Social Media Platforms - June 2021

  Instagram revealed how it decides what content, like posts and stories, to show you. One of the deciding factors is how often you interact with the person who posted. Here are the other three things Instagram uses to feed you content.

Platforms to keep an eye on

The challengers: These young multi-billion dollar platforms are nipping at the heels of social giants that grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Tiktok: China’s first globe-spanning social app has cemented its place alongside US-based competitors like Facebook and Twitter.  note: I personally haven't used it and I don't intend to use it.

Clubhouse: With just 10 million users, the year-old audio-only platform generated major buzz during the pandemic and has spawned copycats from almost every major social media player. (More on that below.)

Discord: After turning down an acquisition offer from Microsoft, the audio- and text-based chat platform is eyeing an IPO.

Experiments to watch: These nascent platforms are testing users’ appetite for new content formats that haven’t been packaged together in exactly the same way by the reigning social networks.

Houseparty: The video chat app allows users to spontaneously hop into calls with any of their friends who are online, or join any open group conversation in which they know at least one person. Yubo: This French social network aimed at teens combines elements of dating apps like Tinder with live streams of everyday life you might find on Twitch. Poparazzi: The photo sharing app doesn’t allow users to add pictures to their own profiles. Instead, users add to their friends’ profiles by uploading photos of them (acting as their paparazzi—get it?). Honk: In this live texting app, messages aren’t saved and friends see your messages in real time as you type them.

Brief history

2004: Mark Zuckerberg drops out of Harvard and launches Facebook.

2005: Two University of Virginia students launch Reddit with $100,000 from Y Combinator.

2006: Two ex-Google employees launch Twitter as a side project while building a podcasting tool.

2009: WhatsApp is founded. Facebook would later buy it and guide its growth to 2 billion users.

March 2010: Pinterest launches in an early beta mode.

Oct. 2010: Instagram is founded. Facebook would later buy it and guide its growth to 1 billion users.

2011: Snapchat is founded. Facebook would later make an unsuccessful attempt to buy it, followed by a more successful attempt to hamstring its growth by copying its “story” feature.

2012: Vine, the last major platform of the early social media era, is founded. Twitter would soon buy it and kill it.

Of the newer challengers mentioned above, Discord was founded first, in 2015. It wasn’t until 2018 that the app began seeing explosive growth—and, as with TikTok and Clubhouse, Discord was catapulted into further popularity during the pandemic in 2020.

Charting Facebook’s dominance

Facebook owns four of the world’s most popular social platforms, illustrating the extent to which the company was able to consolidate its power over social media over the past decade.

Quartz   There are a few possible factors that help explain the new faces in the field: Regulators spooked Facebook by stepping up antitrust enforcement. Wary of attracting negative attention, the social media giant has eased up on its usual practice of buying up potential competitors, giving them time to develop on their own. Users have embraced new content formats and no one platform can do everything well. Apps like TikTok and Clubhouse filled unserved niches (short video and live audio, respectively) that the major platforms left vacant. Incumbents lost users’ trust. Facebook and Twitter have borne the brunt of the blame since 2016 for amplifying misinformation, snooping on user data, and applying inconsistent moderation standards, leaving people more willing to try out a new option. The pandemic left people feeling bored, lonely, and eager to find new ways to connect via social media. Whatever the reason, we’re about to find out which theory is right. The challengers could continue to grow, carving out their own niches or even stealing market share for Facebook. Or the giants could win again. 23 June 2021: Google is facing another antitrust investigation by the EU. Officials are scrutinizing whether Google prioritized its own online ad business over competitors. More on the probe here.

Social Media bookmarking: Pinterest REVIEW

 I had been using Pinterest for at least 10 years. Pinning and creating many great articles, DIY, Fashion and variety of interesting bookmarks. At some point, I was pleasantly surprised that my pins had been reaching about 140k hits a month! Besides, I had over 4k followers!

However, social media is finiky as I found out this morning. I had noticed recently, their analytics had started dropping drastically towards the end of September. And guess what, today my account doesn't even EXIST!!! Thank, but no thanks Pinterest for your betrayal for all the hard work I had done and TRUSTED your platform with my bookmarks.

Luckily, I had started my own way of keeping tab of various topics in my private bookmarks. Which reside on my external hard drive. No one can erase them at all. They are there and very easily accessible, besides I can refer to them anytime I want, without getting lost in so many boards. They are organized the way I really like to access with my own notes.

What's your experience with Pinterest platform? Recently I had also noticed that, when I wanted to pin, there wasn't a "P" button, instead they had "linked-in" and/or "reddit" icons.

Pinterest forced me to sign up with the same email that I had already signed up so many years ago. So at this point, I'll not pin anything. I'll just search and privately get the information and build my own reference. It looks as if they want for some of us to start from square one. However, I only fall once. Pinterest isn't reliabe and there is no way of going back to using it. Only to search of what I might need and that's about it.

Which platforms or ways of bookmarking work for you?

Social Media and public bookmarking Pinterest alternatives

I had been active for over a decade helping build up Pinterest, as many others had. However, since end of September it seems things went downhill for many loyal bookmarkers or "pinners" . Even our legit business account was "suspended". We also have another business, so today I decided to ask them as to why they "suspended" without any warning Bayside Digital via that other account. And guess what was their response: they suspended that as well, which had only 75 followers and all about fashion and other handcrafts I was promoting via that account! Guess what, they don't care. I personally find solutions if something doesn't work. Yes, I immediately started looking for Pinterest alternatives and so glad to let you know, there are many out there!

End of September I had already started my own personal bookmarks and reference by topics that interest me and I was very happy about that! So at this point losing a Pinterest account is a blessing, as I kept for FREE promoting other websites I liked. I will reserve my time and efforts to other businesses that need my attention, rather than building up for FREE a tool that obviously doesn't care for the loyal "pinners". That's a shame indeed. Today I found on Twitter, many accounts posting about their "suspended" in other word Pinterest closing accounts without warning. At least they should have thanked us for helping them grow!Pinterest lost my trust and I will never go back to it. They want me to sign up as business, so their bottomline is making money, however they alienated royally all those who helped them!

I will update this page with new alternative links I find. You are welcome to post your comments if you have used these tools:
JUXTAPOST
NOTES: It looks like they are a neat account to use.
I just created my new JUXTAPOST account: Here is their welcoming message
Welcome to Juxtapost!
To post images to Juxtapost is easy, but you'll need to install our bookmarklet which will allow you to post images from any website to your organized postboards.
1. First, display your Bookmarks bar by clicking the "Wrench > Bookmarks > Show Bookmarks Bar" or by typing CTRL-SHIFT-B
2. Second, simply drag this Juxtapost It! button to your bookmark toolbar.

That's it! Now you can post images you find from across the web.
On any website, simply click the "Juxtapost It!" bookmark and you'll be able to select images to save to your postboard.
P.S. Remember, you can also Upload Images directly to Juxtapost!

Social Media notes

Reading:

Pinterest IPO: How Does the Social Media Company Make Money?
Motley Fool
Chris Neiger, The Motley Fool
Motley FoolApril 18, 2019


Instagram Stories vs. Instagram Feed: What to Post and Where [Infographic]


Cristiano Ronaldo Beats Lionel Messi To Become Highest Paid Celebrity On Instagram In 2019
FOOTBALL NEWS
Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi as the celebrity with the most earnings on Instagram in 2019. The 34-year-old beats Messi and Kendall Jenner by a mile.