News Bytes and Blogs _

Instagram Brings DM’s to Desktop

Instagram has brought direct messages to the web, citing that the update will be finally useful for businesses, influencers and other people in terms of connecting with each other. The desktop DM’s will function essentially the same as it is on the mobile version. On commending on the update, the Facebook-owned platform has further augmented Mark Zuckerburg’s increased focus on evolving messaging as a rapidly growing area of communication for the future.

Spotify Exits Beta; Ready to Serve 18 Global Markets

From its humble debut in 2017 to the formidable growth of 68% in terms of recent monthly active advertisers, Spotify has announced that it is exiting the beta and now intends to serve 18 potential global markets. The platform had earlier served small players that don’t have in-house potential to craft ads in lines of their bigger counterparts. Like the most self-service advertisement platforms, Spotify will facilitate advertisers to set up ads manually by curating budget, target audience, and creative content.

Facebook Launch ‘Quiet Mode’

It feels like Marc Zuckerburg has been concerned about people using his platform for too long hours during the Corona lockdown! Facebook has launched it’s Quiet Mode’ feature where users can mute the notifications until they wish to resume again. If the user forgot to unmute the mode and intend to start browsing, then the feature will send a reminder to deactivate the mode. Users can access the feature in the “Your Time on Facebook” button in the hamburger menu. However, make sure your Facebook application is updated to access the functionality.

‘Recipe’ becomes the most searched topic in Google

According to a survey conducted by India Today, the list of Google trends in India on various leisure-related topics has been topped by searches related to cooking. There is no surprise in ‘recipe’ becoming the top search topic when over 130 crores been instructed to stay confined at homes. The survey went on to reveal that ‘Recipe’ was followed by ‘Netflix’ and ‘Health’; then came ‘Sex Tips’ and ‘Ludo’, which happens to be a popular board game in the country. Some of the trending dishes during the lockdown included ‘Dahi Vada’, ‘Pan Cakes’, and ‘Dalgona Coffee’, which has become a lockdown sensation in social media.

Tik Tok becomes the most download app in Q1 2020

Chinese tech-firm ByteDance’s TikTok has become the most downloaded non-gaming app in India during the lockdown. The app has managed to dethrone WhatsApp and Facebook in terms of downloads, reported App Annie. During the lockdown, Tik Tok downloads recorded a 20% growth when compared to their statistics in January. The application has managed to generate a whopping 49 million downloads altogether from the App Store and Google Play Store. With lockdown extended till May 3rd, we can expect these numbers to surge quickly.