In South Africa, the biggest threats to democracy are pretty obvious: the stuttering economy, never-ending rolling blackouts (let’s call them what they are), the rampant unemployment (nearly 30% in total, over 50% for youth) and a delusional political elite that doesn’t know it’s out of touch, out of money (due to said economic woes and therefore the inability of Sars to collect revenue) and generalised arrogance.
The number of active users of Facebook (those people who have logged onto the site in the previous month) has reached a historic high of 2.45 billion. To put this in some context, approximately 32% of the global population now use the social media platform, and the trend line of participation is still going up.
The world is starting to see the gradual decline of Facebook, with 15 million US users dropping off between 2017 and last year. Nonetheless, Facebook remains the largest social network in the world.
Like any eight-year-old, Ryan Kaji loves to play with toys. But when Ryan plays, millions watch.
Since the age of four he’s been the star of his own YouTube channel. All up his videos have gained more than 35 billion views. This helped make him YouTube’s highest-earning star in 2018, earning US$22 million, according to Forbes.
Even though it’s less than 0.5% of Facebook’s $66bn revenue in the last year, the social giant will still allow adverts from politicians, even if they’re false.
The psychology behind social media and gratification is real. Which could be why Facebook’s image-sharing platform (Instagram) is testing hiding like counts.
It’s about time Facebook rolled out a change that wasn’t going to track, leak, or otherwise mess with its user’s info. The social network has revealed a new logo, one more in keeping with “…a suite of products…
Finally, some good news from the weirdo-sphere that is social media. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced that, effective November 22, the microblogging platform will ban all political advertising – globally.
Facebook’s CEO can’t tell you when he learnt about Cambridge Analytica nor why the social giant allows false news in political ads.
Reports of Facebook moderators’ appalling working conditions have been making headlines worldwide. Workers say they are burning out as they moderate vast flows of violent content under pressure, with vague, ever-changing guidelines. They describe unclean, dangerous contractor workplaces. Moderators battle depression, addiction, and even post-traumatic stress disorder from the endless parade of horrors they consume.