Facebook has been increasingly copying Snapchat’s features and profiting off the company in the process. Whether it’s stories or the recently announced messaging streaks, Facebook has taken features from Snapchat and repurposed them time and time again. But, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is not taking this sitting down.
In an op-ed published in Axios on Tuesday, Spiegel argues that Snapchat’s algorithms are superior to Facebook’s reliance on friends. Reference Facebook and their fake news problem, without actually naming Facebook, Spiegel describes social networks as “mindless scrambles for friends or unworthy distractions” and criticizes their role in creating “fake news. “Social media fueled ‘fake news’ because content designed to be shared by friends is not necessarily content designed to deliver accurate information,” says Spiegel.
MONTREAL, CANADA – JULY 1, 2016 – Snapchat lenses on android cell smartphone. Snapchat is a mobile messaging application used to share photos, videos, text, and drawings. (dennizn / Shutterstock, Inc.)
Snap’s CEO even wants to separate Snapchat from being described as a social network. “While many people view Snapchat as a social media service, it is primarily used to talk with friends – like visual texting,” says Spiegel. “Snapchat began as an escape from social media, where people could send photos and videos to their friends without the pressure of likes, comments, and permanence.”
Spiegel believes Snapchat’s focus on creating personalizing stories created by publishers in different ways, highlights who you are and what your friends are like. “The combination of social and media has yielded incredible business results, but has ultimately undermined our relationships with our friends and our relationships with the media,” explains Spiegel. “We believe that the best path forward is disentangling the two by providing a personalized content feed based on what you want to watch, not what your friends post.”
The day after Snap’s CEO gave this op-ed, Snapchat released a newly redesigned application which focuses on interaction with friends and a separation between brands and friends.
Snapchat introduced a new redesign of their app intended to promote more sharing among friends while pushing professionally produced content into a separate news feed. The redesigned app also includes a new dynamic friends page that consists of both chat messages and Snapchat stories and pushes items from your close friends to the top of the feed. It will begin appearing later this week for a small number of users and expected to roll out more broadly in the next few weeks.
The news comes at a time when Snap is under pressure from slow user growth and competition from Facebook and Instagram. The idea behind the redesign in the new Snapchat is to put your friends on one side of the app and the brands on the other. In the center is the Snap camera, which will remain the app’s home screen to encourage users to point, click and share. Snap says the company produces 3.5 billion snaps each day. The left side of the app will be used for sharing and discussing, while the right side is used for searching.
Snapchat’s redesign is not something entirely new. The left side of the app has also been used for chats with friends, and the right side has always been used for brands. But until then, stories, have been located in their tab to the right of the camera screen. Also, the stories tab blended content from friends and brands, which may have confused some users.
LONDON, UK – APRIL 13TH 2017: The official homepage of the Snapchat social media website, on 13th April 2017. (chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com)
“Until now, social media has always mixed photos and videos from your friends with content from publishers and creators,” the company said in a blog post. “While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves.”
The new feature begs the question, how does Snapchat know who is a friend and who is a brand? Snapchat explains that if an account follows you back, it is considered a friend, and shows up on the left side of the app. If the app does not follow you back, it shows up on the Discover page.
Snap executives hope this new redesign and organization will lead to higher user-engagement between close groups of friends. Moreover, separating brands and people it will create an algorithm feed that caters more towards the users wants and needs. For example, the company now has a “best friends” algorithm that puts the people you engage with the most to the top. The more you chat with someone and watch their stories, the higher in the feed they will rise.
Also, Snapchat has gotten rid of a button for watching all the stories on your feed. Instead, after you watch a story, you will see a screen previewing the next story from one of your friends. You can either tap the screen to view it or swipe it away to return to your chats.
The new redesign may scare off publishers who are used to having their content mixed with the stories of friends, which most likely generated more views as a result. However, with the new design changes Publishers could begin following back their user bases, but unless they start interacting with the millions of accounts, they may show up lower in the feed than they would on the Discover page. Snap said it will release new tools to help creators profit from their work on Snap.
NEW YORK CITY, NY- March 2, 2017: Snapchat’s Snap Inc. makes IPO debut on the New York Stock Exchange NYSE. Investors flocked to initial public offering, pushing valuation of nearly $24 billion. (NYCStock / Shutterstock.com)
The new design changes also allow users to personalize their Discover page by subscribing and unsubscribing.
The company’s future is heavily dependent on making the application more accessible to a broader audience. The redesign changes are supposed to make the application more user-friendly and user intuitive.
For a brief point in time, Pokémon Go was one of the most popular apps in the country. Despite bringing millions in revenue for the Niantic company, it also brought injuries and death, well at least according to a new paper.
This report titled Death By Pokemon Go, shows the darker signed of augmented reality gaming. Purdue University economists Mara Faccio and John McConnell read through accident reports from Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in the first 148 days after the game was released in July 2016. In that county alone, the total value of injuries, damage and the two lives lost between $5.2 to $25.5 million. If these numbers correlate with the rest of the country, it would suggest that $2 billion to $7.3 billion in just a few months.
The reports showed during those 148 days, 286 additional crashes occurred in the county, compared to the same time period before. Of these, 134 took place near pokéstops. In this scenario, it’s crucial to determine that Pokémon Go caused these damages directly, as opposed to just causing people to be more active outside, those more likely to get hit by cars.
Stock Photo: BANGKOK,THAILAND-AUGUST 7, 2016 : Pokemon Go,most popular new online game application smartphone, a free-to-play reality mobile game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices (pim pic / Shutterstock.com)
Looking at the numbers, economists realized that the number of crashes was much higher near pokéstops than gyms, suggesting that the crashes really were caused by people jumping out of cars while playing the game. The increased number of deaths were not just caused by people being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Pokémon Go was actually causing people to make dumb decisions.
It is important to point out, that Pokémon Go developers decided to make the game hard to play while moving at high speeds. As a result, if you’re going too fast, you can’t just battle at a gym or catch more Pokémon.
Pokemon GO augmented reality smartphone game players (Stoyan Yotov / Shutterstock, Inc.)
There is increasing evidence suggesting that using laptops during lectures actually decreases learning, which can result in lower grades.
According to The New York Times, researchers at Princeton University and the University of California asked a group of students to take notes at a lecture using pen and paper while another group used laptops. Scientists found students who used a laptop did not understand the lecture as well as those who wrote with their notes out by hand. Researchers believe this was because students who wrote notes by hand had to process what the lecturer was saying and, in effect, summarize what was being said to keep up with the lecture. Moreover, they found that laptop note takers had a “Tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim,” which mean they were less likely to process the information in their own words, thus preventing them from understanding what was being explained.
Another study by scientists at York University and McMaster University tested students by asking them to look things up on their laptop that were unrelated to their lecture. Researchers found that the distraction caused them to remember less of the lecture, and those sitting near them were also affected as well.
Then, a study from the United States Military Academy tested students’ achievements in an economics class by comparing student performance based on whether laptops or tablets were restricted, unrestricted or permitted at all. The study found that the students who did not have access to a device performed significantly better than those who did.
As technology progresses, writing things by hand is becoming less common as gadgets and speech recognition software continues to replace traditional pen and paper. But, it’s been proved that handwriting improves motor skills, memory, and creativity. Despite note taking with alaptop makes you faster, you may want to think about how much information you are actually retaining.
Facebook Messenger is adding a streak feature, a feature that is already on Snapchat.
When Snap, the Snapchat parent company, announced their plans to go public the company stated their most significant competitor was Facebook. Snapchat explained in their IPO filing that their most significant risk factors include competition. “We face significant competition in almost every aspect of our business both domestically and internationally,” Snap Inc explained. Not to mention, the company pointed out that their competition “mimic our products and therefore harm our user engagement and growth.” In fact, a TechCrunch report found Snapchat’s growth stalled by 82% following the release of Instagram Stories.
Since then, stories and messaging have appeared on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Previously, the company even lifted Snapchat’s popular face filters and camera features. Facebook is now planning on adding a streak feature similar to Snapchat, which is an addictive game that encourages users to send messages back and forth for multiple days.
Similar to Snapchat streaks, Facebook Messenger streaks include emoji status for anyone you’re currently on a streak with. Facebook appears to be testing this on limited accounts at the moment. Twitter user Case Sandberg discovered the streaks feature, and other Facebook Messenger users noticed the new feature. That said, the company is not transparent if this is just a test or the start of the gamification of Facebook Messenger.
LONDON, UK – APRIL 13TH 2017: The official homepage of the Snapchat social media website, on 13th April 2017. (chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com)NEW YORK CITY, NY- March 2, 2017: Snapchat’s Snap Inc. makes IPO debut on the New York Stock Exchange NYSE. Investors flocked to initial public offering, pushing valuation of nearly $24 billion. (NYCStock / Shutterstock.com)
Streaks have become a trendy part of Snapchat, thanks in part to the young audience. Snapchat uses the feature to encourage users to send more snaps, and even warns users that their streak is about to expire. If Facebook is planning to clone this feature, then don’t be surprised to see this feature to appear on Instagram and WhatsApp.
A recent report looking into how companies can get users addicted to their apps found Snapchat’s Streak feature helps users develop habits to keep users checking in. The streak feature is a psychological technique called loss aversion, which involves users to stay on an app even when it is no longer useful, or they no longer enjoy using it anymore.
Hillary Clinton claims the United States is “totally unprepared” for the economic and psychological effects of artificial intelligence. Clinton spoke to radio host Hugh Hewitt this week in an interview promoting her new book. In the interview, the former Presidential candidate said the world was “racing headfirst intonew era of artificial intelligence” that would drastically change “how we live, how we think, how we relate to each other.”
Clinton added, “A lot of really smart people, you know, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, a lot of really smart people are sounding an alarm that we’re not hearing. And their alarm is artificial intelligence is not our friend.” Clinton then highlighted two specific areas that will be impacted by artificial intelligence including digital surveillance and job automation. In regards to digital surveillance, Clinton argues “everything we know and everything we say and everything we write is, you know, recorded somewhere.”
“What are we going to do when we get driverless cars?” she asked. “It sounds like a great idea. And how many millions of people, truck drivers and parcel delivery people and cab drivers and even Uber drivers, what do we do with the millions of people who will no longer have a job? We are totally unprepared for that.”
It is essential to note economists and researchers have been arguing that advances in technology and artificial technology are going to have a significant impact on the job markets. The treat is not only for skilled and unskilled labors but also administrative professionals such as lawyers and accountants.
Researchers are unable to determine exactly when these changes will take place. However, a recent study suggested that for every new industrial robot installed in an area, between 3 to 5.6 jobs are permanently lost.
CHARLOTTE, NC, USA – JULY 5, 2016: Hillary Clinton makes a impactful gesture as she delivers a speech at a joint campaign event in the Charlotte Convention Center with President Barack Obama. (Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com)Saint Louis, MO, USA – March 12, 2016: Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton campaigns at Nelson-Mulligan Carpenters Training Center in St. Louis. (Gino Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com)
Moreover, China is working hard on creating the best artificial technology, which is concerning since the Trump administration is determined to cut funding for basic scientific research. Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt was not too happy the Trump administration’s decision saying the U.S. government needs to “get [its] act together.”
Overall, Clinton did not explicitly reveal any specific policies that she would like to see. Instead, the government needs to act. “One thing I wanted to do if I had been president was to have a kind of blue-ribbon commission with people from all kinds of expertise coming together to say what should America’s policy on artificial intelligence be?” She added: “We can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
Twitter is currently testing a new feature called Bookmarks, which will allow their users to save tweets for later. Twitter’s product designer Tina Koyama tweeted a preview of what the feature looks like, with a bookmarks option listed on the user’s navigation menu.
“We went through all the designed flows and picked the ones that are the easiest to navigate to test out with our community,” she tweeted. “You told us that you want tweets you’ve bookmarked to be private, so only you can see it. We kept this in mind while creating designs for the feature.”
Twitter’s head of product Keith Coleman tweeted about the function last October, saying that the bookmarking feature was a top request from users on the social-networking platform.
News from the #SaveForLater team! We’ve decided to call our feature Bookmarks because that’s a commonly used term for saving content and it fits nicely alongside the names of the other features in the navigation. pic.twitter.com/cQ0X1PHlsR
Currently, if you want to save a tweet, the only way you can do it is by hitting the like button and review your likes at a later time. However, your liked tweets appear publicly on your profile and alert users that you liked that tweet. This new bookmarking feature will privately save your tweets for later. There is no release date for this new Bookmark feature.
Following a Verge story revealing examples of predatory comments on videos of minors, YouTube announced on Wednesday that they will turn off comments entirely on videos where the video-streaming detects predatory behavior.
Recently, The Vergereported on the number of predatory comments on videos of minors. The Verge reports, “videos of young children doing activities like gymnastics were being targeted by commenters making sexual comments, or inviting the children to talk.” Following the report, YouTube removed several of the videos, some of which had “hundreds of thousands or more views.
The company later issued a statement saying they will take more steps to make sure they do not appear on YouTube. “Comments of this nature are abhorrent and we work with NCMEC to report illegal behavior to law enforcement,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Starting this week we will begin taking an even more aggressive stance by turning off all comments on videos of minors where we see these types of comments.”
In response to the recent criticism in regards to how the platform handles minor created content, YouTube also announced several changes. The company announced they will be using technology to flag problematic videos more quickly and will remove ads from “inappropriate” videos targeting families. YouTube also said they will provide new content and guidelines on YouTube Kids content. Also, the streaming site plans on working with experts to handle the content on the platform.
YouTube has been hit with criticism following a viral Medium post revealed bizarre videos targeted towards children. “These latest enforcement changes will take shape over the weeks and months ahead as we work to tackle this evolving challenge,” the company said.
Left is the latest company to receive a permit to test self-driving cars on public roads in California. This news comes after the company wanted to build their own self-driving software only four months ago. Left appeared at the bottom of the California’s DMV’s list of permit holders, a sign that the ride-hail service was preparing to test their first autonomous driving taxis.
That said, it is not clear whether or not Lyft will be using their own proprietary software and hardware for their self-driving cars.
Lyft has already teamed up with companies like Ford, General Motors, Waymo, NuTonomy, Drive.ai, and Jaguar Land Rover, with the intention of being the platform on which manufacturers deploy their self-driving cars.
The company’s decision to apply for a permit is in direct contract with the company’s chief rival Uber. Uber previously attempted to test their self-driving cars in California without the state’s approval. The DMV revoked the Uber’s licenses of fleet cars, forcing the company to give in and obtain a permit.
Ultimately, it could be argued that Lyft just does not want to get left out. California’s growing list of autonomous vehicle testing permits is growing and is expanding the list of technology futurists looking to break into the self-driving market.
Foxconn has reportedly been employing students to illegally work overtime at their factories to assemble Apple’s, iPhone X. According to the Financial Times, six high school students told the news outlet they regularly work 11-hour days assembling the device, which is illegal for student interns to do under China’s laws. The students were teenagers, between the ages of 17 to 19 years old, and they said they are told they had to work at the factory for three months to graduate. One student told Financial Times they were being forced to work there, and that the work had nothing to do with school. The student also claimed to have assembled up to 1,200 iPhone X cameras a day.
According to the Financial Times, Apple and Foxconn said they had discovered several student interns working overtime, and they were taking action. However, both companies claimed the students were not “forced” to work beyond the legal hourly limits. “We’ve confirmed the students worked voluntarily, were compensated and provided benefits,” Apple said. “But they should not have been allowed to work overtime.”
Moreover, Foxconn said they worked with local governments and vocational schools in organizing the internship program, but claimed the overtime work violated its policy, which prohibits students from working more than 40 hours per week.
This news comes after reports of high demand for the new iPhone X ahead of the device’s intended ship date, which was hit with rumors of supply issues.
At least 300,000 people assemble iPhones at Foxconn, with thousands of students from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School sent to help with the iPhone X. The students in the Financial Times report spoke to volunteered to work overtime and were paid for it, which is nothing in comparison to the reportedly extreme conditions at Foxconn.
