Social media spam grows 355%, Imgur overtakes Reddit and YouTube launches music awards
Social media spam on the up
Social spam is on the rise
According to a new report, social media spam has risen by a whopping 355 per cent in the first half of this year.
355 per cent? I’ll just give you a minute to digest that.
The study by Nexgate analysed 60 million pieces of content from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn from 2011 to 2013.
Despite the fact that I’m always getting spammy tweets telling me that there’s a great way to shift the extra pounds (wow guys, I’m just carrying a little holiday weight, ok?), apparently Facebook and YouTube have more spam than any of the other networks.
I can’t even begin to explain how annoyed spam makes me. What is the point? I’m almost surprised that there are still people that think a nice lady with a silicon chest just really, really wants you to have a great deal on an iPad.
Imgur overtakes Reddit
Huge news in the online image community came last week, as it was announced that Imgur is now bigger than Reddit *gasp*.
As Imgur, up until now, has been most popular for being Reddit’s image host, it’s kind of unsurprising that it has broken free in it’s own right.
I know I see more and more people tweeting pics from Imgur these days, and Reddit’s layout probably doesn’t help much either.
NB. Thanks to going on Imgur, it has taken me about 40 minutes just to write this one part of my column.
Facebook tweaks News Feed ads algorithm
It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for! Facebook has announced it will be tweaking its News Feed algorithm to show fewer annoying and irrelevant ads.
YAY!
It has said that it will be placing more emphasis on user feedback, including how often people report or hide an ad.
In terms of social media*, this is probably the best news in the whole entire world ever. Back in the good old days, Facebook was so much better. Why? Because there were no adverts. And because idiot marketing people weren’t trying to flog free shit for likes, but that’s by the by.
*Who am I kidding, this is exciting even in terms of real news.
YouTube launches awards
YouTube has launched its very own music show, and it has managed to sign up some preeeetty big artists for its first event.
Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire will be among the acts performing at the event in New York next month. Nominations will be based upon videos that have been watched and shared over the last year.
The winners will be chosen by YouTube users, who will be encouraged to share the nominees across social media.
I think it was only a matter of time before YouTube launched some sort of event, but it’s interesting to see that it's launched something that will be competing with a number of music awards already out there. On the other hand, it’s good to see that it will be using social media as a voting mechanism, as well as letting users choose the winner.