Twitter is the latest social media company to emulate TikTok by introducing an infinite video scroll. Tapping a video will expand it to full screen, which Twitter is calling its “immersive media viewer.” Once opened, users can then scroll up to start browsing. Tapping the back arrow exits the viewer and takes you back to the original tweet. And Twitter is making it easier to find “some of the most popular videos on Twitter” by adding a video carousel in the Explore tab “alongside Tweets and Trends.” The updates are rolling out beginning now, starting on iOS in English-speaking countries. Continue reading Twitter Emulating TikTok with Its New Scrolling Video Viewer

Videos trending on YouTube are getting longer. Whereas many videos used to run seven or eight minutes, the most recent popular videos are as long as 60 minutes. Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg’s recent video is 30 minutes, for example, and Shane Dawson’s latest documentary is 60+ minutes. The driving force behind the trend is creators’ efforts to make more money via advertising. Ads run at the beginning of videos that are less than 10 minutes long, while YouTube allows the insertion of ads in the middle of videos that run longer than that. Continue reading YouTube Creators Increasing Revenue with Longer Videos

Google is using artificial intelligence software to remove misleading and objectionable videos from YouTube’s homepage and the app’s home screen. The software reportedly is able to analyze massive amounts of video footage, pick out the offending clips and blocks them — all without human assistance. Sources state the software, whose internal name is “trashy video classifier,” was first tested in 2015 but was widely deployed in 2017 after a series of inappropriate videos aimed at children were posted to the popular video-sharing platform. Continue reading Google Uses AI Classifier to Sanitize YouTube Home Page

On the heels of a controversial quarter, YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki sent a newsletter to YouTube users and creators announcing that half of all featured videos on the site’s trending tab will come from YouTube itself. This assurance is meant to alleviate worries from some of YouTube’s most popular content creators who have concerns over copyright challenges, advertising policies, and video monetization, particularly related to YouTube’s favoring of more traditional content (movie trailers, TV clips) on its trending tab.

Continue reading YouTube Aims For Trending Videos to Come From Own Site

Amazon has opened a brick-and-mortar retail store, dubbed Amazon 4-star, in New York City’s Soho neighborhood. Amazon 4-star is so named because it will carry goods — starting off with consumer electronics, kitchen, home, toys, books and games — that shoppers have rated with at least four stars, are sold by top sellers or are “new and trending.” This physical retail store joins Amazon’s 12+ bookstores and a few cashierless Go convenience stores, as well as the Whole Foods grocery stores it acquired. Continue reading Amazon Unveils NYC Retail Store for 4+ Star Online Products

YouTube has rolled out a beta of Super Chat, its new feature that helps creators generate revenue while connecting with fans during live streams. According to TechCrunch, “The addition is reminiscent of streaming site Twitch’s Cheering feature, which allow viewers to pay real money in order to have their messages stand out in the chat stream through the use of emotes (animated icons.) In YouTube’s case, fans instead are able to highlight their message in a bright color, and have their comment pinned on the stream.” YouTube explains that Super Chats will stay pinned to the chat for up to five hours. Continue reading YouTube Creators Can Now Earn Money During Live Streams

Facebook is reportedly working on a new feature, dubbed Collections, that presents curated content from publishers in News Feed. Collections is similar to Snapchat’s Discover section, where selected news outlets can showcase news stories, videos and other content. The move is seen both as another way that Facebook is copying rival Snapchat, and, at the same time, battling the scourge of fake news that came to the fore during the U.S. presidential election. Facebook did not comment on the development. Continue reading Facebook to Enable Curated News Collections for News Feed

In an effort to increase the number of visitors to its site, Twitter has redesigned its homepage, allowing visitors to view content they would otherwise not have access to unless they were logged in. With about 200 million monthly visitors, Twitter wants to improve user engagement by adding a section to its homepage where users can view the most trending tweets or viral content as sorted into different categories such as “Business News,” or “TV Shows & Stars.” Continue reading Twitter Homepage Redesign Intends to Increase Visitor Count

Last year’s selfie by Ellen DeGeneres during the live Oscar telecast set a new Twitter record and launched 3 million retweets. Not surprisingly, yesterday’s 87th Academy Awards had an impressive social presence, from ABC live-streaming its backstage show on Facebook to news organizations live-blogging on assorted social networks and Facebook launching its new real-time Trending Oscars experience. According to Twitter, the most tweeted-about nominees and performers included Lady Gaga, Patricia Arquette, Alejandro Iñárritu and John Legend. Continue reading Academy Awards Have Strong Presence on Twitter and Facebook

Sling Media, the company behind multiscreen TV devices including the Slingbox 500 and SlingTV, has added support for YouTube video recommendations in its TV guide. During live TV programming, the user could call up a menu of related YouTube videos on the bottom of the screen. Audible Magic’s audio-fingerprinting technology determines the content of the live TV. The top-trending YouTube videos are also located on a separate tab within the TV guide. Continue reading Slingbox Integrates YouTube Recommendations with Live TV

According to the latest rankings from Product Hunt, an app that tracks what digital products are trending, teenagers are migrating from traditional social media outlets and spending more time with apps that help with productivity. Rather than spending most of their time on Twitter and Facebook (and its recently acquired WhatsApp messaging app), teens are turning to apps that involve photo sharing, streaming music, and productivity services related to areas such as to-do lists, online classes and résumé tutorials. Continue reading Products Teens Love: Facebook and Twitter Should Take Note

Teenager Shawn Mendes’ first album was number one on the iTunes Top Albums chart only 37 minutes after its debut Sunday night. He was first discovered on video sharing service Vine, posting six-second clips of his covers of pop songs. With the help of his 1.5 million Twitter followers and 2.9 million Vine followers, his EP hit the top of the chart, his single “Life of the Party” debuted as No. 24 on Billboard’s Top 100 Chart, and the hashtag #ShawnToNumber1 was trending on Twitter. Continue reading Music: Fifteen-Year-Old Vine Star Tops iTunes Album Charts

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is adapting his company to address the challenges of a changing market. The software company is now working on improving Microsoft products across all platforms, such as Android and iOS. Also, Microsoft is about to release a search tool, Delve, that can peruse emails, social networks and corporate documents to find information for work-related inquiries. Microsoft is placing emphasis on Delve’s machine learning and artificial intelligence. Continue reading The Future of Microsoft Focused on Productivity, Not Devices

Billboard Twitter Real-Time Charts is a collaboration between Billboard and Twitter where fans help rank the most popular songs shared on the social network in the U.S. The first chart, the Billboard Trending 140, is a ranking of songs shared in the U.S. measured by acceleration over the past hour. A real-time view of the most shared tracks over the past day is available. The second chart, the Emerging Artists chart, is ranked by the number of times each song by an up-and-coming artist was shared over the past day. Continue reading Billboard and Twitter Introduce First Real-Time Music Charts

Instagram has redesigned its “Explore” tab to provide a more relevant experience for users, rather than showcase random pictures that receive a lot of global Likes. The Explore tab will now display the photos and videos “Liked” by individuals that a user is actively following. This personalization reflects Instagram’s focus on each user’s social graph, which contrasts with the approach by Vine that largely centers on re-sharing content and notable video creators. Continue reading Instagram Improves Explore Tab for Personalized Experience