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Spotify is one of the worlds most popular music streaming services and it seems it wants to be more than that.

Spotify rolled out comments on podcasts

The Swedish music platform announced it was adding comments on podcasts as a way for creators to interact with listeners. The new feature expands on Q&A and polls, which the platform introduced in 2021. According to Spotify, over 9 million unique listeners on the platform have used either Q&A or polls this year, and the features have experienced 80% year-over-year growth.

The platform could also expand on comments, too. Maya Prohovnik, Spotifys vice president of podcast product, told Techcrunch she can see a world where we extend [support for comments] to other formats on Spotify, but we always want to do whatever is right for the format, and those types of creators and artists.

The comments feature for podcasts provide[s] a creator-controlled way for podcasters to interact with their fans on Spotify, a company spokesperson said in a statement shared with Quartz. While we are always exploring more ways for creators and artists to reach and engage with their fans, we dont have any specific plans to share at this time.

During Spotifys first quarter 2024 earnings call, chief executive Daniel Ek said the company is focused on winning discovery and were going to add as many ways that we can to improve the discovery of Spotify. He pointed to the platform adding music videos and music clips where artists can engage with fans.

Ek said TikTok and other social media platforms have obviously improved the user experience, and as an industry, all the companies are learning about these trends and best practices and trying to improve our products.

As Spotify seemingly tries to enter the social network game, competition is growing between other social media platforms vying for users. According to figures seen by the Financial Times, X said its number of global daily active users was 251 million in the second quarter of this year just 1.6% above what it was a year ago. Before Elon Musk acquired the social media platform for $44 billion in October 2022, the platform previously known as Twitter had experienced double-digit year-over-year growth, including 33.8% growth in the second quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, Metas rival platform, Threads, reached 175 million monthly active users in its first year, according to chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. In April, Threads counted 28 million daily active users, beating out X, which had 22 million.

Original post:
Spotify is getting into the social network game - Quartz

Legislators, parents and the media are having a heated conversation right now about when kids should get phones and have access to social media. Some states like Tennessee, Utah, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and others have proposed social media legislation to restrict young users via parental restrictions. Many of these proposed laws over-reach and are dangerous to young people's safety, access to information, and freedoms of expression. Ohio's proposed law was put on hold by a federal judge who called the law a "breathtakingly blunt instrument for reducing social media's harm to children."

On the other hand, states like New York and Colorado have proposed legislation that would regulate the companies rather than the users. New York's law includes proposals to limit invasive algorithmic data collection and that lead to "suggested posts." Colorado wants apps to remind kids when they've been on a long time, or when they seem to be scrolling late at night. These kinds of interventions, especially the limitations on algorithmic tracking, could support a healthier social media experience for all of usnot just for kids.

To be clear, the states are proposing this regulation only for kids. I'm suggesting less algorithmic tracking across the board.

Making social media better for everyone is the best way to make it better for kids. Regulating social media companies doesn't need to rely on age verification tactics that violate privacy. Further, parental consent laws will not help those who are harassed or bulliedespecially the kids who hide their accounts and then can't tell their parents about a threat. Companies like Snapchat, X, Meta, TikTok, Discord, and their peers must be required to respond more quickly and effectively to reports of harassment, bullying, and impersonation.

What's Wrong with Parental Consent Laws?

I've talked to enough teen activists and entrepreneurs to worry about what we'd be missing with parental consent as a national norm. That kind of restriction is likely to make things worse for LGBTQ teenagers. Parental consent rules can put kids in danger by cutting off important channels they could use to research health information, report abuse, or reach out for help.

Prominent researchers from major universities concluded that proposed social media legislation (Kids Online Safety Act), which includes parental consent "poses enormous potential risks to privacy and free expression, and will limit youth access to social connections and important community resources - while doing little to improve the mental health of vulnerable teenagers."

Social Media Has Benefits and Not Just Risks (so We Don't Want To Just Ban Adolescents)

I've spent the last decade talking with kids, parents, and teachers about growing up in the digital age, and wrote Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World to help adults understand what kids are experiencing onlineand how we can help.

Social media certainly isn't a perfect place for kids (or adults.) However, as the surgeon general and the APA both acknowledge, social media has observed benefits as well as risks. In other words, tech use is not analogous to something like vaping, which is all risk, no benefit.

The kids I interviewed for my book had strategies for accessing the upsides and minimizing the risksunfollowing problematic peers and influencers, curating their feeds toward positive accounts, planning social media breaks, agreeing to boundaries with friends about keeping posts private (no screenshots), and many more. We can help them in their efforts to have a more positive experience by regulating social media companies.

Instead of heaping new restrictions onto usersteens or adultslet's demand that the companies afford users a chance to join online communities with less invasive surveillance and algorithmic behavioral manipulation. Let's compel them to let us see the data they have about us. And they must put more resources toward responsiveness to reports of fake or bullying accounts, sexual harassment, et cetera.

Why Does Algorithmic Privacy Matter?

When former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen testified before Congress, she emphasized the problematic nature of algorithms and how manipulative they can be to social media users and their behavior. If the U.S. had laws compelling tech companies to share more about how they control what social media users see in their "feed," this would help all of us to be more empowered in relation to apps like Snapchat, TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

We all win if we make social media better for all of us. Rather than simply putting a warning label on social apps, let's regulate the companies that are too slow to respond to bullying and harassment reports and use our data to manipulate us while reaping tremendous profits. As with bike helmets and seatbeltswhat is safer for kids is safer for all. Making social media less invasive, less manipulative, and more responsive to user complaints protects all users and makes it healthier for everyone.

Devorah Heitner is the author of Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World and Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive and Survive in Their Digital World. She is raising a teenager with her husband and works with schools, and communities worldwide helping parents and educators mentor kids coming of age in a digital world.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Everyone Wants To "Save the Children" From Social Media | Opinion - Newsweek

July 15, 2024

Bathed in the blue light of your phone in the late hours of the evening, you scroll almost subconsciously through your YouTube feed until, suddenly, you see a three-hour explainer from one of your favourite creators on some obscure angle about a childhood cartoon you treasure.

Does the person who created that video make any difference to your viewing experience? Does your response make any difference to the creator, for that matter?

This is what I wanted to explore in my masters thesis as a student in the University of Manitobas department of English, theatre, film & media.

Scholars of literary and film studies have been grappling with authorship for decades. Some, like French theorist Roland Barthes, say the only person who matters in the reception of a piece of media is the viewer. Popularly, many audiences put the strongest emphasis on what the author of a work intended to do with it.

What complicates this debate is that all notions of authorship are evolving on social media.

I studied cancellation videos on YouTube, or videos where YouTubers respond to scandals which drastically shifted their audiences perceptions of the YouTuber and elicited backlash. YouTubers like James Charles, who was canceled after his friend and fellow YouTuber, Tati Westbrook, accused him of being a bad friend and manipulator, addressed criticisms they anticipated receiving from their audiences in their videos.

The formal properties of these videosor the editing, scripting, and even the way the YouTuber actssuggest the authors anticipation of the audiences response influences the production of the video.

I noticed this influence persisted in other forms of video on social media too. I also researched TikTok trends like Two Pretty Best Friends, which was inescapable at the time I was writing my thesis. The meme developed around TikToker jayrscottyy after he posted a video saying, I aint never seen two pretty best friends. Its always one of them gotta be ugly.

Almost all of the memes remixing this TikTok either repurposed aspects of jayrscottyys appearance or clips of his voice in their own audio. Some users parodied his video, using soup emojis to represent his eyes, for instance, while others lip-synced his audio and mimicked his unblinking stare.

Even livestreams change the dynamic between authors and audiences. I studied Twitch streamers like Pokimane, and found that her streams were constructed to facilitate a sense of connection between her and her viewers. If Pokimane did not show her face on stream, she sometimes compensated for her absence with placeholder animations showing cartoon representations of her.

Because interactions between authors and audiences can lead to an expectation of intimacy and authenticity, they pose some ethical problems too.

For instance, if an author appears in their own video and audiences have the power to remix elements of the video, what are the ramifications of audiences treating fundamental pieces of authors identities, like their faces and voices, as scrap material for internet memes? Furthermore, what are the consequences for creators if viewers believe they are owed explanations and intimate details about their lives?

These questions are relevant to more than just the lives of internet celebrities. Everyone who creates something on social media becomes an author. Sudden, unexpected virality might turn any one of us into authors with global recognition, subjecting all of us to similar expectations of famous creators.

Ultimately, perspectives like Barthess and those opposite his are too extreme. In the age of social media, notions of authorship are constantly evolving, and many of these evolutions are influenced by the interaction between authors and their audiences.

Reflecting on my own authorial history, including my time as a grad student, feedback and guidance from my mentors and friends influenced my own production process.

My advisor, Dr. Jonah Corne, guided me as I wrote my thesis and he encouraged me to develop my first sole-authored, peer-reviewed article on Midsommar, which will be published in fall 2024. I anticipated their responses as I wrote and adjusted my writing accordingly, and that dialogic process is evident in the final product.

When I was in the thick of writing my thesis, I could not have anticipated it would be recognized with UMs Distinguished Masters Thesis Prize. This is the sort of response to ones work that inspires emerging scholars and writers to push on and keep creating.

I am starting my PhD in cinema studies at York University in Toronto in September 2024. Moving to a new place and meeting new people is daunting, but if the people I meet are as extraordinary as those Ive been privileged enough to work with in Winnipeg, the experience will be worth writing home about and maybe even posting to social media.

Jessie Krahn [BA(Hons)/2018, MA/2023] is a 2024 UM Distinguished Masters Thesis Prize winner. The prize is given out annually to recognize the achievements of Masters graduates who submitted groundbreaking theses in the previous academic year. View her thesis titled Here comes the author: evolving notions of authorship on social media.

Jessie Krahn

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Faculty of Arts | On social media? Then youre an author - UM Today

Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

We are just about a month from the USC Trojans kicking off fall camp, and less than 2 months from the Men of Troy taking on the LSU Tigers in Las Vegas.

One of the best things about football and being a fan is building a community. Being able to engage with other fans, through the good times and the bad. Well, USC Football has some of the best fans in the world and that certainly is represented in the Social Media space.

We at LAFB have had the pleasure of getting to engage with all of these amazing fans and content creators. Not only are they passionate, but they create informative and fun content! So, if you want to be informed, meet some awesome people, and have fun on game days and during the week, these are the BEST USC Trojans accounts on X.com that you have to follow!

@FightOnRusty

Rusty might be the gold standard when it comes to social media follows. He is very in tune with the program and is always very insightful with his information. There will also be a study one day on how good he is at trolling Oregon fans

@TheTrojanBlade

Trojan Blade is another fantastic follow that also has a must-subscribe YouTube channel. As he has grown he has gotten very plugged in with the program and creates extremely informative videos. He is also going to be writing articles for LAFB this season, so obviously one of the best follows out there!

@USCJ32

USCJ is another tremendous follow and his YouTube channel is one of the top spots for USC Football content. He is very plugged in with the players and families which gives him great insight that fans love. J is also just a fantastic human being.

@USC_Nico

Our guy Nico sells beautiful LA homes by day, and tweets juicy USC Football content by night. A die-hard fan that provides content and context around the clock.

@SSN_USC

Always great information and fun content!

@FoundersEdits

Dope USC edits and graphics. Need we say more?

@Tim_Prangley

Tim writes for USA Today and hosts the Conquest Call-in show. Great content and another great dude!

@916Trojan

Our Trojan brother up north! One of the most die-hard fans and he is always in the know about USC Football!

@_LightTheTorch

A fun, fan-driven podcast, that keeps fans informed.

@TrojanFBx

Another great follow and just launched a new YouTube channel!

We know that we have missed a ton of accounts so let us know and we will continue updating this article as the central location!

Obviously we would appreciate it if you would follow and tune in to all of our LAFB USC accounts as well. We are credentialed by the USC Trojans and the Big 10, so will provide year content in the form of articles, podcasts, video, and social!

@LAFBNetwork, @USC_LAFB, @Coach_Rowe2, @RyanDyrudLAFB, @DanielOrdazLAFB, @LAFBJamz

Fight On!

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The USC Trojans Social Media Accounts That Are A MUST Follow For Fans - LAFB Network

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said it seized two domain names that nefarious actors in Russia used to craft almost 1,000 fake accounts on the social media platform X. One of the individuals, an unnamed editor at Russian state-run news agency RT, worked with Russias Federal Security Service, or FSB, to create the fake accounts, the department said. Government personnel and other employees at RT then used the accounts to spread misinformation in the United States and other countries, according to the Justice Department.

What sort of alleged misinformation did these bots spread? One of the accounts in question claimed that Russias war in Ukraine was about founding a new world order and not about territorial conflict or achieving geopolitical balance, the Justice Department said. Another account alleged that fewer foreign fighters were serving alongside Ukrainian forces than many public estimates indicated. Another account indicated that Russia had gifted Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine certain geographical areas after freeing them from Nazism in World War II.

How did the Justice Department discover these accounts were Russian bots? The FBI began investigating the X accounts, and the domain names used to create them, after receiving a tip from another, unidentified U.S. government agency, according to court documents. The FBI sifted through the layers of false email accounts, bitcoin payments, and disguised IP addresses to identify the individuals allegedly involved in the scheme.

How did Russia create so many bots and how did this all work? The United States, the Netherlands, and Canada released a joint statement explaining how the Russian government used an artificial intelligence software program called Meliorator to create the bots. Some of the bots passed themselves off as real users while sharing propaganda, while other bots served only to like misinformation shared by the original bots.

Has the U.S. government also been tracking Chinese hacking efforts? The National Security Agency, along with the Australian Signals Directorate and other agencies, on Monday issued a report on APT 40, a Chinese hacking group that has targeted companies, networks, and agencies in the United States and Australia. The group has exploited software loopholes to infiltrate widely used networks and used home office devices as operational infrastructure, the NSA said. The NSA suggested that network defenders patch all internet-exposed devices, segment their networks, and disable unused network features.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift from last month about Polands efforts to bolster its cybersecurity infrastructure to prevent Russian hacking attempts.

Read more here:
Russia using bots to spread misinformation on social media, DOJ says - WORLD News Group