Image used with permission by copyright holderIt’s not enough for the president of the United States to reach the country through speeches and statements alone. No, these days you need Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat.
That’s right, alongside your friend’s Snapchat stories, you’ll now be able to view stories from the White House administration. The White House joining Snapchat is just one of many methods the administration — and politicians in general — are fighting for attention from millennials and Generation Z.
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It’s not random that the administration joined Snapchat the day before President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address. In a blog post announcing the administration has joined Snapchat, Joshua Miller, director of product management, said the “Official Story will take you behind the scenes of the White House’s State of the Union preparations, with footage and angles you won’t find anywhere else.”
Who knows? There are more than 100 million daily active Snapchat users, and the administration’s stories just might be able to reach them.
As for the first snap? Well, it’s nothing exciting. It’s the oval office with a bowl of apples in the middle.
Don’t worry, the unlike your stories and snaps, the White House’s content won’t disappear. The administration plays by different rules and has to save its snaps and stories as per governmental regulations, according to Mashable. Recently, President Obama joined Facebook to reach a wider audience, and before that his administration has incorporated YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Medium, and other platforms to engage and relate to the public.That can be seen in this year’s State of the Union address, where the President will answer questions on YouTube after being interviewed by a few leading YouTubers. The administration is promoting the hashtag #YouTubeAsksObama. For the first time, the State of the Union will also be available on Amazon.The address will begin at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 12, and you can also watch it on WhiteHouse.gov.
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
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.
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.
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
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.
