Blue Origin may be embroiled in a contentious legal battle with NASA over the Artemis lunar lander contract, but that’s not stopping Jeff Bezos’ rocket company from scheduling its next launch. August 25 will see New Shepard blast off early in the morning for its 17th mission, and there’ll be NASA Moon tech clinging to the outside of the booster … Continue reading
Facebook really wants people to know that it’s most popular content isn’t political and it’s releasing a new report to try to prove it. The social network released its first-ever “Widely Viewed Content Report,” documenting what it claims is the most-viewed content on its platform during the second quarter of 2021 in the United States.
The report is Facebook’s rebuttal to commonly cited data that indicates posts from polarizing figures are consistently among the best-performing on the platform. Data from Facebook-owned CrowdTangle, an analytics platform, commonly shows posts from conservative figures and outlets like Newsmax, Fox News, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino get the most engagement.
Notably, none of those names appear in Facebook’s latest report, which included lists of top-performing domains, pages and specific public posts it said attracted the most eyeballs. Among the top domains were YouTube, Amazon, Unicef, GoFundMe, Spotify and TikTok. The most widely-viewed links included a website for an organization associated with former Green Bay Packers football players. That page drew more than 87 million viewers, according to Facebook. An online storefront for CBD products was #2 on the list, with 72 million views. A cat GIF from Tumblr with just over 49 million views was also on the list.
When it comes to the most viewed public pages, Facebook’s list included Unicef, as well as animal site The Dodo, LADbible, and Sassy Media and other publishers that have built media companies off of viral Facebook content. Notably, most of the content Facebook put forward in its report didn’t appear to be overtly political. “Many of the most-viewed Pages focused on sharing content about pets, cooking, family, and relatable viral content,” Facebook wrote in a statement.
Interestingly, the most-viewed individual posts were all a collection of text-based memes, encouraging users to answer light-hearted (and mostly boring) questions, like what foods they don’t like. The top such post was a year-old image challenging users to find three words hidden in a jumble of letters. The posts had more than 80 million views, according to Facebook.
It’s not the first time Facebook has tried to counter perceptions that its most popular content is polarizing or political. The company says it will release the “widely viewed content” report on a regular basis to help people track what type of content is being seen the most.
“There’s a few gaps in the data that’s being used today, and the narrative that has emerged is quite simply wrong,” Facebook’s VP of Integrity, Guy Rosen, said during a call with reporters. “CrowdTangle is focused on interaction, CrowdTangle only has a limited set of certain pages, groups, and accounts. We are creating a report that provides a broad view and … an accurate representation of what people’s experiences actually are on our platform.”
Notably, the report only looked at public posts, and didn’t include data around posts that may have used non-public privacy settings. The company said it would evaluate how it gathers and shares information for future reports. The company also said that more than half of posts that users see in their News feeds comes from their family and friends, not from pages or groups they follow. Mark Zuckerberg said in January, following the election and the January 6th insurrection, that he wanted to make News Feeds less political.
Throughout this week, Roku is adding 17 new content sources to the Roku Channel. With the expansion, you can now access TV shows and movies from more than 200 different sources. Some of the more notable additions include IGN, CBC News and AccuWeather, as well as a linear channel devoted exclusively to the Tribeca Film Festival.
At launch, the latter includes 114 movies from the festival’s back catalog, with new films to come every 30 days. The channel will also feature original content from Tribeca Studios. While it won’t replace the in-person event, its addition is timely given how hard it’s been to make it out to a movie theater in the last year and a half.
“The demand for free, quality programming continues to be of importance to our streamers,” said Ashley Hovey, director of the Roku Channel. “We’ve seen linear streaming explode over the last year, and we’re very excited to offer an all-new lineup of great channels with some of the most-recognized franchises to our users.”
If you need a refresher, the Roku Channel is a free way to watch ad-supported video content on your Roku device or TV. Last September, the company released standalone Android and iOS apps, making the platform even more accessible.
Doubling down on its efforts to increase inclusivity and representation on the platform, Pinterest announced the launch of a new tool on Wednesday that would specifically make it easier for Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, and other POC users to winnow hair search results down by pattern.
From Ring to Nest and everything in between, the gadget market is saturated with do-it-yourself security systems. Many of them offer similar features and accessories, and some of them even look nearly identical. Often, the defining characteristic between them all is whether the ecosystem fits along with everything…
In Baltimore, where I live, tons of unsightly stuff leaks into the Chesapeake Bay. Sewage. Industrial pollution. And, according to a new report, drugs.
Marvel’s Eternals is introducing a legion of powerful superbeings who have hidden in the shadows of the world for thousands of years, supposed guardians of humanity from afar. Which, naturally, has fans wondering how awkward it was that these guardians decided to do nothing when Thanos came and snapped away half the…
New details are emerging about atrocities committed by Nazis in Poland during the onset and closing stages of the Second World War, including how they tried to destroy evidence of their crimes.
He approached a videographer at a concert and allegedly spit and blew snot on her, according to a police affidavit.
After a leak of info earlier this week, it’s become far more official: Samsung Pay will no longer have advertisements. This will require a software update in the near future, but should be coming soon. Samsung Mobile President Roh Tae-moon suggested that this move was due to requests from customers and employees. The release earlier this week appeared on an … Continue reading
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