When you sign up to a new social network, you have zero friend, zero follower, zero like.
A new app called Palmsy is trying to act as social media methadone by letting you post anything and getting likes on them.
While the app is reading your contact details, because all posts are local, contact information is not sent to a server.
There have been multiple time-limiting apps that try to help when it comes to reducing social media addiction.
Some developers have also released very basic apps to post dumb posts without consequences as well.
Meta announced on Thursday that its beta experience of sharing Threads accounts to the fediverse is now open to users ages 18 and up with public profiles.
To opt into the fediverse beta experience on Threads, go to account settings and toggle on fediverse sharing.
This gives you the chance to connect with other people who may not be on Threads but use alternative social networking apps.
For instance, beta users on Threads can’t see people in the fediverse who replied or liked their posts.
Users also can’t share posts with polls.
In India, a government-run agency will now monitor and undertake fact-checking for government related matters on social media even as tech giants expressed grave concerns about it last year.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT on Wednesday wrote in a gazette notification that it is cementing into law its proposal from last year about making the fact checking unit of Press Information Bureau the dedicated arbiter of truth for New Delhi matters.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcast established the fact checking unit of Press Information Bureau in 2019 with the aim to dispel misinformation about government matters.
The unit, however, has been criticized for falsely labelling information critical to the government as misleading.
Relying on a government agency such as the Press Information Bureau as the sole source to fact-check government business without giving it a clear definition or providing clear checks and balances “may lead to misuse during implementation of the law, which will profoundly infringe on press freedom,” Asia Internet Coalition, an industry group that represents Meta, Amazon, Google and Apple cautioned last year.
Linktree is now allowing users to highlight links better with featured layout functionLink-in-bio startup Linktree introduced new features today including a featured layout to highlight links better, the ability to fetch the latest posts from Instagram, and support for a more prominent profile picture.
The company said that the new featured layout is great for highlighting certain links.
When you select “Featured layout” for a link it automatically expands with a content preview for links from YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, and Instagram.
In January, Linktree introduced a feature that automatically fetched the latest posts from YouTube and TikTok.
The company is now extending support for Instagram, with support for up to six of the latest posts and Reels from your account.
Reddit is introducing a new ad format that looks similar to posts made by users on the platform, the company announced on Thursday.
The new ad format, called free-form ads, is designed to feel similar to the content that users share with each other in order to help advertisers get maximum engagement.
Although the new format may be enticing to advertisers, ads that look like regular posts may not be a welcome addition for users.
The company says the new ad format would be a good way to do things like launch a product or introduce a brand to a new audience.
Similar to other ads on Reddit, users will be able to differentiate between free-form ads and regular posts through a “Promoted” label displayed next to the company’s name on a post.
Code suggests that TikTok could be building an app for photosAfter rivaling music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple music with TikTok Music, ByteDance might be looking at creating an Instagram competitor named TikTok Photos, code found in the TikTok app suggests.
As spotted by The SpAndroid blog, TikTok’s APK file — an installable file format for Android — contains references and icons to a new app named TikTok Photos.
“Whether you’re a world traveler, food blogger, or simply enjoy sharing what’s going on in your life, TikTok Photos is our all-new photo-sharing platform dedicated to helping creators like you reach other like-minded people,” the description reads.
“TikTok Photos is our all-new photo-sharing platform where we’ve made it easier to enjoy and discover photo posts.”The APK also has a representative icon of the potential TikTok Photos service in old TikTok colors.
Through this update, users could already add photo posts to the network, but the company could be working on a separate platform to make photos stand out.
In the last 12 months, reader apps have adopted AI to change how users consume news.
However, developer Nate Parrott’s app Feeeed (it’s four Es), which is available for iPhones and iPads, focus more on creating an algorithmic timeline to combine different sources.
The appJust like any reader app, Feeeed lets you add RSS feeds to your timeline.
“The whole idea of a news feed for yourself, on your own terms is still key to understanding the app, I think.
“The big challenge for Feeeed is giving people a feed that feels deeply personal without asking them to do too much work.
Reddit announced today that it’s launching a suite of tools, called Reddit Pro, to help businesses grow an organic presence on the platform.
With this new suite of free tools, Reddit is likely seeking to add more brands it to its platform and possibly convert them into paying advertisers.
Reddit Pro is currently in its beta testing phase and gives businesses access to an interface with multiple tools.
Reddit says more than 200 businesses have started using Reddit Pro, including Taco Bell, Wendy’s, the NFL, The Wall Street Journal, Kate Somerville and Atlas Headrest.
The company plans to launch additional Reddit Pro features this year, but didn’t share details about what they may look like.
X announced a new long-form post format called Articles today.
The feature, which is only available to Premium+ subscribers and verified organizations, lets users publish posts with text formatting, other X posts, and embedded videos and images — akin to a post on a WordPress-like content management system or an article on Medium.
Last year, the Elon Musk-owned social network increased the limit for long posts to 25,000 characters for paying users.
And yet, in July 2023, Musk noted that the company is working on a way for creators to post long-form articles with mixed media.
Musk has long pushed creators like MrBeast and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to post on X directly.
TikTok is introducing a data portability API to help it comply with new European regulations designed to rein in Big Tech’s market dominance through various obligations and restrictions.
Data transfersData portability and interoperability constitutes a major part of the DMA regulations, and tech companies have been bolstering their efforts on this front for several years in preparation.
Thus the data portability API goes some way toward addressing that limitation, allowing third-party developers to build conduits for data to travel from TikTok to their own apps — if the user authorizes this.
Through the API, developers can request access to “all available data,” or individual categories including TikTok posts and profile data, activity, and direct messages (DMs).
The data portability API is available to applicants globally, but the developer must be able to demonstrate a “well-defined use case” before they will be approved.
