speakers. Some products allow for use of a webcam to display participants, while others may require their own proprietary encoding or externally provided encoding of a video feed (for example, from a professional video camera connected via an IEEE 1394 interface) that is displayed in the session.
Vendor-hosted web conferencing is usually licensed as a service based on one of three pricing models: a fixed cost per user per minute, a monthly or annual flat fee allowing unlimited use with a fixed maximum capacity per session, or a sliding rate fee based on the number of allowed meeting hosts and per-session participants (number of "seats").
Presentation of visual materials most often is accomplished through one of two primary methodologies. The web conferencing software may show participants an image of the presenter's computer screen (or desktop). Again, depending upon the product, the software may show the entire visible desktop area or may allow selection of a physical area or application running on the presenter's computer.
The second method relies on an upload and conversion process (most commonly consisting of Microsoft PowerPoint files, other Microsoft Office electronic documents, or Adobe PDF documents).
Etymology:
The term "webinar" is a portmanteau of web and seminar, meaning a presentation, lecture, or workshop that is transmitted over the web. The coined term has been attacked for improper construction, since "inar" is not a valid root. Webinar was included on the Lake Superior University 2008 List of Banished Words, but was included in the Merriam-Webster dictionary that same year.
The term "webcast" derives from its original similarity to a radio or television broadcast.
Early usage referred purely to transmission and consumption of streaming audio and video via the World Wide Web. Over time, webcast software vendors have added many of the same functional capabilities found in webinar software, blurring the distinction between the two terms.
Webcasts are now likely to allow audience response to polls, text communication with presenters or other audience members, and other two-way communications that complement the consumption of the streamed audio/video content.
Features:
Other typical features of a web conference include:
Standards:
Web conferencing technologies are not standardized, which has reduced interoperability and transparency and increased platform dependence, security issues, cost and market segmentation. In 2003, the IETF established a working group to establish a standard for web conferencing, called "Centralized Conferencing (xcon)". The planned deliverables of xcon include:
Deployment models:
Web conferencing is available with three models: hosting service, software and appliance.
An appliance, unlike the online hosted solution, is offered as hardware. It is also known as "in-house" or "on-premises" web conferencing. It is used to conduct live meetings, remote training, or presentations via the Internet.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Web Conferencing:
In general, web conferencing is made possible by Internet technologies, particularly on TCP/IP connections. Services may allow real-time point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers. It offers data streams of text-based messages, voice and video chat to be shared simultaneously, across geographically dispersed locations. Applications for web conferencing include meetings, training events, lectures, or presentations from a web-connected computer to other web-connected computers.
Installation and operation:
Web conferencing software is invoked by all participants in a web meeting. Some technologies include software and functionality that differs for presenters and attendees. Software may run as a web browser application (often relying on Adobe Flash, Java, or WebRTC to provide the operational platform).
Other web conferencing technologies require download and installation of software on each participant's computer, which is invoked as a local application. Many web conferencing vendors provide the central connectivity and provisioning of meeting "ports" or "seats" as a hosted web service, while others allow the web conference host to install and run the software on its own local servers. Another installation option from certain vendors allows for use of a proprietary computer appliance that is installed at the hosting company's physical location.
Depending on the technology being used, participants may speak and listen to audio over standard telephone lines or via computer microphones and speakers. Some products allow for use of a webcam to display participants, while others may require their own proprietary encoding or externally provided encoding of a video feed (for example, from a professional video camera connected via an IEEE 1394 interface) that is displayed in the session.
Vendor-hosted web conferencing is usually licensed as a service based on one of three pricing models: a fixed cost per user per minute, a monthly or annual flat fee allowing unlimited use with a fixed maximum capacity per session, or a sliding rate fee based on the number of allowed meeting hosts and per-session participants (number of "seats").
Presentation of visual materials most often is accomplished through one of two primary methodologies. The web conferencing software may show participants an image of the presenter's computer screen (or desktop). Again, depending upon the product, the software may show the entire visible desktop area or may allow selection of a physical area or application running on the presenter's computer.
The second method relies on an upload and conversion process (most commonly consisting of Microsoft PowerPoint files, other Microsoft Office electronic documents, or Adobe PDF documents).
Etymology:
The term "webinar" is a portmanteau of web and seminar, meaning a presentation, lecture, or workshop that is transmitted over the web. The coined term has been attacked for improper construction, since "inar" is not a valid root. Webinar was included on the Lake Superior University 2008 List of Banished Words, but was included in the Merriam-Webster dictionary that same year.
The term "webcast" derives from its original similarity to a radio or television broadcast.
Early usage referred purely to transmission and consumption of streaming audio and video via the World Wide Web. Over time, webcast software vendors have added many of the same functional capabilities found in webinar software, blurring the distinction between the two terms.
Webcasts are now likely to allow audience response to polls, text communication with presenters or other audience members, and other two-way communications that complement the consumption of the streamed audio/video content.
Features:
Other typical features of a web conference include:
- Slideshow presentations - where images are presented to the audience and markup tools and a remote mouse pointer are used to engage the audience while the presenter discusses slide content.
- Live or streaming video - where full motion webcam, digital video camera or multi-media files are pushed to the audience.
- VoIP - Real time audio communication through the computer via use of headphones and speakers.
- Web tours - where URLs, data from forms, cookies, scripts and session data can be pushed to other participants enabling them to be pushed through web-based logons, clicks, etc. This type of feature works well when demonstrating websites where users themselves can also participate.
- Meeting Recording - where presentation activity is recorded on the client side or server side for later viewing and/or distribution.
- Whiteboard with annotation (allowing the presenter and/or attendees to highlight or mark items on the slide presentation. Or, simply make notes on a blank whiteboard.)
- Text chat - For live question and answer sessions, limited to the people connected to the meeting. Text chat may be public (echoed to all participants) or private (between 2 participants).
- Polls and surveys (allows the presenter to conduct questions with multiple choice answers directed to the audience)
- Screen sharing/desktop sharing/application sharing (where participants can view anything the presenter currently has shown on their screen. Some screen sharing applications allow for remote desktop control, allowing participants to manipulate the presenters screen, although this is not widely used.)
Standards:
Web conferencing technologies are not standardized, which has reduced interoperability and transparency and increased platform dependence, security issues, cost and market segmentation. In 2003, the IETF established a working group to establish a standard for web conferencing, called "Centralized Conferencing (xcon)". The planned deliverables of xcon include:
- A binary floor control protocol. Binary Floor Control Protocol (BFCP) published as RFC 4582
- A mechanism for membership and authorization control
- A mechanism to manipulate and describe media "mixing" or "topology" for multiple media types (audio, video, text)
- A mechanism for notification of conference related events/changes (for example a floor change)
Deployment models:
Web conferencing is available with three models: hosting service, software and appliance.
An appliance, unlike the online hosted solution, is offered as hardware. It is also known as "in-house" or "on-premises" web conferencing. It is used to conduct live meetings, remote training, or presentations via the Internet.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Web Conferencing:
- History
- See Also:
Comparison of web conferencing software
- YouTube Video: Adobe Connect Playing a Video File
- YouTube Video: Top 5 Video Conferencing Apps in 2022 Explained
- YouTube Video: The Best Online Meeting Software For Your Business
The list is a comparison of web conferencing software available for Linux, macOS, and Windows platforms. Many of the applications support the use of videoconferencing.
Click here for the List.
Terminology:
In the referenced table above, the following terminology is intended to be used to describe some important features:
Unified Communications is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user-interface and user-experience across multiple devices and media-types.
Click here for the List.
Terminology:
In the referenced table above, the following terminology is intended to be used to describe some important features:
- Audio Support: the remote control software transfers audio signals across the network and plays the audio through the speakers attached to the local computer. For example, music playback software normally sends audio signals to the locally attached speakers, via some sound controller hardware. If the remote control software package supports audio transfer, the playback software can run on the remote computer, while the music can be heard from the local computer, as though the software were running locally.
- Co-Browsing: the navigation of the Web by several people accessing the same web pages at the same time. When session leader clicks on a link, all other users are transferred to the new page. Co-browsers should support multiple frames and support embedded multimedia (e.g., if a page contains a video player, the session leader may commence synchronized playback for all users. Passing URLs via other tools such as a chat or phone and entering them into browser by each user is not considered co-browsing.
- File Transfer: the software allows the user to transfer files between the local and remote computers, from within the client program's user interface.
- Unified Communications (UC) is a marketing buzzword describing the integration of real-time, enterprise, communication services such as:
- instant messaging (chat),
- presence information,
- voice (including IP telephony),
- mobility features (including extension mobility and single number reach),
- audio, web & video conferencing,
- fixed-mobile convergence (FMC),
- desktop sharing,
- data sharing (including web connected electronic interactive whiteboards),
- call control,
- and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax).
Unified Communications is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user-interface and user-experience across multiple devices and media-types.
Video Conferencing
- YouTube: Using Google Hangouts for Video Conferencing, Business Meetings and Remote Teams
- YouTube Video: Hands-on with Group FaceTime Video Calls in iOS 12
- YouTube: How to Use Zoom - Free Video Conferencing and Virtual Meetings
Videotelephony comprises the technologies for the reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real time.
A videophone is a telephone with a video display, capable of simultaneous video and audio for communication between people in real time. Videoconferencing implies the use of this technology for a group or organizational meeting rather than for individuals, in a videoconference.
Telepresence may refer either to a high-quality videotelephony system (where the goal is to create the illusion that remote participants are in the same room) or to meetup technology, which goes beyond video into robotics (such as moving around the room or physically manipulating objects). Videoconferencing has also been called "visual collaboration" and is a type of groupware.
While development of video conferencing started in the late 19th century, the technology only became available to the public starting in the 1930s. These early demonstrations were installed at "booths" in post offices and shown at various world expositions.
It took until 1970 for AT&T to launch the first true video conferencing system, wherein anyone could subscribe to the service and have the technology in their home or office.
Videotelephony also included "image phones" which would exchange still images between units every few seconds over conventional plain old telephone service (POTS) lines, essentially the same as slow-scan TV.
The development of advanced video codecs, more powerful CPUs, and high-bandwidth Internet telecommunication services in the late 1990s allowed videophones to provide high quality low-cost colour service between users almost any place in the world that the Internet is available.
Although not as widely used in everyday communications as audio-only and text communication, useful applications include sign language transmission for deaf and speech-impaired people, distance education, telemedicine, and overcoming mobility issues.
It is also used in commercial and corporate settings to facilitate meetings and conferences, typically between parties that already have established relationships.
News media organizations have begun to use desktop technologies like Skype to provide higher-quality audio than the phone network, and video links at much lower cost than sending professional equipment or using a professional studio.
More popular videotelephony technologies use the Internet rather than the traditional landline phone network, even accounting for modern digital packetized phone network protocols, and even though videotelephony software commonly runs on smartphones.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Video Conferencing:
A videophone is a telephone with a video display, capable of simultaneous video and audio for communication between people in real time. Videoconferencing implies the use of this technology for a group or organizational meeting rather than for individuals, in a videoconference.
Telepresence may refer either to a high-quality videotelephony system (where the goal is to create the illusion that remote participants are in the same room) or to meetup technology, which goes beyond video into robotics (such as moving around the room or physically manipulating objects). Videoconferencing has also been called "visual collaboration" and is a type of groupware.
While development of video conferencing started in the late 19th century, the technology only became available to the public starting in the 1930s. These early demonstrations were installed at "booths" in post offices and shown at various world expositions.
It took until 1970 for AT&T to launch the first true video conferencing system, wherein anyone could subscribe to the service and have the technology in their home or office.
Videotelephony also included "image phones" which would exchange still images between units every few seconds over conventional plain old telephone service (POTS) lines, essentially the same as slow-scan TV.
The development of advanced video codecs, more powerful CPUs, and high-bandwidth Internet telecommunication services in the late 1990s allowed videophones to provide high quality low-cost colour service between users almost any place in the world that the Internet is available.
Although not as widely used in everyday communications as audio-only and text communication, useful applications include sign language transmission for deaf and speech-impaired people, distance education, telemedicine, and overcoming mobility issues.
It is also used in commercial and corporate settings to facilitate meetings and conferences, typically between parties that already have established relationships.
News media organizations have begun to use desktop technologies like Skype to provide higher-quality audio than the phone network, and video links at much lower cost than sending professional equipment or using a professional studio.
More popular videotelephony technologies use the Internet rather than the traditional landline phone network, even accounting for modern digital packetized phone network protocols, and even though videotelephony software commonly runs on smartphones.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Video Conferencing:
- History
- Major categories
- Security concerns
- Adoption
- Technology
- Impact
- Descriptive names and terminology
- Popular culture
- See also:
- 3GP and 3G2
- H.331
- Information appliance
- List of video telecommunication services and product brands
- Media phone
- Mobile VoIP
- Press videoconferencing
- Project DIANE—a large U.S. business and social services videoconferencing network
- Smartphone
- Telecollaboration
- Teleconference
- Telephony—the ancestral technology
- Teletraining
- U.S.–Soviet Space Bridge
- Visual communication
- VROC (Virtual Researcher on Call)
- Debut of the First Picturephone, 1970 video courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, N.J.
- British Pathé news clip: Videophone 1970, a movie reel news clip on the assembly and demonstration of a prototype British General Post Office 'Viewphone' at Taplow, Buckinghamshire; (February 1, 1970; video, 1:16 seconds length)
- Wirlpool Forums: Movies that feature videophones
Collaborative Software including a List of Collaborative Software
- YouTube Video: What is Collaborative Software?
- YouTube Video: 20 Years of Product Management in 25 Minutes by Dave Wascha
- YouTube Video: Google Docs Tutorial
For a List of Collaborative Software systems, Click Here.
Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them".
As regards available interaction, collaborative software may be divided into: real-time collaborative editing platforms that allow multiple users to engage in live, simultaneous and reversible editing of a single file (usually a document), and version control (also known as revision control and source control) platforms, which allow separate users to make parallel edits to a file, while preserving every saved edit by every user as multiple files (that are variants of the original file).
Collaborative software is a broad concept that overlaps considerably with computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). According to Carstensen and Schmidt (1999) groupware is part of CSCW. The authors claim that CSCW, and thereby groupware, addresses "how collaborative activities and their coordination can be supported by means of computer systems."
The use of collaborative software in the work space creates a collaborative working environment (CWE).
Finally, collaborative software relates to the notion of collaborative work systems, which are conceived as any form of human organization that emerges any time that collaboration takes place, whether it is formal or informal, intentional or unintentional.
Whereas the groupware or collaborative software pertains to the technological elements of computer-supported cooperative work, collaborative work systems become a useful analytical tool to understand the behavioral and organizational variables that are associated to the broader concept of CSCW.
Origins:
See also: MUD
Douglas Engelbart first envisioned collaborative computing in 1951 and documented his vision in 1962, with working prototypes in full operational use by his research team by the mid-1960s, and held the first public demonstration of his work in 1968 in what is now referred to as "The Mother of All Demos."
The following year, Engelbart's lab was hooked into the ARPANET, the first computer network, enabling them to extend services to a broader userbase. See also Intelligence Amplification Section 4: Douglas Engelbart, ARPANET Section on ARPANET Deployed, and the Doug Engelbart Archive Collection.
Online collaborative gaming software began between early networked computer users. In 1975, Will Crowther created Colossal Cave Adventure on a DEC PDP-10 computer. As internet connections grew, so did the numbers of users and multi-user games. In 1978 Roy Trubshaw, a student at University of Essex in the United Kingdom, created the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon).
The US Government began using truly collaborative applications in the early 1990s. One of the first robust applications was the Navy's Common Operational Modeling, Planning and Simulation Strategy (COMPASS). The COMPASS system allowed up to 6 users to create point-to-point connections with one another; the collaborative session only remained while at least one user stayed active, and would have to be recreated if all six logged out.
MITRE improved on that model by hosting the collaborative session on a server that each user logged into. Called the Collaborative Virtual Workstation (CVW), this allowed the session to be set up in a virtual file cabinet and virtual rooms, and left as a persistent session that could be joined later.
In 1996, Pavel Curtis, who had built MUDs at PARC, created PlaceWare, a server that simulated a one-to-many auditorium, with side chat between "seat-mates", and the ability to invite a limited number of audience members to speak.
In 1997, engineers at GTE used the PlaceWare engine in a commercial version of MITRE's CVW, calling it InfoWorkSpace (IWS). In 1998, IWS was chosen as the military standard for the standardized Air Operations Center. The IWS product was sold to General Dynamics and then later to Ezenia.
Groupware:
Collaborative software was originally designated as groupware and this term can be traced as far back as the late 1980s, when Richman and Slovak (1987) wrote: "Like an electronic sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims to place the computer squarely in the middle of communications among managers, technicians, and anyone else who interacts in groups, revolutionizing the way they work."
Even further back, in 1978 Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz coined the term groupware; their initial 1978 definition of groupware was, "intentional group processes plus software to support them." Later in their article they went on to explain groupware as "computer-mediated culture... an embodiment of social organization in hyperspace." Groupware integrates co-evolving human and tool systems, yet is simply a single system.
In the early 1990s the first commercial groupware products were delivered, and big companies such as Boeing and IBM started using electronic meeting systems for key internal projects. Lotus Notes appeared as a major example of that product category, allowing remote group collaboration when the internet was still in its infancy.
Kirkpatrick and Losee (1992) wrote then: "If GROUPWARE really makes a difference in productivity long term, the very definition of an office may change. You will be able to work efficiently as a member of a group wherever you have your computer. As computers become smaller and more powerful, that will mean anywhere." In 1999, Achacoso created and introduced the first wireless groupware.
Design and implementation issues:
The complexity of groupware development is still an issue. One reason for this is the socio-technical dimension of groupware. Groupware designers do not only have to address technical issues (as in traditional software development) but also consider the organizational aspects and the social group processes that should be supported with the groupware application.
Some examples for issues in groupware development are:
One approach for addressing these issues is the use of design patterns for groupware design. The patterns identify recurring groupware design issues and discuss design choices in a way that all stakeholders can participate in the groupware development process.
Groupware and levels of collaboration:
Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration:
Collaborative management (coordination) tools:
Collaborative management tools facilitate and manage group activities. Examples include:
Collaborative software and human interaction:
The design intent of collaborative software (groupware) is to transform the way documents and rich media are shared in order to enable more effective team collaboration.
Collaboration, with respect to information technology, seems to have several definitions. Some are defensible but others are so broad they lose any meaningful application.
Understanding the differences in human interactions is necessary to ensure the appropriate technologies are employed to meet interaction needs.
There are three primary ways in which humans interact: conversations, transactions, and collaborations.
Conversational interaction is an exchange of information between two or more participants where the primary purpose of the interaction is discovery or relationship building. There is no central entity around which the interaction revolves but is a free exchange of information with no defined constraints, generally focused on personal experiences. Communication technology such as telephones, instant messaging, and e-mail are generally sufficient for conversational interactions.
Transactional interaction involves the exchange of transaction entities where a major function of the transaction entity is to alter the relationship between participants.
In collaborative interactions the main function of the participants' relationship is to alter a collaboration entity (i.e., the converse of transactional). When teams collaborate on projects it is called Collaborative project management.
See also: Closely related terms: Groupware type of applications:
Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them".
As regards available interaction, collaborative software may be divided into: real-time collaborative editing platforms that allow multiple users to engage in live, simultaneous and reversible editing of a single file (usually a document), and version control (also known as revision control and source control) platforms, which allow separate users to make parallel edits to a file, while preserving every saved edit by every user as multiple files (that are variants of the original file).
Collaborative software is a broad concept that overlaps considerably with computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). According to Carstensen and Schmidt (1999) groupware is part of CSCW. The authors claim that CSCW, and thereby groupware, addresses "how collaborative activities and their coordination can be supported by means of computer systems."
The use of collaborative software in the work space creates a collaborative working environment (CWE).
Finally, collaborative software relates to the notion of collaborative work systems, which are conceived as any form of human organization that emerges any time that collaboration takes place, whether it is formal or informal, intentional or unintentional.
Whereas the groupware or collaborative software pertains to the technological elements of computer-supported cooperative work, collaborative work systems become a useful analytical tool to understand the behavioral and organizational variables that are associated to the broader concept of CSCW.
Origins:
See also: MUD
Douglas Engelbart first envisioned collaborative computing in 1951 and documented his vision in 1962, with working prototypes in full operational use by his research team by the mid-1960s, and held the first public demonstration of his work in 1968 in what is now referred to as "The Mother of All Demos."
The following year, Engelbart's lab was hooked into the ARPANET, the first computer network, enabling them to extend services to a broader userbase. See also Intelligence Amplification Section 4: Douglas Engelbart, ARPANET Section on ARPANET Deployed, and the Doug Engelbart Archive Collection.
Online collaborative gaming software began between early networked computer users. In 1975, Will Crowther created Colossal Cave Adventure on a DEC PDP-10 computer. As internet connections grew, so did the numbers of users and multi-user games. In 1978 Roy Trubshaw, a student at University of Essex in the United Kingdom, created the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon).
The US Government began using truly collaborative applications in the early 1990s. One of the first robust applications was the Navy's Common Operational Modeling, Planning and Simulation Strategy (COMPASS). The COMPASS system allowed up to 6 users to create point-to-point connections with one another; the collaborative session only remained while at least one user stayed active, and would have to be recreated if all six logged out.
MITRE improved on that model by hosting the collaborative session on a server that each user logged into. Called the Collaborative Virtual Workstation (CVW), this allowed the session to be set up in a virtual file cabinet and virtual rooms, and left as a persistent session that could be joined later.
In 1996, Pavel Curtis, who had built MUDs at PARC, created PlaceWare, a server that simulated a one-to-many auditorium, with side chat between "seat-mates", and the ability to invite a limited number of audience members to speak.
In 1997, engineers at GTE used the PlaceWare engine in a commercial version of MITRE's CVW, calling it InfoWorkSpace (IWS). In 1998, IWS was chosen as the military standard for the standardized Air Operations Center. The IWS product was sold to General Dynamics and then later to Ezenia.
Groupware:
Collaborative software was originally designated as groupware and this term can be traced as far back as the late 1980s, when Richman and Slovak (1987) wrote: "Like an electronic sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims to place the computer squarely in the middle of communications among managers, technicians, and anyone else who interacts in groups, revolutionizing the way they work."
Even further back, in 1978 Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz coined the term groupware; their initial 1978 definition of groupware was, "intentional group processes plus software to support them." Later in their article they went on to explain groupware as "computer-mediated culture... an embodiment of social organization in hyperspace." Groupware integrates co-evolving human and tool systems, yet is simply a single system.
In the early 1990s the first commercial groupware products were delivered, and big companies such as Boeing and IBM started using electronic meeting systems for key internal projects. Lotus Notes appeared as a major example of that product category, allowing remote group collaboration when the internet was still in its infancy.
Kirkpatrick and Losee (1992) wrote then: "If GROUPWARE really makes a difference in productivity long term, the very definition of an office may change. You will be able to work efficiently as a member of a group wherever you have your computer. As computers become smaller and more powerful, that will mean anywhere." In 1999, Achacoso created and introduced the first wireless groupware.
Design and implementation issues:
The complexity of groupware development is still an issue. One reason for this is the socio-technical dimension of groupware. Groupware designers do not only have to address technical issues (as in traditional software development) but also consider the organizational aspects and the social group processes that should be supported with the groupware application.
Some examples for issues in groupware development are:
- Persistence is needed in some sessions. Chat and voice communications are routinely non-persistent and evaporate at the end of the session. Virtual room and online file cabinets can persist for years. The designer of the collaborative space needs to consider the information duration needs and implement accordingly.
- Authentication has always been a problem with groupware. When connections are made point-to-point, or when log-in registration is enforced, it's clear who is engaged in the session. However, audio and unmoderated sessions carry the risk of unannounced 'lurkers' who observe but do not announce themselves or contribute.
- Until recently, bandwidth issues at fixed location limited full use of the tools. These are exacerbated with mobile devices.
- Multiple input and output streams bring concurrency issues into the groupware applications.
- Motivational issues are important, especially in settings where no pre-defined group process was in place.
- Closely related to the motivation aspect is the question of reciprocity. Ellis and others have shown that the distribution of efforts and benefits has to be carefully balanced in order to ensure that all required group members really participate.
- Real-time communication via groupware can lead to a lot of noise, over-communication and information overload.
One approach for addressing these issues is the use of design patterns for groupware design. The patterns identify recurring groupware design issues and discuss design choices in a way that all stakeholders can participate in the groupware development process.
Groupware and levels of collaboration:
Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration:
- Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. A phone call or an IM Chat discussion are examples of this.
- Conferencing (or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this.
- Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation - but everyone is doing something different - in order for the team to win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal: collaborative management.
Collaborative management (coordination) tools:
Collaborative management tools facilitate and manage group activities. Examples include:
- Electronic calendars (also called time management software) — schedule events and automatically notify and remind group members
- Project management systems — schedule, track, and chart the steps in a project as it is being completed
- Online proofing — share, review, approve, and reject web proofs, artwork, photos, or videos between designers, customers, and clients
- Workflow systems — collaborative management of tasks and documents within a knowledge-based business process
- Knowledge management systems — collect, organize, manage, and share various forms of information
- Enterprise bookmarking — collaborative bookmarking engine to tag, organize, share, and search enterprise data
- Prediction markets — let a group of people predict together the outcome of future events
- Extranet systems (sometimes also known as 'project extranets') — collect, organize, manage and share information associated with the delivery of a project (e.g.: the construction of a building)
- Intranet systems — quickly share company information to members within a company via Internet (e.g.: marketing and product info)
- Social software systems — organize social relations of groups
- Online spreadsheets — collaborate and share structured data and information
- Client portals — interact and share with your clients in a private online environment
Collaborative software and human interaction:
The design intent of collaborative software (groupware) is to transform the way documents and rich media are shared in order to enable more effective team collaboration.
Collaboration, with respect to information technology, seems to have several definitions. Some are defensible but others are so broad they lose any meaningful application.
Understanding the differences in human interactions is necessary to ensure the appropriate technologies are employed to meet interaction needs.
There are three primary ways in which humans interact: conversations, transactions, and collaborations.
Conversational interaction is an exchange of information between two or more participants where the primary purpose of the interaction is discovery or relationship building. There is no central entity around which the interaction revolves but is a free exchange of information with no defined constraints, generally focused on personal experiences. Communication technology such as telephones, instant messaging, and e-mail are generally sufficient for conversational interactions.
Transactional interaction involves the exchange of transaction entities where a major function of the transaction entity is to alter the relationship between participants.
In collaborative interactions the main function of the participants' relationship is to alter a collaboration entity (i.e., the converse of transactional). When teams collaborate on projects it is called Collaborative project management.
See also: Closely related terms: Groupware type of applications:
- Content management system
- Customer relationship management software
- Document management system
- Enterprise content management
- Event management software
- Intranet
- Collaborative innovation network
- Commons-based peer production
- Electronic business
- Information technology management
- Management information systems
- Management
- Office of the future
- Operational transformation
- Organizational Memory System
- Worknet
- Cloud collaboration
- Document collaboration
- MediaWiki
- Wikipedia
Social Software
- YouTube Video: The Impact of Social Software on Learning
- YouTube Video: 5 Key Benefits Of Social Media Management Tools
- YouTube Video: 10 Social Media Tips For Business 2019
Social software, also known as social apps, include communication and interactive tools often based on the Internet.
Communication tools typically handle the capturing, storing and presentation of communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well.
Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a pair or group of users. They focus on establishing and maintaining a connection among users, facilitating the mechanics of conversation and talk. Social software generally refers to software that makes collaborative behavior, the organisation and molding of communities, self-expression, social interaction and feedback possible for individuals.
Another element of the existing definition of social software is that it allows for the structured mediation of opinion between people, in a centralized or self-regulating manner.
The most improved area for social software is that Web 2.0 applications can all promote cooperation between people and the creation of online communities more than ever before.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks to learn more about Social Software:
Communication tools typically handle the capturing, storing and presentation of communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well.
Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a pair or group of users. They focus on establishing and maintaining a connection among users, facilitating the mechanics of conversation and talk. Social software generally refers to software that makes collaborative behavior, the organisation and molding of communities, self-expression, social interaction and feedback possible for individuals.
Another element of the existing definition of social software is that it allows for the structured mediation of opinion between people, in a centralized or self-regulating manner.
The most improved area for social software is that Web 2.0 applications can all promote cooperation between people and the creation of online communities more than ever before.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks to learn more about Social Software:
- Types
- Instant messaging
- Text chat
- Collaborative software
- Internet forums
- Wikis
- Blogs
- Collaborative real-time editors
- Prediction markets
- Social network services
- Social network search engines
- Deliberative social networks
- Commercial social networks
- Social guides
- Social bookmarking
- Social viewing
- Social cataloging
- Social libraries
- Social online storage
- Social network analysis
- Virtual worlds
- Other specialized social applications
- Vendor lists
- Politics and journalism
- Comparison of communication and interactive tools
- Emerging technologies
- Debates or design choices
- Theory
- History
- Criticism
- See also:
- Social Protocols: An Introduction - by Joseph M. Reagle Jr.
- IBM Center for Social Software, launched in September 2008
- Definition of Social Software and Revised / Simplified Definition of Social Software by Tom Coates, May 2003 and January 2005
- List of social software
- Commons-based peer production
- Conformity
- Customer engagement
- Folksonomy
- Groupthink
- List of membership software
- Knowledge management
- Online identity
- Online deliberation
- Participatory media
- Personal network
- Pseudonymity
- Social media
- Social software in education
- Social web
- The WELL
- Usenet
- Virtual community
- Online community
- Web community
Cloud Collaboration including a List of Collaboration Software
- YouTube Video: Avid Cloud Collaboration for Pro Tools Video 1: Getting Started
- YouTube Video: Avid Cloud Collaboration for Pro Tools Video 2: The Dashboard
- YouTube Video: Avid Cloud Collaboration for Pro Tools Video 3: Converting a Session to a Project
* -- Moving to cloud collaboration improves productivity in the workplace
Content provided by PQC Tech Sep 22, 2017
Collaboration in business used to be about face-to-face communication, involving brainstorming, notepads, extensive meetings, and a centralized office environment. Today, it’s about creating similar engagement and teamwork, but without the limitation of a single location or physical closeness. This step forward is possible and popular thanks to cloud collaboration tools.
Cloud-collaboration tools solve operational issues that hamper efficiency. Until now, organizations implemented on premise tools for communication, collaboration and storage purposes.
The legacy solutions came with considerable limitations. Employees could not collaborate faster and more conveniently or access files remotely. As a result, the workforce was bogged down by the need to spend lengthy periods traveling or trying to collaborate with colleagues.
High costs associated with legacy IT systems added to the frustration.
Email was previously the most popular way for businesses to share documents among employees. The downsides of this method included restrictions on file sizes and the multiple people couldn’t work on something at the same time. Additionally, it’s easy to lose the latest version of a file when edits are constantly being sent back and forth. Ultimately, this method is unproductive.
Cloud collaboration tools, on the other hand, increase employee efficiency and productivity. It empowers employees to more effectively and freely interact with each other, enhancing team communication. These applications also improve teamwork and innovation, as ideas are exchanged more easily.
Cloud collaboration’s power lies in allowing people to work together on documents, or other data types, simultaneously. The advantage of cloud collaboration is that it allows people to share and edit projects at the same time across many different locations. Many cloud collaboration applications also include communication tools, and accessibility tools to limit who can view and edit the document, and the ability to see who else is working on the project.
Cloud collaboration tools also maintain one of the most popular benefits of cloud computing – anywhere, anytime access. These tools promote on-the-go productivity and remove the geographical barrier that used to accompany collaboration in business.
Data and applications are available to employees no matter where they are in the world.
Workers can take their work anywhere via smart phones and tablets — roaming through a retail store to check customers out, visiting customers in their homes or offices, working in the field or at a plant, etc.
When it comes to the IT team, there are sometimes worries about implementing new technology. However, cloud collaboration software actually requires less maintenance than in-house options, allowing an IT team to focus their attention on more lucrative business endeavors.
And since the applications are hosted externally in a provider’s data center, businesses will most likely experience higher availability and better support. A business can also quit worrying about file loss, as these documents and projects will be securely backed up and protected in the cloud environment
We’re living in a mobile environment, so it’s important to have mobile business solutions. Cloud collaboration tools provide this mobility, maximizing employees’ time, no matter where they are.
It’s easy and productive to collaborate with co-workers at any time, in any location. For small and mid-size businesses, the benefits of cloud collaboration are endless. Cloud collaboration saves businesses time and money by boosting productivity, improving communication, and promoting innovation.
___________________________________________________________________________
Cloud Collaboration:
Cloud collaboration is a way of sharing and co-authoring computer files through the use of cloud computing, whereby documents are uploaded to a central "cloud" for storage, where they can then be accessed by others.
Cloud collaboration technologies allow users to upload, comment and collaborate on documents and even amend the document itself, evolving the document. Businesses in the last few years have increasingly been switching to use of cloud collaboration.
Overview:
Cloud computing is a marketing term for technologies that provide software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. A parallel to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to utilize the technology.
Collaboration refers to the ability of workers to work together simultaneously on a particular task. Document collaboration can be completed face to face. However, collaboration has become more complex, with the need to work with people all over the world in real time on a variety of different types of documents, using different devices.
A 2003 report mapped out six reasons why workers are reluctant to collaborate more. These are:
As a result, many providers created cloud collaboration tools. These include the integration of email alerts into collaboration software and the ability to see who is viewing the document at any time. All the tools a team could need are put into one piece of software so workers no longer have to rely on email.
Origins:
Before cloud file sharing and collaboration software, most collaboration was limited to more primitive and less effective methods such as email and FTP among others. These did not work particularly well.
Very early moves into cloud computing were made by Amazon Web Services who, in 2006, began offering IT infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services. Cloud computing only began to come to prominence in 2007 when Google decided to move parts of its email service to a public cloud.
It was not long before IBM and Microsoft followed suit with LotusLive and Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) respectively. With an increase in cloud computing services, cloud collaboration was able to evolve. Since 2007, many firms entered the industry offering many features.
Many analysts explain the rise of cloud collaboration by pointing to the increasing use by workers of non-authorized websites and online tools to do their jobs. This includes the use of instant messaging and social networks.
In a survey taken in early 2011, 22% of workers admitted to having used one or more of these external non-authorized websites. Cloud collaboration packages provide the ability to collaborate on documents together in real time, making the use of non-authorized instant messaging redundant. IT managers can now properly regulate internet based collaboration with a system tailor-made for the office.
It has also been noted that cloud collaboration has become more and more necessary for IT departments as work forces have become more mobile and now need access to important documents wherever they are, whether this is through an internet browser, or through newer technologies such as smartphones and tablet devices.
The tech industry saw several large paradigm changes:
Each of these revolutions brought with it new economies of scale. The cost-per-transaction, the cost of automating office and desktop processes, and finally the cost of network bandwidth fell quickly and enabled business users to apply ICT solutions more broadly to create business value.
Most analysts (Forrester, Gartner, etc.) believe that cloud computing will help unleash the next wave of tech-enabled business innovation.
During the mainframe era, client/server was initially viewed as a "toy" technology, not viable as a mainframe replacement. Yet, over time the client/server technology found its way into the enterprise.
Similarly, when virtualization technology was first proposed, application compatibility concerns and potential vendor lock-in were cited as barriers to adoption. Yet underlying economics of 20 to 30 percent savings compelled CIOs to overcome these concerns, and adoption quickly accelerated.
Recent developments:
Early cloud collaboration tools were quite basic with limited features. Newer packages are much more document-centric in their approach to collaboration. More sophisticated tools allow users to "tag" specific areas of a document for comments which are delivered real time to those viewing the document. In some cases, the collaboration software can even be integrated into Microsoft Office, or allow users to set up video conferences.
Furthermore, the trend now is for firms to employ a single software tool to solve all their collaboration needs, rather than having to rely on multiple different techniques. Single cloud collaboration providers are now replacing a complicated tangle of instant messengers, email and FTP.
Cloud collaboration today is promoted as a tool for collaboration internally between different departments within a firm, but also externally as a means for sharing documents with end-clients as receiving feedback. This makes cloud computing a very versatile tool for firms with many different applications in a business environment.
The best cloud collaboration tools:
A 2011 report by Gartner outlines a five-stage model on the maturity of firms when it comes to the uptake of cloud collaboration tools. A firm in the first stage is said to be "reactive", with only email as a collaboration platform and a culture which resists information sharing.
A firm in the fifth stage is called "pervasive", and has universal access to a rich collaboration toolset and a strong collaborative culture. The article argues that most firms are in the second stage, but as cloud collaboration becomes more important, most analysts expect to see the majority of firms moving up in the model.
See also: ___________________________________________________________________________
List of collaborative software
This list is divided into proprietary or free software, and open source software, with several comparison tables of different product and vendor characteristics. It also includes a section of project collaboration software, which is a standard feature in collaboration platforms.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for the List of Collaborative Software:
Content provided by PQC Tech Sep 22, 2017
Collaboration in business used to be about face-to-face communication, involving brainstorming, notepads, extensive meetings, and a centralized office environment. Today, it’s about creating similar engagement and teamwork, but without the limitation of a single location or physical closeness. This step forward is possible and popular thanks to cloud collaboration tools.
Cloud-collaboration tools solve operational issues that hamper efficiency. Until now, organizations implemented on premise tools for communication, collaboration and storage purposes.
The legacy solutions came with considerable limitations. Employees could not collaborate faster and more conveniently or access files remotely. As a result, the workforce was bogged down by the need to spend lengthy periods traveling or trying to collaborate with colleagues.
High costs associated with legacy IT systems added to the frustration.
Email was previously the most popular way for businesses to share documents among employees. The downsides of this method included restrictions on file sizes and the multiple people couldn’t work on something at the same time. Additionally, it’s easy to lose the latest version of a file when edits are constantly being sent back and forth. Ultimately, this method is unproductive.
Cloud collaboration tools, on the other hand, increase employee efficiency and productivity. It empowers employees to more effectively and freely interact with each other, enhancing team communication. These applications also improve teamwork and innovation, as ideas are exchanged more easily.
Cloud collaboration’s power lies in allowing people to work together on documents, or other data types, simultaneously. The advantage of cloud collaboration is that it allows people to share and edit projects at the same time across many different locations. Many cloud collaboration applications also include communication tools, and accessibility tools to limit who can view and edit the document, and the ability to see who else is working on the project.
Cloud collaboration tools also maintain one of the most popular benefits of cloud computing – anywhere, anytime access. These tools promote on-the-go productivity and remove the geographical barrier that used to accompany collaboration in business.
Data and applications are available to employees no matter where they are in the world.
Workers can take their work anywhere via smart phones and tablets — roaming through a retail store to check customers out, visiting customers in their homes or offices, working in the field or at a plant, etc.
When it comes to the IT team, there are sometimes worries about implementing new technology. However, cloud collaboration software actually requires less maintenance than in-house options, allowing an IT team to focus their attention on more lucrative business endeavors.
And since the applications are hosted externally in a provider’s data center, businesses will most likely experience higher availability and better support. A business can also quit worrying about file loss, as these documents and projects will be securely backed up and protected in the cloud environment
We’re living in a mobile environment, so it’s important to have mobile business solutions. Cloud collaboration tools provide this mobility, maximizing employees’ time, no matter where they are.
It’s easy and productive to collaborate with co-workers at any time, in any location. For small and mid-size businesses, the benefits of cloud collaboration are endless. Cloud collaboration saves businesses time and money by boosting productivity, improving communication, and promoting innovation.
___________________________________________________________________________
Cloud Collaboration:
Cloud collaboration is a way of sharing and co-authoring computer files through the use of cloud computing, whereby documents are uploaded to a central "cloud" for storage, where they can then be accessed by others.
Cloud collaboration technologies allow users to upload, comment and collaborate on documents and even amend the document itself, evolving the document. Businesses in the last few years have increasingly been switching to use of cloud collaboration.
Overview:
Cloud computing is a marketing term for technologies that provide software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. A parallel to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to utilize the technology.
Collaboration refers to the ability of workers to work together simultaneously on a particular task. Document collaboration can be completed face to face. However, collaboration has become more complex, with the need to work with people all over the world in real time on a variety of different types of documents, using different devices.
A 2003 report mapped out six reasons why workers are reluctant to collaborate more. These are:
- People resist sharing their knowledge.
- Safety issues
- Users are most comfortable using e-mail as their primary electronic collaboration tool.
- People do not have incentive to change their behavior.
- Teams that want to or are selected to use the software do not have strong team leaders who push for more collaboration.
- Senior management is not actively involved in or does not support the team collaboration initiative.
As a result, many providers created cloud collaboration tools. These include the integration of email alerts into collaboration software and the ability to see who is viewing the document at any time. All the tools a team could need are put into one piece of software so workers no longer have to rely on email.
Origins:
Before cloud file sharing and collaboration software, most collaboration was limited to more primitive and less effective methods such as email and FTP among others. These did not work particularly well.
Very early moves into cloud computing were made by Amazon Web Services who, in 2006, began offering IT infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services. Cloud computing only began to come to prominence in 2007 when Google decided to move parts of its email service to a public cloud.
It was not long before IBM and Microsoft followed suit with LotusLive and Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) respectively. With an increase in cloud computing services, cloud collaboration was able to evolve. Since 2007, many firms entered the industry offering many features.
Many analysts explain the rise of cloud collaboration by pointing to the increasing use by workers of non-authorized websites and online tools to do their jobs. This includes the use of instant messaging and social networks.
In a survey taken in early 2011, 22% of workers admitted to having used one or more of these external non-authorized websites. Cloud collaboration packages provide the ability to collaborate on documents together in real time, making the use of non-authorized instant messaging redundant. IT managers can now properly regulate internet based collaboration with a system tailor-made for the office.
It has also been noted that cloud collaboration has become more and more necessary for IT departments as work forces have become more mobile and now need access to important documents wherever they are, whether this is through an internet browser, or through newer technologies such as smartphones and tablet devices.
The tech industry saw several large paradigm changes:
- The mainframe computing era enabled business growth to be untethered from the number of employees needed to process transactions manually.
- The personal computing era empowered business users to run their businesses based on individual data and applications on their PCs.
- A decade of network computing established an unprecedented level of transparency of information across multiple groups inside a company and an amazing rate of data exchange between enterprises.
Each of these revolutions brought with it new economies of scale. The cost-per-transaction, the cost of automating office and desktop processes, and finally the cost of network bandwidth fell quickly and enabled business users to apply ICT solutions more broadly to create business value.
Most analysts (Forrester, Gartner, etc.) believe that cloud computing will help unleash the next wave of tech-enabled business innovation.
During the mainframe era, client/server was initially viewed as a "toy" technology, not viable as a mainframe replacement. Yet, over time the client/server technology found its way into the enterprise.
Similarly, when virtualization technology was first proposed, application compatibility concerns and potential vendor lock-in were cited as barriers to adoption. Yet underlying economics of 20 to 30 percent savings compelled CIOs to overcome these concerns, and adoption quickly accelerated.
Recent developments:
Early cloud collaboration tools were quite basic with limited features. Newer packages are much more document-centric in their approach to collaboration. More sophisticated tools allow users to "tag" specific areas of a document for comments which are delivered real time to those viewing the document. In some cases, the collaboration software can even be integrated into Microsoft Office, or allow users to set up video conferences.
Furthermore, the trend now is for firms to employ a single software tool to solve all their collaboration needs, rather than having to rely on multiple different techniques. Single cloud collaboration providers are now replacing a complicated tangle of instant messengers, email and FTP.
Cloud collaboration today is promoted as a tool for collaboration internally between different departments within a firm, but also externally as a means for sharing documents with end-clients as receiving feedback. This makes cloud computing a very versatile tool for firms with many different applications in a business environment.
The best cloud collaboration tools:
- Use real-time commenting and messaging features to enhance speed of project delivery
- Leverage presence indicators to identify when others are active on documents owned by another person
- Allow users to set permissions and manage other users' activity profiles
- Allow users to set personal activity feeds and email alert profiles to keep abreast of latest activities per file or user
- Allow users to collaborate and share files with users outside the company firewall
- Comply with company security and compliance framework
- Ensure full auditing of files and documents shared within and outside the organization
- Reduce workarounds for sharing and collaboration on large files
A 2011 report by Gartner outlines a five-stage model on the maturity of firms when it comes to the uptake of cloud collaboration tools. A firm in the first stage is said to be "reactive", with only email as a collaboration platform and a culture which resists information sharing.
A firm in the fifth stage is called "pervasive", and has universal access to a rich collaboration toolset and a strong collaborative culture. The article argues that most firms are in the second stage, but as cloud collaboration becomes more important, most analysts expect to see the majority of firms moving up in the model.
See also: ___________________________________________________________________________
List of collaborative software
This list is divided into proprietary or free software, and open source software, with several comparison tables of different product and vendor characteristics. It also includes a section of project collaboration software, which is a standard feature in collaboration platforms.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for the List of Collaborative Software:
- Collaborative software
- Comparison of notable software
- Open source software
- Project collaboration software
- See also:
Electronic meeting system
- YouTube Video: About Electronic Meeting Systems
- YouTube Video: Zoom Video Conference | Setup and Setup Walk Through
- YouTube Video: Pros and Cons of Web-Based EMR Systems
An electronic meeting system (EMS) is a type of computer software that facilitates creative problem solving and decision-making of groups within or across organizations. The term was coined by Alan R. Dennis et al. in 1988.
The term is synonymous with group support systems (GSS) and essentially synonymous with group decision support systems (GDSS). Electronic meeting systems form a class of applications for computer supported cooperative work.
Mainly through (optional) anonymization and parallelization of input, electronic meeting systems overcome many deleterious and inhibitive features of group work. Similar to a web conference, a host invites the participants to an electronic meeting via email.
After logging into the session, meeting attendees participate primarily through their keyboards, typing responses to questions and prompts from the meeting host.
Electronic meeting systems need to be distinguished on the one hand from classic groupware, on the other from web conferencing systems. In reality, there is some overlap between minor features of products of the named categories.
The main difference from groupware is the intensity of collaboration. According to Lubich's classification, groupware supports collaboration within groups where the individual contributions remain identifiable.
In contrast, EMS enable the group to cooperatively produce a result for which the group is responsible as a whole. In a business process, groupware and electronic meeting systems complement each other: Groupware supports teams when researching and creating documents in the run up to an EMS session or when implementing the results of such a session.
Web conferencing systems and electronic meeting systems complement each other in the online meeting or workshop: EMS extends the web conferencing system by providing interactive tools for producing and documenting group results. On the other hand, web conferencing systems complement EMS with the screen-sharing and voice conferencing functionality required in synchronous online meetings and not present in EMS.
History:
The beginnings:
Nunamaker et al. cite the CASE project PSL/PSA of the mid sixties as the beginnings of EMS technology.
The first systems recognizable as EMS from today's perspective developed in the early 1980s as university and research projects:
The efforts differed in their goals: While work at Xerox PARC focused on small cooperating groups of 2 - 6 individuals, work at the University of Arizona focused on groups of 16 - 24.
The late 1980s saw the beginnings of a commercial market for EMS. In 1989, the University of Arizona founded Ventana Corporation to transfer the Plexsys technology from the laboratory to the workplace. In 1992 Xerox PARC spun off Live Works Inc which developed the product LiveBoard based on the project Colab.
The 1990s: Early LAN-based systems:
Group Systems, which was developed by the Ventana Corporation, is generally acknowledged to be the ancestor of modern EMS. Group Systems provided the standard functionality of modern EMS such as brainstorming and categorization, votes and discussions in the context of a chronological agenda. Contributions could be entered in parallel and anonymously. The results of one step of the meeting process e.g., a brainstorming, could be copied to a follow-up tool e.g., a vote.
The product was based on Clients running on Microsoft Windows machines which accessed a server running a Paradox database via a mapped drive on the local network (LAN). The limitation to local ("same place") meetings, the substantial infrastructure requirements and the complexities of controlling the software prevented widespread adoption.
Consequently, Group Systems was developed as a tool for the expert facilitator of computer-aided meetings. These meetings were often conducted in custom computer-equipped conference rooms or by specialized consultancies with dedicated kit.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s further EMS such as the Dutch Inteam or the American Meetingworks sprang up. As LAN-based client-server systems they shared the limitations of such systems. In contrast, facilitate.com adopted HTML suffering the (then) severe functional limitations of that technology for the advantage of working over the Internet.
Web applications:
Since 2005 EMS development has focused on browser-based systems and easy to use GUIs.
Prototypical for this generation of EMS are the product Thinktank which is based on Group Systems, the later MeetingSphere the anonymous electronic brainstorming focused Monsoon and the pure HTML yet another Meeting.
All of these products deliver the functionality of an EMS over the Internet, however, they differ as to their focus and functional depth:
A special role is played among EMS by the product nextModerator which provides interactive tools to very large groups assembled in one location for a special event.
On the territory of post Soviet countries and Western Europe an important part in popularization and development of EMSs in recent years played locally-developed systems like SW 6000, PATENTEM, GlavCom etc.
Standard functionality:
An electronic meeting system is a suite of configurable collaborative software tools that can be used to create predictable, repeatable patterns of collaboration among people working toward a goal. With an electronic meeting system, each user typically has his or her own computer, and each user can contribute to the same shared object (session) at the same time.
Thus, nobody needs to wait for a turn to speak and people don't forget what they want to say while they are waiting for the floor. When a group or a group's host deem it appropriate, people can contribute anonymously to most electronic meeting systems tools: this allows the group to focus on the content of ideas, rather than their sources.
Most EMS provide the standard functionalities described below but differ markedly in the handling and functional depth of these tools. Further, they differ by the set of additional tools they provide and by the way they are administered or integrated into a corporate IT environment. They also differ in the degree of interoperability with web conferencing systems for screen sharing and voice conferencing.
Brainstorming and categorization:
In an electronic brainstorming, the group creates a shared list of ideas. In contrast to paper-based brainstorming or brain-writing methods, contributions are directly entered by the participants and immediately visible to all, typically in anonymous format.
By overcoming social barriers with anonymity and process limitations with parallelized input, more ideas are generated and shared with less conformity than in a traditional brainstorming or brain-writing session.
The benefits of electronic brainstorming increase with group size.
In many cases, subsequent to a brainstorming session or the collection of contributions, ideas require categorization. For this, in modern EMS, participants drag contributions from the shared list to category folders or buckets.
Discussion:
Discussion tools in EMS resemble a structured chat which may be conducted on separate topics in parallel, often based on a superordinate task or question. Parallelization occurs at multiple levels:
Compared to an oral discussion, an electronic discussion enables a much more intensive exchange of arguments in shorter time. With anonymity, interpersonal conflict is minimized, peer pressure reduced. In many cases, a parallel electronic discussion enables the exploration of topics which would have been bypassed in traditional settings for lack of time.
Vote:
Sophisticated EMS provide a range of vote methods such as numeric scale, rank order, budget or multiple selection. In more advanced systems, a ballot list can be subjected to multiple votes on multiple criteria with different vote methods for utility or impact analysis.
Results are available in real time, typically both as tables and charts.
Further features include integration with social media as well as a Q&A system.
In contrast to voting methods available in traditional workshops such as raising hands or the placing of sticky notes on a white board, electronic votes are anonymous and provide for a more differentiated assessment of ideas, opinions or facts. Some EMS provide for voting with group identity for extra insight into the structure of consensus or dissent.
Agenda:
Modern EMS organize the process of a meeting into an agenda which structures the activities of a meeting or workshop by topic, chronology and the use of a supporting tool. From the agenda, the host (facilitator) of the meeting invites ("starts") the participants to contribute to the various activities. In some EMS, agendas can be copied from an existing meeting or from meeting templates.
Automatic minutes:
The results of an EMS-based meeting exist as content in a database. The content can be exported to a file, delivered to an externally integrated system of record, or simply printed.
Formatting and available file formats differ substantially between EMS, with commonly available options including HTML, Markdown, and office document formats.
Synchronous and asynchronous meetings:
Modern EMS support both synchronous (participants meet at the same time) and asynchronous (participants contribute at different times) meetings.
Synchronous meetings provide for immediate, spontaneous interaction between participants.
Asynchronous meetings increase participant availability by setting no more than a time frame in which the participants are free to contribute in their own time. Asynchronous meetings are a good option when reflected input is required rather than instant spontaneous interaction.
Technically, synchronous and asynchronous meetings differ by the time for which tools are available to the participants. In a typical synchronous meeting, all participants are active in one shared activity. For this, synchronous meetings usually require support by a voice conference for oral interaction within the group and screen sharing by web conference for presenting non-EMS content.
In contrast, asynchronous sessions often involve multiple activities for contribution. The actual meeting and direct interaction between two or more participants in a particular activity are coincidental. Asynchronous sessions are often employed for gathering feedback or input.
Asynchronous sessions can be conducted independently of synchronous meetings or in the run-up to such meetings or in the aftermath, e.g. to discuss questions unresolved in the meeting.
EMS differ substantially in the way and the extent to which they support asynchronous meetings. Differences include the duration of asynchronous meetings (24 hours/days/weeks), support for planning and publication of asynchronous meetings (agenda, invitations) and the licensing model (flat-rate, pay-per-use, concurrent meetings, concurrent users, etc.).
Advantages:
Electronic meeting systems have been designed to enhance group effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Face-to-face groups can suffer from a number of process losses including:
Consequently, the advantages of EMS supported meetings vs traditional face-to-face meetings and workshops are:
Disadvantages:
The majority of drawbacks of EMS versus traditional conferences or workshops have been overcome by technological progress or by adaptation of EMS to particular target groups and their dominant use cases:
The remaining drawbacks mostly result from the physical distribution of the participants when meeting online. Video conferences can only make up in part for not meeting in person.
The term is synonymous with group support systems (GSS) and essentially synonymous with group decision support systems (GDSS). Electronic meeting systems form a class of applications for computer supported cooperative work.
Mainly through (optional) anonymization and parallelization of input, electronic meeting systems overcome many deleterious and inhibitive features of group work. Similar to a web conference, a host invites the participants to an electronic meeting via email.
After logging into the session, meeting attendees participate primarily through their keyboards, typing responses to questions and prompts from the meeting host.
Electronic meeting systems need to be distinguished on the one hand from classic groupware, on the other from web conferencing systems. In reality, there is some overlap between minor features of products of the named categories.
The main difference from groupware is the intensity of collaboration. According to Lubich's classification, groupware supports collaboration within groups where the individual contributions remain identifiable.
In contrast, EMS enable the group to cooperatively produce a result for which the group is responsible as a whole. In a business process, groupware and electronic meeting systems complement each other: Groupware supports teams when researching and creating documents in the run up to an EMS session or when implementing the results of such a session.
Web conferencing systems and electronic meeting systems complement each other in the online meeting or workshop: EMS extends the web conferencing system by providing interactive tools for producing and documenting group results. On the other hand, web conferencing systems complement EMS with the screen-sharing and voice conferencing functionality required in synchronous online meetings and not present in EMS.
History:
The beginnings:
Nunamaker et al. cite the CASE project PSL/PSA of the mid sixties as the beginnings of EMS technology.
The first systems recognizable as EMS from today's perspective developed in the early 1980s as university and research projects:
- At the University of Arizona, a prototype called Plexsys was developed building on the PSL/PSA project.
- At the University of Minnesota a system called SAMM (Software Aided Meeting Management) was created.
- At Xerox PARC, Colab was developed.
- Researchers at the University of Michigan developed MAC-based EMS-tools.
The efforts differed in their goals: While work at Xerox PARC focused on small cooperating groups of 2 - 6 individuals, work at the University of Arizona focused on groups of 16 - 24.
The late 1980s saw the beginnings of a commercial market for EMS. In 1989, the University of Arizona founded Ventana Corporation to transfer the Plexsys technology from the laboratory to the workplace. In 1992 Xerox PARC spun off Live Works Inc which developed the product LiveBoard based on the project Colab.
The 1990s: Early LAN-based systems:
Group Systems, which was developed by the Ventana Corporation, is generally acknowledged to be the ancestor of modern EMS. Group Systems provided the standard functionality of modern EMS such as brainstorming and categorization, votes and discussions in the context of a chronological agenda. Contributions could be entered in parallel and anonymously. The results of one step of the meeting process e.g., a brainstorming, could be copied to a follow-up tool e.g., a vote.
The product was based on Clients running on Microsoft Windows machines which accessed a server running a Paradox database via a mapped drive on the local network (LAN). The limitation to local ("same place") meetings, the substantial infrastructure requirements and the complexities of controlling the software prevented widespread adoption.
Consequently, Group Systems was developed as a tool for the expert facilitator of computer-aided meetings. These meetings were often conducted in custom computer-equipped conference rooms or by specialized consultancies with dedicated kit.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s further EMS such as the Dutch Inteam or the American Meetingworks sprang up. As LAN-based client-server systems they shared the limitations of such systems. In contrast, facilitate.com adopted HTML suffering the (then) severe functional limitations of that technology for the advantage of working over the Internet.
Web applications:
Since 2005 EMS development has focused on browser-based systems and easy to use GUIs.
Prototypical for this generation of EMS are the product Thinktank which is based on Group Systems, the later MeetingSphere the anonymous electronic brainstorming focused Monsoon and the pure HTML yet another Meeting.
All of these products deliver the functionality of an EMS over the Internet, however, they differ as to their focus and functional depth:
- MeetingSphere and Spilter are very complete, functional, user-friendly and professional.
- ThinkTank provides and extends rich functionality with an eye to professionally facilitated workshops. yaM, and other pure HTML options position their products as integrated tool kits for everyday online meetings and workshops as well as the asynchronous work of virtual teams.
A special role is played among EMS by the product nextModerator which provides interactive tools to very large groups assembled in one location for a special event.
On the territory of post Soviet countries and Western Europe an important part in popularization and development of EMSs in recent years played locally-developed systems like SW 6000, PATENTEM, GlavCom etc.
Standard functionality:
An electronic meeting system is a suite of configurable collaborative software tools that can be used to create predictable, repeatable patterns of collaboration among people working toward a goal. With an electronic meeting system, each user typically has his or her own computer, and each user can contribute to the same shared object (session) at the same time.
Thus, nobody needs to wait for a turn to speak and people don't forget what they want to say while they are waiting for the floor. When a group or a group's host deem it appropriate, people can contribute anonymously to most electronic meeting systems tools: this allows the group to focus on the content of ideas, rather than their sources.
Most EMS provide the standard functionalities described below but differ markedly in the handling and functional depth of these tools. Further, they differ by the set of additional tools they provide and by the way they are administered or integrated into a corporate IT environment. They also differ in the degree of interoperability with web conferencing systems for screen sharing and voice conferencing.
Brainstorming and categorization:
In an electronic brainstorming, the group creates a shared list of ideas. In contrast to paper-based brainstorming or brain-writing methods, contributions are directly entered by the participants and immediately visible to all, typically in anonymous format.
By overcoming social barriers with anonymity and process limitations with parallelized input, more ideas are generated and shared with less conformity than in a traditional brainstorming or brain-writing session.
The benefits of electronic brainstorming increase with group size.
In many cases, subsequent to a brainstorming session or the collection of contributions, ideas require categorization. For this, in modern EMS, participants drag contributions from the shared list to category folders or buckets.
Discussion:
Discussion tools in EMS resemble a structured chat which may be conducted on separate topics in parallel, often based on a superordinate task or question. Parallelization occurs at multiple levels:
- At the level of multiple topics which are presented for discussion at the same time. Participants are free to contribute to some topics while merely scanning others.
- Further, parallelization occurs at the level of contributions which the participants can enter independently of each other. Discussions are conducted anonymously or named. In most EMS group identity is also available (e.g., "marketing department").
Compared to an oral discussion, an electronic discussion enables a much more intensive exchange of arguments in shorter time. With anonymity, interpersonal conflict is minimized, peer pressure reduced. In many cases, a parallel electronic discussion enables the exploration of topics which would have been bypassed in traditional settings for lack of time.
Vote:
Sophisticated EMS provide a range of vote methods such as numeric scale, rank order, budget or multiple selection. In more advanced systems, a ballot list can be subjected to multiple votes on multiple criteria with different vote methods for utility or impact analysis.
Results are available in real time, typically both as tables and charts.
Further features include integration with social media as well as a Q&A system.
In contrast to voting methods available in traditional workshops such as raising hands or the placing of sticky notes on a white board, electronic votes are anonymous and provide for a more differentiated assessment of ideas, opinions or facts. Some EMS provide for voting with group identity for extra insight into the structure of consensus or dissent.
Agenda:
Modern EMS organize the process of a meeting into an agenda which structures the activities of a meeting or workshop by topic, chronology and the use of a supporting tool. From the agenda, the host (facilitator) of the meeting invites ("starts") the participants to contribute to the various activities. In some EMS, agendas can be copied from an existing meeting or from meeting templates.
Automatic minutes:
The results of an EMS-based meeting exist as content in a database. The content can be exported to a file, delivered to an externally integrated system of record, or simply printed.
Formatting and available file formats differ substantially between EMS, with commonly available options including HTML, Markdown, and office document formats.
Synchronous and asynchronous meetings:
Modern EMS support both synchronous (participants meet at the same time) and asynchronous (participants contribute at different times) meetings.
Synchronous meetings provide for immediate, spontaneous interaction between participants.
Asynchronous meetings increase participant availability by setting no more than a time frame in which the participants are free to contribute in their own time. Asynchronous meetings are a good option when reflected input is required rather than instant spontaneous interaction.
Technically, synchronous and asynchronous meetings differ by the time for which tools are available to the participants. In a typical synchronous meeting, all participants are active in one shared activity. For this, synchronous meetings usually require support by a voice conference for oral interaction within the group and screen sharing by web conference for presenting non-EMS content.
In contrast, asynchronous sessions often involve multiple activities for contribution. The actual meeting and direct interaction between two or more participants in a particular activity are coincidental. Asynchronous sessions are often employed for gathering feedback or input.
Asynchronous sessions can be conducted independently of synchronous meetings or in the run-up to such meetings or in the aftermath, e.g. to discuss questions unresolved in the meeting.
EMS differ substantially in the way and the extent to which they support asynchronous meetings. Differences include the duration of asynchronous meetings (24 hours/days/weeks), support for planning and publication of asynchronous meetings (agenda, invitations) and the licensing model (flat-rate, pay-per-use, concurrent meetings, concurrent users, etc.).
Advantages:
Electronic meeting systems have been designed to enhance group effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Face-to-face groups can suffer from a number of process losses including:
- domination of the conversation by one or more members
- individuals withholding comments for fear of criticism or negative evaluation
- members failing to participate because they perceive that their input is not required
- pressure to conform with senior members of the group
Consequently, the advantages of EMS supported meetings vs traditional face-to-face meetings and workshops are:
- increased openness and less personal prejudice through anonymity
- any-place (online) capability which avoids travel time and cost
- increased participant availability (any place, any time).
- increased interactivity and participation by parallelization
- more sophisticated analysis by voting and analysis in real time
- less effort in preparation by using meeting templates
- repeatable meeting and workshop process through meeting templates
- automatic, comprehensive, neutral documentation
Disadvantages:
The majority of drawbacks of EMS versus traditional conferences or workshops have been overcome by technological progress or by adaptation of EMS to particular target groups and their dominant use cases:
- the formerly high infrastructure requirements have been reduced to Internet access and a web browser
- the formerly high demands on facilitators have been greatly reduced in systems that are designed to support everyday use by the non-expert user
- the traditional cultural barriers to the use of technology in meetings have been overcome through the general familiarization of users with telephone and web conferences.
The remaining drawbacks mostly result from the physical distribution of the participants when meeting online. Video conferences can only make up in part for not meeting in person.
Hybrid Event
- YouTube Video: How to Plan an Event - Project Management Training
- YouTube Video: What is a Hybrid Event?
- YouTube Video: TEDxUIUC - John Clarke - Hybrid Business Models
* -- Hybrid Events: 10 Tips for Effective Audiovisual Presentation
MITRA SORRELLS MAY 9, 2012 (BizBash)
Technology has removed the four walls that traditionally housed events in one space, at one time. Now hybrid is hot. The term has come to refer to an event that offers both an in-person component and at least some of its content live via the Internet to groups of attendees participating from organized satellite locations or to individuals at home or work.
The growth of hybrid events has been driven by society’s increasing adoption of technology and also by economic factors: greater competition in the technology industry is driving costs down, coupled with reductions in corporate travel budgets.
Whether it’s a big, international conference, such as SAP’s Sapphire Now that creates elaborate broadcast studios on its show floor, or a small, internal corporate meeting that may only use one camera, the purpose of a hybrid event remains the same: to engage participants—both in-person and those attending virtually—in a meaningful experience while staying on budget.
Here are 10 production tips to keep in mind to create a successful hybrid event.
1. Quality audio is paramount. Weak sound or static will be even more annoying to remote attendees than to those in the room. “That cuts down on your engagement,” says Samuel J. Smith, C.E.O. of Interactive Meeting Technology, a Minnesota company that specializes in the design, production, and execution of interactive technology for events.
Also consider whether the remote audience needs to be able to hear people other than the main presenter. “If a person asking a question doesn’t have a microphone, the virtual audience can’t hear it. That will be a big downside. They will hear some dead air and then hear the presenter answer and have no idea what he is referring to,” says Dennis Shiao, director of product marketing for INXPO, a Chicago-based company that provides online destinations for events, recruiting, training and communications.
2. Purchase enough bandwidth. Internet bandwidth determines how much data can be transmitted and at what speed; for the virtual audience it determines how your event looks and feels. Without enough bandwidth, the virtual audience will see low-quality video—the signal may drop out or require continual buffering—which can be frustrating for virtual attendees.
In most cases, planners purchase bandwidth from the venue, which usually has an exclusive arrangement with a bandwidth provider. While this is not a place to skimp, look for opportunities to negotiate the cost in the same way you negotiate the cost of space. Also keep in mind that bandwidth requirements are directly related to how many sessions are being streamed at the same time: three sessions going out at once require three times as much bandwidth.
Once you are on-site, verify that you are getting what you are paying for by using one of the many Web sites that offer a free, instant measurement of Internet upload and download speeds, such as InternetFrog and Bandwidth Place.
3. Determine the number and type of cameras needed. Start by determining which sessions will be streamed. For a conference with sessions in multiple rooms, planners can cut down on the number of cameras and operators needed by scheduling the sessions to be streamed at different times so the same room can be used over and over.
A hybrid event needs at least one fixed camera, but (if the budget allows) multiple cameras per session are preferable because different angles and shots can help keep the virtual audience engaged. As for the type of cameras, Smith says even if your event will not be streamed in high-definition, it may be worth using high-definition cameras so videos produced from the event will be top-quality.
If that is not a concern, the choice of camera can be one way to save money. “In a pinch, I used our family’s old digital video tape camcorder and it was just fine,” says Midori Connolly, C.E.O. and chief AVGirl of California-based Pulse Staging and Events, an audiovisual staging company.
4. Vendors need to communicate with one another. A hybrid event can involve multiple service providers, such as the company running the audio and video in the room, the information technology team from the venue, a webcasting provider, and possibly a virtual platform provider.
“Anybody who is touching the experience needs to be talking to one another,” says John Pollard, event services program director at Sonic Foundry, a Wisconsin company that created Mediasite, a platform for hybrid events, webcasting and lecture capture. “These people need to know who the contact is for each other, then they can ask the right questions and take care of a lot of the issues [for the planner].”
5. Stream for all devices. Mobile has become increasingly important, so you’ll need to make sure your vendor’s streaming capabilities work on iOS and Android mobile devices. “You send one stream, which is a Flash stream, for desktop browsers and Android devices, but you have a second stream, which is iOS, for iPhone and iPad,” says Gregg Greenberg, director of global online marketing strategy for SAP, a German business management software company that hosts the annual Sapphire Now conference, a hybrid event with multiple satellite locations worldwide. An event’s webcasting company can create appropriate solutions to handle different types of streams.
6. Test the stream. According to Greenberg, SAP runs two tests for Sapphire Now and its other hybrid events: one the day before (optimally at the same time of day that the event will take place) and a second one about 90 minutes before the first live shot. “The live stream will be on but we will play a recorded video,” he says. “Then, about 10 to 15 minutes before the live shot, we switch to a room shot. That gives us time to fix things.” Greenberg also recommends running at least two encoders—the equipment that compresses audio and video so it can transmit over the Internet—in case one fails.
7. Plan to engage the virtual audience. If speakers will use slides or videos in presentations, how will they be shared with the remote audience? Do they need to be prerecorded or uploaded prior to the live presentation? In an optimal situation, the audio and video are linked two ways. That is, attendees at the physical event can see and hear all of the remote audiences and vice versa.
When that is not possible, due to budget or production constraints, the priority should be that all remote attendees can see and hear the physical event, and that they can submit comments and questions, usually via text or Twitter. Experts also recommend planners develop content specifically for the remote audience, which can be used to fill time when the physical event is on break and to develop camaraderie among the virtual attendees. A virtual M.C. can also help by serving as a host and guide for people participating online or from pods.
8. Make sure speakers talk to the virtual audience. Not only should all speakers be aware of the virtual audience, but they should greet them at the start of the event and several times thereafter. “One fun thing to do is to tape a smiley face to the camera to remind the speaker to address the remote audience [since] a lot of presenters are trained to not look into the camera,” Connolly says.
And when a question comes in from a remote attendee, the presenter should acknowledge who and where it is from. “People love to hear their name,” Smith says. “It makes them feel good, and especially if they are home alone and they don’t have people to connect with in the hallway.”
9. You don’t have to do it all. “You will never be able to fully capture and provide the face-to-face experience to a Web audience,” Shiao says. “It’s a matter of figuring out how to properly narrow the scope.” Planners should expect that most people participating in a hybrid event prefer to allocate a few hours, not an entire day, to the experience. “Face-to-face you can keep people all day,” says Corbin Ball, a Washington-based consultant who helps clients determine how to use technology effectively for events. “With virtual or hybrid events you can’t expect people to be sitting at a monitor all day long as they would be sitting in a meeting room. So you need to provide blocks of time with white space around it.”
10. Focus on the meeting’s objectives. “The most important thing to keep in mind is figuring out what technologies make the most sense to achieve the event’s particular goals,” says Mary Boone, a Connecticut-based consultant who works with clients on organizational communication and meeting design. “A lot of times that gets lost in the excitement of experimenting with new technology.” She recalls a meeting of 200 senior association executives where planners created an app intended to be used by attendees to submit questions to the presenters, only to find that most preferred to ask questions aloud.
“Whatever technology or audiovisual [equipment] you are using, all of it should be in service of making the meeting more effective, and not just for the wow factor,” Boone says.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
A hybrid event is a tradeshow, conference, unconference, seminar, workshop or other meeting that combines a "live" in-person event with a "virtual" online component.
With the growing popularity and cost-effectiveness of virtual events, hybrid events have become a popular way of increasing participation in traditional events at a relatively low cost.
They also enable participation by people who might be unable to attend physically due to travel or time zone constraints or through a wish to reduce the carbon footprint of the event.
The open, participatory nature of unconferences (e.g., Barcamp) and their focus on sharing content, makes them hybrid events too.
Generally, the virtual component involves an online representation of the live event. For example, online participants might have access to:
Provision of internet access, usually via free Wi-Fi, is normal at hybrid events. As well as allowing a physical event to reach a wider audience, these online tools also provide a means for physical attendees to interact with each other, with the event organisers and with online participants, and for online participants to interact with each other.
Some events have featured 'TwitterWalls' (created using applications such as Twitterfall) where Twitter comments about the event are shared with physical attendees.
Event content can also be recorded and made available online to foster further discussions after the event has ended, build out a knowledge portal for event participants, and help market the next year's event by sharing highlights from the current year.
Examples of hybrid events:
MITRA SORRELLS MAY 9, 2012 (BizBash)
Technology has removed the four walls that traditionally housed events in one space, at one time. Now hybrid is hot. The term has come to refer to an event that offers both an in-person component and at least some of its content live via the Internet to groups of attendees participating from organized satellite locations or to individuals at home or work.
The growth of hybrid events has been driven by society’s increasing adoption of technology and also by economic factors: greater competition in the technology industry is driving costs down, coupled with reductions in corporate travel budgets.
Whether it’s a big, international conference, such as SAP’s Sapphire Now that creates elaborate broadcast studios on its show floor, or a small, internal corporate meeting that may only use one camera, the purpose of a hybrid event remains the same: to engage participants—both in-person and those attending virtually—in a meaningful experience while staying on budget.
Here are 10 production tips to keep in mind to create a successful hybrid event.
1. Quality audio is paramount. Weak sound or static will be even more annoying to remote attendees than to those in the room. “That cuts down on your engagement,” says Samuel J. Smith, C.E.O. of Interactive Meeting Technology, a Minnesota company that specializes in the design, production, and execution of interactive technology for events.
Also consider whether the remote audience needs to be able to hear people other than the main presenter. “If a person asking a question doesn’t have a microphone, the virtual audience can’t hear it. That will be a big downside. They will hear some dead air and then hear the presenter answer and have no idea what he is referring to,” says Dennis Shiao, director of product marketing for INXPO, a Chicago-based company that provides online destinations for events, recruiting, training and communications.
2. Purchase enough bandwidth. Internet bandwidth determines how much data can be transmitted and at what speed; for the virtual audience it determines how your event looks and feels. Without enough bandwidth, the virtual audience will see low-quality video—the signal may drop out or require continual buffering—which can be frustrating for virtual attendees.
In most cases, planners purchase bandwidth from the venue, which usually has an exclusive arrangement with a bandwidth provider. While this is not a place to skimp, look for opportunities to negotiate the cost in the same way you negotiate the cost of space. Also keep in mind that bandwidth requirements are directly related to how many sessions are being streamed at the same time: three sessions going out at once require three times as much bandwidth.
Once you are on-site, verify that you are getting what you are paying for by using one of the many Web sites that offer a free, instant measurement of Internet upload and download speeds, such as InternetFrog and Bandwidth Place.
3. Determine the number and type of cameras needed. Start by determining which sessions will be streamed. For a conference with sessions in multiple rooms, planners can cut down on the number of cameras and operators needed by scheduling the sessions to be streamed at different times so the same room can be used over and over.
A hybrid event needs at least one fixed camera, but (if the budget allows) multiple cameras per session are preferable because different angles and shots can help keep the virtual audience engaged. As for the type of cameras, Smith says even if your event will not be streamed in high-definition, it may be worth using high-definition cameras so videos produced from the event will be top-quality.
If that is not a concern, the choice of camera can be one way to save money. “In a pinch, I used our family’s old digital video tape camcorder and it was just fine,” says Midori Connolly, C.E.O. and chief AVGirl of California-based Pulse Staging and Events, an audiovisual staging company.
4. Vendors need to communicate with one another. A hybrid event can involve multiple service providers, such as the company running the audio and video in the room, the information technology team from the venue, a webcasting provider, and possibly a virtual platform provider.
“Anybody who is touching the experience needs to be talking to one another,” says John Pollard, event services program director at Sonic Foundry, a Wisconsin company that created Mediasite, a platform for hybrid events, webcasting and lecture capture. “These people need to know who the contact is for each other, then they can ask the right questions and take care of a lot of the issues [for the planner].”
5. Stream for all devices. Mobile has become increasingly important, so you’ll need to make sure your vendor’s streaming capabilities work on iOS and Android mobile devices. “You send one stream, which is a Flash stream, for desktop browsers and Android devices, but you have a second stream, which is iOS, for iPhone and iPad,” says Gregg Greenberg, director of global online marketing strategy for SAP, a German business management software company that hosts the annual Sapphire Now conference, a hybrid event with multiple satellite locations worldwide. An event’s webcasting company can create appropriate solutions to handle different types of streams.
6. Test the stream. According to Greenberg, SAP runs two tests for Sapphire Now and its other hybrid events: one the day before (optimally at the same time of day that the event will take place) and a second one about 90 minutes before the first live shot. “The live stream will be on but we will play a recorded video,” he says. “Then, about 10 to 15 minutes before the live shot, we switch to a room shot. That gives us time to fix things.” Greenberg also recommends running at least two encoders—the equipment that compresses audio and video so it can transmit over the Internet—in case one fails.
7. Plan to engage the virtual audience. If speakers will use slides or videos in presentations, how will they be shared with the remote audience? Do they need to be prerecorded or uploaded prior to the live presentation? In an optimal situation, the audio and video are linked two ways. That is, attendees at the physical event can see and hear all of the remote audiences and vice versa.
When that is not possible, due to budget or production constraints, the priority should be that all remote attendees can see and hear the physical event, and that they can submit comments and questions, usually via text or Twitter. Experts also recommend planners develop content specifically for the remote audience, which can be used to fill time when the physical event is on break and to develop camaraderie among the virtual attendees. A virtual M.C. can also help by serving as a host and guide for people participating online or from pods.
8. Make sure speakers talk to the virtual audience. Not only should all speakers be aware of the virtual audience, but they should greet them at the start of the event and several times thereafter. “One fun thing to do is to tape a smiley face to the camera to remind the speaker to address the remote audience [since] a lot of presenters are trained to not look into the camera,” Connolly says.
And when a question comes in from a remote attendee, the presenter should acknowledge who and where it is from. “People love to hear their name,” Smith says. “It makes them feel good, and especially if they are home alone and they don’t have people to connect with in the hallway.”
9. You don’t have to do it all. “You will never be able to fully capture and provide the face-to-face experience to a Web audience,” Shiao says. “It’s a matter of figuring out how to properly narrow the scope.” Planners should expect that most people participating in a hybrid event prefer to allocate a few hours, not an entire day, to the experience. “Face-to-face you can keep people all day,” says Corbin Ball, a Washington-based consultant who helps clients determine how to use technology effectively for events. “With virtual or hybrid events you can’t expect people to be sitting at a monitor all day long as they would be sitting in a meeting room. So you need to provide blocks of time with white space around it.”
10. Focus on the meeting’s objectives. “The most important thing to keep in mind is figuring out what technologies make the most sense to achieve the event’s particular goals,” says Mary Boone, a Connecticut-based consultant who works with clients on organizational communication and meeting design. “A lot of times that gets lost in the excitement of experimenting with new technology.” She recalls a meeting of 200 senior association executives where planners created an app intended to be used by attendees to submit questions to the presenters, only to find that most preferred to ask questions aloud.
“Whatever technology or audiovisual [equipment] you are using, all of it should be in service of making the meeting more effective, and not just for the wow factor,” Boone says.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
A hybrid event is a tradeshow, conference, unconference, seminar, workshop or other meeting that combines a "live" in-person event with a "virtual" online component.
With the growing popularity and cost-effectiveness of virtual events, hybrid events have become a popular way of increasing participation in traditional events at a relatively low cost.
They also enable participation by people who might be unable to attend physically due to travel or time zone constraints or through a wish to reduce the carbon footprint of the event.
The open, participatory nature of unconferences (e.g., Barcamp) and their focus on sharing content, makes them hybrid events too.
Generally, the virtual component involves an online representation of the live event. For example, online participants might have access to:
- live audio or video streaming of keynote speakers or workshops alongside their presentation material (e.g., via Ustream, Livestream, Eventials, Sonic Foundry)
- online presentations (ranging from webcasts to sharing of content via SlideShare)
- Hybrid Event Webcast with synchronized slides alongside the live and archived webcast video presentation
- creation of a live commentary or transcript of proceedings (e.g., through Wthashtag, CoverItLive)
- online chat or discussion forum facilities (e.g., through Pathable or moreconference)
- live blogs
- event photographs (e.g., via Flickr) and video (e.g., via YouTube, Vimeo, Qik)
- integration of other social media tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Provision of internet access, usually via free Wi-Fi, is normal at hybrid events. As well as allowing a physical event to reach a wider audience, these online tools also provide a means for physical attendees to interact with each other, with the event organisers and with online participants, and for online participants to interact with each other.
Some events have featured 'TwitterWalls' (created using applications such as Twitterfall) where Twitter comments about the event are shared with physical attendees.
Event content can also be recorded and made available online to foster further discussions after the event has ended, build out a knowledge portal for event participants, and help market the next year's event by sharing highlights from the current year.
Examples of hybrid events:
- A Ycombinator StartUpSchool Hybrid event online audience watches the live webcast live, in person audience at the Flint Center in San Jose. Content is now also available in an archive On-Demand. Mark Zuckerberg speaking. Live Twitter Feed and synchronized PowerPoint Slides.
- A LiveEventReport.com gives an editorial coverage of the event by livestreaming in to the internet. Together with skype, YouTube Live, tweets, chats they create a wider audience.
- At Barcamp events, all attendees are encouraged to share information and experiences of the event via public web channels including blogs, photo sharing, social bookmarking, Twitter, wikis, and IRC. This is a conscious change from the "off-the-record by default" and "no recordings" rules at conventional conferences.
- Run by an online community advocating use of social media or Web 2.0 to improve the built environment, Be2camp "unconference" events are also a practical demonstration of how the tools can be used to combine face-to-face and online participation.
- BASF has complemented a global employee summit with a virtual component. The physical event brought together IT professionals from all over the world to the BASF headquarters. Shortly after the event keynotes, workshop results, street interviews, and other materials were available for virtual participants. This virtual event lasted several months, and especially people whose tough time schedule did not allow them to participate in person were able to participate virtually.
- Cisco Live on-site conferences run concurrently with a virtual component, called Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual. Cisco Live was awarded Best Hybrid Live+Virtual Program at the 2010 Ex Awards. In addition, it was awarded the 2010 Grand Ex Award.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held the government's first hybrid event on August 21–24, 2011, with the introduction of an immersive virtual version of the Public Health Informatics conference, (an in-person event held at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta hotel). Remotely located state and local partners and public health IT colleagues were able to experience all of the plenary sessions and many other concurrent activities simultaneously with the in-person event. The event was co-sponsored by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) for employees, state and local groups and partners to experience activities remotely during the traditional conference - without everyone having to spend money on travel and lodging or negatively affecting the environment. The hybrid event was well received by attendees, as there were 1,865 online registrations, (after only 1 week of advertising) – with the traditional conference averaging around 1500. The hybrid event was named one of BizBash.com's 15 Most Innovative Meetings of 2012. Other Press: CDC Looks To Virtual Conferences Over Costlier Onsite Events; A Federal Case.
- At the ACTE conference (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) in Rome, the first virtual panel was introduced on Monday October 15, with 4 panelists live at the Waldorf Astoria and 1 panelist, subject matter expert from British Telecom, attending virtually from Brussels. The session subject titled "Finding the Balance Between Physical and Virtual Travel" and the setup was organized by GVN, The Virtual Airline (Global Videoconferencing Network)
- Visual Collab 2018 at the RSA House in London, currently Digital Collab.
Facebook Messenger
- YouTube Video: 10 Facebook Messenger Tricks And Secrets
- YouTube Video: Facebook Messenger Tutorial
- YouTube Video: Hidden Facebook Messenger Tricks You Need to Try!
* -- by Sarah Perez @sarahintampa / 9:41 am CDT • August 29, 2019 (TechCrunch)
"Facebook today is formally rolling out a new suite of tools for its 40 million active businesses on Messenger, including appointment booking, lead generation and others announced earlier this year at its F8 developer conference.
As a part of these changes, Facebook will also begin to phase out the Discover tab in Messenger — a feature that became home to both games and businesses following last fall’s redesign.
Today, Facebook says the Discover tab will be pulled from the Messenger app over the next several months. Instead, it will invest in making sure Facebook users are directed to interact with businesses via Messenger in other ways.
“We want to make it more seamless for people to reach out to businesses on Messenger in places where they’re already looking to connect,” explains Facebook, of its decision to kill off the Discover feature. “We will put more investment into tools to connect people and businesses — including updates to m.me links, web plugins, various entry points across our family of apps, as well as ad products — that lead to Messenger,” the company says.
In terms of its new business tools, the lead-generation product will launch as a Messenger template within Facebook Ads Manager this week. The template lets businesses create automated experiences to help qualify their leads in Messenger, then continue conversations in the app or integrate with existing CRM tools to track the leads further.
The feature has been in beta following F8, but will now be publicly available.
Appointment booking was announced at F8, too, but is only now launching into beta with select developers and businesses. This feature allows businesses to accept appointment requests and make bookings in real-time through Messenger. It also integrates with existing calendar-booking software, and can help Messenger conversations be turned into in-store traffic, as well as online and phone appointments, the company says.
The feature will be launched globally to all developers later in the year.
Another update mentioned today involves plans to launch improved event reporting in Messenger later this year, which will allow businesses to report and track their Messenger conversations.
Plus, Facebook says it’s updating the Standard Messaging window for businesses to 24 hours (which is how long they have to respond to inquiries from customers). This brings it in line with WhatsApp’s window.
After 24 hours, businesses can still use sponsored messages to re-engage customers and message tags (e.g. updates on purchases, event reminders, changes to their account, and now in closed beta, “human agent,” which will let agents respond to issues that need resolution after the standard messaging window closes).
Messenger’s Subscription Messaging beta program, meanwhile, is changing today as well.
It’s now going to be limited to “vetted news organizations.” This came about because some businesses were using the feature in violation of Facebook’s guidelines, the company admitted.
The feature is designed to send regular news updates to subscribers. The timing of this change is somewhat interesting, as Facebook is preparing to relaunch efforts to feature top news stories on its social network, this time vetted by journalists and featuring content Facebook pays for.
There’s room for some interoperability here between the news product and subscriptions/updates, but it’s not clear if or how that will come to pass.
Of course, the biggest Messenger consumer news from F8 — a desktop app for Mac and PC — hasn’t yet come to pass, but is expected sometime this year.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Messenger (commonly known as Messenger) is an American messaging app and platform developed by Facebook, Inc.
Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the company revamped its messaging service in 2010, and subsequently released standalone iOS and Android apps in August 2011 and standalone Facebook Portal hardware for Messenger-based calling in Q4 2018.
Later on, Facebook has launched a dedicated website interface (Messenger.com), and separated the messaging functionality from the main Facebook app, allowing users to use the web interface or download one of the standalone apps. In April 2020, Facebook officially released Messenger for Desktop, which is supported on Windows 10 and macOS and distributed on Microsoft Store and App Store respectively.
Users can send messages and exchange photos, videos, stickers, audio, and files, as well as react to other users' messages and interact with bots. The service also supports voice and video calling. The standalone apps support using multiple accounts, conversations with optional end-to-end encryption, and playing games.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Facebook Messenger:
"Facebook today is formally rolling out a new suite of tools for its 40 million active businesses on Messenger, including appointment booking, lead generation and others announced earlier this year at its F8 developer conference.
As a part of these changes, Facebook will also begin to phase out the Discover tab in Messenger — a feature that became home to both games and businesses following last fall’s redesign.
Today, Facebook says the Discover tab will be pulled from the Messenger app over the next several months. Instead, it will invest in making sure Facebook users are directed to interact with businesses via Messenger in other ways.
“We want to make it more seamless for people to reach out to businesses on Messenger in places where they’re already looking to connect,” explains Facebook, of its decision to kill off the Discover feature. “We will put more investment into tools to connect people and businesses — including updates to m.me links, web plugins, various entry points across our family of apps, as well as ad products — that lead to Messenger,” the company says.
In terms of its new business tools, the lead-generation product will launch as a Messenger template within Facebook Ads Manager this week. The template lets businesses create automated experiences to help qualify their leads in Messenger, then continue conversations in the app or integrate with existing CRM tools to track the leads further.
The feature has been in beta following F8, but will now be publicly available.
Appointment booking was announced at F8, too, but is only now launching into beta with select developers and businesses. This feature allows businesses to accept appointment requests and make bookings in real-time through Messenger. It also integrates with existing calendar-booking software, and can help Messenger conversations be turned into in-store traffic, as well as online and phone appointments, the company says.
The feature will be launched globally to all developers later in the year.
Another update mentioned today involves plans to launch improved event reporting in Messenger later this year, which will allow businesses to report and track their Messenger conversations.
Plus, Facebook says it’s updating the Standard Messaging window for businesses to 24 hours (which is how long they have to respond to inquiries from customers). This brings it in line with WhatsApp’s window.
After 24 hours, businesses can still use sponsored messages to re-engage customers and message tags (e.g. updates on purchases, event reminders, changes to their account, and now in closed beta, “human agent,” which will let agents respond to issues that need resolution after the standard messaging window closes).
Messenger’s Subscription Messaging beta program, meanwhile, is changing today as well.
It’s now going to be limited to “vetted news organizations.” This came about because some businesses were using the feature in violation of Facebook’s guidelines, the company admitted.
The feature is designed to send regular news updates to subscribers. The timing of this change is somewhat interesting, as Facebook is preparing to relaunch efforts to feature top news stories on its social network, this time vetted by journalists and featuring content Facebook pays for.
There’s room for some interoperability here between the news product and subscriptions/updates, but it’s not clear if or how that will come to pass.
Of course, the biggest Messenger consumer news from F8 — a desktop app for Mac and PC — hasn’t yet come to pass, but is expected sometime this year.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Messenger (commonly known as Messenger) is an American messaging app and platform developed by Facebook, Inc.
Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the company revamped its messaging service in 2010, and subsequently released standalone iOS and Android apps in August 2011 and standalone Facebook Portal hardware for Messenger-based calling in Q4 2018.
Later on, Facebook has launched a dedicated website interface (Messenger.com), and separated the messaging functionality from the main Facebook app, allowing users to use the web interface or download one of the standalone apps. In April 2020, Facebook officially released Messenger for Desktop, which is supported on Windows 10 and macOS and distributed on Microsoft Store and App Store respectively.
Users can send messages and exchange photos, videos, stickers, audio, and files, as well as react to other users' messages and interact with bots. The service also supports voice and video calling. The standalone apps support using multiple accounts, conversations with optional end-to-end encryption, and playing games.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Facebook Messenger:
- Official website
- Facebook Messenger on Facebook
- History
- Features
- Monetization
- Reception
- User growth
- Government attempt at surveillance/decryption
- See also:
FaceTime
- YouTube Video: How to Set Up FaceTime on the Mac
- YouTube Video: The Best Features of FaceTime
- YouTube Video: iOS 12 - New Facetime Features for 2019/2018
FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices and Macintosh computers that run Mac OS X 10.6.6 and later.
FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facing camera and any Macintosh computer equipped with a FaceTime Camera.
FaceTime Audio, an audio-only version, is available on any iOS device that supports iOS 7 or newer, and any Macintosh with a forward-facing camera running Mac OS X 10.9.2 and later. FaceTime is included for free in iOS and in macOS from Mac OS X Lion (10.7) onwards.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about FaceTime for the Mac:
FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facing camera and any Macintosh computer equipped with a FaceTime Camera.
FaceTime Audio, an audio-only version, is available on any iOS device that supports iOS 7 or newer, and any Macintosh with a forward-facing camera running Mac OS X 10.9.2 and later. FaceTime is included for free in iOS and in macOS from Mac OS X Lion (10.7) onwards.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about FaceTime for the Mac:
Google Hangouts
- YouTube Video: How to Use Google Hangouts for Online Meetings
- YouTube Video: HOW TO DO A GOOGLE HANGOUT | The Best of Everything with Barbara Hannah Grufferman
- YouTube Video: How to do a Google Hangout with students
Google Hangouts is an American communication software product developed by Google.
Originally a feature of Google+, Hangouts became a stand-alone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts.
In 2017, Google began developing Hangouts into a product aimed at enterprise communication. Hangouts is now part of the G Suite line of products and consists of two primary products: Google Meet and Google Chat.
Google has also begun integrating features of Google Voice, its IP telephony product, into Hangouts, stating that Hangouts is designed to be "the future" of Voice. Google will shut down the classic G Suite version of Hangouts in June 2020 (being replaced by Meet and Chat), but will continue to support the consumer version of classic Hangouts.
Features:
Hangouts allows conversations between two or more users. The service can be accessed online through the Gmail or Google+ websites, or through mobile apps available for Android and iOS (which were distributed as a successor to their existing Google Talk apps).
However, because it uses a proprietary protocol instead of the XMPP open standard protocol used by Google Talk, most third-party applications which had access to Google Talk do not have access to Google+ Hangouts.
Chat histories are saved online, allowing them to be synced between devices. A "watermark" of a user's avatar is used as a marker to indicate how far they have read into the conversation.
Photos can be shared during conversations, which are automatically uploaded into a private Google+ album. Users can also now use color emoji symbols in their messages.
As with the previous Google+ Hangouts, users can also perform a group video chat with up to 10 users at a time. In 2016 Google upgraded Hangouts to 25 concurrent users in HD video for Work/Education.
The new Google Hangouts app on iOS integrates a Google Voice number to some extent, but on Android the SMS support in Hangouts doesn't fully integrate with Google Voice for calls or texts. Integration was first expected by 2014, but was deprecated in January 2016. The reason for the delay appears tied to Google switching away from the XMPP protocol it used, as mentioned above.
For Google Chrome, users do not need to install a plugin. However, for Internet Explorer 11, the user must install the "Google Talk Plugin" to be able to use the video features.
In Android 4.4, Hangouts is integrated with text messages sending and receiving functions, which is the default SMS app on the Nexus 5. For other Android phones, users can choose to open the SMS function when they download the new version of Hangouts via Google Play.
SMS conversations are shown in a drawer on the left side. The update also adds GIF support and a new location-sharing button, which allows the user to send their GPS location to their contacts.
Hangouts includes the ability to make free voice calls to other Hangouts users, and charges users (via pre-registered credit) to call landline and mobile phones internationally except for calls to the United States and Canada which are free of charge.
Currently, Android users must have both the Google Hangouts and Hangouts Dialer apps installed if they wish to call landline or mobile telephone numbers via the public switched telephone network. Users will have to utilize YouTube Live for live-streaming events.
Google Hangouts includes several Easter eggs.
Google Meet:
Google Meet is a video communication service developed by Google. It is one of two apps that constitute the new version of Google Hangouts, the other being Google Chat.
Google will begin to retire the classic version of Hangouts in October 2019.
After being invite-only and quietly releasing an iOS app in February 2017, Google formally launched Meet in March 2017. The service was unveiled as a video conferencing app for up to 30 participants, described as an enterprise-friendly version of Hangouts. At launch, it featured a web app, an Android app, and an iOS app.
Features for G Suite users include:
While Google Meet introduced the above features to upgrade the original Hangouts application, some standard Hangouts features were deprecated, including viewing attendees and chat simultaneously. The number of video feeds allowed at one time was also reduced to 8 (while up to 4 feeds can be shown in a "tiles" layout), prioritizing those attendees who most recently used their microphone.
Additionally features such as the chat box were changed to overlay the video feeds, rather than resizing the latter to fit.
Google Meet is a standards-based video conferencing application, using proprietary protocols for video, audio and data transcoding. Google have partnered with Pexip to provide interoperability between the Google protocol and standards-based SIP/H.323 protocols to enable communications between Meet and other Video Conferencing equipment and software.
Google Chat:
This article is about instant messaging service launched in 2017. For other uses, see Google Chat.
Google Chat is an instant messaging service developed by Google. It is one of the two apps that constitute the new version of Google Hangouts, the other being Google Meet.
Reception:
As of May 2013, Google Hangouts faced criticism from the Electronic Frontier Foundation as they felt that Google was "moving in the wrong direction" by shrinking its support for the open standard protocol XMPP. The new protocol makes it much more difficult for multi-chat clients like Pidgin and Adium to support Google Hangouts. They must reverse engineer the protocol.
Additionally, the tight integration of Google Hangouts and Google+ can lead to the unwilling sharing of personal information with others.
On November 30, 2014, Make Use Of hailed Google Hangouts as the "best messaging app on Android by far".
As of December 9, 2015, Google Hangouts has a score of 2 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Secure Messaging Scorecard. It has received points for having communications encrypted in transit and for having completed a recent independent security audit.
It is missing points because communications are encrypted with keys that the provider has access to, users can't verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen, the code is not open to independent review, and the security design is not properly documented.
See also:
Originally a feature of Google+, Hangouts became a stand-alone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts.
In 2017, Google began developing Hangouts into a product aimed at enterprise communication. Hangouts is now part of the G Suite line of products and consists of two primary products: Google Meet and Google Chat.
Google has also begun integrating features of Google Voice, its IP telephony product, into Hangouts, stating that Hangouts is designed to be "the future" of Voice. Google will shut down the classic G Suite version of Hangouts in June 2020 (being replaced by Meet and Chat), but will continue to support the consumer version of classic Hangouts.
Features:
Hangouts allows conversations between two or more users. The service can be accessed online through the Gmail or Google+ websites, or through mobile apps available for Android and iOS (which were distributed as a successor to their existing Google Talk apps).
However, because it uses a proprietary protocol instead of the XMPP open standard protocol used by Google Talk, most third-party applications which had access to Google Talk do not have access to Google+ Hangouts.
Chat histories are saved online, allowing them to be synced between devices. A "watermark" of a user's avatar is used as a marker to indicate how far they have read into the conversation.
Photos can be shared during conversations, which are automatically uploaded into a private Google+ album. Users can also now use color emoji symbols in their messages.
As with the previous Google+ Hangouts, users can also perform a group video chat with up to 10 users at a time. In 2016 Google upgraded Hangouts to 25 concurrent users in HD video for Work/Education.
The new Google Hangouts app on iOS integrates a Google Voice number to some extent, but on Android the SMS support in Hangouts doesn't fully integrate with Google Voice for calls or texts. Integration was first expected by 2014, but was deprecated in January 2016. The reason for the delay appears tied to Google switching away from the XMPP protocol it used, as mentioned above.
For Google Chrome, users do not need to install a plugin. However, for Internet Explorer 11, the user must install the "Google Talk Plugin" to be able to use the video features.
In Android 4.4, Hangouts is integrated with text messages sending and receiving functions, which is the default SMS app on the Nexus 5. For other Android phones, users can choose to open the SMS function when they download the new version of Hangouts via Google Play.
SMS conversations are shown in a drawer on the left side. The update also adds GIF support and a new location-sharing button, which allows the user to send their GPS location to their contacts.
Hangouts includes the ability to make free voice calls to other Hangouts users, and charges users (via pre-registered credit) to call landline and mobile phones internationally except for calls to the United States and Canada which are free of charge.
Currently, Android users must have both the Google Hangouts and Hangouts Dialer apps installed if they wish to call landline or mobile telephone numbers via the public switched telephone network. Users will have to utilize YouTube Live for live-streaming events.
Google Hangouts includes several Easter eggs.
Google Meet:
Google Meet is a video communication service developed by Google. It is one of two apps that constitute the new version of Google Hangouts, the other being Google Chat.
Google will begin to retire the classic version of Hangouts in October 2019.
After being invite-only and quietly releasing an iOS app in February 2017, Google formally launched Meet in March 2017. The service was unveiled as a video conferencing app for up to 30 participants, described as an enterprise-friendly version of Hangouts. At launch, it featured a web app, an Android app, and an iOS app.
Features for G Suite users include:
- Up to 100 members per call for G Suite Basic users, up to 150 for G Suite Business users, and up to 250 for G Suite Enterprise users
- Ability to join meetings from the web or through the Android or iOS app
- Ability to call into meetings with a dial-in number
- Password-protected dial-in numbers for G Suite Enterprise edition users
- Integration with Google Calendar for one-click meeting calls
- Screen-sharing to present documents, spreadsheets, or presentations
- Encrypted calls between all users
- Real-time, AI-generated closed captioning
While Google Meet introduced the above features to upgrade the original Hangouts application, some standard Hangouts features were deprecated, including viewing attendees and chat simultaneously. The number of video feeds allowed at one time was also reduced to 8 (while up to 4 feeds can be shown in a "tiles" layout), prioritizing those attendees who most recently used their microphone.
Additionally features such as the chat box were changed to overlay the video feeds, rather than resizing the latter to fit.
Google Meet is a standards-based video conferencing application, using proprietary protocols for video, audio and data transcoding. Google have partnered with Pexip to provide interoperability between the Google protocol and standards-based SIP/H.323 protocols to enable communications between Meet and other Video Conferencing equipment and software.
Google Chat:
This article is about instant messaging service launched in 2017. For other uses, see Google Chat.
Google Chat is an instant messaging service developed by Google. It is one of the two apps that constitute the new version of Google Hangouts, the other being Google Meet.
Reception:
As of May 2013, Google Hangouts faced criticism from the Electronic Frontier Foundation as they felt that Google was "moving in the wrong direction" by shrinking its support for the open standard protocol XMPP. The new protocol makes it much more difficult for multi-chat clients like Pidgin and Adium to support Google Hangouts. They must reverse engineer the protocol.
Additionally, the tight integration of Google Hangouts and Google+ can lead to the unwilling sharing of personal information with others.
On November 30, 2014, Make Use Of hailed Google Hangouts as the "best messaging app on Android by far".
As of December 9, 2015, Google Hangouts has a score of 2 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Secure Messaging Scorecard. It has received points for having communications encrypted in transit and for having completed a recent independent security audit.
It is missing points because communications are encrypted with keys that the provider has access to, users can't verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen, the code is not open to independent review, and the security design is not properly documented.
See also:
- Official website
- History
- Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
- Comparison of VoIP software
- Google Allo
- Google Duo
- Google Talk
- List of video telecommunication services and product brands
TikTok
- YouTube Video: How to use Tik Tok
- YouTube Video: Is TikTok the ultimate propaganda tool?
- YouTube Video: How much of a risk does TikTok pose to national security? | Business Special
[Your WebHost: on 3/11/2023, I updated TikTok due to the risks this very popular app poses to American Security due to Chinese Ownership!]
TikTok, and its Chinese counterpart Douyin (Chinese: 抖音; pinyin: Dǒuyīn), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an entirely separate, internationalized version of Douyin, which was released in the Chinese market in September 2016. It launched in 2017 for iOS and Android in most markets outside of mainland China; however, it became available worldwide only after merging with another Chinese social media service, Musical.ly, on 2 August 2018.
TikTok and Douyin have almost the same user interface but no access to each other's content. Their servers are each based in the market where the respective app is available.
The two products are similar, but their features are not identical. Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people's faces for more videos of them, along with other features such as buying, booking hotels, and making geo-tagged reviews.
Since their launches, TikTok and Douyin have gained global popularity. In October 2020, TikTok surpassed 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide. Morning Consult named TikTok the third-fastest growing brand of 2020, after Zoom and Peacock.
Cloudflare ranked TikTok the most popular website of 2021, surpassing google.com.
TikTok has been subject to criticism over psychological effects such as addiction, as well as controversies regarding inappropriate content, misinformation, censorship, moderation, and user privacy.
History:
Evolution:
Douyin was launched by ByteDance in Beijing, China in September 2016, originally under the name A.me, before rebranding to Douyin (抖音) in December 2016. ByteDance planned on Douyin expanding overseas. The founder of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, stated that "China is home to only one-fifth of Internet users globally. If we don’t expand on a global scale, we are bound to lose to peers eyeing the four-fifths. So, going global is a must."
Douyin was developed in 200 days and within a year had 100 million users, with more than one billion videos viewed every day.
The app was launched as TikTok in the international market in September 2017. On 23 January 2018, the TikTok app ranked first among free application downloads on app stores in Thailand and other countries.
TikTok has been downloaded more than 130 million times in the United States and has reached 2 billion downloads worldwide, according to data from mobile research firm Sensor Tower (those numbers exclude Android users in China).
In the United States, celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk, began using the app in 2018. Other celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Will Smith, and Justin Bieber joined TikTok as well as many others.
In January 2019, TikTok allowed creators to embed merchandise sale links into their videos.
On 3 September 2019, TikTok and the U.S. National Football League (NFL) announced a multi-year partnership. The agreement occurred just two days before the NFL's 100th season kick-off at Soldier Field, where TikTok hosted activities for fans in honor of the deal.
The partnership entails the launch of an official NFL TikTok account, which is to bring about new marketing opportunities such as sponsored videos and hashtag challenges. In July 2020, TikTok, excluding Douyin, reported close to 800 million monthly active users worldwide after less than four years of existence.
In May 2021, TikTok appointed Shou Zi Chew as their new CEO who assumed the position from interim CEO Vanessa Pappas, following the resignation of Kevin A. Mayer on 27 August 2020.
On 3 August 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the United States on 15 September if negotiations for the company to be bought by Microsoft or a different American company failed.
On 6 August, Trump signed two executive orders banning U.S. "transactions" with TikTok and WeChat to its respective parent companies ByteDance and Tencent, set to take effect 45 days after the signing. A planned ban of the app on 20 September 2020 was postponed by a week and then blocked by a federal judge.
President Biden revoked the ban in a new executive order in June 2021.
The app has been banned by the government of India since June 2020 along with 223 other Chinese apps in view of privacy concerns. Pakistan banned TikTok citing "immoral" and "indecent" videos on 9 October 2020 but reversed its ban ten days later. In March 2021, a Pakistani court ordered a new TikTok ban due to complaints over "indecent" content.
In September 2021, TikTok reported that it had reached 1 billion users. In 2021, TikTok earned $4 billion in advertising revenue.
In October 2022, TikTok was reported to be planning an expansion into the e-commerce market in the US, following the launch of TikTok Shop in the United Kingdom. The company posted job listings for staff for a series of order fulfillment centers in the US and is reportedly planning to start the new live shopping business before the end of the year.
Musical.ly merger:
Further information: Musical.ly
On 9 November 2017, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, spent nearly $1 billion to purchase musical.ly, a startup headquartered in Shanghai with an overseas office in Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Musical.ly was a social media video platform that allowed users to create short lip-sync and comedy videos, initially released in August 2014. TikTok merged with musical.ly on 2 August 2018 with existing accounts and data consolidated into one app, keeping the title TikTok. This ended musical.ly and made TikTok a worldwide app, excluding China, since China already had Douyin.
Expansion in other markets:
As of 2018, TikTok was available in more than 150 markets, and in 75 languages. TikTok was downloaded more than 104 million times on Apple's App Store during the first half of 2018, according to data provided to CNBC by Sensor Tower.
After merging with musical.ly in August, downloads increased and TikTok became the most downloaded app in the U.S. in October 2018, which musical.ly had done once before.
In February 2019, TikTok, together with Douyin, hit one billion downloads globally, excluding Android installs in China. In 2019, media outlets cited TikTok as the 7th-most-downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019. It was also the most-downloaded app on Apple's App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
In September 2020, a deal was confirmed between ByteDance and Oracle in which the latter will serve as a partner to provide cloud hosting. Walmart intends to invest in TikTok. This deal would stall in 2021 as newly elected President Biden's Justice Department put a hold on the previous U.S. ban under President Trump.
In November 2020, TikTok signed a licensing deal with Sony Music. In December 2020, Warner Music Group signed a licensing deal with TikTok.
In April 2021, Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism partnered with TikTok to promote tourism. It came following the January 2021 winter campaign, initiated through a partnership between the UAE Government Media Office partnered and TikTok to promote the country's tourism.
Since 2014, the first non-gaming apps with more than 3 billion downloads were Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger; all owned by Meta. TikTok was the first non-Facebook app to reach that figure. Sensor Tower reported that although TikTok had been banned in India, its largest market, in June 2020, downloads in the rest of the world continue to increase, reaching 3 billion downloads in 2021.
Features:
The mobile app allows users to create short videos, which often feature music in the background and can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. They can also add their own sound on top of the background music.
To create a music video with the app, users can choose background music from a wide variety of music genres, edit with a filter and record a 15-second video with speed adjustments before uploading it to share with others on TikTok or other social platforms.
The "For You" page on TikTok is a feed of videos that are recommended to users based on their activity on the app. Content is curated by TikTok's artificial intelligence depending on the content a user liked, interacted with, or searched. This is in contrast to other social networks' algorithms basing such content off of the user's relationships with other users and what they liked or interacted with.
The app's "react" feature allows users to film their reaction to a specific video, over which it is placed in a small window that is movable around the screen. Its "duet" feature allows users to film a video aside from another video. The "duet" feature was another trademark of musical.ly. The duet feature is also only able to be used if both parties adjust the privacy settings.
Videos that users do not want to post yet can be stored in their "drafts." The user is allowed to see their "drafts" and post when they find it fitting. The app allows users to set their accounts as "private." When first downloading the app, the user's account is public by default. The user can change to private in their settings.
Private content remains visible to TikTok but is blocked from TikTok users who the account holder has not authorized to view their content. Users can choose whether any other user, or only their "friends," may interact with them through the app via comments, messages, or "react" or "duet" videos. Users also can set specific videos to either "public," "friends only," or "private" regardless if the account is private or not.
Users can also send their friends videos, emojis, and messages with direct messaging. TikTok has also included a feature to create a video based on the user's comments. Influencers often use the "live" feature. This feature is only available for those who have at least 1,000 followers and are over 16 years old. If over 18, the user's followers can send virtual "gifts" that can be later exchanged for money.
TikTok announced a "family safety mode" in February 2020 for parents to be able to control their children's presence on the app. There is a screen time management option, restricted mode, and the option to put a limit on direct messages. The app expanded its parental controls feature called "Family Pairing" in September 2020 to provide parents and guardians with educational resources to understand what children on TikTok are exposed to.
Content for the feature was created in partnership with online safety nonprofit, Internet Matters.
In October 2021, TikTok launched a test feature that allows users to directly tip certain creators. Accounts of users that are of age, have at least 100,000 followers and agree to the terms can activate a "Tip" button on their profile, which allows followers to tip any amount, starting from $1.
In December 2021, TikTok started beta-testing Live Studio, a streaming software that would let users broadcast applications open on their computers, including games. The software also launched with support for mobile and PC streaming.
However, a few days later, users on Twitter discovered that the software uses code from the open-source OBS Studio. OBS made a statement saying that, under the GNU GPL version 2, TikTok has to make the code of Live Studio publicly available if it wants to use any code from OBS.
In May 2022, TikTok announced TikTok Pulse, an ad revenue-sharing program. It covers the "top 4% of all videos on TikTok" and is only available to creators with more than 100,000 followers. If an eligible creator's video reaches the top 4%, they will receive a 50% share of the revenue from ads displayed with the video.
Content and usage:
Demographics:
See also: List of most-followed TikTok accounts
TikTok tends to appeal to younger users, as 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. These individuals are considered Generation Z. Among these TikTok users, 90% said they used the app daily. TikTok's geographical use has shown that 43% of new users are from India.
As of the first quarter of 2022, there were over 100 million monthly active users in the United States and 23 million in the UK. The average user, daily, was spending 1 hour and 25 minutes on the app and opening TikTok 17 times.
Viral trends:
Further information: TikTok food trends
A variety of trends have risen within TikTok, including memes, lip-synced songs, and comedy videos. Duets, a feature that allows users to add their own video to an existing video with the original content's audio, have sparked many of these trends.
The app has spawned numerous viral trends, Internet celebrities, and music trends around the world. Many stars got their start on musical.ly, which merged with TikTok on 2 August 2018. These include Loren Gray, Baby Ariel, Kristen Hancher, Zach King, Lisa and Lena, Jacob Sartorius, and many others.
Loren Gray remained the most-followed individual on TikTok until Charli D’Amelio surpassed her on 25 March 2020. Gray's was the first TikTok account to reach 40 million followers on the platform. She was surpassed with 41.3 million followers. D'Amelio was the first to ever reach 50, 60, and 70 million followers.
Charli D’Amelio remained the most-followed individual on the platform until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame on June 23, 2022. Other creators rose to fame after the platform merged with musical.ly on 2 August 2018.
TikTok also played a major part in making "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X one of the biggest songs of 2019 and the longest-running number-one song in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100.
TikTok has allowed many music artists to gain a wider audience, often including foreign fans. For example, despite never having toured in Asia, the band Fitz and the Tantrums developed a large following in South Korea following the widespread popularity of their 2016 song "HandClap" on the platform.
"Any Song" by R&B and rap artist Zico became number one on the Korean music charts due to the popularity of the #anysongchallenge, where users dance to the choreography of the song.
The platform has also launched many songs that failed to garner initial commercial success into sleeper hits, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it has received criticism for not paying royalties to artists whose music is used on the platform.
In June 2020, TikTok users and K-pop fans "claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets" for President Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa through communication on TikTok, contributing to "rows of empty seats" at the event.
Later, in October 2020, an organization called TikTok for Biden was created to support then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. After the election, the organization was renamed to Gen-Z for Change.
TikTok has banned Holocaust denial, but other conspiracy theories have become popular on the platform, such as Pizzagate and QAnon (two conspiracy theories popular among the U.S. alt-right) whose hashtags reached almost 80 million views and 50 million views respectively by June 2020.
The platform has also been used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, such as clips from Plandemic. TikTok removed some of these videos and has generally added links to accurate COVID-19 information on videos with tags related to the pandemic.
On 10 August 2020, Emily Jacobssen wrote and sang "Ode To Remy," a song praising the protagonist from Pixar's 2007 computer-animated film named Ratatouille. The song rose to popularity when musician Daniel Mertzlufft composed a backing track to the song. In response, began creating a "crowdsourced" project called Ratatouille The Musical. Since Mertzlufft's video, many new elements including costume design, additional songs, and a playbill have been created.
On 1 January 2021, a full one-hour virtual presentation of Ratatouille the Musical premiered on the TodayTix. It starred:
Cosmetic surgery trends:
Content promoting cosmetic surgery is popular on TikTok and has spawned several viral trends on the platform. In December 2021, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, published an article about the popularity of some plastic surgeons on TikTok.
In the article, it was noted that plastic surgeons were some of the earliest adopters of social media in the medical field and many had been recognised as influencers on the platform. The article published stats about the most popular plastic surgeons on TikTok up to February 2021 and at the time, five different plastic surgeons had surpassed 1 million followers on the platform.
In 2021, it was reported that a trend known as the #NoseJobCheck trend was going viral on TikTok. TikTok content creators used a specific audio on their videos while showing how their noses looked before and after having their rhinoplasty surgeries.
By January 2021, the hashtag #nosejob had accumulated 1.6 billion views, #nosejobcheck had accumulated 1 billion views, and the audio used in the #NoseJobCheck trend had been used in 120,000 videos. In 2020, Charli D'Amelio, the most-followed person on TikTok at the time, also made a #NoseJobCheck video to show the results of her surgery to repair her previously broken nose.
In April 2022, NBC News reported that surgeons were giving influencers on the platform discounted or free cosmetic surgeries in order to advertise the procedures to their audiences.
They also reported that facilities that offered these surgeries were also posting about them on TikTok. TikTok has banned the advertising of cosmetic surgeries on the platform but cosmetic surgeons are still able to reach large audiences using unpaid photo and video posts.
NBC reported that videos using the hashtags '#plasticsurgery' and '#lipfiller' had amassed a combined 26 billion views on the platform.
In December 2022, it was reported that a cosmetic surgery procedure known as buccal fat removal was going viral on the platform. The procedure involves surgically removing fat from the cheeks in order to give the face a slimmer and more chiseled appearance. Videos using hashtags related to buccal fat removal had collectively amassed over 180 million views.
Some TikTok users criticised the trend for promoting an unobtainable beauty standard.
Influencer marketing:
TikTok has provided a platform for users to create content not only for fun but also for money. As the platform has grown significantly over the past few years, it has allowed companies to advertise and rapidly reach their intended demographic through influencer marketing.
The platform's AI algorithm also contributes to the influencer marketing potential, as it picks out content according to the user's preference. Sponsored content is not as prevalent on the platform as it is on other social media apps, but brands and influencers still can make as much as they would if not more in comparison to other platforms.
Influencers on the platform who earn money through engagement, such as likes and comments, are referred to as "meme machines."
In 2021, The New York Times reported that viral TikTok videos by young people relating the emotional impact of books on them, tagged with the label "BookTok," significantly drove sales of literature. Publishers were increasingly using the platform as a venue for influencer marketing.
In 2022, NBC News reported in a television segment that some TikTok and YouTube influencers were being given free and discounted cosmetic surgeries in order for them to advertise the surgeries to users of the platforms.
In 2022 it was reported that a trend called "de-influencing" had become popular on the platform as a backlash to influencer marketing. TikTok creators participating in this trend made videos criticising products promoted by influencers and asked their audiences not to buy products they did not need.
However, some creators participating in the trend started promoting alternative products to their audiences and earning commission from sales made through their affiliate links in the same manner as the influencers they were originally criticising.
Use by businesses:
In October 2020, the e-commerce platform Shopify added TikTok to its portfolio of social media platforms, allowing online merchants to sell their products directly to consumers on TikTok.
Some small businesses have used TikTok to advertise and to reach an audience wider than the geographical region they would normally serve. The viral response to many small business TikTok videos has been attributed to TikTok's algorithm, which shows content that viewers at large are drawn to, but which they are unlikely to actively search for (such as videos on unconventional types of businesses, like beekeeping and logging).
In 2020, digital media companies such as Group Nine Media and Global used TikTok increasingly, focusing on tactics such as brokering partnerships with TikTok influencers and developing branded content campaigns.
Notable collaborations between larger brands and top TikTok influencers have included Chipotle's partnership with David Dobrik in May 2019 and Dunkin' Donuts' partnership with Charli D'Amelio in September 2020.
Sex work:
TikTok is regularly used by sex workers to promote pornographic content sold on platforms such as OnlyFans. In 2020, the use of the term "accountant" to refer to adult content creators became widespread after a user posted a viral song on the platform about how it was easier for him to tell people he was an accountant instead of a pornographic actor.
In response, TikTok updated their terms of service to ban content that promotes "premium sexual content" and banned a large number of adult content creators, but these creators have used various methods to evade censorship.
Methods used by adult content creators to avoid censorship include referring to themselves as accountants, using substitutes for words in their captions and videos - such as using the corn emoji in place of the word "porn", and "n00ds" instead of "nudes - and using filters to censor their explicit images.
Some adult creators have also gone viral for posting videos with unsolvable riddles in them. These riddles attracted large numbers of comments by people trying and failing to solve the riddles, which in turn caused TikTok's recommendation algorithm to recommend them to more people as it perceived them as popular videos.
Collab houses:
Popular TikTok users have lived collectively in collab houses, predominantly in the Los Angeles area.
Bans and attempted bans:
Main article: Censorship of TikTok
Asia:
As of January 2023, TikTok is reportedly banned in several Asian countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Syria.
The app was previously banned temporarily in Indonesia and Jordan, though both have been lifted since.
Canada:
In February 2023, the Canadian government banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.
Europe:
In February 2023, the European Commission and European Council banned TikTok from official devices.
Belgium:
In March 2023, Belgium banned TikTok from all federal government work devices over cybersecurity, privacy, and misinformation concerns.
Denmark:
In March 2023, Denmark's Ministry of Defence banned TikTok on work devices.
United States:
Main article: Donald Trump–TikTok controversy
On 6 August 2020, then U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order which would ban TikTok transactions in 45 days if it was not sold by ByteDance. Trump also signed a similar order against the WeChat application owned by the Chinese multinational company Tencent.
On 14 August 2020, Trump issued another order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok business. In the order, Trump said that there is "credible evidence" that leads him to believe that ByteDance "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States." Donald Trump was concerned about TikTok being a threat because TikTok's parent company was rumored to be taking United States user data and reporting it back to Chinese operations through the company ByteDance.
In June 2021, new president Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump administration ban on TikTok, and instead ordered the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to U.S. national security.
In June 2022, reports emerged that ByteDance employees in China could access US data and repeatedly accessed the private information of TikTok users, TikTok employees were cited saying that "everything is seen in China," while one director claimed a Beijing-based engineer referred to as a "Master Admin" has "access to everything."
Following the reports, TikTok announced that 100% of its US user traffic is now being routed to Oracle Cloud, along with their intention to delete all US user data from their own data centers. This deal stems from the talks with Oracle instigated in September 2020 in the midst of Trump's threat to ban TikTok in the US.
In June 2022, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores, citing national security concerns, saying TikTok "harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing."
In October 2022, a Forbes report claimed that the ByteDance team planned to surveil individual American citizens for undisclosed reasons. TikTok denied these claims in a series of tweets, saying that this report lacked "both rigor and journalistic integrity."
In November 2022, Christopher A. Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told U.S. lawmakers that "the Chinese government could use [TikTok] to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations."
In December 2022, Senator Marco Rubio and representatives Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act), which would prohibit Chinese- and Russian-owned social networks from doing business in the United States.
That month, Senator Josh Hawley also introduced a separate measure, the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, to ban federal employees from using TikTok on all government devices. On December 15, Hawley's measure was unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate. On December 27, the Chief Administrative Officer of the United States House of Representatives banned TikTok from all devices managed by the House of Representatives.
As of February 2023, at least 32 (of 50) states have announced or enacted bans on state government agencies, employees, and contractors using TikTok on government-issued devices. State bans only affect government employees and do not prohibit civilians from having or using the app on their personal devices.
Controversies:
Addiction concerns:
There are concerns that some users may find it hard to stop using TikTok. In April 2018, an addiction-reduction feature was added to Douyin. This encouraged users to take a break every 90 minutes.
Later in 2018, the feature was rolled out to the TikTok app. TikTok uses some top influencers such as Gabe Erwin, Alan Chikin Chow, James Henry, and Cosette Rinab to encourage viewers to stop using the app and take a break.
Many were also concerned with the app affecting users' attention spans due to the short-form nature of the content. This is a concern as many of TikTok's audience are younger children, whose brains are still developing.
TikTok executives and representatives have noted and made aware to advertisers on the platform that users have poor attention spans. With a large amount of video content, nearly 50% of users find it stressful to watch a video longer than a minute and a third of users watch videos at double speed.
TikTok has also received criticism for enabling children to purchase coins which they can send to other users.
In June 2022, TikTok introduced the ability to set a maximum uninterrupted screen time allowance, after which the app blocks off the ability to navigate the feed. The block only lifts after the app is exited and left unused for a set period of time. Additionally, the app features a dashboard with statistics on how often the app is opened, how much time is spent browsing it and when the browsing occurs.
Content concerns:
Some countries have shown concerns regarding the content on TikTok, as their cultures view it as obscene, immoral, vulgar, and encouraging pornography. There have been temporary blocks and warnings issued by countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan over the content concerns. In 2018, Douyin was reprimanded by Chinese media watchdogs for showing "unacceptable" content.
On 27 July 2020, Egypt sentenced five women to two years in prison over TikTok videos. One of the women had encouraged other women to try and earn money on the platform, another woman was sent to prison for dancing. The court also imposed a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds (UK£14,600) on each defendant.
Concerns have been voiced regarding content relating to, and the promotion and spreading of, hateful words and far-right extremism, such as anti-semitism, racism, and xenophobia.
Some videos were shown to expressly deny the existence of the Holocaust and told viewers to take up arms and fight in the name of white supremacy and the swastika.
As TikTok has gained popularity among young children, and the popularity of extremist and hateful content is growing, calls for tighter restrictions on their flexible boundaries have been made. TikTok has since released tougher parental controls to filter out inappropriate content and to ensure they can provide sufficient protection and security.
A viral TikTok trend known as "devious licks" involves students vandalizing or stealing school property and posting videos of the action on the platform. The trend has led to increasing school vandalism and subsequent measures taken by some schools to prevent damage.Some students have been arrested for participating in the trend. TikTok has taken measures to remove and prevent access to content displaying the trend.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that doctors experienced a surge in reported cases of tics, tied to an increasing number of TikTok videos from content creators with Tourette syndrome. Doctors suggested that the cause may be a social one as users who consumed content showcasing various tics would sometimes develop tics of their own.
In March 2022, the Washington Post reported that Facebook owner Meta Platforms had paid Targeted Victory—a consulting firm backed by supporters of the U.S. Republican Party—to coordinate lobbying and media campaigns against TikTok to portray it as "a danger to American children and society", primarily to stoke anti-Chinese xenophobia and counter criticism of Facebook's own services.
This included op-eds and letters to the editor in regional publications, the amplification of "dubious local news stories citing TikTok as the origin of dangerous teen trends" (such as the aforementioned "devious licks", and an alleged "Slap a Teacher" challenge), including those whose initial development actually began on Facebook, and the similar promotion of "proactive coverage" of Facebook corporate initiatives.
In Malaysia, TikTok is used by some users to engage in hate speech against race and religion especially mentioning the 13 May incident after the 2022 election. TikTok responded by taking down videos with content that violated their community guidelines.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed lawsuits against TikTok, alleging that the platform exposed inappropriate content to minors. The complaint also alleges that TikTok "intentionally falsely reports the frequency of sexual content, nudity, and mature/suggestive themes" on their platform which made the app's "12-plus" age ratings on the Apple and Google app stores deceptive.
TikTok raised the minimum age for livestreaming from 16 to 18 after a BBC News investigation found hundreds of accounts going live from Syrian refugee camps, with children begging for donations through digital gifts, which lead to TikTok taking a 70% cut of the donations.
Appropriation from Black content creators:
Numerous examples of White TikTokers appropriating what was initially created by Black TikTokers have been noted on the platform. In June 2021, The New York Times published an investigation into the practice as part of the Hulu documentary, Who Gets to be an Influencer?
In July 2021, after Megan Thee Stallion released her song "Thot Shit," Black content creators refused to make dances to it as they normally would, in protest of the inequity to Black creators due to White TikTokers mimicking them.
Misinformation:
See also: COVID-19 misinformation
In January 2020, left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America said that TikTok hosted misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic despite a recent policy against misinformation. In April 2020, the government of India asked TikTok to remove users posting misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were also multiple conspiracy theories that the government is involved with the spread of the pandemic. As a response to this, TikTok launched a feature to report content for misinformation. It reported that in the second half of 2020, over 340,000 videos in the U.S. about election misinformation and 50,000 videos of COVID-19 misinformation were removed.
To combat misinformation in the 2022 midterm election in the US, TikTok announced a midterms Elections Center available in-app to users in 40 different languages. TikTok partnered with the National Association of Secretaries of State to give accurate local information to users.
In September 2022, NewsGuard Technologies reported that among the TikTok searches it had conducted and analyzed from the U.S., 19.4% surfaced misinformation such as questionable or harmful content about COVID-19 vaccines, homemade remedies, the 2020 US elections, the war in Ukraine, the Robb Elementary School shooting, and abortion. NewsGuard suggested that in contrast, results from Google were of higher quality.
Mashable's own test from Australia found innocuous results after searching for "getting my COVID vaccine" but suggestions such as "climate change is a myth" after typing in "climate change".
Content censorship and moderation by the platform:
Main article: Censorship by TikTok
TikTok's censorship policy has been criticized as non-transparent. Criticism of leaders such as Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Mahatma Gandhi and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been suppressed by the platform, as well as information relating to the Xinjiang internment camps and the Uyghur genocide.
Internal documents have revealed that moderators suppress posts created by users deemed "too ugly, poor, or disabled" for the platform, and censor political speech on livestreams. TikTok moderators have also blocked content that could be perceived as positive towards LGBT people in addition to a set of country-specific censorship rules such as banning mentions of Tiananmen Square in China and Kurdish nationalism in Turkey.
In 2022, in response to criticism, the platform launched a "transparency center" – a virtual hub where researchers can access the platform's moderation tools and content guidelines, including a secret list of keywords used for filtering content.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine:
TikTok is the 10th most popular app in Russia. After a new set of Russian fake news laws was installed in March 2022, the company announced a series of restrictions on Russian and non-Russian posts and livestreams.
Tracking Exposed, a user data rights group, learned of what was likely a technical glitch that became exploited by pro-Russia posters. It stated that although this and other loopholes were patched by TikTok before the end of March, the initial failure to correctly implement the restrictions, in addition to the effects from Kremlin's "fake news" laws, contributed to the formation of a "splinternet ... dominated by pro-war content" in Russia.
TikTok said that it had removed 204 accounts for swaying public opinion about the war while obscuring their origins and that its fact checkers had removed 41,191 videos for violating its misinformation policies.
ISIL propaganda:
Main article: Use of social media by the Islamic State
In October 2019, TikTok removed about two dozen accounts that were responsible for posting ISIL propaganda and execution videos on the app.
User privacy concerns:
Privacy concerns have also been brought up regarding the app. In its privacy policy, TikTok lists that it collects usage information, IP addresses, a user's mobile carrier, unique device identifiers, keystroke patterns, and location data, among other data.
Web developers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk said that allowing videos and other content to be shared by the app's users through HTTP puts the users' data privacy at risk.
Since the early 2020s, American conservatives have accused the website of spying on its users in cooperation with the Chinese government. These accusations and conspiracy theories were created in part by Republican consulting firms such as Targeted Victory as well as Facebook parent Meta.
In January 2020, Check Point Research discovered a security flaw in TikTok which could have allowed hackers access to user accounts using SMS.
In February, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman criticised the app, calling it "spyware," and stating "I look at that app as so fundamentally parasitic, that it's always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying, and I could not bring myself to install an app like that on my phone."
Responding to Huffman's comments, TikTok stated, "These are baseless accusations made without a shred of evidence." Wells Fargo banned the app from its devices due to privacy and security concerns.
In May 2020, the Dutch Data Protection Authority announced an investigation into TikTok in relation to privacy protections for children. In June 2020, the European Data Protection Board announced that it would assemble a task force to examine TikTok's user privacy and security practices.
In August 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok tracked Android user data, including MAC addresses and IMEIs, with a tactic in violation of Google's policies. The report sparked calls in the U.S. Senate for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to launch an investigation.
In June 2021, TikTok updated its privacy policy to include a collection of biometric data, including "faceprints and voiceprints." Some experts reacted by calling the terms of collection and data use "vague" and "highly problematic."
The same month, CNBC reported that former employees had stated that "the boundaries between TikTok and ByteDance were so blurry as to be almost non-existent" and that "ByteDance employees are able to access U.S. user data" on TikTok.
In October 2021, following the Facebook Files and controversies about social media ethics, a bipartisan group of lawmakers also pressed TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat on questions of data privacy and moderation for age-appropriate content. The New York Times reported, "Lawmakers also hammered [head of U.S. policy at TikTok] Mr. Beckerman about whether TikTok’s Chinese ownership could expose consumer data to Beijing," stating that "Critics have long argued that the company would be obligated to turn Americans’ data over to the Chinese government if asked."
TikTok told U.S. lawmakers it does not give information to China's government. TikTok's representative stated that TikTok's data is stored in the U.S. with backups in Singapore.
According to the company's representative, TikTok had "no affiliation" with the subsidiary Beijing ByteDance Technology, in which the Chinese government has a minority stake and board seat.
In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that leaked audio recordings of internal TikTok meetings revealed that certain China-based employees of the company maintain full access to overseas data.
In August 2022, software engineer and security researcher Felix Krause found that TikTok's in-app browser contained keylogger functionality.
In September 2022, during testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, TikTok's COO stated that the company could not commit to stopping data transfers from US users to China. The COO reacted to concerns of the company's handling of user data by stating that TikTok does not operate in China, though the company does have an office there.
Additionally, in November 2022, TikTok's head of privacy for Europe, Elaine Fox, confirmed that some of its workers, including the workers in China, have access to the user info of accounts from the UK and European Union. According to Fox, this "privacy policy" was "based on a demonstrated need to do their job."
U.S. COPPA fines
See also: Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
On 27 February 2019, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined ByteDance U.S.$5.7 million for collecting information from minors under the age of 13 in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
ByteDance responded by adding a kids-only mode to TikTok which blocks the upload of videos, the building of user profiles, direct messaging, and commenting on others' videos, while still allowing the viewing and recording of content.
In May 2020, an advocacy group filed a complaint with the FTC saying that TikTok had violated the terms of the February 2019 consent decree, which sparked subsequent Congressional calls for a renewed FTC investigation.
In July 2020, it was reported that the FTC and the United States Department of Justice had initiated investigations.
UK Information Commissioner's Office investigation:
In February 2019, the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office launched an investigation of TikTok following the fine ByteDance received from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said that the investigation focuses on the issues of private data collection, the kind of videos collected and shared by children online, as well as the platform's open messaging system which allows any adult to message any child.
She noted that the company was potentially violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires the company to provide different services and different protections for children.
Italian Data Protection Authority:
On 22 January 2021, the Italian Data Protection Authority ordered the blocking of the use of the data of users whose age has not been established on the social network.
The order was issued after the death of a 10-year-old Sicilian girl, which occurred after the execution of a challenge shared by users of the platform that involved attempting to choke the user with a belt around the neck. The block is set to remain in place until 15 February, when it will be re-evaluated.
Ireland Data Protection Commission:
In September 2021, the Ireland Data Protection Commissioner opened investigations into TikTok concerning the protection of minors' data and transfers of personal data to China.
Texas Attorney General investigation:
In February 2022, the incumbent Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, initiated an investigation into TikTok for alleged violations of children's privacy and facilitation of human trafficking.
Paxton claimed that the Texas Department of Public Safety gathered several pieces of content showing the attempted recruitment of teenagers to smuggle people or goods across the Mexico–United States border. He claimed the evidence may prove the company's involvement in "human smuggling, sex trafficking and drug trafficking." The company claimed that no illegal activity of any kind is supported on the platform.
Journalist spying scandal:
In December 2022, TikTok confirmed that journalists’ data was accessed by employees of its parent company. It previously denied using location information to track U.S. users.
TikTok parent company ByteDance fired four employees who improperly accessed the personal data of two journalists on the platform, a TikTok spokesman ByteDance confirmed to CNN.
As ByteDance employees investigated potential employee leaks to the media, they accessed the TikTok user data of two journalists, according to the company. Personal data obtained from journalists' accounts included IP addresses, which can be used to track location.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada investigation:
In February 2023, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, along with its counterparts in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, launched an investigation into TikTok's data collection practices.
Cyberbullying:
As with other platforms, journalists in several countries have raised privacy concerns about the app because it is popular with children and has the potential to be used by sexual predators.
Several users have reported endemic cyberbullying on TikTok, including racism and ableism. In December 2019, following a report by German digital rights group Netzpolitik.org, TikTok admitted that it had suppressed videos by disabled users as well as LGBTQ+ users in a purported effort to limit cyberbullying.
TikTok's moderators were also told to suppress users with "abnormal body shape," "ugly facial looks," "too many wrinkles," or in "slums, rural fields" and "dilapidated housing" to prevent bullying.
In 2021, the platform revealed that it will be introducing a feature that will prevent teenagers from receiving notifications past their bedtime. The company will no longer send push notifications after 9 PM to users aged between 13 and 15. For 16 to 17 year olds, notifications will not be sent after 10 PM.
Impact on mental health:
In February 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Mental-health professionals around the country are growing increasingly concerned about the effects on teen girls of posting sexualized TikTok videos." In March 2022, a coalition of U.S. state attorneys general launched an investigation into TikTok's effect on children's mental health.
Medication shortages:
In November 2022, Australia's medical regulatory agency, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reported that there was a global shortage of the diabetes medication Ozempic. Ozempic is a brand of semaglutide used by patients with Type-2 diabetes to regulate blood glucose, with weight loss as side effect.
According to the TGA, the rise in demand was caused by an increase in off-label prescription of the drug for weight loss purposes. Off-label prescription is the prescription of a drug for purposes other than what it was approved for.
In December 2022, after the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) listed Ozempic as being in shortage in the United States as well, it was reported that huge increase in demand for off-label prescriptions of the medicine was caused by a weight loss trend on TikTok, where videos about the drug had exceeded 360 million views.
Wegovy, a drug with a higher dosage of semaglutide that has been specifically approved for use in treating obesity, also became popular on the platform after Elon Musk credited it for helping him lose weight.
Workplace conditions:
Several former employees of the company have claimed of poor workplace conditions, including the start of the workweek on Sunday to cooperate with Chinese timezones and excessive workload. Employees claimed they averaged 85 hours of meetings per week and would frequently stay up all night in order to complete tasks.
Some employees claimed the workplace's schedule operated similarly to the 996 schedule. The company has a stated policy of working from 10 AM to 7 PM five days per week (63 hours per week), but employees noted that it was encouraged for employees to work after hours.
One female worker complained that the company did not allow her adequate time to change her feminine hygiene product because of back-to-back meetings. Another employee noted that working at the company caused her to seek marriage therapy and lose an unhealthy amount of weight. In response to the allegations, the company noted that they were committed to allowing employees "support and flexibility."
Algorithm difference:
Users and content creators around the world have noticed significant differences between the Global version of TikTok and its Chinese counterpart. Most notably, the Chinese version Douyin pushes inspiring contents such as achievements, special talents, etc., to its users while the global version generally pushes more impractical and unsuitable contents and trends to its global users.
Legal issues:
Tencent lawsuits:
Tencent's WeChat platform has been accused of blocking Douyin's videos. In April 2018, Douyin sued Tencent and accused it of spreading false and damaging information on its WeChat platform, demanding CN¥1 million in compensation and an apology.
In June 2018, Tencent filed a lawsuit against Toutiao and Douyin in a Beijing court, alleging they had repeatedly defamed Tencent with negative news and damaged its reputation, seeking a nominal sum of CN¥1 in compensation and a public apology. In response, Toutiao filed a complaint the following day against Tencent for allegedly unfair competition and asking for CN¥90 million in economic losses.
Data transfer class action lawsuit:
In November 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed in California that alleged that TikTok transferred personally identifiable information of U.S. persons to servers located in China owned by Tencent and Alibaba. The lawsuit also accused ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, of taking user content without their permission.
The plaintiff of the lawsuit, college student Misty Hong, downloaded the app but said she never created an account. She realized a few months later that TikTok has created an account for her using her information (such as biometrics) and made a summary of her information.
The lawsuit also alleged that information was sent to Chinese tech giant Baidu. In July 2020, twenty lawsuits against TikTok were merged into a single class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In February 2021, TikTok agreed to pay $92 million to settle the class action lawsuit.
Voice actor lawsuit:
In May 2021, Canadian voice actor Bev Standing filed a lawsuit against TikTok over the use of her voice in the text-to-speech feature without her permission. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York. TikTok declined to comment. Standing believes that TikTok used recordings she made for the Chinese government-run Institute of Acoustics. The voice used in the feature was subsequently changed.
Market Information Research Foundation lawsuit:
In June 2021, the Netherlands-based Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI) filed a €1.4 billion lawsuit on behalf of Dutch parents against TikTok, alleging that the app gathers data on children without adequate permission.
Blackout Challenge lawsuits:
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against TikTok, accusing the platform of hosting content that led to the death of at least seven children. The lawsuits claim that children died after attempting the "Blackout challenge", a TikTok trend that involves strangling or asphyxiating someone or themselves until they black out (passing out).
TikTok stated that search queries for the challenge do not show any results, linking instead to protective resources, while the parents of two of the deceased argued that the content showed up on their children's TikTok feeds, without them searching for it.
See also:
TikTok, and its Chinese counterpart Douyin (Chinese: 抖音; pinyin: Dǒuyīn), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an entirely separate, internationalized version of Douyin, which was released in the Chinese market in September 2016. It launched in 2017 for iOS and Android in most markets outside of mainland China; however, it became available worldwide only after merging with another Chinese social media service, Musical.ly, on 2 August 2018.
TikTok and Douyin have almost the same user interface but no access to each other's content. Their servers are each based in the market where the respective app is available.
The two products are similar, but their features are not identical. Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people's faces for more videos of them, along with other features such as buying, booking hotels, and making geo-tagged reviews.
Since their launches, TikTok and Douyin have gained global popularity. In October 2020, TikTok surpassed 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide. Morning Consult named TikTok the third-fastest growing brand of 2020, after Zoom and Peacock.
Cloudflare ranked TikTok the most popular website of 2021, surpassing google.com.
TikTok has been subject to criticism over psychological effects such as addiction, as well as controversies regarding inappropriate content, misinformation, censorship, moderation, and user privacy.
History:
Evolution:
Douyin was launched by ByteDance in Beijing, China in September 2016, originally under the name A.me, before rebranding to Douyin (抖音) in December 2016. ByteDance planned on Douyin expanding overseas. The founder of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, stated that "China is home to only one-fifth of Internet users globally. If we don’t expand on a global scale, we are bound to lose to peers eyeing the four-fifths. So, going global is a must."
Douyin was developed in 200 days and within a year had 100 million users, with more than one billion videos viewed every day.
The app was launched as TikTok in the international market in September 2017. On 23 January 2018, the TikTok app ranked first among free application downloads on app stores in Thailand and other countries.
TikTok has been downloaded more than 130 million times in the United States and has reached 2 billion downloads worldwide, according to data from mobile research firm Sensor Tower (those numbers exclude Android users in China).
In the United States, celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk, began using the app in 2018. Other celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Will Smith, and Justin Bieber joined TikTok as well as many others.
In January 2019, TikTok allowed creators to embed merchandise sale links into their videos.
On 3 September 2019, TikTok and the U.S. National Football League (NFL) announced a multi-year partnership. The agreement occurred just two days before the NFL's 100th season kick-off at Soldier Field, where TikTok hosted activities for fans in honor of the deal.
The partnership entails the launch of an official NFL TikTok account, which is to bring about new marketing opportunities such as sponsored videos and hashtag challenges. In July 2020, TikTok, excluding Douyin, reported close to 800 million monthly active users worldwide after less than four years of existence.
In May 2021, TikTok appointed Shou Zi Chew as their new CEO who assumed the position from interim CEO Vanessa Pappas, following the resignation of Kevin A. Mayer on 27 August 2020.
On 3 August 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the United States on 15 September if negotiations for the company to be bought by Microsoft or a different American company failed.
On 6 August, Trump signed two executive orders banning U.S. "transactions" with TikTok and WeChat to its respective parent companies ByteDance and Tencent, set to take effect 45 days after the signing. A planned ban of the app on 20 September 2020 was postponed by a week and then blocked by a federal judge.
President Biden revoked the ban in a new executive order in June 2021.
The app has been banned by the government of India since June 2020 along with 223 other Chinese apps in view of privacy concerns. Pakistan banned TikTok citing "immoral" and "indecent" videos on 9 October 2020 but reversed its ban ten days later. In March 2021, a Pakistani court ordered a new TikTok ban due to complaints over "indecent" content.
In September 2021, TikTok reported that it had reached 1 billion users. In 2021, TikTok earned $4 billion in advertising revenue.
In October 2022, TikTok was reported to be planning an expansion into the e-commerce market in the US, following the launch of TikTok Shop in the United Kingdom. The company posted job listings for staff for a series of order fulfillment centers in the US and is reportedly planning to start the new live shopping business before the end of the year.
Musical.ly merger:
Further information: Musical.ly
On 9 November 2017, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, spent nearly $1 billion to purchase musical.ly, a startup headquartered in Shanghai with an overseas office in Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Musical.ly was a social media video platform that allowed users to create short lip-sync and comedy videos, initially released in August 2014. TikTok merged with musical.ly on 2 August 2018 with existing accounts and data consolidated into one app, keeping the title TikTok. This ended musical.ly and made TikTok a worldwide app, excluding China, since China already had Douyin.
Expansion in other markets:
As of 2018, TikTok was available in more than 150 markets, and in 75 languages. TikTok was downloaded more than 104 million times on Apple's App Store during the first half of 2018, according to data provided to CNBC by Sensor Tower.
After merging with musical.ly in August, downloads increased and TikTok became the most downloaded app in the U.S. in October 2018, which musical.ly had done once before.
In February 2019, TikTok, together with Douyin, hit one billion downloads globally, excluding Android installs in China. In 2019, media outlets cited TikTok as the 7th-most-downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019. It was also the most-downloaded app on Apple's App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
In September 2020, a deal was confirmed between ByteDance and Oracle in which the latter will serve as a partner to provide cloud hosting. Walmart intends to invest in TikTok. This deal would stall in 2021 as newly elected President Biden's Justice Department put a hold on the previous U.S. ban under President Trump.
In November 2020, TikTok signed a licensing deal with Sony Music. In December 2020, Warner Music Group signed a licensing deal with TikTok.
In April 2021, Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism partnered with TikTok to promote tourism. It came following the January 2021 winter campaign, initiated through a partnership between the UAE Government Media Office partnered and TikTok to promote the country's tourism.
Since 2014, the first non-gaming apps with more than 3 billion downloads were Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger; all owned by Meta. TikTok was the first non-Facebook app to reach that figure. Sensor Tower reported that although TikTok had been banned in India, its largest market, in June 2020, downloads in the rest of the world continue to increase, reaching 3 billion downloads in 2021.
Features:
The mobile app allows users to create short videos, which often feature music in the background and can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. They can also add their own sound on top of the background music.
To create a music video with the app, users can choose background music from a wide variety of music genres, edit with a filter and record a 15-second video with speed adjustments before uploading it to share with others on TikTok or other social platforms.
The "For You" page on TikTok is a feed of videos that are recommended to users based on their activity on the app. Content is curated by TikTok's artificial intelligence depending on the content a user liked, interacted with, or searched. This is in contrast to other social networks' algorithms basing such content off of the user's relationships with other users and what they liked or interacted with.
The app's "react" feature allows users to film their reaction to a specific video, over which it is placed in a small window that is movable around the screen. Its "duet" feature allows users to film a video aside from another video. The "duet" feature was another trademark of musical.ly. The duet feature is also only able to be used if both parties adjust the privacy settings.
Videos that users do not want to post yet can be stored in their "drafts." The user is allowed to see their "drafts" and post when they find it fitting. The app allows users to set their accounts as "private." When first downloading the app, the user's account is public by default. The user can change to private in their settings.
Private content remains visible to TikTok but is blocked from TikTok users who the account holder has not authorized to view their content. Users can choose whether any other user, or only their "friends," may interact with them through the app via comments, messages, or "react" or "duet" videos. Users also can set specific videos to either "public," "friends only," or "private" regardless if the account is private or not.
Users can also send their friends videos, emojis, and messages with direct messaging. TikTok has also included a feature to create a video based on the user's comments. Influencers often use the "live" feature. This feature is only available for those who have at least 1,000 followers and are over 16 years old. If over 18, the user's followers can send virtual "gifts" that can be later exchanged for money.
TikTok announced a "family safety mode" in February 2020 for parents to be able to control their children's presence on the app. There is a screen time management option, restricted mode, and the option to put a limit on direct messages. The app expanded its parental controls feature called "Family Pairing" in September 2020 to provide parents and guardians with educational resources to understand what children on TikTok are exposed to.
Content for the feature was created in partnership with online safety nonprofit, Internet Matters.
In October 2021, TikTok launched a test feature that allows users to directly tip certain creators. Accounts of users that are of age, have at least 100,000 followers and agree to the terms can activate a "Tip" button on their profile, which allows followers to tip any amount, starting from $1.
In December 2021, TikTok started beta-testing Live Studio, a streaming software that would let users broadcast applications open on their computers, including games. The software also launched with support for mobile and PC streaming.
However, a few days later, users on Twitter discovered that the software uses code from the open-source OBS Studio. OBS made a statement saying that, under the GNU GPL version 2, TikTok has to make the code of Live Studio publicly available if it wants to use any code from OBS.
In May 2022, TikTok announced TikTok Pulse, an ad revenue-sharing program. It covers the "top 4% of all videos on TikTok" and is only available to creators with more than 100,000 followers. If an eligible creator's video reaches the top 4%, they will receive a 50% share of the revenue from ads displayed with the video.
Content and usage:
Demographics:
See also: List of most-followed TikTok accounts
TikTok tends to appeal to younger users, as 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. These individuals are considered Generation Z. Among these TikTok users, 90% said they used the app daily. TikTok's geographical use has shown that 43% of new users are from India.
As of the first quarter of 2022, there were over 100 million monthly active users in the United States and 23 million in the UK. The average user, daily, was spending 1 hour and 25 minutes on the app and opening TikTok 17 times.
Viral trends:
Further information: TikTok food trends
A variety of trends have risen within TikTok, including memes, lip-synced songs, and comedy videos. Duets, a feature that allows users to add their own video to an existing video with the original content's audio, have sparked many of these trends.
The app has spawned numerous viral trends, Internet celebrities, and music trends around the world. Many stars got their start on musical.ly, which merged with TikTok on 2 August 2018. These include Loren Gray, Baby Ariel, Kristen Hancher, Zach King, Lisa and Lena, Jacob Sartorius, and many others.
Loren Gray remained the most-followed individual on TikTok until Charli D’Amelio surpassed her on 25 March 2020. Gray's was the first TikTok account to reach 40 million followers on the platform. She was surpassed with 41.3 million followers. D'Amelio was the first to ever reach 50, 60, and 70 million followers.
Charli D’Amelio remained the most-followed individual on the platform until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame on June 23, 2022. Other creators rose to fame after the platform merged with musical.ly on 2 August 2018.
TikTok also played a major part in making "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X one of the biggest songs of 2019 and the longest-running number-one song in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100.
TikTok has allowed many music artists to gain a wider audience, often including foreign fans. For example, despite never having toured in Asia, the band Fitz and the Tantrums developed a large following in South Korea following the widespread popularity of their 2016 song "HandClap" on the platform.
"Any Song" by R&B and rap artist Zico became number one on the Korean music charts due to the popularity of the #anysongchallenge, where users dance to the choreography of the song.
The platform has also launched many songs that failed to garner initial commercial success into sleeper hits, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it has received criticism for not paying royalties to artists whose music is used on the platform.
In June 2020, TikTok users and K-pop fans "claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets" for President Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa through communication on TikTok, contributing to "rows of empty seats" at the event.
Later, in October 2020, an organization called TikTok for Biden was created to support then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. After the election, the organization was renamed to Gen-Z for Change.
TikTok has banned Holocaust denial, but other conspiracy theories have become popular on the platform, such as Pizzagate and QAnon (two conspiracy theories popular among the U.S. alt-right) whose hashtags reached almost 80 million views and 50 million views respectively by June 2020.
The platform has also been used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, such as clips from Plandemic. TikTok removed some of these videos and has generally added links to accurate COVID-19 information on videos with tags related to the pandemic.
On 10 August 2020, Emily Jacobssen wrote and sang "Ode To Remy," a song praising the protagonist from Pixar's 2007 computer-animated film named Ratatouille. The song rose to popularity when musician Daniel Mertzlufft composed a backing track to the song. In response, began creating a "crowdsourced" project called Ratatouille The Musical. Since Mertzlufft's video, many new elements including costume design, additional songs, and a playbill have been created.
On 1 January 2021, a full one-hour virtual presentation of Ratatouille the Musical premiered on the TodayTix. It starred:
- Titus Burgess as Remy,
- Wayne Brady as Django,
- Adam Lambert as Emile,
- Chamberlin as Gusteau,
- Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini,
- Ashley Park as Colette,
- Priscilla Lopez as Mabel,
- Mary Testa as Skinner,
- and André De Shields as Ego.
Cosmetic surgery trends:
Content promoting cosmetic surgery is popular on TikTok and has spawned several viral trends on the platform. In December 2021, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, published an article about the popularity of some plastic surgeons on TikTok.
In the article, it was noted that plastic surgeons were some of the earliest adopters of social media in the medical field and many had been recognised as influencers on the platform. The article published stats about the most popular plastic surgeons on TikTok up to February 2021 and at the time, five different plastic surgeons had surpassed 1 million followers on the platform.
In 2021, it was reported that a trend known as the #NoseJobCheck trend was going viral on TikTok. TikTok content creators used a specific audio on their videos while showing how their noses looked before and after having their rhinoplasty surgeries.
By January 2021, the hashtag #nosejob had accumulated 1.6 billion views, #nosejobcheck had accumulated 1 billion views, and the audio used in the #NoseJobCheck trend had been used in 120,000 videos. In 2020, Charli D'Amelio, the most-followed person on TikTok at the time, also made a #NoseJobCheck video to show the results of her surgery to repair her previously broken nose.
In April 2022, NBC News reported that surgeons were giving influencers on the platform discounted or free cosmetic surgeries in order to advertise the procedures to their audiences.
They also reported that facilities that offered these surgeries were also posting about them on TikTok. TikTok has banned the advertising of cosmetic surgeries on the platform but cosmetic surgeons are still able to reach large audiences using unpaid photo and video posts.
NBC reported that videos using the hashtags '#plasticsurgery' and '#lipfiller' had amassed a combined 26 billion views on the platform.
In December 2022, it was reported that a cosmetic surgery procedure known as buccal fat removal was going viral on the platform. The procedure involves surgically removing fat from the cheeks in order to give the face a slimmer and more chiseled appearance. Videos using hashtags related to buccal fat removal had collectively amassed over 180 million views.
Some TikTok users criticised the trend for promoting an unobtainable beauty standard.
Influencer marketing:
TikTok has provided a platform for users to create content not only for fun but also for money. As the platform has grown significantly over the past few years, it has allowed companies to advertise and rapidly reach their intended demographic through influencer marketing.
The platform's AI algorithm also contributes to the influencer marketing potential, as it picks out content according to the user's preference. Sponsored content is not as prevalent on the platform as it is on other social media apps, but brands and influencers still can make as much as they would if not more in comparison to other platforms.
Influencers on the platform who earn money through engagement, such as likes and comments, are referred to as "meme machines."
In 2021, The New York Times reported that viral TikTok videos by young people relating the emotional impact of books on them, tagged with the label "BookTok," significantly drove sales of literature. Publishers were increasingly using the platform as a venue for influencer marketing.
In 2022, NBC News reported in a television segment that some TikTok and YouTube influencers were being given free and discounted cosmetic surgeries in order for them to advertise the surgeries to users of the platforms.
In 2022 it was reported that a trend called "de-influencing" had become popular on the platform as a backlash to influencer marketing. TikTok creators participating in this trend made videos criticising products promoted by influencers and asked their audiences not to buy products they did not need.
However, some creators participating in the trend started promoting alternative products to their audiences and earning commission from sales made through their affiliate links in the same manner as the influencers they were originally criticising.
Use by businesses:
In October 2020, the e-commerce platform Shopify added TikTok to its portfolio of social media platforms, allowing online merchants to sell their products directly to consumers on TikTok.
Some small businesses have used TikTok to advertise and to reach an audience wider than the geographical region they would normally serve. The viral response to many small business TikTok videos has been attributed to TikTok's algorithm, which shows content that viewers at large are drawn to, but which they are unlikely to actively search for (such as videos on unconventional types of businesses, like beekeeping and logging).
In 2020, digital media companies such as Group Nine Media and Global used TikTok increasingly, focusing on tactics such as brokering partnerships with TikTok influencers and developing branded content campaigns.
Notable collaborations between larger brands and top TikTok influencers have included Chipotle's partnership with David Dobrik in May 2019 and Dunkin' Donuts' partnership with Charli D'Amelio in September 2020.
Sex work:
TikTok is regularly used by sex workers to promote pornographic content sold on platforms such as OnlyFans. In 2020, the use of the term "accountant" to refer to adult content creators became widespread after a user posted a viral song on the platform about how it was easier for him to tell people he was an accountant instead of a pornographic actor.
In response, TikTok updated their terms of service to ban content that promotes "premium sexual content" and banned a large number of adult content creators, but these creators have used various methods to evade censorship.
Methods used by adult content creators to avoid censorship include referring to themselves as accountants, using substitutes for words in their captions and videos - such as using the corn emoji in place of the word "porn", and "n00ds" instead of "nudes - and using filters to censor their explicit images.
Some adult creators have also gone viral for posting videos with unsolvable riddles in them. These riddles attracted large numbers of comments by people trying and failing to solve the riddles, which in turn caused TikTok's recommendation algorithm to recommend them to more people as it perceived them as popular videos.
Collab houses:
Popular TikTok users have lived collectively in collab houses, predominantly in the Los Angeles area.
Bans and attempted bans:
Main article: Censorship of TikTok
Asia:
As of January 2023, TikTok is reportedly banned in several Asian countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Syria.
The app was previously banned temporarily in Indonesia and Jordan, though both have been lifted since.
Canada:
In February 2023, the Canadian government banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.
Europe:
In February 2023, the European Commission and European Council banned TikTok from official devices.
Belgium:
In March 2023, Belgium banned TikTok from all federal government work devices over cybersecurity, privacy, and misinformation concerns.
Denmark:
In March 2023, Denmark's Ministry of Defence banned TikTok on work devices.
United States:
Main article: Donald Trump–TikTok controversy
On 6 August 2020, then U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order which would ban TikTok transactions in 45 days if it was not sold by ByteDance. Trump also signed a similar order against the WeChat application owned by the Chinese multinational company Tencent.
On 14 August 2020, Trump issued another order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok business. In the order, Trump said that there is "credible evidence" that leads him to believe that ByteDance "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States." Donald Trump was concerned about TikTok being a threat because TikTok's parent company was rumored to be taking United States user data and reporting it back to Chinese operations through the company ByteDance.
In June 2021, new president Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump administration ban on TikTok, and instead ordered the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to U.S. national security.
In June 2022, reports emerged that ByteDance employees in China could access US data and repeatedly accessed the private information of TikTok users, TikTok employees were cited saying that "everything is seen in China," while one director claimed a Beijing-based engineer referred to as a "Master Admin" has "access to everything."
Following the reports, TikTok announced that 100% of its US user traffic is now being routed to Oracle Cloud, along with their intention to delete all US user data from their own data centers. This deal stems from the talks with Oracle instigated in September 2020 in the midst of Trump's threat to ban TikTok in the US.
In June 2022, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores, citing national security concerns, saying TikTok "harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing."
In October 2022, a Forbes report claimed that the ByteDance team planned to surveil individual American citizens for undisclosed reasons. TikTok denied these claims in a series of tweets, saying that this report lacked "both rigor and journalistic integrity."
In November 2022, Christopher A. Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told U.S. lawmakers that "the Chinese government could use [TikTok] to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations."
In December 2022, Senator Marco Rubio and representatives Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act), which would prohibit Chinese- and Russian-owned social networks from doing business in the United States.
That month, Senator Josh Hawley also introduced a separate measure, the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, to ban federal employees from using TikTok on all government devices. On December 15, Hawley's measure was unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate. On December 27, the Chief Administrative Officer of the United States House of Representatives banned TikTok from all devices managed by the House of Representatives.
As of February 2023, at least 32 (of 50) states have announced or enacted bans on state government agencies, employees, and contractors using TikTok on government-issued devices. State bans only affect government employees and do not prohibit civilians from having or using the app on their personal devices.
Controversies:
Addiction concerns:
There are concerns that some users may find it hard to stop using TikTok. In April 2018, an addiction-reduction feature was added to Douyin. This encouraged users to take a break every 90 minutes.
Later in 2018, the feature was rolled out to the TikTok app. TikTok uses some top influencers such as Gabe Erwin, Alan Chikin Chow, James Henry, and Cosette Rinab to encourage viewers to stop using the app and take a break.
Many were also concerned with the app affecting users' attention spans due to the short-form nature of the content. This is a concern as many of TikTok's audience are younger children, whose brains are still developing.
TikTok executives and representatives have noted and made aware to advertisers on the platform that users have poor attention spans. With a large amount of video content, nearly 50% of users find it stressful to watch a video longer than a minute and a third of users watch videos at double speed.
TikTok has also received criticism for enabling children to purchase coins which they can send to other users.
In June 2022, TikTok introduced the ability to set a maximum uninterrupted screen time allowance, after which the app blocks off the ability to navigate the feed. The block only lifts after the app is exited and left unused for a set period of time. Additionally, the app features a dashboard with statistics on how often the app is opened, how much time is spent browsing it and when the browsing occurs.
Content concerns:
Some countries have shown concerns regarding the content on TikTok, as their cultures view it as obscene, immoral, vulgar, and encouraging pornography. There have been temporary blocks and warnings issued by countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan over the content concerns. In 2018, Douyin was reprimanded by Chinese media watchdogs for showing "unacceptable" content.
On 27 July 2020, Egypt sentenced five women to two years in prison over TikTok videos. One of the women had encouraged other women to try and earn money on the platform, another woman was sent to prison for dancing. The court also imposed a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds (UK£14,600) on each defendant.
Concerns have been voiced regarding content relating to, and the promotion and spreading of, hateful words and far-right extremism, such as anti-semitism, racism, and xenophobia.
Some videos were shown to expressly deny the existence of the Holocaust and told viewers to take up arms and fight in the name of white supremacy and the swastika.
As TikTok has gained popularity among young children, and the popularity of extremist and hateful content is growing, calls for tighter restrictions on their flexible boundaries have been made. TikTok has since released tougher parental controls to filter out inappropriate content and to ensure they can provide sufficient protection and security.
A viral TikTok trend known as "devious licks" involves students vandalizing or stealing school property and posting videos of the action on the platform. The trend has led to increasing school vandalism and subsequent measures taken by some schools to prevent damage.Some students have been arrested for participating in the trend. TikTok has taken measures to remove and prevent access to content displaying the trend.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that doctors experienced a surge in reported cases of tics, tied to an increasing number of TikTok videos from content creators with Tourette syndrome. Doctors suggested that the cause may be a social one as users who consumed content showcasing various tics would sometimes develop tics of their own.
In March 2022, the Washington Post reported that Facebook owner Meta Platforms had paid Targeted Victory—a consulting firm backed by supporters of the U.S. Republican Party—to coordinate lobbying and media campaigns against TikTok to portray it as "a danger to American children and society", primarily to stoke anti-Chinese xenophobia and counter criticism of Facebook's own services.
This included op-eds and letters to the editor in regional publications, the amplification of "dubious local news stories citing TikTok as the origin of dangerous teen trends" (such as the aforementioned "devious licks", and an alleged "Slap a Teacher" challenge), including those whose initial development actually began on Facebook, and the similar promotion of "proactive coverage" of Facebook corporate initiatives.
In Malaysia, TikTok is used by some users to engage in hate speech against race and religion especially mentioning the 13 May incident after the 2022 election. TikTok responded by taking down videos with content that violated their community guidelines.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed lawsuits against TikTok, alleging that the platform exposed inappropriate content to minors. The complaint also alleges that TikTok "intentionally falsely reports the frequency of sexual content, nudity, and mature/suggestive themes" on their platform which made the app's "12-plus" age ratings on the Apple and Google app stores deceptive.
TikTok raised the minimum age for livestreaming from 16 to 18 after a BBC News investigation found hundreds of accounts going live from Syrian refugee camps, with children begging for donations through digital gifts, which lead to TikTok taking a 70% cut of the donations.
Appropriation from Black content creators:
Numerous examples of White TikTokers appropriating what was initially created by Black TikTokers have been noted on the platform. In June 2021, The New York Times published an investigation into the practice as part of the Hulu documentary, Who Gets to be an Influencer?
In July 2021, after Megan Thee Stallion released her song "Thot Shit," Black content creators refused to make dances to it as they normally would, in protest of the inequity to Black creators due to White TikTokers mimicking them.
Misinformation:
See also: COVID-19 misinformation
In January 2020, left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America said that TikTok hosted misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic despite a recent policy against misinformation. In April 2020, the government of India asked TikTok to remove users posting misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were also multiple conspiracy theories that the government is involved with the spread of the pandemic. As a response to this, TikTok launched a feature to report content for misinformation. It reported that in the second half of 2020, over 340,000 videos in the U.S. about election misinformation and 50,000 videos of COVID-19 misinformation were removed.
To combat misinformation in the 2022 midterm election in the US, TikTok announced a midterms Elections Center available in-app to users in 40 different languages. TikTok partnered with the National Association of Secretaries of State to give accurate local information to users.
In September 2022, NewsGuard Technologies reported that among the TikTok searches it had conducted and analyzed from the U.S., 19.4% surfaced misinformation such as questionable or harmful content about COVID-19 vaccines, homemade remedies, the 2020 US elections, the war in Ukraine, the Robb Elementary School shooting, and abortion. NewsGuard suggested that in contrast, results from Google were of higher quality.
Mashable's own test from Australia found innocuous results after searching for "getting my COVID vaccine" but suggestions such as "climate change is a myth" after typing in "climate change".
Content censorship and moderation by the platform:
Main article: Censorship by TikTok
TikTok's censorship policy has been criticized as non-transparent. Criticism of leaders such as Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Mahatma Gandhi and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been suppressed by the platform, as well as information relating to the Xinjiang internment camps and the Uyghur genocide.
Internal documents have revealed that moderators suppress posts created by users deemed "too ugly, poor, or disabled" for the platform, and censor political speech on livestreams. TikTok moderators have also blocked content that could be perceived as positive towards LGBT people in addition to a set of country-specific censorship rules such as banning mentions of Tiananmen Square in China and Kurdish nationalism in Turkey.
In 2022, in response to criticism, the platform launched a "transparency center" – a virtual hub where researchers can access the platform's moderation tools and content guidelines, including a secret list of keywords used for filtering content.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine:
TikTok is the 10th most popular app in Russia. After a new set of Russian fake news laws was installed in March 2022, the company announced a series of restrictions on Russian and non-Russian posts and livestreams.
Tracking Exposed, a user data rights group, learned of what was likely a technical glitch that became exploited by pro-Russia posters. It stated that although this and other loopholes were patched by TikTok before the end of March, the initial failure to correctly implement the restrictions, in addition to the effects from Kremlin's "fake news" laws, contributed to the formation of a "splinternet ... dominated by pro-war content" in Russia.
TikTok said that it had removed 204 accounts for swaying public opinion about the war while obscuring their origins and that its fact checkers had removed 41,191 videos for violating its misinformation policies.
ISIL propaganda:
Main article: Use of social media by the Islamic State
In October 2019, TikTok removed about two dozen accounts that were responsible for posting ISIL propaganda and execution videos on the app.
User privacy concerns:
Privacy concerns have also been brought up regarding the app. In its privacy policy, TikTok lists that it collects usage information, IP addresses, a user's mobile carrier, unique device identifiers, keystroke patterns, and location data, among other data.
Web developers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk said that allowing videos and other content to be shared by the app's users through HTTP puts the users' data privacy at risk.
Since the early 2020s, American conservatives have accused the website of spying on its users in cooperation with the Chinese government. These accusations and conspiracy theories were created in part by Republican consulting firms such as Targeted Victory as well as Facebook parent Meta.
In January 2020, Check Point Research discovered a security flaw in TikTok which could have allowed hackers access to user accounts using SMS.
In February, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman criticised the app, calling it "spyware," and stating "I look at that app as so fundamentally parasitic, that it's always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying, and I could not bring myself to install an app like that on my phone."
Responding to Huffman's comments, TikTok stated, "These are baseless accusations made without a shred of evidence." Wells Fargo banned the app from its devices due to privacy and security concerns.
In May 2020, the Dutch Data Protection Authority announced an investigation into TikTok in relation to privacy protections for children. In June 2020, the European Data Protection Board announced that it would assemble a task force to examine TikTok's user privacy and security practices.
In August 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok tracked Android user data, including MAC addresses and IMEIs, with a tactic in violation of Google's policies. The report sparked calls in the U.S. Senate for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to launch an investigation.
In June 2021, TikTok updated its privacy policy to include a collection of biometric data, including "faceprints and voiceprints." Some experts reacted by calling the terms of collection and data use "vague" and "highly problematic."
The same month, CNBC reported that former employees had stated that "the boundaries between TikTok and ByteDance were so blurry as to be almost non-existent" and that "ByteDance employees are able to access U.S. user data" on TikTok.
In October 2021, following the Facebook Files and controversies about social media ethics, a bipartisan group of lawmakers also pressed TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat on questions of data privacy and moderation for age-appropriate content. The New York Times reported, "Lawmakers also hammered [head of U.S. policy at TikTok] Mr. Beckerman about whether TikTok’s Chinese ownership could expose consumer data to Beijing," stating that "Critics have long argued that the company would be obligated to turn Americans’ data over to the Chinese government if asked."
TikTok told U.S. lawmakers it does not give information to China's government. TikTok's representative stated that TikTok's data is stored in the U.S. with backups in Singapore.
According to the company's representative, TikTok had "no affiliation" with the subsidiary Beijing ByteDance Technology, in which the Chinese government has a minority stake and board seat.
In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that leaked audio recordings of internal TikTok meetings revealed that certain China-based employees of the company maintain full access to overseas data.
In August 2022, software engineer and security researcher Felix Krause found that TikTok's in-app browser contained keylogger functionality.
In September 2022, during testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, TikTok's COO stated that the company could not commit to stopping data transfers from US users to China. The COO reacted to concerns of the company's handling of user data by stating that TikTok does not operate in China, though the company does have an office there.
Additionally, in November 2022, TikTok's head of privacy for Europe, Elaine Fox, confirmed that some of its workers, including the workers in China, have access to the user info of accounts from the UK and European Union. According to Fox, this "privacy policy" was "based on a demonstrated need to do their job."
U.S. COPPA fines
See also: Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
On 27 February 2019, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined ByteDance U.S.$5.7 million for collecting information from minors under the age of 13 in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
ByteDance responded by adding a kids-only mode to TikTok which blocks the upload of videos, the building of user profiles, direct messaging, and commenting on others' videos, while still allowing the viewing and recording of content.
In May 2020, an advocacy group filed a complaint with the FTC saying that TikTok had violated the terms of the February 2019 consent decree, which sparked subsequent Congressional calls for a renewed FTC investigation.
In July 2020, it was reported that the FTC and the United States Department of Justice had initiated investigations.
UK Information Commissioner's Office investigation:
In February 2019, the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office launched an investigation of TikTok following the fine ByteDance received from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said that the investigation focuses on the issues of private data collection, the kind of videos collected and shared by children online, as well as the platform's open messaging system which allows any adult to message any child.
She noted that the company was potentially violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires the company to provide different services and different protections for children.
Italian Data Protection Authority:
On 22 January 2021, the Italian Data Protection Authority ordered the blocking of the use of the data of users whose age has not been established on the social network.
The order was issued after the death of a 10-year-old Sicilian girl, which occurred after the execution of a challenge shared by users of the platform that involved attempting to choke the user with a belt around the neck. The block is set to remain in place until 15 February, when it will be re-evaluated.
Ireland Data Protection Commission:
In September 2021, the Ireland Data Protection Commissioner opened investigations into TikTok concerning the protection of minors' data and transfers of personal data to China.
Texas Attorney General investigation:
In February 2022, the incumbent Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, initiated an investigation into TikTok for alleged violations of children's privacy and facilitation of human trafficking.
Paxton claimed that the Texas Department of Public Safety gathered several pieces of content showing the attempted recruitment of teenagers to smuggle people or goods across the Mexico–United States border. He claimed the evidence may prove the company's involvement in "human smuggling, sex trafficking and drug trafficking." The company claimed that no illegal activity of any kind is supported on the platform.
Journalist spying scandal:
In December 2022, TikTok confirmed that journalists’ data was accessed by employees of its parent company. It previously denied using location information to track U.S. users.
TikTok parent company ByteDance fired four employees who improperly accessed the personal data of two journalists on the platform, a TikTok spokesman ByteDance confirmed to CNN.
As ByteDance employees investigated potential employee leaks to the media, they accessed the TikTok user data of two journalists, according to the company. Personal data obtained from journalists' accounts included IP addresses, which can be used to track location.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada investigation:
In February 2023, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, along with its counterparts in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, launched an investigation into TikTok's data collection practices.
Cyberbullying:
As with other platforms, journalists in several countries have raised privacy concerns about the app because it is popular with children and has the potential to be used by sexual predators.
Several users have reported endemic cyberbullying on TikTok, including racism and ableism. In December 2019, following a report by German digital rights group Netzpolitik.org, TikTok admitted that it had suppressed videos by disabled users as well as LGBTQ+ users in a purported effort to limit cyberbullying.
TikTok's moderators were also told to suppress users with "abnormal body shape," "ugly facial looks," "too many wrinkles," or in "slums, rural fields" and "dilapidated housing" to prevent bullying.
In 2021, the platform revealed that it will be introducing a feature that will prevent teenagers from receiving notifications past their bedtime. The company will no longer send push notifications after 9 PM to users aged between 13 and 15. For 16 to 17 year olds, notifications will not be sent after 10 PM.
Impact on mental health:
In February 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Mental-health professionals around the country are growing increasingly concerned about the effects on teen girls of posting sexualized TikTok videos." In March 2022, a coalition of U.S. state attorneys general launched an investigation into TikTok's effect on children's mental health.
Medication shortages:
In November 2022, Australia's medical regulatory agency, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reported that there was a global shortage of the diabetes medication Ozempic. Ozempic is a brand of semaglutide used by patients with Type-2 diabetes to regulate blood glucose, with weight loss as side effect.
According to the TGA, the rise in demand was caused by an increase in off-label prescription of the drug for weight loss purposes. Off-label prescription is the prescription of a drug for purposes other than what it was approved for.
In December 2022, after the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) listed Ozempic as being in shortage in the United States as well, it was reported that huge increase in demand for off-label prescriptions of the medicine was caused by a weight loss trend on TikTok, where videos about the drug had exceeded 360 million views.
Wegovy, a drug with a higher dosage of semaglutide that has been specifically approved for use in treating obesity, also became popular on the platform after Elon Musk credited it for helping him lose weight.
Workplace conditions:
Several former employees of the company have claimed of poor workplace conditions, including the start of the workweek on Sunday to cooperate with Chinese timezones and excessive workload. Employees claimed they averaged 85 hours of meetings per week and would frequently stay up all night in order to complete tasks.
Some employees claimed the workplace's schedule operated similarly to the 996 schedule. The company has a stated policy of working from 10 AM to 7 PM five days per week (63 hours per week), but employees noted that it was encouraged for employees to work after hours.
One female worker complained that the company did not allow her adequate time to change her feminine hygiene product because of back-to-back meetings. Another employee noted that working at the company caused her to seek marriage therapy and lose an unhealthy amount of weight. In response to the allegations, the company noted that they were committed to allowing employees "support and flexibility."
Algorithm difference:
Users and content creators around the world have noticed significant differences between the Global version of TikTok and its Chinese counterpart. Most notably, the Chinese version Douyin pushes inspiring contents such as achievements, special talents, etc., to its users while the global version generally pushes more impractical and unsuitable contents and trends to its global users.
Legal issues:
Tencent lawsuits:
Tencent's WeChat platform has been accused of blocking Douyin's videos. In April 2018, Douyin sued Tencent and accused it of spreading false and damaging information on its WeChat platform, demanding CN¥1 million in compensation and an apology.
In June 2018, Tencent filed a lawsuit against Toutiao and Douyin in a Beijing court, alleging they had repeatedly defamed Tencent with negative news and damaged its reputation, seeking a nominal sum of CN¥1 in compensation and a public apology. In response, Toutiao filed a complaint the following day against Tencent for allegedly unfair competition and asking for CN¥90 million in economic losses.
Data transfer class action lawsuit:
In November 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed in California that alleged that TikTok transferred personally identifiable information of U.S. persons to servers located in China owned by Tencent and Alibaba. The lawsuit also accused ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, of taking user content without their permission.
The plaintiff of the lawsuit, college student Misty Hong, downloaded the app but said she never created an account. She realized a few months later that TikTok has created an account for her using her information (such as biometrics) and made a summary of her information.
The lawsuit also alleged that information was sent to Chinese tech giant Baidu. In July 2020, twenty lawsuits against TikTok were merged into a single class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In February 2021, TikTok agreed to pay $92 million to settle the class action lawsuit.
Voice actor lawsuit:
In May 2021, Canadian voice actor Bev Standing filed a lawsuit against TikTok over the use of her voice in the text-to-speech feature without her permission. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York. TikTok declined to comment. Standing believes that TikTok used recordings she made for the Chinese government-run Institute of Acoustics. The voice used in the feature was subsequently changed.
Market Information Research Foundation lawsuit:
In June 2021, the Netherlands-based Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI) filed a €1.4 billion lawsuit on behalf of Dutch parents against TikTok, alleging that the app gathers data on children without adequate permission.
Blackout Challenge lawsuits:
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against TikTok, accusing the platform of hosting content that led to the death of at least seven children. The lawsuits claim that children died after attempting the "Blackout challenge", a TikTok trend that involves strangling or asphyxiating someone or themselves until they black out (passing out).
TikTok stated that search queries for the challenge do not show any results, linking instead to protective resources, while the parents of two of the deceased argued that the content showed up on their children's TikTok feeds, without them searching for it.
See also:
- Official website (in English)
- Douyin (in Chinese)
- List of most-followed TikTok accounts
- List of most-liked TikTok videos
- Musical.ly
- Timeline of social media
Zoom Video Communications including Essentials for hosting a successful virtual party (USA Today)
(by PC Magazine Review: Editor's Choice 4.5 out of 5.0 "Excellent")
- YouTube Video: How to Use Zoom - Free Video Conferencing & Virtual Meetings
- YouTube Video: How To Schedule And Join A Zoom Meeting
- YouTube Video: Zoom Security Issues - Should You Use It?
(by PC Magazine Review: Editor's Choice 4.5 out of 5.0 "Excellent")
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (Zoom) is a communications technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides videotelephony and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social relations.
Use of the platform is free for video conferences of up to 100 participants, with a 40-minute time limit. For longer or larger conferences with more features, paid subscriptions are available, costing $15–20 per month. Features geared towards business conferences, such as Zoom Rooms, are available for $50–100 per month.
Eric Yuan, a former Cisco Webex engineer and executive, founded Zoom in 2011, and launched its software in 2013. Zoom's aggressive revenue growth and perceived ease-of-use and reliability of its software resulted in a $1 billion valuation in 2017, making it a "unicorn" company.
In 2019, the company went public. As of April 2020, Zoom's software has seen increased use due to the quarantine measures adopted by many countries due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.
Its software products have faced public and media scrutiny related to poor information privacy practices and computer security vulnerabilities.
History:
Zoom was founded by Eric Yuan, who was inspired to develop the software while, as a student in his native China, he took 10-hour train rides to visit his girlfriend and was looking for an easier way to "visit" her. After receiving a travel visa on his 9th attempt, Yuan immigrated to the United States in 1997 and joined Cisco Webex.
He rose to Vice President, but after realizing that customers were not happy with the product, he left in 2011 to start Zoom. With the help of 40 engineers, Zoom launched a beta version in September 2012 that could host conferences with up to 15 video participants.
In January 2013, the company raised a $6 million Series A round from Qualcomm Ventures, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, WebEx founder Subrah Iyar and former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman and launched version 1.0 of the program, with an increase in the number of participants per conference to 25.
By the end of its first month, Zoom had 400,000 users.
By May 2013, it had 1 million users.
In July 2013, Zoom established partnerships with B2B collaboration software providers, such as Redbooth (then Teambox), and also created a program named "Works with Zoom", which established partnerships with Logitech, Vaddio, and InFocus.
In September 2013, the company raised $6.5 million in a Series B round from Facebook, Waze, and existing investors. At that time, it had 3 million users.
By June 2014, Zoom had 10 million users. In February 2015, Zoom had 40 million users, with 65,000 organizations subscribed and the company had hosted a total of 1 billion meeting minutes since it was established.
In 2015 and 2016, the company integrated its software with Slack, Salesforce, and Skype for Business.
On February 4, 2015, the company received US$30 million in Series C funding from investors including Emergence Capital, Horizons Ventures (Li Ka-shing), Qualcomm Ventures, Jerry Yang, and Patrick Soon-Shiong.
With version 2.5 in October 2015, Zoom increased the number of participants per conference to 50 and later to 1,000 for business customers.
In November 2015, former president of RingCentral David Berman was named president of the company, and Peter Gassner, the founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, joined Zoom's board of directors.
The company raised US$100 million in Series D funding from Sequoia Capital in January 2017 at a US$1 billion valuation, making it a unicorn.
In April 2017, Zoom launched Telehealth, a scalable telehealth product allowing doctors to host remote consultations with patients.
In May, Zoom announced integration with Polycom's conferencing systems, enabling features such as multiple screen and device meetings, HD and wireless screen sharing, and calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal.
From September 25-27, 2017, Zoom hosted Zoomtopia 2017, Zoom's first annual user conference in which it announced a partnership with Meta to integrate Zoom with Augmented Reality, integration with Slack and Workplace by Facebook, and first steps towards an artificial intelligence speech recognition program.
On April 18, 2019, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.
After pricing at US$36 per share, the share price increased over 72% on the first day of trading. The company was valued at US$16 billion by the end of its first day of trading.
During the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, social distancing requirements forced people to engage in telecommuting, distance education, and online social relations. Thousands of educational institutions switched to online classes using Zoom. The company offered its services to K–12 schools free of charge in many countries.
By February 2020, Zoom had gained 2.22 million users in 2020—more users than it amassed in the entirety of 2019. On one day in March 2020, the Zoom app was downloaded 343,000 times with about 18% of those downloads originating in the United States. Daily average users rose from about 10 million in December 2019 to about 200 million in March 2020 This led to a significant increase in the company's stock price in early 2020, despite a general stock market downturn.
Criticism:
Zoom's data security and privacy practices have been scrutinized. In March 2020, New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched an inquiry into Zoom's privacy and security practices.
Following these inquiries, Zoom was banned from New York City schools by the New York City Department of Education.
In April 2020, CEO Yuan apologized for the security issues, claiming that some of the issues were a result of Zoom having been designed for "large institutions with full IT support. Zoom agreed to focus on data privacy and issue a transparency report.
Zoom claims that its software is compliant with FedRAMP, HIPAA, PIPEDA and PHIPA, and the GDPR.
While its software has been audited for compliance with some of these privacy and security standards, most of Zoom's applications are closed source proprietary software and cannot be verified by independent researchers.
Privacy:
Zoom has been criticized for its digital hoarding practices, which include its collection and storage of "the content contained in cloud recordings, and instant messages, files, whiteboards" as well as its enabling employers to monitor workers remotely the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that administrators can join any call at any time "without in-the-moment consent or warning for the attendees of the call."
According to the FBI, when Zoom is used for distance education, students’ personal data including IP addresses, web browsing history, academic progress, and biometrics may be at risk during the use of similar online learning services.
There may also be issues with unauthorized surveillance of students and possible violations of students’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The company claims that the video services are FERPA-compliant, and also claims that it collects and stores user data only to "provide technical and operational support".
In March 2020, the company's iOS app was sending device analytics data to Facebook on startup, regardless of whether a Facebook account was being used with the service, and without disclosing it to the user.
On March 27, Zoom stated that it had been "recently made aware that the Facebook SDK was collecting unnecessary device data", and that it had patched the app to remove the SDK (which was primarily used for social login support) in order to address these concerns.
The company stated that the SDK was only collecting information on the user's device specifications (such as model names and operating system versions), and was not collecting personal information.
In the same month, Zoom was sued in U.S. Federal Court for illegally and secretly disclosing personal data to third parties including Facebook, which was not disclosed in its privacy policy. The complaint alleged that the company's "wholly inadequate program design and security measures have resulted, and will continue to result, in unauthorized disclosure of its users’ personal information".
In April 2020, a data-mining feature on Zoom automatically sent user names and email addresses to LinkedIn via a tool meant to match user profiles, allowing some participants to surreptitiously access LinkedIn profile data about other users.
Zoom and LinkedIn disabled their integration. U.S. Representative Jerry McNerney and others pushed for answers to questions about Zoom's privacy practices.
Security:
Further information: Zoombombing
In November 2018, a security vulnerability (CVE-2018-15715) was discovered that allowed a remote unauthenticated attacker to spoof UDP messages that allowed the attacker to remove attendees from meetings, spoof messages from users, or hijack shared screens.
In July 2019, security researcher Jonathan Leitschuh disclosed a zero-day vulnerability allowing any website to force a macOS user to join a Zoom call, with their video camera activated, without the user's permission.
In addition, attempts to uninstall the Zoom client on macOS would prompt the software to re-install automatically in the background, using a hidden web server that was set up on the machine during the first installation and remained active even after attempting to remove the client.
After receiving public criticism, Zoom removed the vulnerability and the hidden webserver, allowing complete de-installation.
In April 2020, security researchers found vulnerabilities where Windows users' credentials could be exposed. Another vulnerability allowing unprompted access to cameras and microphones was made public.
Later that month, Zoom admitted that some calls were mistakenly routed through servers in mainland China, promoting governments and businesses to cease their usage of Zoom.
The company later announced that data of free users outside of China will “never be routed through China” and that paid subscribers will be able to customize which data center regions they want to use. The company has data centers in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America.
"Zoombombing", when an unwanted participant joins a meeting to cause disruption, prompted a warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
As of April 2020, Zoom has been subject to bans and restrictions by many businesses, schools, and government entities, including among others the Australian Defence Force, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, Google, SpaceX, and the New York City Department of Education.
On 15th April 2020, Motherboard reported that there were two Zoom zero-days selling for $500,000. These exploits target machines running Microsoft Windows and macOS.
Encryption practices:
Zoom encrypts its public data streams, using TLS 1.2 with AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard) to protect signaling, and AES-128 to protect streaming media.
Security researchers and reporters have raised concerns about Zoom's security claims and the nature of Zoom's encryption implementation, criticizing the company for its lack of transparency and poor encryption practices.
Zoom claims to use "end-to-end encryption" in its marketing materials, but later clarified it meant "from Zoom end point to Zoom end point" (meaning effectively between Zoom servers and Zoom clients), which The Intercept describes as misleading and "dishonest".
In April 2020, CitizenLab researchers discovered that a single, server-generated AES-128 key is being shared between all participants in ECB mode, which is deprecated due to its pattern-preserving characteristics of the cyphertext (CVE-2020-11500).
During test calls between participants in Canada and USA the key was provisioned from servers located in mainland China where they are subject to the China Internet Security Law.
See also:
Use of the platform is free for video conferences of up to 100 participants, with a 40-minute time limit. For longer or larger conferences with more features, paid subscriptions are available, costing $15–20 per month. Features geared towards business conferences, such as Zoom Rooms, are available for $50–100 per month.
Eric Yuan, a former Cisco Webex engineer and executive, founded Zoom in 2011, and launched its software in 2013. Zoom's aggressive revenue growth and perceived ease-of-use and reliability of its software resulted in a $1 billion valuation in 2017, making it a "unicorn" company.
In 2019, the company went public. As of April 2020, Zoom's software has seen increased use due to the quarantine measures adopted by many countries due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.
Its software products have faced public and media scrutiny related to poor information privacy practices and computer security vulnerabilities.
History:
Zoom was founded by Eric Yuan, who was inspired to develop the software while, as a student in his native China, he took 10-hour train rides to visit his girlfriend and was looking for an easier way to "visit" her. After receiving a travel visa on his 9th attempt, Yuan immigrated to the United States in 1997 and joined Cisco Webex.
He rose to Vice President, but after realizing that customers were not happy with the product, he left in 2011 to start Zoom. With the help of 40 engineers, Zoom launched a beta version in September 2012 that could host conferences with up to 15 video participants.
In January 2013, the company raised a $6 million Series A round from Qualcomm Ventures, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, WebEx founder Subrah Iyar and former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman and launched version 1.0 of the program, with an increase in the number of participants per conference to 25.
By the end of its first month, Zoom had 400,000 users.
By May 2013, it had 1 million users.
In July 2013, Zoom established partnerships with B2B collaboration software providers, such as Redbooth (then Teambox), and also created a program named "Works with Zoom", which established partnerships with Logitech, Vaddio, and InFocus.
In September 2013, the company raised $6.5 million in a Series B round from Facebook, Waze, and existing investors. At that time, it had 3 million users.
By June 2014, Zoom had 10 million users. In February 2015, Zoom had 40 million users, with 65,000 organizations subscribed and the company had hosted a total of 1 billion meeting minutes since it was established.
In 2015 and 2016, the company integrated its software with Slack, Salesforce, and Skype for Business.
On February 4, 2015, the company received US$30 million in Series C funding from investors including Emergence Capital, Horizons Ventures (Li Ka-shing), Qualcomm Ventures, Jerry Yang, and Patrick Soon-Shiong.
With version 2.5 in October 2015, Zoom increased the number of participants per conference to 50 and later to 1,000 for business customers.
In November 2015, former president of RingCentral David Berman was named president of the company, and Peter Gassner, the founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, joined Zoom's board of directors.
The company raised US$100 million in Series D funding from Sequoia Capital in January 2017 at a US$1 billion valuation, making it a unicorn.
In April 2017, Zoom launched Telehealth, a scalable telehealth product allowing doctors to host remote consultations with patients.
In May, Zoom announced integration with Polycom's conferencing systems, enabling features such as multiple screen and device meetings, HD and wireless screen sharing, and calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal.
From September 25-27, 2017, Zoom hosted Zoomtopia 2017, Zoom's first annual user conference in which it announced a partnership with Meta to integrate Zoom with Augmented Reality, integration with Slack and Workplace by Facebook, and first steps towards an artificial intelligence speech recognition program.
On April 18, 2019, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.
After pricing at US$36 per share, the share price increased over 72% on the first day of trading. The company was valued at US$16 billion by the end of its first day of trading.
During the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, social distancing requirements forced people to engage in telecommuting, distance education, and online social relations. Thousands of educational institutions switched to online classes using Zoom. The company offered its services to K–12 schools free of charge in many countries.
By February 2020, Zoom had gained 2.22 million users in 2020—more users than it amassed in the entirety of 2019. On one day in March 2020, the Zoom app was downloaded 343,000 times with about 18% of those downloads originating in the United States. Daily average users rose from about 10 million in December 2019 to about 200 million in March 2020 This led to a significant increase in the company's stock price in early 2020, despite a general stock market downturn.
Criticism:
Zoom's data security and privacy practices have been scrutinized. In March 2020, New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched an inquiry into Zoom's privacy and security practices.
Following these inquiries, Zoom was banned from New York City schools by the New York City Department of Education.
In April 2020, CEO Yuan apologized for the security issues, claiming that some of the issues were a result of Zoom having been designed for "large institutions with full IT support. Zoom agreed to focus on data privacy and issue a transparency report.
Zoom claims that its software is compliant with FedRAMP, HIPAA, PIPEDA and PHIPA, and the GDPR.
While its software has been audited for compliance with some of these privacy and security standards, most of Zoom's applications are closed source proprietary software and cannot be verified by independent researchers.
Privacy:
Zoom has been criticized for its digital hoarding practices, which include its collection and storage of "the content contained in cloud recordings, and instant messages, files, whiteboards" as well as its enabling employers to monitor workers remotely the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that administrators can join any call at any time "without in-the-moment consent or warning for the attendees of the call."
According to the FBI, when Zoom is used for distance education, students’ personal data including IP addresses, web browsing history, academic progress, and biometrics may be at risk during the use of similar online learning services.
There may also be issues with unauthorized surveillance of students and possible violations of students’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The company claims that the video services are FERPA-compliant, and also claims that it collects and stores user data only to "provide technical and operational support".
In March 2020, the company's iOS app was sending device analytics data to Facebook on startup, regardless of whether a Facebook account was being used with the service, and without disclosing it to the user.
On March 27, Zoom stated that it had been "recently made aware that the Facebook SDK was collecting unnecessary device data", and that it had patched the app to remove the SDK (which was primarily used for social login support) in order to address these concerns.
The company stated that the SDK was only collecting information on the user's device specifications (such as model names and operating system versions), and was not collecting personal information.
In the same month, Zoom was sued in U.S. Federal Court for illegally and secretly disclosing personal data to third parties including Facebook, which was not disclosed in its privacy policy. The complaint alleged that the company's "wholly inadequate program design and security measures have resulted, and will continue to result, in unauthorized disclosure of its users’ personal information".
In April 2020, a data-mining feature on Zoom automatically sent user names and email addresses to LinkedIn via a tool meant to match user profiles, allowing some participants to surreptitiously access LinkedIn profile data about other users.
Zoom and LinkedIn disabled their integration. U.S. Representative Jerry McNerney and others pushed for answers to questions about Zoom's privacy practices.
Security:
Further information: Zoombombing
In November 2018, a security vulnerability (CVE-2018-15715) was discovered that allowed a remote unauthenticated attacker to spoof UDP messages that allowed the attacker to remove attendees from meetings, spoof messages from users, or hijack shared screens.
In July 2019, security researcher Jonathan Leitschuh disclosed a zero-day vulnerability allowing any website to force a macOS user to join a Zoom call, with their video camera activated, without the user's permission.
In addition, attempts to uninstall the Zoom client on macOS would prompt the software to re-install automatically in the background, using a hidden web server that was set up on the machine during the first installation and remained active even after attempting to remove the client.
After receiving public criticism, Zoom removed the vulnerability and the hidden webserver, allowing complete de-installation.
In April 2020, security researchers found vulnerabilities where Windows users' credentials could be exposed. Another vulnerability allowing unprompted access to cameras and microphones was made public.
Later that month, Zoom admitted that some calls were mistakenly routed through servers in mainland China, promoting governments and businesses to cease their usage of Zoom.
The company later announced that data of free users outside of China will “never be routed through China” and that paid subscribers will be able to customize which data center regions they want to use. The company has data centers in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America.
"Zoombombing", when an unwanted participant joins a meeting to cause disruption, prompted a warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
As of April 2020, Zoom has been subject to bans and restrictions by many businesses, schools, and government entities, including among others the Australian Defence Force, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, Google, SpaceX, and the New York City Department of Education.
On 15th April 2020, Motherboard reported that there were two Zoom zero-days selling for $500,000. These exploits target machines running Microsoft Windows and macOS.
Encryption practices:
Zoom encrypts its public data streams, using TLS 1.2 with AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard) to protect signaling, and AES-128 to protect streaming media.
Security researchers and reporters have raised concerns about Zoom's security claims and the nature of Zoom's encryption implementation, criticizing the company for its lack of transparency and poor encryption practices.
Zoom claims to use "end-to-end encryption" in its marketing materials, but later clarified it meant "from Zoom end point to Zoom end point" (meaning effectively between Zoom servers and Zoom clients), which The Intercept describes as misleading and "dishonest".
In April 2020, CitizenLab researchers discovered that a single, server-generated AES-128 key is being shared between all participants in ECB mode, which is deprecated due to its pattern-preserving characteristics of the cyphertext (CVE-2020-11500).
During test calls between participants in Canada and USA the key was provisioned from servers located in mainland China where they are subject to the China Internet Security Law.
See also:
- Official website
- Business data for Zoom Video Communications, Inc.:
- Telecommunication portal
- Technology portal
- List of video telecommunication services and product brands
- Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on science and technology
Houseparty (App)
- YouTube Video: Tutorial for the Houseparty App
- YouTube Video: HOUSEPARTY - WHAT IS IT??? - New App Review
- YouTube Video: How to Use Houseparty Group Video Chat App
* -- What is Houseparty and is someone trying to sabotage it? (CNN Business 3/31/2020)
London (CNN Business) Houseparty, one of the video calling apps keeping people connected around the world during the coronavirus pandemic, has offered a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove it has been sabotaged.
Houseparty, owned by online gaming firm Epic Games, has offered up the huge bounty following an explosion of online rumors that downloading the app led to people's accounts on other services such as Netflix (NFLX) and Spotify (SPOT) being hacked.
The app creators strenuously denied the claims and issued a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, telling followers they were investigating claims hacking rumors "were spread by a paid commercial smear campaign to harm Houseparty."
An earlier tweet insisted that the claims were false."All Houseparty accounts are safe — the service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn't collect passwords for other sites," it said.What is Houseparty?
Creators describe the app as "the synchronous social platform that lets you connect face-to-face with the people you care about most."
As countries around the world implement social distancing measures in a bid to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, apps such as Houseparty have become increasingly popular.
According to Apptopia, which tracks the performance of apps, Houseparty is currently the third most downloaded app on the iOS app store in the United States -- behind Zoom and TikTok -- and comes top in the United Kingdom.
Also available on Android, iPadOS (for iPad users) and macOS (for Mac users), the app allows partygoers not only to chat, but also to play games and quizzes.
Last year it was acquired by Epic Games, the creators of the phenomenally successful Fortnite.
How does the app work?
Although it has gained massive popularity in recent weeks, Houseparty is not new, having been set up in 2016.
Users are required to submit their name, email address, mobile number and a user name.
The app can then access their "friends" either via their contacts or by pairing with Facebook or Snapchat.
Once active, it automatically connects with contacts who also have Houseparty accounts.
Particularly popular with children and young people, it is more than just a video calling app as it allows them to interact by playing games and taking quizzes too, including "Heads Up," a trivia game and a Pictionary-type game called "Quick Draw."
Up to eight friends can join you in a "party" and there is the facility to "lock" the party, so that only invited guests can join.Are there security concerns?
Rob Pritchard is the founder of The Cyber Security Expert, a UK-based company which advises companies on technical security issues. He told CNN Business that the reports of hacking he had seen online "don't make much sense."
"There's no way that you downloading an app like this on your phone should lead to your Netflix or bank account being hacked," he said.
He pointed out that a lot of people are signing up for new services, such as Houseparty and Netflix, in the current climate and that they may be using the same passwords for different apps."It's really important that every online service user uses a unique password for every site they use," Pritchard added.
He added that corporate "sabotage" was highly unlikely.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Houseparty (Wikipedia)
Houseparty is a social networking service that enables group video chatting through mobile and desktop apps. Users receive a notification when friends are online and available to group video chat.
On average, users spend approximately 51 minutes a day on the app in group or one-on-one chats. It was launched by Life on Air, Inc. in 2016 and is available on iOS and Android mobile devices and macOS devices.
Development:
In early 2015, Life On Air, Inc., a team headed by founder and CEO Ben Rubin, released the live streaming app Meerkat and raised $12 million in venture capital funding from Greylock Partners. Following the release, the creators began developing a new app called "Houseparty" that moved "away from public broadcasts in favor of private chats."
The creators released Houseparty to the App Store and Play Store in February 2016 under a pseudonym. It was developed over 10 months with a website redirecting to the Houseparty app in October 2016.
The company raised $52 million in venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital in late 2016. Each session can host up to eight participants with unlimited sessions. As of 2018, it is available on macOS.
During early 2019, the company partnered with Ellen DeGeneres's app, "Heads Up!". In June 2019, Life on Air, including the Houseparty app, was acquired by Epic Games for an undisclosed amount of money; Life on Air became a subsidiary of Epic Games to continue development of the app.
As many countries have gone into lockdown during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, the app has experienced a large increase in popularity. As of March 2020, Houseparty is the sixth most downloaded free app in the App store in the United States, and the most downloaded app in New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
In late March 2020, accusations began circulating on social media that Houseparty led to other services such as Netflix and Spotify being hacked. However, its owners, Epic Games, claimed this was a smear campaign against its product and offered a $1 million bounty for anyone able to substantiate their claim.
See also:
London (CNN Business) Houseparty, one of the video calling apps keeping people connected around the world during the coronavirus pandemic, has offered a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove it has been sabotaged.
Houseparty, owned by online gaming firm Epic Games, has offered up the huge bounty following an explosion of online rumors that downloading the app led to people's accounts on other services such as Netflix (NFLX) and Spotify (SPOT) being hacked.
The app creators strenuously denied the claims and issued a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, telling followers they were investigating claims hacking rumors "were spread by a paid commercial smear campaign to harm Houseparty."
An earlier tweet insisted that the claims were false."All Houseparty accounts are safe — the service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn't collect passwords for other sites," it said.What is Houseparty?
Creators describe the app as "the synchronous social platform that lets you connect face-to-face with the people you care about most."
As countries around the world implement social distancing measures in a bid to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, apps such as Houseparty have become increasingly popular.
According to Apptopia, which tracks the performance of apps, Houseparty is currently the third most downloaded app on the iOS app store in the United States -- behind Zoom and TikTok -- and comes top in the United Kingdom.
Also available on Android, iPadOS (for iPad users) and macOS (for Mac users), the app allows partygoers not only to chat, but also to play games and quizzes.
Last year it was acquired by Epic Games, the creators of the phenomenally successful Fortnite.
How does the app work?
Although it has gained massive popularity in recent weeks, Houseparty is not new, having been set up in 2016.
Users are required to submit their name, email address, mobile number and a user name.
The app can then access their "friends" either via their contacts or by pairing with Facebook or Snapchat.
Once active, it automatically connects with contacts who also have Houseparty accounts.
Particularly popular with children and young people, it is more than just a video calling app as it allows them to interact by playing games and taking quizzes too, including "Heads Up," a trivia game and a Pictionary-type game called "Quick Draw."
Up to eight friends can join you in a "party" and there is the facility to "lock" the party, so that only invited guests can join.Are there security concerns?
Rob Pritchard is the founder of The Cyber Security Expert, a UK-based company which advises companies on technical security issues. He told CNN Business that the reports of hacking he had seen online "don't make much sense."
"There's no way that you downloading an app like this on your phone should lead to your Netflix or bank account being hacked," he said.
He pointed out that a lot of people are signing up for new services, such as Houseparty and Netflix, in the current climate and that they may be using the same passwords for different apps."It's really important that every online service user uses a unique password for every site they use," Pritchard added.
He added that corporate "sabotage" was highly unlikely.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Houseparty (Wikipedia)
Houseparty is a social networking service that enables group video chatting through mobile and desktop apps. Users receive a notification when friends are online and available to group video chat.
On average, users spend approximately 51 minutes a day on the app in group or one-on-one chats. It was launched by Life on Air, Inc. in 2016 and is available on iOS and Android mobile devices and macOS devices.
Development:
In early 2015, Life On Air, Inc., a team headed by founder and CEO Ben Rubin, released the live streaming app Meerkat and raised $12 million in venture capital funding from Greylock Partners. Following the release, the creators began developing a new app called "Houseparty" that moved "away from public broadcasts in favor of private chats."
The creators released Houseparty to the App Store and Play Store in February 2016 under a pseudonym. It was developed over 10 months with a website redirecting to the Houseparty app in October 2016.
The company raised $52 million in venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital in late 2016. Each session can host up to eight participants with unlimited sessions. As of 2018, it is available on macOS.
During early 2019, the company partnered with Ellen DeGeneres's app, "Heads Up!". In June 2019, Life on Air, including the Houseparty app, was acquired by Epic Games for an undisclosed amount of money; Life on Air became a subsidiary of Epic Games to continue development of the app.
As many countries have gone into lockdown during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, the app has experienced a large increase in popularity. As of March 2020, Houseparty is the sixth most downloaded free app in the App store in the United States, and the most downloaded app in New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
In late March 2020, accusations began circulating on social media that Houseparty led to other services such as Netflix and Spotify being hacked. However, its owners, Epic Games, claimed this was a smear campaign against its product and offered a $1 million bounty for anyone able to substantiate their claim.
See also:
Microsoft Teams
- YouTube Video: How to use Microsoft Teams, a demo tutorial (2019)
- YouTube Video: Microsoft Teams - Best Features
- YouTube Video: 5 tips on how to succeed with Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files), and application integration.
The service integrates with the Office 365 subscription office productivity suite and features extensions that can integrate with non-Microsoft products. Microsoft Teams is a competitor to services such as Slack and is the evolution and upgrade path from Microsoft Skype for Business.
Microsoft announced Teams at an event in New York, and launched the service worldwide on March 14, 2017. It was created during an internal hackathon at the company, and is currently led by Brian MacDonald, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft.
Features:
Teams:
Teams allows communities, groups, or teams to join through a specific URL or invitation sent by a team administrator or owner. Teams for Education allows admins and teachers to set up specific teams for classes, professional learning communities (PLCs), staff members, and everyone.
Channels:
Within a team, members can set up channels. Channels are topics of conversation that allow team members to communicate without the use of email or group SMS (texting). Users can reply to posts with text as well as images, GIFs and custom made memes.
Direct messages allow users to send private messages to a specific user rather than a group of people.
Connectors are third party services that can submit information to the channel. Connectors include the following:
Calling:
Teams supports public switched telephone network (PSTN) conferencing allowing users to call phone numbers from the client.
Meeting:
Meetings can be scheduled or created ad-hoc and users visiting the channel will be able to see that a meeting is currently in progress. Teams also has a plugin for Microsoft Outlook to invite others into a Teams meeting.
Education:
Microsoft Teams allows teachers to distribute, provide feedback, and grade student assignments turned-in via Teams using the Assignments tab, available to Office 365 for Education subscribers. Quizzes can also be assigned to students through an integration with Office Forms.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Microsoft Teams
The service integrates with the Office 365 subscription office productivity suite and features extensions that can integrate with non-Microsoft products. Microsoft Teams is a competitor to services such as Slack and is the evolution and upgrade path from Microsoft Skype for Business.
Microsoft announced Teams at an event in New York, and launched the service worldwide on March 14, 2017. It was created during an internal hackathon at the company, and is currently led by Brian MacDonald, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft.
Features:
Teams:
Teams allows communities, groups, or teams to join through a specific URL or invitation sent by a team administrator or owner. Teams for Education allows admins and teachers to set up specific teams for classes, professional learning communities (PLCs), staff members, and everyone.
Channels:
Within a team, members can set up channels. Channels are topics of conversation that allow team members to communicate without the use of email or group SMS (texting). Users can reply to posts with text as well as images, GIFs and custom made memes.
Direct messages allow users to send private messages to a specific user rather than a group of people.
Connectors are third party services that can submit information to the channel. Connectors include the following:
- MailChimp,
- Facebook Pages,
- Twitter,
- and Bing News.
Calling:
- Instant messaging
- Voice over IP (VoIP)
- Video conferencing inside the client software
Teams supports public switched telephone network (PSTN) conferencing allowing users to call phone numbers from the client.
Meeting:
Meetings can be scheduled or created ad-hoc and users visiting the channel will be able to see that a meeting is currently in progress. Teams also has a plugin for Microsoft Outlook to invite others into a Teams meeting.
Education:
Microsoft Teams allows teachers to distribute, provide feedback, and grade student assignments turned-in via Teams using the Assignments tab, available to Office 365 for Education subscribers. Quizzes can also be assigned to students through an integration with Office Forms.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Teams home page
- History
- See also:
Skype
- YouTube Video of Skype User Manual
- YouTube Video: Skype for Business: Step-by-step guide for new users
- YouTube Video: Top 10 Skype for Business Tips and Tricks
Skype is a telecommunications application that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls between computers, tablets, mobile devices, the Xbox One console, and smartwatches over the Internet.
Skype also provides instant messaging services. Users may transmit text, video, audio and images. Skype allows video conference calls.
At the end of 2010, there were over 660 million worldwide users, with over 300 million estimated active each month as of August 2015. At one point in February 2012, there were 34 million users concurrently online on Skype.
In March 2020, according to Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s corporate VP for Modern Life, Search and Devices, Skype today is used by 100 million people on a monthly basis and 40 million people use it daily. This is a 70% increase in the number of daily users from just a month ago, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
First released in August 2003, Skype was created by the Swede Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis, in cooperation with Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, Estonians who developed the back-end that was also used in the music-sharing application Kazaa.
In September 2005, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion. In September 2009, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced the acquisition of 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from eBay, which attributed to the enterprise a market value of $2.92 billion.
Microsoft bought Skype in May 2011 for $8.5 billion. Skype's division headquarters are in Luxembourg, but most of the development team and 44% of all the division's employees are still situated in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.
Skype allows users to communicate over the Internet by voice, using a microphone, by video using a webcam, and by instant messaging. Skype implements a freemium business model.
Skype-to-Skype calls are free of charge, while calls to landline telephones and mobile phones (over traditional telephone networks) are charged via a debit-based user account system called Skype Credit.
Some network administrators have banned Skype on corporate, government, home, and education networks, citing such reasons as inappropriate usage of resources, excessive bandwidth usage and security concerns.
Skype originally featured a hybrid peer-to-peer and client–server system. Skype has been powered entirely by Microsoft-operated supernodes since May 2012. The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures revealed that Microsoft had granted intelligence agencies unfettered access to supernodes and Skype communication content.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, Microsoft redesigned its Skype clients in a way that transitioned Skype from peer-to-peer service to a centralized Azure service and adjusted the user interfaces of apps to make text-based messaging more prominent than voice calling. Skype for Windows, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux received significant, visible overhauls.
Features:
Main article: Features of Skype
Registered users of Skype are identified by a unique Skype ID and may be listed in the Skype directory under a Skype username. Skype allows these registered users to communicate through both instant messaging and voice chat.
Voice chat allows telephone calls between pairs of users and conference calling and uses proprietary audio codec.
Skype's text chat client allows group chats, emoticons, storing chat history, and editing of previous messages.
Offline messages were implemented in a beta build of version 5 but removed after a few weeks without notification. The usual features familiar to instant messaging users—user profiles, online status indicators, and so on—are also included.
The Online Number, a.k.a. SkypeIn, service allows Skype users to receive calls on their computers dialed by conventional phone subscribers to a local Skype phone number; local numbers are available for the following:
A Skype user can have local numbers in any of these countries, with calls to the number charged at the same rate as calls to fixed lines in the country.
Skype supports conference calls, video chats, and screen sharing between 25 people at a time for free, which then increased to 50 on 5 April 2019.
Skype does not provide the ability to call emergency numbers, such as 112 in Europe, 911 in North America, or 100 in India and Nepal.
However, as of December 2012, there is limited support for emergency calls in the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, and Finland.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that, for the purposes of section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, Skype is not an "interconnected VoIP provider". As a result, the U.S. National Emergency Number Association recommends that all VoIP users have an analog line available as a backup.
In 2019, Skype added an option to blur the background in a video chat interface using A.I. algorithms purely done using software, despite a depth sensing camera not being present in most webcams.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Skype:
Skype also provides instant messaging services. Users may transmit text, video, audio and images. Skype allows video conference calls.
At the end of 2010, there were over 660 million worldwide users, with over 300 million estimated active each month as of August 2015. At one point in February 2012, there were 34 million users concurrently online on Skype.
In March 2020, according to Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s corporate VP for Modern Life, Search and Devices, Skype today is used by 100 million people on a monthly basis and 40 million people use it daily. This is a 70% increase in the number of daily users from just a month ago, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
First released in August 2003, Skype was created by the Swede Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis, in cooperation with Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, Estonians who developed the back-end that was also used in the music-sharing application Kazaa.
In September 2005, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion. In September 2009, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced the acquisition of 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from eBay, which attributed to the enterprise a market value of $2.92 billion.
Microsoft bought Skype in May 2011 for $8.5 billion. Skype's division headquarters are in Luxembourg, but most of the development team and 44% of all the division's employees are still situated in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.
Skype allows users to communicate over the Internet by voice, using a microphone, by video using a webcam, and by instant messaging. Skype implements a freemium business model.
Skype-to-Skype calls are free of charge, while calls to landline telephones and mobile phones (over traditional telephone networks) are charged via a debit-based user account system called Skype Credit.
Some network administrators have banned Skype on corporate, government, home, and education networks, citing such reasons as inappropriate usage of resources, excessive bandwidth usage and security concerns.
Skype originally featured a hybrid peer-to-peer and client–server system. Skype has been powered entirely by Microsoft-operated supernodes since May 2012. The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures revealed that Microsoft had granted intelligence agencies unfettered access to supernodes and Skype communication content.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, Microsoft redesigned its Skype clients in a way that transitioned Skype from peer-to-peer service to a centralized Azure service and adjusted the user interfaces of apps to make text-based messaging more prominent than voice calling. Skype for Windows, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux received significant, visible overhauls.
Features:
Main article: Features of Skype
Registered users of Skype are identified by a unique Skype ID and may be listed in the Skype directory under a Skype username. Skype allows these registered users to communicate through both instant messaging and voice chat.
Voice chat allows telephone calls between pairs of users and conference calling and uses proprietary audio codec.
Skype's text chat client allows group chats, emoticons, storing chat history, and editing of previous messages.
Offline messages were implemented in a beta build of version 5 but removed after a few weeks without notification. The usual features familiar to instant messaging users—user profiles, online status indicators, and so on—are also included.
The Online Number, a.k.a. SkypeIn, service allows Skype users to receive calls on their computers dialed by conventional phone subscribers to a local Skype phone number; local numbers are available for the following:
- Australia,
- Belgium,
- Brazil,
- Chile,
- Colombia,
- Denmark,
- the Dominican Republic,
- Estonia,
- Finland,
- France,
- Germany,
- Hong Kong,
- Hungary,
- India,
- Ireland,
- Japan,
- Mexico,
- Nepal,
- New Zealand,
- Poland,
- Romania,
- South Africa,
- South Korea,
- Sweden,
- Switzerland,
- Turkey,
- the Netherlands,
- the United Kingdom,
- and the United States.
A Skype user can have local numbers in any of these countries, with calls to the number charged at the same rate as calls to fixed lines in the country.
Skype supports conference calls, video chats, and screen sharing between 25 people at a time for free, which then increased to 50 on 5 April 2019.
Skype does not provide the ability to call emergency numbers, such as 112 in Europe, 911 in North America, or 100 in India and Nepal.
However, as of December 2012, there is limited support for emergency calls in the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, and Finland.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that, for the purposes of section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, Skype is not an "interconnected VoIP provider". As a result, the U.S. National Emergency Number Association recommends that all VoIP users have an analog line available as a backup.
In 2019, Skype added an option to blur the background in a video chat interface using A.I. algorithms purely done using software, despite a depth sensing camera not being present in most webcams.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Skype:
- History
- Usage and traffic
- System and software
- Technology
- Security and privacy
- Service in the People's Republic of China
- Localization
- Customer service
- Educational use
- See also:
WhatsApp
- YouTube Video: How to Use Whatsapp - 2020 Beginner's Guide
- YouTube Video: WhatsApp Business vs WhatsApp - 5 New Features
- YouTube Video: Top 21 Cool New WhatsApp Tricks You Should Check | Guiding Tech
WhatsApp Messenger, or simply WhatsApp, is an American freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook, Inc. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.
WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices but is also accessible from desktop computers, as long as the user's mobile device remains connected to the Internet while they use the desktop app.
The service requires users to provide a standard cellular mobile number for registering with the service. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app targeted at small business owners, called WhatsApp Business, to allow companies to communicate with customers who use the standard WhatsApp client.
The client application was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion. It became the world's most popular messaging application by 2015, and has over 2 billion users worldwide as of February 2020.
WhatsApp has become the primary means of electronic communication in multiple countries and locations, including Latin America, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of Europe and Africa.
SMB and Enterprise platforms:
Until 2017, WhatsApp was for individual use between two smartphones. This enabled businesses to communicate with customers, but not at scale (e.g. in a contact center environment).
In September 2017 WhatsApp confirmed rumors that they were building and testing two new tools for businesses:
Platform support:
After months at beta stage, the official first release of WhatsApp launched in November 2009, exclusively at the App Store for iPhone. In January 2010, support for BlackBerry smartphones was added; and subsequently for Symbian OS in May 2010, and for Android OS in August 2010. In August 2011, a beta for Nokia's non-smartphone OS Series 40 was added.
A month later, support for Windows Phone was added, followed by BlackBerry 10 in March 2013. In April 2015, support for Samsung's Tizen OS was added. Unofficial ports, Wazapp and Yappari, have also been released for the MeeGo-based Nokia N9 and the Maemo-based Nokia N900, respectively.
The oldest device capable of running WhatsApp was the Symbian-based Nokia N95 released in March 2007. (As of June 2017, WhatsApp is no longer compatible with it.)
In August 2014, WhatsApp released an Android update, adding support for Android Wear smartwatches.
In 2014, an unofficial open source plug-in, whatsapp-purple, was released for Pidgin, implementing its XMPP and making it possible to use WhatsApp on PCs running Microsoft Windows and Linux. WhatsApp responded by blocking phone numbers that used the plug-in.
On January 21, 2015, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Web, a browser-based web client that could be used by syncing with a mobile device's connection.
On February 26, 2016, WhatsApp announced they would cease support for BlackBerry (including BlackBerry 10), Series 40, and Symbian S60, as well as older versions of Android (2.2), Windows Phone (7.0), and iOS (6), by the end of 2016.
BlackBerry, Series 40, and Symbian support was then extended to June 30, 2017. In June 2017, support for BlackBerry and Series 40 was once again extended until the end of 2017, while Symbian was dropped. Support for BlackBerry and older (version 8.0) Windows Phone and older (version 6) iOS devices was dropped on January 1, 2018, but was extended to December 2018 for Nokia Series 40.
In July 2018, it was announced that WhatsApp would soon be available for KaiOS feature phones.
In October 2019, WhatsApp officially launched a new fingerprint app-locking feature for Android users.
WhatsApp Web:
WhatsApp was officially made available for PCs through a web client, under the name WhatsApp Web, in late January 2015 through an announcement made by Koum on his Facebook page: "Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device—this means all of your messages still live on your phone".
The WhatsApp user's handset must still be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function. All major desktop browsers are supported except for Internet Explorer. WhatsApp Web's user interface is based on the default Android one.
As of January 21, 2015, the desktop version was only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users. Later on, it also added support for iOS, Nokia Series 40, and Nokia S60 (Symbian).
An unofficial derivative called WhatsAppTime has been developed, which is a standard Win32 application for PCs and supports notifications through the Windows notification area.
There are similar solutions for macOS, such as the open-source ChitChat.
Microsoft Windows and Mac:
On May 10, 2016, the messaging service was introduced for both Microsoft Windows and macOS operating systems. WhatsApp currently does not allow audio or video calling from desktop operating systems.
Similar to the WhatsApp Web format, the app, which will be synced with a user's mobile device, is available for download on the website. It supports OS versions of Windows 8 and OS X 10.10 and higher.
Apple iPad:
A story circulated in 2019 that iPad support was coming.
However, as of March 2020, WhatsApp does not run on the Apple iPad. From the WhatsApp iOS page (accessed March 2020): "WhatsApp is a telephony app, so iPod and iPad are not supported devices."
iPad users searching for WhatsApp are shown, numerous third-party clients. Several top results have names and logos resembling WhatsApp itself, and some users do not realize they are using a third-party client. Unfortunately, using third-party clients runs the risk to the user of their phone number being permanently banned.
Technical:
WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). Upon installation, it creates a user account using one's phone number as the username (Jabber ID: [phone number]@s.whatsapp.net).
WhatsApp software automatically compares all the phone numbers from the device's address book with its central database of WhatsApp users to automatically add contacts to the user's WhatsApp contact list. Previously the Android and Nokia Series 40 versions used an MD5-hashed, reversed-version of the phone's IMEI as password, while the iOS version used the phone's Wi-Fi MAC address instead of IMEI. A 2012 update now generates a random password on the server side.
Some Dual SIM devices may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are some workarounds for this.
In February 2015, WhatsApp introduced a voice calling feature; this helped WhatsApp to attract a completely different segment of the user population. WhatsApp's voice codec is Opus, which uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and linear predictive coding (LPC) audio compression algorithms.
WhatsApp uses Opus at 8–16 kHz sampling rates. On November 14, 2016,Whatsapp added a video calling feature for users across Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices.
On November 2017, Whatsapp released a new feature that would let its users delete messages sent by mistake within a time frame of 7 minutes.
Multimedia messages are sent by uploading the image, audio or video to be sent to an HTTP server and then sending a link to the content along with its Base64 encoded thumbnail (if applicable).
WhatsApp follows a "store and forward" mechanism for exchanging messages between two users. When a user sends a message, it first travels to the WhatsApp server where it is stored.
Then the server repeatedly requests the receiver to acknowledge receipt of the message. As soon as the message is acknowledged, the server drops the message; it is no longer available in the database of the server. The WhatsApp server keeps the message only for 30 days in its database when it is not delivered (when the receiver is not active on WhatsApp for 30 days).
End-to-end encryption:
On November 18, 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption by incorporating the encryption protocol used in Signal into each WhatsApp client platform. Open Whisper Systems said that they had already incorporated the protocol into the latest WhatsApp client for Android, and that support for other clients, group/media messages, and key verification would be coming soon after.
WhatsApp confirmed the partnership to reporters, but there was no announcement or documentation about the encryption feature on the official website, and further requests for comment were declined. In April 2015, German magazine Heise Security used ARP spoofing to confirm that the protocol had been implemented for Android-to-Android messages, and that WhatsApp messages from or to iPhones running iOS were still not end-to-end encrypted.
They expressed the concern that regular WhatsApp users still could not tell the difference between end-to-end encrypted messages and regular messages.
On April 5, 2016, WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announced that they had finished adding end-to-end encryption to "every form of communication" on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other's keys. Users were also given the option to enable a trust on first use mechanism in order to be notified if a correspondent's key changes.
According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol. WhatsApp calls are encrypted with SRTP, and all client-server communications are "layered within a separate encrypted channel". The Signal Protocol library used by WhatsApp is open-source and published under the GPLv3 license.
Cade Metz, writing in Wired, said, "WhatsApp, more than any company before it, has taken encryption to the masses."
WhatsApp Payments:
WhatsApp Payments is a peer-to-peer money transfer feature that is currently only available in India. WhatsApp has received permission from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enter into partnership with multiple banks in July 2017 to allow users to make in-app payments and money transfers using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
UPI enables account-to-account transfers from a mobile app without having any details of the beneficiary's bank. This feature is being pilot tested with over a million users since April 2019, however there has not been any update on the final roll out.
WhatsApp Cryptocurrency:
See also: Libra (cryptocurrency)
On February 28, 2019, The New York Times reported that Facebook was “hoping to succeed where Bitcoin failed” by developing an in-house cryptocurrency that would be incorporated into WhatsApp. The project reportedly involves over 50 engineers under the direction of former PayPal president David Marcus. This 'Facebook coin' will reportedly be a stablecoin pegged to the value of a basket of different foreign currencies.
Reception and criticism:
Hoaxes and fake news:
Mob murders in India:
Main article: Indian WhatsApp lynchings
In July 2018, WhatsApp encouraged people to report fraudulent or inciting messages after lynch mobs in India murdered innocent people because of malicious WhatsApp messages falsely accusing the victims of intending to abduct children.
2018 elections in Brazil:
In an investigation on the use of social media in politics, it was found that WhatsApp was being abused for the spread of fake news in the 2018 presidential elections in Brazil.
Furthermore, it has been reported that US$3 million has been spent in illegal off-the-books contributions related to this practice.
Researchers and journalists have called on WhatsApp parent company, Facebook, to adopt measures similar to those adopted in India and restrict the spread of hoaxes and fake news.
Security and privacy:
Main article: Reception and criticism of WhatsApp security and privacy features
WhatsApp was initially criticized for its lack of encryption, sending information as plaintext. Encryption was first added in May 2012.
In 2016, WhatsApp was widely praised for the addition of end-to-end encryption and earned a 6 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Secure Messaging Scorecard".
WhatsApp was criticized by security researchers and the Electronic Frontier Foundation for using backups that are not covered by end-to-end encryption and allow messages to be accessed by third-parties.
In May 2019, a security vulnerability in WhatsApp was found and fixed that allowed a remote person to install spyware by making a call which did not need to be answered.
In September 2019, WhatsApp was criticized for its implementation of a 'delete for everyone' feature. iOS users can elect to save media to their camera roll automatically. When a user deletes media for everyone, WhatsApp does not delete images saved in the iOS camera roll and so those users are able to keep the images.
WhatsApp released a statement saying that "the feature is working properly," and that images stored in the camera roll cannot be deleted due to Apple's security layers.
In November 2019, WhatsApp released a new privacy feature that let users decide who adds them to the group.
On December 17, 2019, WhatsApp fixed a security flaw that allowed cyber attackers to repeatedly crash the messaging application for all members of group chat, which could only be fixed by forcing the complete uninstall and reinstall of the app.
The bug was discovered in August 2019 and reported to WhatsApp. It was fixed in version 2.19.246 onwards.
For security purposes, since February 1, 2020, WhatsApp has been made unavailable on smartphones using legacy operating systems like Android 2.3.7 or older and iPhone iOS 8 or older that are no longer updated by their providers.
In April 2020, the NSO Group held its governmental clients accountable for the allegation of human rights abuses by WhatsApp. In its revelation via documents received from court, the group said that the mobile application periled to disregard its clients’ “national security and foreign policy concerns”.
However, the company did not reveal names of the end users, which according to a research by Citizen Lab include the following:
NHS:
In 2018 it was reported that around 500,000 National Health Service (NHS) staff used WhatsApp and other instant messaging systems at work and around 29,000 had faced disciplinary action for doing so. Higher usage was reported by frontline clinical staff to keep up with care needs, even though NHS trust policies do not permit their use.
Mods and Fake versions:
In March 2019, WhatsApp released a guide for users that had installed unofficial modified versions of WhatsApp and warned against data loss in case users persisted in using the same as it considered banning such users.
NSO Group:
In October 2019, WhatsApp launched an unprecedented lawsuit against an Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group, accusing that it was behind the highly sophisticated cyber attacks on over 100 human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and academics. WhatsApp also claimed that the firm violated American law in an “unmistakable pattern of abuse”.
Jeff Bezos Phone Hack:
In January 2020, a digital forensic analysis revealed that the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos received an encrypted message on WhatsApp from the official account of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The message reportedly contained a malicious file, using which Bezos’ phone was hacked.
The United Nations’ special rapporteur David Kaye and Agnes Callamard later confirmed that Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked through WhatsApp, as he was one of the targets of Saudi’s hit list of individuals close to The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Terrorism:
In December 2015, it was reported that Islamic State terrorists had been using WhatsApp to plot the November 2015 Paris attacks. ISIS also uses WhatsApp to traffic sex slaves.
In March 2017, U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said encryption capabilities of messaging tools like WhatsApp are unacceptable, as news reported that Khalid Masood used the application several minutes before perpetrating the 2017 Westminster attack. Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror attacks.
In April 2017, the perpetrator of the Stockholm attack reportedly used WhatsApp to exchange messages with an ISIS supporter shortly before and after the 2017 Stockholm attack. The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device and a confession of the perpetration after the attack.
Scams and malware:
It has been asserted that WhatsApp is plagued by scams that invite hackers to spread malicious viruses or malware. In May 2016, some WhatsApp users were reported to have been tricked into downloading a third-party application called WhatsApp Gold, which was part of a scam that infected the users' phones with malware.
A message that promises to allow access to their WhatsApp friends' conversations, or their contact lists, has become the most popular hit against anyone who uses the application in Brazil. Since December 2016, more than 1.5 million people have clicked and lost money.
Another application called GB Whatsapp is considered malicious by cybersecurity firm Symantec because it usually performs some unauthorized operations on end-user devices.
Bans:
China:
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, whose main social media service has been blocked in China since 2009. In September 2017, security researchers reported to The New York Times that the WhatsApp service had been completely blocked in China.
According to Time, Sarsenbek Akaruli, 45, a veterinarian and trader from Ili, Xinjiang, was arrested in Xinjiang on November 2, 2017. As of November 2019, he is still in a detention camp.
According to his wife Gulnur Kosdaulet, Akaruli was put in the camp after police found the banned messaging app WhatsApp on his cell phone.
Kosdaulet, a citizen of neighboring Kazakhstan, has traveled to Xinjiang on four occasions to search for her husband but could not get help from friends in the Communist Party of China.
Kosdaulet said of her friends, "Nobody wanted to risk being recorded on security cameras talking to me in case they ended up in the camps themselves."
Iran:
On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents. "The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist," said Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the country's Committee on Internet Crimes.
Subsequently, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani issued an order to the Ministry of ICT to stop filtering WhatsApp.
Turkey:
Turkey temporarily banned WhatsApp in 2016, following the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
Brazil:
On March 1, 2016, Diego Dzodan, Facebook's vice-president for Latin America was arrested in Brazil for not cooperating with an investigation in which WhatsApp conversations were requested. On March 2, 2016, at dawn the next day, Dzodan was released because the Court of Appeal held that the arrest was disproportionate and unreasonable.
On May 2, 2016, mobile providers in Brazil were ordered to block WhatsApp for 72 hours for the service's second failure to cooperate with criminal court orders. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after nearly 24 hours.
Sri Lanka:
WhatsApp, one of the most activated messaging apps along with other social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram were temporarily blocked, banned and had been unavailable for about two days (March 7–8, 2018) in certain parts of the country to eradicate communal violence, especially the anti-Muslim riots. This was probably the first such instance where social media platforms had been banned in Sri Lanka. The ban was finally lifted on March 14, 2018 around midnight time in Sri Lanka.
Uganda:
The government of Uganda banned WhatsApp and Facebook, along with other social media platforms, to enforce a tax on the use of social media. Users are to be charged 200 shilling per day to access these services according to the new law set by parliament.
United Arab Emirates (UAE):
The United Arab Emirates banned WhatsApp video chat and VoIP call applications in as early as 2013 due to what is often reported as an effort for their home grown nationally owned telecom providers (du and Etisalat) to create their own messsaging apps to both monetize and monopolize the space.
User statistics:
WhatsApp handled ten billion messages per day in August 2012, growing from two billion in April 2012, and one billion the previous October.
On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages. According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines."
As of April 22, 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos were being shared daily, and the messaging system was handling more than 10 billion messages each day.
On August 24, 2014, Koum announced on his Twitter account that WhatsApp had over 600 million active users worldwide. At that point WhatsApp was adding about 25 million new users every month, or 833,000 active users per day. With 65 million active users representing 10% of the total worldwide users, India has the largest number of consumers.
In May 2017, it was reported that WhatsApp users spend over 340 million minutes on video calls each day on the app. This is the equivalent of roughly 646 years of video calls per day.
As of February 2017, WhatsApp had over 1.2 billion users globally, reaching 1.5 billion monthly active users by the end of 2017.
On January 2020, WhatsApp registers over 5 billion installs on Google Play Store making it only the second non-Google app to achieve this milestone.
As of February 2020, WhatsApp had over 2 billion users globally.
Specific markets:
India is by far WhatsApp's largest market in terms of total number of users. In May 2014, WhatsApp crossed 50 million monthly active users in India, which is also its largest country by the number of monthly active users, then 70 million in October 2014, making users in India 10% of WhatsApp's total user base. In February 2017, WhatsApp reached 200 million monthly active users in India.
Israel is one of WhatsApp's strongest markets in terms of ubiquitous usage. According to Globes, already by 2013 the application was installed on 92% of all smartphones, with 86% of users reporting daily use. WhatsApp's group chat feature is reportedly used by many Israeli families to stay in contact with each other.
Competition:
WhatsApp competes with a number of messaging services. Those, as of 2019, were services like iMessage (estimated 1.3 billion active users), WeChat (1 billion active users), Viber (260 million active users), Telegram (200 million users) and LINE (187 million active users).
Telegram in particular was reported to get registration spikes during WhatsApp outages and controversies.
WhatsApp has increasingly drawn its innovation from competing services, such as a Telegram-inspired web version and features for groups. In 2016, WhatsApp was accused of copying features from a then-unreleased version of iMessage.
See also:
WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices but is also accessible from desktop computers, as long as the user's mobile device remains connected to the Internet while they use the desktop app.
The service requires users to provide a standard cellular mobile number for registering with the service. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app targeted at small business owners, called WhatsApp Business, to allow companies to communicate with customers who use the standard WhatsApp client.
The client application was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion. It became the world's most popular messaging application by 2015, and has over 2 billion users worldwide as of February 2020.
WhatsApp has become the primary means of electronic communication in multiple countries and locations, including Latin America, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of Europe and Africa.
SMB and Enterprise platforms:
Until 2017, WhatsApp was for individual use between two smartphones. This enabled businesses to communicate with customers, but not at scale (e.g. in a contact center environment).
In September 2017 WhatsApp confirmed rumors that they were building and testing two new tools for businesses:
- A free WhatsApp Business app for small companies
- An Enterprise Solution for bigger companies with global customer bases, such as airlines, e-commerce retailers and banks, who would be able to offer customer service and conversational commerce (e-commerce) via WhatsApp chat, using live agents or chatbots. (As far back as 2015, companies like Meteordesk had provided unofficial solutions for enterprises to attend to large numbers of users, but these were shut down by WhatsApp.)
Platform support:
After months at beta stage, the official first release of WhatsApp launched in November 2009, exclusively at the App Store for iPhone. In January 2010, support for BlackBerry smartphones was added; and subsequently for Symbian OS in May 2010, and for Android OS in August 2010. In August 2011, a beta for Nokia's non-smartphone OS Series 40 was added.
A month later, support for Windows Phone was added, followed by BlackBerry 10 in March 2013. In April 2015, support for Samsung's Tizen OS was added. Unofficial ports, Wazapp and Yappari, have also been released for the MeeGo-based Nokia N9 and the Maemo-based Nokia N900, respectively.
The oldest device capable of running WhatsApp was the Symbian-based Nokia N95 released in March 2007. (As of June 2017, WhatsApp is no longer compatible with it.)
In August 2014, WhatsApp released an Android update, adding support for Android Wear smartwatches.
In 2014, an unofficial open source plug-in, whatsapp-purple, was released for Pidgin, implementing its XMPP and making it possible to use WhatsApp on PCs running Microsoft Windows and Linux. WhatsApp responded by blocking phone numbers that used the plug-in.
On January 21, 2015, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Web, a browser-based web client that could be used by syncing with a mobile device's connection.
On February 26, 2016, WhatsApp announced they would cease support for BlackBerry (including BlackBerry 10), Series 40, and Symbian S60, as well as older versions of Android (2.2), Windows Phone (7.0), and iOS (6), by the end of 2016.
BlackBerry, Series 40, and Symbian support was then extended to June 30, 2017. In June 2017, support for BlackBerry and Series 40 was once again extended until the end of 2017, while Symbian was dropped. Support for BlackBerry and older (version 8.0) Windows Phone and older (version 6) iOS devices was dropped on January 1, 2018, but was extended to December 2018 for Nokia Series 40.
In July 2018, it was announced that WhatsApp would soon be available for KaiOS feature phones.
In October 2019, WhatsApp officially launched a new fingerprint app-locking feature for Android users.
WhatsApp Web:
WhatsApp was officially made available for PCs through a web client, under the name WhatsApp Web, in late January 2015 through an announcement made by Koum on his Facebook page: "Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device—this means all of your messages still live on your phone".
The WhatsApp user's handset must still be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function. All major desktop browsers are supported except for Internet Explorer. WhatsApp Web's user interface is based on the default Android one.
As of January 21, 2015, the desktop version was only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users. Later on, it also added support for iOS, Nokia Series 40, and Nokia S60 (Symbian).
An unofficial derivative called WhatsAppTime has been developed, which is a standard Win32 application for PCs and supports notifications through the Windows notification area.
There are similar solutions for macOS, such as the open-source ChitChat.
Microsoft Windows and Mac:
On May 10, 2016, the messaging service was introduced for both Microsoft Windows and macOS operating systems. WhatsApp currently does not allow audio or video calling from desktop operating systems.
Similar to the WhatsApp Web format, the app, which will be synced with a user's mobile device, is available for download on the website. It supports OS versions of Windows 8 and OS X 10.10 and higher.
Apple iPad:
A story circulated in 2019 that iPad support was coming.
However, as of March 2020, WhatsApp does not run on the Apple iPad. From the WhatsApp iOS page (accessed March 2020): "WhatsApp is a telephony app, so iPod and iPad are not supported devices."
iPad users searching for WhatsApp are shown, numerous third-party clients. Several top results have names and logos resembling WhatsApp itself, and some users do not realize they are using a third-party client. Unfortunately, using third-party clients runs the risk to the user of their phone number being permanently banned.
Technical:
WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). Upon installation, it creates a user account using one's phone number as the username (Jabber ID: [phone number]@s.whatsapp.net).
WhatsApp software automatically compares all the phone numbers from the device's address book with its central database of WhatsApp users to automatically add contacts to the user's WhatsApp contact list. Previously the Android and Nokia Series 40 versions used an MD5-hashed, reversed-version of the phone's IMEI as password, while the iOS version used the phone's Wi-Fi MAC address instead of IMEI. A 2012 update now generates a random password on the server side.
Some Dual SIM devices may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are some workarounds for this.
In February 2015, WhatsApp introduced a voice calling feature; this helped WhatsApp to attract a completely different segment of the user population. WhatsApp's voice codec is Opus, which uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and linear predictive coding (LPC) audio compression algorithms.
WhatsApp uses Opus at 8–16 kHz sampling rates. On November 14, 2016,Whatsapp added a video calling feature for users across Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices.
On November 2017, Whatsapp released a new feature that would let its users delete messages sent by mistake within a time frame of 7 minutes.
Multimedia messages are sent by uploading the image, audio or video to be sent to an HTTP server and then sending a link to the content along with its Base64 encoded thumbnail (if applicable).
WhatsApp follows a "store and forward" mechanism for exchanging messages between two users. When a user sends a message, it first travels to the WhatsApp server where it is stored.
Then the server repeatedly requests the receiver to acknowledge receipt of the message. As soon as the message is acknowledged, the server drops the message; it is no longer available in the database of the server. The WhatsApp server keeps the message only for 30 days in its database when it is not delivered (when the receiver is not active on WhatsApp for 30 days).
End-to-end encryption:
On November 18, 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption by incorporating the encryption protocol used in Signal into each WhatsApp client platform. Open Whisper Systems said that they had already incorporated the protocol into the latest WhatsApp client for Android, and that support for other clients, group/media messages, and key verification would be coming soon after.
WhatsApp confirmed the partnership to reporters, but there was no announcement or documentation about the encryption feature on the official website, and further requests for comment were declined. In April 2015, German magazine Heise Security used ARP spoofing to confirm that the protocol had been implemented for Android-to-Android messages, and that WhatsApp messages from or to iPhones running iOS were still not end-to-end encrypted.
They expressed the concern that regular WhatsApp users still could not tell the difference between end-to-end encrypted messages and regular messages.
On April 5, 2016, WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announced that they had finished adding end-to-end encryption to "every form of communication" on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other's keys. Users were also given the option to enable a trust on first use mechanism in order to be notified if a correspondent's key changes.
According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol. WhatsApp calls are encrypted with SRTP, and all client-server communications are "layered within a separate encrypted channel". The Signal Protocol library used by WhatsApp is open-source and published under the GPLv3 license.
Cade Metz, writing in Wired, said, "WhatsApp, more than any company before it, has taken encryption to the masses."
WhatsApp Payments:
WhatsApp Payments is a peer-to-peer money transfer feature that is currently only available in India. WhatsApp has received permission from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enter into partnership with multiple banks in July 2017 to allow users to make in-app payments and money transfers using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
UPI enables account-to-account transfers from a mobile app without having any details of the beneficiary's bank. This feature is being pilot tested with over a million users since April 2019, however there has not been any update on the final roll out.
WhatsApp Cryptocurrency:
See also: Libra (cryptocurrency)
On February 28, 2019, The New York Times reported that Facebook was “hoping to succeed where Bitcoin failed” by developing an in-house cryptocurrency that would be incorporated into WhatsApp. The project reportedly involves over 50 engineers under the direction of former PayPal president David Marcus. This 'Facebook coin' will reportedly be a stablecoin pegged to the value of a basket of different foreign currencies.
Reception and criticism:
Hoaxes and fake news:
Mob murders in India:
Main article: Indian WhatsApp lynchings
In July 2018, WhatsApp encouraged people to report fraudulent or inciting messages after lynch mobs in India murdered innocent people because of malicious WhatsApp messages falsely accusing the victims of intending to abduct children.
2018 elections in Brazil:
In an investigation on the use of social media in politics, it was found that WhatsApp was being abused for the spread of fake news in the 2018 presidential elections in Brazil.
Furthermore, it has been reported that US$3 million has been spent in illegal off-the-books contributions related to this practice.
Researchers and journalists have called on WhatsApp parent company, Facebook, to adopt measures similar to those adopted in India and restrict the spread of hoaxes and fake news.
Security and privacy:
Main article: Reception and criticism of WhatsApp security and privacy features
WhatsApp was initially criticized for its lack of encryption, sending information as plaintext. Encryption was first added in May 2012.
In 2016, WhatsApp was widely praised for the addition of end-to-end encryption and earned a 6 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Secure Messaging Scorecard".
WhatsApp was criticized by security researchers and the Electronic Frontier Foundation for using backups that are not covered by end-to-end encryption and allow messages to be accessed by third-parties.
In May 2019, a security vulnerability in WhatsApp was found and fixed that allowed a remote person to install spyware by making a call which did not need to be answered.
In September 2019, WhatsApp was criticized for its implementation of a 'delete for everyone' feature. iOS users can elect to save media to their camera roll automatically. When a user deletes media for everyone, WhatsApp does not delete images saved in the iOS camera roll and so those users are able to keep the images.
WhatsApp released a statement saying that "the feature is working properly," and that images stored in the camera roll cannot be deleted due to Apple's security layers.
In November 2019, WhatsApp released a new privacy feature that let users decide who adds them to the group.
On December 17, 2019, WhatsApp fixed a security flaw that allowed cyber attackers to repeatedly crash the messaging application for all members of group chat, which could only be fixed by forcing the complete uninstall and reinstall of the app.
The bug was discovered in August 2019 and reported to WhatsApp. It was fixed in version 2.19.246 onwards.
For security purposes, since February 1, 2020, WhatsApp has been made unavailable on smartphones using legacy operating systems like Android 2.3.7 or older and iPhone iOS 8 or older that are no longer updated by their providers.
In April 2020, the NSO Group held its governmental clients accountable for the allegation of human rights abuses by WhatsApp. In its revelation via documents received from court, the group said that the mobile application periled to disregard its clients’ “national security and foreign policy concerns”.
However, the company did not reveal names of the end users, which according to a research by Citizen Lab include the following:
- Saudi Arabia,
- Bahrain,
- Kazakhstan,
- Morocco,
- Mexico
- and the United Arab Emirates.
NHS:
In 2018 it was reported that around 500,000 National Health Service (NHS) staff used WhatsApp and other instant messaging systems at work and around 29,000 had faced disciplinary action for doing so. Higher usage was reported by frontline clinical staff to keep up with care needs, even though NHS trust policies do not permit their use.
Mods and Fake versions:
In March 2019, WhatsApp released a guide for users that had installed unofficial modified versions of WhatsApp and warned against data loss in case users persisted in using the same as it considered banning such users.
NSO Group:
In October 2019, WhatsApp launched an unprecedented lawsuit against an Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group, accusing that it was behind the highly sophisticated cyber attacks on over 100 human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and academics. WhatsApp also claimed that the firm violated American law in an “unmistakable pattern of abuse”.
Jeff Bezos Phone Hack:
In January 2020, a digital forensic analysis revealed that the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos received an encrypted message on WhatsApp from the official account of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The message reportedly contained a malicious file, using which Bezos’ phone was hacked.
The United Nations’ special rapporteur David Kaye and Agnes Callamard later confirmed that Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked through WhatsApp, as he was one of the targets of Saudi’s hit list of individuals close to The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Terrorism:
In December 2015, it was reported that Islamic State terrorists had been using WhatsApp to plot the November 2015 Paris attacks. ISIS also uses WhatsApp to traffic sex slaves.
In March 2017, U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said encryption capabilities of messaging tools like WhatsApp are unacceptable, as news reported that Khalid Masood used the application several minutes before perpetrating the 2017 Westminster attack. Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror attacks.
In April 2017, the perpetrator of the Stockholm attack reportedly used WhatsApp to exchange messages with an ISIS supporter shortly before and after the 2017 Stockholm attack. The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device and a confession of the perpetration after the attack.
Scams and malware:
It has been asserted that WhatsApp is plagued by scams that invite hackers to spread malicious viruses or malware. In May 2016, some WhatsApp users were reported to have been tricked into downloading a third-party application called WhatsApp Gold, which was part of a scam that infected the users' phones with malware.
A message that promises to allow access to their WhatsApp friends' conversations, or their contact lists, has become the most popular hit against anyone who uses the application in Brazil. Since December 2016, more than 1.5 million people have clicked and lost money.
Another application called GB Whatsapp is considered malicious by cybersecurity firm Symantec because it usually performs some unauthorized operations on end-user devices.
Bans:
China:
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, whose main social media service has been blocked in China since 2009. In September 2017, security researchers reported to The New York Times that the WhatsApp service had been completely blocked in China.
According to Time, Sarsenbek Akaruli, 45, a veterinarian and trader from Ili, Xinjiang, was arrested in Xinjiang on November 2, 2017. As of November 2019, he is still in a detention camp.
According to his wife Gulnur Kosdaulet, Akaruli was put in the camp after police found the banned messaging app WhatsApp on his cell phone.
Kosdaulet, a citizen of neighboring Kazakhstan, has traveled to Xinjiang on four occasions to search for her husband but could not get help from friends in the Communist Party of China.
Kosdaulet said of her friends, "Nobody wanted to risk being recorded on security cameras talking to me in case they ended up in the camps themselves."
Iran:
On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents. "The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist," said Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the country's Committee on Internet Crimes.
Subsequently, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani issued an order to the Ministry of ICT to stop filtering WhatsApp.
Turkey:
Turkey temporarily banned WhatsApp in 2016, following the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
Brazil:
On March 1, 2016, Diego Dzodan, Facebook's vice-president for Latin America was arrested in Brazil for not cooperating with an investigation in which WhatsApp conversations were requested. On March 2, 2016, at dawn the next day, Dzodan was released because the Court of Appeal held that the arrest was disproportionate and unreasonable.
On May 2, 2016, mobile providers in Brazil were ordered to block WhatsApp for 72 hours for the service's second failure to cooperate with criminal court orders. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after nearly 24 hours.
Sri Lanka:
WhatsApp, one of the most activated messaging apps along with other social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram were temporarily blocked, banned and had been unavailable for about two days (March 7–8, 2018) in certain parts of the country to eradicate communal violence, especially the anti-Muslim riots. This was probably the first such instance where social media platforms had been banned in Sri Lanka. The ban was finally lifted on March 14, 2018 around midnight time in Sri Lanka.
Uganda:
The government of Uganda banned WhatsApp and Facebook, along with other social media platforms, to enforce a tax on the use of social media. Users are to be charged 200 shilling per day to access these services according to the new law set by parliament.
United Arab Emirates (UAE):
The United Arab Emirates banned WhatsApp video chat and VoIP call applications in as early as 2013 due to what is often reported as an effort for their home grown nationally owned telecom providers (du and Etisalat) to create their own messsaging apps to both monetize and monopolize the space.
User statistics:
WhatsApp handled ten billion messages per day in August 2012, growing from two billion in April 2012, and one billion the previous October.
On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages. According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines."
As of April 22, 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos were being shared daily, and the messaging system was handling more than 10 billion messages each day.
On August 24, 2014, Koum announced on his Twitter account that WhatsApp had over 600 million active users worldwide. At that point WhatsApp was adding about 25 million new users every month, or 833,000 active users per day. With 65 million active users representing 10% of the total worldwide users, India has the largest number of consumers.
In May 2017, it was reported that WhatsApp users spend over 340 million minutes on video calls each day on the app. This is the equivalent of roughly 646 years of video calls per day.
As of February 2017, WhatsApp had over 1.2 billion users globally, reaching 1.5 billion monthly active users by the end of 2017.
On January 2020, WhatsApp registers over 5 billion installs on Google Play Store making it only the second non-Google app to achieve this milestone.
As of February 2020, WhatsApp had over 2 billion users globally.
Specific markets:
India is by far WhatsApp's largest market in terms of total number of users. In May 2014, WhatsApp crossed 50 million monthly active users in India, which is also its largest country by the number of monthly active users, then 70 million in October 2014, making users in India 10% of WhatsApp's total user base. In February 2017, WhatsApp reached 200 million monthly active users in India.
Israel is one of WhatsApp's strongest markets in terms of ubiquitous usage. According to Globes, already by 2013 the application was installed on 92% of all smartphones, with 86% of users reporting daily use. WhatsApp's group chat feature is reportedly used by many Israeli families to stay in contact with each other.
Competition:
WhatsApp competes with a number of messaging services. Those, as of 2019, were services like iMessage (estimated 1.3 billion active users), WeChat (1 billion active users), Viber (260 million active users), Telegram (200 million users) and LINE (187 million active users).
Telegram in particular was reported to get registration spikes during WhatsApp outages and controversies.
WhatsApp has increasingly drawn its innovation from competing services, such as a Telegram-inspired web version and features for groups. In 2016, WhatsApp was accused of copying features from a then-unreleased version of iMessage.
See also:
- Official website
- Comparison of instant messaging clients
- Comparison of VoIP software
- List of most downloaded Android applications
Snapchat
- YouTube Video: HOW TO USE SNAPCHAT FOR BEGINNERS - Snapchat Tricks and Tips
- YouTube Video: How to Link a YouTube Video to Snapchat
- YouTube Video: Your Privacy on Snapchat, Explained
Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app used globally, created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, former students at Stanford University, and developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc.
One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients.
The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover", letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to keep photos in the "my eyes only" which lets them keep their photos in a password-protected space.
Snapchat has become known for representing a new, mobile-first direction for social media, and places significant emphasis on users interacting with virtual stickers and augmented reality objects. As of March 2020, Snapchat had 229 million daily active users. On average more than 4 billion Snaps are sent each day. Snapchat is known to be popular among the younger generations, particularly those below the age of 16, leading to many privacy concerns for parents.
Features:
Core functionality:
Snapchat is primarily used for creating multimedia messages referred to as "snaps"; snaps can consist of a photo or a short video, and can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings.
Snaps can be directed privately to selected contacts, or to a semi-public "Story" or a public "Story" called "Our Story". The ability to send video snaps was added as a feature option in December 2012.
By holding down on the photo button while inside the app, a video of up to ten seconds in length can be captured. Spiegel explained that this process allowed the video data to be compressed into the size of a photo.
A later update allowed the ability to record indefinitely, but are still segmented into 10 second intervals. After a single viewing, the video disappears by default.
On May 1, 2014, the ability to communicate via video chat was added. Direct messaging features were also included in the update, allowing users to send ephemeral text messages to friends and family while saving any needed information by clicking on it.
According to CIO, Snapchat uses real-time marketing concepts and temporality to make the app appealing to users. According to Marketing Pro, Snapchat attracts interest and potential customers by combining the AIDA (marketing) model with modern digital technology.
Private message photo snaps can be viewed for a user-specified length of time (1 to 10 seconds as determined by the sender) before they become inaccessible. Users were previously required to hold down on the screen in order to view a snap; this behavior was removed in July 2015.
The requirement to hold on the screen was intended to frustrate the ability to take screenshots of snaps; the Snapchat app does not prevent screenshots from being taken but can notify the sender if it detects that it has been saved. However, these notifications can be bypassed through either unauthorized modifications to the app or by obtaining the image through external means.
One snap per day can be replayed for free. In September 2015, Snapchat introduced the option to purchase additional replays through in-app purchases. The ability to purchase extra replays was removed in April 2016.
Friends can be added via usernames and phone contacts, using customizable "Snapcodes", or through the "Add Nearby" function, which scans for users near their location who are also in the Add Nearby menu. Spiegel explained that Snapchat is intended to counteract the trend of users being compelled to manage an idealized online identity of themselves, which he says has "taken all of the fun out of communicating".
In November 2014, Snapchat introduced "Snapcash", a feature that lets users send and receive money to each other through private messaging. The payments system is powered by Square.
In July 2016, Snapchat introduced a new, optional feature known as "Memories". Memories allow snaps and story posts to be saved into a private storage area, where they can be viewed alongside other photos stored on the device, as well as edited and published as snaps, story posts, or messages.
When shared with a user's current story, the memory would have a white frame and timestamp to indicate its age. Content in the Memories storage area can be searched by date or using a local object recognition system. Snaps accessible within Memories can additionally be placed into a "My Eyes Only" area that is locked with a Personal identification number (PIN).
Snapchat has stated that the Memories feature was inspired by the practice of manually scrolling through photos on a phone to show them to others. In April 2017, the white border around old memories was removed. While originally intended to let viewers know the material was old, TechCrunch wrote that the indicator "ended up annoying users who didn’t want their snaps altered, sometimes to the point where they would decide not to share the old content at all".
In May 2017, an update made it possible to send snaps with unlimited viewing time, dropping the previous ten-second maximum duration, with the content disappearing after being deliberately closed by the recipient. New creative tools, namely the ability to draw with an emoji, videos that play in a loop, and an eraser that lets users remove objects in a photo with the app filling in the space with the background, were also released.
In June 2017, Snapchat started allowing users to add links to snaps, enabling them to direct viewers to specific websites; the feature was only available for brands previously.
Additionally, the update added more creative tools: A "Backdrop" feature lets users cut out a specific object from their photo and apply colorful patterns to it in order to bring greater emphasis to that object, and "Voice Filters" enable users to remix the sounds of their voices in the snap.
Voice Filters was previously available as part of the feature enabling augmented reality lenses, with the new update adding a dedicated speaker icon to remix the audio in any snap.
Filters, lenses, and stickers:
Snaps can be personalized with various forms of visual effects and stickers. Geofilters are graphical overlays available if the user is within a certain geographical location, such as a city, event, or destination. A similar feature known as Geostickers was launched in 10 major cities in 2016.
Bitmoji are stickers featuring personalized cartoon avatars, which can be used in snaps and messaging. Bitmoji characters can also be used as World Lenses.
The "Lens" feature, introduced in September 2015, allows users to add real-time effects into their snaps by using face detection technology. This is activated by long-pressing on a face within the viewfinder.
In April 2017, Snapchat extended this feature into "World Lenses", which use augmented reality technology to integrate 3D rendered elements (such as objects and animated characters) into scenes; these elements are placed and anchored in 3D space.
On October 26, 2018, at TwitchCon, Snap launched the Snap Camera desktop application for macOS and Windows PCs, which enables use of Snapchat lenses in video chat and live streaming services such as Skype, Twitch, YouTube, and Zoom.
Snapchat also launched integration with Twitch, including an in-stream widget for Snapcodes, the ability to offer lenses to stream viewers and as an incentive to channel subscribers. Several video game-themed lenses were also launched at this time, including ones themed around League of Legends, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Business and multimedia:
Demographics:
From its earliest days, Snapchat's main demographic has consisted of millennials. In 2014, researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University designed a user survey to help understand how and why the application was being used.
The researchers originally hypothesized that due to the ephemeral nature of Snapchat messages, its use would be predominantly for privacy-sensitive content including the much talked about potential use for sexual content and sexting.
However, it appears that Snapchat is used for a variety of creative purposes that are not necessarily privacy-related at all. In the study, only 1.6% of respondents reported using Snapchat primarily for sexting, although 14.2% admitted to having sent sexual content via Snapchat at some point.
These findings suggest that users do not seem to utilize Snapchat for sensitive content. Rather, the primary use for Snapchat was found to be for comedic content such as "stupid faces" with 59.8% of respondents reporting this use most commonly.
The researchers also determined how Snapchat users do not use the application and what types of content they are not willing to send. They found that the majority of users are not willing to send content classified as sexting (74.8% of respondents), photos of documents (85.0% of respondents), messages containing legally questionable content (86.6% of respondents), or content considered mean or insulting (93.7% of respondents).
The study results also suggested that Snapchat's success is not due to its security properties, but because the users found the application to be fun. The researchers found that users seem to be well-aware (79.4% of respondents) that recovering snaps is possible and a majority of users (52.8% of respondents) report that this does not affect their behavior and use of Snapchat.
Many users (52.8% of respondents) were found to use an arbitrary timeout length on snaps regardless of the content type or recipient. The remaining respondents were found to adjust their snaps' timeout depending on the content or the recipient. Reasons for adjusting the time length of snaps included the level of trust and relationship with the recipient, the time needed to comprehend the snap, and avoiding screenshots.
Communication:
Snapchat has often been seen to represent a new direction in social media, with its users, particularly millennials, craving a more in-the-moment way of sharing and communicating via technology. With less emphasis on the accumulation of an ongoing status involving the presence of permanent material, Snapchat put the focus on the ephemeral nature of fleeting encounters.
Building on this distinction by launching as a mobile-first company, Snapchat, in the midst of the app revolution and the growing presence of cellular communication, didn't have to make the transition to mobile in the way other competing social media networks had to do.
Evan Spiegel himself described Snapchat as primarily a camera company. Spiegel also dismissed past comparisons to other social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter when he was asked if the 2016 presidential race was going to be remembered as the Snapchat election, although major candidates did occasionally use the app to reach voters.
Nevertheless, the growing mobile app moved to offer distinct publication, media, and news content within its Discover channel, as well as with its overall style of presentation. With Snapchat, a clear and identifiable line was drawn between brand content and user-based messaging and sharing, once again distinguishing the popular app from other social media networks, which typically have blended and blurred their different varieties of content.
Monetization:
Snapchat's developing features embody a deliberate strategy of monetization.
Snapchat announced its then-upcoming advertising efforts on October 17, 2014, when it acknowledged its need for a revenue stream.
The company stated that it wanted to evaluate "if we can deliver an experience that's fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted." Snapchat's first paid advertisement, in the form of a 20-second movie trailer for the horror film Ouija, was shown to users on October 19, 2014.
In January 2015, Snapchat began making a shift from focusing on growth to monetization. The company launched its "Discover" feature, which allowed for paid advertising by presenting short-form content from publishers. Its initial launch partners included CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN and Food Network, among others.
In June 2015, Snapchat announced that it would allow advertisers to purchase sponsored geofilters for snaps; an early customer of the offering was McDonald's, who paid for a branded geofilter covering its restaurant locations in the United States.
Snapchat made a push to earn ad revenue from its "Live Stories" feature in 2015, after initially launching the feature in 2014. Ad placements can be sold within a live story, or a story can be pitched by a sponsor. Live stories are estimated to reach an average of 20 million viewers in a 24-hour span.
Campaigns:
In September 2015, the service entered into a partnership with the National Football League to present live stories from selected games (including a Sunday game, and marquee games such as Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football), with both parties contributing content and handling ad sales.
The 2015 Internet Trends Report by Mary Meeker highlighted the significant growth of vertical video viewing. Vertical video ads like Snapchat's are watched in their entirety nine times more than landscape video ads. In 2016, Gatorade came out with an animated filter as part of the Super Bowl ads in 2016. The Dunk Lens of Gatorade received 165m views on Snapchat.
In April 2016, NBC Olympics announced that it had reached a deal with Snapchat to allow stories from the 2016 Summer Olympics to be featured on Snapchat in the United States. The content would include a behind-the-scenes Discover channel curated by BuzzFeed (a company which NBCUniversal has funded), and stories featuring a combination of footage from NBC, athletes, and attendees.
NBC sold advertising and entered into revenue sharing agreements. This marked the first time NBC allowed Olympics footage to be featured on third-party property. In May 2016, as part of a campaign to promote X-Men: Apocalypse, 20th Century Fox paid for the entire array of lenses to be replaced by those based on characters from the X-Men series and films for a single day.
In July 2016, it was reported that Snapchat had submitted a patent application for the process of using an object recognition system to deliver sponsored filters based on objects seen in a camera view. Later that year, in Sep 2016, Snapchat released its first hardware product, called the Spectacles. Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc., called it “a toy” but saw it as an upside to freeing his app from smartphone cameras.
In April 2017, Digiday reported that Snapchat would launch a self-service manager for advertising on the platform. The feature launched the following month, alongside news of a Snapchat Mobile Dashboard for tracking ad campaigns, which rolled out in June to select countries.
Also in 2017, Snapchat introduced a "Snap to Store" advertising tool that lets companies using geostickers to track whether users buy their product or visit their store in a 7-day period after seeing the relevant geosticker. On November 13, 2018, Snapchat announced the launch of the Snap Store, where they sell Bitmoji merchandise personalized by avatars from users and their friends. Items for sale include shirts, mugs, shower curtains, and phone cases.
Development platform:
In June 2018, Snapchat announced a new third-party development platform known as Snap Kit—a suite of components that allows partners to provide third-party integrations with aspects of the service.
"Login Kit" is a social login platform that utilizes Snapchat accounts; it was promoted as being more privacy-conscious than competing equivalents, as services are only able to receive the user's display name (and, optionally, a Bitmoji avatar) and are subject to a 90-day inactivity timeout, preventing them from being able to collect any further personal information or social graphs through their authorization.
"Creative Kit" allows apps to generate their own stickers to overlay into Snapchat posts. "Story Kit" can be used to embed and aggregate publicly posted stories (with for example, Bandsintown using Story Kit to aggregate stories posted by musicians), while "Bitmoji Kit" allows Bitmoji stickers to be integrated into third-party apps.
Snap Originals:
In a response to industry competition, Snapchat diversified their content by launching Snap Originals, which is episodic content. The series include both scripted content and documentaries.
Premium accounts and porn:
In 2014, Snapchat introduced a new feature called Snapcash which spurred its popularity among adult content creators.
Snapchat allows private premium accounts in which user can monetize their content. This feature is mostly used by models to monetize their adult content. Snapchat is increasingly becoming an integral part of the online porn industry.
Controversy:
December 2013 hack:
Snapchat was hacked on December 31, 2013. Gibson Security, an Australian security firm, had disclosed an API security vulnerability to the company on August 27, 2013, and then made public the source code for the exploit on Christmas Day (Australian time; Christmas Eve in the US).
On December 27, Snapchat announced that it had implemented mitigating features. Nonetheless, an anonymous group hacked them, saying that the mitigating features presented only "minor obstacles".
The hackers revealed parts of approximately 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers on a website named "SnapchatDB.info" and sent a statement to the popular technology blog TechCrunch saying that their objective had been to "raise public awareness ... and ... put public pressure on Snapchat" to fix the vulnerability. Snapchat apologized a week after the hack.
Federal Trade Commission:
In 2014, Snapchat settled a complaint made by the Federal Trade Commission. The government agency alleged that the company had exaggerated to the public the degree to which mobile app images and photos could actually be made to disappear.
Under the terms of the agreement, Snapchat was not fined, but the app service agreed to have its claims and policies monitored by an independent party for a period of 20 years. The FTC concluded that Snapchat was prohibited from "misrepresenting the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of users' information."
Following the agreement, Snapchat updated its privacy page to state that the company "can't guarantee that messages will be deleted within a specific timeframe." Even after Snapchat deletes message data from their servers, that same data may remain in backup for a certain period of time.
In a public blog post, the service warned that "If you've ever tried to recover lost data after accidentally deleting a drive or maybe watched an episode of CSI, you might know that with the right forensic tools, it's sometimes possible to retrieve data after it has been deleted."
Lens incidents:
In September 2015, an 18-year-old was using a Snapchat feature called "Lens" to record the speed she was driving her Mercedes C230 when she crashed into a Mitsubishi Outlander in Hampton, Georgia.
The 107 mph (172 km/h) crash injured both drivers. The driver of the Outlander spent five weeks in intensive care while he was treated for severe traumatic brain injury. In April 2016, the Outlander driver sued both Snapchat and the user of Snapchat, alleging that Snapchat knew its application was being used in unlawful speed contests, yet did nothing to prevent such use so is negligent.
A similar collision while driving at 115 mph (185 km/h), occurred in Tampa, Florida, in October 2016 that killed five people.
"Poor Country" remark:
According to former Snapchat employee Anthony Pompliano in a lawsuit filed against Snap Inc., Spiegel made a statement in 2015 that Snapchat is "only for rich people" and that he does not "want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain".
The incident sparked a Twitter trend called "#UninstallSnapchat", in which Indian users uninstalled the app, and caused backlash against the company in terms of low "one-star" ratings for the app in the Google Play store and Apple's App Store. Snapchat's shares fell by 1.5%.
In response to the allegation, Snapchat called Pompliano's claim "ridiculous", and elaborated that "Obviously Snapchat is for everyone. It’s available worldwide to download for free".
Pompliano Lawsuit:
In January of 2017, former employee Anthony Pompliano filed a state lawsuit accusing Snapchat of doctoring growth metrics with the intention of deceiving investors. Pompliano said that CEO Evan Spiegel was dismissive of his concerns and that Pompliano was fired shortly thereafter.
The judge dropped Pompliano’s claims that Snapchat violated the Dodd-Frank and Consumer Protection Acts in retaliation against him, citing an arbitration clause in his contract.
However, Snap Inc. faced blowback over a lack of disclosure regarding the contents of the lawsuit, resulting in plunging stock prices, several class-action lawsuits, and Federal investigations.
"Snap Map" privacy concerns:
The June 2017 release of "Snap Map", a feature that broadcasts the user's location on a map, was met with concerns over privacy and safety.
The feature, though an opt-in, delivers a message asking if the user would like to show their position on the map, but reportedly doesn't explain the ramifications of doing so, including that the app updates the user's position on the map each time the app is opened and not just when actively capturing snaps, potentially assisting stalkers.
The map can be zoomed in to feature detailed geographical information, such as street addresses. The Daily Telegraph reported that police forces had issued child safety warnings, while other media publications wrote that safety concerns were also raised for teenagers and adults unaware of the feature's actual behavior.
In a statement to The Verge, a Snapchat spokesperson said that "The safety of our community is very important to us and we want to make sure that all Snapchatters, parents, and educators have accurate information about how the Snap Map works". Users have the ability to operate in "Ghost Mode", or select the friends that they wish to share their location with.
Although there has been an increase in advertising on Snapchat, Snapchat has stated that they do not plan on running ads on Snap Map stories.
Rihanna controversy:
In March 2018, an advertisement containing a poll about Rihanna was posted stating, "Would you rather punch Chris Brown or slap Rihanna?" Rihanna tweeted that Snapchat was "insensitive to domestic violence victims" and urged fans to delete Snapchat.
Body image concerns:
The increased use of body and facial reshaping applications such as Snapchat and Facetune has been identified as a potential cause of body dysmorphic disorder.
In August 2018, researchers from the Boston Medical Center wrote in a JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery essay that a phenomenon they called 'Snapchat dysmorphia' had been identified, where people request surgery to look like the edited version of themselves as they appear through Snapchat Filters.
Snapchat employees abused data access to spy on users:
In May 2019, it was revealed that multiple Snapchat employees used an internal tool called SnapLion to spy on users.
Mozilla calls for public disclosures related to use of A.I.
Citing "vague, broad language" in Snapchat's privacy policy, Mozilla issued a September 2019 petition calling for public disclosures related to the app's use of facial emotion recognition technology. When reached for comment by Scientific American, representatives for Snapchat declined to share a public response.
Revenge porn:
During the 2020 lockdown to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus in France, the app emerged as a hub for the dissemination of revenge porn of underage girls.
In 2020 a woman sued Snapchat alleging it helped hide evidence of her rape. She told the court that parent company Snap Inc, "specifically and purposely designed, constructed, and maintained Snapchat to serve as a secretive and nefarious communications platform that encourages, solicits, and facilitates the creation and dissemination of illicit and non-consensual sexually explicit content ... and allowed Snapchat to operate as a safe-haven from law enforcement."
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Snapchat:
One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients.
The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover", letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to keep photos in the "my eyes only" which lets them keep their photos in a password-protected space.
Snapchat has become known for representing a new, mobile-first direction for social media, and places significant emphasis on users interacting with virtual stickers and augmented reality objects. As of March 2020, Snapchat had 229 million daily active users. On average more than 4 billion Snaps are sent each day. Snapchat is known to be popular among the younger generations, particularly those below the age of 16, leading to many privacy concerns for parents.
Features:
Core functionality:
Snapchat is primarily used for creating multimedia messages referred to as "snaps"; snaps can consist of a photo or a short video, and can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings.
Snaps can be directed privately to selected contacts, or to a semi-public "Story" or a public "Story" called "Our Story". The ability to send video snaps was added as a feature option in December 2012.
By holding down on the photo button while inside the app, a video of up to ten seconds in length can be captured. Spiegel explained that this process allowed the video data to be compressed into the size of a photo.
A later update allowed the ability to record indefinitely, but are still segmented into 10 second intervals. After a single viewing, the video disappears by default.
On May 1, 2014, the ability to communicate via video chat was added. Direct messaging features were also included in the update, allowing users to send ephemeral text messages to friends and family while saving any needed information by clicking on it.
According to CIO, Snapchat uses real-time marketing concepts and temporality to make the app appealing to users. According to Marketing Pro, Snapchat attracts interest and potential customers by combining the AIDA (marketing) model with modern digital technology.
Private message photo snaps can be viewed for a user-specified length of time (1 to 10 seconds as determined by the sender) before they become inaccessible. Users were previously required to hold down on the screen in order to view a snap; this behavior was removed in July 2015.
The requirement to hold on the screen was intended to frustrate the ability to take screenshots of snaps; the Snapchat app does not prevent screenshots from being taken but can notify the sender if it detects that it has been saved. However, these notifications can be bypassed through either unauthorized modifications to the app or by obtaining the image through external means.
One snap per day can be replayed for free. In September 2015, Snapchat introduced the option to purchase additional replays through in-app purchases. The ability to purchase extra replays was removed in April 2016.
Friends can be added via usernames and phone contacts, using customizable "Snapcodes", or through the "Add Nearby" function, which scans for users near their location who are also in the Add Nearby menu. Spiegel explained that Snapchat is intended to counteract the trend of users being compelled to manage an idealized online identity of themselves, which he says has "taken all of the fun out of communicating".
In November 2014, Snapchat introduced "Snapcash", a feature that lets users send and receive money to each other through private messaging. The payments system is powered by Square.
In July 2016, Snapchat introduced a new, optional feature known as "Memories". Memories allow snaps and story posts to be saved into a private storage area, where they can be viewed alongside other photos stored on the device, as well as edited and published as snaps, story posts, or messages.
When shared with a user's current story, the memory would have a white frame and timestamp to indicate its age. Content in the Memories storage area can be searched by date or using a local object recognition system. Snaps accessible within Memories can additionally be placed into a "My Eyes Only" area that is locked with a Personal identification number (PIN).
Snapchat has stated that the Memories feature was inspired by the practice of manually scrolling through photos on a phone to show them to others. In April 2017, the white border around old memories was removed. While originally intended to let viewers know the material was old, TechCrunch wrote that the indicator "ended up annoying users who didn’t want their snaps altered, sometimes to the point where they would decide not to share the old content at all".
In May 2017, an update made it possible to send snaps with unlimited viewing time, dropping the previous ten-second maximum duration, with the content disappearing after being deliberately closed by the recipient. New creative tools, namely the ability to draw with an emoji, videos that play in a loop, and an eraser that lets users remove objects in a photo with the app filling in the space with the background, were also released.
In June 2017, Snapchat started allowing users to add links to snaps, enabling them to direct viewers to specific websites; the feature was only available for brands previously.
Additionally, the update added more creative tools: A "Backdrop" feature lets users cut out a specific object from their photo and apply colorful patterns to it in order to bring greater emphasis to that object, and "Voice Filters" enable users to remix the sounds of their voices in the snap.
Voice Filters was previously available as part of the feature enabling augmented reality lenses, with the new update adding a dedicated speaker icon to remix the audio in any snap.
Filters, lenses, and stickers:
Snaps can be personalized with various forms of visual effects and stickers. Geofilters are graphical overlays available if the user is within a certain geographical location, such as a city, event, or destination. A similar feature known as Geostickers was launched in 10 major cities in 2016.
Bitmoji are stickers featuring personalized cartoon avatars, which can be used in snaps and messaging. Bitmoji characters can also be used as World Lenses.
The "Lens" feature, introduced in September 2015, allows users to add real-time effects into their snaps by using face detection technology. This is activated by long-pressing on a face within the viewfinder.
In April 2017, Snapchat extended this feature into "World Lenses", which use augmented reality technology to integrate 3D rendered elements (such as objects and animated characters) into scenes; these elements are placed and anchored in 3D space.
On October 26, 2018, at TwitchCon, Snap launched the Snap Camera desktop application for macOS and Windows PCs, which enables use of Snapchat lenses in video chat and live streaming services such as Skype, Twitch, YouTube, and Zoom.
Snapchat also launched integration with Twitch, including an in-stream widget for Snapcodes, the ability to offer lenses to stream viewers and as an incentive to channel subscribers. Several video game-themed lenses were also launched at this time, including ones themed around League of Legends, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Business and multimedia:
Demographics:
From its earliest days, Snapchat's main demographic has consisted of millennials. In 2014, researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University designed a user survey to help understand how and why the application was being used.
The researchers originally hypothesized that due to the ephemeral nature of Snapchat messages, its use would be predominantly for privacy-sensitive content including the much talked about potential use for sexual content and sexting.
However, it appears that Snapchat is used for a variety of creative purposes that are not necessarily privacy-related at all. In the study, only 1.6% of respondents reported using Snapchat primarily for sexting, although 14.2% admitted to having sent sexual content via Snapchat at some point.
These findings suggest that users do not seem to utilize Snapchat for sensitive content. Rather, the primary use for Snapchat was found to be for comedic content such as "stupid faces" with 59.8% of respondents reporting this use most commonly.
The researchers also determined how Snapchat users do not use the application and what types of content they are not willing to send. They found that the majority of users are not willing to send content classified as sexting (74.8% of respondents), photos of documents (85.0% of respondents), messages containing legally questionable content (86.6% of respondents), or content considered mean or insulting (93.7% of respondents).
The study results also suggested that Snapchat's success is not due to its security properties, but because the users found the application to be fun. The researchers found that users seem to be well-aware (79.4% of respondents) that recovering snaps is possible and a majority of users (52.8% of respondents) report that this does not affect their behavior and use of Snapchat.
Many users (52.8% of respondents) were found to use an arbitrary timeout length on snaps regardless of the content type or recipient. The remaining respondents were found to adjust their snaps' timeout depending on the content or the recipient. Reasons for adjusting the time length of snaps included the level of trust and relationship with the recipient, the time needed to comprehend the snap, and avoiding screenshots.
Communication:
Snapchat has often been seen to represent a new direction in social media, with its users, particularly millennials, craving a more in-the-moment way of sharing and communicating via technology. With less emphasis on the accumulation of an ongoing status involving the presence of permanent material, Snapchat put the focus on the ephemeral nature of fleeting encounters.
Building on this distinction by launching as a mobile-first company, Snapchat, in the midst of the app revolution and the growing presence of cellular communication, didn't have to make the transition to mobile in the way other competing social media networks had to do.
Evan Spiegel himself described Snapchat as primarily a camera company. Spiegel also dismissed past comparisons to other social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter when he was asked if the 2016 presidential race was going to be remembered as the Snapchat election, although major candidates did occasionally use the app to reach voters.
Nevertheless, the growing mobile app moved to offer distinct publication, media, and news content within its Discover channel, as well as with its overall style of presentation. With Snapchat, a clear and identifiable line was drawn between brand content and user-based messaging and sharing, once again distinguishing the popular app from other social media networks, which typically have blended and blurred their different varieties of content.
Monetization:
Snapchat's developing features embody a deliberate strategy of monetization.
Snapchat announced its then-upcoming advertising efforts on October 17, 2014, when it acknowledged its need for a revenue stream.
The company stated that it wanted to evaluate "if we can deliver an experience that's fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted." Snapchat's first paid advertisement, in the form of a 20-second movie trailer for the horror film Ouija, was shown to users on October 19, 2014.
In January 2015, Snapchat began making a shift from focusing on growth to monetization. The company launched its "Discover" feature, which allowed for paid advertising by presenting short-form content from publishers. Its initial launch partners included CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN and Food Network, among others.
In June 2015, Snapchat announced that it would allow advertisers to purchase sponsored geofilters for snaps; an early customer of the offering was McDonald's, who paid for a branded geofilter covering its restaurant locations in the United States.
Snapchat made a push to earn ad revenue from its "Live Stories" feature in 2015, after initially launching the feature in 2014. Ad placements can be sold within a live story, or a story can be pitched by a sponsor. Live stories are estimated to reach an average of 20 million viewers in a 24-hour span.
Campaigns:
In September 2015, the service entered into a partnership with the National Football League to present live stories from selected games (including a Sunday game, and marquee games such as Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football), with both parties contributing content and handling ad sales.
The 2015 Internet Trends Report by Mary Meeker highlighted the significant growth of vertical video viewing. Vertical video ads like Snapchat's are watched in their entirety nine times more than landscape video ads. In 2016, Gatorade came out with an animated filter as part of the Super Bowl ads in 2016. The Dunk Lens of Gatorade received 165m views on Snapchat.
In April 2016, NBC Olympics announced that it had reached a deal with Snapchat to allow stories from the 2016 Summer Olympics to be featured on Snapchat in the United States. The content would include a behind-the-scenes Discover channel curated by BuzzFeed (a company which NBCUniversal has funded), and stories featuring a combination of footage from NBC, athletes, and attendees.
NBC sold advertising and entered into revenue sharing agreements. This marked the first time NBC allowed Olympics footage to be featured on third-party property. In May 2016, as part of a campaign to promote X-Men: Apocalypse, 20th Century Fox paid for the entire array of lenses to be replaced by those based on characters from the X-Men series and films for a single day.
In July 2016, it was reported that Snapchat had submitted a patent application for the process of using an object recognition system to deliver sponsored filters based on objects seen in a camera view. Later that year, in Sep 2016, Snapchat released its first hardware product, called the Spectacles. Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc., called it “a toy” but saw it as an upside to freeing his app from smartphone cameras.
In April 2017, Digiday reported that Snapchat would launch a self-service manager for advertising on the platform. The feature launched the following month, alongside news of a Snapchat Mobile Dashboard for tracking ad campaigns, which rolled out in June to select countries.
Also in 2017, Snapchat introduced a "Snap to Store" advertising tool that lets companies using geostickers to track whether users buy their product or visit their store in a 7-day period after seeing the relevant geosticker. On November 13, 2018, Snapchat announced the launch of the Snap Store, where they sell Bitmoji merchandise personalized by avatars from users and their friends. Items for sale include shirts, mugs, shower curtains, and phone cases.
Development platform:
In June 2018, Snapchat announced a new third-party development platform known as Snap Kit—a suite of components that allows partners to provide third-party integrations with aspects of the service.
"Login Kit" is a social login platform that utilizes Snapchat accounts; it was promoted as being more privacy-conscious than competing equivalents, as services are only able to receive the user's display name (and, optionally, a Bitmoji avatar) and are subject to a 90-day inactivity timeout, preventing them from being able to collect any further personal information or social graphs through their authorization.
"Creative Kit" allows apps to generate their own stickers to overlay into Snapchat posts. "Story Kit" can be used to embed and aggregate publicly posted stories (with for example, Bandsintown using Story Kit to aggregate stories posted by musicians), while "Bitmoji Kit" allows Bitmoji stickers to be integrated into third-party apps.
Snap Originals:
In a response to industry competition, Snapchat diversified their content by launching Snap Originals, which is episodic content. The series include both scripted content and documentaries.
Premium accounts and porn:
In 2014, Snapchat introduced a new feature called Snapcash which spurred its popularity among adult content creators.
Snapchat allows private premium accounts in which user can monetize their content. This feature is mostly used by models to monetize their adult content. Snapchat is increasingly becoming an integral part of the online porn industry.
Controversy:
December 2013 hack:
Snapchat was hacked on December 31, 2013. Gibson Security, an Australian security firm, had disclosed an API security vulnerability to the company on August 27, 2013, and then made public the source code for the exploit on Christmas Day (Australian time; Christmas Eve in the US).
On December 27, Snapchat announced that it had implemented mitigating features. Nonetheless, an anonymous group hacked them, saying that the mitigating features presented only "minor obstacles".
The hackers revealed parts of approximately 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers on a website named "SnapchatDB.info" and sent a statement to the popular technology blog TechCrunch saying that their objective had been to "raise public awareness ... and ... put public pressure on Snapchat" to fix the vulnerability. Snapchat apologized a week after the hack.
Federal Trade Commission:
In 2014, Snapchat settled a complaint made by the Federal Trade Commission. The government agency alleged that the company had exaggerated to the public the degree to which mobile app images and photos could actually be made to disappear.
Under the terms of the agreement, Snapchat was not fined, but the app service agreed to have its claims and policies monitored by an independent party for a period of 20 years. The FTC concluded that Snapchat was prohibited from "misrepresenting the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of users' information."
Following the agreement, Snapchat updated its privacy page to state that the company "can't guarantee that messages will be deleted within a specific timeframe." Even after Snapchat deletes message data from their servers, that same data may remain in backup for a certain period of time.
In a public blog post, the service warned that "If you've ever tried to recover lost data after accidentally deleting a drive or maybe watched an episode of CSI, you might know that with the right forensic tools, it's sometimes possible to retrieve data after it has been deleted."
Lens incidents:
In September 2015, an 18-year-old was using a Snapchat feature called "Lens" to record the speed she was driving her Mercedes C230 when she crashed into a Mitsubishi Outlander in Hampton, Georgia.
The 107 mph (172 km/h) crash injured both drivers. The driver of the Outlander spent five weeks in intensive care while he was treated for severe traumatic brain injury. In April 2016, the Outlander driver sued both Snapchat and the user of Snapchat, alleging that Snapchat knew its application was being used in unlawful speed contests, yet did nothing to prevent such use so is negligent.
A similar collision while driving at 115 mph (185 km/h), occurred in Tampa, Florida, in October 2016 that killed five people.
"Poor Country" remark:
According to former Snapchat employee Anthony Pompliano in a lawsuit filed against Snap Inc., Spiegel made a statement in 2015 that Snapchat is "only for rich people" and that he does not "want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain".
The incident sparked a Twitter trend called "#UninstallSnapchat", in which Indian users uninstalled the app, and caused backlash against the company in terms of low "one-star" ratings for the app in the Google Play store and Apple's App Store. Snapchat's shares fell by 1.5%.
In response to the allegation, Snapchat called Pompliano's claim "ridiculous", and elaborated that "Obviously Snapchat is for everyone. It’s available worldwide to download for free".
Pompliano Lawsuit:
In January of 2017, former employee Anthony Pompliano filed a state lawsuit accusing Snapchat of doctoring growth metrics with the intention of deceiving investors. Pompliano said that CEO Evan Spiegel was dismissive of his concerns and that Pompliano was fired shortly thereafter.
The judge dropped Pompliano’s claims that Snapchat violated the Dodd-Frank and Consumer Protection Acts in retaliation against him, citing an arbitration clause in his contract.
However, Snap Inc. faced blowback over a lack of disclosure regarding the contents of the lawsuit, resulting in plunging stock prices, several class-action lawsuits, and Federal investigations.
"Snap Map" privacy concerns:
The June 2017 release of "Snap Map", a feature that broadcasts the user's location on a map, was met with concerns over privacy and safety.
The feature, though an opt-in, delivers a message asking if the user would like to show their position on the map, but reportedly doesn't explain the ramifications of doing so, including that the app updates the user's position on the map each time the app is opened and not just when actively capturing snaps, potentially assisting stalkers.
The map can be zoomed in to feature detailed geographical information, such as street addresses. The Daily Telegraph reported that police forces had issued child safety warnings, while other media publications wrote that safety concerns were also raised for teenagers and adults unaware of the feature's actual behavior.
In a statement to The Verge, a Snapchat spokesperson said that "The safety of our community is very important to us and we want to make sure that all Snapchatters, parents, and educators have accurate information about how the Snap Map works". Users have the ability to operate in "Ghost Mode", or select the friends that they wish to share their location with.
Although there has been an increase in advertising on Snapchat, Snapchat has stated that they do not plan on running ads on Snap Map stories.
Rihanna controversy:
In March 2018, an advertisement containing a poll about Rihanna was posted stating, "Would you rather punch Chris Brown or slap Rihanna?" Rihanna tweeted that Snapchat was "insensitive to domestic violence victims" and urged fans to delete Snapchat.
Body image concerns:
The increased use of body and facial reshaping applications such as Snapchat and Facetune has been identified as a potential cause of body dysmorphic disorder.
In August 2018, researchers from the Boston Medical Center wrote in a JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery essay that a phenomenon they called 'Snapchat dysmorphia' had been identified, where people request surgery to look like the edited version of themselves as they appear through Snapchat Filters.
Snapchat employees abused data access to spy on users:
In May 2019, it was revealed that multiple Snapchat employees used an internal tool called SnapLion to spy on users.
Mozilla calls for public disclosures related to use of A.I.
Citing "vague, broad language" in Snapchat's privacy policy, Mozilla issued a September 2019 petition calling for public disclosures related to the app's use of facial emotion recognition technology. When reached for comment by Scientific American, representatives for Snapchat declined to share a public response.
Revenge porn:
During the 2020 lockdown to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus in France, the app emerged as a hub for the dissemination of revenge porn of underage girls.
In 2020 a woman sued Snapchat alleging it helped hide evidence of her rape. She told the court that parent company Snap Inc, "specifically and purposely designed, constructed, and maintained Snapchat to serve as a secretive and nefarious communications platform that encourages, solicits, and facilitates the creation and dissemination of illicit and non-consensual sexually explicit content ... and allowed Snapchat to operate as a safe-haven from law enforcement."
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Snapchat:
- History
- Friend emojis
- See also:
- Official website
- Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
- Ephemera – any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved
- Timeline of social media
- Sobrr, another mobile application which deletes content after a specified time
- Purikura, Japanese photo sticker booths which had earlier used Snapchat-like filters
Instagram
- YouTube Video: How to Use Instagram (2020 Beginner's Guide)
- YouTube Video: How to Post YouTube Videos to Instagram & Instagram Stories
- YouTube Video: How To Get 10 Thousand Followers On Instagram Per Week
Instagram is an American photo and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook, Inc. It was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 on iOS.
A version for Android devices was released in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited website interface in November 2012, a Fire OS app on June 15, 2014 and an app for Windows 10 tablets and computers in October 2016.
The app allows users to upload photos and videos, which can be edited with filters and organized with tags and location information. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, and view trending content. Users can like photos and follow other users to add their content to a feed.
Instagram was originally distinguished by only allowing content to be framed in a square (1:1) aspect ratio with 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at the time. These restrictions were eased in 2015, with an increase to 1080 pixels.
The service also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, as well as "Stories"—similar to its main competitor Snapchat—which allows users to post photos and videos to a sequential feed, with each post accessible by others for 24 hours each.
As of January 2019, the Stories feature is used by 500 million users daily.
After its launch in 2010, Instagram rapidly gained popularity, with one million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion as of May 2019.
In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. As of October 2015, over 40 billion photos had been uploaded. Although praised for its influence, Instagram has been the subject of criticism, most notably for policy and interface changes, allegations of censorship, and illegal or improper content uploaded by users.
As of April 2020, the most followed person is footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with over 211 million followers, and the most followed woman is singer Ariana Grande with over 180 million followers.
As of January 14, 2019, the most liked photo on Instagram is a picture of an egg, posted by the account @world_record_egg, created with the sole purpose of surpassing the previous record of 18 million likes on a Kylie Jenner post. The picture currently has over 54 million likes. Instagram was the 4th most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.
Features and Tools:
Users can upload photographs and short videos, follow other users' feeds, and geotag images with the name of a location.
Users can set their account as "private", thereby requiring that they approve any new follower requests. Users can connect their Instagram account to other social networking sites, enabling them to share uploaded photos to those sites. In September 2011, a new version of the app included new and live filters, instant tilt–shift, high-resolution photographs, optional borders, one-click rotation, and an updated icon.
Photos were initially restricted to a square, 1:1 aspect ratio; since August 2015, the app supports portrait and widescreen aspect ratios as well. Users could formerly view a map of a user's geotagged photos. The feature was removed in September 2016, citing low usage.
Since December 2016, posts can be "saved" into a private area of the app. The feature was updated in April 2017 to let users organize saved posts into named collections. Users can also "archive" their posts in a private storage area, out of visibility for the public and other users.
The move was seen as a way to prevent users from deleting photos that don't garner a desired number of "likes" or are deemed boring, but also as a way to limit the "emergent behavior" of deleting photos, which deprives the service of content. In August, Instagram announced that it would start organizing comments into threads, letting users more easily interact with replies.
Since February 2017, up to ten pictures or videos can be included in a single post, with the content appearing as a swipeable carousel. The feature originally limited photos to the square format, but received an update in August to enable portrait and landscape photos instead.
In April 2018, Instagram launched its version of a portrait mode called "focus mode," which gently blurs the background of a photo or video while keeping the subject in focus when selected. In November, Instagram began to support Alt text to add descriptions of photos for the visually impaired. They are either generated automatically using object recognition (using existing Facebook technology) or manually specified by the uploader.
Hashtags:
In January 2011, Instagram introduced hashtags to help users discover both photos and each other. Instagram encourages users to make tags both specific and relevant, rather than tagging generic words like "photo", to make photographs stand out and to attract like-minded Instagram users.
Users on Instagram have created "trends" through hashtags. The trends deemed the most popular on the platform often highlight a specific day of the week to post the material on.
Examples of popular trends include #SelfieSunday, in which users post a photo of their faces on Sundays; #MotivationMonday, in which users post motivational photos on Mondays; #TransformationTuesday, in which users post photos highlighting differences from the past to the present; #WomanCrushWednesday, in which users post photos of women they have a romantic interest in or view favorably, as well as its #ManCrushMonday counterpart centered on men; and #ThrowbackThursday, in which users post a photo from their past, highlighting a particular moment.
In December 2017, Instagram began to allow users to follow hashtags, which display relevant highlights of the topic in their feeds.
Explore:
In June 2012, Instagram introduced "Explore", a tab inside the app that displays popular photos, photos taken at nearby locations, and search. The tab was updated in June 2015 to feature trending tags and places, curated content, and the ability to search for locations.
In April 2016, Instagram added a "Videos You Might Like" channel to the tab, followed by an "Events" channel in August, featuring videos from concerts, sports games, and other live events, followed by the addition of Instagram Stories in October. The tab was later expanded again in November 2016 after Instagram Live launched to display an algorithmically-curated page of the "best" Instagram Live videos currently airing.
In May 2017, Instagram once again updated the Explore tab to promote public Stories content from nearby places.
Photographic filters:
Instagram offers a number of photographic filters that users can apply to their images:
In February 2012, Instagram added a "Lux" filter, an effect that "lightens shadows, darkens highlights and increases contrast".
In December 2014, Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden, and Perpetua were five new filters to be added to the Instagram filter family.
Video:
Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated 15-second video sharing in June 2013. The addition was seen by some in the technology media as Facebook's attempt at competing with the then-popular video-sharing application Vine.
In August 2015, Instagram added support for widescreen videos. In March 2016, Instagram increased the 15-second video limit to 60 seconds. Albums were introduced in February 2017, which allow up to 10 minutes of video to be shared in one post.
IGTV:
Main article: IGTV
IGTV is a vertical video application launched by Instagram in June 2018. Basic functionality is also available within the Instagram app and website. IGTV allows uploads of up to 10 minutes in length with a file size of up to 650 MB, with verified and popular users allowed to upload videos of up to 60 minutes in length with a file size of up to 5.4 GB.
The app automatically begins playing videos as soon as it is launched, which CEO Kevin Systrom contrasted to video hosts where one must first locate a video.
Instagram Direct:
In December 2013, Instagram announced Instagram Direct, a feature that lets users interact through private messaging. Users who follow each other can send private messages with photos and videos, in contrast to the public-only requirement that was previously in place.
When users receive a private message from someone they don't follow, the message is marked as pending and the user must accept to see it. Users can send a photo to a maximum of 15 people.
The feature received a major update in September 2015, adding conversation threading and making it possible for users to share locations, hashtag pages, and profiles through private messages directly from the news feed. Additionally, users can now reply to private messages with text, emoji or by clicking on a heart icon. A camera inside Direct lets users take a photo and send it to the recipient without leaving the conversation.
A new update in November 2016 let users make their private messages "disappear" after being viewed by the recipient, with the sender receiving a notification if the recipient takes a screenshot. In April 2017, Instagram redesigned Direct to combine all private messages, both permanent and ephemeral, into the same message threads.
In May, Instagram made it possible to send website links in messages, and also added support for sending photos in their original portrait or landscape orientation without cropping.
Instagram Stories:
In August 2016, Instagram launched Instagram Stories, a feature that allows users to take photos, add effects and layers, and add them to their Instagram story. Images uploaded to a user's story expire after 24 hours. The media noted the feature's similarities to Snapchat.
In response to criticism that it copied functionality from Snapchat, CEO Kevin Systrom told Recode that "Day One: Instagram was a combination of Hipstamatic, Twitter [and] some stuff from Facebook like the 'Like' button. You can trace the roots of every feature anyone has in their app, somewhere in the history of technology".
Although Systrom acknowledged the criticism as "fair", Recode wrote that "he likened the two social apps' common features to the auto industry: Multiple car companies can coexist, with enough differences among them that they serve different consumer audiences".
Systrom further stated that "When we adopted [Stories], we decided that one of the really annoying things about the format is that it just kept going and you couldn't pause it to look at something, you couldn't rewind. We did all that, we implemented that." He also told the publication that Snapchat "didn't have filters, originally.
They adopted filters because Instagram had filters and a lot of others were trying to adopt filters as well."
In November, Instagram added live video functionality to Instagram Stories, allowing users to broadcast themselves live, with the video disappearing immediately after ending.
In January 2017, Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and 15-second video ads appear in-between different stories.
In April 2017, Instagram Stories incorporated augmented reality stickers, a "clone" of Snapchat's functionality.
In May 2017, Instagram expanded the augmented reality sticker feature to support face filters, letting users add specific visual features onto their faces.
Later in May, TechCrunch reported about tests of a Location Stories feature in Instagram Stories, where public Stories content at a certain location are compiled and displayed on a business, landmark or place's Instagram page.
A few days later, Instagram announced "Story Search", in which users can search for geographic locations or hashtags and the app displays relevant public Stories content featuring the search term.
In June 2017, Instagram revised its live-video functionality to allow users to add their live broadcast to their story for availability in the next 24 hours, or discard the broadcast immediately. In July, Instagram started allowing users to respond to Stories content by sending photos and videos, complete with Instagram effects such as filters, stickers, and hashtags.
Stories were made available for viewing on Instagram's mobile and desktop websites in late August 2017.
On December 5, 2017, Instagram introduced “Story Highlights”, also known as “Permanent Stories”, which are similar to Instagram Stories, but don't expire. They appear as circles below the profile picture and biography and are accessible from the desktop website as well.
In June 2018, the daily active story users of Instagram had reached 400 million users, and monthly active users had reached 1 billion active users.
Advertising:
Emily White joined Instagram as Director of Business Operations in April 2013 She stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September 2013 that the company should be ready to begin selling advertising by September 2014 as a way to generate business from a popular entity that had not yet created profit for its parent company.
White left Instagram in December 2013 to join Snapchat. In August 2014, James Quarles became Instagram's Global Head of Business and Brand Development, tasked with overseeing advertisement, sales efforts and developing new "monetization products." according to a spokesperson.
In October 2013, Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, 2013.
Video ads followed nearly a year later on October 30, 2014. In June 2014, Instagram announced the rollout of ads in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, with ads starting to roll out that autumn.
In March 2015, Instagram announced it would implement "carousel ads," allowing advertisers to display multiple images with options for linking to additional content. The company launched carousel image ads in October 2015, and video carousel ads in March 2016.
In May 2016, Instagram launched new tools for business accounts, including business profiles, analytics and the ability to promote posts as ads. To access the tools, businesses had to link a corresponding Facebook page. The new analytics page, known as Instagram Insights, allowed business accounts to view top posts, reach, impressions, engagement and demographic data.
Insights rolled out first in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and expanded to the rest of the world later in 2016.
In February 2016, Instagram announced that it had 200,000 advertisers on the platform. This number increased to 500,000 by September 2016, and 1 million in March 2017.
In November 2018, Instagram added the ability for business accounts to add product links directing users to a purchase page or to save them to a "shopping list." In April 2019,
Instagram added the option to "Checkout on Instagram," which allows merchants to sell products directly through the Instagram app.
In March 2020, via a blog post, Instagram announced that they are making major moderation changes in order to decrease the flow of disinformation, hoaxes and fake news regarding COVID-19 on its platform,
"We'll remove COVID-19 accounts from account recommendations, and we are working to remove some COVID-19 related content from Explore unless posted by a credible health organization. We will also start to downrank content in feed and Stories that has been rated false by third-party fact-checkers."
Stand-alone apps:
Instagram has developed and released three stand-alone apps with specialized functionality.
In July 2014, it released Bolt, a messaging app where users click on a friend's profile photo to quickly send an image, with the content disappearing after being seen. It was followed by the release of Hyperlapse in August, an iOS-exclusive app that uses "clever algorithm processing" to create tracking shots and fast time-lapse videos.
Microsoft launched a Hyperlapse app for Android and Windows in May 2015, but there has been no official Hyperlapse app from Instagram for either of these platforms to date. In October 2015, it released Boomerang, a video app that combines photos into short, one-second videos that play back-and-forth in a loop.
Third-party services:
The popularity of Instagram has led to a variety of third-party services designed to integrate with it, including services for creating content to post on the service and generating content from Instagram photos (including physical print-outs), analytics, and alternative clients for platforms with insufficient or no official support from Instagram (such as in the past, iPads).
In November 2015, Instagram announced that effective June 1, 2016, it would end "feed" API access to its platform in order to "maintain control for the community and provide a clear roadmap for developers" and "set up a more sustainable environment built around authentic experiences on the platform", including those oriented towards content creation, publishers, and advertisers.
It was reported that these changes were primarily intended to discourage third-party clients replicating the entire Instagram experience (due to increasing monetization of the service), and security reasons (such as preventing abuse by automated click farms, and the hijacking of accounts). In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Instagram began to impose further restrictions on its API in 2018.
User characteristics and behavior:
Users:
See also: List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Following the release in October, Instagram had one million registered users in December 2010. In June 2011, it announced that it had 5 million users, which increased to 10 million in September.
This growth continued to:
In October 2016, Instagram Stories reached 100 million active users, two months after launch. This increased to 150 million in January 2017, 200 million in April, surpassing Snapchat's user growth, and 250 million active users in June 2017.
In April 2017, Instagram Direct had 375 million monthly users.
In June 2011, Instagram passed 100 million photos uploaded to the service. This grew to 150 million in August 2011, and by June 2013, there were over 16 billion photos on the service.
In October 2015, there existed over 40 billion photos.
Demographics:
Instagram's users are divided equally with 50% iPhone owners and 50% Android owners. While Instagram has a neutral gender-bias format, 68% of Instagram users are female while 32% are male.
Instagram's geographical use is shown to favor urban areas as 17% of US adults who live in urban areas use Instagram while only 11% of adults in suburban and rural areas do so. While Instagram may appear to be one of the most widely used sites for photo sharing, only 7% of daily photo uploads, among the top four photo-sharing platforms, come from Instagram.
Instagram has been proven to attract the younger generation with 90% of the 150 million users under the age of 35. From June 2012 to June 2013, Instagram approximately doubled their number of users.
With regards to income, 15% of US Internet users who make less than $30,000 per year use Instagram, while 14% of those making $30,000 to $50,000, and 12% of users who make more than $50,000 per year do so.
With respect to the education demographic, respondents with some college education proved to be the most active on Instagram with 23%. Following behind, college graduates consist of 18% and users with a high school diploma or less make up 15%. Among these Instagram users, 24% say they use the app several times a day.
User behavior:
Ongoing research continues to explore how media content on the platform affects user engagement. Past research has found that media which show peoples' faces receive more 'likes' and comments and that using filters that increase warmth, exposure, and contrast also boosts engagement.
Users are more likely to engage with images that depict fewer individuals compared to groups and also are more likely to engage with content that has not been watermarked, as they view this content as less original and reliable compared to user-generated content.
Recently Instagram has come up with an option for users to apply for a verified account badge, however this does not guarantee every user who applies will get the verified blue tick.
The motives for using Instagram among young people are mainly to look at posts, particularly for the sake of social interactions and recreation. In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that
Instagram's emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication.
Impact
Awards:
Instagram was the runner-up for "Best Mobile App" at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies in January 2011.
In May 2011, Fast Company listed CEO Kevin Systrom at number 66 in "The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011".
In June 2011, Inc. included co-founders Systrom and Krieger in its 2011 "30 Under 30" list.
Instagram won "Best Locally Made App" in the SF Weekly Web Awards in September 2011.
7x7Magazine's September 2011 issue featured Systrom and Krieger on the cover of their "The Hot 20 2011" issue.
In December 2011, Apple Inc. named Instagram the "App of the Year" for 2011.
In 2015, Instagram was named No. 1 by Mashable on its list of "The 100 best iPhone apps of all time," noting Instagram as "one of the most influential social networks in the world."
Instagram was listed among Time's "50 Best Android Applications for 2013" list.
Mental health:
In May 2017, a survey conducted by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for Public Health, featuring 1,479 people aged 14–24, asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the "worst for young mental health".
Some have suggested it may contribute to digital dependence, whist this same survey noticed its positive effects, including self-expression, self-identity, and community building. In response to the survey,
Instagram stated that "Keeping Instagram a safe and supportive place for young people was a top priority". The company filters out the reviews and accounts. If some of the accounts violate Instagram's community guidelines, it will take action, which could include banning them.
In 2017, researchers from Harvard University and University of Vermont demonstrated a machine learning tool that successfully outperformed general practitioners' diagnostic success rate for depression. The tool used color analysis, metadata components, and face detection of users' feeds.
Throughout 2019, Instagram began to test the hiding of like counts for posts made by its users.
Negative comments:
In response to abusive and negative comments on users' photos, Instagram has made efforts to give users more control over their posts and accompanying comments field.
In July 2016, it announced that users would be able to turn off comments for their posts, as well as control the language used in comments by inputting words they consider offensive, which will ban applicable comments from showing up.
After the July 2016 announcement, the ability to ban specific words began rolling out early August to celebrities, followed by regular users in September. In December, the company began rolling out the abilities for users to turn off the comments and, for private accounts, remove followers.
In September 2017, the company announced that public users would be able to limit who can comment on their content, such as only their followers or people they follow. At the same time, it updated its automated comment filter to support additional languages.
In June 2017, Instagram announced that it would automatically attempt to filter offensive, harassing, and "spammy" comments by default. The system is built using a Facebook-developed deep learning algorithm known as DeepText (first implemented on the social network to detect spam comments), which utilizes natural-language processing techniques, and can also filter by user-specified keywords.
In July 2019, the service announced that it would introduce a system to proactively detect problematic comments and encourage the user to reconsider their comment, as well as allowing users the ability to "restrict" others' abilities to communicate with them, citing that younger users felt the existing block system was too much of an escalation.
Culture:
On August 9, 2012, English musician Ellie Goulding released a new music video for her song "Anything Could Happen." The video only contained fan-submitted Instagram photographs that used various filters to represent words or lyrics from the song, and over 1,200 different photographs were submitted.
Censorship and restricted content:
According to a Facebook spokesperson, on 11 January 2020, Instagram and its parent company Facebook are picking up posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions".
Illicit drugs:
Instagram has been the subject of criticism due to users publishing images of drugs they are selling on the platform. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Corresponding hashtags have been blocked as part of the company's response and a spokesperson engaged with the BBC explained: "Instagram has a clear set of rules about what is and isn't allowed on the site. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos."
However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Instagram's parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a "dedicated team" reviews the information.
In 2019, Facebook announced that influencers are no longer able to post any vape, tobacco products, and weapons promotions on Facebook and Instagram.
Women's bodies:
In October 2013, Instagram deleted the account of Canadian photographer Petra Collins after she posted a photo of herself in which a very small area of pubic hair was visible above the top of her bikini bottom. Collins claimed that the account deletion was unfounded because it did not break any of Instagram's terms and conditions.
Audra Schroeder of The Daily Dot further wrote that "Instagram's terms of use state users can't post "pornographic or sexually suggestive photos," but who actually gets to decide that?
You can indeed find more sexually suggestive photos on the site than Collins', where women show the side of "femininity" the world is "used to" seeing and accepting."
Nick Drewe of The Daily Beast wrote a report the same month focusing on hashtags that users are unable to search for, including #sex, #bubblebutt, and #ballsack, despite allowing #faketits, #gunsforsale and #sexytimes, calling the discrepancy "nonsensical and inconsistent".
Similar incidents occurred in January 2015, when Instagram deleted Australian fashion agency Sticks and Stones Agency's account because of a photograph including pubic hair sticking out of bikini bottoms, and March 2015, when artist and poet Rupi Kaur's photos of menstrual blood on clothing were removed, prompting a rallying post on her Facebook and Tumblr accounts with the text "We will not be censored", gaining over 11,000 shares.
The incidents have led to a #FreetheNipple campaign, aimed at challenging Instagram's removal of photos displaying women's nipples. Although Instagram has not made many comments on the campaign, an October 2015 explanation from CEO Kevin Systrom highlighted Apple's content guidelines for apps published through its App Store, including Instagram, in which apps must designate the appropriate age ranking for users, with the app's current rating being 12+ years of age.
However, this statement has also been called into question due to other apps with more explicit content allowed on the store, the lack of consequences for men exposing their bodies on Instagram, and for inconsistent treatment of what constitutes inappropriate exposure of the female body.
Censorship by countries:
Censorship of Instagram has occurred in several different countries:
China
See also: Internet censorship in China
Instagram has been blocked by China following the 2014 Hong Kong protests because a lot of videos and photos are posted. Hong Kong and Macau were not affected as they are special administrative regions of China.
Turkey:
Turkey is also known for its strict Internet censorship and periodically blocks social media including Instagram.
North Korea
See also: Internet in North Korea
A few days after a fire incident that happened in the Koryo Hotel in North Korea in June 11, 2015, authorities began to block Instagram to prevent photos of the incident from being spread out.
Criticism
Security:
In August 2017, reports surfaced that a bug in Instagram's developer tools had allowed "one or more individuals" to gain access to the contact information, specifically email addresses and phone numbers, of several high-profile verified accounts, including its most followed user, Selena Gomez.
The company said in a statement that it had "fixed the bug swiftly" and was running an investigation. However, the following month, more details emerged, with a group of hackers selling contact information online, with the affected number of accounts in the "millions" rather than the previously-assumed limitation on verified accounts.
Hours after the hack, a searchable database was posted online, charging $10 per search. The Daily Beast was provided with a sample of the affected accounts, and could confirm that, while many of the email addresses could be found with a Google search in public sources, some did not return relevant Google search results and thus were from private sources.
The Verge wrote that cybersecurity firm RepKnight had found contact information for multiple actors, musicians, and athletes, and singer Selena Gomez's account was used by the hackers to post naked photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.
The company admitted that "we cannot determine which specific accounts may have been impacted", but believed that "it was a low percentage of Instagram accounts", though TechCrunch stated in its report that six million accounts were affected by the hack, and that "Instagram services more than 700 million accounts; six million is not a small number".
In 2019, Apple pulled an app that let users stalk people on Instagram by scraping accounts and collecting data.
Content ownership:
On December 17, 2012, Instagram announced a change to its Terms of Service policy, adding the following sentence:
"To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you."
There was no option for users to opt out of the changed Terms of Service without deleting their accounts before the new policy went into effect on January 16, 2013.
The move garnered severe criticism from users, prompting Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to write a blog post one day later, announcing that they would "remove" the offending language from the policy.
Citing misinterpretations about its intention to "communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram", Systrom also stated that it was "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that "it is not our intention to sell your photos". Furthermore, he wrote that they would work on "updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear".
The policy change and its backlash caused competing photo services to use the opportunity to "try to lure users away" by promoting their privacy-friendly services, and some services experienced substantial gains in momentum and user growth following the news.
On December 20, Instagram announced that the advertising section of the policy would be reverted to its original October 2010 version.
The Verge wrote about that policy as well, however, noting that the original policy gives the company right to "place such advertising and promotions on the Instagram Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your Content", meaning that "Instagram has always had the right to use your photos in ads, almost any way it wants. We could have had the exact same freak-out last week, or a year ago, or the day Instagram launched".
The policy update also introduced an arbitration clause, which remained even after the language pertaining to advertising and user content had been modified.
Algorithm and design changes:
In April 2016, Instagram began rolling out a change to the order of photos visible in a user's timeline, shifting from a strictly chronological order to one determined by an algorithm.
Instagram said the algorithm was designed so that users would see more of the photos by users that they liked, but there was significant negative feedback, with many users asking their followers to turn on post notifications in order to make sure they see updates.
The company wrote a tweet to users upset at the prospect of the change, but did not back down, nor provide a way to change it back.
Since 2017, Instagram has employed the ability to reduce the prominence of accounts ("shadowbanning") it believes may be generating non-genuine engagement and spam (including excessive use of unneeded hashtags), preventing posts from appearing in search results and in the app's Explore section.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Instagram wrote that "When developing content, we recommend focusing on your business objective or goal rather than hashtags".
Instagram has since been accused of extending the practice to censor posts under vague and inconsistent circumstances, particularly in regards to sexually suggestive material.
Instagram caused the userbase to fall into outrage, with the December 2018 update. They found an attempt to alter the flow of the feed from the traditional vertical scroll to emulate and piggy-back the popularity of their Instagram Stories with a horizontal scroll, by swiping left. Various backtracking statements were released explaining it as a bug, or as a test release that had been accidentally deployed to too large an audience.
Facebook acquisition as a violation of US antitrust law:
Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu has given public talks explaining that Facebook's 2012 purchase of Instagram was a felony. A New York Post article published on February 26, 2019, reported that "the FTC had uncovered [a document] by a high-ranking Facebook executive who said the reason the company was buying Instagram was to eliminate a potential competitor"
As Wu explains, this is a violation of US antitrust law (see monopoly). Wu stated that this document was an email directly from Mark Zuckerberg, whereas the Post article had stated that their source had declined to say whether the high-ranking executive was the CEO.
The article reported that the FTC "has formed a task force to review “anti-competitive conduct” in the tech world amid concerns that tech companies are growing too powerful. The task force will look at “the full panoply of remedies” if it finds “competitive harm,” FTC competition bureau director Bruce Hoffman told reporters."
Algorithmic advertisement with a rape threat:
In 2016, Olivia Solon, a reporter for The Guardian, posted a screenshot to her Instagram profile of an email she had received containing threats of rape and murder towards her. The photo post had received three likes and countless comments, and in September 2017, the company's algorithms turned the photo into an advertisement visible to Solon's sister.
An Instagram spokesperson apologized and told The Guardian that "We are sorry this happened – it's not the experience we want someone to have. This notification post was surfaced as part of an effort to encourage engagement on Instagram. Posts are generally received by a small percentage of a person's Facebook friends".
As noted by the technology media, the incident occurred at the same time parent company Facebook was under scrutiny for its algorithms and advertising campaigns being used for offensive and negative purposes.
In popular culture:
See also:
A version for Android devices was released in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited website interface in November 2012, a Fire OS app on June 15, 2014 and an app for Windows 10 tablets and computers in October 2016.
The app allows users to upload photos and videos, which can be edited with filters and organized with tags and location information. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, and view trending content. Users can like photos and follow other users to add their content to a feed.
Instagram was originally distinguished by only allowing content to be framed in a square (1:1) aspect ratio with 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at the time. These restrictions were eased in 2015, with an increase to 1080 pixels.
The service also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, as well as "Stories"—similar to its main competitor Snapchat—which allows users to post photos and videos to a sequential feed, with each post accessible by others for 24 hours each.
As of January 2019, the Stories feature is used by 500 million users daily.
After its launch in 2010, Instagram rapidly gained popularity, with one million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion as of May 2019.
In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. As of October 2015, over 40 billion photos had been uploaded. Although praised for its influence, Instagram has been the subject of criticism, most notably for policy and interface changes, allegations of censorship, and illegal or improper content uploaded by users.
As of April 2020, the most followed person is footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with over 211 million followers, and the most followed woman is singer Ariana Grande with over 180 million followers.
As of January 14, 2019, the most liked photo on Instagram is a picture of an egg, posted by the account @world_record_egg, created with the sole purpose of surpassing the previous record of 18 million likes on a Kylie Jenner post. The picture currently has over 54 million likes. Instagram was the 4th most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.
Features and Tools:
Users can upload photographs and short videos, follow other users' feeds, and geotag images with the name of a location.
Users can set their account as "private", thereby requiring that they approve any new follower requests. Users can connect their Instagram account to other social networking sites, enabling them to share uploaded photos to those sites. In September 2011, a new version of the app included new and live filters, instant tilt–shift, high-resolution photographs, optional borders, one-click rotation, and an updated icon.
Photos were initially restricted to a square, 1:1 aspect ratio; since August 2015, the app supports portrait and widescreen aspect ratios as well. Users could formerly view a map of a user's geotagged photos. The feature was removed in September 2016, citing low usage.
Since December 2016, posts can be "saved" into a private area of the app. The feature was updated in April 2017 to let users organize saved posts into named collections. Users can also "archive" their posts in a private storage area, out of visibility for the public and other users.
The move was seen as a way to prevent users from deleting photos that don't garner a desired number of "likes" or are deemed boring, but also as a way to limit the "emergent behavior" of deleting photos, which deprives the service of content. In August, Instagram announced that it would start organizing comments into threads, letting users more easily interact with replies.
Since February 2017, up to ten pictures or videos can be included in a single post, with the content appearing as a swipeable carousel. The feature originally limited photos to the square format, but received an update in August to enable portrait and landscape photos instead.
In April 2018, Instagram launched its version of a portrait mode called "focus mode," which gently blurs the background of a photo or video while keeping the subject in focus when selected. In November, Instagram began to support Alt text to add descriptions of photos for the visually impaired. They are either generated automatically using object recognition (using existing Facebook technology) or manually specified by the uploader.
Hashtags:
In January 2011, Instagram introduced hashtags to help users discover both photos and each other. Instagram encourages users to make tags both specific and relevant, rather than tagging generic words like "photo", to make photographs stand out and to attract like-minded Instagram users.
Users on Instagram have created "trends" through hashtags. The trends deemed the most popular on the platform often highlight a specific day of the week to post the material on.
Examples of popular trends include #SelfieSunday, in which users post a photo of their faces on Sundays; #MotivationMonday, in which users post motivational photos on Mondays; #TransformationTuesday, in which users post photos highlighting differences from the past to the present; #WomanCrushWednesday, in which users post photos of women they have a romantic interest in or view favorably, as well as its #ManCrushMonday counterpart centered on men; and #ThrowbackThursday, in which users post a photo from their past, highlighting a particular moment.
In December 2017, Instagram began to allow users to follow hashtags, which display relevant highlights of the topic in their feeds.
Explore:
In June 2012, Instagram introduced "Explore", a tab inside the app that displays popular photos, photos taken at nearby locations, and search. The tab was updated in June 2015 to feature trending tags and places, curated content, and the ability to search for locations.
In April 2016, Instagram added a "Videos You Might Like" channel to the tab, followed by an "Events" channel in August, featuring videos from concerts, sports games, and other live events, followed by the addition of Instagram Stories in October. The tab was later expanded again in November 2016 after Instagram Live launched to display an algorithmically-curated page of the "best" Instagram Live videos currently airing.
In May 2017, Instagram once again updated the Explore tab to promote public Stories content from nearby places.
Photographic filters:
Instagram offers a number of photographic filters that users can apply to their images:
- Normal: No filter applied.
- 1977: The increased exposure with a red tint gives the photograph a rosy, brighter, faded look.
- Amaro: Adds light to an image, with the focus on the center.
- Brannan: Increases contrast and exposure and adds a metallic tint.
- Earlybird: Gives photographs an older look with a sepia tint and warm temperature.
- Hefe: High contrast and saturation, with a similar effect to Lo-Fi but not quite as dramatic.
- Hudson: Creates an "icy" illusion with heightened shadows, a cool tint and a dodged center.
- Inkwell: Direct shift to black-and-white – no extra editing.
- Kelvin: Increases saturation and temperature to give it a radiant "glow".
- Lo-fi: Enriches color and adds strong shadows through the use of saturation and "warming" the temperature.
- Mayfair: Applies a warm pink tone, subtle vignetting to brighten the photograph center and a thin black border.
- Nashville: Warms the temperature, lowers contrast and increases exposure to give a light "pink" tint – making it feel "nostalgic".
- Rise: Adds a "glow" to the image, with softer lighting of the subject.
- Sierra: Gives a faded, softer look.
- Sutro: Burns photo edges, increases highlights and shadows dramatically with a focus on purple and brown colors.
- Toaster: Ages the image by "burning" the center and adds a dramatic vignette.
- Valencia: Fades the image by increasing exposure and warming the colors, to give it an antique feel.
- Walden: Increases exposure and adds a yellow tint.
- Willow: A monochromatic filter with subtle purple tones and a translucent white border.
- X-Pro II: Increases color vibrancy with a golden tint, high contrast and slight vignette added to the edges.
- Slumber: Desaturates the image as well as adds haze for a retro, dreamy look – with an emphasis on blacks and blues.
- Cream: Adds a creamy look that both warms and cools the image.
- Ludwig: A slight hint of desaturation that also enhances light.
- Aden: This filter gives a blue/green natural look.
- Perpetua: Adding a pastel look, this filter is ideal for portraits.
- Clarendon: Intensifies shadows and brightens highlights. Originally released as a video-only filter.
- Gingham: Washes photos out. Gives a yellowish tone when used on dark photos or a brighter, dreamy look when used on light photos.
- Moon: Black-and-white version of Gingham, with slightly more intense shadows.
- Stinson: Subtle filter that brightens an image, washing out the colors slightly.
- Crema: A vintage filter that desaturates images. Smooths and washes out skin tones.
- Lark: Desaturates reds while punching up blues and greens – brings landscapes to life.
- Reyes: Gives photos a dusty, vintage look.
- Juno: Tints cool tones green, makes warm tones pop and whites glow – for vibrant photos of people.
In February 2012, Instagram added a "Lux" filter, an effect that "lightens shadows, darkens highlights and increases contrast".
In December 2014, Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden, and Perpetua were five new filters to be added to the Instagram filter family.
Video:
Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated 15-second video sharing in June 2013. The addition was seen by some in the technology media as Facebook's attempt at competing with the then-popular video-sharing application Vine.
In August 2015, Instagram added support for widescreen videos. In March 2016, Instagram increased the 15-second video limit to 60 seconds. Albums were introduced in February 2017, which allow up to 10 minutes of video to be shared in one post.
IGTV:
Main article: IGTV
IGTV is a vertical video application launched by Instagram in June 2018. Basic functionality is also available within the Instagram app and website. IGTV allows uploads of up to 10 minutes in length with a file size of up to 650 MB, with verified and popular users allowed to upload videos of up to 60 minutes in length with a file size of up to 5.4 GB.
The app automatically begins playing videos as soon as it is launched, which CEO Kevin Systrom contrasted to video hosts where one must first locate a video.
Instagram Direct:
In December 2013, Instagram announced Instagram Direct, a feature that lets users interact through private messaging. Users who follow each other can send private messages with photos and videos, in contrast to the public-only requirement that was previously in place.
When users receive a private message from someone they don't follow, the message is marked as pending and the user must accept to see it. Users can send a photo to a maximum of 15 people.
The feature received a major update in September 2015, adding conversation threading and making it possible for users to share locations, hashtag pages, and profiles through private messages directly from the news feed. Additionally, users can now reply to private messages with text, emoji or by clicking on a heart icon. A camera inside Direct lets users take a photo and send it to the recipient without leaving the conversation.
A new update in November 2016 let users make their private messages "disappear" after being viewed by the recipient, with the sender receiving a notification if the recipient takes a screenshot. In April 2017, Instagram redesigned Direct to combine all private messages, both permanent and ephemeral, into the same message threads.
In May, Instagram made it possible to send website links in messages, and also added support for sending photos in their original portrait or landscape orientation without cropping.
Instagram Stories:
In August 2016, Instagram launched Instagram Stories, a feature that allows users to take photos, add effects and layers, and add them to their Instagram story. Images uploaded to a user's story expire after 24 hours. The media noted the feature's similarities to Snapchat.
In response to criticism that it copied functionality from Snapchat, CEO Kevin Systrom told Recode that "Day One: Instagram was a combination of Hipstamatic, Twitter [and] some stuff from Facebook like the 'Like' button. You can trace the roots of every feature anyone has in their app, somewhere in the history of technology".
Although Systrom acknowledged the criticism as "fair", Recode wrote that "he likened the two social apps' common features to the auto industry: Multiple car companies can coexist, with enough differences among them that they serve different consumer audiences".
Systrom further stated that "When we adopted [Stories], we decided that one of the really annoying things about the format is that it just kept going and you couldn't pause it to look at something, you couldn't rewind. We did all that, we implemented that." He also told the publication that Snapchat "didn't have filters, originally.
They adopted filters because Instagram had filters and a lot of others were trying to adopt filters as well."
In November, Instagram added live video functionality to Instagram Stories, allowing users to broadcast themselves live, with the video disappearing immediately after ending.
In January 2017, Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and 15-second video ads appear in-between different stories.
In April 2017, Instagram Stories incorporated augmented reality stickers, a "clone" of Snapchat's functionality.
In May 2017, Instagram expanded the augmented reality sticker feature to support face filters, letting users add specific visual features onto their faces.
Later in May, TechCrunch reported about tests of a Location Stories feature in Instagram Stories, where public Stories content at a certain location are compiled and displayed on a business, landmark or place's Instagram page.
A few days later, Instagram announced "Story Search", in which users can search for geographic locations or hashtags and the app displays relevant public Stories content featuring the search term.
In June 2017, Instagram revised its live-video functionality to allow users to add their live broadcast to their story for availability in the next 24 hours, or discard the broadcast immediately. In July, Instagram started allowing users to respond to Stories content by sending photos and videos, complete with Instagram effects such as filters, stickers, and hashtags.
Stories were made available for viewing on Instagram's mobile and desktop websites in late August 2017.
On December 5, 2017, Instagram introduced “Story Highlights”, also known as “Permanent Stories”, which are similar to Instagram Stories, but don't expire. They appear as circles below the profile picture and biography and are accessible from the desktop website as well.
In June 2018, the daily active story users of Instagram had reached 400 million users, and monthly active users had reached 1 billion active users.
Advertising:
Emily White joined Instagram as Director of Business Operations in April 2013 She stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September 2013 that the company should be ready to begin selling advertising by September 2014 as a way to generate business from a popular entity that had not yet created profit for its parent company.
White left Instagram in December 2013 to join Snapchat. In August 2014, James Quarles became Instagram's Global Head of Business and Brand Development, tasked with overseeing advertisement, sales efforts and developing new "monetization products." according to a spokesperson.
In October 2013, Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, 2013.
Video ads followed nearly a year later on October 30, 2014. In June 2014, Instagram announced the rollout of ads in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, with ads starting to roll out that autumn.
In March 2015, Instagram announced it would implement "carousel ads," allowing advertisers to display multiple images with options for linking to additional content. The company launched carousel image ads in October 2015, and video carousel ads in March 2016.
In May 2016, Instagram launched new tools for business accounts, including business profiles, analytics and the ability to promote posts as ads. To access the tools, businesses had to link a corresponding Facebook page. The new analytics page, known as Instagram Insights, allowed business accounts to view top posts, reach, impressions, engagement and demographic data.
Insights rolled out first in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and expanded to the rest of the world later in 2016.
In February 2016, Instagram announced that it had 200,000 advertisers on the platform. This number increased to 500,000 by September 2016, and 1 million in March 2017.
In November 2018, Instagram added the ability for business accounts to add product links directing users to a purchase page or to save them to a "shopping list." In April 2019,
Instagram added the option to "Checkout on Instagram," which allows merchants to sell products directly through the Instagram app.
In March 2020, via a blog post, Instagram announced that they are making major moderation changes in order to decrease the flow of disinformation, hoaxes and fake news regarding COVID-19 on its platform,
"We'll remove COVID-19 accounts from account recommendations, and we are working to remove some COVID-19 related content from Explore unless posted by a credible health organization. We will also start to downrank content in feed and Stories that has been rated false by third-party fact-checkers."
Stand-alone apps:
Instagram has developed and released three stand-alone apps with specialized functionality.
In July 2014, it released Bolt, a messaging app where users click on a friend's profile photo to quickly send an image, with the content disappearing after being seen. It was followed by the release of Hyperlapse in August, an iOS-exclusive app that uses "clever algorithm processing" to create tracking shots and fast time-lapse videos.
Microsoft launched a Hyperlapse app for Android and Windows in May 2015, but there has been no official Hyperlapse app from Instagram for either of these platforms to date. In October 2015, it released Boomerang, a video app that combines photos into short, one-second videos that play back-and-forth in a loop.
Third-party services:
The popularity of Instagram has led to a variety of third-party services designed to integrate with it, including services for creating content to post on the service and generating content from Instagram photos (including physical print-outs), analytics, and alternative clients for platforms with insufficient or no official support from Instagram (such as in the past, iPads).
In November 2015, Instagram announced that effective June 1, 2016, it would end "feed" API access to its platform in order to "maintain control for the community and provide a clear roadmap for developers" and "set up a more sustainable environment built around authentic experiences on the platform", including those oriented towards content creation, publishers, and advertisers.
It was reported that these changes were primarily intended to discourage third-party clients replicating the entire Instagram experience (due to increasing monetization of the service), and security reasons (such as preventing abuse by automated click farms, and the hijacking of accounts). In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Instagram began to impose further restrictions on its API in 2018.
User characteristics and behavior:
Users:
See also: List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Following the release in October, Instagram had one million registered users in December 2010. In June 2011, it announced that it had 5 million users, which increased to 10 million in September.
This growth continued to:
- 30 million users in April 2012,
- 80 million in July 2012
- 100 million in February 2013,
- 130 million in June 2013,
- 150 million in September 2013,
- 300 million in December 2014,
- 400 million in September 2015,
- 500 million in June 2016,
- 600 million in December 2016,
- 700 million in April 2017,[
- and 800 million in September 2017.
In October 2016, Instagram Stories reached 100 million active users, two months after launch. This increased to 150 million in January 2017, 200 million in April, surpassing Snapchat's user growth, and 250 million active users in June 2017.
In April 2017, Instagram Direct had 375 million monthly users.
In June 2011, Instagram passed 100 million photos uploaded to the service. This grew to 150 million in August 2011, and by June 2013, there were over 16 billion photos on the service.
In October 2015, there existed over 40 billion photos.
Demographics:
Instagram's users are divided equally with 50% iPhone owners and 50% Android owners. While Instagram has a neutral gender-bias format, 68% of Instagram users are female while 32% are male.
Instagram's geographical use is shown to favor urban areas as 17% of US adults who live in urban areas use Instagram while only 11% of adults in suburban and rural areas do so. While Instagram may appear to be one of the most widely used sites for photo sharing, only 7% of daily photo uploads, among the top four photo-sharing platforms, come from Instagram.
Instagram has been proven to attract the younger generation with 90% of the 150 million users under the age of 35. From June 2012 to June 2013, Instagram approximately doubled their number of users.
With regards to income, 15% of US Internet users who make less than $30,000 per year use Instagram, while 14% of those making $30,000 to $50,000, and 12% of users who make more than $50,000 per year do so.
With respect to the education demographic, respondents with some college education proved to be the most active on Instagram with 23%. Following behind, college graduates consist of 18% and users with a high school diploma or less make up 15%. Among these Instagram users, 24% say they use the app several times a day.
User behavior:
Ongoing research continues to explore how media content on the platform affects user engagement. Past research has found that media which show peoples' faces receive more 'likes' and comments and that using filters that increase warmth, exposure, and contrast also boosts engagement.
Users are more likely to engage with images that depict fewer individuals compared to groups and also are more likely to engage with content that has not been watermarked, as they view this content as less original and reliable compared to user-generated content.
Recently Instagram has come up with an option for users to apply for a verified account badge, however this does not guarantee every user who applies will get the verified blue tick.
The motives for using Instagram among young people are mainly to look at posts, particularly for the sake of social interactions and recreation. In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that
Instagram's emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication.
Impact
Awards:
Instagram was the runner-up for "Best Mobile App" at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies in January 2011.
In May 2011, Fast Company listed CEO Kevin Systrom at number 66 in "The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011".
In June 2011, Inc. included co-founders Systrom and Krieger in its 2011 "30 Under 30" list.
Instagram won "Best Locally Made App" in the SF Weekly Web Awards in September 2011.
7x7Magazine's September 2011 issue featured Systrom and Krieger on the cover of their "The Hot 20 2011" issue.
In December 2011, Apple Inc. named Instagram the "App of the Year" for 2011.
In 2015, Instagram was named No. 1 by Mashable on its list of "The 100 best iPhone apps of all time," noting Instagram as "one of the most influential social networks in the world."
Instagram was listed among Time's "50 Best Android Applications for 2013" list.
Mental health:
In May 2017, a survey conducted by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for Public Health, featuring 1,479 people aged 14–24, asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the "worst for young mental health".
Some have suggested it may contribute to digital dependence, whist this same survey noticed its positive effects, including self-expression, self-identity, and community building. In response to the survey,
Instagram stated that "Keeping Instagram a safe and supportive place for young people was a top priority". The company filters out the reviews and accounts. If some of the accounts violate Instagram's community guidelines, it will take action, which could include banning them.
In 2017, researchers from Harvard University and University of Vermont demonstrated a machine learning tool that successfully outperformed general practitioners' diagnostic success rate for depression. The tool used color analysis, metadata components, and face detection of users' feeds.
Throughout 2019, Instagram began to test the hiding of like counts for posts made by its users.
Negative comments:
In response to abusive and negative comments on users' photos, Instagram has made efforts to give users more control over their posts and accompanying comments field.
In July 2016, it announced that users would be able to turn off comments for their posts, as well as control the language used in comments by inputting words they consider offensive, which will ban applicable comments from showing up.
After the July 2016 announcement, the ability to ban specific words began rolling out early August to celebrities, followed by regular users in September. In December, the company began rolling out the abilities for users to turn off the comments and, for private accounts, remove followers.
In September 2017, the company announced that public users would be able to limit who can comment on their content, such as only their followers or people they follow. At the same time, it updated its automated comment filter to support additional languages.
In June 2017, Instagram announced that it would automatically attempt to filter offensive, harassing, and "spammy" comments by default. The system is built using a Facebook-developed deep learning algorithm known as DeepText (first implemented on the social network to detect spam comments), which utilizes natural-language processing techniques, and can also filter by user-specified keywords.
In July 2019, the service announced that it would introduce a system to proactively detect problematic comments and encourage the user to reconsider their comment, as well as allowing users the ability to "restrict" others' abilities to communicate with them, citing that younger users felt the existing block system was too much of an escalation.
Culture:
On August 9, 2012, English musician Ellie Goulding released a new music video for her song "Anything Could Happen." The video only contained fan-submitted Instagram photographs that used various filters to represent words or lyrics from the song, and over 1,200 different photographs were submitted.
Censorship and restricted content:
According to a Facebook spokesperson, on 11 January 2020, Instagram and its parent company Facebook are picking up posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions".
Illicit drugs:
Instagram has been the subject of criticism due to users publishing images of drugs they are selling on the platform. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Corresponding hashtags have been blocked as part of the company's response and a spokesperson engaged with the BBC explained: "Instagram has a clear set of rules about what is and isn't allowed on the site. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos."
However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Instagram's parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a "dedicated team" reviews the information.
In 2019, Facebook announced that influencers are no longer able to post any vape, tobacco products, and weapons promotions on Facebook and Instagram.
Women's bodies:
In October 2013, Instagram deleted the account of Canadian photographer Petra Collins after she posted a photo of herself in which a very small area of pubic hair was visible above the top of her bikini bottom. Collins claimed that the account deletion was unfounded because it did not break any of Instagram's terms and conditions.
Audra Schroeder of The Daily Dot further wrote that "Instagram's terms of use state users can't post "pornographic or sexually suggestive photos," but who actually gets to decide that?
You can indeed find more sexually suggestive photos on the site than Collins', where women show the side of "femininity" the world is "used to" seeing and accepting."
Nick Drewe of The Daily Beast wrote a report the same month focusing on hashtags that users are unable to search for, including #sex, #bubblebutt, and #ballsack, despite allowing #faketits, #gunsforsale and #sexytimes, calling the discrepancy "nonsensical and inconsistent".
Similar incidents occurred in January 2015, when Instagram deleted Australian fashion agency Sticks and Stones Agency's account because of a photograph including pubic hair sticking out of bikini bottoms, and March 2015, when artist and poet Rupi Kaur's photos of menstrual blood on clothing were removed, prompting a rallying post on her Facebook and Tumblr accounts with the text "We will not be censored", gaining over 11,000 shares.
The incidents have led to a #FreetheNipple campaign, aimed at challenging Instagram's removal of photos displaying women's nipples. Although Instagram has not made many comments on the campaign, an October 2015 explanation from CEO Kevin Systrom highlighted Apple's content guidelines for apps published through its App Store, including Instagram, in which apps must designate the appropriate age ranking for users, with the app's current rating being 12+ years of age.
However, this statement has also been called into question due to other apps with more explicit content allowed on the store, the lack of consequences for men exposing their bodies on Instagram, and for inconsistent treatment of what constitutes inappropriate exposure of the female body.
Censorship by countries:
Censorship of Instagram has occurred in several different countries:
China
See also: Internet censorship in China
Instagram has been blocked by China following the 2014 Hong Kong protests because a lot of videos and photos are posted. Hong Kong and Macau were not affected as they are special administrative regions of China.
Turkey:
Turkey is also known for its strict Internet censorship and periodically blocks social media including Instagram.
North Korea
See also: Internet in North Korea
A few days after a fire incident that happened in the Koryo Hotel in North Korea in June 11, 2015, authorities began to block Instagram to prevent photos of the incident from being spread out.
Criticism
Security:
In August 2017, reports surfaced that a bug in Instagram's developer tools had allowed "one or more individuals" to gain access to the contact information, specifically email addresses and phone numbers, of several high-profile verified accounts, including its most followed user, Selena Gomez.
The company said in a statement that it had "fixed the bug swiftly" and was running an investigation. However, the following month, more details emerged, with a group of hackers selling contact information online, with the affected number of accounts in the "millions" rather than the previously-assumed limitation on verified accounts.
Hours after the hack, a searchable database was posted online, charging $10 per search. The Daily Beast was provided with a sample of the affected accounts, and could confirm that, while many of the email addresses could be found with a Google search in public sources, some did not return relevant Google search results and thus were from private sources.
The Verge wrote that cybersecurity firm RepKnight had found contact information for multiple actors, musicians, and athletes, and singer Selena Gomez's account was used by the hackers to post naked photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.
The company admitted that "we cannot determine which specific accounts may have been impacted", but believed that "it was a low percentage of Instagram accounts", though TechCrunch stated in its report that six million accounts were affected by the hack, and that "Instagram services more than 700 million accounts; six million is not a small number".
In 2019, Apple pulled an app that let users stalk people on Instagram by scraping accounts and collecting data.
Content ownership:
On December 17, 2012, Instagram announced a change to its Terms of Service policy, adding the following sentence:
"To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you."
There was no option for users to opt out of the changed Terms of Service without deleting their accounts before the new policy went into effect on January 16, 2013.
The move garnered severe criticism from users, prompting Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to write a blog post one day later, announcing that they would "remove" the offending language from the policy.
Citing misinterpretations about its intention to "communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram", Systrom also stated that it was "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that "it is not our intention to sell your photos". Furthermore, he wrote that they would work on "updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear".
The policy change and its backlash caused competing photo services to use the opportunity to "try to lure users away" by promoting their privacy-friendly services, and some services experienced substantial gains in momentum and user growth following the news.
On December 20, Instagram announced that the advertising section of the policy would be reverted to its original October 2010 version.
The Verge wrote about that policy as well, however, noting that the original policy gives the company right to "place such advertising and promotions on the Instagram Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your Content", meaning that "Instagram has always had the right to use your photos in ads, almost any way it wants. We could have had the exact same freak-out last week, or a year ago, or the day Instagram launched".
The policy update also introduced an arbitration clause, which remained even after the language pertaining to advertising and user content had been modified.
Algorithm and design changes:
In April 2016, Instagram began rolling out a change to the order of photos visible in a user's timeline, shifting from a strictly chronological order to one determined by an algorithm.
Instagram said the algorithm was designed so that users would see more of the photos by users that they liked, but there was significant negative feedback, with many users asking their followers to turn on post notifications in order to make sure they see updates.
The company wrote a tweet to users upset at the prospect of the change, but did not back down, nor provide a way to change it back.
Since 2017, Instagram has employed the ability to reduce the prominence of accounts ("shadowbanning") it believes may be generating non-genuine engagement and spam (including excessive use of unneeded hashtags), preventing posts from appearing in search results and in the app's Explore section.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Instagram wrote that "When developing content, we recommend focusing on your business objective or goal rather than hashtags".
Instagram has since been accused of extending the practice to censor posts under vague and inconsistent circumstances, particularly in regards to sexually suggestive material.
Instagram caused the userbase to fall into outrage, with the December 2018 update. They found an attempt to alter the flow of the feed from the traditional vertical scroll to emulate and piggy-back the popularity of their Instagram Stories with a horizontal scroll, by swiping left. Various backtracking statements were released explaining it as a bug, or as a test release that had been accidentally deployed to too large an audience.
Facebook acquisition as a violation of US antitrust law:
Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu has given public talks explaining that Facebook's 2012 purchase of Instagram was a felony. A New York Post article published on February 26, 2019, reported that "the FTC had uncovered [a document] by a high-ranking Facebook executive who said the reason the company was buying Instagram was to eliminate a potential competitor"
As Wu explains, this is a violation of US antitrust law (see monopoly). Wu stated that this document was an email directly from Mark Zuckerberg, whereas the Post article had stated that their source had declined to say whether the high-ranking executive was the CEO.
The article reported that the FTC "has formed a task force to review “anti-competitive conduct” in the tech world amid concerns that tech companies are growing too powerful. The task force will look at “the full panoply of remedies” if it finds “competitive harm,” FTC competition bureau director Bruce Hoffman told reporters."
Algorithmic advertisement with a rape threat:
In 2016, Olivia Solon, a reporter for The Guardian, posted a screenshot to her Instagram profile of an email she had received containing threats of rape and murder towards her. The photo post had received three likes and countless comments, and in September 2017, the company's algorithms turned the photo into an advertisement visible to Solon's sister.
An Instagram spokesperson apologized and told The Guardian that "We are sorry this happened – it's not the experience we want someone to have. This notification post was surfaced as part of an effort to encourage engagement on Instagram. Posts are generally received by a small percentage of a person's Facebook friends".
As noted by the technology media, the incident occurred at the same time parent company Facebook was under scrutiny for its algorithms and advertising campaigns being used for offensive and negative purposes.
In popular culture:
- Social Animals (documentary film): A documentary film about three teenagers growing up on Instagram.
- Instagram model: a term for models who gain their success as a result of the large number of followers they have on Instagram.
- Instagram Pier: a cargo working area in Hong Kong that gained its nickname due to its popularity on Instagram.
- Instatoon: cartoons which are on Instagram called in Korea
See also:
- Official website
- Instagram on Facebook
- Rose, Kevin (May 30, 2013). "A #Nofilter Conversation with the founders of Instagram" (podcast). Commonwealth Club.
- "Instagram: Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger" (podcast). How I Built This. NPR. September 19, 2016.
- Dronestagram
- Hyperlapse
- Internet celebrity
- Pheed
- Pixnet
- Timeline of social media
Instant Messaging
- YouTube Video: How to Send and Receive Text Messages on Your iPhone For Dummies
- YouTube Video: 8 Secret Messages Sent by Hostages That Saved Their Lives
- YouTube Video: Dangers of Texting While Driving -- Liz Marks Texting & Driving Story
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network.
Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all connected on a common network. It differs from email in that conversations over instant messaging happen in real-time (hence "instant").
Most modern IM applications (sometimes called "social messengers", "messaging apps" or "chat apps") use push technology and also add other features such as emojis (or graphical smileys), file transfer, chatbots, Voice over IP, or video chat capabilities.
Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate connections between specified known users (often using a contact list also known as a "buddy list" or "friend list"), and can be standalone applications or integrated into e.g. a wider social media platform, or a website where it can for instance be used for conversational commerce. IM can also consist of conversations in "chat rooms".
Depending on the IM protocol, the technical architecture can be peer-to-peer (direct point-to-point transmission) or client–server (an IM service center retransmits messages from the sender to the communication device). It is usually distinguished from text messaging which is typically simpler and normally uses cellular phone networks.
Instant messaging was pioneered in the early Internet era; the IRC protocol was the earliest to achieve wide adoption. Later in the 1990s, ICQ was among the first closed and commercialized instant messengers, and several rival services appeared afterwards as it became a popular use of the Internet.
Beginning with its first introduction in 2005, BlackBerry Messenger, which initially had been available only on BlackBerry smartphones, soon became one of the most popular mobile instant messaging apps worldwide.
BBM was for instance the most used mobile messaging app in the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Instant messaging remains very popular today; IM apps are the most widely used smartphone apps: in 2018 there were over 1.3 billion monthly users of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and 980 million monthly active users of WeChat.
Overview:
Instant messaging is a set of communication technologies used for text-based communication between two (private messaging) or more (chat room) participants over the Internet or other types of networks (see also LAN messenger).
IM–chat happens in real-time. Of importance is that online chat and instant messaging differ from other technologies such as email due to the perceived quasi-synchrony of the communications by the users. Some systems permit messages to be sent to users not then 'logged on' (offline messages), thus removing some differences between IM and email (often done by sending the message to the associated email account).
IM allows effective and efficient communication, allowing immediate receipt of acknowledgment or reply. However IM is basically not necessarily supported by transaction control.
In many cases, instant messaging includes added features which can make it even more popular. For example, users may see each other via webcams, or talk directly for free over the Internet using a microphone and headphones or loudspeakers. Many applications allow file transfers, although they are usually limited in the permissible file-size. It is usually possible to save a text conversation for later reference. Instant messages are often logged in a local message history, making it similar to the persistent nature of emails.
Major IM services are controlled by their corresponding companies. They usually follow the client–server model when all clients have to first connect to the central server. This requires users to trust this server because messages can generally be accessed by the company. Companies can be compelled to reveal their user's communication. Companies can also suspend user accounts for any reason.
Non-IM types of chat include multicast transmission, usually referred to as "chat rooms", where participants might be anonymous or might be previously known to each other (for example collaborators on a project that is using chat to facilitate communication).
An Instant Message Service Center (IMSC) is a network element in the mobile telephone network which delivers instant messages. When a user sends an IM message to another user, the phone sends the message to the IMSC. The IMSC stores the message and delivers it to the destination user when they are available. The IMSC usually has a configurable time limit for how long it will store the message.
Few companies who make many of the IMSCs in use in the GSM world are Miyowa, Followap and OZ. Other players include Acision, Colibria, Ericsson, Nokia, Comverse Technology, Now Wireless, Jinny Software, Miyowa, Feelingk and few others.
The term "Instant Messenger" is a service mark of Time Warner and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, in April 2007, the instant messaging client formerly named Gaim (or gaim) announced that they would be renamed "Pidgin".
Clients:
See also: Comparison of instant messaging clients and Comparison of user features of messaging platforms
Each modern IM service generally provides its own client, either a separately installed piece of software, or a browser-based client. They are normally centralized networks run by the servers of the platform's operators, unlike peer-to-peer protocols like XMPP. These usually only work within the same IM network, although some allow limited function with other services.
Third party client software applications exist that will connect with most of the major IM services. There is the class of instant messengers that uses the serverless model, which doesn't require servers, and the IM network consists only of clients. There are several serverless messengers: RetroShare, Tox, Bitmessage, Ricochet, Ring.
Some examples of popular IM services today include the following:
The popularity of certain apps greatly differ between different countries. Certain apps have emphasis on certain uses - for example Skype focuses on video calling, Slack focuses on messaging and file sharing for work teams, and Snapchat focuses on image messages.
Some social networking services offer messaging services as a component of their overall platform, such as Facebook's Facebook Messenger, while others have a direct messaging function as an additional adjunct component of their social networking platforms, like Instagram, Reddit, Tumblr, TikTok, Clubhouse and Twitter, either directly or through chat rooms.
Features:
Private and group messaging:
Private chat allows private conversation with another person or a group. The privacy aspect can also be enhanced as applications have a timer feature, like Snapchat, where messages or conversations are automatically deleted once the time limit is reached. Public and group chat features allow users to communicate with multiple people at a time.
Calling:
Many major IM services and applications offer the call feature for user-to-user calls, conference calls, and voice messages. The call functionality is useful for professionals who utilize the application for work purposes and as a hands-free method. Videotelephony using a webcam is also possible by some.
Games and entertainment:
Some IM applications include in-app games for entertainment. Yahoo! Messenger for example introduced these where users could play a game and viewed by friends in real-time. The Facebook Messenger application has a built in option to play computer games with people in a chat, including games like Tetris and Blackjack.
Payments:
Though a relatively new feature, peer-to-peer payments are available on major messaging platforms. This functionality allows individuals to use one application for both communication and financial tasks. The lack of a service fee also makes messaging apps advantageous to financial applications.
Major platforms such as Facebook messenger and WeChat already offer a payment feature, and this functionality is likely to become a standard amongst IM apps competing in the market.
Interoperability:
Standard complementary instant messaging applications offer functions like file transfer, contact list(s), the ability to hold several simultaneous conversations, etc. These may be all the functions that a small business needs, but larger organizations will require more sophisticated applications that can work together.
The solution to finding applications capable of this is to use enterprise versions of instant messaging applications. These include titles like XMPP, Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office Communicator, etc., which are often integrated with other enterprise applications such as workflow systems. These enterprise applications, or enterprise application integration (EAI), are built to certain constraints, namely storing data in a common format.
There have been several attempts to create a unified standard for instant messaging:, including:
Most attempts at producing a unified standard for the major IM providers (AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft) have failed, and each continues to use its own proprietary protocol.
However, while discussions at IETF were stalled, Reuters signed the first inter-service provider connectivity agreement in September 2003. This agreement enabled AIM, ICQ and MSN Messenger users to talk with Reuters Messaging counterparts and vice versa.
Following this, Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL agreed to a deal in which Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 users would also have the possibility to talk to public instant messaging users. This deal established SIP/SIMPLE as a standard for protocol interoperability and established a connectivity fee for accessing public instant messaging groups or services.
Separately, on October 13, 2005, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced that by the 3rd quarter of 2006 they would interoperate using SIP/SIMPLE, which was followed, in December 2005, by the AOL and Google strategic partnership deal in which Google Talk users would be able to communicate with AIM and ICQ users provided they have an AIM account.
There are two ways to combine the many disparate protocols:
Some approaches allow organizations to deploy their own, private instant messaging network by enabling them to restrict access to the server (often with the IM network entirely behind their firewall) and administer user permissions. Other corporate messaging systems allow registered users to also connect from outside the corporation LAN, by using an encrypted, firewall-friendly, HTTPS-based protocol.
Usually, a dedicated corporate IM server has several advantages, such as pre-populated contact lists, integrated authentication, and better security and privacy.
Certain networks have made changes to prevent them from being used by such multi-network IM clients. For example, Trillian had to release several revisions and patches to allow its users to access the MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! networks, after changes were made to these networks. The major IM providers usually cite the need for formal agreements, and security concerns as reasons for making these changes.
The use of proprietary protocols has meant that many instant messaging networks have been incompatible and users have been unable to reach users on other networks. This may have allowed social networking with IM-like features and text messaging an opportunity to gain market share at the expense of IM.
Effects of IM on communication:
Messaging applications have affected the way people communicate on their devices. A survey conducted by MetrixLabs showed that messaging applications 63% of Baby Boomers, 63% of Generation X, and 67% of Generation Y said that they used messaging applications in place of texting.
A Facebook survey showed that 65% of people surveyed thought that messaging applications made group messaging easier.
Effects on workplace communication:
Messaging applications have also changed how people communicate in the workplace. Enterprise messaging applications like Slack, TeleMessage, Teamnote and Yammer allow companies to enforce policies on how employees message at work and ensure secure storage of sensitive data. Message applications allow employees to separate work information from their personal emails and texts.
Messaging applications may make workplace communication efficient, but they can also have consequences on productivity. A study at Slack showed on average, people spend 10 hours a day on Slack, which is about 67% more time than they spend using email.
IM language:
See also: SMS language
Users sometimes make use of internet slang or text speak to abbreviate common words or expressions to quicken conversations or reduce keystrokes. The language has become widespread, with well-known expressions such as 'lol' translated over to face-to-face language.
Emotions are often expressed in shorthand, such as the abbreviation LOL, BRB and TTYL; respectively laugh(ing) out loud, be right back, and talk to you later.
Some, however, attempt to be more accurate with emotional expression over IM. Real time reactions such as (chortle) (snort) (guffaw) or (eye-roll) are becoming more popular. Also there are certain standards that are being introduced into mainstream conversations including, '#' indicates the use of sarcasm in a statement and '*' which indicates a spelling mistake and/or grammatical error in the prior message, followed by a correction.
Business application:
Instant messaging has proven to be similar to personal computers, email, and the World Wide Web, in that its adoption for use as a business communications medium was driven primarily by individual employees using consumer software at work, rather than by formal mandate or provisioning by corporate information technology departments.
Tens of millions of the consumer IM accounts in use are being used for business purposes by employees of companies and other organizations.
In response to the demand for business-grade IM and the need to ensure security and legal compliance, a new type of instant messaging, called "Enterprise Instant Messaging" ("EIM") was created when Lotus Software launched IBM Lotus Sametime in 1998.
Microsoft followed suit shortly thereafter with Microsoft Exchange Instant Messaging, later created a new platform called Microsoft Office Live Communications Server, and released Office Communications Server 2007 in October 2007.
Oracle Corporation also jumped into the market with its Oracle Beehive unified collaboration software.
Both IBM Lotus and Microsoft have introduced federation between their EIM systems and some of the public IM networks so that employees may use one interface to both their internal EIM system and their contacts on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo.
As of 2010, leading EIM platforms include the following:
Industry-focused EIM platforms such as Reuters Messaging and Bloomberg Messaging also provide IM abilities to financial services companies.
The adoption of IM across corporate networks outside of the control of IT organizations creates risks and liabilities for companies who do not effectively manage and support IM use.
Companies implement specialized IM archiving and security products and services to mitigate these risks and provide safe, secure, productive instant messaging abilities to their employees. IM is increasingly becoming a feature of enterprise software rather than a stand-alone application.
IM products can usually be categorized into two types: Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) and Consumer Instant Messaging (CIM). Enterprise solutions use an internal IM server, however this is not always feasible, particularly for smaller businesses with limited budgets. The second option, using a CIM provides the advantage of being inexpensive to implement and has little need for investing in new hardware or server software.
For corporate use, encryption and conversation archiving are usually regarded as important features due to security concerns. There are also a bunch of open source encrypting messengers. Sometimes the use of different operating systems in organizations requires use of software that supports more than one platform. For example, many software companies use Windows in administration departments but have software developers who use Linux.
Comparison to SMS:
SMS is the acronym for “short message service” and allows mobile phone users to send text messages without an Internet connection, while instant messaging provides similar services through an Internet connection.
SMS was a much more dominant form of communication before, when smartphones became widely used globally. While SMS relied on traditional paid telephone services, instant messaging apps on mobiles were available for free or a minor data charge. In 2012 SMS volume peaked, and in 2013 chat apps surpassed SMS in global message volume.
Easier group messaging was another advantage of smartphone messaging apps and also contributed to their adoption. Before the introduction of messaging apps, smartphone users could only participate in single-person interactions via mobile voice calls or SMS.
With the introduction of messaging apps, the group chat functionality allows all the members to see an entire thread of everyone's responses. Members can also respond directly to each other, rather than having to go through the member who started the group message, to relay the information.
However, SMS still remains popular in the United States because it is usually included free in monthly phone bundles. While SMS volumes in some countries like Denmark, Spain and Singapore dropped up to two-thirds from 2011 to 2013, in the United States SMS use only dropped by about one quarter.
Security and archiving:
See also: Secure instant messaging
Crackers (malicious or black hat hackers) have consistently used IM networks as vectors for delivering phishing attempts, "poison URLs", and virus-laden file attachments from 2004 to the present, with over 1100 discrete attacks listed by the IM Security Center in 2004–2007.
Hackers use two methods of delivering malicious code through IM: delivery of viruses, trojan horses, or spyware within an infected file, and the use of "socially engineered" text with a web address that entices the recipient to click on a URL connecting him or her to a website that then downloads malicious code.
Viruses, computer worms, and trojans usually propagate by sending themselves rapidly through the infected user's contact list. An effective attack using a poisoned URL may reach tens of thousands of users in a short period when each user's contact list receives messages appearing to be from a trusted friend.
The recipients click on the web address, and the entire cycle starts again. Infections may range from nuisance to criminal, and are becoming more sophisticated each year.
IM connections sometimes occur in plain text, making them vulnerable to eavesdropping.
Also, IM client software often requires the user to expose open UDP ports to the world, raising the threat posed by potential security vulnerabilities.
In the early 2000s, a new class of IT security provider emerged to provide remedies for the risks and liabilities faced by corporations who chose to use IM for business communications.
The IM security providers created new products to be installed in corporate networks for the purpose of archiving, content-scanning, and security-scanning IM traffic moving in and out of the corporation. Similar to the e-mail filtering vendors, the IM security providers focus on the risks and liabilities described above.
With rapid adoption of IM in the workplace, demand for IM security products began to grow in the mid-2000s. By 2007, the preferred platform for the purchase of security software had become the "computer appliance", according to IDC, who estimated that by 2008, 80% of network security products would be delivered via an appliance.
By 2014 however, the level of safety offered by instant messengers was still extremely poor. According to a scorecard made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, only 7 out of 39 instant messengers received a perfect score, whereas the most popular instant messengers at the time only attained a score of 2 out of 7. A number of studies have shown that IM services are quite vulnerable for providing user privacy.
Encryption:
Encryption is the primary method that messaging apps use to protect user's data privacy and security. SMS messages are not encrypted, making them insecure, as the content of each SMS message is visible to mobile carriers and governments and can be intercepted by a third party.
SMS messages also leak metadata, or information about the message that is not the message content itself, such as phone numbers of the sender and recipient, which can identify the people involved in the conversation. SMS messages can also be spoofed and the sender of the message can be edited to impersonate another person.
Messaging applications on the market that use end-to-end encryption include Signal, WhatsApp, Wire and iMessage. Applications that have been criticized for lacking or poor encryption methods include Telegram and Confide, as both are prone to error.
Compliance risks:
In addition to the malicious code threat, the use of instant messaging at work also creates a risk of non-compliance to laws and regulations governing use of electronic communications in businesses.
In the United States alone there are over 10,000 laws and regulations related to electronic messaging and records retention. The better-known of these include the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, HIPAA, and SEC 17a-3.
Clarification from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) was issued to member firms in the financial services industry in December, 2007, noting that "electronic communications", "email", and "electronic correspondence" may be used interchangeably and can include such forms of electronic messaging as instant messaging and text messaging.
Changes to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, effective December 1, 2006, created a new category for electronic records which may be requested during discovery in legal proceedings.
Most nations also regulate use of electronic messaging and electronic records retention in similar fashion as the United States. The most common regulations related to IM at work involve the need to produce archived business communications to satisfy government or judicial requests under law. Many instant messaging communications fall into the category of business communications that must be archived and retrievable.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Instant Messaging:
Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all connected on a common network. It differs from email in that conversations over instant messaging happen in real-time (hence "instant").
Most modern IM applications (sometimes called "social messengers", "messaging apps" or "chat apps") use push technology and also add other features such as emojis (or graphical smileys), file transfer, chatbots, Voice over IP, or video chat capabilities.
Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate connections between specified known users (often using a contact list also known as a "buddy list" or "friend list"), and can be standalone applications or integrated into e.g. a wider social media platform, or a website where it can for instance be used for conversational commerce. IM can also consist of conversations in "chat rooms".
Depending on the IM protocol, the technical architecture can be peer-to-peer (direct point-to-point transmission) or client–server (an IM service center retransmits messages from the sender to the communication device). It is usually distinguished from text messaging which is typically simpler and normally uses cellular phone networks.
Instant messaging was pioneered in the early Internet era; the IRC protocol was the earliest to achieve wide adoption. Later in the 1990s, ICQ was among the first closed and commercialized instant messengers, and several rival services appeared afterwards as it became a popular use of the Internet.
Beginning with its first introduction in 2005, BlackBerry Messenger, which initially had been available only on BlackBerry smartphones, soon became one of the most popular mobile instant messaging apps worldwide.
BBM was for instance the most used mobile messaging app in the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Instant messaging remains very popular today; IM apps are the most widely used smartphone apps: in 2018 there were over 1.3 billion monthly users of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and 980 million monthly active users of WeChat.
Overview:
Instant messaging is a set of communication technologies used for text-based communication between two (private messaging) or more (chat room) participants over the Internet or other types of networks (see also LAN messenger).
IM–chat happens in real-time. Of importance is that online chat and instant messaging differ from other technologies such as email due to the perceived quasi-synchrony of the communications by the users. Some systems permit messages to be sent to users not then 'logged on' (offline messages), thus removing some differences between IM and email (often done by sending the message to the associated email account).
IM allows effective and efficient communication, allowing immediate receipt of acknowledgment or reply. However IM is basically not necessarily supported by transaction control.
In many cases, instant messaging includes added features which can make it even more popular. For example, users may see each other via webcams, or talk directly for free over the Internet using a microphone and headphones or loudspeakers. Many applications allow file transfers, although they are usually limited in the permissible file-size. It is usually possible to save a text conversation for later reference. Instant messages are often logged in a local message history, making it similar to the persistent nature of emails.
Major IM services are controlled by their corresponding companies. They usually follow the client–server model when all clients have to first connect to the central server. This requires users to trust this server because messages can generally be accessed by the company. Companies can be compelled to reveal their user's communication. Companies can also suspend user accounts for any reason.
Non-IM types of chat include multicast transmission, usually referred to as "chat rooms", where participants might be anonymous or might be previously known to each other (for example collaborators on a project that is using chat to facilitate communication).
An Instant Message Service Center (IMSC) is a network element in the mobile telephone network which delivers instant messages. When a user sends an IM message to another user, the phone sends the message to the IMSC. The IMSC stores the message and delivers it to the destination user when they are available. The IMSC usually has a configurable time limit for how long it will store the message.
Few companies who make many of the IMSCs in use in the GSM world are Miyowa, Followap and OZ. Other players include Acision, Colibria, Ericsson, Nokia, Comverse Technology, Now Wireless, Jinny Software, Miyowa, Feelingk and few others.
The term "Instant Messenger" is a service mark of Time Warner and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, in April 2007, the instant messaging client formerly named Gaim (or gaim) announced that they would be renamed "Pidgin".
Clients:
See also: Comparison of instant messaging clients and Comparison of user features of messaging platforms
Each modern IM service generally provides its own client, either a separately installed piece of software, or a browser-based client. They are normally centralized networks run by the servers of the platform's operators, unlike peer-to-peer protocols like XMPP. These usually only work within the same IM network, although some allow limited function with other services.
Third party client software applications exist that will connect with most of the major IM services. There is the class of instant messengers that uses the serverless model, which doesn't require servers, and the IM network consists only of clients. There are several serverless messengers: RetroShare, Tox, Bitmessage, Ricochet, Ring.
Some examples of popular IM services today include the following:
- WhatsApp,
- Facebook Messenger,
- WeChat,
- QQ Messenger,
- Telegram,
- Viber,
- Line,
- and Snapchat.
The popularity of certain apps greatly differ between different countries. Certain apps have emphasis on certain uses - for example Skype focuses on video calling, Slack focuses on messaging and file sharing for work teams, and Snapchat focuses on image messages.
Some social networking services offer messaging services as a component of their overall platform, such as Facebook's Facebook Messenger, while others have a direct messaging function as an additional adjunct component of their social networking platforms, like Instagram, Reddit, Tumblr, TikTok, Clubhouse and Twitter, either directly or through chat rooms.
Features:
Private and group messaging:
Private chat allows private conversation with another person or a group. The privacy aspect can also be enhanced as applications have a timer feature, like Snapchat, where messages or conversations are automatically deleted once the time limit is reached. Public and group chat features allow users to communicate with multiple people at a time.
Calling:
Many major IM services and applications offer the call feature for user-to-user calls, conference calls, and voice messages. The call functionality is useful for professionals who utilize the application for work purposes and as a hands-free method. Videotelephony using a webcam is also possible by some.
Games and entertainment:
Some IM applications include in-app games for entertainment. Yahoo! Messenger for example introduced these where users could play a game and viewed by friends in real-time. The Facebook Messenger application has a built in option to play computer games with people in a chat, including games like Tetris and Blackjack.
Payments:
Though a relatively new feature, peer-to-peer payments are available on major messaging platforms. This functionality allows individuals to use one application for both communication and financial tasks. The lack of a service fee also makes messaging apps advantageous to financial applications.
Major platforms such as Facebook messenger and WeChat already offer a payment feature, and this functionality is likely to become a standard amongst IM apps competing in the market.
Interoperability:
Standard complementary instant messaging applications offer functions like file transfer, contact list(s), the ability to hold several simultaneous conversations, etc. These may be all the functions that a small business needs, but larger organizations will require more sophisticated applications that can work together.
The solution to finding applications capable of this is to use enterprise versions of instant messaging applications. These include titles like XMPP, Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office Communicator, etc., which are often integrated with other enterprise applications such as workflow systems. These enterprise applications, or enterprise application integration (EAI), are built to certain constraints, namely storing data in a common format.
There have been several attempts to create a unified standard for instant messaging:, including:
- IETF's Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE),
- Application Exchange (APEX),
- Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol (IMPP),
- the open XML-based Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP),
- and Open Mobile Alliance's Instant Messaging and Presence Service developed specifically for mobile devices.
Most attempts at producing a unified standard for the major IM providers (AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft) have failed, and each continues to use its own proprietary protocol.
However, while discussions at IETF were stalled, Reuters signed the first inter-service provider connectivity agreement in September 2003. This agreement enabled AIM, ICQ and MSN Messenger users to talk with Reuters Messaging counterparts and vice versa.
Following this, Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL agreed to a deal in which Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 users would also have the possibility to talk to public instant messaging users. This deal established SIP/SIMPLE as a standard for protocol interoperability and established a connectivity fee for accessing public instant messaging groups or services.
Separately, on October 13, 2005, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced that by the 3rd quarter of 2006 they would interoperate using SIP/SIMPLE, which was followed, in December 2005, by the AOL and Google strategic partnership deal in which Google Talk users would be able to communicate with AIM and ICQ users provided they have an AIM account.
There are two ways to combine the many disparate protocols:
- Combine the many disparate protocols inside the IM client application.
- Combine the many disparate protocols inside the IM server application. This approach moves the task of communicating with the other services to the server. Clients need not know or care about other IM protocols. For example, LCS 2005 Public IM Connectivity. This approach is popular in XMPP servers; however, the so-called transport projects suffer the same reverse engineering difficulties as any other project involved with closed protocols or formats.
Some approaches allow organizations to deploy their own, private instant messaging network by enabling them to restrict access to the server (often with the IM network entirely behind their firewall) and administer user permissions. Other corporate messaging systems allow registered users to also connect from outside the corporation LAN, by using an encrypted, firewall-friendly, HTTPS-based protocol.
Usually, a dedicated corporate IM server has several advantages, such as pre-populated contact lists, integrated authentication, and better security and privacy.
Certain networks have made changes to prevent them from being used by such multi-network IM clients. For example, Trillian had to release several revisions and patches to allow its users to access the MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! networks, after changes were made to these networks. The major IM providers usually cite the need for formal agreements, and security concerns as reasons for making these changes.
The use of proprietary protocols has meant that many instant messaging networks have been incompatible and users have been unable to reach users on other networks. This may have allowed social networking with IM-like features and text messaging an opportunity to gain market share at the expense of IM.
Effects of IM on communication:
Messaging applications have affected the way people communicate on their devices. A survey conducted by MetrixLabs showed that messaging applications 63% of Baby Boomers, 63% of Generation X, and 67% of Generation Y said that they used messaging applications in place of texting.
A Facebook survey showed that 65% of people surveyed thought that messaging applications made group messaging easier.
Effects on workplace communication:
Messaging applications have also changed how people communicate in the workplace. Enterprise messaging applications like Slack, TeleMessage, Teamnote and Yammer allow companies to enforce policies on how employees message at work and ensure secure storage of sensitive data. Message applications allow employees to separate work information from their personal emails and texts.
Messaging applications may make workplace communication efficient, but they can also have consequences on productivity. A study at Slack showed on average, people spend 10 hours a day on Slack, which is about 67% more time than they spend using email.
IM language:
See also: SMS language
Users sometimes make use of internet slang or text speak to abbreviate common words or expressions to quicken conversations or reduce keystrokes. The language has become widespread, with well-known expressions such as 'lol' translated over to face-to-face language.
Emotions are often expressed in shorthand, such as the abbreviation LOL, BRB and TTYL; respectively laugh(ing) out loud, be right back, and talk to you later.
Some, however, attempt to be more accurate with emotional expression over IM. Real time reactions such as (chortle) (snort) (guffaw) or (eye-roll) are becoming more popular. Also there are certain standards that are being introduced into mainstream conversations including, '#' indicates the use of sarcasm in a statement and '*' which indicates a spelling mistake and/or grammatical error in the prior message, followed by a correction.
Business application:
Instant messaging has proven to be similar to personal computers, email, and the World Wide Web, in that its adoption for use as a business communications medium was driven primarily by individual employees using consumer software at work, rather than by formal mandate or provisioning by corporate information technology departments.
Tens of millions of the consumer IM accounts in use are being used for business purposes by employees of companies and other organizations.
In response to the demand for business-grade IM and the need to ensure security and legal compliance, a new type of instant messaging, called "Enterprise Instant Messaging" ("EIM") was created when Lotus Software launched IBM Lotus Sametime in 1998.
Microsoft followed suit shortly thereafter with Microsoft Exchange Instant Messaging, later created a new platform called Microsoft Office Live Communications Server, and released Office Communications Server 2007 in October 2007.
Oracle Corporation also jumped into the market with its Oracle Beehive unified collaboration software.
Both IBM Lotus and Microsoft have introduced federation between their EIM systems and some of the public IM networks so that employees may use one interface to both their internal EIM system and their contacts on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo.
As of 2010, leading EIM platforms include the following:
- IBM Lotus Sametime,
- Microsoft Office Communications Server,
- Jabber XCP
- and Cisco Unified Presence.
Industry-focused EIM platforms such as Reuters Messaging and Bloomberg Messaging also provide IM abilities to financial services companies.
The adoption of IM across corporate networks outside of the control of IT organizations creates risks and liabilities for companies who do not effectively manage and support IM use.
Companies implement specialized IM archiving and security products and services to mitigate these risks and provide safe, secure, productive instant messaging abilities to their employees. IM is increasingly becoming a feature of enterprise software rather than a stand-alone application.
IM products can usually be categorized into two types: Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) and Consumer Instant Messaging (CIM). Enterprise solutions use an internal IM server, however this is not always feasible, particularly for smaller businesses with limited budgets. The second option, using a CIM provides the advantage of being inexpensive to implement and has little need for investing in new hardware or server software.
For corporate use, encryption and conversation archiving are usually regarded as important features due to security concerns. There are also a bunch of open source encrypting messengers. Sometimes the use of different operating systems in organizations requires use of software that supports more than one platform. For example, many software companies use Windows in administration departments but have software developers who use Linux.
Comparison to SMS:
SMS is the acronym for “short message service” and allows mobile phone users to send text messages without an Internet connection, while instant messaging provides similar services through an Internet connection.
SMS was a much more dominant form of communication before, when smartphones became widely used globally. While SMS relied on traditional paid telephone services, instant messaging apps on mobiles were available for free or a minor data charge. In 2012 SMS volume peaked, and in 2013 chat apps surpassed SMS in global message volume.
Easier group messaging was another advantage of smartphone messaging apps and also contributed to their adoption. Before the introduction of messaging apps, smartphone users could only participate in single-person interactions via mobile voice calls or SMS.
With the introduction of messaging apps, the group chat functionality allows all the members to see an entire thread of everyone's responses. Members can also respond directly to each other, rather than having to go through the member who started the group message, to relay the information.
However, SMS still remains popular in the United States because it is usually included free in monthly phone bundles. While SMS volumes in some countries like Denmark, Spain and Singapore dropped up to two-thirds from 2011 to 2013, in the United States SMS use only dropped by about one quarter.
Security and archiving:
See also: Secure instant messaging
Crackers (malicious or black hat hackers) have consistently used IM networks as vectors for delivering phishing attempts, "poison URLs", and virus-laden file attachments from 2004 to the present, with over 1100 discrete attacks listed by the IM Security Center in 2004–2007.
Hackers use two methods of delivering malicious code through IM: delivery of viruses, trojan horses, or spyware within an infected file, and the use of "socially engineered" text with a web address that entices the recipient to click on a URL connecting him or her to a website that then downloads malicious code.
Viruses, computer worms, and trojans usually propagate by sending themselves rapidly through the infected user's contact list. An effective attack using a poisoned URL may reach tens of thousands of users in a short period when each user's contact list receives messages appearing to be from a trusted friend.
The recipients click on the web address, and the entire cycle starts again. Infections may range from nuisance to criminal, and are becoming more sophisticated each year.
IM connections sometimes occur in plain text, making them vulnerable to eavesdropping.
Also, IM client software often requires the user to expose open UDP ports to the world, raising the threat posed by potential security vulnerabilities.
In the early 2000s, a new class of IT security provider emerged to provide remedies for the risks and liabilities faced by corporations who chose to use IM for business communications.
The IM security providers created new products to be installed in corporate networks for the purpose of archiving, content-scanning, and security-scanning IM traffic moving in and out of the corporation. Similar to the e-mail filtering vendors, the IM security providers focus on the risks and liabilities described above.
With rapid adoption of IM in the workplace, demand for IM security products began to grow in the mid-2000s. By 2007, the preferred platform for the purchase of security software had become the "computer appliance", according to IDC, who estimated that by 2008, 80% of network security products would be delivered via an appliance.
By 2014 however, the level of safety offered by instant messengers was still extremely poor. According to a scorecard made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, only 7 out of 39 instant messengers received a perfect score, whereas the most popular instant messengers at the time only attained a score of 2 out of 7. A number of studies have shown that IM services are quite vulnerable for providing user privacy.
Encryption:
Encryption is the primary method that messaging apps use to protect user's data privacy and security. SMS messages are not encrypted, making them insecure, as the content of each SMS message is visible to mobile carriers and governments and can be intercepted by a third party.
SMS messages also leak metadata, or information about the message that is not the message content itself, such as phone numbers of the sender and recipient, which can identify the people involved in the conversation. SMS messages can also be spoofed and the sender of the message can be edited to impersonate another person.
Messaging applications on the market that use end-to-end encryption include Signal, WhatsApp, Wire and iMessage. Applications that have been criticized for lacking or poor encryption methods include Telegram and Confide, as both are prone to error.
Compliance risks:
In addition to the malicious code threat, the use of instant messaging at work also creates a risk of non-compliance to laws and regulations governing use of electronic communications in businesses.
In the United States alone there are over 10,000 laws and regulations related to electronic messaging and records retention. The better-known of these include the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, HIPAA, and SEC 17a-3.
Clarification from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) was issued to member firms in the financial services industry in December, 2007, noting that "electronic communications", "email", and "electronic correspondence" may be used interchangeably and can include such forms of electronic messaging as instant messaging and text messaging.
Changes to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, effective December 1, 2006, created a new category for electronic records which may be requested during discovery in legal proceedings.
Most nations also regulate use of electronic messaging and electronic records retention in similar fashion as the United States. The most common regulations related to IM at work involve the need to produce archived business communications to satisfy government or judicial requests under law. Many instant messaging communications fall into the category of business communications that must be archived and retrievable.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Instant Messaging:
- History
- User base
- See also:
- Instant Messaging at Curlie
- Terms:
- Lists:
- Other:
The ultimate guide to which socializing app is right for you, from Zoom to Netflix Party (by the Washington Post: Travis M. Andrews 4/6/2020
- YouTube Video: HOW TO USE ZOOM | Video Conferencing Tutorial for Beginners
- YouTube Video: WhatsApp 2018 - In-depth Tutorial
- YouTube Video: How To Use Netflix Party - Full Guide!
As self-quarantining in the face of covid-19 continues, many people have begun socializing via apps: organizing online happy hours, game nights, TV watch parties and more.
But with so many different apps available, it can be tough to figure out which fits your particular social habits. We’re here to help.
If you just want to hang out with a group of friends …Several weeks ago, it seemed like no one really knew about the video conferencing software Zoom. Then came covid-19 and suddenly everyone scrambled to get the new hot app, which was downloaded 600,000 times in a single week.
Zoom has become a go-to app for video work meetings, happy hours and even cocktail parties. The free version allows for up to 100 people to participate in a single chat — the catch being these can last only up to 40 minutes. Some priced options allow up to 1,000 people and more time.
Its most attractive feature is how easy it is to use: A host creates a meeting and shares a link that takes you straight there. You can even join the meeting in a browser window — no need to install the app itself. Once in the chat, you have the option to use any of your saved photos as a makeshift background — you can appear to be at the beach, for instance, or inside a video game or in front of a giant image of your dog.
The app’s sudden popularity has a downside, however, as Internet trolls have begun targeting calls to share unexpected violent images and pornography in a trend termed “ZoomBombing.” The app also recently left thousands of recorded calls exposed on the open Web. For better protection, experts suggest password-protecting calls and not publicly sharing their URLS.
Google Hangouts, another popular option that comes with Gmail or can be downloaded as a Chrome extension, offers much the same capabilities as Zoom, though the free version allows for only 25 people in a single chat. (It does offer the opportunity to share GIFs and emoji while live, a feature Zoom does not have.) And Skype remains reliable but can be frustrating to use, requiring extra steps to invite nonregistered users to a group chat.
If you want to hang out with one friend or have a date night …While all the other video chat services mentioned above would work for a long-distance date night, Facebook Messenger, Apple’s FaceTime, Google Duo and WhatsApp would also all suffice. They allow fewer people per call than the others.
We’re all video chatting now. But some of us hate it.
If you want to meet new people …Discord can be useful if you’re hoping to connect beyond your social circle. Originally created as a platform for gamers, it’s set up like an enormous message board. You can create your own chat (as with Zoom or the others mentioned earlier) but what’s unique is that you can also join one of the preexisting semiprivate servers (provided you can snag an invite, which isn’t difficult — often you can find these with a quick search on social media).
While Discord hosts video chats, it’s primarily used for voice- or text-based group chats, meaning it’s best for when you want to be engaged with friends while doing something else, such as gaming, painting or whathaveyou.
And if you’re looking to meet someone romantically without breaking self-isolation, the dating apps are trying to help. Plenty of Fish, for instance, recently announced a feature that allows users to pitch themselves via live stream, engage in speed dating or break off into one-on-one video chats with other users.
Match has similar plans for a video feature in the near future. Tinder has temporarily made its Passport feature — which allows you to meet people outside your geographical area — free to everyone.
If you want to play games …Houseparty, a video app originally released in 2016, has also seen a surge during the pandemic. Like the others mentioned above, it supports basic video chat — including for groups — with a few key differences.
Instead of requiring you to set up a hangout, you can simply log in and see which of your friends are online, which will remind some people of AOL Instant Messenger from the 1990s. You can also send video voice mails (called “facemails”). But the main difference is that it comes with a variety of simple multiplayer games, such as trivia and card games. You don’t have to play them, but the option is always there.
If you want to have a dance party …If you’re willing to hang out solely via text, and if you and your friends enjoy swapping tunes, Plug.DJ is an app to try. It allows everyone in a party to queue their own music videos in a master list, meaning no one person needs to pay particular attention to the app to keep the party going. Sure, you can’t talk to one another with your voice, but even in a real club, you can’t hear each other anyway.
If you want to share a movie night …The Chrome extension Netflix Party lets you watch a flick while chatting about it with your self-quarantining friends, and it requires only two things from everyone: a subscription to Netflix (which more than half of America already has) and the Chrome Internet browser (which is free and easy to acquire).
One person fires up a Netflix video in their Chrome browser, then clicks on the extension button to begin a “party” and sends a unique link to anyone interested in joining. Click the link, and whatever the host is watching will pop up, along with a small text chat window that allows for your “Mystery Science Theater 3000”-esque group banter.
A test by The Washington Post revealed that the video doesn’t sync up precisely among screens (even on computers connected to the same WiFi router), but the disparity is minimal enough to probably go unnoticed.
If you’re seeking something a bit more robust, twoseven lets you create a watch party for videos on Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, YouTube, Vimeo and others, in addition to Netflix.
While a bit more complicated to use than Netflix Party, it even allows you to share private videos stored on your computer and includes the option to simultaneously use your webcams so that you can see all your friends and truly feel like you’re watching together.
If you want to watch a concert together …Since quarantine began, artists ranging from Coldplay’s Chris Martin to John Legend have been taking live shows to the Internet.
For some, such as Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, that means intimate shows broadcast from a home studio, while others such as the Dropkick Murphys put on a full show. Then there’s DJ D-Nice, who has been hosting online dance parties that have attracted fans including Dave Chappelle and Michelle Obama.
There’s no constant for where these shows appear. Some stream on Instagram Live, some on Facebook, some on YouTube and some on Twitch. All allow the same basic experience: You get to watch the show and, if you choose, join in live commenting on the goings-ons — if you’re not too busy dancing.
The best thing to do is to check your favorite musicians’ social media feeds for updates. Mix in another app — such as Facebook or Zoom — to connect with a sweetheart or a group of friends, and it’s like going to a concert together, without having to worry about parking.
___________________________________________________________________________
Below, we present alternatives to Zoom, as provided by PC Magazine
Zoom Alternatives: Best Free Services for Group Video Chatting During the Pandemic
Zoom Meetings has been the breakout hit for connecting while quarantined, but not everyone can or should use it. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent choices for group video chats—for both work and play. By Michael Muchmore April 9, 2020
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
Pictured below: Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans
But with so many different apps available, it can be tough to figure out which fits your particular social habits. We’re here to help.
If you just want to hang out with a group of friends …Several weeks ago, it seemed like no one really knew about the video conferencing software Zoom. Then came covid-19 and suddenly everyone scrambled to get the new hot app, which was downloaded 600,000 times in a single week.
Zoom has become a go-to app for video work meetings, happy hours and even cocktail parties. The free version allows for up to 100 people to participate in a single chat — the catch being these can last only up to 40 minutes. Some priced options allow up to 1,000 people and more time.
Its most attractive feature is how easy it is to use: A host creates a meeting and shares a link that takes you straight there. You can even join the meeting in a browser window — no need to install the app itself. Once in the chat, you have the option to use any of your saved photos as a makeshift background — you can appear to be at the beach, for instance, or inside a video game or in front of a giant image of your dog.
The app’s sudden popularity has a downside, however, as Internet trolls have begun targeting calls to share unexpected violent images and pornography in a trend termed “ZoomBombing.” The app also recently left thousands of recorded calls exposed on the open Web. For better protection, experts suggest password-protecting calls and not publicly sharing their URLS.
Google Hangouts, another popular option that comes with Gmail or can be downloaded as a Chrome extension, offers much the same capabilities as Zoom, though the free version allows for only 25 people in a single chat. (It does offer the opportunity to share GIFs and emoji while live, a feature Zoom does not have.) And Skype remains reliable but can be frustrating to use, requiring extra steps to invite nonregistered users to a group chat.
If you want to hang out with one friend or have a date night …While all the other video chat services mentioned above would work for a long-distance date night, Facebook Messenger, Apple’s FaceTime, Google Duo and WhatsApp would also all suffice. They allow fewer people per call than the others.
We’re all video chatting now. But some of us hate it.
If you want to meet new people …Discord can be useful if you’re hoping to connect beyond your social circle. Originally created as a platform for gamers, it’s set up like an enormous message board. You can create your own chat (as with Zoom or the others mentioned earlier) but what’s unique is that you can also join one of the preexisting semiprivate servers (provided you can snag an invite, which isn’t difficult — often you can find these with a quick search on social media).
While Discord hosts video chats, it’s primarily used for voice- or text-based group chats, meaning it’s best for when you want to be engaged with friends while doing something else, such as gaming, painting or whathaveyou.
And if you’re looking to meet someone romantically without breaking self-isolation, the dating apps are trying to help. Plenty of Fish, for instance, recently announced a feature that allows users to pitch themselves via live stream, engage in speed dating or break off into one-on-one video chats with other users.
Match has similar plans for a video feature in the near future. Tinder has temporarily made its Passport feature — which allows you to meet people outside your geographical area — free to everyone.
If you want to play games …Houseparty, a video app originally released in 2016, has also seen a surge during the pandemic. Like the others mentioned above, it supports basic video chat — including for groups — with a few key differences.
Instead of requiring you to set up a hangout, you can simply log in and see which of your friends are online, which will remind some people of AOL Instant Messenger from the 1990s. You can also send video voice mails (called “facemails”). But the main difference is that it comes with a variety of simple multiplayer games, such as trivia and card games. You don’t have to play them, but the option is always there.
If you want to have a dance party …If you’re willing to hang out solely via text, and if you and your friends enjoy swapping tunes, Plug.DJ is an app to try. It allows everyone in a party to queue their own music videos in a master list, meaning no one person needs to pay particular attention to the app to keep the party going. Sure, you can’t talk to one another with your voice, but even in a real club, you can’t hear each other anyway.
If you want to share a movie night …The Chrome extension Netflix Party lets you watch a flick while chatting about it with your self-quarantining friends, and it requires only two things from everyone: a subscription to Netflix (which more than half of America already has) and the Chrome Internet browser (which is free and easy to acquire).
One person fires up a Netflix video in their Chrome browser, then clicks on the extension button to begin a “party” and sends a unique link to anyone interested in joining. Click the link, and whatever the host is watching will pop up, along with a small text chat window that allows for your “Mystery Science Theater 3000”-esque group banter.
A test by The Washington Post revealed that the video doesn’t sync up precisely among screens (even on computers connected to the same WiFi router), but the disparity is minimal enough to probably go unnoticed.
If you’re seeking something a bit more robust, twoseven lets you create a watch party for videos on Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, YouTube, Vimeo and others, in addition to Netflix.
While a bit more complicated to use than Netflix Party, it even allows you to share private videos stored on your computer and includes the option to simultaneously use your webcams so that you can see all your friends and truly feel like you’re watching together.
If you want to watch a concert together …Since quarantine began, artists ranging from Coldplay’s Chris Martin to John Legend have been taking live shows to the Internet.
For some, such as Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, that means intimate shows broadcast from a home studio, while others such as the Dropkick Murphys put on a full show. Then there’s DJ D-Nice, who has been hosting online dance parties that have attracted fans including Dave Chappelle and Michelle Obama.
There’s no constant for where these shows appear. Some stream on Instagram Live, some on Facebook, some on YouTube and some on Twitch. All allow the same basic experience: You get to watch the show and, if you choose, join in live commenting on the goings-ons — if you’re not too busy dancing.
The best thing to do is to check your favorite musicians’ social media feeds for updates. Mix in another app — such as Facebook or Zoom — to connect with a sweetheart or a group of friends, and it’s like going to a concert together, without having to worry about parking.
___________________________________________________________________________
Below, we present alternatives to Zoom, as provided by PC Magazine
Zoom Alternatives: Best Free Services for Group Video Chatting During the Pandemic
Zoom Meetings has been the breakout hit for connecting while quarantined, but not everyone can or should use it. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent choices for group video chats—for both work and play. By Michael Muchmore April 9, 2020
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
Pictured below: Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans
Zoom Meetings is a wildly popular videoconferencing solution that was previously mainly known by those who frequent board rooms and business-huddle rooms. Thanks to the social distancing that has become the norm during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom has entered the national consciousness.
With all the prohibitions against in-person gatherings, most business and education has moved online, and as a consequence Zoom's users have has grown from about 10 million daily to over 200 million, according to the company's blog. And it’s not just businesses, either. A free version lets any group create video rooms for people to socialize in. People are using it to stay in touch with families, hold book club meetings, and even host virtual parties.
The Problem With Zoom:
But it hasn't been all good news for Zoom: The service has been criticized for privacy and security issues, and the term zoom bombing—when unwanted interlopers interrupt a group video session—has entered the lexicon. This has particularly been a problem for schools, some of which have actually banned Zoom.
Zoom has been working hard to fix these issues, but if you've been put off by these missteps—or you just prefer another service for your personal video chatting, there are plenty of excellent choices out there, as you'll see below.
Note that we aren't talking here about about business videoconferencing services—BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, RingCentral, Webex, and the like.
PCMag has reviewed those extensively elsewhere. While several of those are currently offering expanded free service during the current stay-at-home health crisis, here we're concerned with personal group video.
Zoom vs. the World:
Zoom lets free users conduct video meetings of up to 100 participants (with up to 49 visible at once) for a maximum of 40 minutes. Organizers can send a meeting link over messaging, email, or social network posts so that participants can easily join.
Some of the services below have lower participant limits, but most don't cut your group off after a specified time. Paid Zoom plans start at just $14.99, increasing the time limit to 24 hours and adding a meeting recording feature.
All the services included below have free accounts for the public to use, but they vary greatly in functionality. Read on for the details on each—how many participants they allow, the platforms they work on, and their special features or requirements.
___________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans:
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
With all the prohibitions against in-person gatherings, most business and education has moved online, and as a consequence Zoom's users have has grown from about 10 million daily to over 200 million, according to the company's blog. And it’s not just businesses, either. A free version lets any group create video rooms for people to socialize in. People are using it to stay in touch with families, hold book club meetings, and even host virtual parties.
The Problem With Zoom:
But it hasn't been all good news for Zoom: The service has been criticized for privacy and security issues, and the term zoom bombing—when unwanted interlopers interrupt a group video session—has entered the lexicon. This has particularly been a problem for schools, some of which have actually banned Zoom.
Zoom has been working hard to fix these issues, but if you've been put off by these missteps—or you just prefer another service for your personal video chatting, there are plenty of excellent choices out there, as you'll see below.
Note that we aren't talking here about about business videoconferencing services—BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, RingCentral, Webex, and the like.
PCMag has reviewed those extensively elsewhere. While several of those are currently offering expanded free service during the current stay-at-home health crisis, here we're concerned with personal group video.
Zoom vs. the World:
Zoom lets free users conduct video meetings of up to 100 participants (with up to 49 visible at once) for a maximum of 40 minutes. Organizers can send a meeting link over messaging, email, or social network posts so that participants can easily join.
Some of the services below have lower participant limits, but most don't cut your group off after a specified time. Paid Zoom plans start at just $14.99, increasing the time limit to 24 hours and adding a meeting recording feature.
All the services included below have free accounts for the public to use, but they vary greatly in functionality. Read on for the details on each—how many participants they allow, the platforms they work on, and their special features or requirements.
___________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Messenger: Best for Facebook Fans:
YouTube Video: How to Use Facebook Messenger
The social network of record just launched a Mac desktop version of its billion-user-plus popular chatting app and updated its Windows store app with goodies like dark mode and a Live Tile in Windows, and group video calling.
With Messenger, you can continue text chatting, spice up your chat with stickers, and apply filters that adorn your face.
Messenger works on all major platforms—Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and web—along with the company's own device dedicated largely to video calling via Messenger, Facebook Portal. There's a kid-specific version, Messenger Kids, which also offers group video, but with parental controls like blocking and monitoring.
You can't simply invite participants by sending a link, however; you need to add them individually and they need an account. On the plus side, you can create persistent groups for easy meeting starting. Up to 50 people can join a group call, but only six of them can be seen at a time. You don't need participants' email address or phone number, but you can invite with those as well as using Facebook usernames.
Read our collection of Cool Tricks and Secret Gems Inside Facebook Messenger to help you make the most of your use of the app.
FaceTime: Best for iPhone & Mac Users:
YouTube Video: How to Use FaceTime
With Messenger, you can continue text chatting, spice up your chat with stickers, and apply filters that adorn your face.
Messenger works on all major platforms—Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and web—along with the company's own device dedicated largely to video calling via Messenger, Facebook Portal. There's a kid-specific version, Messenger Kids, which also offers group video, but with parental controls like blocking and monitoring.
You can't simply invite participants by sending a link, however; you need to add them individually and they need an account. On the plus side, you can create persistent groups for easy meeting starting. Up to 50 people can join a group call, but only six of them can be seen at a time. You don't need participants' email address or phone number, but you can invite with those as well as using Facebook usernames.
Read our collection of Cool Tricks and Secret Gems Inside Facebook Messenger to help you make the most of your use of the app.
- Maximum users: 50 (with six visible at once)
- Platforms: Android, Facebook Portal, iOS, macOS, web browser, Windows.
- Use type: Personal
FaceTime: Best for iPhone & Mac Users:
YouTube Video: How to Use FaceTime
Facetime is a terrific service with great image quality, but it only works if everyone in your chat group is using an Apple device. Group video came to FaceTime in 2018, and quickly met with a privacy scare that has since been plugged up. Unlike Zoom and the other services here, you can't simply send prospective attendees a link to join your group video call; you have to add them with their phone number or Apple ID.
FaceTime allows up to 32 participants in a group video chat, but those talking get larger images in the interface. It integrates with iMessage, so you can start a video with a text chat message. You can add text, stickers, or Animoji during group video chats. For more, read Ready to Video Chat? How to Group FaceTime.
Google Hangouts: Best for Web-Based Video Calling:
YouTube Video: How to Use Google Hangouts
FaceTime allows up to 32 participants in a group video chat, but those talking get larger images in the interface. It integrates with iMessage, so you can start a video with a text chat message. You can add text, stickers, or Animoji during group video chats. For more, read Ready to Video Chat? How to Group FaceTime.
- Maximum users: 32
- Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS
- Use type: Personal
Google Hangouts: Best for Web-Based Video Calling:
YouTube Video: How to Use Google Hangouts
The search ad giant has separated its business and personal video calling services, with the former becoming Google Meet and the latter remaining as Hangouts. Google's consumer video chat service allows up to 25 participants, though only 10 can appear on-screen at once.
You need a Google account (normally in the form of a Gmail account), and can invite participants via email or by sending or posting a public link.
During a call, you can continue text messaging and share your screen. It's a very simple, clear interface, though the business-targeted G Suite Meet product offers more features, and
Google is increasing the video limit to 250 participants for Basic G Suite subscribers through September. Those accounts start at $6 per person per month.
Houseparty: Best for Mobile Socializing:
YouTube Video: How to Use Houseparty
You need a Google account (normally in the form of a Gmail account), and can invite participants via email or by sending or posting a public link.
During a call, you can continue text messaging and share your screen. It's a very simple, clear interface, though the business-targeted G Suite Meet product offers more features, and
Google is increasing the video limit to 250 participants for Basic G Suite subscribers through September. Those accounts start at $6 per person per month.
- Maximum number of participants: 25 with 10 visible
- Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser
- Use type: Personal and Business
Houseparty: Best for Mobile Socializing:
YouTube Video: How to Use Houseparty
Risen from the ashes of failed Twitter Periscope competitor Meerkat, Houseparty is a venture-capital success story, having been gobbled up by Epic games, maker of Fortnight and Gears of War.
Unsurprisingly, the "face to face social network" lets you play games while connected with up to seven other users. It notifies your group whenever you open the app. The app's maker, Life on Air, has denied recent accusations that Houseparty was hacked, leaking users' Netflix, Spotify, and bank account details.
The service requires a mobile phone SMS verification to create an account, though I managed to get into the web beta version without this step. Optionally, you can connect your
Facebook contacts to add them to your Houseparty calls. You can also create a link to add people to your party, or search for any user on the service and send a request for them to accept your add. Once your chat room is going, you can lock it to prevent anyone else from joining.
Houseparty's Pass a Note feature (can you guess the app's target demographic from that?), lets users send direct messages and the desktop version lets you share your screen. Among the casual party games available, the highest profile is Heads Up, since it was promoted by Ellen DeGeneres, thanks to a partnership with the comedian's Ellen Digital Network.
Microsoft Teams: Best for Large Groups and Organizations:
YouTube Video: How to Use the Microsoft Teams App
Unsurprisingly, the "face to face social network" lets you play games while connected with up to seven other users. It notifies your group whenever you open the app. The app's maker, Life on Air, has denied recent accusations that Houseparty was hacked, leaking users' Netflix, Spotify, and bank account details.
The service requires a mobile phone SMS verification to create an account, though I managed to get into the web beta version without this step. Optionally, you can connect your
Facebook contacts to add them to your Houseparty calls. You can also create a link to add people to your party, or search for any user on the service and send a request for them to accept your add. Once your chat room is going, you can lock it to prevent anyone else from joining.
Houseparty's Pass a Note feature (can you guess the app's target demographic from that?), lets users send direct messages and the desktop version lets you share your screen. Among the casual party games available, the highest profile is Heads Up, since it was promoted by Ellen DeGeneres, thanks to a partnership with the comedian's Ellen Digital Network.
- Maximum group video participants: 8
- Platforms: Android, iOS, macOS, web browser.
- Use type: Personal
Microsoft Teams: Best for Large Groups and Organizations:
YouTube Video: How to Use the Microsoft Teams App
The software giant's relatively recent entry in videoconferencing, started as a business-only solution, but now it's free and available to the public at large. Microsoft Teams offers nifty features like background blur (also available in Zoom) and AI-powered noise suppression, so that one participant's rattling bag of chips doesn't upstage what people are trying to say.
Teams will soon become part of the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions, which also include Office apps and Parental safety features. Those are priced the same as Office 365—$79.99 per year for a family of six, with each getting 1TB cloud storage and downloadable Office applications. The business version of Teams starts at $5 per user per month.
As with Zoom, Teams primarily targets business and educational customers, but the free account (which requires a Microsoft account, such as an Outlook.com email address) also is available for any organization. For friends and family use, you'll be directed to Skype (see next alternative), though there's no verification required. That said, Teams includes a lot of Slack-like business tools, such as file sharing, wiki creation, and a host of third-party business integrations—even, ironically, Zoom.
Maximum group video participants: 250
Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser, Windows.
Use type: Personal and Business
___________________________________________________________________________
Skype: Best for Loads of Features and Platforms:
YouTube Video: Getting the Most Out of Skype
Teams will soon become part of the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions, which also include Office apps and Parental safety features. Those are priced the same as Office 365—$79.99 per year for a family of six, with each getting 1TB cloud storage and downloadable Office applications. The business version of Teams starts at $5 per user per month.
As with Zoom, Teams primarily targets business and educational customers, but the free account (which requires a Microsoft account, such as an Outlook.com email address) also is available for any organization. For friends and family use, you'll be directed to Skype (see next alternative), though there's no verification required. That said, Teams includes a lot of Slack-like business tools, such as file sharing, wiki creation, and a host of third-party business integrations—even, ironically, Zoom.
Maximum group video participants: 250
Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser, Windows.
Use type: Personal and Business
___________________________________________________________________________
Skype: Best for Loads of Features and Platforms:
YouTube Video: Getting the Most Out of Skype
Skype has been around longer than any other video chat service in this roundup and has evolved a feature-packed but refined interface.
The now-Microsoft-owned (though still Luxembourg based) service works on more platforms than most, and it allows free group video rooms with up to 50 participants. You can create a Skype video chat room without a Microsoft account, but if you do have one, you'll be able to save your conversation history and contacts.
The new Skype Meet Now feature lets anyone start an ad hoc video conference. You can start or participate either in a web browser or in the Skype app. Like Hangouts, Skype lets you continue text chatting, along with stickers, file sharing, and desktop sharing. In addition, you can create polls, send money, and even share Spotify tracks. If you haven't used Skype in a while, you may be surprised at how far it's come.
For more enjoyment with the service, read Skype Tips for Cheap and Easy Chats.
WhatsApp: Best for Private Chats With up to Three Friends
YouTube Video: How Do You Use WhatsApp?
The now-Microsoft-owned (though still Luxembourg based) service works on more platforms than most, and it allows free group video rooms with up to 50 participants. You can create a Skype video chat room without a Microsoft account, but if you do have one, you'll be able to save your conversation history and contacts.
The new Skype Meet Now feature lets anyone start an ad hoc video conference. You can start or participate either in a web browser or in the Skype app. Like Hangouts, Skype lets you continue text chatting, along with stickers, file sharing, and desktop sharing. In addition, you can create polls, send money, and even share Spotify tracks. If you haven't used Skype in a while, you may be surprised at how far it's come.
For more enjoyment with the service, read Skype Tips for Cheap and Easy Chats.
- Maximum group video participants: 50
- Platforms: Alexa, Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Linux, macOS, web browser, Windows, Xbox.
- Use type: Personal and Business
WhatsApp: Best for Private Chats With up to Three Friends
YouTube Video: How Do You Use WhatsApp?
The massively popular texting and calling app allows group video chats of up to four participants. Sure, that's a far cry from Zoom's limit of 100, but maybe it suits your needs, and it doesn't have Zoom's 40-minute time limit for free group calls.
Note that you can't access it without a mobile phone, and the desktop apps don't support video calling. Nor is there anything in the way of emoji or text chatting during group video calls.
In a test group call, the image quality on my iPhone X was excellent, with one participant saying she looked better in it than she does in FaceTime sessions. Though WhatsApp allows group chats with up to 256 participants, group video is limited to just four. A big plus for privacy fans: WhatsApp video calls are end-to-end encrypted, according to the company's FAQ.
As an added perk: WhatsApp has added a Coronavirus hub to provide reliable information on the pandemic. For more WhatsApp power, read our Essential WhatsApp Tips.
Note that you can't access it without a mobile phone, and the desktop apps don't support video calling. Nor is there anything in the way of emoji or text chatting during group video calls.
In a test group call, the image quality on my iPhone X was excellent, with one participant saying she looked better in it than she does in FaceTime sessions. Though WhatsApp allows group chats with up to 256 participants, group video is limited to just four. A big plus for privacy fans: WhatsApp video calls are end-to-end encrypted, according to the company's FAQ.
As an added perk: WhatsApp has added a Coronavirus hub to provide reliable information on the pandemic. For more WhatsApp power, read our Essential WhatsApp Tips.
- Maximum group video participants: 4
- Platforms: Android, iOS
- Use type: Personal
LinkedIn Business and Employment Network
- YouTube Video: How to Network on LinkedIn (Authentically)
- YouTube Video: Networking on LinkedIn | Getting Responses and Generating Leads
- YouTube Video: How To Use LinkedIn To Network - 5 LinkedIn Networking Tips
What Is a LinkedIn Profile? (see image above)
Discover how your profile can advance your job search and your career.
By Elise Moreau
Updated on February 26, 2020
A LinkedIn profile is dedicated page on LinkedIn.com users can use to provide professional information about themselves and advance their careers.
What Are LinkedIn Profiles Used For?
User profiles are a big component of many social networks, including LinkedIn. But what makes LinkedIn profiles any different? LinkedIn profiles are used to showcase your professional experience, achievements, praise and more.
Depending on users' privacy settings, their profile information may be viewable only to people they've connected with or it may be viewable to anyone.
Although it shares many similarities with other social networking profiles—such as Facebook profiles—its layout and content sections are optimized for featuring content related to a user's professional career and interests.
LinkedIn profiles are like virtual resumes. People look at them to find out where you currently work, where you've worked in the past, where you went to school, what your skills are and other facts about your professional career. And just as you might expect, LinkedIn profiles can even be used to apply for jobs.
How to Add Content to Your LinkedIn Profile:
Once you've signed up for a Basic (free) or Premium LinkedIn account, you can begin building your profile. If you're new to the platform, LinkedIn might take you through a walkthrough of getting the main parts of your profile set up.
You can access your profile any time to view or edit it by selecting Me at the top of LinkedIn.com followed by selecting View profile. On the LinkedIn mobile app, tap your profile photo icon in the top left followed by View Profile:
Discover how your profile can advance your job search and your career.
By Elise Moreau
Updated on February 26, 2020
A LinkedIn profile is dedicated page on LinkedIn.com users can use to provide professional information about themselves and advance their careers.
What Are LinkedIn Profiles Used For?
User profiles are a big component of many social networks, including LinkedIn. But what makes LinkedIn profiles any different? LinkedIn profiles are used to showcase your professional experience, achievements, praise and more.
Depending on users' privacy settings, their profile information may be viewable only to people they've connected with or it may be viewable to anyone.
Although it shares many similarities with other social networking profiles—such as Facebook profiles—its layout and content sections are optimized for featuring content related to a user's professional career and interests.
LinkedIn profiles are like virtual resumes. People look at them to find out where you currently work, where you've worked in the past, where you went to school, what your skills are and other facts about your professional career. And just as you might expect, LinkedIn profiles can even be used to apply for jobs.
How to Add Content to Your LinkedIn Profile:
Once you've signed up for a Basic (free) or Premium LinkedIn account, you can begin building your profile. If you're new to the platform, LinkedIn might take you through a walkthrough of getting the main parts of your profile set up.
You can access your profile any time to view or edit it by selecting Me at the top of LinkedIn.com followed by selecting View profile. On the LinkedIn mobile app, tap your profile photo icon in the top left followed by View Profile:
Your profile will be displayed in a layout similar to how it's displayed when published on the web, however, you'll see several edit options across your profile. Pay attention to:
The pencil icon: Selecting this allows you to edit the section by changing, deleting or adding content.
The list icon: This appears when you hover your cursor over a content section (on LinkedIn.com only) and allows you to drag and drop them to reorder them.
The plus sign icon: This allows you to add new blocks of content to your profile.
The pencil icon: Selecting this allows you to edit the section by changing, deleting or adding content.
The list icon: This appears when you hover your cursor over a content section (on LinkedIn.com only) and allows you to drag and drop them to reorder them.
The plus sign icon: This allows you to add new blocks of content to your profile.
TIP: To save time from having to scroll down your entire profile, you can add new content to your profile by selecting the blue Add profile section button on LinkedIn.com directly beneath your profile photo. It will display a dropdown list of all the main sections and subsections of content you can add.
LinkedIn Profile Sections:
Tip: You can share as much or as little information about your professional life on your LinkedIn profile as you want. Some people keep their profiles simple while others take full advantage of all the sections and fill out everything they can.
The sections you can put on your LinkedIn profile include:
Intro Edit this section by selecting the pencil icon in the top right of your profile, to the right of the profile photo and beneath the header photo.
Background
Skills
Accomplishments
Additional Information
Supported Languages
To restrict your profile information from being viewable to just anyone, consider configuring your privacy settings by selecting Me > Settings and Privacy. Beside Edit your public profile, select Change. You'll be shown a preview of what your profile looks like to the public. Use the visibility options in the righthand column to customize which sections you want to hide from the public. If you don't want any public visibility, you can turn the blue Your profile's public visibility button to Off.
The Benefits of Having a Linked:In Profile:
Even if you don't plan on spending lots of time on LinkedIn, setting up a profile and leaving it there is often better than not having one at all. Here are just a few great benefits you can expect from having a LinkedIn profile:
An Instant Resume for Applying to Jobs:
In addition to being able to use your profile to apply to job ads listed on LinkedIn, you can also generate a PDF file from it so you never have to create or update a separate one for non-
LinkedIn job ads. Just select More... > Save to PDF to create a professional-looking resume straight from your LinkedIn profile that you can use to apply to jobs practically anywhere.
LinkedIn Profile Sections:
Tip: You can share as much or as little information about your professional life on your LinkedIn profile as you want. Some people keep their profiles simple while others take full advantage of all the sections and fill out everything they can.
The sections you can put on your LinkedIn profile include:
Intro Edit this section by selecting the pencil icon in the top right of your profile, to the right of the profile photo and beneath the header photo.
- Profile photo
- Header photo
- First name
- Last name
- Headline
- Current position
- Education
- Country/Region
- ZIP code
- Locations within this area
- Industry
- Contact info (Profile URL, Email, WeChat ID)
- Summary
Background
- Work experience
- Education
- Volunteer experience
Skills
- Add up to 50 individual skills: (Examples include Social Media Marketing, Research, Public Relations, Writing, etc.)
Accomplishments
- Publications
- Certifications
- Patents
- Courses
- Projects
- Honors & Awards
- Test Scores
- Languages
- Organizations
Additional Information
- Recommendations
Supported Languages
- Profiles in other languages
To restrict your profile information from being viewable to just anyone, consider configuring your privacy settings by selecting Me > Settings and Privacy. Beside Edit your public profile, select Change. You'll be shown a preview of what your profile looks like to the public. Use the visibility options in the righthand column to customize which sections you want to hide from the public. If you don't want any public visibility, you can turn the blue Your profile's public visibility button to Off.
The Benefits of Having a Linked:In Profile:
Even if you don't plan on spending lots of time on LinkedIn, setting up a profile and leaving it there is often better than not having one at all. Here are just a few great benefits you can expect from having a LinkedIn profile:
An Instant Resume for Applying to Jobs:
In addition to being able to use your profile to apply to job ads listed on LinkedIn, you can also generate a PDF file from it so you never have to create or update a separate one for non-
LinkedIn job ads. Just select More... > Save to PDF to create a professional-looking resume straight from your LinkedIn profile that you can use to apply to jobs practically anywhere.
Passive Exposure to Other Professionals:
Other professionals (including employers looking to hire) might find your profile through searches or through their connections. If they like what they see on your profile, they might reach out to you with a good opportunity.
A Tool for Networking:
Having a LinkedIn profile can help you network with the right types of professionals.
Viewers can skim your profile and decide within as little as a few seconds whether you're a good match to network with.
A Place to Feature Media, Links and Recommendations:
Standard resumes typically don't go beyond written words, but with a LinkedIn profile, you can upload relevant media files (such as images, videos or documents) and link to URLs on the web for each position listing you put under your Experience section:
Other professionals (including employers looking to hire) might find your profile through searches or through their connections. If they like what they see on your profile, they might reach out to you with a good opportunity.
A Tool for Networking:
Having a LinkedIn profile can help you network with the right types of professionals.
Viewers can skim your profile and decide within as little as a few seconds whether you're a good match to network with.
A Place to Feature Media, Links and Recommendations:
Standard resumes typically don't go beyond written words, but with a LinkedIn profile, you can upload relevant media files (such as images, videos or documents) and link to URLs on the web for each position listing you put under your Experience section:
You can also supercharge your credibility by requesting recommendations from colleagues you've worked with and are connected to on LinkedIn. These will appear as written statements of endorsements along with the name, profile photo and profile link of the person who gave it.
FAQ:
FAQ:
- How do you share a LinkedIn profile?Log in to LinkedIn and select the Me icon, then choose View Profile > More > Share profile in a message. You can also share your profile's unique URL with others: go to your profile and select the Edit icon, then scroll down to Contact Info and select the Edit icon again.
- Who viewed my LinkedIn profile?LinkedIn's Who Viewed Your Profile feature lets you see the people who visited your page in the last 90 days. To access it on a desktop, select Me > View Profile > Who Viewed Your Profile. You can also go to your profile page, scroll down to Your Dashboard and select Who viewed your profile.
- How do you hide a LinkedIn profile? Select Me > Settings & Privacy > Visibility. Then go to Edit your public profile and select Change. In the right pane, turn on the Your profile’s public visibility toggle to make your profile private to search engines and anyone not signed in to LinkedIn.
- How do you delete a LinkedIn profile?On a desktop, select Me > Settings & Privacy > Account Preferences > Account Management > Close Account. Choose a reason for closing your account > Next. Then, enter your password and select Close account.
- How do you upload a resume to your LinkedIn profile?Go to your profile page and select More > Build a Resume > choose Upload Resume. Then, navigate to the file on your hard drive, and select it.
- How do you change a LinkedIn profile picture?Go to your profile page > select your profile image > Add photo. Then, use the camera on your laptop or mobile device to take a new photo or upload a photo from your device. Once a new image is uploaded, you can crop it, add filters, and make other adjustments before saving it to LinkedIn.
About LinkedIn (Wikipedia)
LinkedIn is a business and employment-focused social media platform that works through websites and mobile apps. It launched on May 5, 2003. It is now owned by Microsoft.
The platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.
From 2015 most of the company's revenue came from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals. Since December 2016, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. As of January 2023, LinkedIn has 900+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories.
LinkedIn allows members (both workers and employers) to create profiles and connect with each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone (whether an existing member or not) to become a connection. LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, join groups, write articles, publish job postings, post photos and videos, and more.
Company overview:
Founded in Mountain View, California, LinkedIn is currently headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with 33 global offices. In May 2020, the company had around 20,500 employees.
LinkedIn's CEO is Ryan Roslansky. Jeff Weiner, previously CEO of LinkedIn, is now the Executive Chairman. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, is chairman of the board. It was funded by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and the European Founders Fund.
LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006. Since January 2011 the company had received a total of $103 million of investment.
According to a 2016 The New York Times article, US high school students were creating LinkedIn profiles to include with their college applications. Based in the United States, the site is, as of 2013, available in 24 languages.
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares in May, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD".
History:
Founding from 2002 to 2011:
The company was founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffman and the founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com (Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Lee Hower, Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Yan Pujante, Chris Saccheri).
In late 2003, Sequoia Capital led the Series A investment in the company. In August 2004, LinkedIn reached 1 million users. In March 2006, LinkedIn achieved its first month of profitability. In April 2007, LinkedIn reached 10 million users. In February 2008, LinkedIn launched a mobile version of the site.
In June 2008, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and other venture capital firms purchased a 5% stake in the company for $53 million, giving the company a post-money valuation of approximately $1 billion. In November 2009, LinkedIn opened its office in Mumbai and soon thereafter in Sydney, as it started its Asia-Pacific team expansion.
In 2010 LinkedIn opened an International Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, received a $20 million investment from Tiger Global Management LLC at a valuation of approximately $2 billion, announced its first acquisition, Mspoke, and improved its 1% premium subscription ratio.
In October of that year, Silicon Valley Insider ranked the company No. 10 on its Top 100 List of most valuable startups. By December, the company was valued at $1.575 billion in private markets. LinkedIn started its India operations in 2009 and a major part of the first year was dedicated to understanding professionals in India and educating members to leverage LinkedIn for career development.
2011 to present:
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011. The company traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD", at $45 per share. Shares of LinkedIn rose as much as 171% on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange and closed at $94.25, more than 109% above IPO price.
Shortly after the IPO, the site's underlying infrastructure was revised to allow accelerated revision-release cycles. In 2011 LinkedIn earned $154.6 million in advertising revenue alone, surpassing Twitter, which earned $139.5 million. LinkedIn's fourth-quarter 2011, earnings soared because of the company's increase in success in the social media world. By this point LinkedIn had about 2,100 full-time employees compared to the 500 that it had in 2010.
In April 2014 LinkedIn announced that it had leased 222 Second Street, a 26-story building under construction in San Francisco's SoMa district, to accommodate up to 2,500 of its employees, with the lease covering 10 years.
The goal was to join all San Francisco-based staff (1,250 as of January 2016) in one building, bringing sales and marketing employees together with the research and development team.
In March 2016 they started to move in. In February 2016 following an earnings report, LinkedIn's shares dropped 43.6% within a single day, down to $108.38 per share. LinkedIn lost $10 billion of its market capitalization that day.
In 2016 access to LinkedIn was blocked by Russian authorities for non-compliance with the 2015 national legislation that requires social media networks to store citizens' personal data on servers located in Russia.
In June 2016, Microsoft announced that it would acquire LinkedIn for $196 a share, a total value of $26.2 billion, and the second largest acquisition made by Microsoft to date. The acquisition would be an all-cash, debt-financed transaction. Microsoft would allow LinkedIn to "retain its distinct brand, culture and independence", with Weiner to remain as CEO, who would then report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Analysts believed Microsoft saw the opportunity to integrate LinkedIn with its Office product suite to help better integrate the professional network system with its products. The deal was completed on December 8, 2016.
In late 2016 LinkedIn announced a planned increase of 200 new positions in its Dublin office, which would bring the total employee count to 1,200. Since 2017 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content.
Soon after LinkedIn's acquisition by Microsoft, LinkedIn's new desktop version was introduced. The new version was meant to make the user experience seamless across mobile and desktop. Some changes were made according to the feedback received from the previously launched mobile app. Features that were not heavily used were removed. For example, the contact tagging and filtering features are not supported anymore.
Following the launch of the new user interface (UI), some users complained about the missing features which were there in the older version, slowness, and bugs in it. The issues were faced by free and premium users and with both the desktop and mobile versions of the site.
In 2019 LinkedIn launched globally the feature Open for Business that enables freelancers to be discovered on the platform. LinkedIn Events was launched in the same year.
In June 2020 Jeff Weiner stepped down as CEO and become executive chairman after 11 years in the role. Ryan Roslansky stepped up as CEO from his previous position as the senior vice president of product.
In late July 2020, LinkedIn announced it laid off 960 employees, about 6 percent of total workforce, from the talent acquisition and global sales teams. In an email to all employees, CEO Ryan Roslansky said the cuts were due to effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2021 CyberNews claimed that 500 million LinkedIn's accounts have leaked online. However, LinkedIn stated that "We have investigated an alleged set of LinkedIn data that has been posted for sale and have determined that it is actually an aggregation of data from a number of websites and companies".
In June 2021 PrivacySharks claimed that more than 700 million LinkedIn records was on sale on a hacker forum. LinkedIn later stated that this is not a breach, but scraped data which is also a violation of their Terms of Service.
Microsoft ended LinkedIn operations in China in October 2021.
Acquisitions:
In July 2012 LinkedIn acquired 15 key Digg patents for $4 million including a "click a button to vote up a story" patent:
LinkedIn is a business and employment-focused social media platform that works through websites and mobile apps. It launched on May 5, 2003. It is now owned by Microsoft.
The platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.
From 2015 most of the company's revenue came from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals. Since December 2016, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. As of January 2023, LinkedIn has 900+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories.
LinkedIn allows members (both workers and employers) to create profiles and connect with each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone (whether an existing member or not) to become a connection. LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, join groups, write articles, publish job postings, post photos and videos, and more.
Company overview:
Founded in Mountain View, California, LinkedIn is currently headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with 33 global offices. In May 2020, the company had around 20,500 employees.
LinkedIn's CEO is Ryan Roslansky. Jeff Weiner, previously CEO of LinkedIn, is now the Executive Chairman. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, is chairman of the board. It was funded by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and the European Founders Fund.
LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006. Since January 2011 the company had received a total of $103 million of investment.
According to a 2016 The New York Times article, US high school students were creating LinkedIn profiles to include with their college applications. Based in the United States, the site is, as of 2013, available in 24 languages.
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares in May, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD".
History:
Founding from 2002 to 2011:
The company was founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffman and the founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com (Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Lee Hower, Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Yan Pujante, Chris Saccheri).
In late 2003, Sequoia Capital led the Series A investment in the company. In August 2004, LinkedIn reached 1 million users. In March 2006, LinkedIn achieved its first month of profitability. In April 2007, LinkedIn reached 10 million users. In February 2008, LinkedIn launched a mobile version of the site.
In June 2008, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and other venture capital firms purchased a 5% stake in the company for $53 million, giving the company a post-money valuation of approximately $1 billion. In November 2009, LinkedIn opened its office in Mumbai and soon thereafter in Sydney, as it started its Asia-Pacific team expansion.
In 2010 LinkedIn opened an International Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, received a $20 million investment from Tiger Global Management LLC at a valuation of approximately $2 billion, announced its first acquisition, Mspoke, and improved its 1% premium subscription ratio.
In October of that year, Silicon Valley Insider ranked the company No. 10 on its Top 100 List of most valuable startups. By December, the company was valued at $1.575 billion in private markets. LinkedIn started its India operations in 2009 and a major part of the first year was dedicated to understanding professionals in India and educating members to leverage LinkedIn for career development.
2011 to present:
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011. The company traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD", at $45 per share. Shares of LinkedIn rose as much as 171% on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange and closed at $94.25, more than 109% above IPO price.
Shortly after the IPO, the site's underlying infrastructure was revised to allow accelerated revision-release cycles. In 2011 LinkedIn earned $154.6 million in advertising revenue alone, surpassing Twitter, which earned $139.5 million. LinkedIn's fourth-quarter 2011, earnings soared because of the company's increase in success in the social media world. By this point LinkedIn had about 2,100 full-time employees compared to the 500 that it had in 2010.
In April 2014 LinkedIn announced that it had leased 222 Second Street, a 26-story building under construction in San Francisco's SoMa district, to accommodate up to 2,500 of its employees, with the lease covering 10 years.
The goal was to join all San Francisco-based staff (1,250 as of January 2016) in one building, bringing sales and marketing employees together with the research and development team.
In March 2016 they started to move in. In February 2016 following an earnings report, LinkedIn's shares dropped 43.6% within a single day, down to $108.38 per share. LinkedIn lost $10 billion of its market capitalization that day.
In 2016 access to LinkedIn was blocked by Russian authorities for non-compliance with the 2015 national legislation that requires social media networks to store citizens' personal data on servers located in Russia.
In June 2016, Microsoft announced that it would acquire LinkedIn for $196 a share, a total value of $26.2 billion, and the second largest acquisition made by Microsoft to date. The acquisition would be an all-cash, debt-financed transaction. Microsoft would allow LinkedIn to "retain its distinct brand, culture and independence", with Weiner to remain as CEO, who would then report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Analysts believed Microsoft saw the opportunity to integrate LinkedIn with its Office product suite to help better integrate the professional network system with its products. The deal was completed on December 8, 2016.
In late 2016 LinkedIn announced a planned increase of 200 new positions in its Dublin office, which would bring the total employee count to 1,200. Since 2017 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content.
Soon after LinkedIn's acquisition by Microsoft, LinkedIn's new desktop version was introduced. The new version was meant to make the user experience seamless across mobile and desktop. Some changes were made according to the feedback received from the previously launched mobile app. Features that were not heavily used were removed. For example, the contact tagging and filtering features are not supported anymore.
Following the launch of the new user interface (UI), some users complained about the missing features which were there in the older version, slowness, and bugs in it. The issues were faced by free and premium users and with both the desktop and mobile versions of the site.
In 2019 LinkedIn launched globally the feature Open for Business that enables freelancers to be discovered on the platform. LinkedIn Events was launched in the same year.
In June 2020 Jeff Weiner stepped down as CEO and become executive chairman after 11 years in the role. Ryan Roslansky stepped up as CEO from his previous position as the senior vice president of product.
In late July 2020, LinkedIn announced it laid off 960 employees, about 6 percent of total workforce, from the talent acquisition and global sales teams. In an email to all employees, CEO Ryan Roslansky said the cuts were due to effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2021 CyberNews claimed that 500 million LinkedIn's accounts have leaked online. However, LinkedIn stated that "We have investigated an alleged set of LinkedIn data that has been posted for sale and have determined that it is actually an aggregation of data from a number of websites and companies".
In June 2021 PrivacySharks claimed that more than 700 million LinkedIn records was on sale on a hacker forum. LinkedIn later stated that this is not a breach, but scraped data which is also a violation of their Terms of Service.
Microsoft ended LinkedIn operations in China in October 2021.
Acquisitions:
In July 2012 LinkedIn acquired 15 key Digg patents for $4 million including a "click a button to vote up a story" patent:
Perkins lawsuit:
In 2013 a class action lawsuit entitled Perkins vs. LinkedIn Corp was filed against the company, accusing it of automatically sending invitations to contacts in a member's email address book without permission. The court agreed with LinkedIn that permission had in fact been given for invitations to be sent, but not for the two further reminder emails.
LinkedIn settled the lawsuit in 2015 for $13 million. Many members should have received a notice in their email with the subject line "Legal Notice of Settlement of Class Action". The Case No. is 13-CV-04303-LHK.
hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn:
Main article: hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn
In May 2017 LinkedIn sent a Cease-And-Desist letter to hiQ Labs, a Silicon Valley startup that collects data from public profiles and provides analysis of this data to its customers. The letter demanded that hiQ immediately cease "scraping" data from LinkedIn's servers, claiming violations of the CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act) and the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).
In response hiQ sued LinkedIn in the Northern District of California in San Francisco, asking the court to prohibit LinkedIn from blocking its access to public profiles while the court considered the merits of its request. The court served a preliminary injunction against LinkedIn, which was then forced to allow hiQ to continue to collect public data.
LinkedIn appealed this ruling; in September 2019, the appeals court rejected LinkedIn's arguments and the preliminary injunction was upheld. The dispute is ongoing.
Membership:
As of 2015 LinkedIn had more than 400 million members in over 200 countries and territories. It is significantly ahead of its competitors Viadeo (50 million as of 2013) and XING (11 million as of 2016).
In 2011, its membership grew by approximately two new members every second. In 2020 LinkedIn's membership grew to over 690 million LinkedIn members. As of September 2021 LinkedIn has 774+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories.
Platform and features:
User profile network:
Basic functionality: The basic functionality of LinkedIn allows users to create profiles, which for employees typically consist of a curriculum vitae describing their work experience, education and training, skills, and a personal photo. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Users can find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. Users can save jobs that they would like to apply for.
Users also have the ability to follow different companies.
The site also enables members to make "connections" to each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone to become a connection. Users can obtain introductions to the connections of connections (termed second-degree connections) and connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections).
A member's list of connections can be used in a number of ways. For example, users can search for second-degree connections who work at a company they are interested in, and then ask a specific first-degree connection in common for an introduction.
The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any professional requires either an existing relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service's users. LinkedIn participated in the EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.
Users can interact with each other in a variety of ways:
Since September 2012 LinkedIn has enabled users to "endorse" each other's skills. However, there is no way of flagging anything other than positive content. LinkedIn solicits endorsements using algorithms that generate skills members might have. Members cannot opt out of such solicitations, with the result that it sometimes appears that a member is soliciting an endorsement for a non-existent skill.
Applications:
LinkedIn 'applications' often refer to external third-party applications that interact with LinkedIn's developer API. However, in some cases, it could refer to sanctioned applications featured on a user's profile page.
External, third party applications:
In February 2015 LinkedIn released an updated terms of use for their developer API. The developer API allows both companies and individuals the ability to interact with LinkedIn's data through creation of managed third-party applications. Applications must go through a review process and request permission from the user before accessing a user's data.
Normal use of the API is outlined in LinkedIn's developer documents, including:
Embedded in profile:
In October 2008, LinkedIn enabled an "applications platform" which allows external online services to be embedded within a member's profile page. Among the initial applications were an Amazon Reading List that allows LinkedIn members to display books they are reading, a connection to Tripit, and a Six Apart, WordPress and TypePad application that allows members to display their latest blog postings within their LinkedIn profile.
In November 2010, LinkedIn allowed businesses to list products and services on company profile pages; it also permitted LinkedIn members to "recommend" products and services and write reviews. Shortly after, some of the external services were no longer supported, including Amazon's Reading List.
Mobile:
A mobile version of the site was launched in February 2008 and made available in six languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
In January 2011, LinkedIn acquired CardMunch, a mobile app maker that scans business cards and converts into contacts. In June 2013, CardMunch was noted as an available LinkedIn app.
In October 2013, LinkedIn announced a service for iPhone users called "Intro", which inserts a thumbnail of a person's LinkedIn profile in correspondence with that person when reading mail messages in the native iOS Mail program. This is accomplished by re-routing all emails from and to the iPhone through LinkedIn servers, which security firm Bishop Fox asserts has serious privacy implications, violates many organizations' security policies, and resembles a man-in-the-middle attack.
Groups:
LinkedIn also supports daily the formation of interest groups. In 2012 there were 1,248,019 such groups whose membership varies from 1 to 744,662. Groups support a limited form of discussion area, moderated by the group owners and managers.
Groups may be private, accessible to members only or may be open to Internet users in general to read, though they must join in order to post messages. Since groups offer the functionality to reach a wide audience without so easily falling foul of anti-spam solutions, there is a constant stream of spam postings, and there now exists a range of firms who offer a spamming service for this very purpose.
LinkedIn has devised a few mechanisms to reduce the volume of spam, but recently took the decision to remove the ability of group owners to inspect the email address of new members in order to determine if they were spammers.
Groups also keep their members informed through emails with updates to the group, including most talked about discussions within your professional circles.
In December 2011 LinkedIn announced that they are rolling out polls to groups.
In November 2013, LinkedIn announced the addition of Showcase Pages to the platform.
In 2014, LinkedIn announced they were going to be removing Product and Services Pages paving the way for a greater focus on Showcase Pages.
Knowledge graph:
LinkedIn maintains an internal knowledge graph of entities (people, organizations, groups) that helps it connect everyone working in a field or at an organization or network. This can be used to query the neighborhood around each entity to find updates that might be related to it.
This also lets them train machine learning models that can infer new properties about an entity, or new information that may apply to it, for both summary views and for analytics.
Discontinued features:
In January 2013 LinkedIn dropped support for LinkedIn Answers and cited a new 'focus on development of new and more engaging ways to share and discuss professional topics across LinkedIn' as the reason for the retirement of the feature. The feature had been launched in 2007 and allowed users to post questions to their network and allowed users to rank answers.
In 2014 LinkedIn retired InMaps, a feature which allowed you to visualize your professional network. The feature had been in use since January 2011.
According to the company's website, LinkedIn Referrals will no longer be available after May 2018.
In September 2021 LinkedIn discontinued LinkedIn stories, a feature that was rolled out worldwide in October 2020.
Usage:
Personal branding:
LinkedIn is particularly well-suited for personal branding which, according to Sandra Long, entails "actively managing one's image and unique value" to position oneself for career opportunities.
LinkedIn has evolved from being a mere platform for job searchers into a social network which allows users a chance to create a personal brand. Career coach Pamela Green describes a personal brand as the "emotional experience you want people to have as a result of interacting with you," and a LinkedIn profile is an aspect of that.
A contrasting report suggests that a personal brand is "a public-facing persona, exhibited on LinkedIn, Twitter and other networks, that showcases expertise and fosters new connections."
LinkedIn allows professionals to build exposure for their personal brand within the site itself as well as in the World Wide Web as a whole. With a tool that LinkedIn dubs a Profile Strength Meter, the site encourages users to offer enough information in their profile to optimize visibility by search engines.
It can strengthen a user's LinkedIn presence if he or she belongs to professional groups in the site. The site enables users to add video to their profiles. Some users hire a professional photographer for their profile photo. Video presentations can be added to one's profile.
LinkedIn's capabilities have been expanding so rapidly that a cottage industry of outside consultants has grown up to help users navigate the system. A particular emphasis is helping users with their LinkedIn profiles.
There's no hiding in the long grass on LinkedIn ... The number one mistake people make on the profile is to not have a photo — Sandra Long of Post Road Consulting, 2017.
In October 2012, LinkedIn launched the LinkedIn Influencers program, which features global thought leaders who share their professional insights with LinkedIn's members.
As of May 2016, there are 750+ Influencers. The program is invite-only and features leaders from a range of industries including the following:
Job seeking:
LinkedIn is widely used by job seekers and employers. According to Jack Meyer the site has become the "premier digital platform" for professionals to network online.
In Australia, which has approximately twelve million working professionals, ten million of them are on LinkedIn, according to Anastasia Santoreneos, suggesting that the probability was high that one's "future employer is probably on the site."
According to one estimate based on worldwide figures, 122 million users got job interviews via LinkedIn and 35 million were hired by a LinkedIn online connection.
LinkedIn also allows users to research companies, non-profit organizations, and governments they may be interested in working for. Typing the name of a company or organization in the search box causes pop-up data about the company or organization to appear.
Such data may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company's headquarters and offices, and a list of present and former employees. In July 2011, LinkedIn launched a new feature allowing companies to include an "Apply with LinkedIn" button on job listing pages.
The new plugin allowed potential employees to apply for positions using their LinkedIn profiles as resumes.
LinkedIn can help small businesses connect with customers. In the site's parlance, two users have a "first-degree connection" when one accepts an invitation from another.
People connected to each of them are "second-degree connections" and persons connected to the second-degree connections are "third-degree connections." This forms a user's internal LinkedIn network, making the user's profile more likely to appear in searches.
LinkedIn's Profinder is a marketplace where freelancers can (for a monthly subscription fee) bid for project proposals submitted by individuals and small businesses . In 2017, it had around 60,000 freelancers in more than 140 service areas, such as headshot photography, bookkeeping or tax filing.
The premise for connecting with someone has shifted significantly in recent years. Prior to the 2017 new interface being launched, LinkedIn encouraged connections between people who'd already worked together, studied together, done business together or the like.
Since 2017 that step has been removed from the connection request process - and users are allowed to connect with up to 30,000 people. This change means LinkedIn is a more proactive networking site, be that for job applicants trying to secure a career move or for salespeople wanting to generate new client leads.
Top Companies:
LinkedIn Top Companies is a series of lists published by LinkedIn, identifying companies in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom that are attracting the most intense interest from job candidates.
The 2019 lists identified Google's parent company, Alphabet, as the most sought-after U.S. company, with Facebook ranked second and Amazon ranked third.
The lists are based on more than one billion actions by LinkedIn members worldwide. The Top Companies lists were started in 2016 and are published annually. The 2021 top list identified Amazon as the top company with Alphabet ranked second and JPMorgan & Chase Co. ranked third.
Top Voices and other rankings:
Since 2015 LinkedIn has published annual rankings of Top Voices on the platform, recognizing "members that generated the most engagement and interaction with their posts."
The 2020 lists included 14 industry categories, ranging from data science to sports, as well as 14 country lists, extending from Australia to Italy.
LinkedIn also publishes data-driven annual rankings of the Top Startups in more than a dozen countries, based on "employment growth, job interest from potential candidates, engagement, and attraction of top talent."
Advertising and for-pay research:
In 2008 LinkedIn launched LinkedIn DirectAds as a form of sponsored advertising. In October 2008, LinkedIn revealed plans to open its social network of 30 million professionals globally as a potential sample for business-to-business research. It is testing a potential social network revenue model – research that to some appears more promising than advertising.
On July 23, 2013, LinkedIn announced their Sponsored Updates ad service. Individuals and companies can now pay a fee to have LinkedIn sponsor their content and spread it to their user base. This is a common way for social media sites such as LinkedIn to generate revenue.
Business Manager:
LinkedIn recently announced the creation of Business Manager. The new Business Manager is a centralized platform designed to make it easier for large companies and agencies to manage people, ad accounts and business pages.
Publishing platform:
In 2015, LinkedIn added an analytics tool to its publishing platform. The tool allows authors to better track traffic that their posts receive. In relation to this functionality LinkedIn has gained more users over the years in the interest of clear monitoring of user's posts through post performance analytics.
Future plans:
Economic graph:
Inspired by Facebook's "social graph", LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner set a goal in 2012 to create an "economic graph" within a decade. The goal was to create a comprehensive digital map of the world economy and the connections within it.
The economic graph was to be built on the company's current platform with data nodes including companies, jobs, skills, volunteer opportunities, educational institutions, and content.
They have been hoping to include all the job listings in the world, all the skills required to get those jobs, all the professionals who could fill them, and all the companies (nonprofit and for-profit) at which they work. The ultimate goal is to make the world economy and job market more efficient through increased transparency.
In June 2014, the company announced its "Galene" search architecture to give users access to the economic graph's data with more thorough filtering of data, via user searches like "Engineers with Hadoop experience in Brazil."
LinkedIn has used economic graph data to research several topics on the job market, including popular destination cities of recent college graduates, areas with high concentrations of technology skills, and common career transitions.
LinkedIn provided the City of New York with data from economic graph showing "in-demand" tech skills for the city's "Tech Talent Pipeline" project.
Role in networking:
LinkedIn has been described by online trade publication TechRepublic as having "become the de facto tool for professional networking". LinkedIn has also been praised for its usefulness in fostering business relationships. "LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today," according to Forbes.
LinkedIn has inspired the creation of specialised professional networking opportunities, such as co-founder Eddie Lou's Chicago startup, Shiftgig (released in 2012 as a platform for hourly workers).
Criticism and controversies:
Controversial design choices:
Endorsement feature: The feature that allows LinkedIn members to "endorse" each other's skills and experience has been criticized as meaningless, since the endorsements are not necessarily accurate or given by people who have familiarity with the member's skills.
In October 2016, LinkedIn acknowledged that it "really does matter who endorsed you" and began highlighting endorsements from "coworkers and other mutual connections" to address the criticism.
Use of e-mail accounts of members for spam sending:
LinkedIn sends "invite emails" to Outlook contacts from its members' email accounts, without obtaining their consent. The "invitations" give the impression that the e-mail holder themself has sent the invitation. If there is no response, the answer will be repeated several times ("You have not yet answered XY's invitation.") LinkedIn was sued in the United States on charges of hijacking e-mail accounts and spamming. The company argued with the right to freedom of expression. In addition, the users concerned would be supported in building a network.
The sign-up process includes users entering their email password (there is an opt-out feature). LinkedIn will then offer to send out contact invitations to all members in that address book or that the user has had email conversations with.
When the member's email address book is opened, it is opened with all email addresses selected, and the member is advised invitations will be sent to "selected" email addresses, or to all. LinkedIn was sued for sending out another two follow-up invitations to each contact from members to link to friends who had ignored the initial, authorized invitation.
In November 2014 LinkedIn lost a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, in a ruling that the invitations were advertisements not broadly protected by free speech rights that would otherwise permit use of people's names and images without authorization.
The lawsuit was eventually settled in 2015 in favor of LinkedIn members.
Moving emails to LinkedIn servers:
At the end of 2013 it was announced that the LinkedIn app intercepted users' emails and quietly moved them to LinkedIn servers for full access. LinkedIn used man-in-the-middle attacks.
Security incidents:
2012 hack:
Main article: 2012 LinkedIn hack
In June 2012 cryptographic hashes of approximately 6.4 million LinkedIn user passwords were stolen by Yevgeniy Nikulin and other hackers who then published the stolen hashes online. This action is known as the 2012 LinkedIn hack.
In response to the incident, LinkedIn asked its users to change their passwords. Security experts criticized LinkedIn for not salting their password file and for using a single iteration of SHA-1.
On May 31, 2013, LinkedIn added two-factor authentication, an important security enhancement for preventing hackers from gaining access to accounts.
In May 2016, 117 million LinkedIn usernames and passwords were offered for sale online for the equivalent of $2,200. These account details are believed to be sourced from the original 2012 LinkedIn hack, in which the number of user IDs stolen had been underestimated.
To handle the large volume of emails sent to its users every day with notifications for messages, profile views, important happenings in their network, and other things, LinkedIn uses the Momentum email platform from Message Systems.
Potential 2018 breach, or extended impacts from earlier incidents:
In July 2018 Credit Wise reported "dark web" email and password exposures from LinkedIn. Shortly thereafter, users began receiving extortion emails, using that information as "evidence" that users' contacts had been hacked, and threatening to expose pornographic videos featuring the users.
LinkedIn asserts that this is related to the 2012 breach; however, there is no evidence that this is the case.
2021 breaches:
Malicious behavior on LinkedIn:
Phishing:
In what is known as Operation Socialist, documents released by Edward Snowden in the 2013 global surveillance disclosures revealed that British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) (an intelligence and security organisation) infiltrated the Belgian telecommunications network Belgacom by luring employees to a false LinkedIn page.
In 2014 Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) discovered that Threat Group-2889, an Iran-based group, created 25 fake LinkedIn accounts. The accounts were either fully developed personas or supporting personas. They use spearphishing and malicious websites against their victims.
According to reporting by Le Figaro, France's General Directorate for Internal Security and Directorate-General for External Security believe that Chinese spies have used LinkedIn to target thousands of business and government officials as potential sources of information.
In 2017 Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) published information alleging that Chinese intelligence services had created fake social media profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, using them to gather information on German politicians and government officials. In 2022, the company ranked first in a list of brands most likely to be imitated in phishing attempts.
False and misleading information:
LinkedIn has come under scrutiny for its handling of misinformation and disinformation. The platform has struggled to deal with fake profiles and falsehoods about COVID-19 and the 2020 US presidential election.
Policies:
Privacy policy:
The German Stiftung Warentest has criticized that the balance of rights between users and LinkedIn is disproportionate, restricting users' rights excessively while granting the company far-reaching rights. It has also been claimed that LinkedIn does not respond to consumer protection center requests.
Research on labor market effects:
See also: Criticism of Facebook § Envy
In 2010 Social Science Computer Review published research by economists Ralf Caers and Vanessa Castelyns who sent an online questionnaire to 398 and 353 LinkedIn and Facebook users respectively in Belgium and found that both sites had become tools for recruiting job applicants for professional occupations as well as additional information about applicants, and that it was being used by recruiters to decide which applicants would receive interviews.
In May 2017, Research Policy published an analysis of PhD holders use of LinkedIn and found that PhD holders who move into industry were more likely to have LinkedIn accounts and to have larger networks of LinkedIn connections, were more likely to use LinkedIn if they had co-authors abroad, and to have wider networks if they moved abroad after obtaining their PhD.
Also in 2017 sociologist Ofer Sharone conducted interviews with unemployed workers to research the effects of LinkedIn and Facebook as labor market intermediaries and found that social networking services (SNS) have had a filtration effect that has little to do with evaluations of merit, and that the SNS filtration effect has exerted new pressures on workers to manage their careers to conform to the logic of the SNS filtration effect.
In October 2018 Foster School of Business professors Melissa Rhee, Elina Hwang, and Yong Tan performed an empirical analysis of whether the common professional networking tactic by job seekers of creating LinkedIn connections with professionals who work at a target company or in a target field is actually instrumental in obtaining referrals and found instead that job seekers were less likely to be referred by employees who were employed by the target company or in the target field due to job similarity and self-protection from competition.
Rhee, Hwang, and Tan further found that referring employees in higher hierarchical positions than the job candidates were more likely to provide referrals and that gender homophily did not reduce the competition self-protection effect.
In July 2019 sociologists Steve McDonald, Amanda K. Damarin, Jenelle Lawhorne, and Annika Wilcox performed qualitative interviews with 61 Human resources recruiters in two metropolitan areas in the Southern United States and found that recruiters filling low- and general-skilled positions typically posted advertisements on online job boards while recruiters filling high-skilled or supervisor positions targeted passive candidates on LinkedIn (i.e. employed workers not actively seeking work but possibly willing to change positions). They concluded that this is resulting in a bifurcated winner-takes-all job market with recruiters focusing their efforts on poaching already employed high-skilled workers while active job seekers are relegated to hyper-competitive online job boards.
In a September 2019 working paper, economists Laurel Wheeler, Robert Garlick, and RTI International scholars Eric Johnson, Patrick Shaw, and Marissa Gargano ran a randomized evaluation of training job seekers in South Africa to use LinkedIn as part of job readiness programs.
The evaluation found that the training increased the job seekers employment by approximately 10 percent by reducing information frictions between job seekers and prospective employers, that the training had this effect for approximately 12 months.While the training may also have facilitated referrals, it did not reduce job search costs and the jobs for the treatment and control groups in the evaluation had equal probabilities of retention, promotion, and obtaining a permanent contract.
In 2020, Applied Economics published research by economists Steffen Brenner, Sezen Aksin Sivrikaya, and Joachim Schwalbach using LinkedIn demonstrating that high status individuals self-select into professional networking services rather than workers unsatisfied with their career status adversely selecting into the services to receive networking benefits.
International restrictions:
In 2009, Syrian users reported that LinkedIn server stopped accepting connections originating from IP addresses assigned to Syria. The company's customer support stated that services provided by them are subject to US export and re-export control laws and regulations and "As such, and as a matter of corporate policy, we do not allow member accounts or access to our site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria."
In February 2011 it was reported that LinkedIn was being blocked in China after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution". It was speculated to have been blocked because it is an easy way for dissidents to access Twitter, which had been blocked previously. After a day of being blocked, LinkedIn access was restored in China.
In February 2014, LinkedIn launched its Simplified Chinese language version named "领英" (pinyin: Lǐngyīng; lit. 'leading elite'), officially extending their service in China.
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner acknowledged in a blog post that they would have to censor some of the content that users post on its website in order to comply with Chinese rules, but he also said the benefits of providing its online service to people in China outweighed those concerns.
Since Autumn 2017 job postings from western countries for China aren't possible anymore.
In 2016, a Moscow court ruled that LinkedIn must be blocked in Russia for violating a data retention law which requires the user data of Russian citizens to be stored on servers within the country. The relevant law had been in force there since 2014. This ban was upheld on November 10, 2016, and all Russian ISPs began blocking LinkedIn thereafter.
LinkedIn's mobile app was also banned from Google Play Store and iOS App Store in Russia in January 2017. In July 2021 it was also blocked in Kazakhstan.
In October 2021 after reports of several academicians and reporters who received notifications regarding their profiles will be blocked in China, Microsoft confirmed that LinkedIn will be shutting down in China and replaced with InJobs, a China exclusive app, citing difficulties in operating environments and increasing compliance requirements.
Open source contributions:
Since 2010 LinkedIn has contributed multiple internal technologies, tools, and software products to the open source domain. Notable among these projects is Apache Kafka, which was built and open sourced at LinkedIn in 2011.
The team behind the creation of Kafka formed a LinkedIn spin-out company in 2014 named Confluent, which went public with an IPO in 2021. A list of LinkedIn's active open source projects can be found on their engineering website.
Research using data from the platform:
Massive amounts of data from LinkedIn allow scientists and machine learning researchers to extract insights and build product features. For example, this data can help to shape patterns of deception in resumes. Findings suggested that people commonly lie about their hobbies rather than their work experience on online resumes.
See also:
In 2013 a class action lawsuit entitled Perkins vs. LinkedIn Corp was filed against the company, accusing it of automatically sending invitations to contacts in a member's email address book without permission. The court agreed with LinkedIn that permission had in fact been given for invitations to be sent, but not for the two further reminder emails.
LinkedIn settled the lawsuit in 2015 for $13 million. Many members should have received a notice in their email with the subject line "Legal Notice of Settlement of Class Action". The Case No. is 13-CV-04303-LHK.
hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn:
Main article: hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn
In May 2017 LinkedIn sent a Cease-And-Desist letter to hiQ Labs, a Silicon Valley startup that collects data from public profiles and provides analysis of this data to its customers. The letter demanded that hiQ immediately cease "scraping" data from LinkedIn's servers, claiming violations of the CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act) and the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).
In response hiQ sued LinkedIn in the Northern District of California in San Francisco, asking the court to prohibit LinkedIn from blocking its access to public profiles while the court considered the merits of its request. The court served a preliminary injunction against LinkedIn, which was then forced to allow hiQ to continue to collect public data.
LinkedIn appealed this ruling; in September 2019, the appeals court rejected LinkedIn's arguments and the preliminary injunction was upheld. The dispute is ongoing.
Membership:
As of 2015 LinkedIn had more than 400 million members in over 200 countries and territories. It is significantly ahead of its competitors Viadeo (50 million as of 2013) and XING (11 million as of 2016).
In 2011, its membership grew by approximately two new members every second. In 2020 LinkedIn's membership grew to over 690 million LinkedIn members. As of September 2021 LinkedIn has 774+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories.
Platform and features:
User profile network:
Basic functionality: The basic functionality of LinkedIn allows users to create profiles, which for employees typically consist of a curriculum vitae describing their work experience, education and training, skills, and a personal photo. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Users can find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. Users can save jobs that they would like to apply for.
Users also have the ability to follow different companies.
The site also enables members to make "connections" to each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone to become a connection. Users can obtain introductions to the connections of connections (termed second-degree connections) and connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections).
A member's list of connections can be used in a number of ways. For example, users can search for second-degree connections who work at a company they are interested in, and then ask a specific first-degree connection in common for an introduction.
The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any professional requires either an existing relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service's users. LinkedIn participated in the EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.
Users can interact with each other in a variety of ways:
- Connections can interact by choosing to "like" posts and "congratulate" others on updates such as birthdays, anniversaries and new positions, as well as by direct messaging.
- Users can share video with text and filters with the introduction of LinkedIn Video.
- Users can write posts and articles within the LinkedIn platform to share with their network.
Since September 2012 LinkedIn has enabled users to "endorse" each other's skills. However, there is no way of flagging anything other than positive content. LinkedIn solicits endorsements using algorithms that generate skills members might have. Members cannot opt out of such solicitations, with the result that it sometimes appears that a member is soliciting an endorsement for a non-existent skill.
Applications:
LinkedIn 'applications' often refer to external third-party applications that interact with LinkedIn's developer API. However, in some cases, it could refer to sanctioned applications featured on a user's profile page.
External, third party applications:
In February 2015 LinkedIn released an updated terms of use for their developer API. The developer API allows both companies and individuals the ability to interact with LinkedIn's data through creation of managed third-party applications. Applications must go through a review process and request permission from the user before accessing a user's data.
Normal use of the API is outlined in LinkedIn's developer documents, including:
- Sign into external services using LinkedIn
- Add items or attributes to a user profile
- Share items or articles to user's timeline
Embedded in profile:
In October 2008, LinkedIn enabled an "applications platform" which allows external online services to be embedded within a member's profile page. Among the initial applications were an Amazon Reading List that allows LinkedIn members to display books they are reading, a connection to Tripit, and a Six Apart, WordPress and TypePad application that allows members to display their latest blog postings within their LinkedIn profile.
In November 2010, LinkedIn allowed businesses to list products and services on company profile pages; it also permitted LinkedIn members to "recommend" products and services and write reviews. Shortly after, some of the external services were no longer supported, including Amazon's Reading List.
Mobile:
A mobile version of the site was launched in February 2008 and made available in six languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
In January 2011, LinkedIn acquired CardMunch, a mobile app maker that scans business cards and converts into contacts. In June 2013, CardMunch was noted as an available LinkedIn app.
In October 2013, LinkedIn announced a service for iPhone users called "Intro", which inserts a thumbnail of a person's LinkedIn profile in correspondence with that person when reading mail messages in the native iOS Mail program. This is accomplished by re-routing all emails from and to the iPhone through LinkedIn servers, which security firm Bishop Fox asserts has serious privacy implications, violates many organizations' security policies, and resembles a man-in-the-middle attack.
Groups:
LinkedIn also supports daily the formation of interest groups. In 2012 there were 1,248,019 such groups whose membership varies from 1 to 744,662. Groups support a limited form of discussion area, moderated by the group owners and managers.
Groups may be private, accessible to members only or may be open to Internet users in general to read, though they must join in order to post messages. Since groups offer the functionality to reach a wide audience without so easily falling foul of anti-spam solutions, there is a constant stream of spam postings, and there now exists a range of firms who offer a spamming service for this very purpose.
LinkedIn has devised a few mechanisms to reduce the volume of spam, but recently took the decision to remove the ability of group owners to inspect the email address of new members in order to determine if they were spammers.
Groups also keep their members informed through emails with updates to the group, including most talked about discussions within your professional circles.
In December 2011 LinkedIn announced that they are rolling out polls to groups.
In November 2013, LinkedIn announced the addition of Showcase Pages to the platform.
In 2014, LinkedIn announced they were going to be removing Product and Services Pages paving the way for a greater focus on Showcase Pages.
Knowledge graph:
LinkedIn maintains an internal knowledge graph of entities (people, organizations, groups) that helps it connect everyone working in a field or at an organization or network. This can be used to query the neighborhood around each entity to find updates that might be related to it.
This also lets them train machine learning models that can infer new properties about an entity, or new information that may apply to it, for both summary views and for analytics.
Discontinued features:
In January 2013 LinkedIn dropped support for LinkedIn Answers and cited a new 'focus on development of new and more engaging ways to share and discuss professional topics across LinkedIn' as the reason for the retirement of the feature. The feature had been launched in 2007 and allowed users to post questions to their network and allowed users to rank answers.
In 2014 LinkedIn retired InMaps, a feature which allowed you to visualize your professional network. The feature had been in use since January 2011.
According to the company's website, LinkedIn Referrals will no longer be available after May 2018.
In September 2021 LinkedIn discontinued LinkedIn stories, a feature that was rolled out worldwide in October 2020.
Usage:
Personal branding:
LinkedIn is particularly well-suited for personal branding which, according to Sandra Long, entails "actively managing one's image and unique value" to position oneself for career opportunities.
LinkedIn has evolved from being a mere platform for job searchers into a social network which allows users a chance to create a personal brand. Career coach Pamela Green describes a personal brand as the "emotional experience you want people to have as a result of interacting with you," and a LinkedIn profile is an aspect of that.
A contrasting report suggests that a personal brand is "a public-facing persona, exhibited on LinkedIn, Twitter and other networks, that showcases expertise and fosters new connections."
LinkedIn allows professionals to build exposure for their personal brand within the site itself as well as in the World Wide Web as a whole. With a tool that LinkedIn dubs a Profile Strength Meter, the site encourages users to offer enough information in their profile to optimize visibility by search engines.
It can strengthen a user's LinkedIn presence if he or she belongs to professional groups in the site. The site enables users to add video to their profiles. Some users hire a professional photographer for their profile photo. Video presentations can be added to one's profile.
LinkedIn's capabilities have been expanding so rapidly that a cottage industry of outside consultants has grown up to help users navigate the system. A particular emphasis is helping users with their LinkedIn profiles.
There's no hiding in the long grass on LinkedIn ... The number one mistake people make on the profile is to not have a photo — Sandra Long of Post Road Consulting, 2017.
In October 2012, LinkedIn launched the LinkedIn Influencers program, which features global thought leaders who share their professional insights with LinkedIn's members.
As of May 2016, there are 750+ Influencers. The program is invite-only and features leaders from a range of industries including the following:
- Richard Branson,
- Narendra Modi,
- Arianna Huffington,
- Greg McKeown,
- Rahm Emanuel,
- Jamie Dimon,
- Martha Stewart,
- Deepak Chopra,
- Jack Welch,
- and Bill Gates.
Job seeking:
LinkedIn is widely used by job seekers and employers. According to Jack Meyer the site has become the "premier digital platform" for professionals to network online.
In Australia, which has approximately twelve million working professionals, ten million of them are on LinkedIn, according to Anastasia Santoreneos, suggesting that the probability was high that one's "future employer is probably on the site."
According to one estimate based on worldwide figures, 122 million users got job interviews via LinkedIn and 35 million were hired by a LinkedIn online connection.
LinkedIn also allows users to research companies, non-profit organizations, and governments they may be interested in working for. Typing the name of a company or organization in the search box causes pop-up data about the company or organization to appear.
Such data may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company's headquarters and offices, and a list of present and former employees. In July 2011, LinkedIn launched a new feature allowing companies to include an "Apply with LinkedIn" button on job listing pages.
The new plugin allowed potential employees to apply for positions using their LinkedIn profiles as resumes.
LinkedIn can help small businesses connect with customers. In the site's parlance, two users have a "first-degree connection" when one accepts an invitation from another.
People connected to each of them are "second-degree connections" and persons connected to the second-degree connections are "third-degree connections." This forms a user's internal LinkedIn network, making the user's profile more likely to appear in searches.
LinkedIn's Profinder is a marketplace where freelancers can (for a monthly subscription fee) bid for project proposals submitted by individuals and small businesses . In 2017, it had around 60,000 freelancers in more than 140 service areas, such as headshot photography, bookkeeping or tax filing.
The premise for connecting with someone has shifted significantly in recent years. Prior to the 2017 new interface being launched, LinkedIn encouraged connections between people who'd already worked together, studied together, done business together or the like.
Since 2017 that step has been removed from the connection request process - and users are allowed to connect with up to 30,000 people. This change means LinkedIn is a more proactive networking site, be that for job applicants trying to secure a career move or for salespeople wanting to generate new client leads.
Top Companies:
LinkedIn Top Companies is a series of lists published by LinkedIn, identifying companies in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom that are attracting the most intense interest from job candidates.
The 2019 lists identified Google's parent company, Alphabet, as the most sought-after U.S. company, with Facebook ranked second and Amazon ranked third.
The lists are based on more than one billion actions by LinkedIn members worldwide. The Top Companies lists were started in 2016 and are published annually. The 2021 top list identified Amazon as the top company with Alphabet ranked second and JPMorgan & Chase Co. ranked third.
Top Voices and other rankings:
Since 2015 LinkedIn has published annual rankings of Top Voices on the platform, recognizing "members that generated the most engagement and interaction with their posts."
The 2020 lists included 14 industry categories, ranging from data science to sports, as well as 14 country lists, extending from Australia to Italy.
LinkedIn also publishes data-driven annual rankings of the Top Startups in more than a dozen countries, based on "employment growth, job interest from potential candidates, engagement, and attraction of top talent."
Advertising and for-pay research:
In 2008 LinkedIn launched LinkedIn DirectAds as a form of sponsored advertising. In October 2008, LinkedIn revealed plans to open its social network of 30 million professionals globally as a potential sample for business-to-business research. It is testing a potential social network revenue model – research that to some appears more promising than advertising.
On July 23, 2013, LinkedIn announced their Sponsored Updates ad service. Individuals and companies can now pay a fee to have LinkedIn sponsor their content and spread it to their user base. This is a common way for social media sites such as LinkedIn to generate revenue.
Business Manager:
LinkedIn recently announced the creation of Business Manager. The new Business Manager is a centralized platform designed to make it easier for large companies and agencies to manage people, ad accounts and business pages.
Publishing platform:
In 2015, LinkedIn added an analytics tool to its publishing platform. The tool allows authors to better track traffic that their posts receive. In relation to this functionality LinkedIn has gained more users over the years in the interest of clear monitoring of user's posts through post performance analytics.
Future plans:
Economic graph:
Inspired by Facebook's "social graph", LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner set a goal in 2012 to create an "economic graph" within a decade. The goal was to create a comprehensive digital map of the world economy and the connections within it.
The economic graph was to be built on the company's current platform with data nodes including companies, jobs, skills, volunteer opportunities, educational institutions, and content.
They have been hoping to include all the job listings in the world, all the skills required to get those jobs, all the professionals who could fill them, and all the companies (nonprofit and for-profit) at which they work. The ultimate goal is to make the world economy and job market more efficient through increased transparency.
In June 2014, the company announced its "Galene" search architecture to give users access to the economic graph's data with more thorough filtering of data, via user searches like "Engineers with Hadoop experience in Brazil."
LinkedIn has used economic graph data to research several topics on the job market, including popular destination cities of recent college graduates, areas with high concentrations of technology skills, and common career transitions.
LinkedIn provided the City of New York with data from economic graph showing "in-demand" tech skills for the city's "Tech Talent Pipeline" project.
Role in networking:
LinkedIn has been described by online trade publication TechRepublic as having "become the de facto tool for professional networking". LinkedIn has also been praised for its usefulness in fostering business relationships. "LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today," according to Forbes.
LinkedIn has inspired the creation of specialised professional networking opportunities, such as co-founder Eddie Lou's Chicago startup, Shiftgig (released in 2012 as a platform for hourly workers).
Criticism and controversies:
Controversial design choices:
Endorsement feature: The feature that allows LinkedIn members to "endorse" each other's skills and experience has been criticized as meaningless, since the endorsements are not necessarily accurate or given by people who have familiarity with the member's skills.
In October 2016, LinkedIn acknowledged that it "really does matter who endorsed you" and began highlighting endorsements from "coworkers and other mutual connections" to address the criticism.
Use of e-mail accounts of members for spam sending:
LinkedIn sends "invite emails" to Outlook contacts from its members' email accounts, without obtaining their consent. The "invitations" give the impression that the e-mail holder themself has sent the invitation. If there is no response, the answer will be repeated several times ("You have not yet answered XY's invitation.") LinkedIn was sued in the United States on charges of hijacking e-mail accounts and spamming. The company argued with the right to freedom of expression. In addition, the users concerned would be supported in building a network.
The sign-up process includes users entering their email password (there is an opt-out feature). LinkedIn will then offer to send out contact invitations to all members in that address book or that the user has had email conversations with.
When the member's email address book is opened, it is opened with all email addresses selected, and the member is advised invitations will be sent to "selected" email addresses, or to all. LinkedIn was sued for sending out another two follow-up invitations to each contact from members to link to friends who had ignored the initial, authorized invitation.
In November 2014 LinkedIn lost a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, in a ruling that the invitations were advertisements not broadly protected by free speech rights that would otherwise permit use of people's names and images without authorization.
The lawsuit was eventually settled in 2015 in favor of LinkedIn members.
Moving emails to LinkedIn servers:
At the end of 2013 it was announced that the LinkedIn app intercepted users' emails and quietly moved them to LinkedIn servers for full access. LinkedIn used man-in-the-middle attacks.
Security incidents:
2012 hack:
Main article: 2012 LinkedIn hack
In June 2012 cryptographic hashes of approximately 6.4 million LinkedIn user passwords were stolen by Yevgeniy Nikulin and other hackers who then published the stolen hashes online. This action is known as the 2012 LinkedIn hack.
In response to the incident, LinkedIn asked its users to change their passwords. Security experts criticized LinkedIn for not salting their password file and for using a single iteration of SHA-1.
On May 31, 2013, LinkedIn added two-factor authentication, an important security enhancement for preventing hackers from gaining access to accounts.
In May 2016, 117 million LinkedIn usernames and passwords were offered for sale online for the equivalent of $2,200. These account details are believed to be sourced from the original 2012 LinkedIn hack, in which the number of user IDs stolen had been underestimated.
To handle the large volume of emails sent to its users every day with notifications for messages, profile views, important happenings in their network, and other things, LinkedIn uses the Momentum email platform from Message Systems.
Potential 2018 breach, or extended impacts from earlier incidents:
In July 2018 Credit Wise reported "dark web" email and password exposures from LinkedIn. Shortly thereafter, users began receiving extortion emails, using that information as "evidence" that users' contacts had been hacked, and threatening to expose pornographic videos featuring the users.
LinkedIn asserts that this is related to the 2012 breach; however, there is no evidence that this is the case.
2021 breaches:
- A breach disclosed in April 2021 affected 500 million users.
- A breach disclosed in June 2021 was thought to have affected 92% of users, exposing contact information, employment information. LinkedIn asserted that the data was aggregated via web scraping from LinkedIn as well as several other sites, and noted that "only information that people listed publicly in their profiles" was included.
Malicious behavior on LinkedIn:
Phishing:
In what is known as Operation Socialist, documents released by Edward Snowden in the 2013 global surveillance disclosures revealed that British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) (an intelligence and security organisation) infiltrated the Belgian telecommunications network Belgacom by luring employees to a false LinkedIn page.
In 2014 Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) discovered that Threat Group-2889, an Iran-based group, created 25 fake LinkedIn accounts. The accounts were either fully developed personas or supporting personas. They use spearphishing and malicious websites against their victims.
According to reporting by Le Figaro, France's General Directorate for Internal Security and Directorate-General for External Security believe that Chinese spies have used LinkedIn to target thousands of business and government officials as potential sources of information.
In 2017 Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) published information alleging that Chinese intelligence services had created fake social media profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, using them to gather information on German politicians and government officials. In 2022, the company ranked first in a list of brands most likely to be imitated in phishing attempts.
False and misleading information:
LinkedIn has come under scrutiny for its handling of misinformation and disinformation. The platform has struggled to deal with fake profiles and falsehoods about COVID-19 and the 2020 US presidential election.
Policies:
Privacy policy:
The German Stiftung Warentest has criticized that the balance of rights between users and LinkedIn is disproportionate, restricting users' rights excessively while granting the company far-reaching rights. It has also been claimed that LinkedIn does not respond to consumer protection center requests.
Research on labor market effects:
See also: Criticism of Facebook § Envy
In 2010 Social Science Computer Review published research by economists Ralf Caers and Vanessa Castelyns who sent an online questionnaire to 398 and 353 LinkedIn and Facebook users respectively in Belgium and found that both sites had become tools for recruiting job applicants for professional occupations as well as additional information about applicants, and that it was being used by recruiters to decide which applicants would receive interviews.
In May 2017, Research Policy published an analysis of PhD holders use of LinkedIn and found that PhD holders who move into industry were more likely to have LinkedIn accounts and to have larger networks of LinkedIn connections, were more likely to use LinkedIn if they had co-authors abroad, and to have wider networks if they moved abroad after obtaining their PhD.
Also in 2017 sociologist Ofer Sharone conducted interviews with unemployed workers to research the effects of LinkedIn and Facebook as labor market intermediaries and found that social networking services (SNS) have had a filtration effect that has little to do with evaluations of merit, and that the SNS filtration effect has exerted new pressures on workers to manage their careers to conform to the logic of the SNS filtration effect.
In October 2018 Foster School of Business professors Melissa Rhee, Elina Hwang, and Yong Tan performed an empirical analysis of whether the common professional networking tactic by job seekers of creating LinkedIn connections with professionals who work at a target company or in a target field is actually instrumental in obtaining referrals and found instead that job seekers were less likely to be referred by employees who were employed by the target company or in the target field due to job similarity and self-protection from competition.
Rhee, Hwang, and Tan further found that referring employees in higher hierarchical positions than the job candidates were more likely to provide referrals and that gender homophily did not reduce the competition self-protection effect.
In July 2019 sociologists Steve McDonald, Amanda K. Damarin, Jenelle Lawhorne, and Annika Wilcox performed qualitative interviews with 61 Human resources recruiters in two metropolitan areas in the Southern United States and found that recruiters filling low- and general-skilled positions typically posted advertisements on online job boards while recruiters filling high-skilled or supervisor positions targeted passive candidates on LinkedIn (i.e. employed workers not actively seeking work but possibly willing to change positions). They concluded that this is resulting in a bifurcated winner-takes-all job market with recruiters focusing their efforts on poaching already employed high-skilled workers while active job seekers are relegated to hyper-competitive online job boards.
In a September 2019 working paper, economists Laurel Wheeler, Robert Garlick, and RTI International scholars Eric Johnson, Patrick Shaw, and Marissa Gargano ran a randomized evaluation of training job seekers in South Africa to use LinkedIn as part of job readiness programs.
The evaluation found that the training increased the job seekers employment by approximately 10 percent by reducing information frictions between job seekers and prospective employers, that the training had this effect for approximately 12 months.While the training may also have facilitated referrals, it did not reduce job search costs and the jobs for the treatment and control groups in the evaluation had equal probabilities of retention, promotion, and obtaining a permanent contract.
In 2020, Applied Economics published research by economists Steffen Brenner, Sezen Aksin Sivrikaya, and Joachim Schwalbach using LinkedIn demonstrating that high status individuals self-select into professional networking services rather than workers unsatisfied with their career status adversely selecting into the services to receive networking benefits.
International restrictions:
In 2009, Syrian users reported that LinkedIn server stopped accepting connections originating from IP addresses assigned to Syria. The company's customer support stated that services provided by them are subject to US export and re-export control laws and regulations and "As such, and as a matter of corporate policy, we do not allow member accounts or access to our site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria."
In February 2011 it was reported that LinkedIn was being blocked in China after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution". It was speculated to have been blocked because it is an easy way for dissidents to access Twitter, which had been blocked previously. After a day of being blocked, LinkedIn access was restored in China.
In February 2014, LinkedIn launched its Simplified Chinese language version named "领英" (pinyin: Lǐngyīng; lit. 'leading elite'), officially extending their service in China.
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner acknowledged in a blog post that they would have to censor some of the content that users post on its website in order to comply with Chinese rules, but he also said the benefits of providing its online service to people in China outweighed those concerns.
Since Autumn 2017 job postings from western countries for China aren't possible anymore.
In 2016, a Moscow court ruled that LinkedIn must be blocked in Russia for violating a data retention law which requires the user data of Russian citizens to be stored on servers within the country. The relevant law had been in force there since 2014. This ban was upheld on November 10, 2016, and all Russian ISPs began blocking LinkedIn thereafter.
LinkedIn's mobile app was also banned from Google Play Store and iOS App Store in Russia in January 2017. In July 2021 it was also blocked in Kazakhstan.
In October 2021 after reports of several academicians and reporters who received notifications regarding their profiles will be blocked in China, Microsoft confirmed that LinkedIn will be shutting down in China and replaced with InJobs, a China exclusive app, citing difficulties in operating environments and increasing compliance requirements.
Open source contributions:
Since 2010 LinkedIn has contributed multiple internal technologies, tools, and software products to the open source domain. Notable among these projects is Apache Kafka, which was built and open sourced at LinkedIn in 2011.
The team behind the creation of Kafka formed a LinkedIn spin-out company in 2014 named Confluent, which went public with an IPO in 2021. A list of LinkedIn's active open source projects can be found on their engineering website.
Research using data from the platform:
Massive amounts of data from LinkedIn allow scientists and machine learning researchers to extract insights and build product features. For example, this data can help to shape patterns of deception in resumes. Findings suggested that people commonly lie about their hobbies rather than their work experience on online resumes.
See also:
- Official website
- How LinkedIn Became a Place to Overshare (NY Times 9/16/2022)
- Business network
- Employment website
- List of social networking services
- Reputation systems
- Social network
- Social software
- Timeline of social media