Very Social Network

Fan Pass Releases New Live Streaming Feature

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - Sep 15 - Friendable, the parent company of Friendable and FanPass mobile apps, is releasing a new feature, which allows artists to perform a live event or stream content right from their mobile device. Friendable is a social app where users can create one-on-one or group-style meetups. In 2019 the company has moved the Friendable app closer to a traditional dating app with its focus on building revenue. Fan Pass is the company's most recent brand. It connects fans of their favorite celebrity or artist.

See full article at Globe Newswire

This post also appears on Online Personals Watch

TikTok Will Reportedly "Sell" to Oracle After Microsoft Bid Rejected

MASHABLE - Sep 15 - Oracle has beat out Microsoft to win the bid for TikTok's U.S. operations. The deal probably won't be a straight up sale. Rather, Oracle will be TikTok's "trusted tech partner" in the U.S.

by Amanda Yeo
See full article at Mashable

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YouTube Launches Its TikTok Rival, YouTube Shorts

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 15 - YouTube Shorts will allow users, initially in India, to upload 15-second or less short-form videos using a new set of creator tools, including a multi-segment camera, similar to TikTok, speed controls, and a timer and a countdown feature. The videos can also be set to music, thanks to YouTube's access to a large library of songs that it says will continue to grow over time. These are tools common to TikTok and are the same features that Instagram recently cloned for its own TikTok rival, known as Reels.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Instagram Might Allow Links in Captions for a Fee

THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE - Sep 15 - Currently, Instagram does not let users add links in their captions. It may add a feature that lets users add paid links within their captions. The company has filed a patent application "adding paid links to media captions in a social networking system". The patent application suggests charging a fee of $2 for letting users add URL within their caption.

by Hemani Sheth
See full article at The Hindu Business Line

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YouTube Hit With UK Class Action Style Suit

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 15 - Another class action style lawsuit has been lodged against YouTube in the UK alleging violations of privacy and seeking major damages. It is accusing YouTube of routinely breaking UK and European data protection laws by unlawfully targeting 5M under-13-year-olds with addictive programming and harvests their data for advertisers. The suit is being brought by international law firm Hausfeld and Foxglove, which says they're seeking damages from YouTube of ~£2.5BN.

by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch

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TikTok Admits to Censoring LGBTQ Hashtags in Russian, Arabic, Bosnian

NY DAILY NEWS - Sep 11 - TikTok admits to restricting some LGBTQ and political hashtags from users in countries including Russia, Jordan and Bosnia. Words such as "gay," "lesbian," and "transgender" were shadow-banned. "Shadow banning" refers to a type of censorship in which social media networks hide certain terms from searches without letting users know that the term is being banned - as opposed to completely removing a word or expression from the platform.

by Muri Assunção
See full article at NY Daily News

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Facebook Returns to Its Roots With Campus, a College Student-only Social Network

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 11 - Facebook is launching a new social networking platform, Facebook Campus, which offers college students a private place to connect with classmates, join groups, discover upcoming campus events, get updates from their school's administration and chat with other students from their dorm, clubs or any other campus group. The new platform requires a school email address (@.edu) to join and will live within a dedicated section of the Facebook app. Facebook likely wanted to address its "teen problem". Facebook has been losing its grip on the younger demographic, as they've shifted their attention to other social apps, like YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. According to Pew Research Center, only 51% of U.S. users ages 13 through 17 said they used Facebook, down from 71% who said the same in 2015. At launch, Facebook Campus is only available at 30 colleges and universities across the U.S.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Why Consumers Use TikTok

DIGITAL INFORMATION WORLD - Sep 10 - According to Globalwebindex's US and UK survey, 60% of respondents said that they use TikTok to find entertaining content, while 45% said that they use the platform to fill up their spare time. On the other hand, 28% of TikTok users use it for new ideas, and 24% visit the platform to learn how to do new things. 28% use the app to express themselves and 11% to get famous. The report also explains why brands use TikTok. 34% of professionals use the platform to directly communicate with consumers, while 33% use TikTok to share general updates, and 26% use TikTok for selling purposes.

by Arooj Ahmed
See full article at Digital Information World

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NewNew, a Social Network Where TikTok Meets Facebook

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 10 - NewNew is a social network based on the videos its users like and share. The app was launched by Courtne Smith. Since her departure from Drake's entourage Courtne Smith has launched a line of hair products; a giveaway game that dropped swag like Yeezy shoes and Kardashian beauty products called Suprize. Suprize attracted the attention of Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Canaan, Dreamers VC and Shrug Capital. For Smith, the launch of NewNew is just the latest step in a lifelong journey toward entrepreneurship, the young founder said.

by Jonathan Shieber
See full article at Tech Crunch

TikTok Sees Huge Growth in UK

ADVANCED TELEVISION - Sep 10 - According to eMarketer, TikTok will grow its UK user base by 75.2% this year, reaching 8.5M users, after triple-digit growth last year. Both 2020 and 2021 will be years of notable firsts: Usage will exceed 10% (12.7%) of the UK population this year, and total users will surpass 10M next year.

See full article at Advanced Television

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OSCA Announces LTR Conference - SOLD OUT

VSN - Sep 9 - The Online Social Community Association (OSCA.gp) is hosting the first LTR online conference tomorrow.

LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and is inspired by TED. See the full agenda here.

The event filled to a capacity of 75 dating and online social community CEOs within 72 hours of direct invites being sent out. However select videos will be available to view after the conference. We'll run them here on VSN.ist.

Chinese Voice-chat App Yalla Files for U.S. IPO

REUTERS - Sep 9 - The move comes as U.S.-listed Chinese companies are facing tightened scrutiny and strict audit requirements from U.S. regulators. Yalla, founded in 2016, is among few Chinese social-media companies that are tapping the booming wireless-services market in the Middle East and North Africa.

by C Nivedita
See full article at Reuters

TikTok Joins EU Code of Conduct on Hate Speech

EUOBSERVER - Sep 8 - TikTok has joined the EU code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online. Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Dailymotion and Jeuxvideo.com are also part of the code of conduct, which was launched in 2016.

See full article at EUObserver

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Indonesia Adds Twitter, Zoom to Tech Companies That Must Pay 10% VAT

REUTERS - Sep 8 - Indonesia has added 12 more companies, including Twitter and video-conferencing site Zoom, to a list of internet-based businesses that must pay a 10% VAT on sales. The companies must start charging VAT to advertisers and other customers from Oct. 1.

by Tabita Diela
See full article at Reuters

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TikTok Sued Over Patent Infringement

IOL.CO.ZA - Sep 8 - TikTok closest rival Triller has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the USA for a video-related patent. The patent in question is US Patent No. 9,691,429. This patent is for a method of combining multiple videos synchronised to a single audio track which forms a big part of TikTok's offering. Last year, TikTok introduced a "green screen video" feature, which enables users to capture multiple short videos and then synchronise or stitch them together to one song or audio track.

by Yasmine Jacobs
See full article at Iol.co.za

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