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Did you wake up this morning to see “Hive” trending in your social media feeds? Here’s what you need to know. Hive is a social media app that has been around since October 2019, but has only been noticed by most people within the last 24 hours. Overnight the app exploded in popularity and, as of the time of this writing, Hive is the No. 1 social media app on Apple’s App Store and the No. 2 most-downloaded app overall. Hive is still #1 !!! I’m not joking when I say I’m screenshotting and framing all this ???????????? These are such important moments for me that I’ve only dreamed of so for it to be reality is just.. my heart bursts ???? pic.twitter.com/RmaEsbYsYX — Hive (@TheHIVE_Social) February 3, 2021 At its core, Hive can be thought of as a nostalgic mashup of multiple social media apps. That is, aimed at people who are nostalgic for a time when social media apps were less bloated and algorithmically-driven. The app gives users a Twitter-like profile where they can post text, photos, or videos—with a heavy emphasis on the latter two (a la Instagram). And in a major callback to a time when…

image copyrightMargaret Nelsonimage captionMargaret Nelson hit the headlines two years ago when a police officer asked her to tone down some of her social media postsA retired teacher said it was "ridiculous" that a smoothie company had unfollowed her on Twitter amid accusations of transphobia.Innocent Drinks unfollowed Margaret Nelson, 76, from Hadleigh, Suffolk, after another Twitter user suggested it should not be "endorsing her".The firm acknowledged the move had made "some people on Twitter quite cross".But it said Ms Nelson's Twitter content was not in line with its "values of inclusivity and respect".Ms Nelson, who has also been a humanist celebrant, said she did not accept she was transphobic, adding it was "a meaningless term used to describe anyone critical of the claims made by some transgender people".She attracted publicity two years ago when a police officer asked her to tone down some of her tweets, which he said were causing offence.@innocent may I ask why you follow @Flashmaggie?You follow a clear transphobe, who runs the account? I love your Twitter content but endorsing them Is not an accident, it’s not as if they’re a celebrityEven if you disagree, it’s still to political for an innocent drink company.— Andrew? (@leftist_rage)…

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s interior minister on Tuesday condemned protesters at a top Istanbul university as “LGBT deviants” in a statement which Twitter deemed as hateful conduct.Students and teachers at Istanbul’s Bogazici University have held protests for the last month against the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector by President Tayyip Erdogan, which they said was undemocratic.On Monday, scuffles broke out between police and those protesting against the detention of four people after images were shared on social media of them laying a picture on the ground that mixed sacred Islamic imagery with symbols supporting LGBT issues.Police entered campus later in the day to disperse students who were planning an all-night vigil outside the rector’s building and detained 159 in total throughout the day, the governor’s office said.Istanbul police said 61 people were still detained and were giving statements on Tuesday.“Should we tolerate the LGBT deviants who insult the great Kaaba? Of course not. Should we tolerate the LGBT deviants who attempted to occupy the rector’s building? Of course not,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Twitter, repeating a phrase that sparked outrage amongst students and rights groups over the weekend.In a rare move, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s…

If you were itching to launch an email newsletter via Twitter, following its acquisition of the Dutch newsletter platform Revue last month, it appears you’ll have to wait a little bit longer for the official unveiling — although some Twitter users are reporting being able to sign up for the newsletter publishing tool right now. The social media company confirmed to TechCrunch it’s reverted Revue’s Publisher offer back to private beta for the moment — saying this means it’s only accessible to existing customers at this time. Nonetheless, it also appears to have quietly flipped the launch switch over the last 12 hours or so — at least for some users. Earlier today, a number of TechCrunch staffers were able to go through the process of setting up a Twitter Revue newsletter — including our very own Editor-in-Chief, Matthew Panzarino. At the time of writing India-based reporter, Manish Singh, also has access to the interface — which prompts Twitter users to set up a free newsletter to reach their audience, flagging features such as the ability to embed tweets, import email lists, analyze engagement and earn money from subscribers. So it looks as if Twitter has been testing a newsletter…

US-based microblogging platform Twitter has withheld several unspecified notable accounts in response to legal demands. These include accounts of Kisan Ekta Morcha, run by protesting farmers; Caravan magazine; activists Md Asif Khan and Hansraj Meena; CPI(M) leader Mohammed Salim and AAP member Preeti Sharma Menon. Twitter is contesting the orders, sources said. “Many countries have laws that may apply to Tweets and/or Twitter account content. In our continuing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time," Twitter said in a statement. “Transparency is vital to protecting freedom of expression, so we have a notice policy for withheld content. Upon receipt of requests to withhold content, we will promptly notify the affected account holders (unless we are prohibited from doing so e.g. if we receive a court order under seal),” it added.

We know it’s terrible for society. But it’s also a terribly run company. Illustration: Tyler Comrie Illustration: Tyler Comrie The political philosopher Hannah Arendt, analyzing the fall of democratic Germany to the Nazis, observed that totalitarianism comes to power through a “temporary alliance between the elite and the mob.” Seventy years ahead of her time, she couldn’t have articulated a more apt description of Twitter, Inc. The company has become a primary platform for just such an alliance: totalitarianism, but with stock options. The stock isn’t even worth that much, relatively speaking. On the day of Twitter’s initial public offering, in 2013, shares closed at $44.90. On January 28, they closed at $51.57. That’s an increase of about 1.9 percent per year — barely more than the rate of inflation. Facebook has nearly sextupled over that period. Even the New York Times Company, once thought doomed by the rise of social media, has almost quadrupled. As a business proposition, Twitter’s decade-long experiment in monetizing rage and disinformation has failed. A little over a year ago, I joined a chorus admonishing the company. “Algorithms that promote conspiracies and junk science, and inconsistent application of your terms of service, have resulted in…

(Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?  1 —Twitter acquired a newsletter company. This past week, Twitter announced that it acquired the newsletter company Revue. With newsletters skyrocketing in popularity, Twitter is making strides to keep up with social media platforms who currently permit their users to make money based off of their followers. Twitter has been working to acquire more start-ups over the last couple of months in an effort to broaden what they offer and make up the revenue lost from advertising dollars since the start of the pandemic. (Source: NY Times) Why this is important for your business: As a Twitter user, I like this! It would be great to capitalize on my following and send outbound emails with educational information to those that opt-in. Other small businesses and entrepreneurs may also feel the same. If done the right way, this could be a great marketing option…and something I’d pay for. 2 — Plastiq announced the first end-to-end Intuit QuickBooks online integration in the payments industry.    Plastiq announced that Intuit QuickBooks…

After social media platforms cracked down on the baseless QAnon conspiracy, adherents are scrambling to find other ways to communicate. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Stephanie Keith/Getty Images After social media platforms cracked down on the baseless QAnon conspiracy, adherents are scrambling to find other ways to communicate. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images January brought a one-two punch that should have knocked out the fantastical, false QAnon conspiracy theory. After the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the social media platforms that had long allowed the falsehoods to spread like wildfire — namely Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — got more aggressive in cracking down on accounts promoting QAnon. Just two weeks later, Joe Biden was inaugurated president. That stunned those adherents who believed, among other things, that Donald Trump would stay in office for another term and that he would arrest and execute his political enemies. "There's no one cohesive narrative that's really emerged yet. And I pin that on not really having a leader right now," said Mike Rothschild, a conspiracy-theory researcher who is writing a book about QAnon. The QAnon universe has two stars. There's Q, the mysterious figure whose cryptic, evidence-free posts on anonymous online…

image copyrightGetty ImagesWhen trying to write - a quick article, for instance, or an essay or even that tricky first novel - it can be easy to become distracted. Twitter seems to be full of people who are, or should be, or want to be writing. Many of them have heard plenty of tips and advice from others over the years and are keen to pass some of those nuggets of wisdom on. "Harsh writing advice" began trending on Twitter in response to a now-deleted tweet, which survived as a screenshot, stating that writing friends are also competition.It led to some people dismissing the statement.HARSH WRITING ADVICE:Thinking of your friends as competition isn’t going to make you a better writer, because no matter what imaginary horse race you invent, you can only write what you write. So write it.— Jessica Ellis (@baddestmamajama) January 29, 2021 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on TwitterBut it also morphed into Twitter users exchanging pieces of writing advice ranging from the serious...HARSH WRITING ADVICE: The first time you think your book is finished, you've actually reached the starting line and are ready to start writing the real…

Cohen had a rough week on Twitter, though. That's because his company, Point72 Asset Management, has lost money because of the GameStop stock ...