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Facebook’s Fourth Quarter Earnings Beats Expectations Despite Fake News Issues

Reginald Edward
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Facebook’s Fourth Quarter Earnings Beats Expectations Despite Fake News Issues

While Facebook predominately battled fake news and misinformation on the social network, the social media company beat fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts expectations.

Following Wednesday’s closing bell, Facebook posted their fourth quarter earnings, and they beat expectations. Mark Zuckerberg’s social media company reported revenue of $8.81 billion for 2016 beating analysts projected $8.52 billion in revenue.

In fact, Facebook was able to increase their advertising revenue by 53% year-over-year. Also, the number of daily active users rose by 18 % with 1.23 billion and 1.86 billion monthly active users. That said, Facebook’s user growth is slowing down in the U.S. and Canada as the company only added 2 million daily and monthly users in their fourth quarter.

Also, mobile advertising revenue accounted for 84% of their total income for fourth quarter 2016, which was an increase from 2015. Also, the net income has increased by 177% year-over-year.

Facebook versus fake news

This news comes after Facebook faced severe criticism for false news shared on the social network prior before the U.S. Presidential election. When it was revealed a false story titled “Pope Francis shocks world, endorses Donald Trump for President” went viral, many argued that the company’s spread of misinformation helped Donald Trump become President of the United States.

In fact, Barack Obama called out Facebook during a news conference for spreading misinformation on the social network. “Because in an age where there’s so much active misinformation and its packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television,” Obama said.

Then, Germany threatened to hit Facebook with a €500,000 fine for every fake news post.

Since then, the company has taken steps towards addressing the issue. For example, Facebook hired CNN’s Campbell Brown to lead their news division. Also, Facebook implemented new features that included reporting fake news stories seen on the social network and updating the Trending feature. Besides adding new features, Facebook announced the Journalism Project, which is supposed to make it easier for journalists to share their news stories on the social network.

Reddit Bans Alternative Right Subreddits

Jonathan Antonio
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Reddit Bans Alternative Right Subreddits

Reddit has shut down and banned two alternative-right forums.

The communities, also known as subreddits, were called /r/altright and /r/alternativeright. The subreddits were known for pushing the line of free speech but, ultimately the subreddit was banned by the administrators  for doxxing. According to Reddit’s content policy doxxing is a “violation of our content policy, specifically, the proliferation of personal and confidential information.”

The members of the group allegedly posted personal information about a protestor who attended the Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration and punched alternative right leader Richard Spencer during a live interview.

The moderator of /r/altright issued a statement regarding the banning of the subreddit. “We knew this day was coming, so it comes as no surprise,” user MortalSisyphus explained. “This banned subreddit is merely one of many in a long history of political suppression on Reddit. We mods did what we could to follow the rules handed down to us, but obviously no subreddit can be water-tight, and there will always be those rare cases which give plausible deniability for transparent censorship. Whatever excuse the admins give for the banning, it is clear to all this is another case of heretical views and opinions being stifled.”

The /r/altright moderator added. “But the admins are playing a losing game of whack-a-mole here. The internet is (at least currently) a free, open, anonymous, uncontrolled platform for individuals of every stripe and persuasion to speak their mind and grow as part of a community.”

“The more the established political institutions try to maintain the status quo and marginalize us, the more they will drive free-thinking, independent lovers of truth to our side.”

Reddit
CHIANGMAI, THAILAND – February 26, 2015: Photo of Reddit homepage on a ipad monitor screen through a magnifying glass. (GongTo / Shutterstock, Inc.)

This news comes after Reddit shared an open letter regarding Trump’s recent immigration executive order. Reddit administrator knOthing called for people to speak out against the new immigration policy. “Right now, Lady Liberty’s lamp is dimming, which is why it’s more important than ever that we speak out and show up to support all those for whom it shines—past, present, and future.”

Founded by University of Virginia college roommates in 2005, the website is currently valued at $500 million with over 80 billion page views in 2015.

Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Announcement is the Most Liked Photo in Instagram History

Jonathan Antonio
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Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Announcement is the Most Liked Photo in Instagram History

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are expecting twins. The music and pop cultural megastar dropped the news in the form of an Instagram post on Wednesday.

Beyoncé’s pregnancy announcement broke an Instagram record. Beyoncé was able to beat Selena Gomez as the most-liked photo on the social network. In fact, Beyoncé’s photo has over 8,000,000 likes and well over 380,000 comments.

At one point in time, the photo was able to obtain over 1.5 million likes in less than 30 minutes.

Beyoncé is known to stay away from the limelight. But, her last album Lemonade had lyrics that many assumed were in reference to her marriage and personal life. The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards.

Meanwhile, Instagram is working hard to compete with Snapchat. Snapchat, which is reportedly on the verge of announcing an initial public offering, released several new updates including a universal search bar and Black History Month features. But, Instagram has focused on increasing engagement on the social media platform. The company announced Instagram Live earlier this year. The new feature allows for users to live stream their life in real time. In addition, a Techcrunch report found that due to Instagram’s new Stories and Live features, many users are leaving Snapchat to go to Instagram. Sources close to Techcrunch report that Snapchat Stories views have decreased from 20 to 30 percent since August. Not to mention, Instagram Stories has increased to 150 million daily active users.

As for Beyoncé, the former Destiny’s Child is expected to perform at the Coachella music festival in April. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Jay-Z’s music-streaming company Tidal launched a partnership with Sprint. Tidal sold one-third of the enterprise to Sprint.

Snapchat is Reportedly Working on Extending Their Augmented Reality Technology

Jonathan Antonio
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Snapchat is Reportedly Working on Extending Their Augmented Reality Technology

Snapchat’s lenses allow for augmented reality experience in the form of an app. Now the most popular app among teens is planning on expanding their AR technology with an environment detection software that will change depending on what you see.

Snap, Inc is reportedly working on improving their augmented reality technology. The new lenses are not currently available. But, the new feature will allow Snapchat users to “identify environmental elements” and augment reality in real time.

Currently, it is not clear how this augmented reality feature will interact with Snapchat. For instance, it is unclear how the environment detection software will work with advertising companies. That said, The Information report suggests the feature will first be available to Snapchat users before advertisers.

This news comes after Snapchat is reportedly working on their initial public offering. Snap is seeking a valuation of $25, which could make the social media company one of the biggest IPOs in recent history.

Last year, Snap, Inc released Snapchat Spectacles. The device allows for Snapchat users to capture video with their glasses. The video could then be posted on the social media app. Also, Snapchat acquired augmented reality company Cinimagine. Cinimagine developed AR technology that allows for people to look at products in real time with different layers.

Snapchat is always adding new features to their social media app. On Wednesday, Snapchat announced ‘Young Black and Proud,’ which is a list of new features in commemoration of Black History Month. The new features include new lenses, geofilters and video content created specifically for Black History month. In fact, Snapchat users can use newly created geofilters in popular cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and Boston. Snapchat is using this new program to encourage African-American Snapchat users to share their black experience on the video sharing app.

NASA Twin Study Reveals How Living in Space Affects an Astronauts Health

Megan Diane
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NASA Twin Study Reveals How Living in Space Affects an Astronauts Health

Scientists are still learning how living in space for extended periods can have an impact on human beings.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent an entire year living on the International Space Station. But, a new study has found living in space may have changed his body in ways researchers are still trying to understand.

According to a research report released by NASA, Kelly’s DNA, motor skills, and other bodily functions changed after he spent over 300 days in space.

What is interesting about Kelly’s experience is that he has a twin brother, which allowed researchers to compare Kelly’s before and after the space mission. One study found that Scott’s telomeres lengthened while he was in space. Suggesting Scott aged slower in space than his brother who was living on earth.

“Interestingly, telomerase activity (the enzyme that repairs the telomeres and lengthens them) increased in both twins in November, which may be related to a significant, stressful family event happening around that time,” NASA said in a statement.

Studies also Kelly’s motor skills and posture worsened while living in space. That said, NASA explains the results of the study are far from conclusive and additional research is needed.

Also, NASA found different brain regions in Scott Kelly’s brain became activated after spending an extended period time in space.

“Through further research by integrating the preliminary findings, in coordination with other physiological, psychological, and technological investigations, NASA and its partners will continue to ensure that astronauts undertake future space exploration missions safely, efficiently and effectively,” NASA explained.

 

This study is increasingly important as researchers and entrepreneurs are planning a trip to Mars in the next few years, a mission that could create a permanent settlement on Mars. Last year, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine researchers argued that astronauts traveling to Mars may suffer brain damage. Scientists assert the Earth’s atmosphere protects humans from harmful cosmic radiation. But, Mars atmosphere does not offer the same kind of protection. Researchers examined how radiation affected rodents and found the animals had suffered impaired memory and even brain damage.

Snapchat Releases ‘Young Black and Proud’ to Celebrate Black History Month

Jonathan Antonio
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0
Snapchat Releases ‘Young Black and Proud’ to Celebrate Black History Month

Snapchat is celebrating African American history and Black History Month in a special way.

The video sharing app is releasing special geofilters and launching a new program called “Young Black and Proud.” The program is being used to encourage African American Snapchat users to share their personal stories and experiences.

Also, Snapchat’s team will also produce content celebrating Black History Month on the app to go along with their new “Young Black and Proud” feature.

The new geofilters will be available in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York Chicago, Boston, and Houston. Also, Snapchat will have unique features in historically black colleges such as Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

But, this comes after Snapchat launched a filter that some called “instant black face.” Last April, Snapchat released a Bob Marley filter that makes people look like someone with dreadlocks, Rastafari attire, and blackface. Snapchat released the filter the week of 4/20 – the unofficial marijuana holiday. Snapchat would later explain that the new lens was a way to celebrate Bob Marley’s legacy.

Snapchat Spectacles
(NYCStock / Shutterstock, Inc.)

Ultimately, Snapchat is gearing up for the reported Initial Public Offering. Snap is reportedly seeking a valuation of $25 billion, which would make the company one of the biggest IPOs in history.

Earlier this month, Snapchat released a new user interface and design. After testing the user interface, the new UI/UX will include a universal search bar making it easier for Snapchat users to send messages, watch new Stories and search for other users.

Black History Month with Social Media

Snapchat is not the only company celebrating Black History month. Twitter launched a chatbot that provides #blackhistory facts and Black community events in the form of direct messages. Twitter users could send a direct message to the account @blackbirds. As a result, Twitter users can learn different facts about African-American history, which is pretty huge since a large percentage of young African-Americans use the app.

Pornhub Now Offers Free Sex Education

Jonathan Antonio
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0
Pornhub Now Offers Free Sex Education

Pornhub is now offering sexual education to help people learn about, well quite frankly, sex.

On Wednesday, the adult pornography website announced a new program called “Pornhub Sexual Health Center”. The company hopes the free website will help young men and women learn about sex, sexually transmitted diseases and other topics found in a typical sexual education course.

Sex therapist Dr. Laurie Betito will direct the website and will be working with other experts to provide information and help answer questions related to sex.

The website will be broken down into different categories and sub-categories including ‘Get Healthy’, which features information on reproductive health, STDs, and a section dedicated to “your body”. In addition, Pornhub will also include a second section discussing sexuality and will include frequently asked questions, “real talk” and information on relationships.

So far the website has information on yeast infections, urinary tract infections, and menopause. In addition, Laurie Betito has already started answering frequently asked questions. One such question shared on the website is ‘How often is too often to see someone new you are dating?‘ Betito explains, “If you think that the person you met could be “the one” that could make it work, and you really like the person, there is no issue with seeing that person more than once a week at the beginning. ”

“As the premiere destination for adult entertainment, catering to nearly 70 million daily visitors, we wanted to provide our fans with a trusted educational platform they can utilize as their go-to resource for information and advice when it comes to sex,” said Corey Price, Vice President of Pornhub explained in a statement. “We understand the importance of educating the general public on a wide range of topics pertaining to sexual health and awareness, and saw an opportunity to deliver knowledge and understanding through renowned doctors and experts. Think of us as a one-stop shop, available 24/7, to facilitate your needs, be it comprehensive information regarding STIs and safe sex, the latest in sex tech or advice on how to approach a friends with benefits arrangement.”

What is Pornhub?

Pornhub has the largest collection of pornography on the Internet. Launched in Montreal, Canada in 2007, the company now has servers all around the world. Earlier this month the company released their annual ‘Year in Review’ where they describe the most popular trending videos on the website and their statistics. The company explained that the website had over 20 billion visits in 2016 with 64 million hits every day and 729 hits per second resulting in over 4 billion hours worth of porn watched last year.

Twitter Releases Blackbirds – A Black History Month Chatbot

Jonathan Antonio
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0
Twitter Releases Blackbirds – A Black History Month Chatbot

In celebration of Black History Month, Twitter announced a new chatbot. Called Blackbirds, Twitter users who send the chatbot a direct message to the @blackbirds account will have the opportunity to chat with the program and learn more about Black history and community events.

Blackbirds currently has four different categories including #BlackHistory, #ForTheCulture, #SelfCare, and #FortheCause. For example, #BlackHistory will share little-known facts about African Americans. Also, #ForTheCause will point out events that are supporting the black community in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

In an interview with Mashable, Twitter’s brand planner for the company’s Brand Strategy Team explained, “Twitter as a whole, and black people on Twitter specifically, influence mainstream conversation in really significant ways — from #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite to #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies. We want to use our channel to recognize that.”

Twitter’s new chatbot comes after the company came under scrutiny for the lack of diversity within the corporation. In 2015, a report revealed that only 3% of the company’s employees were either black or Latino. Also, the star of the Ghostbusters remake quit the social network after being accounts insulted her online comparing her to monkeys and calling her racial epithets.

African Americans and Twitter

But, this Black History chat bot move shows the company is paying attention to a huge demographic interacting on the social network. A Pew Research study found 22% of all African Americans online use Twitter, which is 6% higher than their white counterparts. In fact, younger African Americans spend a lot of time on Twitter. The study found 2 out of 5 African-Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 said they use the social network. Meanwhile, only 28% of young whites report using Twitter.

It was President Gerald Ford who told the American people to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” It appears as though Twitter is doing just that.

Ex-‘I’m a Mac’ Actor Justin Long is Now Promoting an Android Phone

Reginald Edward
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0
Ex-‘I’m a Mac’ Actor Justin Long is Now Promoting an Android Phone

Huawei has hired actor Justin Long to star in the company’s new Android smartphone commercial campaign. Long, who previously starred in the famous “I’m a Mac'” TV ads, will now star in an advertising campaign for the largest smartphone manufacturer in China, Huawei.

According to Campaign US report, Huawei hired Long because he starred in those previous Apple commercials.

One of the first commercial campaigns is called “The Interview.” In the video, Long plays a character who is being interviewed by a Mate 9 Android smartphone to become the director of a commercial. The commercial is to poke fun at Long’s previous ties with Apple and is supposed to be ironic considering Android is the ‘PC’ to mobile phones.

The group director behind the advertisement, Jessica Grizzell explained to Campaign US that “There is no doubt that Justin’s history as a pitchman for Apple adds a nice subtext to the videos and builds on Huawei’s challenger position in the market,” Grizzel said.

Apple Q4 earnings

iPhone 7
PARIS, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 16, 2016: Woman in front of Apple Store looking at the New Apple iPhone 7 Plus box right after purchase on the date of the worldwide launch tested by a lady after purchase. (Hadrian / Shutterstock, Inc.)

But, Huawei may have fierce competition as Apple’s recent earnings report demonstrated the iPhone 7 was a hit. In fact, the company reported the highest sales quarter ever for the enterprise.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that, “We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch.”

The irony of tech advertising

Huawei’s new commercial comes after Sprint hired the former “Can you hear me now?” actor, Paul Maracelli, who appeared in Verizon Wireless commercials until 2011. In each Verizon Wireless commercial, Maracelli appeared wearing a Verizon jacket, glasses, and saying the famous catch-phrase “Can you hear me now?”.

Now, he’s the spokesman for Sprint. In each commercial, Marcelli references back to his time with Verizon but, explains he switched to Sprint. Instead of the Verizon jacket, Maracelli wears a bright yellow shirt and black jacket, which is synonymous with Sprint’s branding.

Facebook TV Maybe Coming Soon

Jonathan Antonio
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0
Facebook TV Maybe Coming Soon

Facebook may have their eyes set on the TV industry. The popular social media app is working on developing a video application for set-top boxes that can show “TV-quality” shows licensed by the social networking company, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. 

The goal of the application would be to increase ad revenue as the application would allow transitioning from the mobile devices to TVs. As a result, Facebook would have a new advertising market, which would increase the advertising rates because higher quality content will be on the Facebook TV app.

In January, Facebook announced an update to their newsfeed and a change to their algorithm. The new update would give longer videos higher ranking on the News Feed.

“As we continue to understand how our community consumes video, we’ve realized that we should, therefore, weight percent completion more heavily the longer a video is, to avoid penalizing longer videos,” the company explained in a statement.

Facebook
[2016-12-26] Facebook Headquarters, 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California, USA. Facebook “like” sign at the entrance signboard is in this photo (achinthamb / Shutterstock, Inc.)
Also, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company would be increasing the amount of video content on the social networking site. Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly meeting with producers about creating original content to be shown on Facebook. The Hollywood Reporter reports the co-founder of College Humor is leading the program.

Facebook is following in the footsteps of YouTube with original content. YouTube received $100 million in funding from investors. The video-streaming social network partnered with Hollywood producers to create higher quality videos on the platform.

Ultimately, by providing longer and videos YouTube and Facebook are attempting to acquire quality video content. In turn, advertisers would most likely spend more money to advertise on a premium video than on a 6-second cat video.

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