TikTok promises to protect its younger users
TikTok has announced it removes around 6 million TikTok accounts globally per month in an attempt to remove accounts that it believes have not met the minimum age requirement.
The announcement follows previous measures the social media platform has taken to protect younger generations in the EU from harm on the app.
TikTok has a total of 175 million users in the EU alone. A significant number of these are young teens trying to access age-inappropriate content within the app, alongside users that are struggling with mental health.
The app has rolled out several updates in an attempt to improve safety. It recently partnered with NGOs across Europe to roll out a new in-app integration that’ll connect people who report potentially harmful or distressing content directly with mental health support and resources.
Read more here.
BlueSky “Go’s Blue”
A brand new app “GoBlue” has been launched to help BlueSky users track their following. As BlueSky rapidly grows, reaching nearly 24 million users, the GoBlue interface offers simple analytics tracking in an iOS dashboard.
The platform developer expressed the urgent need for analytics tracking as BlueSky becomes a more viable competitor to X.
GoBlue currently only tracks a few metrics; followers, comments, likes and reposts. These will each be displayed as bar charts on the app’s home screen.
Users looking to grow their BlueSky profile will benefit from seeing which posts resonate with their audience throughout the day.
If users would like full access to their stats this will come at an additional cost.
Read more here.
Reddit officially outranks X
Reddit, the online discussion platform, has officially overtaken X as the 5th most popular social media platform in the UK.
The visits to discussion threads within topic-based communities reached 22.9 million on Reddit as opposed to 22.1 million on X. These figures place Reddit as the fastest-growing social media platform in the UK and represent a growth of 47% from 2023.
Renowned for its devoted user base, Reddit use appears to have been boosted by algorithm updates to Google this year, which increased the platform’s organic traffic.
Read more here.
Where do you get your news?
A report collated by the University of Oxford has discussed where the UK population gets its news.
When it comes to staying informed, a significant number of people turn to search engines (45%), followed closely by social media (41%), and video platforms (30%).
Messaging apps (15%) and generative AI tools (7%) have been proven to be less popular for news.
However, traditional sources, like online news websites and apps (59%) and TV (57%), remain the top choices for news consumption, outpacing any single digital platform.
There’s a clear divide in those who turn to social media platforms for political news and updates. Younger people, men, tech-savvy individuals, and those with a stronger interest in politics are more likely to use social platforms to stay informed, while others rely on different sources, like traditional news outlets.
Read more here.
Apple intelligence set to release “Image Playground”
The release of Apple iOS 18.2 will include a new and exciting image generation feature, “Image Playground”.
The Apple Intelligence range will feature a series of AI-driven tools. These will enable users to enter a text prompt which will then be turned into a cartoon image using AI.
You can access Image Playground through the dedicated image creation app or via the Messages app by clicking the plus (+) button on the left side of the text box.
Image Playground is part of the iOS 18.2 public beta with anyone enrolled in Apple’s beta software program able to access it. The official rollout is expected in December.
Read more here.