Mozilla-backed Mammoth wants to lure social media users to the fediverse, presenting its latest iteration, Mammoth 2, as “the easiest way to quit Twitter/X for good and join Mastodon.” Having added a “For You” feed earlier this year, Mammoth 2 now debuts on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, delving deeper into news and curation. New “Smart Lists” are filled with recommended posts, suggested connections and accounts to follow. The future of social “is being built today on ActivityPub and Mastodon,” Mammoth’s creators claim, calling for “an open protocol anybody can build on,” as with “email or the open web.” Continue reading Intuitive Mammoth App Aims to Simplify Accessing Mastodon

After launching a subscription-only music streaming service in territories around the world this past summer, TikTok is now moving into concerts and e-ticketing. The ByteDance company’s first live global music event will be “TikTok In The Mix,” featuring Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta and Charlie Puth, along with surprise guests and new artists from the TikTok Elevate program. Taking place December 10 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona, the show will integrate elements of the For You feed, with “a range of activities inspired by the TikTok community’s favorite trends.” Continue reading TikTok Dives into Live Music with Its First Concert Experience

Microsoft would like to make OneDrive “the center of your files experience in Microsoft 365.” Sixteen years after the cloud-based storage platform was launched, it “hosts trillions of files, with nearly 2 billion more files added every day,” the company says. The result is OneDrive source files sprawling across the entire Windows ecosystem — extending to SharePoint libraries, traveling as attachments and exchanged through Teams chats. Now Microsoft is adding AI Copilot integration and AI and, overall, making it easier to find things in what it calls the next generation of OneDrive. Continue reading OneDrive 3.0 Aspires to Become Main Windows File Manager

Amazon’s live-streaming video service Twitch has begun testing a vertical presentation it’s calling the “Discovery Feed” designed to make it easier for users to browse and find new content. The interactive gaming and entertainment platform is the latest to emulate TikTok’s flagship vertical scroll, joining recent converts YouTube, Reddit, Spotify and Amazon. Beginning this week, select users will be able to access the new viewing format, although initially it will be populated with horizontally-framed creator clips, Twitch says, explaining that the framing will switch to vertical “as the feed evolves.” Continue reading Twitch Is Testing New Vertical-Scroll Feed to Boost Discovery

TikTok is launching the #NewMusic search hub as a discovery space for global artists to showcase new songs. Prior to its Friday rollout, the hashtag already had 18 million views on TikTok, which is now fashioning it as a destination for music fans seeking content from new and established artists. TikTok says NewMusic will often feature exclusive drops and let artists connect with fans. The ByteDance company has partnered with Jonas Brothers and Miguel to promote NewMusic. Jonas Brothers’ new single “Waffle House” has amassed 1.1 billion views on TikTok’s For You pages internationally. Continue reading TikTok Rolls Out ‘NewMusic’ Global Search Hub for Discovery

The algorithm powering TikTok’s vaunted For You page is reportedly getting help from human collaborators. Although the personalized feed was said to be based on user interests and selections, “employees regularly engage in ‘heating,’ a manual push that ensures specific videos ‘achieve a certain number of video views,’ according to six sources and documents reviewed by Forbes.” What’s more, while the algorithm does have a say in what goes viral, staff at TikTok and ByteDance are also hand-picking specific videos to give preferential treatment, saturating their distribution throughout the user base. Continue reading TikTok Is Accused of Manually ‘Heating’ Personalization Feed

Instagram is testing a new way users can personalize feeds based on their own input rather than relying exclusively on algorithms. Parent company Meta Platforms is inviting select users to mark posts in Explore as “Not Interested,” and plans to soon add ways to stop seeing posts with certain words, phrases or emoji in the caption or hashtags by adjusting filter settings. The Explore tab lets users discover new content and accounts they aren’t currently following. “By tapping Not Interested, it removes the post from your feed immediately, and we’ll suggest fewer posts like it in the future,” Meta said. Continue reading Instagram Users Customize Recommendations in Latest Test

On the heels of its first Congressional hearing for product safety, TikTok has announced policy changes aimed at making the short-form video social platform safer and more secure, particularly for minors, LGBTQ and minority users. In October, TikTok vice president and head of public policy Michael Beckerman testified along with executives from Snapchat and YouTube, addressing questions from U.S. senators as to the social media site’s impact on teen eating disorders and fallout from dangerous hoaxes. The policy updates address those concerns and institute new cybersecurity measures intended to protect user data from unauthorized access. Continue reading TikTok Updates Safety for Minors, Expands Security Features

TikTok debuted in the U.S. in August 2018 and by April 2020 had amassed 2+ billion downloads. By fall of this year it racked up an estimated 850 million monthly active users. While many people still think of TikTok as an app for children and young people, it has become a “rich social and entertainment network” that has impacted online dance culture, the fashion and music industries, and much more. Thousands of TikTok creators recently recreated Pixar’s “Ratatouille” animated feature in 60-second contributions of songs, dances, set designs and puppets. Continue reading TikTok Evolved to Become Major Cultural Platform This Year

Instagram plans to debut a standalone Shopping app, a move that could rival Pinterest and Wish. Ahead of the move, it is adding a shopping tab to the Explore page, which will allow users to look through a dedicated feed of merchandise from a wide range of vendors. Those sellers will be able to add stickers to their Stories for the first time, letting consumers shop from the Stories feed by tapping on the product. With this feature, shoppers will let people consider possible purchases before heading to the seller’s website. Continue reading Instagram Unveils Explore Shopping Tab, Stickers for Stories

Twitter has added a new screen to highlight live events and a curated list of tweets about them to appear on the top of users’ timelines. The new format, which includes live video, will place relevant events on the timeline, with photos and text to encourage users to “tap and explore.” To engage users, Twitter may send personalized push notifications for events near them. Twitter is also redesigning its Explore tab, and has created new sections including a personalized For You tab, as well as News and Sports. Continue reading Twitter Pushes Live Events via New Screen, Curated Tweets

Apple acquired Beats Electronics for $3 billion in May 2014. While it was expected that the Beats Music streaming service would be folded into iTunes Radio to take on Spotify and similar offerings, Apple Music was launched more than a year later. Now, Apple has announced that it plans to officially shutter Beats Music on November 30. A statement on the Beats Music site encourages subscribers to check out Apple’s new service: “Your subscription will be cancelled, but you can move your picks and preferences over to Apple Music right now.” Continue reading Beats Music to Close Now That Apple Music is Live on Android