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Social media can play a critical role in spreading information (and misinformation) during a crisis. In an effort to promote the former and curb the latter, the White House has started getting active on Reddit. The profile was created on January 7, 2021, the day after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in Washington DC. However, today was the first time the account did any public posting. All of the posts from the White House profile today have been sharing information related to relief efforts in response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, which have been causing devastation along the east coast of the US. So far, the content shared on Reddit is very similar to what the official White House team is posting on X. While today is the debut of a non-partisan White House account, federal officials have taken to the subreddits in the past. Barack Obama hosted an AMA on the platform during his tenure, but it was under his own account rather than through the auspices of the office.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-white-house-has-started-posting-on-reddit-230533023.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Contract employees of ride sharing apps and services arent known for having the steadiest or even sanest of pay rates. Lyft just announced some new earnings improvements for its drivers that will help cover their expenses when rides take longer than they should and show them how much theyll earn before they pick up a fare. Lyft announced the new driver earnings improvements on its official blog. The new earnings improvements aim to tackle drivers biggest frustrations, and make it more rewarding for Lyft drivers. One of the biggest improvements affects how drivers are paid if they are stuck in traffic or go out of their way to help a rider. Lyft is implementing a new 5-minute-delay pay structure that will increase a drivers pay if any ride takes five minutes longer than expected. Out-of-your-way pay covers drivers who have to drive out of the normal coverage area only to turn around and drive all the way back without any fares. Lyft is also implementing a new earnings dashboard on the mobile app for drivers. The new interface will also show drivers daily, weekly and yearly earnings and the estimated hourly rate for each ride so drivers dont have to make the mental calculation, according to the post. Drivers who drive electric vehicles for Lyft are also seeing some new benefits. EV drivers can choose only to receive rides that fall within their vehicles battery range and find nearby charging stations on the Lyft drivers app. Of course, these new policies and changes wont solve Lyft drivers problems overnight. Itll take time to see if they make a dent (the good kind of dent).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/lyft-promises-upfront-hourly-rates-and-traffic-delay-pay-for-its-drivers-220142458.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Following 11 months of testing, Mastodon is releasing one of its biggest updates of the year. In a blog post attributed to CEO and founder Eugen Rochko, the non-profit detailed its 4.3 release on Tuesday, promising improvements for nearly every part of the social media experience. Perhaps most significantly, Mastodon has overhauled how notifications work. To start, the platform will now group boosts and favorites together so that users arent bombarded with notifications when one of their posts goes viral. At the same time, Mastodon is introducing new filters to make it easier to ignore notifications from people you dont follow, newly created accounts and those who send you unsolicited private mentions. With the new feature, you can choose to see those notifications, prevent them from ever reaching your phone or send them to a separate inbox for later viewing. Separately, Mastodon is introducing a new set of notifications designed to inform users if a server moderator made a decision that affects their account. Specifically, if a mod takes direct action against your account, you receive an in-app message you cant miss. The platform will also notify users when they lose followers due to moderator decisions and offer the option to export a list of affected accounts. Alongside those changes, Mastodon has redesigned a few different parts of its app. Starting with the compose window, the company says the new interface makes it easier to rearrange media, as well as see content warnings and word filters. Elsewhere, Mastodon has refreshed its web client, tweaking the softwares color palette, iconography and link previews. Utility emails, including those users receive following a password reset, have gotten a once-over, too. On the interface front, Mastodon has reworked confirmation dialogues to better describe how muting and blocking will affect the user. For example, if youre about to block a server, the app will detail exactly how many followers you stand to lose from that decision. On the subject of followers, Mastodon has added a new recommendation carousel that users will see after scrolling past the first post on their feed thats older than four hours. At the same time, the company has tweaked recommendations to make them more relevant to people. Rounding things out, Mastodon has refreshed website embeds and made it easier to follow the author of a trending news article. The enhancements come after X recently changed how its block button works, a move some have argued has made the platform even less desirable to use. Rochko doesnt mention X specifically or Meta and Bluesky, for that matter but does point to a general desire to make Mastodon more attractive to everyday users. One of [our] ongoing efforts is to make Mastodon easy and delightful to use. Weve invested a significant amount of money and time into working with professional designers and performing user testing over the last few years, but we really ramped up our efforts in 2023, he wrote. Mastodon is quite a large application, and our resources remain very constrained compared to our corporate competitors, but weve made significant progress on improving the look and feel of Mastodon across the board.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mastodons-new-notifications-wont-blow-up-your-phone-after-a-viral-post-anymore-211215016.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
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