Here’s some of what happened in the search engine and social media industries from 25th to 31st January 2020.
1. Google Phone’s call-recorder and transcriber
The Google Phone’s new code indicates that call-recording and transcription will likely be an upcoming feature, similar to the Recorder app in Pixel 4. Reportedly, the updated app will intimate you about compliance with local laws before using the feature and will also auto-play a short clip to warn participants when a call is being recorded.
[source]2. Facebook to pay more than half a billion over privacy violations
Facebook is slated to pay $550 million to settle a class-action lawsuit which alleges systematic violation of a consumer privacy law in Illinois. Class members i.e. Illinois Facebook users from mid-2011 to mid-2015 can expect receiving almost $200 per head as compensation. Earlier, Facebook had to settle FTC violations for a whopping $5 billion.
[source]3. Ronaldo’s Instagram account crosses 200 million mark
Renowned football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo recently became the first person in the world to reach the 200 million followers mark on Instagram. According to Instagram marketing company Hopper HQ, Ronaldo receives 900,000 euros (roughly $990,970) for every sponsored post on the platform.
[source]4. Botify brings real-time content indexing to Bing
Enterprise SEO platform Botify announced a partnership with Microsoft’s Bing last week to bring near real-time indexing for brand websites through the Bing content submission API pilot. Called “FastIndex“, it will feed Bing with new content and can exceed the 10,000 URL limit currently emplaced for the API. Google might follow suit following Botify’s collaboration with Bing.
[source]5. Google’s latest video app ‘Tangi’
Google recently launched an “experimental social video-sharing app” named Tangi for 60-second tutorials. It’s a product developed by Google’s Area 120 (incubator for experimental products). The idea behind Tangi is to find and share DIY videos for recipes, crafts, makeup and so on. Click here to access the app on App Store.
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