Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Vic.
1. Join the club
Clubhouse, the ‘Social Audio App’, is now allowing any old wally to join the party.
Previously invite-only, it’s now possible for anybody to follow Clubhouse links, hop into a creator’s community, or join public events.
The exclusivity was one of Clubhouse’s main features, so it will be interesting to see how opening it up to everybody will impact growth and engagement. Reports are that after the peak in 2020, things have cooled off considerably, so perhaps this is part of the reason for letting anyone join.
Nice little slightly scathing write up of the news over on Mashable here.
2. TikTok knows you better than you know yourself
We often have those freakouts about how a social media app can show you such relevant content and ads for things you’ve talked about without having to perform a search about that specific topic or product.
Algorithms are very advanced. So advanced in fact, that TikTok only needs one piece of information to serve you relevant content – the amount of time you spend lingering.
Don’t play a TikTok video immediately, or rewatch it? All of that is factored in, as an investigation by The Wall Street Journal revealed.
3. Three strikes and you’re out
Google has announced that it will be getting tougher on advertisers that break the rules.
Come September, Google will issue an initial warning, and then up to three strikes before getting booted from the Google Ads platform if advertisers violate Google’s Enabling Dishonest Behavior, Unapproved Substances and Dangerous Products or Services policies.
Find out more here.
4. Twitter launches another way for users to be mean to each other
After ditching Fleets last week, a new beta has begun rolling out for iOS users – upvote and downvote buttons.
Some key notes about this experiment:
1. This is just a test for research right now.
2. This is not a dislike button.
3. Your downvotes are visible to you only.
4. Votes won’t change the order of replies.— Support (@Support) July 21, 2021
Now, Twitter is saying that it can’t be used to troll or harass people, but imagine you bang up a picture of yourself when you feel a bit sassy and then see you’ve amassed more downvotes than upvotes? Ugh.
Also, Reddit was quick to respond to the announcement:
— Reddit (@Reddit) July 21, 2021
5. Flirting with emojis
Last Saturday was World Emoji Day, and to celebrate, Adobe released its 2021 Global Emoji Trend Report.
The report revealed the top 5 emoji used globally, with the number one spot being that stupid cry laughing face. Everyone knows the best emoji is the slightly smiling while crying face, because really, we are all dead inside.
When it comes to how people feel about others who use emoji, 67% reckon that it makes you come across friendlier, funnier and cooler than those who don’t.
But if you’re using emoji to get some action for your toilet parts, the ones most likely to make someone slap their legs together as fast and hard as a barn door slamming in a strong wind are as follows:
Whereas these apparently make you more likely to score:
So there you have it. Being cute wins over being someone that needs to go to horny jail. Who would have thought it?
The full infographic can be viewed here.
