TechPression

Category: Entertainment

  • YouTube Introduces “Name Handle” To Make Creator Tagging Simpler

    YouTube Introduces “Name Handle” To Make Creator Tagging Simpler

    YouTube, the video-sharing platform, has introduced a new feature specifically for its creators, but still regular users can take advantage of it to change the way they identify their channels or even themselves. As a result of this new functionality, any user on the site can now have their very own name handle.

    The platform is known for its unique user engagement, and Recently, Netflix also introduced a feature that is identical to the one that is now available on YouTube. Previously, this function was exclusive to the gaming community on both platforms; however, from now on, it will be available across the board and to all users.

    YouTube has introduced a number of new features over the past several years, but the most significant of these is YouTube Shorts, which functions in a manner very similar to that of TikTok and Instagram Reels.

    Read also: YouTube Takes on TikTok: Give Creators 45% Revenue

    YouTube Name Handle Feature

    It is well known that the “@name handle” system is primarily available on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter. This system makes it simpler to tag a person in a post and provides a one-of-a-kind name ID.

    When you tag a creator or user in the comment section or in the description of a Short, you may find that it is not as simple as it is on the other platform; nevertheless, this will soon be the case because YouTube has also included the same @-handles.

    The creator will receive a notification in their Creator Studio in the form of a notification or an email. This handle will appear in the channel URL as well as on the main page of the creator’s YouTube channel.

    Get Your YouTube handle right away!

    1. Handles are a new, unique identification (for instance, @youtubecreators) that will be used for ALL YouTube channels.
    2. People will be able to find you and your YouTube channel due to your unique @handle.
    3. Additionally, since handles are unique (unlike channel names), it is simple to determine if you are interacting with the correct individual or not.
    4. Your username will also serve as the URL for your specific channel (for instance, youtube.com/@youtubecreators).
    5. Prior to this update, only creators with 100+ subscribers were qualified for a custom URL; however, now all channels will have a special URL based on their handle!
    6. In the upcoming months, users will be able to utilize your handle on YouTube in comments, mentions, short videos, and more.

    Availability

    The YouTube handles change will be made available to all channels over the next few weeks in a phased rollout. Once it has been rolled out to all channels, your handle will start to appear in a few places across YouTube (and more over time), including the Shorts player, search results, your channel page, comments and mentions, and other places. This will continue to increase over time.

    Because of this, you need to get prepared to pick up your favourite handle before someone else does so. And if the channel owner didn’t choose their handle before November 14th, then YouTube will choose one for them based on their channel name; however, you are free to modify it at a later time if you so desire.

    In addition, you can look for additional information in the official FAQ. On the other hand, YouTube’s future strategy for watermarking short videos will be facilitated by this functionality.

  • In Kenya, Tushop secures $3 million in pre-seed funding

    In Kenya, Tushop secures $3 million in pre-seed funding

    ‌A pre-seed fundraising round brought in $3 million for Tushop, a social-commerce network based in Nairobi that helps communities buy food at lower prices and receive free delivery of their orders.

    JAM Fund, Breyer Capital, Chandaria Capital, TO Ventures, Golden Palm Investments, and DFS Lab were among the investors who took part in this funding round, which was led by 4DX Ventures and co-led by DFS Lab.

    Wasoko, which used to be called Sokowatch, also joined to make their first strategic institutional investment in Tushop. This shows that they believe the team can take advantage of the chance that comes with community group purchasing in Africa.

    Angel investors like GB (CEO of Flutterwave), Raja Kaul (President of Sundial Group), Eli Pollak (CEO of Apollo Agriculture), and Ida Mannoh gave the company more money. The round was oversubscribed (Director of Growth, Chipper Cash).

    The money will be used to increase the size of Tushop’s workforce, make technological investments to make the company’s platform as intuitive and user-friendly as is humanly possible, and expand further inside the city of Nairobi before bringing the service to other cities in Kenya.

    Read also: Klasha Nabs Additional $2.1M For Its Cross-border Commerce Play

    Tushop makes shopping easier and cheaper for Kenyans

    The main reason Tushop was started in 2021 was to make it easier and cheaper for Kenyans and, eventually, all Africans to get the food and household goods they needed. Community group purchasing can save people up to 60% on food items compared to shopping for groceries in supermarkets, dukas, or “mama mbogas.” It is also more convenient because it offers free delivery.

    Tushop employs people they call “Community Leaders,” who are responsible for managing door-to-door deliveries and compiling orders from their neighbours. This not only makes the delivery of the last mile easier, but it also provides the community leaders with an extra revenue stream for coordinating and delivering orders. Community group-buying businesses like Nice Tuan in China and Favo in Brazil have done very well in other places. Nice Tuan is one such company, while Favo is another.

    Significant challenges exist in Africa that can be addressed by applying this paradigm. For instance, Kenyans spend an average of 46% of their income on food, which compares to 6% in the United States, 22% in China, and 16% in Brazil.

    Even though community group buying is just starting out, the market has a huge amount of potential because Africans spend $260 billion a year on food. Shopping at dukas, “mama mbogas,” supermarkets, open-air markets, or wholesalers is the status quo at the moment. However, shopping at these places is usually less convenient and more expensive than buying things as a group.

    Tushop’s ability to relate with customers makes them stand out

    Tushop’s founder and CEO, Cathy Chepkemboi, said the following in response to the company’s rapid growth and high rate of customer retention: “Tushop is unique in this industry because we know the customer—we are our customers! Because of our consistently low earnings, we have had to find other ways to make money throughout our lives.

    Because of this, we have gotten used to the challenge of having to buy food that is too expensive for us. We also know from experience how hard it is for manufacturers to move items through a supply chain that isn’t well-connected. This creates a distance between the producers and the customers they serve. Therefore, we are hyper-focused on providing an exceptional experience for both our end customers and our suppliers and the community leaders working on the side. This will be accomplished in an integrated manner.

    “We are happy to be working with some of the best investors in Africa and around the world who understand logistics, technology, and payments. We look forward to living up to their faith in us through future growth, business success, and positive social impact.” Wasoko’s investment in us is also a validating signal of the work that we have done up until this point, and we look forward to working closely with them to scale Tushop.

    Peter Orth, the Managing Partner at 4DX, said, “We think the market opportunity for Tushop is huge, and we think Cathy is the perfect founder to go after it, given her deep knowledge of the industry and her great execution and growth, so far.” ” We are overjoyed to be joining such a formidable group of other investors and consultants to assist Tushop in establishing itself as the preeminent group-buying platform across Africa.”

    Wasoko’s Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Yu, had this to say about Tushop: “It has been an incredible pleasure to witness Tushop’s incredible growth, which has been driven by strong leadership and a team that embodies a true understanding of consumers and the communities in which they live.” We are thrilled to be working with a group that shares our goal of making items available across Africa at prices that are affordable to the local population.

    Egyptian Fintech Geidea Partners With Visa To Accelerate Digital Payments

    About Tushop

    Tushop was established in 2021 to allow our community leaders to earn additional revenue while simultaneously lowering the prices of food to provide our communities with a greater value for their consumables.

  • MTN announces the appointment of new Executive for its Legal Group

    MTN announces the appointment of new Executive for its Legal Group

    Fatima Laher has been appointed Group Executive: Group Legal by MTN Group, a pan-African mobile and telecommunications provider. Her appointment will take effect on October 1, 2022. Her return to MTN follows six years of working for Samsung Electronics as Head of Africa Disputes.

    Lele Modise, Group Chief Legal and Regulatory officer, said, “Fatima is adept at providing expert strategic and innovative advice to senior leadership in the prestigious institutions she has worked for locally and internationally.”

    Read also: MTN equips Ghanaians with cybercrime protection tools

    What will Fatima do as the New Executive for MTN Group Legal?

    Fatima is an experienced legal executive with a wide range of skills and expertise in various fields. Her areas of specialisation include, but are not limited to, the management of high-value cross-border litigation, legal risk mitigation and corporate investigations, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial law.

    As Executive: Group Legal, she will be an important part of the MTN Group’s executive team. She will help oversee all legal areas, handle legal risks, support strategic projects and initiatives, and help roll out the company’s Group Legal & Regulatory strategy.

    “As Executive: Group Legal, Fatima will provide support in overseeing all legal areas and managing legal risk, supporting strategic projects and initiatives across MTN Group, as well as supporting the implementation of the Group Legal & Regulatory strategy,” concluded Modise.

    Fatima brings more than 25 years of legal expertise to MTN, having held numerous positions in pan-African (Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group) and worldwide (Herbert Smith Freehills LLP (Dubai) and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP) law firms before joining MTN. Edward Nathan Sonnenberg’s Africa; (Dubai). Her prior positions include Executive: Group Commercial Legal, Regulatory and Compliance at MTN Group and Partner (Director) at Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group, where she was responsible for corporate compliance and investigations. She also worked at MTN Group.

    She was granted admission to practice law by the High Court of South Africa. She attended the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Laws, and an Honors in Law degree. All of her degrees were earned in legal studies.

    Nigerians now have access to MTN 5G across 190 sites

     

    About MTN Group

    MTN Group is a mobile and telecommunications provider that serves the whole of Africa. The company was established in 1994. MTN is a South African telecommunications company that has its headquarters in Johannesburg and is traded on the JSE Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol “MTN.” MTN operates in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen, and Zambia. The company has 232 million mobile subscribers and 20 million mobile money subscribers. MTN’s goal is to become the industry leader in delivering a revolutionary new digital world. A big part of this goal is to give customers a world-class

  • MultiChoice pushes into streaming as the DSTv model struggles

    MultiChoice pushes into streaming as the DSTv model struggles

    In South Africa, DStv, which is owned by MultiChoice, has started offering bundles that include DStv streaming bouquets and unlimited fiber internet at lower prices. This is to get more people to sign up for streaming services.

    The packages, which will only be accessible to streaming subscribers, will cost R699 (about $39) for the Compact package and R999 (about $56) for the Premium package. They include a DStv Compact or Premium subscription, a DStv Streama streaming box, and a 25/10Mbps fiber connection. In collaboration with unidentified fiber network providers, the bundles will be made available.

    MultiChoice recently revealed pricing reductions for its standalone streaming service, which it introduced at the end of 2020, during its annual media showcase event. Its strong drive into streaming looks to be out of need and survival.

    Read also: MultiChoice Acquires the Namola Emergency Assistance App

    DStv Premium subscribers reportedly fell from 2.35 million in 2015 to 1.92 million in 2018 and are now expected to reach 1.4 million by 2022, according to talk. MultiChoice’s most recent annual financial report also shows that sales of Compact and business packages have dropped by 6%.

    The average revenue per user (ARPU) of DSTV has been falling as the number of users has decreased, falling from R317 per month in March 2018 to R269 per month in March 2022 for 90-day active customers.

    MultiChoice new choice

    MultiChoice’s newest bundles seem to be an effort to kill two birds with one stone after realizing that consumers are abandoning its satellite TV offerings: supply customers with fast, inexpensive, uncapped internet and then combine it with customers’ other preferred streaming goods.

    In theory, this seems like a great plan, but it will be hard to tell how well it works over time because MultiChoice doesn’t include streaming data in its financial reports.

    DStv Users in South Africa Can now Access Disney+

    DStv’s nine million South African customers might fuel the country’s battles between fiber network operators as they compete for the DStv subscribers’ business. The company says that users can choose between the top two FNOs in South Africa, Openserve and Vumatel, in order to get the new packages.

    MultiChoice hopes this latest wager pays off since it has few options left. If streaming fails, the company could be bought by Canal+, which has been buying ordinary shares of MultiChoice and now owns 26% of the company.

  • Netflix introduces in-game IDs for iOS and Android gamers

    Netflix introduces in-game IDs for iOS and Android gamers

    Netflix is currently rolling out a new feature that allows users to create game handles, resulting in a more individualized and immersive gaming experience.

    With game handles, members will be able to create a one-of-a-kind public login that may be used across the board for all Netflix games. In multiplayer games like Rival Pirates, an adventure game where you set sail, fire cannonballs, and try to be the last boat left afloat; and in the leaderboards of games like Dominoes Café and Lucky Luna, the game controls let players meet, make friends with, and play with each other.

    Read also: Africa is set to take over the global videogame business

    How to launch the gaming ID 

    On both iOS and Android devices, the process of establishing a game handle may be completed in just two easy steps:

    Start up your Netflix mobile app.

    If you download Rival Pirates or Lucky Luna on an iOS device, you’ll be able to choose your gamer name when the game asks you to.

    To create a Netflix game handle on an Android device, go to the navigation bar, select the games tab, and then look for the banner that says “Create your Netflix game handle.”

    According to Sophia Yang, Product Manager for Mobile Games, “This feature is only the beginning of building a tailored game experience for our members around the world.” We will continue to modify and improve our service to cater to our subscribers’ requirements, but in the meantime, challenge yourself to see if you can outscore me in Dominoes Café. I’m Sophia Yang.

    Netflix will launch a new gaming studio 

    In related news, on Monday, Netflix made the announcement that it would be opening an internal games studio in Helsinki, Finland. Marko Lastikka will serve as the studio director for this new endeavour.

    Amir Rahimi, Vice President of Game Studios, said of the creation of an internal studio, “This is another step in our plan to build a world-class games studio that will bring our hundreds of millions of members around the world a variety of fun and deeply engaging original games with no ads and no in-app purchases.”

    Netflix and the French video company Ubisoft recently announced they would work together. Starting in 2023, Netflix will ask Ubisoft to make three mobile games based on some of the most popular game franchises in the world.

    Qene Games utilize Ethio Telecom to market its mobile games in Ethiopia

    According to the statement released today by Netflix, “this feature is only the beginning in building a tailored game experience for our members around the world.” This statement gives the impression that there will be additional developments on this front shortly.

    The business has verified that Into the Breach, Bowling Ballers, Mahjong Solitaire, Heads Up! As of today’s launch, Netflix Edition and Wild Things: Animal Adventures are among the titles that accept game handles as of today’s launch. However, for the time being, users can only use their game handles within Rival Pirates, Lucky Luna, and Dominoes Cafe. This feature is only available in those three games.

  • TikTok makes the comment “dislike” button available to all users worldwide

    TikTok makes the comment “dislike” button available to all users worldwide

    TikTok will soon make its comment disapproval option available to users worldwide. In April, the short-form video app began testing the “dislike” button, allowing users to flag remarks that they feel are improper or irrelevant to the app’s content.

    If you click the button labelled “dislike” on a comment, the comment in question will not be made public, and the comment’s author will not receive a notification that the comment has been disliked. Commenters and other users won’t be able to view the number of times a specific comment has been voted unfavourable. You can also change your mind about disliking anything by tapping the button once more.

    TikTok said in a tweet that the company was testing a new way for users to report comments they thought were wrong or not relevant. “Earlier this year, we started testing this new way,” the company claimed. “After several tests, we have decided to make it available worldwide.” We made it a new way to get feedback from people in our community quickly. Because of this, we can better recognize irrelevant or improper comments, which enables us to cultivate a comment section for true and authentic conversations.

    TikTok aims to improve the user experience

    TikTok has said that the main reason it created this feature was to give users a better overall experience. When it first began testing the button, TikTok initially indicated that it saw the dislike button as a tool to flag comments that may be spam or that don’t make sense in the context of the video they’re posted beneath

    Read also: Content Creators Can Now Earn with Tiktok Pulse

    It was mentioned that the “dislike” button is not considered a method for reporting comments and that users should continue to follow the usual process for reporting comments for harassment, hate speech, bullying, and other similar offences.

    Matt Navarra, a social media expert, discovered the hate button on TikTok for the first time in March 2020. This indicates that TikTok has been working on the feature for quite some time.

    TikTok’s latest update brings it in line with a number of other digital platforms that have included their own iterations of a hate button. For example, YouTube has a “thumbs down” button that lets people tell others they don’t like what they said, but the number of dislikes isn’t shown. On the other hand, Reddit provides a button to downvote comments, but the overall tallies for upvotes and downvotes are viewable by anybody. Also, Twitter has been trying out a downvote button for replies to tweets that only a few people can use.

    About TikTok

    TikTok is a short-form video hosting website owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. In China, the service is known as Douyin. It has a lot of short videos made by users, ranging in length from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. These videos include pranks, stunts, tricks, jokes, dancing, and entertainment.

    In September 2016, the original version of Douyin was released in China. TikTok is the internationalized version of that app. TikTok was initially released in 2017 for iOS and Android in most markets outside of mainland China. However, it did not become available worldwide until August 2, 2018, when it merged with another Chinese social media service called Musical.ly. TikTok was first released in most places outside of mainland China in 2017 for iOS and Android.

    YouTube Takes on TikTok: Give Creators 45% Revenue

    Users on either TikTok or Douyin have identical user interfaces, but users on either platform cannot view the content of the other. Their data centers are in the same places where people use their apps. The two items share several similarities, although their features are not the same. In-video searching for additional footage of a specific person is one of the many functions of the Douyin app.

    Other capabilities include buying items, booking hotels, and writing geo-tagged reviews.  TikTok and Douyin both had meteoric rises in popularity soon after they were released in 2016, which was true nearly everywhere in the world. October 2020 marked the month that TikTok reached 2 billion smartphone downloads worldwide.

  • MultiChoice Acquires the Namola Emergency Assistance App

    MultiChoice Acquires the Namola Emergency Assistance App

    MultiChoice is expanding its business beyond the entertainment industry by buying the emergency help mobile app Namola for an amount that has not been made public, The operator, which already owns DStv, is extending its portfolio of offerings by expanding into other routes, and this acquisition is one of the ways it is doing so.

    In a recent presentation at the annual showcase event of the company, CEO Calvo Mawela stated that even though MultiChoice began as a video entertainment business, the company quickly understood that it needed to do more. According to him, domestic safety is one of the many concerns that plague African countries, which is why the Namola app was purchased.

    The emergency response app is MultiChoice’s first business that is not in the entertainment business. It links users who are in need with a network of responders for a variety of different types of emergencies. The app allows users to call the private, public, or medical response team that is vetted and located closest to their current location.

    The app has an SOS button that lets the user describe the situation. The app then sends the user’s geolocation to the most appropriate emergency medical or security staff. Users have access to sensitive emergency services that deal with crime, fire, accidents, and medical emergencies, among other things.

    Read also: MultiChoice Maintains Margins Despite Content Cost Normalization

    As of October 26th, 2022, DStv subscribers can add a subscription to Namola to their regular DStv payment. Users of the pay-TV provider will be required to pay an annual subscription fee that ranges from 29 South African rands ($2) for the solo package to 59 South African rands ($3.30) for the couples’ package and 99 South African rands ($5.6) for the family package.

    Nyiko Shiburi, the CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, said, “Namola is part of our plan to offer a suite of consumer services that meet the needs of our customers and to grow our ecosystem beyond entertainment.”

    When DStv Rewards subscribers register for Namola rewards through the MyDSTV app, they are eligible to get one free month of service for a couple or solo subscription or three free months of service for a family subscription.

    MultiChoice is becoming more diverse

    During the yearly showcase event that the company puts on, some important announcements were made, including the purchase of the Namola app by the pay-TV operator. Also, the company has introduced DStv Internet, a new Internet service provider that will work with Udemy to offer online training.

    MultiChoice also wants to become a major player in Africa in terms of financial technology and services. Mawela further mentioned that 57% of African people had no bank account access.

    “Moving into the realm of financial services presents us with a significant window of opportunity.” We integrate more than 200 different payment points in the many markets we operate in. “If we let our customers choose how to pay, we should see a big jump in sales,” he said.

    The company said it would immediately lower the prices of DStv’s streaming-only package options along with all the other news.

    DStv Users in South Africa Can now Access Disney+

    New payment plan for DSTV users in South Africa

    The pay-TV provider is giving customers who already have a good broadband connection at home an alternative to satellite service. This will keep these customers from paying more money to install a decoder and dish.

    The monthly cost of the Premium streaming-only bundle was reduced from R829 (US$45.89) to R699 (US$38.69) in 2021. On the other hand, as of the most recent announcement made by the corporation, this price will now remain in effect permanently. Here is a list of the new, lower prices for the different ways to stream without a dish in South Africa:

    There is a 16.7% price difference between DStv Premium, which costs R699 (US$38.69) per month, and satellite television, which costs R839 (US$465) per month.

    DStv Compact Plus costs R469 (US$24.96) per month, whereas satellite television costs R549 (US$30.39) per month. This is a 14.6% decrease in cost.

    The monthly cost of DStv Compact is R369 (US$20.43), which is 14% less than the monthly cost of satellite television, which is R429. (US$23.75).

    DStv Family costs R269 (about $14.89) per month, whereas satellite costs R309 (approximately $17.11 per month). This is a saving of 12.9%.

    The monthly cost of DStv Access is R99 (US$5.6), a 17.5% reduction from the monthly cost of satellite, which is R120 (US $6.65).

     

  • Instagram Develops Nudity Protection Feature

    Instagram Develops Nudity Protection Feature

    Instagram is reportedly working on a new feature that will protect users from getting explicit content or nudity in direct messages (DMs) from people they don’t know. The feature is being tested to automatically hide nudes that you didn’t ask for in your DMs.

    The feature, aptly named “Nudity Protection,” is in development, but it should roll out to users in the coming weeks.

    The announcement was first spotted in a tweet by the app developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who reported that Instagram’s nudity protection feature would use on-device technology to cover up photos that may contain nudity in chats. Describing its functionality, Paluzzi said, “Technology on your device covers photos that may contain nudity in chats.” Instagram CAN’T access photos. ”

    https://twitter.com/alex193a/status/1571924946183397377

    A screenshot of the feature in the works shows that Instagram won’t be able to see the photos. Also, the screenshot shows that offensive images will stay hidden unless the user chooses to look at them.

    This was also confirmed in a statement by Instagram’s parent company, Meta. Meta confirmed the feature’s existence and revealed that it is still in the early stages of development and will be optional for users. It will be an opt-in feature, and Instagram won’t enable it by default on rollout.

    Meta says it wants to keep people’s eyes from nude photos or other unwanted messages.

    An added security measure has been taken to address privacy concerns arising from Instagram’s ability to analyze photos in your DMs. The company says it can’t review or share the image with anyone.

    Meta spokesperson Liz Fernandez said, “We’re working closely with experts to ensure these new features preserve people’s privacy while giving them control over the messages they receive.” The company said again that neither Instagram nor Meta would be able to see the actual messages or share them with other people.

    Read also: Instagram Launches Payment feature in DM

    Currently, no further information has been given concerning Instagram’s nudity protection feature. The company plans to share more details ahead of any tests in the coming weeks.

    The new feature is similar to the “Hidden Words” tool the company launched last year. This feature allows users to filter abusive messages in DM requests based on keywords.

    When the Nudity Protection feature is enabled, Instagram will blur the photo attached in the chat if it detects it has nudity. This will be done automatically. You will then get a notification that the message you’ve received has a photo that contains nudity, with the option to access the content if you want.

    Introducing a Nudity Protection feature will go a long way in helping the company to improve protection for younger users.

    Instagram Protection for Younger Users

    Many young people enjoy using Instagram. Although you can find fun and entertaining content, the app is also a place where fraud, sexual content, cyberbullying, and abuse are common.

    Last year, Instagram made the accounts for users under 16 “private” by default, which made it harder for young people to find potentially suspicious accounts. This provided a safer and more personal experience for younger users on the platform.

    It also limits advertisers’ ability to reach young people. The company has made new software to look for accounts that act in ways that could be suspicious and to stop those accounts from interacting with the accounts of people under 18.

    Using the Protection features

    Parents who want to protect their children from potentially harmful content can use Instagram’s parental controls. People who try to re-follow will be rejected.

    • Non-followers can still see your teen’s username, photo, bio, and website even though the account is private. And so to prevent this, don’t put any personal information in the bio description of the profile. Such information includes house address, mobile number, school location, etc.

     

    • Filter out bad comments so they don’t show up on posts. A general “Hide Offensive Comments” people have been added. They won’t be able to write comments to your teen’s posts and will only be seen by your teen and not by anyone else.

     

    • You can stop specific accounts from seeing your child’s “stories” posts. This tip will come in handy if your teen posts stories that aren’t acceptable or applicable to a specific group of followers.

     

    • Sharing stories with close friends is a great option as it makes your teen’s post visible to a selected group of people. It works just like the way of hiding “stories” from selected Instagram followers.

     

    • Use the “Block” feature to prevent accounts from following your teen on Instagram. First, identify the particular account, then tap the three dots at the top right and select “Block”. This will hide your child’s account from this user. He or she cannot view posts and stories or send a direct message to your teen’s account.

     

    • Talk to your teen about the dangers of Internet scams and how he or she can stay safe online. Your child also needs to know how to report any account that seems suspicious. To report an account, tap the three dots at the top right corner of the user’s profile (or direct message chat), then select Report.

    Instagram to introduce “Gifts” and “Repost” features

    Instagram’s Other New Features

    Speaking of new Instagram features in testing, the social media platform is also working on a new monetization tool for its creators called “repost” and “gifts.” The gifts feature allows users to send two types of gifts to creators, along with a personalized message.

  • YouTube Takes on TikTok: Give Creators 45% Revenue

    YouTube Takes on TikTok: Give Creators 45% Revenue

     

    YouTube, in its effort to counter TikTok’s unequalled growth, has announced new initiatives for YouTube Shorts to compete in the short-form video arena. The platform rolled out new revenue-sharing tools for content creators on its YouTube Shorts video products.

    Hitherto, TikTok has been dominant in this area as it has appealed to the younger creator generation with its simplicity and money-making opportunities, and with this, it has been so successful that other platforms have copied its features; YouTube has added a watermark to short videos.

    Until TikTok’s surge, YouTube had been the most sustainable source of income for content creators, who received a share of the revenue from the ads that appeared with their videos. Thousands have made YouTube their full-time job with the partner program unveiled a decade ago. The platform has now decided to return to primacy.

    According to the YouTube announcement, shorts will soon be eligible for monetization, and creators will keep 45% of the revenue generated from viewership.

    Read also: Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube will oppose cross-platform video sharing

    This is a significant update for creators who earn income on YouTube. Unlike long-form videos, which allow creators to profit from ad revenue, shorts have no direct path to monetization. YouTube has a “Shorts” “fund” that awards money to creators for popular videos. However, that’s not the same as a residual income stream.

    “​​It’s a really big moment for creators,” said Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s vice president of product management. “When we launched the partner program 15 years ago, it was the first of its kind and kicked off the creator economy. This brings all the goodness and benefits creators have felt from revenue sharing and brings it over to short form as well.”

    YouTube Programs and Eligibility 

    YouTube announced that, as of early 2023, YouTube Shorts creators would be able to apply to its YouTube Partner Program (YPP) provided they meet a threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million short views over the previous 90 days. The YouTube Partner Program was started in 2007 and gave creators access to YouTube’s tools and ways to make money. It also allows revenue sharing from ads being served on your content.

    The creators will also be able to take 45% of the revenue generated from ads that run between short videos.

    “This seems like a giant attempt to grab frustrated TikTokers,” said Serena Kerrigan, a TikTok star with over half a million followers.

    YouTube’s new revenue-sharing program could make TikTok less important to young people who make videos online, which has been the case so far.

    According to the statement of Amjad Hanif, Vice President of Creator Products, on YouTube’s official blog post, “In Shorts, ads run between videos in the Shorts Feed.” So, every month, revenue from these ads will be added together and used to reward short-shorts creators and help cover the cost of music licensing. From the overall amount allocated to creators, they will keep 45% of the revenue, distributed based on their share of total short views. The revenue share remains the same, whether they use music or not.

    Those creators who do not meet the required threshold to join the YouTube Partner Program will still make money through early access to fan funding features like Super Thanks, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Memberships, which allow fans to pay creators for certain features.

    “This new lower tier will allow creators to join much earlier in their journey as a creator and earn directly from our fan fencing products,” Hanif said.

    Kenyans created the most YouTube content in Africa

    YouTube Benefits VS TikTok’s 

    Adding revenue sharing to short-form videos is a significant change in the ecosystem of creators. No other platform offers revenue sharing. For instance, TikTok, for instance, pays creators out of a fixed pool of money called its “creator fund.” However, the more creators who join the fund, the more ways the money is split.

    In order to give Creators more Benefits, YouTube said it is also “launching Super Thanks for Shorts in beta to thousands of creators, with a complete rollout expected next year.” Viewers can show appreciation for their favourite shorts, and creators can interact with their fans through purchased, highlighted Super Thanks comments. And we’re 2020, and the popularity of short-form video has exploded on YouTube, with over 30B daily views and 1.5B monthly logged-in users.

    In 2021, YouTube launched a $100 million fund to reward YouTube Shorts creators for their most viewed and engaging content throughout 2021 and 2022. TikTok launched a $200 million creator fund in 2020, while Snap Inc. launched a new fund late last year for top performers of its video product.

  • Uganda’s Parliament Passes Tougher Computer Misuse Sanctions

    Uganda’s Parliament Passes Tougher Computer Misuse Sanctions

    The Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which set harsh penalties for cybercrimes and was privately proposed by Muhammad Nsereko (Ind., Kampala Central), has been passed by the Parliament of Uganda.

    The purpose of the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was to amend the Computer Misuse Act, 2011, in order to strengthen the provisions on unauthorized access to information or data; prohibit the sharing of any information pertaining to a child without authorization from a parent or guardian, and prohibit the sending or sharing of information that promotes hate speech.

    Uganda’s Computer Misuse Bills

    https://twitter.com/Parliament_Ug/status/1567841642467450882

     

    A new section of the law proposed by the chairperson of the ICT committee, Hon. Moses Magogo, defines social media and establishes sanctions for computer users who hide behind fake identities. It reads: “A person who uses social media to publish, distribute or share information prohibited under the laws of Uganda or using a disguised or false identity, commits an offence.”

    According to the provisions of the law, an individual who is responsible for managing an account for an organization in which the aforementioned conduct occurs would be held accountable for the commission of the offence.

    The sentence continued by providing a variety of interpretations of what “social media” means. “a set of technologies, sites, and practices which are used to share opinions, experiences, and perspectives, and includes YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WeChat, TikTok, Sina Weibo, QQ, Telegram, Snapchat, Kuaishou, Qzone, Reddit, Quora, Skype, Microsoft Team, and LinkedIn.” 

    If a person violates the provision that is at issue, they will, upon conviction, be subject to one of the following punishments: a fine of sixteen million shillings, a prison sentence of five years, or both the fine and the sentence.

    Read also: Kenya Launches Cybercrime Protection Game for Children

    Verified accounts on social media platforms are believed to be owned by the individuals who use such platforms under their own names until it can be shown that the opposite is true.

    People whose phone numbers and/or email addresses were used to create social media accounts will also be held personally responsible for crimes that were committed in violation of the act as it is now changed.

    As the Honorable Magogo put it, the goal of the provision was to “provide for the regulation of social media.”

    Additionally, the measure criminalized and characterized unsolicited material, but it exempted commercial advertisements from the categorization, allowing marketers the freedom to disseminate information to audiences whom they had specifically targeted.

    Clause 5 reads in part as follows: “For the purposes of this section, “unsolicited information” means information that is given to a person using the internet without the person’s agreement; however, “unsolicited information” does not include an unsolicited commercial message.”

    Backdoor, Computer-Controlling Malware Grows Across Africa

     

    Opposition against the Bills

    The rest of the clauses were passed without any opposition, except for one vote from MP Gorreth Namugga (NUP, Mawogola County South). He voted against a clause that said people who had been convicted couldn’t hold public office or run for elections for 10 years after they got out of jail.

    In her report for the minority, Member of Parliament Namugga argued that the law contravened the constitution and pleaded with the House not to adopt it.

    “The entire bill should not be left to stand as part of our laws as all the clauses are already catered for in existing legislation and, in some instances, offends the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda; the fundamental rights to access information electronically and to express oneself over computer networks are utterly risked by this bill,” she said.

    She added: “lf passed into law, it will stifle the acquisition of information; the penalties proposed in the bill are overly harsh and disproportionate when compared to similar in others “This bill, if passed, will be a bad law and liable to constitutional petitions upon assent.”