Nigeria has recently announced that the social media platform Twitter is to be blocked in the country. The social media giant has been banned by the Nigerian government led by Muhammadu Buhari, who has also ordered to prosecute and arrest the people who will continue to use Twitter in the country in any form.
If you are wondering why the government blocked the popular social media platform, then here we will bring you all the information related to the banning of Twitter!
Nigeria had blocked access to Twitter across the country after it had removed a tweet dated June 1, 2021, from its President, Muhammadu Buhari’s account. The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture of Nigeria had conveyed through a series of tweets on 4 June 2021 that the government has suspended the social media app Twitter indefinitely.
The reason given by the Federal Ministry behind the ban was the continuous use of the social media platform for the activities that aim to threaten the corporate existence of Nigeria.
Tweet by the President of Nigeria
On 2 June 2021, the social media platform Twitter had removed a tweet from Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria’s account, saying that the tweet had violated its policy related to abusive behavior.
In his tweet, Buhari announced that “those misbehaving today” will be treated in “the language they understand.” The President’s post was directed at the secessionist movement in the country and was read as a threat to the secessionists that further went on to portray “the destruction and loss of lives” during the Nigerian civil war.
The tweet was interpreted by Twitter as a threat note, comprising of the bloody connotations of the past violence perpetrated around the country during the civil war of the 1960s, which is attributed to a million deaths and countless other injuries, where Buhari served as the military ruler of Nigeria.
Here goes the full original tweet that the President posted:
“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Total number of Active social media users in Nigeria
Nigerians Sidestepping the Twitter ban
Many Nigerians have not been cooperating with the ban by using a virtual private network to access Twitter. The social media platform, Twitter is considered to be one of the main platforms that are available for the Nigerians to criticize their government. The government has released the order, which conveyed that the people using the social media app would be arrested and prosecuted.
Twitter’s Response on Ban by Nigeria
Twitter had responded to the ban saying that they were deeply concerned about the Nigerian government blocking the social media platform. They further added that the open internet and access to it is considered to be an essential human right in modern society.
Twitter, through its public policy account, has conveyed that it would work towards restoring the social media platform for the users in Nigeria in order to communicate and connect with the entire world.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms are trying to figure out an effective way to deal with the controversial tweets used by the politicians. Earlier Twitter had removed the former US President Donald Trump’s tweets and have banned him permanently from Twitter.
With the rising popularity of Twitter that has already become a sensational social media platform, which deals with the tweets from celebrities from all walks of life, who prefer Twitter and expresses themselves as freely as possible, negative, abusive tweets and threat notes are pouring in and becoming increasingly difficult to handle. Therefore, Twitter and similar platforms are looking to find an effective way out.
In the meanwhile, Florida has issued a new law that will fine the social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other tech companies if they permanently ban or kick off politicians from their platforms.
FAQ
Is Twitter banned in Nigeria?
Yes, Twitter was banned in Nigeria on 5th June after the tweet of its president was removed by the social media giant.
Why did Nigeria suspend twitter?
Nigerian Government suspended twitter after the microblogging site removed tweet by the President of Nigeria.
Does Twitter have an office in Nigeria?
Twitter does not has an office in Nigeria but has announced of opening their first office in Ghana.
The Clubhouse has recently become one of the most popular social media apps in India. It has created a lot of hype amongst the Indian content creators with a lot of clubhouse rooms being formed in the month of May 2021. The app is available for both Android and iOS in India, even though the audio-chat app is already popular among the users, it has plans to reach more people around the world and expand its community. Let’s look at the future plans of the clubhouse in India.
The company has plans to remove the invite-only feature by the end of this year. There is no information regarding the exact time for removing the invite-only feature as of now. However, if you are a Clubhouse user, you would already know that you can use the app only if your invitation is accepted by your friend or an existing clubhouse user.
On 3 June 2021, the clubhouse had confirmed that it has plans to expand its user base and to remove the invite-only feature by making it open for all. This would mean that anyone would be able to download the app, join the social media application and add rooms depending on their interest.
The co-founder of Clubhouse Rohan Seth had conveyed that they were still new to the space and that they are trying their best to grow slowly. He added that the main aim of the audio-chat app is to add in more users and to remove the invite only feature.
He conveyed that the company will have to align and invest into the infrastructure before removing the invite-only feature. However, he conveyed that the goal of the company is to provide the app support to everyone. He has also mentioned that the invite only feature of the Clubhouse had helped the app to build a loyal and strong community in a short span.
Clubhouse on its Payment Service launch in India
The audio-chat platform had also conveyed that they were soon planning to release a payments service in India. As of now, the clubhouse payment service is available only in the United States. The executive of the company had conveyed that before releasing its payment service on a global level, the company wants to ensure that the experience would be smooth.
Clubhouse Payment Service
He added that the company has plans to release the payments service only to a few countries outside the United States which includes India. The main reason for it is because the app has become very popular in the country.
The introduction of the payment service into the clubhouse for India would help the content creators to monetize their content and the information.
The CEO of the company Rohan Seth had also conveyed that the app is planning to launch new features bringing in better discoveries and recommendations for the users. He said that the app is planning to work on recommending more rooms for the users and adding features that will help them connect better.
He added that the company is also working on the discovery features of the clubhouse which will offer a smooth experience for the community. The app is planning to work on localization features and to bring in more support to various languages which will help to connect with more people around the globe.
Some of the features which the company plans to bring to users include ticketing, subscriptions and tipping. These features will make it much more easier for the content creators to monetize their content on the clubhouse platform.
Conclusion
In the initial stages clubhouse was available only on the iOS platform and later on, was released for the Android users as well which created a lot of hype among the users and the company saw an overwhelming response. The app has recorded around 2 million users on Android.
FAQ
What is the valuation of Clubhouse?
Clubhouse has reached a valuation of $4 billion as of 2021.
Who is the Founder of Clubhouse?
Clubhouse was founded by Rohan Seth and Paul Davison in 2020.
Who is the CEO of Clubhouse?
Paul Davison is the CEO and Founder of popular social media platform Clubhouse.
Over the past few months, the second wave of Covid has been increasing in India and most of us have lost our dear ones. The pandemic has increased the death rate and the second wave has become very fatal. But, have you ever wondered what would happen to the social media accounts of the ones who lose their life during the Covid battle or any other cause? In this article let’s look at what happens to the social media accounts of the users who lost their life due to Covid or any other cause.
Study by University of Oxford on Social Media accounts
According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford based on the social media user levels as of 2018, it was found that around 1.4 billion users will die before 2100 which would be more than the social media users living on Facebook during 2070.
This is a serious issue that nobody has thought about and like any other account such as a bank account, the social media companies will have to find a nominee who would be able to close the account or take care of the account after the death of the individual. Currently, there are three different procedures towards the social media account of a person who lost his life.
Procedures that can be followed to the social media account after death of an individual
There are 3 different procedures that can be followed to the social media account after the death of an individual. The first step would be to just leave the account untouched. There won’t be any changes made to the account and it would remain intact after the death of an individual.
The second step would be informing the related company and closing down of the account. It would be any social media company such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram which can be done by submitting the death certificate of the individual and the last step would be to give access to a nominee and make it a memorial account.
Steps taken by Facebook and Instagram to the account after death of an individual
Facebook Memorial Page
Facebook provides this feature to hand over the account and to make it a memorial one. The legacy contacts will not get the same features towards the account, he will only be able to change the profile picture, respond to friend requests or write a tribute post on the account.
The account can be identified as a word Remembering will be shown next to the account. These accounts will not be visible on the friend’s suggestions or won’t show any birthday alerts towards other users. Instagram also provides the same option regarding the social media account.
Steps taken by Twitter to the account after death of an individual
Twitter does not provide access to the legacy account holder towards the account. The individual’s account will have to be deactivated. The immediate family member will have to request on deactivating the account by providing their id, death certificate and other documents required by the company.
However, if an immediate family member or a closed one has access to the deceased individual’s account then the account can be kept active and the user can update the posts according to their choice.
Steps taken by Google and WhatsApp to the account after death of an individual
Google has not provided any information regarding the account after the death of an individual. However, a close family member or a person can apply by providing the required documents and close the google account of the individual.
Google also asks an individual while creating an account on the closure of account during inactivity and if the individual select an option of 3 months, then an inactivity of the account for 3 months would automatically delete the google account.
In the case of WhatsApp, there is no such procedure for closure or deleting the account. Whoever has access to the deceased person’s mobile phone will have access towards WhatsApp and the account will have to be manually deleted from the phone.
Conclusion
However, except for a few social media companies, there is no much procedure to close down or to bring changes to a deceased person’s account. There are arguments that the government should mandate a certain procedure for the social media accounts of the individuals who lose their life.
FAQ
What happens to your WhatsApp when you die?
WhatsApp has no way of knowing if users are dead or not. If an individual does die, their account will most likely continue to exist, and people will still be able to send them messages.
Can you delete a dead person Facebook?
Facebook has two options: You can request to either memorialize a Facebook page or delete it all together.
What happens to your Instagram when you die?
According to Instagram’s policy, the account of a deceased person can either be reported, or an immediate family member can request that the account be deleted.
In the past few days, the headlines and the major posts on various social media handles were about the ban of the social media applications in India. Let’s look at why the social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram might get banned in India.
Why The Government of India might ban Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
During the month of February, the Government of India had provided a new norm that is supposed to be followed by all the social media companies in the country. The Government of India had provided a time period of 3 months where the deadline for accepting the new norms was on 25 May 2021.
The social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp have not accepted the norms and have not made any provision to follow the norms.
The new Social media norms by The Government of India
As per the new norm, the large social media platforms defined as those who have more than 50 lakh registered users will have to appoint a resident grievance officer as part of a larger grievance redressal mechanism, they will also have to actively monitor the content on their platform and also provide a monthly compliance report for Indian users and self-regulation mechanism.
Social media platforms that have not accepted the new norm
As of now only the Indian based social media application Koo has accepted the norms and the guidelines put forward by the government. The other social media giants have not accepted the norms and WhatsApp has also filed a complaint against the government in the High Court of Delhi.
The social media giants such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have conveyed that accepting the new norm would end the privacy of the users and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp will no longer be end-to-end encrypted.
Number of social network users in India
Will the Social media Apps really get banned?
It is to be noted that if the social media platforms do not comply with the new norms and don’t follow the guidelines, they will not be banned by the Government but they will lose their status as a social media platform and various protections they receive as intermediaries.
The Government of India can also file a case against the social media companies for not following the rules as per the law of land.
The main consequence if the social media platforms accept the ban would be faced by the users and the citizens of the country is that they would lose the right to speech and they would not be able to freely express their view points on the social media platforms.
If the social media platforms are banned in the country it would largely affect the economy of the country adding to a lot of people becoming unemployed as a large number of people run their online businesses through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
The ban on the social media giants will also largely affect the other companies in India as they rely on these platforms for advertising their products and services. The social media platforms even provide an option where the companies can target their customers.
It would even affect the Indian based employees working in the various social media companies as the ban would lead to unemployment to a lot of them working in the Indian subsidiaries of the social media companies.
This is estimated to largely affect the economy as the businesses which have build a profile on the social media platforms would run under loss and also taking the critical situation of the Covid pandemic and increase of unemployment in the country would have a large effect on the economy of the country.
FAQ
Why is social media getting banned?
Social media apps might get banned if they fail to comply with the new intermediary guidelines for social media platforms.
What is the new IT rules for social media?
The new IT Rules 2021 for digital media platforms includes the requirement to appoint a resident grievance officer as part of a larger grievance redressal mechanism, active monitoring of content on the platform, and monthly compliance reports for Indian users.
Has WhatsApp sued Indian government?
Yes, WhatsApp has filed a case in the Delhi High Court against the Indian government, seeking to block the new IT rules.
Conclusion
India has around 53 crore WhatsApp users, 41 crore Facebook users, 21 crore Instagram users and around 1.75 crore Twitter account holders. These are the major social media companies operating in India and the Indian based application Koo has around 60 lakh users.
Twitter is an American based microblogging platform and a social media networking service that has around 192 million daily active users as of 2021. According to a data received from 2019, an average Twitter user spent around 3.39 minutes on the platform. Recently Twitter has acquired the reading service called Scroll. Let’s look at why the company had acquired Scroll.
On 5 May 2021,Twitter said that it had acquired Scroll which is a service that is based on the subscription that provides news articles with removed advertisements.
They added saying that the company had built a new way that led the subscribers to read the articles without the ads, pop-ups or any other disturbances that a user face on the digital platforms. The company will clean up the reading experience of their users by providing their subscribers with what they require.
Scroll Website
Twitter also told that the publishers who work with Scroll have revealed that they get a chance to make more revenue than they will be able to make from any page through the running of traditional advertisements.
Twitter’s plan
Twitter said that they consider it to be an exciting opportunity for them to introduce this proven business model to the publishers on Twitter’s platform. This is expected to make reading the news much more better for everyone involved with it.
The company said while looking into the future, Scroll will be added to their subscription model in a much more meaningful manner as the company has plans to build and introduce a subscription service on their digital platform in the future.
In the year 2020, the microblogging platform had confirmed that it was working towards exploring an idea to create a paid service on the basis of a subscription model which would include a lot of new features and services. The company expects to develop it in a way where the users will be willing for subscribing to it as per reports.
The company is also working towards developing a feature for its Publishers and content creators called Super Follows. Earlier this year, Twitter had mentioned about this feature during its Analyst Day Event.
The feature is planned to work as an account subscription where the subscribers will get access to various services offered by the content creators and publishers on the social media major’s platform.
These include paid newsletters, audio conversations, special access to direct messages, exclusive tweets, etc. At the beginning of 2021, Twitter had acquired Revue which is a platform that offers users such as writers and content publishers to publish the editorial newsletters.
Twitter had conveyed in a blog post which said that imagine as a Twitter subscriber getting access to the premium features where one would get an easy access to read articles from your favourite news outlet or a newsletter from a writer through Revue.
It added on that the portion of the subscription amount would go to the publishers and the content creators.
Twitter said that Scroll will temporarily stop new sign-ups because of the latest acquisition. Twitter added that they will work towards including the company’s services into their subscription plans and will look forward to growing the number of publishers of Scroll’s platform.
The social media major said that they will continue to support the community that already exists on Scroll such as the publishers, content creators and the customers and it added that the new Publishers who are interested to join the Scroll’s community can sign up on their website for the latest updates.
FAQ
What is Twitter’s net worth?
Twitters net worth is estimated around $4.4B.
Which country uses twitter the most?
United States, Japan and India are the top three countries that uses twitter the most.
Who is the CEO of Twitter?
Jack Dorsey is the CEO of Twitter.
Conclusion
Twitter has around 11.7 million downloads on the app store and around 67 % of the B2B businesses using it as a digital marketing tool. Around 40% of the Twitter users have claimed that they have purchased something after seeing a tweet on the platform. We will have to see how the new subscription model of Twitter would bring a change in the market ecosystem.
Hashtags are a kind of metadata tags used on Social media platforms, which let users apply a user-generated tag to the content. When it comes to social media marketing, brands heavily rely on Hashtag marketing. To increase their reach among an increasingly global market, more brands use social media analytics tools to use Hashtag marketing strategy. Here we have listed a few effective Hashtag strategies.
From the social media trends to reality TVs, hashtags are everywhere these days. The main purpose of a hashtag is to make it easier for others to find the content on a particular topic on social networks. People always use them on their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Some people even use it on WhatsApp too, where it has zero value. But why startuphashtags are important? Let’s see what they are, why hashtags for business growth are important for your business and some strategies to use them.
So, here is a complete guide on hashtag marketing and how trending hashtags can be used for marketing purposes.
Very popular on almost all the social media nowadays, hashtags are used to provide the keyword of interest and facilitate to search for it easily. You can directly search for any hashtag just by clicking on it on almost all the social media platforms. The pound sign (#) creates any keyword into a searchable link. Technically, the hashtag is a type of metadata used on social media networks that convert any keyword into a searchable link making it easy for others to search other data or post having the same tag. It also makes it easy for others to find your post.
Importance of Hashtags
Using hashtags improve your social media presence as when you use a trending hashtag, people will see your post too. Moreover, it increases your online viewability as social media marketing hashtags make it easy for the bots to categorize you.
Promotion
Hashtags promote your content for free. If you use a good hashtag, people will find you with no efforts. Instagram’s algorithm even shows new content to the users in their explorers’ feed. However, it is not necessary that they do it just based on hashtags only, but using a good and relevant hashtag might increase your chances.
Searchable
As already mentioned, hashtags make it easier for the algorithm to categorize your post. So, when people search for a particular hashtag, they will see your content too.
Run Campaign
With hashtags, you can start some campaign related to your product. Not just promotional campaigns, they are helpful in starting nonprofit campaigns too. For instance, #DoUsAFlavor (Lays’) and #ShareACoke (Coca-Cola) were promotional campaigns whereas #MeToo and #IceBucketChallenge are great examples of nonprofit campaigns.
Bill doing the #icebucketchallenge
Target Potential User
When you use hashtags, only the interested people will come searching for your post. It will help you in identifying and connecting with your potential customers.
How To Do Effective Hashtag Marketing
Find or Create Attractive Hashtags
Online tools You can use free tools like Hashtagify.me or Hashatit.com to analyze the performance of any hashtag keyword. It will help you find the best hashtag keyword for your post. You can also use tools like Instagram hashtags generator to generate hashtags that save the time you will have to spend thinking about them.
Analyze the hashtags of the competitors Analyze the hashtag your competitors use. However, just by seeing them having great results because of their hashtag, you should not copy them. Get inspiration and create one that’s your own.
b. Use Seasonal Hashtags:
You can create and use seasonal hashtags like #monsoonsales, #summertech etc. Not just seasons, try using festival hashtags too. In fact, hashtags related to festivals are much more important as everyone becomes excited about every upcoming festival.
Seasonal Hashtags
c. Keep Looking For Latest Trends:
Keep a close look at the trending topics and news. Try creating the related posts and using the trending hashtags on social media. For example, if you want to promote something on Facebook you will have to know that what are the trending hashtags on Facebook so that you can choose the best hashtags.
d. Make Your Own Branded Hashtags:
Create a hashtag of your brand. Use it in your posts and tweets. People will start using your hashtag when they will use your product.
Branded Hashtags
e. Promote
After creating your own hashtag and using them in your post, you need to know how to promote them, you can ask influencers to promote them. If you cannot afford them, go for micro-influencers instead. Hashtags can be used for promotions on various social media.
Using Hashtags on Facebook On Facebook you can promote your posts by adding relevant, trendy and attractive hashtags at the end of your post.
Using Hashtags on Instagram The hashtags have great importance on Instagram. Instagram gives you an option to follow hashtags, so if you do research then you can find the best hashtag that is relevant to your post and is popular too. Using proper hashtags you can reach to any number of people on Instagram. Don’t forget, the quality of the content is the first priority.
Hashtag Chats on Twitter Hashtag chat is a feature of Twitter that lets you use hashtags in conversations and let anyone join it. You can start some conversation and let everyone join the discussion. It increases the reach of your brand. Twitter is the best platform for hashtags, all the trends that are created on twitter are just because of hashtags. On Twitter good hashtags spread like fire, Twitter hashtag analytics will teach you how to create and promote good and creative hashtags.
f. Content Hashtags
Last and most obvious, do not forget the hashtags related to the content of your post. However, you should use unique hashtags, but using the normal and ordinary hashtag let others easily find you if you are not a big entity.
If someone uses a hashtag that is very popular but not relevant to the content it may increase the reach but at first but after a time because of google algorithm’s new updates the ranking and the reach or ranking of your website or specifically that page will decrease for not using genuine keywords.
Relevant Hashtags
These were some strategies you can use to find the best hashtag for your post. Furthermore, you can also take the help of some websites and apps to find the best hashtag for your post.
Hashtags Strategies to Improve Visibility
Some strategies which you should use to see good results by using hashtags in your post are:
Hashtag Keyword Analysis
You can use free tools like Hashtagify.me or Hashatit.com to analyze the performance of any hashtag keyword. It will help you find the best hashtag keyword for your post.
Analyze the Competitors
Analyze the hashtags your competitor uses. Check the performance of the content on that hashtag if they are relevant. You can use those hashtags unless it’s their own brand hashtag.
Brand Hashtags
Create a hashtag of your brand. Use it in your posts and tweets. People will start using your hashtag when they will use your product.
Promote Brand Hashtags
After creating your own hashtag and using them in your post, you can ask influencers to promote them. If you cannot afford them, go for micro-influencers instead.
Use Seasonal Hashtags
You can create and use seasonal hashtags like #monsoon sales, #summertech, etc. Not just seasons, try using festival hashtags too. In fact, hashtags related to festivals provide much more visibility as everyone becomes excited about every upcoming festival.
Trends
Keep a close look at the trending topics and news. Try creating some related posts and using the trending hashtags on it.
Hashtag Chats on Twitter
Hashtag chat is a great feature of Twitter that lets you use hashtags in conversations and let anyone join it. You can start some conversation and let everyone join the discussion. It increases the reach of your brand.
Content Hashtags
Last and most obvious, do not forget the hashtags related to the content of your post. Using normal and ordinary hashtag let others easily find you if you are not a big entity.
These were some strategies you can use to find the best hashtag for your post. Furthermore, you can also take the help of some websites and apps to find the best hashtag for your post.
For SEO title we go search keywords to make our article on top likewise do the same research in terms of hashtags, before using the hashtags in the campaign. This will let you know which words are trending and help you create hashtags based on it.
Holidays are everyone’s favourite and social media celebrate it more uniquely using hashtags. Hence, create such hashtags for holidays and special days. This will be very effective during the holiday season.
Promotion of hashtags using giveaways:- Giveaways are chances to win free gifts for people and they follow and post for such giveaways. Hence, use it to promote the specialized hashtags which you have solely created for your brand.
Ask people to use the hashtags with their pictures or tweets or posts. This engages people and your hashtags are actually being promoted.
Partner with influencers of which are related to your industry. Influencers actually rule social media and getting to promote their brand by such influencers surely will generate some buzz.
People don’t even know the real power of hashtags. They use it in their normal post. However, as an entrepreneur, after reading this post, you know the value of entrepreneur hashtags or entrepreneurship hashtags. Try using the same hashtags when you post something on multiple platforms. However, do not just copy and paste your old posts’ hashtag in your new post. The algorithm of that platform will block you from doing it, anyway. Make it look original. It will take a lot of efforts to do it but it will definitely pay off. Try using #StartupTalky in your Facebook post and join our group too.
p.s. If you are new to social media, and want to learn how to monetize your social media accounts, watch Hashtag Mastery Summit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a hashtag and how does it work?
A hashtag is written with a # symbol. It is used to index keywords or topics on Twitter. This function was created on Twitter and allows people to easily follow topics they are interested in.
What is the purpose of a hashtag?
A hashtag is the way of tagging brands, people and businesses in online social communities. Hashtags work in a great way with Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.
How do hashtags help businesses?
Businesses use hashtags to attract new customers and grow their online presence. Hashtags help facilitate filtering and discovery of related content. Users searching a hashtag you’ve used can come across your account and engage, becoming new followers and potential customers.
How do you market hashtags?
Ways for social mediamarketing hashtags:
Keep it simple and relevant
Utilize trending hashtags
Use the hashtag on multiple social media marketing channels
On 2 April 2021, around 533 million Facebook users data were leaked in a low level hacking forum. The published information includes Phone numbers and personal data. The data was leaked online and uploaded for free in low level hacking forums.
The data breach was found by the co-founder and the Chief Technical Officer of Hudson Bay, Alon Gal. Hudson Bay is a cybersecurity firm. He found the cache of the leaked data online on 3 April 2021.
According to Alon Gal, all your details on Facebook which include your name, occupation, gender, marital status, relationship status, the date of joining on Facebook, the place where you work, the date of joining your occupation, your Facebook bio, etc. He said in some cases even your Email ids and Phone numbers would have been leaked on the internet.
It is said that the exposed data includes the personal information of 533 million users across 106 countries. It is estimated that 36 million personal information has been leaked from the U.S, 11 million users personal information has been leaked from the U.K and around 6 million users personal information has been leaked from India, 8 million personal information from Brazil 3.8 million users personal information from Bangladesh, 1.2 million users personal information from Australia, etc.
These are some of the major countries whose users data have been released on the internet.
Previous Data Breach of Facebook
This is not the first time the data from Facebook has been leaked on the internet. In the year 2019 the same data, the data of 419 million users was leaked. It was being sold on telegram an instant messaging platform by charging a fee of $20 per search.
2019 Facebook Data Leak
Similarly, the data was leaked in the month of June 2020 as well. Now the data has been leaked again and this time anyone who requires the data can access it for free from low level hacking forums. It is easily accessible to any individual who can misuse it.
Alon Gal has said that he discovered the leaked data in the month of January 2021 for the first time. It was through an advertisement by a hacking forum of an automated bot. The automated bot could provide phone numbers for hundreds of millions of Facebook users in return for a particular amount of money.
The Motherboard had reported on that bot’s existence during that point of time and also verified that the data was legitimate. He added that if you have a Facebook account then it is extremely likely that the phone number you used for your account was leaked online. Cyber researcher Dave Walker confirmed that Mark Zuckerberg’s data was also leaked that revealed that he uses its competitors Signal messaging app.
Regarding the #FacebookLeak, of the 533M people in the leak – the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is regrettably included in the leak as well.
The leaked data is easily accessible by anybody on the internet. It can be used on different individuals for various cybercrimes. The details can be used and exploited by advertisers to target their set of customers to push targeted advertisements.
The data can also be used by hackers to perform hacking attempts or social media engineering attacks. In simple terms, they can use your data to hack your social media profiles. Even an individual with the basic level or underdeveloped data skill can use the leaked data to perform certain Cybercrimes.
In the year 2018, it was said that the political firm called Cambridge Analytica had mined the data from 50 million Facebook profiles. The firm had mined and gathered the data and later used it to help the political candidate from across the globe to target their candidates and making them win the elections. This was also covered in a Netflix documentary – The Great Hack.
2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal
This was revealed after the backdrop of the U.S presidential elections of 2016 and the referendum of Brexit.
According to Alon Gal, the leaked data could provide valuable information to cybercriminals who use people’s information to scam them or impersonate them into handing over their login credentials.
He also said that the huge information and the phone numbers which are leaked on the internet will lead certain bad actors to easily take advantage of the data.
India is yet to have a strict data protection regulatory bill. Several countries in the West have Data Protection Regulation. In India, a bill names the Personal Data Protection bill is yet to be passed in the Lok Sabha. It has been pending since 2019.
The bill is said to contain certain provisions regarding to the breach of personal data. However, one can rely on sections 43A and 72A of the Information Technology Act of 2000. This article provides compensation in the case of improper disclosure of personal information.
From a security point of view, there is nothing much Facebook can do about the data leak of the users since it is already leaked on the internet and it has affected the users said, Alon Gal.
FAQ
How did Facebook leak data?
The recent data breach is believed to relate to a vulnerability which Facebook reportedly fixed in August of 2019. While the exact source of the data can’t be verified.
How to check if your Facebook data was leaked?
haveibeenpwned.com is a site developed by Australian web-security consultant Troy Hunt, where you can enter your phone number or email address and see the result.
How does Facebook make money from data?
Facebook makes most of its money by serving ads on the social media and messaging platforms it owns — Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Advertisers pay Facebook to make their ads visible to people.
Conclusion
Alon Gal added on saying that what Facebook could possibly do is notifying users, so that they could stay cautious on certain phishing schemes or frauds using their personal data.
Clubhouse has been in the limelight since its launch last year. The app has got 12 million downloads since its launch. It has been extremely popular and is growing rapidly.
The popularity and the growth of social media app have led the other social media apps in the market to come up with rival apps or new features for the clubhouse. Here is the list of companies that will soon launch rivals for clubhouse.
Twitter has launched a new feature on their platform which is called Twitter Spaces. This feature will let users have live audio conversations with their followers. The new feature is still in the beta stage. The social media platform has been collecting feedback from the selected people chosen for the testing.
The Twitter users on both IOS and Android can now join and talk in the audio conversations which are called spaces. You won’t be able to host your own space unless you are one of the individuals who is selected for the testing stage.
Facebook Clone
Facebook is reported to be working on developing a clubhouse rival which is called Facebook Clone. The CEO of the company Mark Zuckerberg had hinted about it during a conversation on clubhouse. According to the New York Times, the work began after the executives of the company had asked their employees to work on developing something similar to Clubhouse. Facebook hasn’t yet released any details about the app.
There was a recent tweet by the engineer of Facebook Alessandro Paluzzi about the mockups which was created by the engineers of Facebook. The leaked mockups show how the app may look like.
Facebook Audio rooms
#Facebook keeps working on the Live Audio rooms feature by adding the ability to send reactions 👀
ℹ️ The star ⭐️ icon should be something similar to badges on #Instagram, this means creators could monetize the Live in some way. pic.twitter.com/tLdzhfIoj2
The mockups look similar to the rival app Clubhouse. The company has told that the leaked images won’t be the exact reflection of its finished product. The new app is expected to provide the features such as broadcast live, creating a video room with friends, start private rooms, etc.
Spotify had earlier announced that they were buying Betty Labs which is the creator of Locker Room. Locker Room is a social audio app that is focused on sports. The company has not disclosed the amount spent on acquiring but Spotify has said that it was planning to change the name of the app.
The app is expected to have the features such as live broadcasts in certain categories like music and cultural programmes. They are also planning to host live discussions with celebrities.
Slack
Slack had started to experiment with the audio feature from the last year. They tried to mimic a feature on how workplace teams hold hallway conversations through impromptu. The CEO of Slack, Stewart Butterfield said that the company was taking a page from the clubhouse. He said that through the clubhouse app.
The new audio feature will be an addition to the existing features and services of Slack.
LinkedIn is also reportedly working on a rival app for clubhouse. However, the company claims that their app would be different from those developed by the other companies. They said instead of concentrating on social connections, the app is expected to focus more on its services that will host conversations which are professional.
LinkedIn says that the audio feature which is being developed will be for the people who feel that they would want more ways to communicate with their connections.
Discord Stage Channels
Discord is a gaming chat app. It gained popularity with the game among us where people use Discord to converse with their teammates. Recently Discord has launched a new feature that is similar to Clubhouse. This feature lets users host audio group conversations.
Discord Stage Channel
The new service is called Stage Channels. The new feature mainly focuses on the users to host reading clubs, interviews, or karaoke. Stage Channels also have a feature that lets the room moderator to select who speaks as well remove, add or block a particular participant.
Recently even the messaging app Telegram has updated its existing live talk service. The new service is called as Voice Chats 2.0 and it has a feature that is similar to clubhouse. The new update lets you host public chats for an unlimited number of people.
It has a feature that is similar to clubhouse which lets the participant to click a button to raise their hand. This will provide an alert to the chat administers so that they can let you speak.
FAQ
What is clubhouse app used for?
Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics.
Who founded clubhouse?
Paul Davison is the Co-founder and CEO of Clubhouse.
Where is clubhouse based?
Clubhouse is a San Francisco-based app run by the company Alpha Exploration Co.
Conclusion
These are some of the apps which have been working or already have launched apps similar to clubhouse. The popularity of clubhouse has let the industry to come up with similar mobile applications or added features to their existing apps.
Twitter is a social media platform founded in the year 2006. The users of this platform interact with each other through messaging which is known as tweets. The platform is widely used across the globe. Twitter has plans to come up with a lot of new features for its platform to increase its revenue.
One of the new features is Twitter spaces, which is a rival of the invite-only social media app clubhouse.
Twitter has launched a new feature on their platform which is called Twitter Spaces. This feature will let users have live audio conversations with their followers. The new feature is still in the beta stage. The platform has been collecting feedback from the selected people chosen for the testing.
The Twitter users on both IOS and Android can now join and talk in the audio conversations which are called spaces. You won’t be able to host your own space unless, you are one of the individuals who is selected for the testing stage.
The company is planning to make Twitter Spaces available to everyone by April 2021. The Twitter employee stated that they are soon going to make the feature available to everyone very soon.
How to Use Twitter Spaces
The creator of the Twitter space will be called host. If you are a host you have two different ways to start your space. You can either click on your profile image in fleets, scroll to the right and click on spaces. You can also long press on the tweet compose on the home timeline and then click on the spaces icon which will be in the shape of a diamond with multiple circles.
Twitter Revenue by Business segment
Features of Twitter Spaces
In spaces, up to 11 people can speak at a given time. If you are the host then you can choose whom you would want to speak by giving them the permission to speak. You would have some options to choose from which would include everyone, people whom you follow, and people you invite to speak.
Host provides permission to speak
Once the audio conversation starts you can control the conversations by providing them permission to speak. If you are a listener then you will have to request the host to provide permission to speak by clicking on the request icon.
Spaces can be Accessed by anyone
As of now, your spaces can be accessed by anyone. It will be visible like public tweets and they will appear on top of the tweets. Spaces will have a link which you will be able to share it with different people and you can invite people using that. You can also send an invite link through your DM.
Host can control the Space
If you are the host of a space you can control who is supposed to speak in your space. You will have the power to even remove, block, or report a user from your space. Even the other speakers or listeners can report and block people in the space. If you block a user from your space, you will be blocking his Twitter account as well.
Report a Space
You also have the feature to report a space. If you feel that a particular space is violating the rules of Twitter then you can report it. Anyone can report about a space. Speakers, listeners, or even any account in a space can report about that particular space. You can also report about a person in a space but you will have to provide the reason for it.
No limit to number of listener in spaces
There is no limit to the number of listeners in the twitter spaces. The host will have the right to end a space. space can also be stopped if it is found to be violating the rules of Twitter.
Twitter Spaces comparison with Clubhouse
Twitter spaces are available to all the Twitter users, unlike the clubhouse. Clubhouse works on an invite-only basis and one can join the clubhouse rooms only if they are invited. Twitter spaces are open for all and anyone who has a Twitter account can join the spaces and be part of the discussion.
In the clubhouse, if you are muted you won’t be able to provide any reactions during the conversations. But in twitter spaces, you can provide reactions through emojis. There are certain emojis you can use for now to provide your immediate reactions or response without unmuting yourself. Twitter spaces help you follow an account easily by clicking on their profile during an ongoing audio conversation.
FAQ
Who created Clubhouse social media?
Baiju Bhatt and Rohan Seth are the founders of Clubhouse.
What is the valuation of Clubhouse?
Clubhouse has a valuation of $1 billion as of 2021.
What is the valuation of Twitter?
As of 2021 valuation of twitter is $51 billion.
Conclusion
Twitter has many upcoming ideas with its new feature spaces, which would include features like offering a piece of welcoming music for the hosts of the spaces, tweeting inside the spaces directly without being displayed on the public timeline etc.
Twitter had started testing this feature by the end of February. The company in the beginning concentrated on Women and marginalized groups with 1,000 users. Twitter spaces are just one of the new features of Twitter. The social media platform has plans to come up with other new features like super follows and Twitter fleets.
Twitter is moving beyond the traditional social networking business model and is experimenting with new business model to sustain their platform. The latest test is a subscription service for exclusive features.
Twitter is considering a subscription model to counteract its falling ad revenues. CEO Jack Dorsey said subscriptions are just one of several ways the company is looking to boost income from users.
Twitter has had a meteoric growth as a popular microblogging platform with its quirks. Several celebrities like Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Kangana Ranaut use this platform to post controversial thoughts quickly picked up by the audience.
A subscription model could offer a new source of revenue for Twitter. By charging some of its 353 million users in the US and others elsewhere to access extra features such as more followers or enhanced analytics. It would also mark Twitter’s most significant departure from its core advertising business model when it is struggling to attract advertisers.
The company has suffered a sharp decline in its ad revenue in recent quarters as it works to grow beyond its stagnant user base. The majority of the revenue share came from the targeted advertising model that this platform offered. In 2021, Twitter is looking to move away from revenue dependency on brand-oriented advertising approach.
How will Twitter’s new Subscription Model look like
Twitter launched a survey among users last year in July 2020 to analyze the interest levels.
After CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed Twitter is exploring a subscription model, the company is conducting user surveys on what type of features they'd like to see in such a service.
Undo send, special badges for profiles and advanced analytics are among the features being considered. pic.twitter.com/hL6T8sdI0s
These are the potential features that are likely to be provided to the premium Twitter users in 2021.
1. Undo Send
Post something really embarrassing accidentally on Twitter? No problem. This feature helps you delete your Tweet before anyone even sees it, all within 30 seconds of posting. The premium Undo event on Twitter is a simple way to recall or withdraw a tweet, so it never gets seen by anyone.
2. Custom Colors
Change the feel and look of Twitter – adapt it to suit your style. In addition to Night Mode, the premium feature allows you to change your default background color and other critical elements in your interface. The new custom color setting gives you more control over the appearance of Twitter on your phone or computer.
3. Video Publishing
Twitter currently limits uploaded video size to 140 seconds or 6 MB for most users. With a premium subscription, you could publish videos 5x longer than the current default settings (i.e. 5 minutes), and use a much higher maximum resolution (8192×8192) for each frame within the video.
4. Badges
Twitter Badge helps users learn more about the people they follow on Twitter. The badge shows users the businesses a user writes for or owns. It’s just another way for people to discover others and get to know them better. It also helps maintain a credible brand presence.
5. Auto Responses
Auto-response in the premium version of Twitter helps you come up with tweets that can increase your following. This is done through a menu of auto-responses to use in the direct messages to Twitter netizens. When Twitter detects a matching phrase, it will send out an automated reply.
6. Social Listening
See how often your brand is mentioned on Twitter and get a deeper understanding of what people are saying with the new social listening tool. This tool lets you see the general conversation around a brand, including total volume seen through the social search function, and which users or businesses are talking most often.
7. Brand Surveys
Create surveys and polls to collect feedback about your Twitter Ads campaigns. This insight can help you measure your campaigns effectiveness, understand if your audience is likely to buy the products or services featured in your ad, and optimise future creatives.
8. Freedom from Ads
Enjoy premium Twitter with a different kind of streaming experience. Say goodbye to ads; say hello to a whole new look and feel without the distractions of promoted tweets. Have your data protected from advertisers and upgrade the privacy options.
Disclaimer: “This is not necessarily reflective of Twitter’s future subscription model, and will change at the discretion of Twitter’s management. The survey is the current source of official information.”
Twitter Revenue
Will the Subscription Model impact Twitter’s growth
There has been a general resistance against paid social media networks in general. A Washington Poll in 2018 revealed that fifty-eight percent of the respondents wouldn’t pay for Facebook if it adopted a paid network model. The same would go true for Twitter. However, Twitter has always emphasized that they would not ask the users to pay for the current features they enjoy.
The most important thing to remember is that Twitter must be a zero-sum game. For users who are not paying for access, there can’t be any knock-on effect of paid Twitter users keeping content to themselves.
Twitter is a model that depends on users, not mouse clicks. It’s the connective tissue between friends and strangers, emphasizing broadcast v/s a one-way conversation (social media has been big on one-way communication).
FAQ
How does Twitter make money?
Twitter earns its revenue from Data licensing and Advertisements.
What is Twitter’s net worth?
As of Oct, 2020 Twitters revenue was nearly $40 billion.
Who is the CEO of Twitter?
Jack Dorsey is currently the CEO of Twitter.
Conclusion
An exclusive Twitter subscription model could be just what the company needs to make money and keep customers privacy intact. In this world, where our activity across social media platforms is monitored, Twitter can offer a premium social network to eliminate our privacy concerns.
Alan Joseph
