#How to set up Two Factors Authentication for snapchat

[fromdevcom]

Is Your Snapchat Safe? How Hackers Gain Access and What You Can Do to Prevent It Snapchat has become one of the most popular social media platforms, especially among younger audiences. With its disappearing messages and creative features, it offers a unique and fun experience. However, like any online platform, Snapchat is not immune to hacking. If you’ve ever wondered how hackers gain access to Snapchat accounts or how you can protect your own, this guide will shed light on the common tactics hackers use and the best preventive measures you can take. How Hackers Hack Snapchat Accounts Phishing Scams Phishing is one of the oldest and most effective hacking methods. Hackers use fake websites or emails that look like legitimate Snapchat notifications. They may promise something enticing like a prize, a new feature, or a security update. When users click on these links and enter their login details, the hacker gains full access to their Snapchat account. Phishing scams are often disguised in ways that make them difficult to detect. Sometimes, hackers will even create fake login pages that resemble Snapchat’s official interface. These deceptive websites are designed to steal usernames and passwords. How to Prevent: Always double-check the website URL before entering any personal information. Avoid clicking on suspicious links or email attachments. Instead, go directly to the official Snapchat website or app. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account. Brute Force Attacks Brute force attacks involve hackers using automated software to guess your password. They typically try every possible combination of characters until they find the correct one. If your password is weak or easy to guess, this method can work, especially if you use a simple or commonly used password. Hackers might target accounts that have weak or repetitive passwords, such as “123456” or “password123.” If your Snapchat password is simple and lacks complexity, it’s easy for hackers to crack. How to Prevent: Use strong, unique passwords that include a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Avoid using easily guessable information like your name, birthdate, or “password123.” Consider using a password manager to keep track of your complex passwords. Social Engineering Attacks Hackers may not always need to crack your password to access your account. Social engineering attacks rely on manipulating you or others around you to gain access. For example, a hacker might impersonate Snapchat’s support team and request sensitive information such as your account details. They may even try to convince you to send them a password reset email. How to Prevent: Be cautious about sharing any personal information online, even with friends. Never share your Snapchat password, even with someone claiming to be from Snapchat support. Avoid sharing details like your phone number or email with strangers. SIM Swap Attacks In a SIM swap attack, hackers trick your phone carrier into transferring your phone number to a new SIM card. Once they control your phone number, they can use it to receive two-factor authentication (2FA) codes and take over your Snapchat account. This is particularly dangerous if you rely on SMS-based 2FA. How to Prevent: Set up a PIN or password with your phone carrier to prevent unauthorized SIM swaps. Use an authenticator app (like Google Authenticator or Authy) instead of relying on SMS-based 2FA. Be cautious of unsolicited calls or messages asking for personal information related to your phone number. Third-Party Apps There are various third-party apps and websites that claim to offer features like viewing deleted Snapchat messages or tracking someone’s account activity. These apps may ask for your Snapchat credentials to function. However, giving your account details to these apps puts your account at risk. How to Prevent: Never provide your Snapchat login information to third-party apps or websites.

If an app asks for your Snapchat credentials, it’s likely a scam. Stick to the official Snapchat app for all your social media needs. Best Ways to Protect Your Snapchat Account Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) One of the most effective ways to protect your Snapchat account is by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of identification (usually a code sent to your phone) in addition to your password. Even if a hacker gets hold of your password, they won’t be able to access your account without the second factor. To enable 2FA on Snapchat, follow these steps: Open Snapchat and go to your profile. Tap the gear icon in the top right corner to open settings. Scroll down to "Two-Factor Authentication" and follow the prompts to enable it. Change Your Password Regularly It’s always a good idea to change your Snapchat password regularly. This limits the chances of an attacker gaining long-term access to your account. Choose a strong password that’s unique to Snapchat, and avoid using the same password across multiple platforms. Monitor Account Activity Keep an eye on your Snapchat account activity. If you notice any unfamiliar messages, snaps, or friend requests, it could be a sign that your account has been compromised. You can view your account’s login history by going to the settings and checking "My Account" for devices that have accessed your account. Use Strong, Unique Passwords As mentioned earlier, weak and repetitive passwords make it easy for hackers to gain access to your account. Use complex, random passwords with a mix of numbers, symbols, and both lowercase and uppercase letters. Avoid using anything easily guessable, like your name or birthdate. Educate Yourself About Phishing Scams Knowing how to recognize phishing scams can help you avoid falling victim to them. If you ever receive a suspicious email or text message claiming to be from Snapchat, don’t click any links. Instead, visit the official Snapchat app or website to verify any claims. Conclusion While Snapchat offers fun and exciting features, it’s important to remember that online security should always be a priority. By understanding how hackers hack Snapchat accounts and taking the necessary precautions, you can protect your personal information and ensure a safer online experience. Enable two-factor authentication, use strong passwords, and be cautious when clicking on links or sharing personal information. With these tips, you can stay ahead of potential threats and keep your Snapchat account safe from hackers.

[kwikpic]

Photo Privacy Matters: How to Protect Your Images When Sharing Online

Sharing photos online has become second nature. Whether it’s a vacation snapshot, a family gathering, or a professional portfolio, the internet makes it easy to distribute images with just a click. But have you ever wondered who else might be viewing, saving, or even misusing your photos?

If you’re not careful, your cherished memories could end up in the wrong hands. Thankfully, protecting your images while enjoying image sharing online is possible.

1. Why Image Privacy Matters

Your photos tell a story about you — where you’ve been, who you’re with, and what you love. When you share them online, you might be unknowingly giving away personal details. Strangers, companies, or even cybercriminals can misuse your images for identity theft, deepfakes, or unauthorized advertising.

2. Common Risks of Image Sharing Online

Unauthorized Use: Your images may be copied and used for commercial purposes without your consent.

Identity Theft: Personal photos can be manipulated to create fake profiles.

Data Tracking: Websites extract metadata from your photos, revealing details like location and device type.

Deepfake Threats: AI tools can alter photos to misrepresent people or spread misinformation.

3. How to Adjust Privacy Settings on Social Media

Most social media platforms offer privacy settings, but few users take full advantage of them. Here’s how to secure your images:

Facebook: Set your photos to ‘Friends Only’ or create custom lists.

Instagram: Switch to a private account to control who sees your posts.

Twitter: Be cautious — images shared on public accounts are accessible to anyone.

4. Best Platforms for Secure Photo Sharing

For those who prioritize privacy, consider using platforms designed for secure image sharing online, such as:

Kwikpic: A privacy-focused photo sharing app that ensures secure access.

Google Photos: Offers controlled sharing options but requires adjusting settings.

Signal & Telegram: Allow encrypted photo sharing for added security.

5. Watermarking: Is It Worth It?

Adding a watermark to your images can deter unauthorized use. However, it’s not foolproof — advanced users can remove watermarks. If you opt for this method, use semi-transparent overlays that are hard to erase.

6. Encryption and Password Protection

Encryption scrambles your photos so only authorized users can view them. Services like ProtonDrive or NordLocker offer encrypted storage and sharing for sensitive images.

7. Metadata: The Hidden Information in Your Photos

Each image contains metadata (EXIF data), including:

Location (GPS coordinates)

Time & Date

Camera Details

To remove metadata:

Use tools like ExifPurge before sharing.

Disable location settings on your smartphone camera.

8. Avoiding Reverse Image Searches

Reverse image search tools like Google Lens can track where an image has been used online. To prevent this:

Resize or slightly alter images before uploading.

Use platforms with no-indexing policies.

9. The Role of Secure Cloud Storage

Cloud storage can be a great way to save and share photos, but security matters:

Use end-to-end encrypted services like Tresorit or Sync.com.

Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to prevent unauthorized access.

10. Tips for Sharing Photos in Private Groups

If you’re sharing images in private groups on WhatsApp or Facebook, consider these:

Only add trusted members.

Use disappearing messages for extra security.

Avoid sharing highly personal or sensitive images.

11. Should You Use Temporary Photo Sharing Apps?

Apps like Snapchat and WeTransfer allow temporary photo sharing, but screenshots and third-party tools can still save your images. Be cautious about assuming images are truly “temporary.”

12. Laws and Regulations for Image Privacy

Different countries have varied laws on photo privacy:

GDPR (Europe): Requires consent before using someone’s image.

CCPA (California): Allows users to request data deletion.

Personal Data Protection Bill (India): Aims to regulate online data usage.

Knowing your rights can help you take action against misuse.

13. How to Remove Photos That Were Shared Without Permission

If someone shares your image without consent:

Contact the website admin or use copyright takedown requests.

File a DMCA complaint for image removal.

Report the issue to platform moderators.

14. Future Trends in Photo Privacy

With evolving technology, new privacy solutions are emerging:

AI-powered privacy tools for detecting unauthorized image use.

Blockchain-based photo ownership verification.

Zero-trust security models for encrypted sharing.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Protecting your photos when engaging in image sharing online is crucial in today’s digital world. By using secure platforms, adjusting privacy settings, and being aware of potential risks, you can keep your memories safe. Remember, once an image is online, you lose some control over it — so always think twice before you share!

[secretlovewinner-blog]

2 Unique Way To Recover Snapchat Account

In this 21st century, Snapchat is Booming like never before. Now Snapchat, which is used by more than 158 million people every day, has pioneered new ways to interact with photos, videos, and other users, as well as new formats for advertisers, to reach customers. The company, which rebuffed a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook in 2013, is on track to generate $1 billion in revenue next year, according to the investment bank Jefferies. Snap, the company that runs the social media service Snapchat Account Recovery. Snapchat, soared in its initial public offering, setting the company up as the most valuable American technology company to go public since Facebook. Snapchat lets users send messages to one another that disappears within seconds. You have to know your friend’s user name to send a message, which makes Snapchat a place where people tend to connect with those they actually know.

Snapchat Account Recovery

The first step to solving a problem is to know its root causes. This may be that we forgot our passwords or we were hacked and logged out. Knowing how you lost your Snapchat account should help you understand how to recover it.How To Recover Your Snapchat Account Of You Forgot Your Password? Snapchat Account Recovery If you have forgotten your Snapchat passwords and want to log in, follow the steps below to recover your account by resetting the Passwords. Launch the Snapchat app on your smartphone and tap on Login. Enter your username or email and tap the “forgot your password” option right under the PASSWORD box.A box will pop up asking you to ” Please choose how you want to reset your password.” Here we choose email. On the next page, enter your email address and tap the “Submit” button (scroll to step 4 if you wish to use a phone number).You will receive an email from Snapchat. The email contains a link to reset the password. Tap on the link and enter your new secure password (check how to make easy and secure passwords here lazily).If you wish to recover the account via phone, choose the phone option in step two above and enter your mobile number. Tap the “Continue” button and in the pop-up, choose how you want your phone number to be verified; either via message (Send Via SMS) or call option.Choose the SMS option to receive OTP as it is easier to work with. Enter the OTP that you received in the place provided and proceed to reset your password. (If you enable Do Not Disturb on your SIM the message may not come through so you may have to use the call option).How to Recover Your Snapchat Account if You Have Forgotten Your Username and Email?To be sincere, many of us have more than 4 email accounts and also play around with usernames when opening accounts. Other times, we forget our usernames and email because we abandoned the account for a while and we are trying to get back in the game. If you are trying to recover your account SnapChat Account Recovery in this scenario, try the options below; Try to make a list of all your valid email addresses.Launch the app on your smartphone and tap on Login. Enter your email or password and tap the ‘Forgot your password” option right under the PASSWORD box.A box will pop up asking you to ” Please choose how you want to reset your password.” Here we choose email. On the next page, enter your email addresses and tap the “Submit” button. All invalid emails will result in an error reading “Email address is invalid.”. Keep entering the different email addresses until you get the right one then proceed to reset the password.How To Recover A Stolen Snapchat Account?Suppose your account was hacked the recovering the account will be difficult. The difficulty depends on the changes the hacker has made to the hacker. If you can still access the account (if your email has not been changed), then changing the password will be the easiest option.However, if your recovery email address has been changed and your phone number too then there is only one thing that can be done on your end. Contact Snapchat Help, fill up an account recovery form and hope they recover the account for you.How To Secure Your Snapchat Account?While the big corporations will always try their best to secure their platforms, Snapchat users should also know the steps are not complete until they also play a part in securing their accounts one can open a Snapchat account using a fake email and number combination, which is cool but can be disastrous if you should forget your password or get hacked.To update your email address and phone number, go to Settings and check.Use Two Factor AuthenticationAlso, in Snapchat settings, it will be wise to use Two Factor Authentication. This helps to decrease the chances of being hacked. This will prompt the app to request for a one time code any time you log in. I use the Authy Authenticator app for Two Factor authentication. How To Reactivate Snapchat Account on Android or iPhone. Let’s learn how to reactivate Snapchat account as they are not just as simple as they seem. As in reality, there is no such button option available in the app. Follow the instructions below to get to the act of getting your Snapchat account SnapChat Account Recovery back on track. The steps are to be performed on your smartphone.Launch the Snapchat app on your phone.Fill in your Username and password to login to How To Reactivate Snapchat Account on Android or iPhone’s learn how to reactivate Snapchat account as they are not just as simple as they seem. As in reality, there is no such button option available in the app. Follow the instructions below to get to the act of getting your Snapchat account back on track. The steps are to be performed on your smartphone.Launch the Snapchat app on your phone.Fill in your Username and password to login to your account.Tap Log In.The message says – If you want to reactivate your account. Tap on OK.A mail will be sent to you informing you that your Snapchat account is being reactivated.You will see your Snapchat account working again.Remember, it might take a few hours to recover all your data on your Snapchat account. This includes updating your Memories- which is a complete collection of photos. As the server gets the information about the reactivated Snapchat account, it will give access to all of the user’s data.Tap Log In.The message says – If you want to reactivate your account. Tap on OK.A mail will be sent to you informing you that your Snapchat account is being reactivated.You will see your Snapchat account working again.Remember, it might take a few hours to recover all your data on your Snapchat account. This includes updating your Memories- which is a complete collection of photos. As the server gets the information about the reactivated Snapchat account, it will give access to all of the user’s data.

About

Snapchat is a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. It’s headed by co-founder Evan Spiegel. One of the core concepts of the app is that any picture or video or message you send – by default – is made available to the receiver for only a short time before it becomes inaccessible. This temporary, or ephemeral, nature of the app was originally designed to encourage a more natural flow of interaction. One last thing: Snapchat’s Snapchat Account Recovery developer is a public company, called Snap. It claims to be a camera company. As such, it creates other products, including hardware, like Snapchat Spectacles, which you can read all about from here. Also, Snapchat is colloquially referred to as Snap.

Conclusion

When you see the gear icon on your Profile screen, tap it to access your Snapchat account settings, where you can link your Bitmoji account, manage on-demand geofilters, create or scan a Snapcode, Snapchat Account Recovery. add two factors, adjust your Memories, Spectacles, and Shazam preferences, change your password and phone number, and so much more. Hint : Remember to use reliable and secure passwords and refrain from sharing your passwords. Security is best when done personally.

[its-oliviaisla-world-blog]

5 security mistakes you make every day

1) Using the same username and password

You've heard it before many times, but let's say it again once more, because many people don't seem to pay much attention: don't use the same passwords for multiple times on different accounts, and be sure to change your passwords often at least once in a 3 months.

If you have trouble remembering long difficult passwords with symbols, get password manager app that does it for you.

Using the same password for everything is like having a master key for to open every lock that also opens your vault, starts your car and gives you access to all your bank accounts - if someone takes it, they will have access to your whole world.

Changing passwords often also a protection against the already regular data leaks that happen in large and small companies. If your login credentials perform on the web, it doesn't matter how many times if you recently changed them.

“Password-cracking techniques has advance a lot with time,” said Darren Guccione, CEO of Keeper Security.

"These criminals follow their victims on social media platforms for keywords to feed malware that use AI (artificial intelligence) to check different combinations till it cracks the password."

"Nobody likes long and difficult passwords with symbols, but they are more vital now in this era than ever," he told us. "And The simple passwords with your date of birth and car number plate that worked for you few years ago are probably not sufficient today."

2) Do not protect smartphones only with Screen lock

Once someone can get past your phone's lock screen, they can post to Facebook, read your email, copy your contacts, and probably order a series of Amazon electronic products as well. Still, about 15% of users still don't protect their phone with a PIN or some biometric scan method.

There are now plenty of fingerprint technologies and facial recognition even iris reading on the new device, so it’s better to use these features on your device and a long PIN code is still a secure means of protection (as long as you are not entering it slowly in front of someone).

You should definitely avoid is the screen unlock pattern, which is easier to copy, according to recent studies by the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMBC).

Research has proven that two-thirds of people can mimic a pattern after they have seen you only once unlocking the phone, compared to a six-digit PIN that is pretty difficult to copy only 1 in 10 contributors were able to replicate after a single sight.

"To safeguard against the people staring over your shoulder, Android unlock patterns may seem more secure to you, but our results show that 6-digit PINs provide better security from a people trying to recreate the access code sight over your shoulder," at UMBC, one of the researchers working on the eidetic memory study, told us.

3) Not using the two-factor authentication

We've already talked about common incidences of passwords and login details get leaked on the internet nowadays, for which, essentially needed both factors which makes it more secure in the way - in addition to your username and password, hackers also needs more information to give in by another device to log into your web account.

Most commonly used, one time use code generated application like google authenticator, or an SMS sent to your phone number, but whatever the method is, two-factor authentication provides double security.

It is possible these days to enable an account with two-factor protection almost everywhere: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Instagram, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.

The method for enabling two-factor authentication, in each platform, is quite simple - just find the rear sign for settings menu and head towards privacy and security settings.

If you are just surfing online or viewing an item at a virtual store, you will not need the two-factor authentication, McAfee member and chief scientist said. “However, if you are buying the item online, it is a totally different scenario, because you are now using your financial data on a website. You need the high level of security based on the amount you’re spending.”

"Hackers are not interested into a personal account secured with two-factor authentication, because it is not the simple and time consuming."

4) Sharing information on Social Media

Any data you share social media can be used to steal your identity, helpful in guessing your passwords, or answer security questions that is protecting your account - from an Instagram photos to your street name showing in a tweet and about your dog name in profile can also use for the security question.

Of course, sharing info on social media is the trend nowadays and not only in people of a certain age group, how weird and possibly dangerous once it felt to share photos on Facebook when the feature first came out. Still, there is no reason why you shouldn't think twice before sharing personal information on these sites.

This means marking your location only when needed (and when away from your home or office), keeping real names and personal details to a minimum, and familiarizing yourself with the tools you can use to restrict your audience to your posts.

"It is significant to know how you can restrict what someone can find out about you online," researcher at Kaspersky Lab, told. "Kaspersky Lab research shows that almost a third of people who use social media networks share their messages, check-ins and other personal information, not just with their friends, but with everyone who is online."

"If you wouldn't publish something about you in a newspaper page, don't publish it online."

5) Using Public Wi-Fi

It is very tempting to connect to any public Wi-Fi network to keep up to date on Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook but you should never let your thirst for internet get in the way of your judgment of what is safe and what is not.

The problem with public WiFi is that everyone can connect to it, just like you, and that it makes it inherently less secure than your home network. If you absolutely have to use public WiFi, the safest way to stay online away from home is to buy a quality VPN package and create your own encrypted route to the internet.

If you don't want the spend on a VPN, there are still security measures you can take: instead of signing up for new ones, avoid doing anything important over public WiFi do not do banking or send emails and look for the HTTPS icon before entering any sensitive information.

"Public Wi-Fi hotspot is the convenient choice to always stay online, and is a great alternative to using our expensive phone data, However, free public WiFi is not secure."

Hackers and other organizations are always looking for security holes they can exploit: Public WiFi is the haven for them if you're not taking you online protection serious to keep your data safe.

[kriscynical]

Retropalooza 2018

So as already stated, Bree and I went to Retropalooza this weekend and had an absolute blast as always. This was our third year to go, and we love this con to bits. It’s practically in my backyard, only 20 minutes away from my house. It’s big enough to have good guests and a sizable dealer’s room, but still small enough to be fun. I dread the day when that happy medium finally gets tipped because of growth. You always want a con to be successful but... you know. 

As a side note, if the con you are running is for retro gaming and started out as a swap meet, if you’re suddenly going to ban screwdrivers at the door, perhaps you should mention that on your website beforehand? Seeing as how screwdrivers are... you know... the only way to definitely check the authenticity of retro game carts? That way your attendees won’t have to sprint back out to their cars in 10000% humidity in end-of-September-in-Texas heat. Just a suggestion, guys. 

But anyway.

I don’t talk about it much on this blog, but I follow a lot of gaming YouTubers. I’m not as religious about it as some people are, but I enjoy listening to gaming content while I’m working, especially letsplays. Retropalooza always has several YouTubers I follow as guests, which adds to the fun factor. This year’s guests that Bree and I were into were Jirard and Alex of Super Beard Bros and The Completionist, Norman Caruso of The Gaming Historian, James Rolfe of The Angry Video Game Nerd, and Arlo. Every single one of them are super nice, although AVGN being there this year caused a bit of bullshit to happen which I’ll detail in a little bit.

I have a little third party NES/SNES console, the RetroDuo, which I’ve had my favorite YouTubers sign for the last three years, all at this con. It’s usually displayed on one of the bookshelves in my studio. This year’s additions were Arlo and James Rolfe. It’s pretty full now:

This is long because of several photos from meet and greets as well as my Zelda haul from the dealer’s room, so...

Arlo! I just discovered his channel over the spring and this was conveniently the first year for him to be at Retropalooza. His content is really fun, and I always look forward to his reactions and discussions to Nintendo Directs and E3. His reaction to the E3 Metroid Prime 4 teaser reveal in particular was priceless.

I’ve met Norman in years past, so we just went to his panel this year. His panels are usually a live version of a Gaming Historian episode along with some Q&A and a little game show based on information from his videos. His live episode was on Punch-Out. He usually does Jeopardy! as the game format, but this time he changed it up to Who Wants to be a Millionaire?... and the lady he picked out of the audience to participate didn’t know the answer to a single damn question. I don’t know why she even raised her hand, because it wasn’t like he even asked anything difficult in the first few questions! If you watched his videos even once you’d know the answers. Bree and I were frustrated because we probably could have gotten to the million dollar question. >:\

Later in the day was AVGN’s panel, and that’s where the bullshit comes in. From the time we first got to the con on Saturday Bree and I noticed that it was way more crowded than usual, enough to get her anxiety going. AVGN doesn’t make a whole lot of convention appearances, so obviously the uptick in attendance was due to him. The people who run this con know gaming, particularly on YouTube since all of their guests are YouTubers. They should have known AVGN was going to attract hoards of people. Did they prepare for that? Of course not. 

Bree and I go to the panel room he’s scheduled to be in 15 minutes before the previous panel ends, and we get our seats. Jirard’s Completionist panel is scheduled right after AVGN in the same room, so we plan to camp out for a little while. 

Right as the previous panel is ending con staff announces that AVGN has been moved to main events, and everybody exits in one mass trying to get over to main events as quickly as possible. We ended up stuck in a massive line that snaked down the hallway and back, and before we know it it’s 1:15... 15 minutes past when the panel was supposed to start. So now we know that if we get IN to this panel, we’re going to have to miss a good chunk of it because for both of us it’s more important to see Jirard’s panel than AVGN. We’re also afraid that AVGN’s panel running over is just going to decimate Jirard’s numbers. 

Con staff comes back and says there won’t be enough chairs for everyone but there’s basically unlimited standing room, which isn’t great for me or my back. They then ask if anybody has a condition that won’t allow them to stand for an entire panel, and I raise my hand. I tell them I had back surgery a few months ago and they say okay, we’ll get you a chair. Which they did. Once they started letting people in they pulled Bree and I out of line and escorted us to two chairs behind the back row, one for me and one for her since she was with me. 

She proceeds to post this to her Snapchat:

This was what the room looked like when the panel started, at 1:25:

We still can’t believe the con didn’t anticipate this. This was the dealer’s room. Meaning the acoustics sucked ass. We couldn’t understand a single thing that was being asked or answered, nor could most of the people in the back of the room. As a result, several people left within the first 10 minutes (and the overall crowds at the con dropped like a ROCK after that panel was over, thank god!). At about 1:45 we gave up and left, too, to go grab seats for Jirard’s Completionist panel, which worked out well because we got front row. Thankfully the room was mostly full by the time the panel started, too.

The Completionist panel was the best of the weekend that we attended, imo. Bree and I were smiling and laughing through the whole thing because it was just that much fun. He had nothing planned because he’d been in Japan until a couple days before that, so it was just a laid back Q&A. He called on both of us to ask questions, and my question (“Given what you just said about Sleepy Jirard, would you say it’s a cure for Jirard Syndrome?”) got quite a bit of an audience reaction as well as a reaction from him, followed by “That was a good question.” with a laugh after he answered. Bree and I hope we can find video of this panel on YouTube soon.

After his panel we went back to the dealer’s room and found him and Alex at their guest table, they recognized us from years past (“Oh hey, guys!”), we chatted for a bit, took pictures, and I gave both of them some little goodies I’d made based on the Kaizo episodes of Super Beard Bros:

These are buttons Bree wanted of the designs I made. I gave both Alex and Jirard keychains of “Ladies and Gentlemen: The Bullet”, then gave Alex “The Goochy” and Jirard “This is not how I end”. They both liked them a LOT and Alex said he was going to put the bullet on his keys, which made me ridiculously happy. These will be available at next year’s A-Kon. 

Before we left for the day on Saturday we saw that the line for AVGN wasn’t too bad, so we decided to give it a shot for autographs and pictures. Thankfully it only took about ten minutes to get through the line, and even though the con had fucked up his panel royally, James was super nice when we got to meet him.

I didn’t realize he had made that face until I saw the picture afterwords. If I had known, I would have made a face, too, dammit! >:\

On Sunday we brought along my mom so she could 1) see what a retro gaming con was like since she’d only been to anime cons, and 2) see the Beard Bros panel/meet them because I had gotten her into their channel over the summer via the Kaizo videos. I introduced her to them separately since they were each talking to different people, and when I said “I recently got her into Super Beard Bros” both of them independently said “I’m sorry” as a response without having heard the other do so. lol 

I’m posting this picture again because I love it. Y’all can deal with it. You’ve read this far.

I had printed out a shot of the Beard Bros title card so my mom could get it signed, and she did. She said she thoroughly enjoyed herself at the con, and I’m hoping she can come out on Sunday next year, too. She bought an NES cart of Classic Concentration, a game that she and I played together on my NES all the time when I was a kid. I wish they’d bring it back on TV because it was a good game show, dammit. 

My Zelda Haul:

The three game box covers are mounted on 1/2″ foam core and I plan to hang them over the TV in my studio since that’s where all of my retro gaming stuff is set up. The BotW box art is layered 3D cutout in a shadow box frame. The Hylian Shield is a new pillow to add to my gaming chair. Not pictured: a Sheik Amiibo that the seller gave me a good price on after some haggling, and a replacement gold Wii remote to replace the one the batteries destroyed a couple months ago. I got that for a really good price, too, from a different seller. He was selling it as a bundle with Skyward Sword, and I of course didn’t need the game. 

“Will you sell this by itself?”

“I was selling it as a bundle, but sure.”

“How much?”

“What will you offer me?”

“Uh... I dunno? I don’t know what it’s going for online right now.”

Bree said, “I’ll check.” and pulled out her phone. I had only seen it in one game shop here in Arlington for $80 and hadn’t tried looking online yet. She turned her phone to the guy and said “On eBay it’s going for anywhere from $45 to $82.”

So then the guy says to me again, “Okay. So what will you offer me?”

“$50?”

“Cash?”

“Yep.”

“Done.”

Yaaaaaaas.

THIS THING is the crown jewel of my haul and I love it to pieces. Guh. I picked it up on Saturday.

Just LOOK AT IT. I bought it from the same seller as the Sheik Amiibo, and I referred to it as “my baby” for the rest of the day and carried it in front of me in its box quite proudly. I had several people tell me it was badass and that was satisfying. Every time I had to get into my backpack for something I told Bree, “Hold my baby.” before handing it over. 

I think I got him for a great price, too. After reaching a deal on Sheik I asked the guy how much the figure was, and he said $100 but asked what I would offer for it. He’d had it up on eBay but pulled it after a week because it wasn’t selling. I’ve only seen it for $110-120+ online, but I went ahead and tried to haggle some more because why the hell not. I asked if he’d do $80, then he asked if I’d do $90 because he gave me a good deal on Sheik (he really did... $10 off of his asking price which was almost a third total!), and I agreed. He said that made him happy because he’d rather the figure go to me “because it looks like you’ll take care of the box” to which I told him yes, of course, I keep all of my boxes in a safe place, and his buddy said “That’s the way to do it!!”. 

And that’s that. I spent the most money this year of any year before now, but I don’t regret a cent of it. Especially on my baby. Bree and I already can’t wait for next year!

[anshumantiwari123]

10 Top App Development Trends You Can't Afford to Ignore

In the technology-driven world we live in, apps are everywhere—on smartphones, tablets, and other devices. These days, it seems that it's not enough to have just an online business; you need to be able to build your own app as well. This can seem like an intimidating prospect, but don't worry—there are plenty of mobile app development trends you can take advantage of in order to help your app stand out from the crowd and succeed. These 10 top app development trends will help you learn how to make an app that users will love and will use on an ongoing basis.

 1) Prototyping Tools

With the ever-changing trends in app development, it's important that you're up-to-date with the tools and resources available. Prototyping tools are popular for app developers because they allow you to create an idea before starting a hire dedicated android developer full project  and give you a visual representation of what your app may look like. 

Here is a list of prototyping tools: 

Sketch     - A vector design application for Mac OS X and iPad * InVision - An online     interface design service that allows you to upload designs and link them     together with animations and gestures. 

Marvel     - Create interactive, animated mobile or desktop prototypes by dragging     screens from the palette onto an artboard. It’s easy to export wireframes     as mockups or shareable videos. It also offers libraries for user flows,     data visualization templates, UI components and icon sets. 

POP     - It’s a great tool for those looking to build high fidelity prototypes     quickly on top of existing apps and UI frameworks (ex: Bootstrap). User     flow diagrams help make creating layouts easier while being able to sync     interactions between devices helps when working on multiple devices at     once. The free plan is limited but can still get the job done if you need     something quick and simple.

 2) Real Time Apps

With the release of iOS 8, Apple's mobile operating system, there has been an increase in apps requiring real time data. As a result, this type of app is becoming one of the most popular and sought after types of apps. One such example is Facebook. 

 It was reported that they are going to launch a Snapchat-esque app called Slingshot which will require real time data as well. Whether you're developing for business or personal use, it's important to take note of these trends and stay on top of them. 

 The amount of apps available for download continues to rise with no signs of slowing down, but if you're not paying attention to these top 10 trends you can't afford to ignore then your chances for success may be limited.

 3) Security and Privacy Enhancements

Security and privacy enhancements should be at the top of your list. Not only are they necessary for most apps, but they can also work together in tandem for some very powerful results.

Use     encryption and authentication techniques to protect your data from prying     eyes 

Make     sure your app stores sensitive information on the user's device rather     than in the cloud - And make use of two-factor authentication (2FA) to     increase the security of your login process. 

As     more consumers turn away from mobile devices because they believe that     their personal data is not safe, it will become increasingly important to     focus on security features within mobile apps so that users feel confident     with you as a developer.

For     example, if someone feels their bank account information or personal     messages have been compromised through an app, it could easily cause them     to stop using all similar types of apps; or even delete their accounts     entirely. With this type of scenario in mind, developing security features     into your app is imperative for long term success!

 4) Big Data and Analytics in Healthcare

Big Data and Analytics in Healthcare is a trend that's been rapidly growing in recent years. Predictive analytics, which is the practice of using algorithms and computer models to identify patterns in large data sets, has seen significant growth in recent years. It has the potential to transform healthcare by providing physicians with information about a patient's risks for developing diseases and treatments that are most appropriate for their conditions. In other words, predictive analytics can help doctors tailor treatments for patients according to their needs.

 5) Augmented Reality Apps

Augmented Reality Apps are the next big thing in app development, and companies are investing heavily in this technology. Augmented Reality Apps enable users to interact with digital content through their physical environment. This is a huge trend because it can be used for everything from gaming, education, and retail experiences.

 Augmented Reality Apps make use of a mobile device's camera and sensors to detect the user's environment. For instance, if you download an AR app onto your phone and point it at a building or monument that has been specially designed with 3D imaging, you'll see the statue come alive on your screen as if it were really there.

 6) Payments and Financial Services

Payments and Financial Services Apps are the new way of doing business. They can be used for managing costs and payments, accessing and transferring money, paying bills, and much more. As businesses increasingly use apps as a go-to platform, it's important to know what technologies will dominate in 2023. 

 Fintechs or financial technology companies develop software and mobile applications that help consumers manage their finances better. Their products include payment processing, online banking platforms, loan management tools etc., making them an integral part of the digital transformation for banks and financial institutions around the world.

 7) Personalized Health Management & Wellness Solutions

Personalized Health Management & Wellness Solutions are one of the top app development trends you need to be well ware of. With the growing cost of health insurance and more people getting shut out of healthcare, more companies are looking for ways to offer personalized wellness solutions. 

 In fact, as many as 80% of adults use a digital health and fitness device like a fitness tracker or smartwatch. The market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 10% over the next decade.

 8) Social Messaging Apps & Communication Platforms

One of the most recent and popular trends in app development is social messaging. Platforms like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat are some of the top communication apps around. They offer a variety of features including voice calling, video calling, file sharing, group chats, and more. 

 A few other trends to keep an eye on include augmented reality (AR) apps like Pokemon GO that create virtual environments based on your real-world surroundings; artificial intelligence (AI) in which computers teach themselves using dedicated ios developers in UK machine learning techniques; and chatbots that allow you to communicate with a computer program or business by texting or talking.

 9) Wearables and IoT Connectivity

Wearables and IoT connectivity are two of the fastest growing app development trends. Wearable technologies like smart watches and fitness trackers offer apps a more intimate connection with their users. 

 The internet of things (IoT) is also a trend worth following; IoT devices, like refrigerators and thermostats, can be programmed to connect with each other and offer personalized information based on the user's habits and needs.

 10) Language Translation

When it comes to translation and localization, sometimes less is more. When your app is translated into a new language and you're looking for the perfect phrase, think about how much space you have on the screen. 

 If there's not enough room to fit the entire sentence, it's better to condense what you can rather than trying to make one sentence fit two screens. This can be especially useful when translating invertive phrases or idioms that would otherwise be confusing.

 Conclusion

The app development industry is always changing, but these ten app trends are on the rise and are going to be around for a while. So what can you do? Be educated on the trends, and be ready when they come your way. 

[is-minecraft-being-hack-qj]

Minecraft account hacked - Microsoft Community

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 Minecraft is a type of game referred to as a "sandbox" video game. This is because it is set in an enormous online world where you can manipulate, create, and modify almost every single aspect of the game. As of , Minecraft had a total of more than million active monthly users. Because of the number of people that use this game, it makes it an easy target for people wanting to hack accounts to try and find users' personal information. If you believe that your Minecraft account has been hacked , there are steps you can take to ensure that your private information is protected and that you can recover your hacked account. Whether you are interested in learning how to recover your hacked Minecraft account on your own or you would like to learn more about how to use DoNotPay's Recover Hacked Accounts product, this guide can walk you through the steps necessary to get back into your hacked account. There are a couple of ways to immediately tell if your Minecraft account has been compromised. These include:. After following these steps, you can make sure your account is secure by opting into Two-Factor Authentication. Since Minecraft is owned by Microsoft, you can migrate your Mojang account to a Microsoft account , which allows you to set up Two-Factor Authentication and thereby makes your Minecraft account more secure. If you are unable to access your Minecraft account or change your password, you can report an account that you believe is compromised. To do so:. The steps to recover a hacked Minecraft account are somewhat tedious and may seem very daunting if you are concerned that your private information is vulnerable. With the help of DoNotPay, your account can be successfully recovered and you can get back to gaming without the stress of trying to follow Mojang's confusing steps on your own. Simply follow the instructions below and we will help you get back into your account so you can update your password and security to better protect your information. If your Minecraft account has been hacked, you don't need to try to navigate recovering your account by yourself. DoNotPay can help you easily and quickly recover your hacked account in just a few simple steps. If you want to recover your gaming account but don't know where to start, DoNotPay has you covered in 3 easy steps:. DoNotPay can get you access to almost any of your hacked accounts. Not only can DoNotPay help you get back into hacked accounts, but we can also help you recover lost passwords and delete accounts that you no longer wish to use. In addition to assistance with online accounts, DoNotPay can also help you:. Sign up for DoNotPay to discover which of our services can help you today! Let DoNotPay solve this problem for me. We have helped over , people with their problems. Sit back and relax while we do the work. Want your issue solved now? Hassle Free We have helped over , people with their problems. Solve my issue. Facebook Account Hacked. Steam Account Hacked. Account Hacked. Instagram Account Hacked. Roblox Account Hacked. Email Account Hacked. Playstation Account Hacked. Facebook Messenger Hacked. Twitter Account Hacked. Recover Hotmail Account. Snapchat Account Hacked. Spotify Account Hacked. Amazon Account Hacked. Activision Account Hacked. Netflix Account Hacked. Bank Account Hacked. Yahoo Account Hacked. Paypal Account Hacked.

[christophermreerdon]

How to Set Up Two-factor Authentication on All Your Online Accounts

How to set up 2FA on your accounts? And why is it important in the first place? As social media is becoming increasingly popular, security is becoming something of supreme importance.

Even though choosing a strong password helps you in certain ways, by adopting 2FA, you can improve and enhance security further. So, let's know more about this extra layer of protection and how to set up 2FA on your accounts.

First stop.

What is Two-Factor Authentication

2FA is one of the best security methods that use two layers to verify a consumer's identity. This means, rather than simply entering the password to log into an account, two-factor authentication requires a code to be sent via text message to the consumer's phone number or generated through an app.

This type of verification code helps and ensures that only the authorized consumer can access their account. Similarly, multi-factor authentication (MFA) offers two or more authentication layers to approve account access for consumers.

What is Authenticator Apps

Authenticator apps are meant to be installed on your smartphones to obtain passcodes to sign in to your accounts. They are intended to be more secure than texting; they provide flexibility if you are traveling to a place where there is no mobile service.

Some of the options include Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator Authy, or HDE OTP.

All these apps follow the same procedure – when you are adding a new user account, you need to scan a QR code associated with the account, and it is saved in the app.

The next time you sign in to your app or service, it will ask for a numerical code. You need to open up the authenticator app and check the randomly generated authentication code to access your account securely.

How to Set up 2FA on Your Social Media Accounts

A lot of applications offer 2FA currently, especially if you are storing important and sensitive data, financial information, emails, social media, files, contact details, etc.

2FA needs more than one factor to login. This might include parameters like "something you are," for example, biometrics in the form of iris scan or fingerprints, "something you know," a password, and "something you have," like a smartphone or hardware key.

Find out how to set up 2FA on your accounts:

1. Google

If you want to set up an authenticator on the Google account, first you need to download the Google Authenticator app available on the Play Store. Once downloaded, do the following:

Go to Gmail and click the profile icon.

Choose My account and click on Sign-in & Security.

You can add the two-step verification process here.

Source: Google

2. Snapchat

To set up 2FA on your Snapchat account, you will need to:

Go to the app’s main camera screen and tap on the profile icon.

Find the gear icon to access Settings.

Tap on Two-Factor Authentication and choose whether to obtain verification via a text message or an authenticator app.

You can add trusted devices or request a recovery code for when you intend to be somewhere without cellular coverage once 2FA has been activated on your Snapchat account. Safety key logins do not currently appear to be supported by Snapchat.

3. Whatsapp

To set up 2FA on your WhatsApp account, you will need to:

Open WhatsApp on your device.

Under the upper-right hamburger icon, find the Settings menu.

Go to Look under Account > Two-step verification > Allow.

You will be prompted to end a six-digit PIN to verify your account. If you forget your PIN, you can optionally add an email address.

Source: lifewire

It is important to have an associated email with your WhatsApp account as the service will not allow you to reverify yourself if you have used WhatsApp and forgotten your PIN within the last seven days.

4. Outlook

To set up 2FA on your Outlook account, you will need to:

Sign in to your Outlook account.

Click on your name and then click View Account.

Under the Basic Options, click on the link that says Explore more security options.

If you have not set up 2FA yet, you can click on the link and proceed with that. You can switch to Microsoft Authenticator by clicking the Set up identity verification app if you already have it.

5. Facebook

To set up 2FA on your Facebook account, you will need to:

Sign in to your Facebook account.

Click on Settings and choose Security and Login.

Check for the use of two-factor authentication in the Setting Up Extra Security section.

Enable the code generator.

You can also use the Facebook mobile app for approving sign-ins on the web or set up a third-party authentication app for generating codes.

Source: Facebook

6. Twitter

To set up 2FA on your Twitter account, you will need to:

Sign in to your Twitter account.

Click on your Profile Icon and then click Settings and Privacy.

Click the checkbox next to Verify login requests, under the Security heading.

Verify your mobile number and then click Set up a code generator app.

Scan the QR code with the third-party authenticator app.

7. Apple iCloud

You can log in to your account at https://appleid.apple.com/, then search for Two-Factor Authentication under Security.

The next step would be to verify your location, and it will send a code to your other Apple devices.

iOS

To set up 2FA on your iOS account, the steps will be a bit different. Majorly, it will depend on how you have updated your iOS software.

For users using iOS 10.3 or later versions, click on Settings > your Name > Password & Security.

You can turn on 2FA to receive a text message with a code every time you log in.

For users using iOS 10.2 or earlier versions, go to Settings under iCloud > Apple ID > Password & Security.

macOS

Similar to iOS, a few of the steps may vary depending on the version of macOS.

If you are using Catalina, click the Apple icon, then click System Preferences > Apple ID.

The next step would be to click on Password & Security under your name and finally click Turn On Two-Factor Authentication.

8. Instagram

In 2017, two-factor authentication was added by Instagram to the mobile app, which can be activated via the web. If you want to activate 2FA on your mobile device, you need to go to Profile and click on the menu and look for Settings & Security. There you will find two-factor authentication.

With Instagram, you also get to choose between SMS-based verification and a code sent to the authentication app.

Source: Kaspersky

Why is 2FA important

As cybercriminals are getting smarter, 2FA has become more mandatory than ever. Without it, you might end up leaving your accounts vulnerable to hackers for sealing your personal information, hacking your online credit card details, and accessing your bank account. By adding the additional step to your account, you get the edge to prevent hackers from accessing your account.

Setting Up 2FA with LoginRadius Adaptive 2FA/ MFA solution

LoginRadius provides multi-factor authentication via SMS, email, automated phone calls, account security questions, and authenticator apps to allow you a customized user experience.

Based on your business, you can choose to use LoginRadius's Identity Platform's Multi-factor authentication, which is an easy process.

Currently, LoginRadius provides its support authentication methods via SMS workflow and Google Authenticator workflow.

For SMS Workflow

You can enable SMS verification from the LoginRadius admin console. There's also an option to choose your preferred SMS template and SMS provider.

As the first step, you'll need to apply a first verification factor, like standard email and password login, username and password, automated phone call, or access token. The second factor can be a one-time password or code sent via SMS.

Google Authenticator Workflow

For enabling Google Authenticator, the first step will be to set up your ID in the admin console for Google to identify your website or application on the authenticator.

Next, you will need to set up your QR code specifications or make MFA mandatory.

Similar to the SMS workflow, you can select standard email and password login, username, password, automated phone call, or access token as the verification factor.

Final Thoughts

With cybercrimes on the rise, it is essential to make your online security measures more robust. Hence, to protect your account and the history, you need to learn how to set up 2fa on your accounts for an additional safety cover. It not only protects your online social accounts but other accounts as well.

Originally published at LoginRadius

How to Set Up 2FA on All Your Online Accounts

Secure your accounts online by setting up 2FA. Know why two-factor authentication is the best way to securely verify login attempts and prevent data breaches.

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[mobappdevelopmentcompany]

An Extensive Guide on Making a Modern-day Messaging App in 2021!

A few years back, sending a single text message to someone used to be charged quite a bit. But since the emergence of new-age messaging apps, chatting with anyone from any corner of the world is now free. So it is no surprise that more than 50% of all smartphone users have one or more messaging apps installed on their phones.

This niche has progressed tremendously in the last decade. With around 2 Billion users on WhatsApp and 1.3 Billion users on Facebook Messenger, it is evident that the popularity of the messaging applications is at its peak. Besides, there are a plethora of other famous apps like Snapchat, WeChat, Telegram, Skype, Viber, etc. that attract millions of users daily. No wonder why start-ups, leading entrepreneurs, and even giant enterprises are competing to create such messaging apps.

So, are you one amongst them? Do you want to create such a captivating messaging application? If yes, this post is for you.

Here we have explained how to create an appealing chat app despite the tough competition in the market. What features are to be embedded in it? What are the challenges involved? We will also shed light on the security best practices and time required to design a full-fledged chat app. So, let’s dive deeper.    

Must-have Features of a New-age Messaging Application

It is essential to pick the right feature-set for creating an impactful messaging app. The app should be user-friendly, convenient, and support multitasking. The app should easily provide the users with their chat records. Also, it should be quick in responding to them without long hold times.  

Here are some fundamental and powerful features to integrate into such an app. These will make the app appealing to the end-users and provide them a unique chatting experience.

Authorization of the Users to easily sign-up via phone numbers, social media, email IDs, etc.

Account creation, profile setting, and ability to customize their profiles on the chat app.

Instant messaging, message delivery status, group chats, etc.

Ability to import contacts so that the users can instantly connect with others in their contact list.

File sharing functionality to exchange files like photos, audio clips, documents, videos, and any other similar content.

Blocking or reporting unwanted users.

Push notifications

Geo-location tracking

End-to-end encryption

Synchronization of the app across multiple devices

A Few more Advanced Features to Consider

Voice and video calling

Ability to permanently destroy messages, statuses, stories, etc.

Photo editing feature

Public channels for users to connect with like-minded users or simply read/view the content they like through these channels

Entertainment elements like emoticons, gifs, animations, stickers, etc.

Live-streaming options

Chatbots- an advanced marketing tool for monetization

In-app games (though it is a rare feature)

Vital Steps to Architect an Engaging Messaging App

Research by doing a thorough analysis of the market, best apps available, current trends, competitors, target audience, etc. Try downloading and using some of the existing apps for in-depth knowledge of messaging apps and also identify the issues in such apps.

Decide on the concept of the app, its unique selling proposition, and brainstorm on how the app will befit the target audience. Ensure that you are targeting to fix some issues and gaps that the existing apps from stores have.

Identify your business objectives, strategy to create the app, and app monetization techniques.

Decide whether to go for messaging app's MVP or a feature-rich model.

Choose the platform- whether Android or iOS or both.

Pick reliable features to be embedded in the app from the aforesaid list.

Identify a proven and experienced messaging app development company and partner with it for your project.

Share your objectives with their team and work together to create your dream app with a seamless UX/UI design.

Communicate with them from time to time during the chat app development process.

Test the app thoroughly before launching it in the market and modify it if required.

Implement the planned monetization strategies before the app’s release.

Now publish the app on the respective stores.

Collect inputs from the users, conduct surveys, etc. to get insights on how well is your app doing in the market.

Keep maintaining it and improving it according to the response from the target users.

Gradually add new features as you progress.

In the write-up, “What are the Key factors a Startup should Focus on While Developing a Mobile App?” you will get additional insights on this subject.

Potential Challenges in the Messaging App Development Journey

Security Threats: Users want assurance that their conversations are safe and their data does not leak out in any case. This can be challenging to implement for chat app development companies. Please read along as we have discussed in detail the best security practices in the later section.

Server Overload: As the app users start rising, servers may get overloaded, particularly during peak load times. So, the server setup should be capable of handling such loads. Also, all other probable downsides of the server you identify and the remedial measures for those issues should be considered in advance.

Unstable Internet Connections: Internet connectivity can weaken or cut off due to several unpredictable reasons. At such times, some messages sent by users could get lost. So, the apps should be designed to work in an offline mode. When the connection restores, the lost messages should be reproduced.

Issues during App Updates: It must be ensured that while updating the apps with new features and functionalities, existing data shouldn’t be lost owing to architecture configuration or server issues. Ensuring this is especially challenging in real-time chat apps.

Multiple Solutions in One App: Nowadays, users expect a chat app to be much more than a simple app that exchanges texts, calls, multimedia, etc. They expect extra facilities like in-app payments, gaming, capabilities for online marketing of their business, etc.

Security Best Practices to Employ

Messaging apps hold a monumental amount of personal, confidential, and sensitive data of the users, and hence, security must be a vital consideration in the messaging app development process.

Let us have a glance at what some of the renowned apps have done to achieve top-grade security.

WhatsApp developed an end-to-end encryption system by partnering with Open Whisper Systems, a software development group at Signal.org. This system ensures the privacy and security of all the communications happening via the app and even WhatsApp cannot decrypt the chats.

Another app Telegram makes its app secure by utilizing its in-house encryption protocol. Every week or whenever the users complete sending a pre-defined number of messages, cryptographic keys in the app are changed. Even though a single message is intercepted, all other messages remain encrypted.

So, for attaining this kind of security in your chat app, go through the below-given security practices and ensure that they are implemented in the app.

For any kind of client-server connection, make use of TLS/SSL protocols.

Utilize powerful authentications like two-factor authentication in the app.

Implement end-to-end encryption, private and public-key encryption, etc. for the content like text, audio/video calls, etc.

Ensure that your app complies with data protection and privacy requirements of GDPR i.e. General Data Protection Regulation.

Back up everything on the app from time to time.

Use biometrics for the users while accessing the app.

Never save sensitive data of the users in the database. You can either use hashing algorithms or encode such data.

For infrastructure deployment, using a private network is one of the best solutions.

Apply throttling and rate-limiting.

Users should be able to download media files only when they are active or online. To ensure this, Private File Object storage can be used for each chat with authorization and authentication.

Make use of an SHA-512 hashing algorithm in the apps.

Display privacy policies to the users and create additional functionality for them to ensure better data protection.

For gaining some more knowledge on the security of mobile apps, do read the blog- “Actionable Tips for Top-grade Security in Mobile Apps!”.

Timeline Required and Budget Considerations for Creation of a Chat App

Predicting the exact time and pricing of a chat app is not possible until the knowledge of certain factors. This includes the factors like the number of features you decide to embed and their complexity, the number of screens, the platforms you choose for messaging app development, design requirements, the technology stack that you finalize, any peculiarities of the third parties involved, country of development, etc.

Timeline and costing also depend on whether you want to have an MVP model developed first, or a full-fledged app. Based on these factors, the messaging app development services may require a minimum of 2 months and a maximum of 5 months approximately. The pricing could range from $20,000- $50,000; which may somewhat vary from vendor to vendor. Reach out to us to get an estimate for your tailored requirements.

Concluding Thoughts:

The digital world and the end-users always await the arrival of unique messaging apps having compelling concepts, despite the presence of myriad apps in the market. So, entrepreneurs across the globe are experimenting to architect such new-age chat apps. Besides, several existing apps are also being updated with the chat functionality to allure more users as well as gain a competitive edge.

So, are you also wanting to embed this vital feature in your app? Or do you have an amazing concept in mind? Biz4Solutions, an experienced messaging app development company based in Texas, can assist you through the process. Just drop us a line!

To know more about our core technologies, refer to links below:

React Native App Development Company

Angular App Development Company

Blockchain app development

[mrahmancr7]

What age is TikTok

Professionals on TikTok get on and Smash it now.

The world is changing. People have shorter attention spans. People want information quick. Short form video content (under 30 seconds) is getting more attention than the other sort of content on social media.

Are you continue to underestimating TikTok? Are you uninterested in Instagram’s snail-like growth? TikTok could seriously help grow your brand, much faster than the other platform. But why?

Here are 10 reasons why professionals and corporations should smash it on TikTok immediately in 2021:

1. Any Niche, Any Professional on TikTok

Yes, TikTok started getting famous due to dancing, but if you are doing not want to ascertain dancing, then TikTok will now show it to you. what's so successful about TikTok is that the algorithm. It gradually understands what you wish by watching what you've got watched and interacted with. If you looked for plumbing then watched a couple of plumbing videos, then the algorithm will recognize that and feed you more relevant content almost like that. you'll find many professional on the platform. I even have connected with doctors, lawyers, engineers and professional athletes to call just a couple of . If you're wondering what quite content you'll create for yourself or your business, you simply need to look for something similar by other professionals on TikTok, in your niche, to urge ideas. A baker can show baking bread, a chiropractor can show necks being clicked. The ideas are endless.

If you're lucky to figure for you own company then the chances are endless. Companies do encourage social media for promotion. Sam Fares (@thepatentattorney), who may be a Lawyer, says people at his work are surprisingly supportive. TikTok are often an honest marketing tool and even large companies are beginning to add a social media policies to make sure boundaries aren't crossed.

2. it isn't only for Kids

According to Comscore statistics, US TikTok users by age is: 33% children and 67% adults. This statistic was taken at the top of 2020, so it's fairly old now therefore the platform has matured even more now.

Even, Gordan Ramsey (@gordonramsayofficial) is using TikTok himself now and most of the large YouTubers like Mr. Beast (@mrbeast) are there already. Instagram Reels remains far behind TikTok - the videos on Reels are like what was being shown on TikTok two years ago, with mostly music only. you'll copy the platform but you'll not copy the audience. i buy many comments and messages by adults everyday on the platform and on the road . a number of these are passed on from their siblings too. Bare in mind, if you influence the younger generation, this also rubs off on the oldsters . So TikTok could even be an honest investment strategy if you are doing target Generation Z. But eventually 67% of TikTok users are adults.

3. TikTok Helps Growth on other platforms like IG and Youtube

TikTok provides links on your profile for both Instagram and Youtube. there's also a choice to add link to your website otherwise you can even put LinkedIn there if you wish . These links are quite other platforms need to offer. Instagram only allows you to insert one link on your platform, so does Twitter, and Clubhouse that only as two. These links gives an honest opportunity to spread your followers elsewhere. Social Media Strategist, Caleb Chin (@socialfeed) thinks that one among the quickest thanks to grow a following on Instagram in 2021 is to create a TikTok following. i might need to agree.

"The quickest thanks to grow on Instagram is to create a following on TikTok."

Successful TikTok accounts also can build an outsized number of subscribers on Youtube without even published one video on YouTube. Take writer and storyteller, Greg Hinthorn (@hinthorn) for instance . He reached bent his TikTok audience and told them he will published his first Youtube video when he reached 4000 subscribers on there. Now he has reached 4000 subscribers on Youtube from TikTok. he's now publishing videos on both platforms.

4. Most Downloaded App on the App Store

According to Appfigures data, TikTok is that the most downloaded app. 90% of all TikTok users access the app on a day to day . 

Furthermore, consistent with App Annie, TikTok's screen time at the start of 2021 overtook Facebook for the primary time. the typical screen time for a mean TikTok user is over 20 hours per month.

5. Engagement Can Attract Leads

Client opportunities, contacts, influence and leads - the engagement within the comments section on TikTok is insane. I even have never seen anything love it . there's also a messaging service on TikTok. this will be turned in settings, so anyone can send you a message. you'll also directly reply to an issue via a video which which is shared on your feed, which may helps engagement.

American Architect Tom Reynolds AIA (@tiktokarchitect) has been active on the platform for a year now confirms.

"I'm actually getting more work coming from TikTok now, than anywhere else."

6. TikTok is Authentic

TikTok is transparent and authentic. there's not many commercials or people trying to sell. you are doing not get many of us selling their eBook or spending the primary 5 mins asking you to subscribe because those sort of videos don't had best . TikTok is blunt, straight to the purpose and these are the videos that had best on TikTok. People try to offer something quickly. If you give value meaning something, then an audience will come. Vulnerability is additionally a key factor that folks like. the right filtered and edited photograph on Instagram isn't authentic, neither may be a highly produced YouTube video. People can relate to TikTok because its real - the videos that tend to try to to well aren't the over productive type. it's like what Youtube was 20 years ago. Transparency, vulnerability and authenticity goes an extended way on social media in 2021 and TikTok fits.

7. Learn on TikTok

TikTok has heavily invested $50 million into an ingenious learning fund on short form educational content, which might be the longer term for social media and online education. If you begin learning the way to give information or teach with videos now, this might bring many opportunities for your business or personal brand within the near future. it's not about selling something - its about giving value.

"We've partnered with over 800 public figures, media publishers, educational institutions, and real-world professional ... to supply us creative learning." -TikTok

8. Its Quick and straightforward 

If you're a business and employing a videographer to try to to you videos - take care . tons of media companies don't have much experience with short form video, or TikTok. it's a reasonably new thing. they're likely wont to top quality produced videos. Have they published many short videos? Have they built an audience before? These are the questions you ought to be asking them. Quantity is more important for brief form video content. The TikTok app has almost everything in it to make videos quickly, even green screen. you are doing not need to spend one to 2 hours during a room like Club House or spend every week editing an extended form video. Many creators are beginning to up the sport with mirrorless cameras rather than their phone, for higher quality, but this has not oversaturated the platform yet.

9. 100% Creativity

This makes it fantastic if you're within the creative industry. Creating videos displays your creativity. YouTube and TikTok are the highest creative media platforms.

On one hand, you've got you Instagram and LinkedIn where there's tons of individuals sharing other people's content? for instance , a number of the highest architecture accounts on Instagram are accounts reposting other peoples content. it is the same with LinkedIn. People even download other peoples videos on other platforms and repost them on LinkedIn. These videos don't have much creativity.

On the opposite hand, uploads on TikTok have very high creativity. one among my favorite and straightforward videos was made by Architect, Dory Azar (@dory.azar.architect) who actually drew a door swing under a door to elucidate how door swings are drawn. When lecture Dory on Clubhouse, he explained that folks like simple explanations - they appear to figure best.

10. More Organic Reach Than the other Platform

If you begin a replacement account on today with no followers, post something, that post has potential to succeed in more people than the other platform. there's only LinkedIn immediately that comes close. But, new businesses still slug away at Instagram and Facebook in 2021. These platforms tend to be more powerful for people that have already built an audience, have account authority, or want to pay via promotion. this is often partly the rationale why TikTok is so popular. Everyone features a chance for videos to try to to well and reach an audience. Social media apps like Instagram and Facebook are old matured platforms now. These reasons help make TikTok the platform of choice.

If you would like to create a brand, you ought to obviously start by getting to the platforms with the foremost reach. albeit you're still convinced the audience is just too young on TikTok, it could still be an honest marketing investment for you within the short to future .

It might be time to prevent shaking your head. Its a no brainer. TikTok and short form video content is here to remain .

RIBA Chartered Architect, Russell M. Henderson (@ArchitectRussell) is predicated in Tanzania, East Africa . He also 'edu-tains' his passion for Architecture Travel & Film with video content on YouTube , TikTok & Instagram.

Acquisition customer top 5 to use Tiktok 

Tiktok is presently gaining popularity with over 300 million active users worldwide. Most business owners feel Tiktok isn't ideal for business because it's crammed with entertainment and sometimes ridiculous videos.

But, that was what many said about Instagram and Snapchat. Today, these two platforms are getting used by top brands to get many thousands for his or her business monthly. 

There are numerous reasons why small business must use Tiktok to urge new customers. But during this post, we only covered top 5 reasons.

1. it's Easy to create Communities

With Tiktok for business, building communities is extremely easy. Tiktok may be a video content platform, and with video, grabbing people’s attention is extremely easy as modern-day users are more likely to consume video content than written content.

So, small business owners can cash in of this to make numerous videos of about 15 – 60 seconds to grab the eye of their audience and build their following. 

Some people are just on the platform to consume content and to not create. So, with this in mind, your job is to offer them something to consume and obtain their interest.

2. Over 500 Active Users Globally

The number of active users on Tiktok is insane. With over 500 million active users globally, this is often not a chance small businesses should ignore. 

Although the most important demographic of Tiktok users are between the age of 16 – 24. But that doesn’t mean people of older age aren't there.

Much like other previous “hot” social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, Generation Z was the primary to leap on them. So is that the same for Tiktok.

However, if you log into the platform now, you'll find freelancers, dentists, teachers, fashion designers, and even grandparents actively using the platform. 

3. it's Easy to Grab Users Attention 

Tiktok may be a video-sharing platform and videos are the sole quite content that grabs your attention without you approving it. It starts playing immediately you set your eyes thereon . 

Small businesses can cash in of this to share educational, entertaining, and promotional videos moderately. Users are on the platform to be entertained so small businesses must find out how to balance their content because it only takes a scroll to chop your video out. 

4. Top Brands Are Claiming their Spots

Go check in on Tiktok now and search if you won’t find top brands like Walmart, Family Feud, HP, and other top brands. numerous brands are now taking advantage of the trend to make awareness and obtain more customers for his or her business. 

5. A Platform to Sell with Fun

As a sensible marketer, you ought to be ready to promote your brand to your audience with less invasive techniques. Millennials are already conscious of most marketing tactics and thus they're going to ignore your videos if you are trying to travel the standard ways. 

Using stories in your content to pass your brand message will produce a win for you. you'll gain tons of attention by launching a hashtag challenge. A hashtag challenge is where you tell users to make a specific quite video and incorporate your branded hashtag thereto .

You can work with a Tiktok influencer to actually make this type of challenge go viral. 

What you need to know about TikTok 

TikTok is one of those social networks that grew in popularity VERY quickly, but if you are over the age of 30, you still might have NO IDEA what the platform is all about.

Let’s start with the basics:

Who uses it?

TikTok is primarily used by the under 30’s. 60% of US TikTok users are aged between 16-24, according to a November 2019 release from Reuters.

What is it?

TikTok is basically a re-branding of Musical.ly (don’t worry if you haven’t heard of that either). Basically, it is a social platform where creators can post 15ish second videos (up to 60 seconds) that are shared to their followers, with hopes of landing on the apps “For You Page” (FYP).

What is being posted?

This is a tough one. In the early days, TikTok was full of lip-syncing, and dancing. Today, the scope of content varies, and the algorithm that the platform uses is VERY advanced. Based on the types of videos you watch, and seem to enjoy – the algorithm will shoot out all sorts of videos that it thinks you may enjoy.

For this reason, you may see completely different content than someone else on the app. There are now “Sides” of TikTok as the youth are calling it. This basically means the type of content you are being shown. Political TikTok, Dancing TikTok, Alt TikTok, Straight TikTok, Food TikTok or many others!

Disclaimer: I am definitely on the Puppy and FoodTok side!

Can you make money?

Depending on your location, there is now a creator fund on TikTok for some users. This means that you can earn money per-view on your videos. Unless you have a very large following (we are talking in the millions) TikTok might not be a stable source of income, however, the exposure it brings can open LOTS of doors. Many famous TikTok-ers are now treated like typical celebrities, so sponsors and endorsements are a large portion of their income.

Is it for business?

It’s a powerful tool for the right companies, with the right demographics. We have seen a bump of tiktok of companies using influencers to share their products, creating original ads, or creating accounts and posting unique content. If your target demographic is under 30, this could be a perfect platform to explore!

Even politicians are getting in on the action!

TikTok is a very trendy app, with tons of young minds. Some political figures are using this platform to reach out to young voters and soon-to-be voters. This is an incredibly smart move in my opinion!

One Canadian example that comes to mind is Jagmeet Singh - check out his profile here!

Should you get TikTok?

This is a personal choice. If you are a fan of Instagram and social media in general, and you can use a smart phone with 60% confidence… why not give it a shot?

There have been privacy issues globally, and instances of banning in the US – so do your research and be mindful of what you are sharing, commenting, and engaging with on the App.

Overall, it is a fun platform with absolutely no pressure to ever post anything yourself. You can watch videos for hours, or if you are feeling up to the challenge – try posting a video for yourself!

Conclusion 

If your business targets millennials, Tiktok is the perfect platform to get new customers for your business. Small businesses willing to create entertaining and humorous videos can take advantage of this platform to create visibility for their brands and get new customers.

[signalfanclub]

What is Mobile Device Security & How To Protect Portable Devices

Not only your messages are encrypted, each person in the conversation can set messages to expire — so that even if a device is compromised, the messages can be set to already disappear. You can also add a separate lock screen on the app for additional security. And the app keeps getting stronger and stronger. Recently, Signal rolled out a new feature that masks the phone number of a message sender, making it better for sender anonymity.

Due to advanced security features and user privacy, Signal has become the favorite app for high-risk jobs — like journalism, activism, and government workers.

Get the Signal App Now and Keep Your Device Safe From Data Breaches.

What is Mobile Device Security?

Mobile device security refers to the measures taken to protect sensitive data stored on portable devices. It is also the ability to prevent unauthorized users from using mobile devices to access user’s personal data. Examples of devices that require this type of protection include smartphones, laptops, tablets, wearables, and other portable devices.

What are the Mobile Device Security Best Practices?

People are focused on all of the potential threats to devices, which include malicious mobile apps, phishing scams, data leakage, spyware, and unsecure WiFi networks. To understand more about security methods for mobility, here are a few best practices to follow:

Promote Biometrics

For the longest time, having a strong password was the key to securing mobile devices. After all, over 80% of data breaches are the result of weak passwords. However, even if a mobile device has strong password policy, breaches can still occur. Even a two-factor authentication for passwords, which is considered to be a major security protocol, can be breached as well.

The best alternative for passwords on mobile devices is biometrics. Biometric authentication is when a computer uses measurable biological characteristics, such as face, fingerprint, voice, and iris recognition for identification and providing access.

Remote Lock And Data Wipe

One of the most important ways to limit mobile device threats is to enforce a strict remote lock and data wipe policy. With this strategy, a person can ensure that his / her mobile device has an extra layer of protection. Under this policy, whenever a mobile device is believed to be stolen or lost, then the person now has the ability to either remotely lock the device or erase any data on it. Many IT experts view remote lock and data wipe as one of the most basic security methods.

Block Potentially Dangerous Apps

It is common for people to download apps that are not trusted. Some of these they could use for work, and others they might be downloaded for personal reasons. Either way, those apps that are not trusted could be harmful. Generally, a mobile user doesn’t know that some apps are malicious and are designed by hackers. Malicious apps are of the fastest growing threats to mobile devices. In one year, Google caught over 700,000 malicious apps in the Play Store. When a person inadvertently downloads one, it provides unauthorized access to their personal data.

To combat this rising threat, people have two options. First, they should be aware about the dangers of downloading unapproved apps. Second, they should download and use trusted apps like Signal. Apps like Signal work across platforms. Best of all, they’re end-to-end encrypted, which means sent messages are scrambled on one end of the conversation (the device) and unscrambled at the other end on the recipient’s device. This makes it near-impossible for anyone (even the app maker) to see what’s being said.

Many popular apps, like Instagram, Slack and Snapchat don’t offer end-to-end encryption at all but Signal does.

Signal is an open source, end-to-end encrypted messaging app seen as the gold standard of secure consumer messaging services. Signal supports and encrypts all of your messages, calls and video chats with other Signal users. Some of the world’s smartest security professionals and cryptography experts have looked at and verified its code, and trust its security. The app uses your cell phone number as its point of contact to set the app up. Other than your phone number, the app is built from the ground up to collect as little metadata as possible.

Not only your messages are encrypted, each person in the conversation can set messages to expire — so that even if a device is compromised, the messages can be set to already disappear. You can also add a separate lock screen on the app for additional security. And the app keeps getting stronger and stronger. Recently, Signal rolled out a new feature that masks the phone number of a message sender, making it better for sender anonymity.

Due to advanced security features and user privacy, Signal has become the favorite app for high-risk jobs — like journalism, activism, and government workers.

Get the Signal App Now and Keep Your Device Safe From Data Breaches.

[quantumsoftech]

5 practices of mobile app development that customer base appreciates

Only 21% of apps are used by users within 6 months of downloading. And it takes 5–6 days for users to uninstall the app from its last user session.

Designing a custom-based mobile app doesn’t guarantee a good retention rate if it is not employed with good methodologies & practices on part of mobile app developers. The app needs to have features, practices & methods that user base appreciates & demand.

It is pivotal for a mobile app to have customer engagement to help businesses reap crucial growth & success. A mobile app is a direct & short-cut method to reach your audience in the right way. To engage the audience with your business offerings, it is important to engage them with your app first. But with practices & methodologies that your audience anticipates from you.

Here in the following, Quantumsoftech — a renowned mobile application development company will tell all the budding or established business houses about 5 quick mobile app development practices that they need to ask from custom mobile application development company — before setting up a prototype of your app.

Personalization in apps will never be an outdated concept

A brand like Starbucks is a pioneer in serving personalization within its apps.

The brand host the smart app that retracts its user’s listed preferences, purchase history, weather condition & basic account details.

Based on these insights, the brand work towards its deals & discounts to convince customers to purchase & spend more.

So now you know how its app draws out good deals for cold coffee on a scorching day.

Having a mobile app that helps in delivering personalized marketing & engagement strategies is a true winner.

And these strategies won’t fail since customers carry a mobile with the apps all the time.

2. An app that bolsters error-free functionality

90% of the user base doesn’t use the app just because it is poorly performing. 86% of users will directly uninstall the app if they feel that the app is exploiting their user experience. Also, users will only use the app once or twice after it fails to perform as expected.

Therefore, before launching an app it is must to have several error checks & omission-removal to deliver smooth & agile app.

Ask the mobile app development services to divide the testing areas of the apps as — Store specific checks, App user interface checks, App specific checks, Network specific checks & Device specific checks.

Each category will help developers eliminate or filter the buggy apps before their launch — perfectly and will result in apps with error-free functionality.

3. Special attention to security attributes

Customer base expects the apps to be secure from data hacks/breaches — says one mobile app development company.

Since the apps have personal data or information in the form of credit card details, the customers expect the app to be aligned with data privacy laws — enforced by GDPR.

Business houses or individual while partnering with mobile developers should plant the right & highest of security protocols in the form of two-factor authentication and strong encryption.

Apps should also have a “virtual delete all information option” just in case the user accidentally loses its device — suggested by mobile app development company.

4. Detailed market research before preparing a prototype of the app

A mobile app for businesses is going to be a marketing strategy that will help to fill in the gap between the audience & the brand.

The app’s main aim is to provide user’s with desired information, help the customer with good support & make purchasing easier for them.

Having basic features or information inside an app isn’t enough. An app should deliver value to customers. Therefore, extensive market research is a must on part of businesses or mobile apps development company to render more value-added experiences or UI to the audience in the form of a mobile app.

A short feasibility study followed by conducting a market survey or research is a must to get better hands-on customer expectations & ROI.

In your research, find out opinions, values & wants of potential buyers by conducting a survey or poll on the social platform.

Visit the famous crowdfunding platforms to find particular niche or activities in support of your app building.

Have a look at the trending & featured apps to see what’s making them so popular.

Search for the keywords similar to your competition during your research.

Find out what categories or type of apps are getting ahead in the Apple app store & Google play store.

Research whether your app type can have a customer avatar or replica for users in an interesting cartoon form to hold your customer’s attention — just like famous app Snapchat.

Identify the sheet of problem statements on part of users & then plan to formulate an app that answers those statements in no time.

5. Always aiming at perfecting the user experience by testing the apps

It’s worthy & necessary to have timely testing of apps to make sure that they are not lagging behind.

The aim of app developers should be to target on 5-star rating worthy experience even after the launch of such apps.

Any app that lapses while performing in terms of speed or functionality will take no seconds to hit the list of “uninstalls” — said by mobile app development services.

About us!

Quantumsoftech is an innovation-led custom mobile app development company that prepares mobility solutions that are very much in and compatible with different OS. Using disrupting technologies like AI, IoT & Blockchain to build the most secure & user-type apps right from scratch with software & resources utilized by industry’s experts & tech giants.

Outsource the big app idea to our mobile developers and experience the flourishing ROIs!

[xranker]

Top Video Marketing Trends in 2019: What will Help Your Revenue Grow?

By 2022, videos will command 82% of all internet traffic and 90% of customers today claim videos help them make purchase decisions This recent interest in video marketing began picking up in 2016 It then snowballed quickly to reach never-before-seen levels by 2018 – the year that we now call the year of video marketing. And its growth is showing no signs of slowing down Here are some of the video marketing trends that are all set to rule 2019 1 The Rise of Short-Lived Content The year 2013 saw the launch of Stories by Snapchat – essentially, content that lasts only for 24 hours Stories are short messages that can be produced easily and are a great way to start conversations with your audience. Over the years, their popularity has risen significantly and are set to become one of the top video marketing trends this year! Why is there so much demand for short-lived content? The answer lies in psychology Long story short, it’s the fear of missing out or FOMO that kicks in when short-lived content is introduced You can use Stories to show behind-the-scenes footage of your product development or to announce the launch of a new product Everlane , an apparel brand uses Instagram stories to showcase behind-the-scenes content about how their products are made and sometimes, even talk about the origins of the product They use stories effectively to showcase their authenticity 2 Explainer Video Usage Will Grow Explainer videos essentially describe a product or idea in a simple, compelling manner They are usually 1-2 minutes long and explain how your company solves a problem for its target audience They also usually include a clear and effective CTA or call-to-action This allows you to showcase your product in a crystal-clear way What’s more, a majority of people would rather watch a video than reading text to understand and learn about a product or service In fact, 96% of people claim to have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service With all that being said, their usage is sure to grow this year too! Check out this explainer video by SpazioDati for their product, Atoka RECOMMENDED RESOURCE : 5 Powerful Reasons to Use Video Content on Your Landing Pages 3 The Focus Shifts to Live Video Pre-recorded video is taking a backseat compared to live video this year Introduced as late as 2016, they have become very popular and the live video industry is already set to cross the $70 billion mark by 2021 And there are good reasons why this format is going so big: Higher Authenticity – Compared to pre-recorded video, live video is perceived to be more authentic and enhances trustworthiness Showcase Personality – Live video is a great platform to showcase brand personality This makes the video memorable and helps to leave a lasting impression Leverage Excitement – The excitement and unpredictability of live videos draw in audiences in large numbers These factors render live video a great vehicle to build a loyal fan base for companies big and small, hence making it one of the biggest video trends this year 4 Subtitling Finds Broad Adoption Consider the fact that no less than 85% of Facebook videos are watched on mute The viewer may be at work, listening to the radio or in an otherwise public place at the time Also, research by PLYMedia shows that 40% more viewers complete videos with subtitles It comes as no surprise, then that subtitles have become an important aspect of video marketing Under such conditions, not only do subtitles or closed captions help increase viewership but also boost SEOThis is because you can include multiple relevant keywords to improve SEO results Also, people who have hearing disabilities is a market with massive potential This section of people will greatly benefit from subtitles, hence, unlocking tremendous potential for businesses to engage with them Yet another market that’s now opening up in big ways is the population that speaks their native language alone Subtitles make videos accessible and engaging for these audiences too A great example of their use is by digital marketing expert, Neil Patel His video blogs include subtitles and transcripts, making them more accessible 5 Square and Vertical Video Formats Become Popular Square-shaped and vertically-shot videos were the highlight of 2018 and continue to gain ground as one of the social media trends in 2019 While Instagram is responsible for the rise of the former, Snapchat popularized the latter The aspect ratios of square and vertical video formats are 1:1 and 9:16, 4:5 or 2:3 respectively Square-shaped videos take up 78% more space in a mobile feed compared to landscape or horizontal videos They also garner 30-35% more views and a whopping 80-100% more engagement Moreover, square-format videos are more cost-effective to produce for Instagram and Snapchat Having said that, it must also be said that vertical video ads get watched to completion 9 times more than horizontal videos on Snapchat Format has thus come to play a crucial role in determining the number of views and engagement generated through videos and will continue to be important this year too! 6. 360-Degree and VR Videos Gain Ground Let’s understand these two categories of videos, first. 360-degree videos allow you to navigate up, down, left, or right within a space VR or virtual reality videos, meanwhile, offer you the experience of being present at the scene of action While the technology involved in the production of 360-degree and VR videos is still evolving, it is safe to say that they are catching on fast The cost of production too is likely to reduce soon In fact, this study claims that 360-degree video ads resulted in a 7% increase in purchase decisions on smartphones This is owing to the fact that these ads leave a stronger impact when viewed on smartphones as compared to desktops While only 11% of marketers have used VR videos – an emerging technology – so far, what is encouraging is that a majority of them have found them to be effective. With the evolution of technology, the production frequency is set to rise when it comes to 2019 7 Influencer Video Marketing On the Rise In recent years, influencer marketing has become a huge trend It has a proven ROI – it returns as much as $650 for every $1 spent But what is influencer video marketing? It refers to companies partnering with influencers to showcase their brand using video content Influencers have a large social media following and have gained the trust and loyalty of their audience This credibility that the influencer commands draws in audiences and aids the promotion of the brand in question Jenn Im, a popular fashion vlogger and social media influencer partnered with ColourPop Cosmetics to promote their new line of cosmetics in 2016 8 Personalized Videos For Sales And Marketing Sales and marketing teams have used videos for their needs for a while now However, what’s new on this front is the use of personalized videos They are being used to showcase sales pitches, product features, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes footage through videos This is done so as to garner customer loyalty They showcase authentic content, often making use of employees of the organization to achieve the same end Check out this behind-the-scenes look of employees from Zendesk talking about the work on the rebranding of the product RECOMMENDED RESOURCE : How Product Videos Can Affect Conversion Rates by Shane Barker 9 Video and Email Come Together Video and email make for a compatible pair, and how! Given the packed and overflowing inboxes of today, video offers a neat way to stand out from the crowd. Add some pizzazz to your email with a snazzy video and you’ll have more of your audience sitting up and noticing The inclusion of the word “video” in the subject line of an email increases open rate by 19% and click-through-rates by 65% The same holds true for video thumbnails versus plain links. With an ever-increasing number of marketers seeing success with this technique, this video trend is set to see growth in 2019 10 Authenticity Trumps Big Budgets Authenticity is overtaking big-budget, ultra-smooth productions Could small businesses ask for more? With this trend picking up, we are seeing a pretty neat leveling of the playing fields for big brands and small alike Moreover, videos offer a path to develop customer trust – a key component of any marketing strategy Showcasing genuine and personal content has become a means to convey authenticity. These videos often get shot on smartphones This conveys an embracing of one’s own flaws and imperfections, showing the brand in a light that’s more real, relatable, and trustworthy 11 Produce Videos, Minus the Hole in Your Pocket Today, neither do you have to be a professional nor own expensive equipment to shoot a video Smartphones in everyone’s hands have taken away the need for these. Add to this the market need to be authentic today, and you needn’t hesitate to move away high-budget video production Online video tools such as Animoto , Powtoon , Renderforest and Biteable help in creating good-quality videos in a cost-effective manner So what are you waiting for?! Wrapping Up The technological landscape of our time boasts smart devices capable of streaming HD videos in virtually every user’s hand High-speed internet has made video marketing more convenient for audiences to engage with Add to this the irresistible pull of video marketing as compared to other media and it becomes clear why video marketing is, in fact, here to stay in 2019 Use the power of video to ace your marketing game today! Read the full article

[recsnap]

How can I recover a deleted Snapchat account?

Losing your account can be a pain, especially if its Snapchat, as most of us are using it for its privacy oriented features. Whether you have forgotten your password or someone has hacked into your account, losing access to your account in any scenario is frustrating. In this article, we are going to show you how you can recover your Snapchat account if you have lost access to it and what you can do to make it more secure.

How to Recover Your Snapchat Account (2021) Before you start the recovery process of your account, you should know what has made you lose access to your account. Sometimes we just forget our password. Other times, someone might have hacked our account and logged us out of it. We are going to see how we can recover access to our accounts in all these cases. How to Recover Snapchat Account if You Have Lost Your Password If you have forgotten your Snapchat account’s password and cannot log into it, you can easily regain access to your account by resetting the password. Here is how you can reset your account password.

Launch Snapchat on your phone and tap on login. Now, enter your username or email and then tap on the “Forgot your Password?” button.

Now, choose whether you want to recover your account using your phone or email. Let’s say we chose email. On the next page, enter your email ID and then tap on the “Submit” button.

Now, Snapchat will send you an email with the link to reset the password. Tap on the link and enter your new password to reset it. In case you chose the recovery by phone option. Enter your phone number and then choose whether you want to use the message or call option. I prefer the message option as it is easy to use.

Now, all you need to do is enter the OTP that you have received and then enter the new password that you want to use. Recover Snapchat Account if You Forgot Your Username and Email If you have not used Snapchat in a while and are trying to get back in the game it might be hard if you don’t remember your username. The easy way to recover your account is to use your email instead of the username and then use the forgot password method described above. However, what happens if you have forgotten the email ID that you used to create that account. Well, here is what you can do about it.

Make a list of all email IDs that you have. Most of the people who forget their Snapchat email ID have multiple email IDs and simply don’t remember which one they used to create the account. So, make sure you have listed all your email IDs. Now, launch the app on your phone and then proceed through the recovery process. Use the recovery by email option and enter all your emails one by one. The emails that are not associated with any email account will result in an error reading “Email address is invalid.”. Repeat the same process until you find the right email ID and then use it to reset the password and recover your account.

How to Recover Stolen Snapchat Account Recovering a stolen Snapchat Account is not easy. How hard the recovery will be, depends on the changes that hacker has made to your account. If you find out that your account info has been leaked in a data dump (haveibeenpwned is a good place to check), all you need to do is change your password so that no one can access your account. If someone has already accessed your account and changed the password, you can use the password reset route to take back the control of your account. However, if someone has changed not only the recovery email ID but also the phone number associated with that account, then you can do nothing about it. The only thing left to do is to contact Snapchat Help, fill up a form and hope that they recover the account for you.

How to Secure Your Snapchat Account It’s always better to secure your Snapchat account from the start than to wait for a tragedy to strike and then scramble to deal with it later. There are a few steps that you can take to make sure that your account is always secure and there’s a very low probability of anyone getting into it without your knowledge.

Make Sure Your Email ID and Number is Updated Creating an account on Snapchat is pretty easy. All you need to do is to enter your name, birthday, and either a phone number or email ID. In fact, it can be any email ID and phone number and you don’t have to use a real one. While this is great if you don’t want to share your personal email ID and number with Snapchat, it also means that if you lose your password or someone hacks into your account, there will be no way to get it back. To make sure that your email ID and phone number is updated and verified, open the app go to Settings and see if you have done it or not. Enable Two-Factor Authentication While you are in Snapchat’s settings, it would be also great if you enable the two-factor authentication as it decreases the chances of anyone breaking into your account. To enable it, open Settings tap on “Two-Factor Authentication” and then follow the steps to enable it.

7. Enable Two-Factor Authentication Use Best Practices for Passwords While this is common sense, not many people adhere to it. You should always follow the best practices for creating a password. That means creating different passwords for different accounts and using a long and random password with various combinations of numbers, letters, and special characters.

passwrods Unless you have a beautiful mind, it will be impossible to do it manually so I suggest that you try a password manager app. There are tons of good passwords managers on the market and you can choose one that you like.

Take Control of Your Snapchat Account I hope this article was able to help you recover your Snapchat account. If you take away anything from this article, I would like it to be the point that you should make it harder for others to steal your account. Do let us know your thoughts on the article, by writing in the comments section below. Also, don’t forget to check our Snapchat tricks article to get the most out of this social media platform.

Losing a Snapchat account can be disastrous as many of us use the Social for private purposes and its privacy oriented features. Forgetting passwords or email, or being the victim of hacking are possible ways to lose an account.

This guide aims to show you how to recover your Snapchat account whether you forgot your account password or email or you were hacked, and also how to keep it (literally).

How To Recover Your Lost Snapchat Account? The first step to solving a problem is to know its root causes. This may be that we forgot our passwords or we were hacked and logged out. Knowing how you lost your Snapchat account should help you understand how to recover it.

How To Recover Your Snapchat Account Of You Forgot Your Password? If you have forgotten your Snapchat passwords and want to log in, follow the steps below to recover your account by resetting the Passwords.

1. Launch the Snapchat app on your smartphone and tap on Login. Enter your username or email and tap the “Forgot your password” option right under the PASSWORD box.

2. A box will pop up asking you to ” Please choose how you want to reset your password.” Here we choose email. One the next page, enter your email address and tap the “Submit” button (scroll to step 4 if you wish to use phone number).

3. You will receive an email from Snapchat. The email contains a link to reset the password. Tap on the link and enter your new secure password (check how to make easy and secure passwords here lazily).

4. If you wish to recover the account via phone, choose the phone option in step two above and enter your mobile number. Tap the “Continue” button and in the pop-up, choose how you want your phone number to be verified; either via message (Send Via SMS) or call option.

5. Choose the SMS option to receive OTP as it is easier to work with. Enter the OTP that you received in the place provided and proceed to reset your password. (If you enable Do Not Disturb on your SIM the message may not come through so you may have to use the call option).

How to Recover Your Snapchat Account if You Have Forgotten Your Username and Email? To be sincere, many of us have more than 4 email accounts and also play around with usernames when opening accounts. Other times, we forget our usernames and email because we abandoned the account for a while and we are trying to get back in the game.

If you are trying to recover your account in this scenario, try the options below;

1. Try to make a list of all your valid email addresses.

2. Launch the app on your smartphone and tap on Login. Enter your email or password and tap the ‘Forgot your password” option right under the PASSWORD box.

3. A box will pop up asking you to ” Please choose how you want to reset your password.” Here we choose email. On the next page, enter your email addresses and tap the “Submit” button. All invalid emails will result in an error reading Email address is invalid... Keep entering the different email addresses until you get the right one then proceed to reset the password.

How To Recover A Stolen Snapchat Account? Suppose your account was hacked the recovering the account will be difficult. The difficulty depends on the changes the hacker has made to the hacker. If you can still access the account (if your email has not been changed), then changing the password will be the easiest option.

However, if your recovery email address has been changed and your phone number too then there is only one thing that can be done on your end. Contact Snapchat Help, fill up an account recovery form and hope they recover the account for you.

How To Secure Your Snapchat Account? While the big corporations will always try their best to secure their platforms, Snapchat users should also know the steps are not complete until they also play a part in securing their accounts

One can open a Snapchat account using a fake email and number combination, which is cool but can be disastrous if you should forget your password or get hacked.

To update your email address and phone number, go to Settings and check.

Use Two Factor Authentication Also, in Snapchat settings, it will be wise to use Two Factor Authentication. This helps to decrease the chances of being hacked. This will prompt the app to request for a one time code any time you log in. I use Authy Authenticator app for Two Factor authentication.

Conclusion Remember to use reliable and secure passwords and refrain from sharing your passwords. Security is best when done personally.

Source:-

Recover Snapchat Account

[topicprinter]

Hey all! I'm a small business (print shop) owner and, having established my business locally over the past few years, have decided to spend 2019 studying and immersing myself in online marketing- Facebook/Instagram/Youtube/Tik Tok...I spent the past few months studying the Tik Tok alogrithm, figuring out what makes videos successful and best practices are when using the platform. Below is a rough draft of a write-up I'm planning to release on Linkedin in a few weeks. I think it's got some very useful info for those new to the platform and am open to debate with anyone who has successfully built a following and disagrees on any of the points :)Thank you!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is Tik Tok:If you haven’t heard of Tik Tok yet, it’s time to start familiarizing yourself with the social networking platform. With over 500 million active users and a higher organic reach than every other social media app on the App Store, Tik Tok is well on it’s way to overtake instagram (just like instagram overtook Facebook) as the must-have app for millenials and gen Z in the next half decade.I was put on the app by my younger brother, now twelve, who started using Tik Tok over two years ago. Back then the platform wasn’t as popular in the US, with most of its user base being centered in China and India. It also went under a different name- “Musically”. In 2017, the company was bought out by ByteDance and rebranded. Since then it has seen explosive growth in the United States, mainly among kidsA strange shift has occurred. Rather than gen Z following in the footsteps of millenials and adopting Facebook and Instagram as their platform of choice, zoomers found their own place on Tik Tok. Stranger still, month by month, I see my friends and peers downloading and using the app, and the older demographic on the app growing.For those not in the loop, Tik Tok is an app that allows users to take short, 15-60 second videos and share them with followers and strangers. The in-app video editor features a host of features, including fun filters and effect (like those seen on Snapchat and Facebook Messenger) and an audio embedding feature that plays a pre-recorded audio loop behind you clip. Users can borrow each others audio clips and record their own video over them sort of like a template, fostering as meme sharing culture. It’s really much easier to understand simply by hopping on the app and spending a few hours watching videos.Personal Experience:As I mentioned before I first heard of the app through my brother, Jimmy. He has been on the platform for about two years now and makes at least a video a day without fail, sometimes more. Most clips are shot in his room and the content ranges from short, highly edited, silly dances to 60 second videos of him talking about his day. He averages about 50 views a video and, on a good day, may get 15-20 likes.I made myself an account over a year ago but have only been a lurker up until last week, when I decided that I understand the ecosystem enough to throw my hat in the ring. I shot my first video on my iphone 8, made some minor edits on my computer, and posted the clip. Within the first 48 hours the 16 second video had over 200 thousand views and 30 thousand likes (edit: now 300k+ views and 50k likes). What’s even more impressive is that the clip wasn’t a random dancing video or funny skit, it was a product video. Specifically, it was a short montage of me printing a tshirt at my home studio, a tshirt I sell online. I’ve since posted several other clips with various success and hope that Tik Tok will be a viable marketing platform for my business and my personal brand in the coming years. (feel free to check it out at @this_is_jonjon on TikTok)The success of my first post was not a fluke but a function of proper search engine optimization and my familiarity with the Tik Tok algorithm. While the video itself was nothing out of the ordinary, everything else- the caption, the thumbnail I chose, the hashtags used, even the backing track in the clip were all vital to it’s reach. Below is a more detailed explanation of the Tik Tok algorithm and a list of the factors I believe made the clip go viral.The Algorithm:I’ll mention right off the bat that no one other than ByteDance developers know exactly how the Tik Tok algorithm works, however, while minor points can be debated, the overall idea of how Tik Tok distributes and "rates" content isn't a secret.When you first load the app, you land on the “For You” page, similar to the discover page on Instagram or Facebook/Linkedin news feed. This is where you, as a consumer of Tik Tok content, will spend most of your time. The app will show you videos in all sorts of random categories- car videos, funny videos, dancing videos.. And will decide based on view time (how long you continue watching each video before clicking away) and interactions (whether or not you like/comment/ or follow the creator) whether or not you have any interest in said category. Despite only working with these limited variables, Tik Tok very quickly figures out what you’re interested in and begins feeding it to you, still occasionally throwing in unrelated content to see if you’ll “bite”. You don’t need to tell Tik Tok anything about your interests, they figure it out for you, and they’re almost always right.The content that ends up on your “For You” page isn’t content that’s made by your friends like on instagram or creators you subscribe to like on Youtube, it’s completely random content. Whenever someone uploads a video, regardless of what category the video is in, Tik Tok will try to show it to 50-100 people to gauge the viewers’ reactions. If the video has a good engagement rate, Tik Tok will continue showing it to random users, and if it has bad engagement, it will be swallowed by the void. About a quarter of the videos on my For You pajjge are these “tester” videos, made by unknown creators and with (usually) less than 50 impressions. Tik Tok found a perfect balance between showing you proven content you’re genuinely interested in and showing you “tester” content to figure out whether that content is worth sharing with more users. If the app senses you’re getting bored, it will feed you less “tester” content and more videos with proven positive responses, and visa versa.Gaming the System:Your first video)There is one final detail I failed to mention in the previous few paragraphs. The first video that any user on Tik Tok posts gets an instant spike in impressions. As a new user, Tik Tok metaphorically “throws you a bone” and will in most cases show your video to more people right off the bat than it would a video by a repeat poster. This means that it’s vital to make your very first post on Tik Tok engaging.Unlike Youtube, for example, where you can feel free to post tons of crappy content as you get comfortable in front of the camera and find your voice, Tik Tok will literally punish you for having a bad start. The app will rate you based on your first video, and while it’s possible to climb back up after a bad start, it’s better to just hit the ground running.Consider making a “tester” account to try out a few different video formats before having an official launch on another account, or simply take several videos and save them all as drafts until you find something that’s worth launching your Tik Tok journey with. Whatever you do, don’t open your account and launch with a boring “Hello World” style video, it’s instant death.Follow general video guidelines)Your videos need to be engaging, so it should go without saying that they should be of decent quality. If your video is grainy and pixelated people will click away before even hearing your message (I’m calling you out, Android users!). The majority of Tik Tok creators are teenagers filming on the cheap, front-facing camera on their smartphones. Simply using the back-facing camera on a newer model iPhone and finding good lighting is enough to set you apart from the competition. I mention iPhones for a reason, by the way. It’s not because I’m an Apple fanboy, it’s simply because apps like Tik Tok and Snapchat are better coded for working with Apple hardware.Make sure not to go the opposite extreme, however. Tik Tok culture values authenticity, high definition videos filmed on 4k DSLR cameras come off as too professional and almost feel like advertisements. Tik Tok users want to see you filming on a handheld device, they want you using the in-app filters and sounds, and will click away instantly if they sense your content is fabricated and ingenuine.Trend hopping)In my personal experience, understanding the culture of Tik Tok is the most vital part to anyone’s success on the app. My viral post used an audio clip that had just become popular a day before, and therefore rode on the success of about a dozen other viral videos using the same clip. Just like a musician can gain their first small group of followers by doing covers of trending songs, many Tik Tok influencers gained notoriety by jumping on trends that were already proven to be popular. Much like Tik Tok feeds its users popular videos and interjects “tester” clips every once in a while, many popular Tik Tokers post mostly trending videos- clips of them lip syncing popular songs and copying current memes, and interject personal skits and less popular content within.There is no way to explain Tik Tok culture and current trends in an article like this, especially since new memes and trends appear literally every day. The best advice I can give to aspiring influencers is to download the app and spend 30-60 minutes a day over the course of the next two weeks browsing the For You page. You’ll quickly begin to recognize common themes and motifs, and will get an understanding of the culture I’m talking about.Ask for the close)Even at only 20 years old, I find a lot of the content on Tik Tok cringy and childish. This is likely because, though the user base is growing, gen Z’rs still make up the majority of content consumers on the app. Regardless of the reason, attention-seeking behavior tends to do fairly well on Tik Tok. Actually, very well.Simply adding “I worked super hard on this vid pls like” at the end of your clip is enough to boost conversion. My biggest mistake in my first post was not asking for the close. I didn’t embed my Tik Tok username in the video, I didn’t have good profile picture or bio on my account, and I didn’t ask people to follow me in the description. As a result, no one followed me. After the first 24 hours or so the video had reached over 100k views and 15k likes but I had about 50 followers on my account. Upon realizing this I quickly changed my profile picture to a clear photo and changed my bio to something along the lines of “follow me for more cool content”. My follower count more than quintupled within the next few hours.Though this may seem in-authentic to the average marketer, it really isn’t. Tons of kids on Tik Tok pour their heart and soul into their content and genuinely want people to follow them. These creators, as well as most of the audience, see nothing wrong in asking for likes or follows. Asking for the close, in the Tik Tok community, is seen as more of a friendly reminder than a pushy sale.more info on: https://influencermarketinghub.com/tiktok-statistics/ (this is not my website, just a source)Thanks for reading! Hoping this helps some people launch/grow their account. I haven't seen a decent writeup on Tik Tok best practices yet so I'm hoping this can serve as a foundation. Please debate/add on points in the comments. -Jonathan.

[margaretbeagle]

Reddit Marketing Strategies for Those Who Don’t Have Time for Reddit Marketing

Reddit is one of the most vibrant communities on the Internet and a powerful source of attention. A positive Reddit mention can mean thousands of visits to your website or your product.

Your audience may be there. Opportunities certainly exist there.

Should you be there, too?

It’s a tricky question to answer because one of the first rules for marketing on Reddit — one of the first rules for marketing on any social media site, really — is that you have to be genuinely engaged and committed to the communities you’re part of.

But there’s good news. You can gain so much from the awesome people at Reddit whether or not you have the time to fully dive in. Yes, there are marketing tactics to drive meaningful traffic. But there are also a handful of other ways to benefit by learning from the community, engaging with the community, and building a thoughtful Reddit strategy.

We’ll talk about it all in this post. Come along!

About Reddit Marketing

Reddit is one of the most vibrant communities on the Internet. And one of the largest, with over 300 million active users. 

To put that in perspective, that’s more than …

Twitter

LinkedIn

Snapchat

Pinterest

Yet when you hear about strategies for marketing to social networks, you rarely hear about Reddit. 

This isn’t to disparage all the great guides that people have written about Reddit marketing. They’re really good! These guides have some great tips in them, which we’ll do our best to condense into the most actionable takeaways that you can put to good use today. 

So why does Reddit fly under-the-radar when it comes to social media marketing options? 

Well, one of the key things to note about Reddit is that it’s not exactly welcoming to organic, native promotion. Reddit wants authentic contributions — which of course makes sense. That’s how the best social networks thrive!

This ethos is really well-captured in this phrase from Reddit’s community guidelines:

It’s perfectly fine to be a redditor with a website, it’s not okay to be a website with a reddit account.

Hmm, well, all of us brands and businesses are definitely websites. What are we to do?

One great thing about Reddit is that, while its guidelines are protective, they’re not meant to be exclusionary. There are ways for marketers to make use of Reddit in many ways, whether you’re interested in becoming a redditor or not, and whether you’re looking for organic or paid. Even if you don’t have time for full-scale Reddit marketing, there are ways you can gain from the Reddit community.

Reddit Marketing Strategies

1. Use Reddit as a Customer Research Tool to Find the Latest Trends

We believe this strategy can work for all marketers — whether you’re a redditor or not, and even if you only have small pockets of time to commit.

The great thing about this tip is that it doesn’t require you to devote yourself to becoming a seasoned Reddit contributor. Anyone can use Reddit for research, right now. It only takes a few minutes, and there’s a ton to gain for your marketing.

The premise is simple: 

You can gain marketing insight by using Reddit as a research tool to see what people are talking about and what’s trending right now. 

Step one: Find the subreddits that are relevant to your brand or business.

This will come in handy for the Reddit strategies we mention later on, too.

There are a couple different ways to search for subreddits. You can go straight to Reddit and search for the topics that you’re interested in. The search results will show you a list of suggested communities to join as well as a list of the most popular content related to your search term.

Another way to find subreddits is on a subreddit itself. The subreddit “find-a-reddit” is a place for people to ask questions about certain topics and then the community responds with ideas of subreddits to join.

Also, there are some great third-party options for subreddit searches. too.

One of the best is Redditlist which aggregates the most popular subreddits and lets you search for keywords. Also, Redditlist gives you some neat data on the subreddits, like how many subscribers it has and how fast it’s growing. 

Generally, the larger the subreddit, the faster you’ll be able to gain research insights. And of course, when you get into advertising potential, the larger the subreddit, the larger the audience.

Once you’ve found your “people” on Reddit, the next steps for researching are totally up to you.

You can go the super manual way and just navigate to each of the subreddits directly and browse them. If you go this route, I’d recommend setting up a regular reminder to visit things daily or weekly, depending on the volume of the subreddit.

And another way that works really well if you’re doing research or content at scale is to plug your subreddits into a content aggregator like Feedly. We do this for social media content on our Buffer feeds. This will pull in all of the subreddit threads directly into Feedly where you can browse them cleanly all at once. We’ve gained a lot of insights into social media trends by following Reddit conversations over the past months.

The one thing missing from the Feedly approach is going to be the upvotes and rankings for content. You won’t see this in Feedly. So what you can do instead is sort the content using Feedly’s popularity option, which scores posts according to their popularity on Feedly and other platforms. 

Then just like that, you’ve built your research engine. You can use it for things like:

Hearing what questions people are asking

Noticing what topics are getting the most attention

Keeping an eye on upcoming trends and competitor products, and 

Catching news stories you might have otherwise missed

While we’re on the topic of research, let’s go to our Reddit strategy number two, which you can also put to use whether you’re a redditor or not.

2. Use Reddit to get ideas on how to write catchy headlines

One factor into why content does well on Reddit — other than the quality of the content itself — is how something is framed or worded in the title. Redditors make great use of this space to show off what their post is about. Marketers can learn a lot from this!

You can observe the copywriting on Reddit to see what kind of styles are resonating with people and getting upvoted. Anything at the top of your chosen subreddits will be good to see. You can also go to the Reddit homepage or the subreddit “all” and check out the most popular posts across all of Reddit.

Then you can use these writing insights to feed back into your blog post headlines and email subject lines, just like that! 

3. Connect with people on Reddit who want to engage with your brand

Though Reddit might not want marketers in their midst, the topics do occasionally shift to products … maybe even your product. A good social media practice is to be present with your customers and audience wherever they are, which means lending a listening ear to Reddit. 

You can do this with a manual search, keeping tabs on any brand mentions that happen to come in. You can also look into some social support tools that have this functionality built in. 

When you’re choosing to respond, be sure you understand the context of the conversation you’re jumping into, then feel free to jump in and be helpful. There’s a fear with marketing on Reddit that the backlash for bad marketing can be swift and severe. But If you approach your conversations with authenticity, then you should be in good shape.

4. Get more traffic from Reddit (the right way)

When people talk about Reddit marketing, they’re often thinking of ways to get traffic from Reddit to their website. If you’re interested in using Reddit for referral traffic, then let’s start with some of the advice we mentioned earlier … 

First and foremost, you must be an authentic contributor to the Reddit community.

There’s no way around this. If you want to drive organic traffic from Reddit, then you can’t just show up and promote your stuff. You have to genuinely take part in the community. 

The only other shortcut to Reddit traffic is through advertising, which we’ll get to in a minute. But for organic referral traffic from Reddit, it all starts with you getting involved. 

And once you’re involved, here are the next steps to follow.

1. Find your ideal subreddits. 

Again, you can do this by searching Reddit or by using a tool like Redditlist.

2. Understand the Reddit demographics

On the macro scale, Reddit’s primary demographic is males between the ages of 25 and 44.  The overwhelming majority of users come from the U.S., in particular San Francisco and Seattle.

But that’s by far not the only crowd that’s on there.

Especially with Reddit’s subreddit system, you can find huge pockets of engaged communities that are specific to your niche. 

So when it comes to your Reddit traffic strategy, you can take a couple of different swings: 

You can swing for the fences and aim to reach the front page of Reddit, where everyone can see your content. 

Or, you can target specific niches on subreddits. These will have lower reach than the 330 million users we talked about earlier, but they do have significant sizes: Many subreddits boast 100,000 and more users.

Here are a couple more things to keep in mind if you’re looking to get traffic from Reddit.

5. Earn karma points by giving value to the community

image via Oberlo

Karma points function as a scorecard for Reddit users and are earned every time you share links and comments. These links and comments can be upvoted or downvoted, which corresponds to the rising and falling of your karma. 

To be successful on Reddit, you need to build up your karma points. At least a few hundred points are needed to show that you’re serious about taking part in the communities. Some subreddits even require a minimum amount of karma before you can post.

Karma points don’t necessarily affect the virality of your content, but they are a good signal to your fellow redditors of whether you’re on Reddit to genuinely be involved or whether you’re just there to self-promote.  When you’re building up karma points, there are a couple of workflows that can help …

Get involved in popular subreddits like today-I-learned and Ask-Reddit. These are some easy, breezy places to get started with commenting.

And when you’re link sharing, you can build Reddit into your usual content workflow and share to Reddit anytime you would share to Twitter and Facebook, too. 

Ok, now when it comes time to post your content to Reddit, here are some ways to make sure it gets as much traction as possible. 

6. Reverse-engineer the popular headlines of your subreddit

Like many things on social, one of the key aspects will be the title. The same goes for Reddit threads.

Look at the structure of how these titles are created. Notice what gets upvoted and what doesn’t. Then you can take these insights and put them back into the title that you write. 

On the Grow and Convert blog, they talk about a couple of headline formulas that work really well on Reddit.

The first is … 

Need [x]? Here’s [y]

For example, you could say: Tensed shoulders? Try these few stretches (very work-friendly!)

And the second headline formula is … 

[specific time before] I [did something]. I will now [explain to you/share even more detail/teach you how/explain what happened].

And an example of this is: 3 months ago I posted the exact process on how I made $150,000 selling T-shirts on Amazon. I will now explain the exact steps you can take to earn your first $1,000,000 selling on Amazon via the Shopify integration with ZERO inventory.

The Foundation blog also did a study on Reddit titles, and they found some general rules to follow. 

Posts with titles between 60 and 80 characters got the most upvotes. 

Posts with titles that were longer than 120 characters or shorter than 20 characters fared the worst. 

And their overall advice probably sounds familiar: The best approach to ensure that you’re writing a title is to review the top 15-20 posts within a subreddit.

The research really pays off!

Additionally, it’s worthwhile to pay attention to some of the trends on Reddit. For instance, the most frequently used phrase in titles is “if you have …” which is very similar to the “need this? try this” formula that we mentioned a moment ago. 

And another favorite topic of redditors is year-end lists or year-ahead posts. Some of the most common numbers in titles are years like 2018 and 2019. 

So if you authentically engage with the community and write good content with titles that resonate, then you stand a great chance of succeeding on Reddit. One last tip we’ll mention is about promoting your content on Reddit … in addition to posting on your chosen subreddit, you can also 

7. Cross-post to other subreddits to make sure it’s seen by as many people as possible. 

When you do this, you can click the “cross post” button at the bottom of your original thread to cross-post it to any other subreddit. One thing to note: You’ll want to use this strategy wisely and not be overly promotional with every post you share. 

8. Use Reddit paid ads to place your content

Reddit advertising is in its early stages compared to other social sites, so there’s still room here to get good returns. 

Reddit advertising works on a cost-per-click basis. You can optimize your campaigns for reach, video views, traffic, and conversions. The video views are especially great because videos are one of the most engaging types of content on Reddit.

For targeting, you can choose to show your ad to all of Reddit or you can focus on certain subreddits. 

There’s a neat case study on how the search engine DuckDuckGo found really stellar success with Reddit advertising.

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About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

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