SnapChat

Gen Z internet use is on the rise, but the rate at which teens use Facebook is rapidly declining. A Pew Research Center study on teens, technology and social media found that only 32% of teens aged 13-17 use Facebook at all, but in a previous survey from 2014-2015, that figure was 71%, beating out platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. Jules Terpak, a Gen Z content creator covering digital culture, told TechCrunch that teens just don’t find value in Facebook anymore. “There are now well over five strongly positioned social media platforms to endlessly scroll through, and it isn’t sustainable for our minds to compartmentalize nor prioritize our relationship with all of them,” Terpak said via email. “For the sake of time and sanity, people have to eliminate platforms that begin to lack a value-add incentive.” Terpak thinks that Facebook, which teens often associate with their parents, has little to offer Gen Z. “The culture cultivated by the average Facebook user is very disconnected from what attracts Gen Z to a platform today, instead exuding the energy of a spam email,” she said. Even in 2013, when 77% of online teens used Facebook, young users still felt negatively about the…

Snapchat on Wednesday finally launched its premium version for the Indian users, HT's sister publication Mint reported. Snapchat+, a paid subscription, offers priority based access to exclusive, experimental and pre-launched features to the plus users. The mobile messaging app’s premium subscription comes at a cost of Rs. 49 per month in India, whereas it costs US$3.99/month (around Rs. 320) in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada, which are among some of the countries where the feature was released in late June this year.According to data provided by Statista, Snapchat has its biggest market in India with over 14 crore users, even more than the US. The photo sharing platform has huge traction among youth and snapchat is looking to monetize this market.The features bundled with the subscription allow exclusive and prioritised experience for its plus users. Here, we take a look at the six paid features announced by Snapchat.Plus subscribers can get themselves differentiated from normal users by switching on badge feature. It will display Snapchat+ badge on their profile with a Star designation to show that the user has subscribed to the Plus service. The feature is by default inactive and needs to be switched on manually.The subscription offers…

In 2008, Facebook's slogan was “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life”. This simplicity went to the heart of what the website was offering the world: a revolution in the way we communicate. Behind closed doors, there was another remarkable aspect of the mission – its profitability. In 2008, Facebook's worth was estimated at $15 billion. As of August 2022, the company's market value stood at more than $560bn.It is true for other sites, too. YouTube now brings in annual revenue of almost $30bn, Instagram $24bn. In 2021, the net worth of Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was $97bn, and $35bn for TikTok's Zhang Yiming.With such power and money comes great responsibility. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter have been credited with seismic historic events, from enabling political uprisings to shaping elections. It is impossible to predict the effect of new domains such as the virtual-reality Metaverse, but they could well be epoch-defining.Editorials from The NationalKeeping pace with these developments on a governmental and personal level matters, because not all of social media's effects have been good. For no group is this more true than children. Companies are very often criticised for not doing enough…

Young buyers are most comfortable buying through social media channels. In fact, fueled by Gen Z and Millennial social media users, shopping on social media platforms is expected to reach $1.2-trillion globally by 2025, according to Accenture. So it’s no wonder that among the latest new alliances, online shopping site eBay has partnered with Snapchat, a popular photo and video messaging app, allowing shoppable eBay listings to be shared on Snapchat. “Partnerships like this bring together these two worlds and create the serendipitous shopping experiences that kids are craving,” says Laura McCracken, global leader for the Social Commerce initiative of Accenture, which specializes in IT services and consulting. Younger buyers generally Gen Z and Millennials (roughly age 10-41) are spending most of their time on social media, she says. “They discover things as they go,” she says. Laura McCracken, who leads a social commerce initiative at Accenture. Credit: Accenture And that’s driving commerce through social media platforms, McCracken says. In fact, Gen Z and Millennial social media users will account for 62% of global social commerce spend by 2025, according to Accenture. How it works This new alliance offers a seamless way to promote eBay listings on Snapchat, she says. Snapchat walked its…

Snapchat is set to roll out a new tool that will allow parents to see who their children are talking to on the app, but some still have questions about the loopholes kids might find in the new controls.Snapchat is a photo and texting app that allows people to send pictures, videos and messages that will disappear quickly, a perk that has been taken advantage of in the past, as the app has been called out, along with several other social media platforms, for a number of illicit drug sales that have occurred.The mother of 14-year-old Alexander Neville, who overdosed from fentanyl that he bought on Snapchat two summers ago, said that purchasing drugs on Snapchat was too easy."If it was still scary to get drugs, not as many kids would do them," Amy Neville told the Los Angeles Daily News last summer while protesting outside of Snapchat's headquarters in Santa Monica, California. "Right now, it's like ordering food, getting it delivered. It's as simple as that." Snapchat's new Family Center feature that will improve safety for teens and allow parents to know who their children are talking to still comes with a few safety concerns. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images As…

(Pocket-lint) - Snapchat has announced another new safety feature to help parents more easily keep track of who their kids are interacting with on its platform - Family Center.What is Snapchat, how does it work, and what's the point?The new interface lets you see who is on your teenager's friend list at any time, and also offers the chance to review who they've chatted to in the last week.The messages going back and forth won't be visible, though, so it's not a total window into everything your kid is saying, but it's still likely to be a welcome addition for many.Snap says it's designed this in acknowledgement that it's hard to control what your children say in real life, so being able to see every word virtually might not have felt proportionate to most.However, if you think that an account your teenager has broken Snapchat's rules you'll be able to report it directly from Family Center - since this can sometimes be clear just from the account names, for example.The feature is available for those under the age of 18 on the platform, but even then Snapchat will simply invite them to their parents' Family Center when desired, giving the…

Instant multimedia messaging app Snapchat is planning to lay off a number of its employees, after the company declared a fall in its profits in the second quarter of the current calendar year (Q2CY22), The Verge reported the development quoting people familiar with the plans. The net loss of the company widened to $422 million in Q2CY22 from $152 million in the same quarter in 2021. "Our financial results for Q2 do not reflect our ambition," Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat said. The share price of Snapchat has fallen over 25 per cent in the last 30 days. On Monday, it closed at $10.41 per equity share. It is yet unclear how many employees the company will lay off. It currently has 6,000 employees. Since it went public in 2017, Snapchat has been profitable for only one quarter. It had last announced layoffs in 2018. Currently, the company is reeling under the broader economic slowdown that has pushed the prices of its shares down. However, it is not the only tech company that is hit. Twitter, TikTok and other tech firms have announced layoffs in recent months. Even Meta has announced that it would slow down the hiring process. The…

Snapchat is the service that made ‘ephemeral messaging’ a trend a few years ago. The app became known for its particular system where messages disappear after the receiver reads them. Snapchat is especially popular in key territories such as the United States, overtaking Facebook Messenger to second place in the ranking of top messaging apps in the North American country. However, currently many Snapchat users are facing an issue where they get repeated failed login attempts (using the correct credentials), causing an account ‘temporarily disabled’ issue. Snapchat ‘repeated failed login’ issue causing account ‘temporarily disabled’ error According to multiple reports, sometimes the Snapchat login system mistakenly detects users’ credentials as incorrect. This prompts them to key in the details multiple times to access the app. Sadly, this results in an account ‘temporarily disabled’ error message due to many failed attempts. (Click/tap to expand)Source ‘Due to repeated failed attempts or other unusual activity, your access to Snapchat is temporarily disabled.’ This is the second time round this has happened over nothing I just added people back. So they think I was spamming I guess. It’s been 4 days I still can’t get in . I’ve unlocked it on the website so…

Frank Ocean has launched a new cock ring range. (Getty/homer) Frank Ocean’s luxury brand, Homer, dropped a wild announcement for a high-end c**k ring range and fans were not ready. Frank Ocean’s c**k ring – dubbed the XXXL H-Bone Ring – was announced in an Instagram post featuring a pixelated nude photo of the product being used. Although it is not clear if it is Ocean himself, the image credit says frank “PACE” ocean.  The c**k rings are a rogue addition to the rest of Ocean’s Homer, line which include, rings, keychains, earrings and bracelets with prices starting at £370 and climbing into the thousands.  For those ready to dish out for the full Frank Ocean fantasy there are five designs to choose from, including 18K yellow gold and silver options.  The most expensive one is the 18K Yellow Gold ring with 60 lab grown diamonds, which retails at £27,159. On the same day, Ocean also uploaded a photo to his personal Instagram account of himself wearing a wig, with the caption: “Wigging w/ multiple fans blowing thru my hair + hoodie from tour that Covid cancelled back in 2020.. plus some sketches from my desk a couple months ago and a…

Attackers abused open redirects on the websites of Snapchat and American Express in a series of phishing attacks to steal Microsoft 365 credentials. Open redirects are web app weaknesses that allow threat actors to use the domains of trusted organizations and websites as temporary landing pages to simplify phishing attacks. They're used in attacks to redirect targets to malicious sites that will either infect them with malware or trick them into handing over sensitive information (e.g., credentials, financial info, personal info). "Since the first domain name in the manipulated link is in fact the original site's, the link may appear safe to the casual observer," email security firm Inky, which observed the attacks, explained. "The trusted domain (e.g., American Express, Snapchat) acts as a temporary landing page before the surfer is redirected to a malicious site." Phishing email impersonating Microsoft (Inky) ​Abused to target thousands of potential victims According to Inky researchers, the Snapchat open redirect was used in 6,812 phishing emails sent from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 hijacked over two and a half months. These emails impersonated Microsoft, DocuSign, and FedEx and redirected the recipients to landing pages designed to harvest Microsoft credentials. While the Snapchat vulnerability was reported to the…