Online&Social
Women Peacebuilders lead COVID-19 Prevention Efforts Across Libya Via WhatsApp and Zoom
Sourced from the Wilson Center. Separated by their country’s divisions, both geographically and politically, 36 Libyan women have since used their phones to connect, discuss and overcome their differences in the interest of one goal: Peace in Libya. They have been a part of this network since July 2019. Members of the group are not new to activism. Each member has her own network of activists in her own region where she is already working to support their own communities. Although rarely documented, Libyan women have always had a vital role in managing conflicts and making peace in their own families and communities. For almost a year now, the Network has met weekly on WhatsApp and Zoom to find ways for Libyan women to enter male-dominated decision-making and negotiation spaces. They seek ...
Mobile App Publishers Reach 151.2 Billion Downloads
The five leading mobile app publishers from the United States have reached 151.2bn in Google Play lifetime downloads as of May, according to data gathered by GoldenCasinoNews. With 123bn in lifetime downloads among Android users, Google LLC ranked as the leading mobile app publisher. Google Meet is the Leading Google-published App In May, Google’s 183 published apps were downloaded a total of 278.9 million times worldwide, revealed Statista and Priori Data survey. With almost 21.5 million downloads, Google Meet was the leading one among them. Google Calendar, Google Play Games, and Google Assistant followed with 11.45 million, 11.12 million and 11.1 million downloads, respectively. With 12.55bn in Google Play lifetime downloads, Facebook ranked as the second-leading mobile app publisher in...
New COVID-19 Contact Tracing App Designed “For Nigeria by Nigerians”
Sourced from Washington Post. Rapid Trace, a new innovative contact tracing mobile app has been developed by Cadnetwork Enterprise, burgeoning Nigerian tech firm. The app is being touted as a key in Nigeria’s fight against COVID-19. The Guardian writes that the app is designed “for Nigeria by Nigerians” and is available for free. Currently only on Android smartphones. The app offers a bevvy of features apart from contact tracing. Namely social distance enforcement, crowd control, self-testing & QR, among many more. Darlington Onyeagoro, strategy consultant at Rapid Trace, says that the mobile app was launched because technology is a common denominator in managing and mitigating the impact of the current pandemic, restoring livelihoods and tackling similar challenges in the future. “Pre...
MTN Pulse Introduces New Data Bundles for Social Media
Sourced from Business Tech MTN Pulse has announced the launch of the new MTN Pulse Daily, Weekly and Monthly Social Pass bundles, effective immediately until 16 July 2020, which sees the introduction of 1GB valid for a day for R25. The new MTN Pulse Social Pass bundles are an extension to the existing Social bundles. The network provider says that these bundles give customers on MTN Pulse access to Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and YouTube, all in one bundle. “Social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter are essential for our youth customers to remain connected. Through these attractively priced bundles, MTN is connecting its youth customers with the services that resonate with them by ensuring that they can use their favourite online pla...
6 Android Apps to Help Teens Sharpen Their Life Skills
Sourced from Gadgets Now. Most teens have grown up with technology as a part of their lives. It’s not surprising that many of them take great joy in snapping selfies, sharing memes on social media, watching YouTube videos and playing Fortnite. There’s nothing wrong with using a smartphone to have fun and socialise, but devices can also help teens navigate the world. Given this love of tech and devices, there can be no better way to reach them that through content and services that build their life skills or help them get organised. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ebe.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ebe.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } For Youth Month in South Africa, Alcatel takes a look at some helpful apps for Android devices for teens to acquire or enhance their skills in areas o...
Twitter to Rebuild Audio Tweet Feature for Greater Accessibility
Sourced from Wired. Twitter is testing a new feature, which is currently only available to a select number of iOS users, that allows users to record a snippet of audio and tweet it. News of this feature was quickly met with criticism over the apparent lack of captions, reducing its accessibility for deaf users. With the greatest of respect, Twitter, describing this version of the feature as ‘early’ to make up for the fact that it currently isn’t accessible (but may well be in a later version) isn’t good enough. Accessibility should be considered from the start, not as an afterthought. https://t.co/qLA7Wcj3oQ — Liam O’Dell (@LiamODellUK) June 17, 2020 According to The Verge, “commenters pointed out that other social platforms have captions, so the excuse that this was a new feature di...
Facebook Launches “My Digital World” Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Facebook has launched “My Digital World” – a programme designed to equip the youth and general public across Sub-Saharan Africa with digital skills needed to navigate the digital world. My Digital World is a consolidation of all Facebook digital literacy programmes including Safe Online with Facebook, Ilizwe Lam, and eZibo and will be offered virtually this year to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook has over the years trained thousands of people on digital literacy skills and is this year preparing to train close to 20,000 participants across Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire and Ethiopia on safe, responsible and beneficial usage of the digital platforms. “We remain committed to equipping young people and the general public across Sub-Saharan Africa with th...
3 New Features Being Tested by WhatsApp that Could Come to Your Phone Soon
Image sourced from YoMZanzi WhatsApp is reportedly testing a series of new features with the latest batch of beta updates for both iOS and Android smartphones. One of the most interesting of these new features is multi-device login support. Multiple logins for various devices Possibly transforming the way we use WhatsApp, a multiple login feature is currently being tested within the beta version of the highly popular messaging app. No longer will users need to log out when switching devices, instead this feature it bent on streamlining the whole process. Gadgets Africa reports that at the moment, you can only have one mobile device signed-in to WhatsApp. The only other devices you can add are a further PC, Mac or use web browsers. You can swap between these but, only one can be logged-in a...
Android Users Beware – this Wallpaper could Factory Reset your Device
Image taken by Gaurav Agrawal A picturesque image of the sun setting over a quiet lake is making headlines across the world – and not for good reason. The image – taken by scientist and amateur photographer, Gaurav Agrawal – has been known to cause a glitch in a number of Android devices. The BBC reports that Android users who set this image as their wallpaper have had to factory reset their devices as the smartphones would switch on and off repeatedly, resulting in the loss of all data that wasn’t previously backed up. Agrawal says that he didn’t know the image would cause such damage and he’s “sad that people ended up having issues”. He recalls taking the picture on a “magical evening. It was gloomy and cloudy, and [my wife and I] thought there wasn’t going to be a great sunset. We ...
Twitter Tests New Feature Recommending Users Read Articles Before Sharing Them
Image sourced from Mission Statement Academy Hugely popular social media platform, Twitter is now testing a new feature that recommends users read the entire news article before sharing it via retweeting. The company relayed this information via a tweet on their official support account. The feature is being tested on Android devices and will prompt users asking if they’d like to open the article before they share it if they haven’t opened the article on Twitter. “Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it,” the company says. “To help promote informed discussion, we’re testing a new prompt on Android, when you retweet an article that you haven’t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you’d like to open it first.” Sharing an article can spark convers...
TikTok Set for Explosive Growth in South Africa, says Expert
Sourced from Cosmico South Africa’s largest annual study of social media trends has revealed that Facebook remains the social platform of choice for marketing – but TikTok is rising fast among both brands and consumers. According to the 2020 edition of the SA Social Media Landscape, released this week by World Wide Worx and Ornico, almost a third of major brands intend to become active on TikTok, which is also the fastest growing social media platform among consumers. Fewer than 20% of brands have used it in the past year, but none believe they are doing so very effectively. These numbers are likely to change significantly during 2020. It is estimated that around 6-million South Africans are already using the platform. Nine out of ten major brands – just more than 89% – indicated they were...
Facebook is Applying Labels on “State-Controlled” News Publishers
A massive and exceedingly popular platform for the sharing and spreading of news content to the general public, Facebook has become the primary news source for millions of people around the globe. Now, in renewed efforts to gauge its own responsibility to halt the spreading of fake news and to inform their users, Facebook is identifying certain media outlets that could be government mouthpieces to their users. Sourced from Facebook The social media goliath announced these measures in part to protect the integrity of the 2020 US elections, and in another part to protect its reputation from further damage, especially after the 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. “We are starting to apply labels to those state-controlled media outlets,” Facebook says on their blog. “We are providi...
