June 20, 2022

Popular Science: You might be missing DMs on social media. Here’s how to fix it.

Popular Science: You might be missing DMs on social media. Here’s how to fix it.. “Social media can be a bit of a messaging mess, with DMs sliding in from anybody and everybody to make your account feel like the world’s worst suggestion box. Tech companies know that, so they’ve armed a lot of their apps with the ability to automatically filter out communications that don’t seem to be from people you know. By moving these messages to a ‘hidden’ inbox, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram aim to prevent you from getting overwhelmed with random messages.”

Useful Stuff 0
June 11, 2022

NBC News: Wickr, Amazon’s encrypted chat app, has a child sex abuse problem — and little is being done to stop it

NBC News: Wickr, Amazon’s encrypted chat app, has a child sex abuse problem — and little is being done to stop it. “Wickr Me, an encrypted messaging app owned by Amazon Web Services, has become a go-to destination for people to exchange images of child sexual abuse, according to court documents, online communities, law enforcement and anti-exploitation activists.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
June 5, 2022

WIRED: It’s Time to Bring Back the AIM Away Message

WIRED: It’s Time to Bring Back the AIM Away Message . “I miss Away Messages. This nostalgia is layered in abstraction; I probably miss the newness of the internet of the 1990s, and I also miss just being … away. But this is about Away Messages themselves—the bits of code that constructed Maginot Lines around our availability. An Away Message was a text box full of possibilities, a mini-MySpace profile or a Facebook status update years before either existed. It was also a boundary: An Away Message not only popped up as a response after someone IM’d you, it was wholly visible to that person before they IM’d you. Nothing like this exists in our modern messaging apps.”

Research & Opinion 0
May 19, 2022

Missouri Independent: Appeals court hears arguments over Greitens’ use of self-destructing text message app

Missouri Independent: Appeals court hears arguments over Greitens’ use of self-destructing text message app. “A panel of state appeals court judges heard arguments last week over whether former Gov. Eric Greitens and his staff used self-destructing text-message apps in 2017 to illegally circumvent Missouri’s transparency laws. While Greitens was still serving as governor, it was revealed he and his staff were using a text-messaging app called Confide. The app allows someone to send a text message that vanishes without a trace after it is read. It also prevents anyone from saving, forwarding, printing or taking a screenshot of the message.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
January 24, 2022

Consumer Reports: Can People Tell When You’ve Blocked Them on Texting or Social Media Messaging Apps?

Consumer Reports: Can People Tell When You’ve Blocked Them on Texting or Social Media Messaging Apps?. “I spent a week blocking and unblocking my Consumer Reports colleagues, and asking them to block me, to better understand how the feature works on seven different platforms. I think they unblocked me after the testing, but for some apps I can’t be sure. Down below, we’ll look at each one.”

Useful Stuff 0
January 12, 2022

KnowTechie: Green message bubbles on Apple devices are turning teens away from Android

KnowTechie: Green message bubbles on Apple devices are turning teens away from Android. “Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal released an article looking offering some insight into why young people want to stay away from the dreaded green text bubble on iMessage. Apparently, today’s peer pressure leads young people to prefer Apple devices so they can have that sweet, blue text bubble.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
December 7, 2021

Rolling Stone: FBI Document Says the Feds Can Get Your WhatsApp Data — in Real Time

Rolling Stone: FBI Document Says the Feds Can Get Your WhatsApp Data — in Real Time. “As Apple and WhatsApp have built themselves into multibillion-dollar behemoths, they’ve done it while preaching the importance of privacy, especially when it comes to secure messaging. But in a previously unreported FBI document obtained by Rolling Stone, the bureau claims that it’s particularly easy to harvest data from Facebook’s WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage services, as long as the FBI has a warrant or subpoena.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
November 22, 2021

Ars Technica: Google Messages update translates iMessage responses for Android users

Ars Technica: Google Messages update translates iMessage responses for Android users. “Of course, in an ideal world, the non-stopgap solution to this communication problem would be for Apple to add RCS messaging support to iPhones, or for it to make iMessage an open standard, or for Apple and Google and the world’s phone carriers to get on the same page about a single standard that they can all support.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
November 9, 2021

Lifehacker: 10 Features and Settings You Should Use in the New Google Chat

Lifehacker: 10 Features and Settings You Should Use in the New Google Chat. “Google can’t seem to stop making messaging apps. After Google Talk, Hangouts, and Allo (and millions of attempts at adding chatting to other Google services), we now have Google Chat—a new service with Slack-style rooms as its core feature. Google Chat is replacing the text-messaging park of Hangouts, while Google Meet takes over video calling responsibilities. It can be a bit intimidating to start using new services, but we’re here to make the transition easier. Here are all the new features you need to try to make yourself at home in the new Google Chat.” Slideshow.

Useful Stuff 0
October 24, 2021

Make Tech Easier: 17 Google Messages Tips, Tricks, and Features You Should Know

Make Tech Easier: 17 Google Messages Tips, Tricks, and Features You Should Know. “Android Messages, also known as Google Messages, is preinstalled on the majority of Android phones. The app’s simple appearance may mislead some users. If, however, you look closely, you will notice a plethora of hidden features and settings. Let’s take a look at how to set up and use Google Messages with various tips, tricks, and features.”

Useful Stuff 0
August 27, 2021

Ars Technica: A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps

Ars Technica: A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps. “Google Talk, Google’s first-ever instant messaging platform, launched on August 24, 2005. This company has been in the messaging business for 16 years, meaning Google has been making messaging clients for longer than some of its rivals have existed. But thanks to a decade and a half of nearly constant strategy changes, competing product launches, and internal sabotage, you can’t say Google has a dominant or even stable instant messaging platform today.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
July 31, 2021

MakeUseOf: How to Use Facebook’s New Soundmojis on Messenger

MakeUseOf: How to Use Facebook’s New Soundmojis on Messenger. “There are different ways of expressing yourself on Facebook Messenger. You can call, via audio or video, sent plain text messages, audio messages, or even use emojis, GIFs, and stickers to convey a message. In addition to that, you can also now use Soundmojis—emojis with sound—which makes chatting even better. This article will explain what Soundmojis are, how Soundmojis work, and how to use them in Facebook Messenger.”

Useful Stuff 0

The ResearchBuzz Firehose is regular RB content presented as individual posts.
For digest-type posts a couple of times a day, please visit ResearchBuzz.

Want to know how to best use the Firehose for content discovery?
Check out this handy article.

Get RB Firehose Via EMail

Enter your email address to subscribe to ResearchBuzz Firehose and get a firehose of new posts straight to your email.

Join 2,016 other subscribers

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Latest ResearchBuzz Gizmos

WikiRSS: Search Wikipedia for RSS Feeds
Sheet-Shaped Wikipedia: Turn Wikidata Into Spreadsheet-Ready Text Files
Unleash Wikipedia’s Potential: Link Directory and Beyond with Wikidata Quick Dip
Wikidata Property Peeker
Uncover the Context of Wikipedia Pages: Explore with Wiki Page Backstory