Very Social Network

Announcing LTR Edition 9

VSN - June 30 - LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships. Think of it as an online TED for leaders of online social communities and Internet dating companies. This is where we meet, learn, and share.

LTR Edition 9 is on Wed 7th July starting 11:30am EST (New York) and this month we're focused on gamification and DNA compatibility. We have a half hour of networking on virtual tables, three world-class speakers for 20 mins each plus a few mins Q&A, and then a final half hour of networking. 2.5 hours all-in.

If you hold a full time leadership role at an online social community then you are welcome to join OSCA for free, and welcome to join LTR events for free. See the LTR Edition 9 overview, speakers and invite page here. Email [email protected] to RSVP for LTR. There are 80 places only.

LTR is kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, Real Gifts, and Courtland Brooks

Chinese Apps Among World's Top-earning Apps in 1H of 2021

SCMP - June 30 - Chinese apps, led by TikTok, made up five of the world's top-10 earners of app store revenue in 1H of 2021. Consumers are estimated to have spent ~$920M on TikTok and Douyin over the six-month period. Tencent Video and iQiyi came in fourth and fifth among the top app store revenue earners. For overall revenue, they were sixth and eighth, respectively. Youku and QQ Music were among the top 10 app store revenue earners at eighth and 10th place, respectively.

by Tracy Qu
See full article at SCMP

See the top news on TikTok
See the top news on Doyuin
See the top news on Tencent

Facebook Hits $1T Market Cap After Federal Court Dismisses FTC Antitrust Complaint

CNN NEWSWIRE - June 30 - A federal court has dismissed the FTC's antitrust complaint against Facebook, saying the agency had failed to provide evidence for its claim that the social media giant holds a monopoly in social networking. Judge James Boasberg wrote that the FTC did not do enough to back up its assertion that Facebook holds a 60%+ share of the social media market. Facebook's stock ended Monday up ~4% following the news, pushing the company's market value above $1T for the first time.

See full article at WRCB TV

See the top news on Facebook

LinkedIn Reportedly Suffers Massive Data Leak Exposing 700M Accounts

ANDROID CENTRAL - June 30 - LinkedIn has reportedly suffered a massive data breach, exposing the data of ~700M of its users, or roughly 92% of its user-base. The data was obtained by a hacker who exploited the official LinkedIn API. The hacker is currently selling the information online and posted a sample of the data containing the information of 1M users.

by Derrek Lee
See full article at Android Central

See the top news on LinkedIn

Parler Reportedly Refused to Ban Trump's Critics

THE VERGE - June 30 - Parler and representatives of Donald Trump were reportedly considering making Trump an active member of the platform after he left office. Still, Parler apparently pushed back on one key part of the proposed arrangement: the platform did not want to ban Trump's detractors.

by Jay Peters
See full article at The Verge

See the top news on Parler

After Popping 115% Since Its IPO, Doximity Stock Could Keep Rising

FORBES - June 29 - Doximity, the San Francisco-based LinkedIn for doctors, popped 69% on its first day as a public company on the NYSE - since then, it's up 115% from its $26 a share offering price. Founded in 2010, Doximity operates a social network for doctors that makes most of its money selling advertising. 80% of its revenue comes from advertisements paid by pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, with the remainder derived from recruiters and telehealth. Doximity's 1.8M members represent 80% of U.S. doctors.

by Peter Cohan
See full article at Forbes

See the top news on Doximity

Telegram Brings New Features: Group Video Calls, Animated Backgrounds, and More

THE HANS INDIA - June 29 - Telegram introduced a group video calling feature for its users to compete with digital giants Zoom and WhatsApp. Although the group video calling feature has an upper limit of 30, that restriction will improve quickly, Telegram said. Telegram also added animated backgrounds and message animations. This new feature is one of a kind in the messaging app industry. To accompany these new features, Telegram has also improved noise suppression in voice chats.

See full article at The Hans India

See the top news on Telegram

Pakistan HC Bans TikTok 'Temporarily' for 'Spreading Immorality'

REPUBLIC WORLD - June 29 - A High Court in Pakistan temporarily suspended TikTok. The temporary suspension is put on the app because it is 'spreading immorality' in the country. This is the second time that the app has been banned in the country this year. In March, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had taken similar action on a petition filed by several citizens.

by Sudeshna Singh 
See full article at Republic World

See the top news on TikTok

Lomotif Announces 'You've Been Scouted' Will Kick off July 12th

NEWSWIRE - June 29 - Lomotif has Partnered with Grammy® Award-winning producer Teddy Riley to Launch a global talent search "You've Been Scouted." The nine-week competition is set to begin on July 12th. Participants can post their performance videos on the official You've Been Scouted channel on the Lomotif app to win a record label contract's once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and produce commitment.

See full article at Newswire

See the top news on Lomotif

VRChat Raises $80M to Prepare for Social VR Growth

UPLOAD VR - June 28 - VRChat raised $80M in a Series D investment round to accelerate development and prepare for social VR growth. VRChat says it has ~40K concurrent users after being the top free VR application on both Steam and the Oculus Rift store, and VR is not required to use the flexible platform for world creation and socialization. VRChat was founded in 2014 and is available on a wide range of platforms.

by Ian Hamilton
See full article at Upload VR

Reddit Is Selling NFTs Worth Thousands

MASHABLE - June 28 - Reddit is officially in the NFT game. Dubbed CryptoSnoos, the three NFTs currently listed for sale were minted are listed for auction on the OpenSea platform and based on the original Reddit logo drawn by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2005. Bidding for one of the NFT is already at ~$4K worth of WETH (ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain).

by Jack Morse
See full article at Mashable

See the top news on Reddit

Meeow and Shoutout Partnership to Benefit Entrepreneurs Worldwide

TECH TIMES - June 28 - Meeow and video creation platform ShoutOut announced their partnership in a setup that allows and encourages users of the Meeow online video networking service to give the people they meet in the virtual network a boost on their social media account. According to Chris Rabbit, Meeow CEO and co-founder, the latest team-up between the two SaaS innovators would bring additional support for entrepreneurs at a crucial period, that is, rebuilding businesses after the pandemic.

See full article at Tech Times

LinkedIn Joins EU Code on Hate Speech Takedowns

TECH CRUNCH - June 28 - European Commission announced that LinkedIn had joined the EU's Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online, with justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, welcoming LinkedIn's participation and adding in a statement that the code "is and will remain an important tool in the fight against hate speech, including within the framework established by digital services legislation." While LinkedIn's name wasn't formally associated with the voluntary Code.

by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch

See the top news on LinkedIn

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Doctors' Social Network Doximity Valued at ~$7B as Shares Jump in Debut

REUTERS - June 25 - Doximity was valued at ~$7B in its market debut as its shares opened ~58% above their offer price, indicating investor confidence in healthcare-focused technology companies. Shares of the social network for doctors opened at $41.17 apiece, up from the IPO price of $26 per share, climbing further to $43 in afternoon trading. The platform had ~1.8M members. The company reserved 15% of its Class A shares for certain eligible physicians to be sold at the IPO price.

by Echo Wang & Niket Nishant
See full article at Reuters

See the top news on Doximity