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Twitter confirms ‘significant’ funding from firm also backing Groupon, Zynga and Facebook

twitter-money-google-facebookThe money continues to fly at the Internet’s darlings. Twitter announced on its blog today that it has received “a significant round of funding led by the venture firm DST Global, with the participation of several of our existing investors.”

The amount and the conditions of the deal have not been specified, but a report in early July by the New York Times said Twitter was in the process of negotiating a $400 million round that valued the company at $8 billion. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers were said to be participating then as well. Later that month, the number was thought to be closer to $800 million.

DST Global is the Russian-based firm headed by billionaire Yuri Milner that has also invested in companies like Groupon, Zynga and Facebook (and slowed the need for a rush to an IPO).

The blog post opens with “Just a year ago, we delivered 65 million Tweets a day. Today, we generate over 200 million Tweets per day.” But despite the growth and efforts like Promoted Tweets, Trending Topics and The Quick Bar (or “Dick Bar” as it became known before it was done away with), the San Francisco-based company has still battled questions about its cash-flow stability. A report in March that 50 percent of all tweets were generated by less than one percent of users caused some concern about who and how people are really using the micro-blogging service.

Twitter has also just announced opening a New York City office.

Caleb Garling
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

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Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

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In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

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