Social Media
There are 2 billion users globally using WhatsApp as a form of communication and in most countries a replacement to texting. When connected to wifi, a user is able to call, post, video chat and message other users. Five million businesses also use the app to quickly reply to their customers, chat filter, and post their products through the catalog features. This app continues to flourish by increasing users half a billion every two years.
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/whatsapp-statistics
Since the growth of social media, one-in-five adults get their news from social media platforms. Due to the past accusations of fake news interfering with elections both Twitter and Facebook have implemented fact checking using third party platforms. Although Facebook stated that politicians are not eligible due to free speech, on May 26, Twitter left a warning under President Trump’s tweet suggesting it was wrong. This plays an important role in the future of how consumers will filter news.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/technology/trump-twitter-fact-check.html
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/11/key-findings-about-the-online-news-landscape-in-america/
Video has become increasingly important to Social Media. Tik Tok is a perfect example of this. The new video based social media service went from 27 million unique visitors from the US in October 2019 to 52 million in March 2020! Part of this growth can be attributed to many people being stuck at home looking for entertainment.
Tik Tok is under fire as the United States is concerned that users’ privacy is being violated and how influential Tik Tok is socially and politically. India has already banned the app along with 50 other China company based apps. The Trump administration has threatened to ban the app in the United States unless ByteDance sells its US operations. This escalation of the trade war between the US and China can possibly have other impacts on US tech companies. Publicly, as of early September 2020 both Oracle and Microsoft have put in bids.
It looks like Oracle is the winner in the bid to get TikTok's US operations.
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/whatsapp-statistics
Since the growth of social media, one-in-five adults get their news from social media platforms. Due to the past accusations of fake news interfering with elections both Twitter and Facebook have implemented fact checking using third party platforms. Although Facebook stated that politicians are not eligible due to free speech, on May 26, Twitter left a warning under President Trump’s tweet suggesting it was wrong. This plays an important role in the future of how consumers will filter news.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/technology/trump-twitter-fact-check.html
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/11/key-findings-about-the-online-news-landscape-in-america/
Video has become increasingly important to Social Media. Tik Tok is a perfect example of this. The new video based social media service went from 27 million unique visitors from the US in October 2019 to 52 million in March 2020! Part of this growth can be attributed to many people being stuck at home looking for entertainment.
Tik Tok is under fire as the United States is concerned that users’ privacy is being violated and how influential Tik Tok is socially and politically. India has already banned the app along with 50 other China company based apps. The Trump administration has threatened to ban the app in the United States unless ByteDance sells its US operations. This escalation of the trade war between the US and China can possibly have other impacts on US tech companies. Publicly, as of early September 2020 both Oracle and Microsoft have put in bids.
It looks like Oracle is the winner in the bid to get TikTok's US operations.
Useful Links
Mashable http://mashable.com/
