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.
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- 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.)
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- Discord: After turning down an acquisition offer from Microsoft, the audio- and text-based chat platform is eyeing an IPO.
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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.
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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. |
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Oct. 2010: Instagram is founded. Facebook would later buy it and guide its growth to 1 billion users. |
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2012: Vine, the last major platform of the early social media era, is founded. Twitter would soon buy it and kill it. |
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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. |
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Quartz There are a few possible factors that help explain the new faces in the field: | | 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. | |