LiveJournal combined blogging and social networking, enabling users to publish, comment, and follow friends' records.

The platform was inspired by the WELL and initially used to keep up with school friends.

LiveJournal's features, like friends feed and communities, set it apart from other blogging sites by enabling user connections and content sharing.

Brad Fitzpatrick, LiveJournal's founder, transformed his personal journaling application into a public website.

Fitzpatrick's technical decisions, including the use of Perl and modular design, enhanced LiveJournal's maintainability, scalability, and functionality.

A distributed architecture and custom database system enabled the platform to handle a large number of users and entries.

Fitzpatrick's friends system, allowing users to subscribe to and interact with each other's journals, was key to the platform's early success.

LiveJournal's friends system, tags, and communities emphasized social interaction and community-building, setting it apart from other blogging platforms.

The platform's combination of blogging and social networking features attracted established bloggers and diary writers, fueling its user base growth.

LiveJournal peaked at 2.5 million active accounts in 2005, but declined due to competition from platforms like Facebook.

The rise of Facebook and other social media platforms led to a decline in LiveJournal's user base.

The platform's decline is due to the rise of other social media platforms, lack of updates, and changes in ownership and management.

The acquisition of LiveJournal by Six Apart and later SUP Media led to a decline in popularity among its core users.

LiveJournal is still operational but its user base and dominance have significantly decreased.

LiveJournal still attracts new users, especially in regions where other social sites are less popular, and is used by Russian bloggers and diary writers.

LiveJournal combined blogging and social networking, enabling users to publish, comment, and follow friends' records.

Title:

Content: Regulators Seem to Think That Facebook Is the Internet

That’s a problem.

In 1997, SixDegrees.com was the first real attempt at social networking, creating a space where users could upload their information and list their friends. The site peaked at approximately 3.5 million users before it shut down in 1999.

Since then, a series of social networking business models have emerged, each time offering more advanced tools for user interaction. LiveJournal, a site for keeping up with school friends, combined blogging and social networking features inspired by the WELL; Friendster was a social network that allowed for increased interaction and control by users; Myspace had open membership and gave users the freedom to customize their pages. In 2005, it—and its 25 million user base—was sold to News Corp. But within three years, Myspace had been surpassed by Facebook, which launched in 2004 for college students and opened to everyone in 2006.

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As that history shows, in the early days of the internet, disruption was profound and constant: New companies emerged in music, video, e-commerce, publishing, and telephony on an almost yearly basis. The internet appeared to be a space where competition could thrive.

Not anymore.

Today, disruption happens in much smaller ways. The examples are getting fewer because economies of scale have concentrated innovation in the hands of a few players.

More often, disruption comes from regulation—for better or, often, for worse. Current regulation attempts focus on the actions and behavior of some actors—chiefly Facebook—while creating unintended consequences for the internet, particularly fragmentation, or the splintering of the global internet into one that more closely hews territorial borders.

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It’s understandable that both the public and regulators might think that regulating “the internet” means focusing on the biggest players. Much of it has to do with the fact that users are often exposed to various types of illegal behavior and content through some of the most popular services that exist on the internet. Fix misinformation, or extremism, or ideological silos, or security on Facebook, the thinking goes, and you’ve fixed it on the internet as a whole.

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But this is an unhelpful and misguided narrative. First, the internet is not a monolith, so treating it as if it is simply will not work. Second, many of the issues regulators are trying to address are not internet problems; they are societal. Terrorism, child abuse, and mis- and disinformation are not an offspring of the internet; they existed before the internet, and they will continue to exist after it as they are ingrained in human societies. Yet, they are treated as if they are exclusively internet problems. Third, and most importantly, regulators should stop thinking of the internet as Facebook and treating it as such. In the internet regulatory landscape, there is a mixed bag of different issues, and Facebook’s involvement in all of them, direct or indirect, adds to the current complexity. Content moderation, privacy, intermediary liability, competition, encryption—these are all broader issues related to the internet, not just Facebook. Yet, the pattern that has emerged is to treat them as Facebook issues. What this means is that, instead of focusing on trying to address them in ways appropriate for the entire internet ecosystem, they are addressed through the Facebook lens. This has been quite accurately characterized as the “Facebook Derangement Syndrome.”

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The global regulatory agenda is replete with such examples. In the United Kingdom, the Online Safety legislation wants to ban end-to-end encryption because of Facebook’s plan to introduce it as a default setting in its Messenger service. On the other side of the Commonwealth, Australia recently introduced a media bargaining code mainly targeting Facebook. Facebook famously “left” the country before renegotiating a new agreement. Similarly, in what seems to be a coordinated effort, Canada has vowed to work with Australia in an attempt to impose regulatory restrictions on Facebook.

And this trend is not limited to the Commonwealth.

India’s new intermediary guidelines aim at tightening a regulatory grip on Facebook and its partner company WhatsApp while Brazil’s fake news bill, which got approved by the Senate, is focusing on content moderation on Facebook and traceability on WhatsApp. In France, there have been conversations about the introduction of “new rules” for Facebook, while Germany’s Network Enforcement Law—NetzDG—was drafted with the primary focus of taming Facebook. Finally, in the United States, the Trump administration issued an unsuccessful executive order that aimed to regulate Facebook for bias.

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This approach of limiting regulation to Facebook is not entirely unusual. It reflects the principal-agent conundrum that, over the years, has allowed companies like Facebook to  propose policies and deploy tools that can have an impact on the way regulation gets to be enforced. The principal-agent problem is predominantly characterized by conflict of interest and moral hazards. Due to information asymmetries, the agent holds the bargaining power, and this creates a few unknowns: The principal is in no position to know the information the agent holds. Even when she does, she cannot be certain that the agent is acting to her best interest. So, the principal ends up focusing squarely on the agent, disregarding any peripheral issues that might be significant.

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The principal-agent problem may help explain why governments appear ready to introduce regulation targeting Facebook; however, it does not help explain why, in the process of doing so, the main loser is the internet and its users.

Over the past couple of years, Facebook has said, “We support regulation,” and “we want updated internet regulations to set clear guidelines for addressing today’s toughest challenges.” This statement would be significant if it did not come across as self-serving. At this stage, regulation is inescapable and Facebook knows it—as does the rest of big tech. In an effort to adapt to this new reality, companies often take advantage of their dominant position to drive regulatory processes, often at the expense of regulation itself.

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In this context, the question we should be asking is not whether regulation is appropriate, but what are the real implications of regulating in such a manner? There is already an argument that focusing on a few, big players has an impact on the health of innovation and the ability of newcomers to compete. And, then, there is the internet. The internet’s global reach is one of its main strengths. It is a feature, not a bug. Among other things, it allows the maintenance of supply chains all over the world; it allows people to communicate; it lowers costs; and it makes information sharing easier, all the while helping to address societal issues like poverty or climate change.

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To this end, the attempt to regulate based on one—or a handful—of companies can jeopardize this very important goal of the internet. It can create fragmentation, in the sense of not allowing data to flow across borders or networks to interconnect, and this can be very real and have a very big impact. It can impose limits on the way information and data gets to be shared and the way networks may interoperate. These are significant trade-offs, and they must be part of any regulation’s process.

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So where do we go from here?

For sure, the answer cannot be to stop regulating. We must accept, however, that the current approach often generates unintended consequences that only superficially affect those who must be regulated.

In this light, a possible way forward is to experiment with regulation. Experimental regulation is a relatively underused approach, yet it is flexible enough to accommodate dynamic markets, like the internet. Originally associated with the work of John Dewey, this idea is premised on the fact that, in policymaking, the way we approach theories and strategies of justice depends on “the experience of their pursuit; it is these changes that then allow us to consider how best to achieve our objectives.” The advantage of this thinking is that it considers unintended consequences as an opportunity to better define appropriate regulatory frameworks and how to achieve the desired goals.

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Internet regulation does not experiment enough, and when it does, it appears to have the wrong focus. In Australia, for instance, the effort to ensure robust journalism in an age of disinformation in social media platforms led to a “link tax” that undermines the architecture, history, and economics of the internet. This is partly due to the role big tech companies play in the regulatory process. One of the immediate things one can observe with internet regulation is the process some actors deploy: In the beginning, they operate in favor of sustaining existing policies and bureaucracies. The thinking is that longevity brings legitimacy, and as a result, the policy becomes its own cause. Once this strategy is embedded in process, these powerful forces move toward pushing their own regulatory agenda.

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It is for this reason that there is a certain appeal toward flexible regulatory systems that allow different units to experiment with different approaches and make room for assessments that separate the relevant from the nonrelevant and preexisting rules. Although experimentation neither offers a drastic approach nor aims to replace traditional routes of regulation, it can limit the risks of politicization, as politics become more context focused.

One of the first things we need is an internet impact assessment that looks at the different parts of the internet’s infrastructure and the effect that regulation may have. It is no longer just about regulating a few actors. It is about protecting the global infrastructure that we all depend on daily.

The internet has a Facebook problem, but the internet is not Facebook.

This article represents the views of the author and not those of his employer, the Internet Society. Facebook is an organization member of the Internet Society.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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The platform was inspired by the WELL and initially used to keep up with school friends.

LiveJournal's features, like friends feed and communities, set it apart from other blogging sites by enabling user connections and content sharing.

Title:

Content: LiveJournal is back in Kazakhstan
519
Anna VLADIMIROVA
Access to the "Live Journal" was restored after the administration of the LiveJournal blog platform executed the decisions of the judicial authorities of Kazakhstan on the removal of illegal materials posted on the resource.
Representatives of LiveJournal reported on the removal from the blogging platform of materials containing signs of propaganda of terrorism and religious extremism, public calls to commit acts of terrorism and the manufacture of explosive devices.
Earlier, the Saryarka court of Astana issued a decision to close access to the “Live Journal ” from August 20, 2011 due to the distribution of these materials.
As a result, the Committee of Communications, Informatization and Information of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan decided to resume access to the resource on the territory of Kazakhstan from November 11 this year.
LiveJournal also plans to open a representative office in Kazakhstan and develop the Kazakhstan segment of the blogging platform.
For reference: “Live Journal ” is a blogging platform for keeping online diaries (blogs).
Provides the ability to publish your own and comment on other people ’ s records, conduct collective blogs (“communities ”), add other users to friends and follow their records in the“ friends feed ”.
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Brad Fitzpatrick, LiveJournal's founder, transformed his personal journaling application into a public website.

Title:

Content: Filed under:

The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham news and links for Wednesday, February 9

Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen

Habemus Hoddler!

My dearest Cartilage Free community, it is with great reverence that I announce myself as your newest Hoddler-in-Chief. [Editor’s note I’M SO EXCITED AAAAAAAAAAAH —dtgm]

After four years as a commenter, I must say I am well-beyond thrilled to contribute to a blog that has given me so much joy as a Tottenham Hotspur fan. Let me say this about Pardeep: She was a wonderful Hoddler and my gateway into this community. I am grateful to be her successor.

If I may peel back the curtain for a moment, I should like to note how poetic it is to begin my Hoddleship at this present moment. It was four years ago, working my second Olympics, that I stumbled upon the Hoddle and Cartilage Free Captain. For that three-week stretch, during the dead of night, I would scurry to this site to pass the graveyard hours.

Now, you may be asking: Who is fitzie? Well, you know more today than you did before this morning’s cup o’ joe. But let’s learn a little bit at a time, shall we? There’s plenty of time to get to know fitzie.

As for my Hoddle plans, let me tell you that I already have dozens of ideas scribbled and jotted down in my notebook. I won’t spoil anything today, but I do hope it will be a lot of fun for me and for you.

It is my hope to cultivate a Hoddle that reflects the dynamism of this community, which is manifested in the Hoddle itself.

Yes, Harry Winks will be a regular guest.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Wild Blue by John Mayer

And now for your links:

Women’s groups call on the Football Association and Premier League “to confront a culture of gender-based violence”

David Moyes defends starting Kurt Zouma after cat-abuse incident

Nike drops Mason Greenwood after player’s arrest

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Fitzpatrick's technical decisions, including the use of Perl and modular design, enhanced LiveJournal's maintainability, scalability, and functionality.

Title:

Content: Find a contractor for your project right now!
Place an order on a freelance exchange and offers will arrive in a few minutes.
Redesign of our project.
The layout has been thoroughly redesigned, XSLT technology has been introduced.
Code refactoring was carried out, various innovative technologies were introduced (OpenID, microformats, etc.)
Updated desktop client, created gadgets for Vista, Google Desktop.

A distributed architecture and custom database system enabled the platform to handle a large number of users and entries.

Title:

Content: Nicole Scott and Simon Morgan on internet freedom and digital democracy via @ slogging
4,852 Reads
4,852 Reads
Internet freedom and digital democracy by Nicole Scott and Simon Morgan
by Slogging (Slack Blogging) 32m2024 / 02 / 16
Too long; studying.
In the AMA by tech journalist Nicole Scott and Simon Morgan of IONOS, we discuss who controls the internet, how the physical infrastructure of the internet affects our online freedom, whether our perceived online freedom makes us complacent, and any realm of content in digital democracy and internet freedom, really!
In this AMA, we discuss who controls the Internet, how the physical infrastructure of the Internet affects our online freedom, whether our perceived online freedom makes us complacent, and anything in the realm of digital democracy and internet freedom!
Meet our guest – Nicole Scott has been a cutting-edge video journalist, creative engine and tech woman since 2006.
She is a journalist focused on uncovering the future of innovation, mobility, renewable energy and consumer electronics.
She started her career in New York and a few years later decided to move to a place where technology decisions were made.
She moved to Taipei, Taiwan for nine years.
As co-founder of German and English technology site Mobile Geeks, she provides first-hand experience of identifying technology trends.
In 2021, she produced an award-winning documentary called Finding Hydrogen and acted as a segment producer for BloombergTV Global ’ s Beyond Innovation.
Nicole will also join Simon Morgan, a marketer who leads all marketing campaigns for professional users such as IONOS developers or IT specialists.
The Slogging post, written by Mónica Freitas, Nicole Scott (Nicole Scott), John T., Valentine Enedah, David Smooke, Asher Umerie, Adrian Morales, Simon Morgan, Sidra and Jose Hernandez, appears on the official # amas channel of slogging and is already readable.
Monica Freitas February 12, 2024 at 7: 03 PM
Hi Nicole Scott! Thank you for joining us!
Can we give you a brief introduction of yourself first? What is your career?
What does it bring to technology?
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 7: 06 PM
I started working as a tech journalist in 2006, covering telecom infrastructure and making smartphone reviews before the iPhone came along!
In fact, there was an article on Engadget about the “Growing Geek ” series!
https: / / www.engadget.com / 2012-02-24-grinding-up-geek-nicole-scott.html
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 7: 07 PM
Yes … it really suits me, the first website I co-founded is called Netbook News! Obviously, this situation has to change and it evolved into Mobile Geeks, which is now closed.
I sold it during the COVID-19 pandemic and became a global television producer for a Bloomberg show called Beyond Innovation.
John T.
February 12, 2024 at 7: 11pm
Hello Nicole Scott, nice to meet you! What do you think about the democratisation of web3 and all the internet space?
At this point, there is the DAO. Are you a member of the decentralized team?
↓ 1
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 7: 20 PM
John T. loved this!
I ’ m a proponent of decentralized networks, but I don ’ t think the current technology is ready to go mainstream.
It had high hopes that it would address major issues such as censorship, data ownership and unequal access to resources.
Web3 eliminates intermediaries and creates trustless systems to create a more inclusive and open Internet.
But I think we need to take different / better / as-yet-unthought solutions to take this action.
New technology or inevitable, but we can ’ t completely break the system … think a reset could be fine, I ’ m not in favor of anarchy! lol
😂 3
▸ 2 _
Monica Freitas February 12, 2024 at 7: 14 PM
What a journey! From journalist to TV producer and co-founder – what made you jump to producer?
Even today, do you still reserve space for journalism?
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 7: 28 PM
Mónica Freitas on career change … I love journalism! Today I will be the first to admit that my industry has collapsed.
When companies demand so many compromises in terms of integrity, maintaining independent media outlets is very difficult.
Hail to Hackernoon for completing the media integration during the COVID-19 pandemic, I actually sold my German website to an American company, which obviously couldn ’ t make it work!
I ’ m really lucky to be an independent person, to be the lead producer of TV shows broadcast globally on Bloomberg Television, and to have the support of Bloomberg News standards.
I ’ m frustrated with what ’ s happening online and need to feel that journalism has standards.
It ’ s great that I know I ’ m lucky and in a unique position.
Between seasons, I work with great brands like Ionos to create such content series.
They felt it was a conversation that needed to take place … They were right, it was a very important discussion.
They had an idea and gave me an editorial space to tell the story.
They were very supportive of engaging in honest discussions led by the people I interviewed.
I asked them to tell their stories and weave them into this series!
😂 2
✔ 1
✔ 1
Valentine 's Day Ineda February 12, 2024 7: 14 PM
Nicole Scott is awesome!
What emerging technology trends do you think will have a significant impact on digital democracy and internet freedom in the coming years?
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 7: 42 PM
Valentine Enedah Well, there 's a lot of fun! Good.. Top 3!
Web5 is the one I mentioned in this series.
The convenience of Web2 and the decentralized promise of Web3.
Maybe it ’ s marketing, but we need that kind of thinking to build a world where privacy and online ownership no longer focus on corporate profits and are more beneficial to ordinary citizens.
Digital currencies and central bank digital currencies: I think it ’ s important to specifically point out CBDCs because we need the structure of the world economy to take this initiative.
Digital currencies and CBDCs can impact financial inclusion and create new opportunities for online transactions with the potential to reshape economic structures and promote financial freedom.
From a global perspective, the overarching challenge ahead is to integrate the 1.4 billion unbanked adults around the world into the financial system.
According to the World Bank, this means using digital payments, as one in three adults worldwide still receive state benefits in ways other than cash or direct debit.
We have the opportunity to create an inclusive system based on digital currencies and CBDCs, and it ’ s easy to see the cryptocurrency brothers forget that ’ s what this technology really means.
Not blockchain, but a technology that makes blockchain accessible on mobile devices.
The blockchain is huge! The size is TB, and we need a way to be able to access it easily.
We ’ re all waiting for the blockchain aha moment! For me, that ’ s what I ’ m focused on.
Once we can figure out how to use blockchain more easily across a variety of technologies, the killer use case will come!
John T.
February 12, 2024 at 7: 38 PM
Nicole Scott I totally agree with you on this point – I think full decentralization as the only form of the web is not possible at the moment. Can you extend the censorship question? How do you think technology can help reduce or eliminate it?
Also, AI is important right now, and we see it everywhere, especially when it comes to writing.
Should we open the door for AI to co-write or protect original works and authors?
With the growing use of artificial intelligence, does this make sense?
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 8: 11 PM
John T.
Decentralized communication protocols, such as blockchain-based messaging systems or decentralized social media platforms, can enable users to communicate without worrying about centralized censorship.
* Coughing... X It's a big problem.
To me, in the West, we have an illusion that we have internet freedom, but it ’ s actually controlled by companies.
We need businesses and governments to work together to explore the way forward to protect our privacy.
For now, we can get open source technology to step in and at least provide a more democratic way forward for the underlying technology.
It's a start.
As for AI, journalism is 100% at risk! Interestingly, I didn ’ t list it as a game-changing technology.
I had to reflect on why.
I think it ’ s because we ’ re more than a year away from ChatGPT and it ’ s part of my workflow.
Do I use it to summarize? Yes, do I use it for brainstorming? Absolutely.
ChatGPT is a great writing partner.
Do I use it to write my articles? No, but that ’ s because I tend to write only topics, and it needs to be expressed in my voice.
Making backpacks for the hosts of Beyond Innovation cut my time in half.
They ’ re not public, and I ’ m now letting the chatgpt summarize the articles I want them to read as background.
My time was reduced from 2 hours per pack to 1-1.5 hours.
I often need 8-10 at a time, so the quantity is large and the quality is not lost.
I think a lot of journalists are out of work, and a lot of journalists are out of work.
Personally, I'm not worried.
I have grown into a journalist who conducts a lot of research and interviews experts.
But, as someone who has run websites for years, the way the internet has evolved is news churning, so I really understand why so many websites are replacing their writers with AI.
Do they need to pay someone to rewrite three articles into one and add a point of view? No.
Artificial intelligence can do this because these stories are so common.
Is this the news the Internet needs? No? Is publishing problematic and difficult now? Absolutely!
Which brings us to the question of Monica Freitas.
Why is publishing so difficult?
For a few reasons, I actually blame Google.
As a result, I ran the Mobile Geeks banner ad for free, unless it was a sponsored campaign by a brand I signed up to directly.
If I remember correctly, I think this is also HackerNoon ’ s model.
In my opinion, this is the best way.
Websites that run on banner ad impressions are taking a path to click-bait headlines to boost numbers so you can make money from banner ads.
I also did some shady things, if you open the page in the tab, then refresh the page, I have friends who have suggested to me many times......
Even though I didn ’ t run on the banner system to monetize it, it became increasingly difficult to find sponsors who valued the news and started demanding authenticity.
As a former very successful YouTuber, I can tell you that influential people think their personal opinions are news because that ’ s what they think is true.
That ’ s what brands started hoping to get from websites with journalistic integrity, and even if I needed money, I would turn down deals, but over the past few years, rejection has become more and more difficult.
Brands can get what they want through bullying.
It's not so good.
David Smuke February 12, 2024 at 7: 55 PM
Hey Nicole Scott, thank you for taking the time to join the AMA.
Dive into who controls the internet – how do you think hosting can reduce the oligopoly market?
It ’ s a bit frustrating to see more and more decentralized projects getting started, and then all you see is the same old AWS / GCP / MSFT / etc.
This is a market that is very conducive to existing scale / infrastructure as a natural service and price moat.
Does IONOS offer / support / explore any peer-to-peer or alternative / exciting hosting technologies? There ’ s no way to deliver a website / app / digital experience without a host, so I ’ m curious how it shows visitors from there.
Nicole Scott February 13, 2024 at 1: 05 PM
David Smooke I talked about one of these topics in the content series!
IONOS is actively involved in regulatory advocacy.
ICANN is the governing body ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a non-profit organization that coordinates and manages the global Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet.
IONOS is very active in the organization, which actually takes a multi-stakeholder approach.
Engaging in regulatory discussions and advocating for policies that promote competition and innovation can help create a more open and equitable custodial market.
This is in addition to supporting regulations to prevent anti-competitive behaviour and promote a level playing field.
IONOS also has a long history of open source technology!
Makrus Noga is their CTO, coming directly from SUSE Linux to IONOS!
Leveraging open source technology in the hosting industry can mitigate the oligarchic nature of the market by fostering competition, innovation, and community collaboration.
The adoption of open source solutions enables hosting providers to offer a variety of services and encourages transparent practices.
The security benefits and cost-effectiveness of open source are thought to contribute to a more inclusive and competitive hosting environment.
Fighting against such a behemoth is not easy, but I think being a German company is a big advantage.
This country is an advocate of civil rights and I think their service embodies that!
Valentine 's Day Ineda February 12, 2024 at 7: 45pm
Nicole Scott is amazing!
Glad to see your insights on these emerging technologies.
It seems that you are really concerned about the potential social impact and the importance of accessibility.
How do you see these advances shaping our daily lives in the near future?
Nicole Scott February 12, 2024 at 8: 30 PM
Valentine 's Day Ineda I am!
It's not that my heart is dripping! Ha ha, this is actually just my view that technology should promote social progress.
We are at a critical juncture in technological development, and we should take a step back and ask these questions.
Schools like Stanford are finally starting to recommend courses like Technology Impact, giving founders a more solid foundation so their tech companies don ’ t have negative social impacts.
Mainstream technology has a lot of downsides that are completely unexpected.
Who would have thought that creating infinite scrolling would lead to mental health issues, information overload, and a lack of user control over content consumption?
Honestly, in the near future, I hope we can have some regulations for artificial intelligence.
Strangely enough, I think Taylor Swift ’ s encounter pushed the regulation of artificial intelligence into the mainstream.
So I think we will see some consensus around the guidelines, which I think will be somewhat homogeneous on a global scale.
DeFi or decentralized finance (the digital currency and central bank digital currency under this umbrella) will have a greater impact on developing countries than on developed countries, which are currently only using it for, I think, unnecessary wealth creation.
So it may not be so obvious in the West in the short term, but it will apply to most parts of the world.
Monica Freitas February 12, 2024 at 8: 45 PM
Nicole Scott Would you like to share your YouTube channel? It's huge - you guys have done so many great things on so many different channels.
Your entire career path will be a great case study on how journalism adapts to different media and how it really adapts.
Which brings me to the question: how do you think all the technological advancements we ’ ve seen support individuals and independent publications? Is our voice and influence over the information industry destined to fall into the hands of big companies or do you think decentralization enhances individuality?
Nicole Scott February 13, 2024 at 3: 12 AM
That ’ s the hope, Mónica Freitas, that decentralization can help save individual voices and give us greater autonomy and control over the content we create online.
Whether that means hockey moms sharing her superstar content or websites that do good news.
If we take a step back, that ’ s why infrastructure is important.
The location of the content hosted on the website and the location of the server are increasingly important for publications.
Content governance is the strategic management and control of the entire life cycle of digital content, ensuring consistency, compliance, and alignment with organizational goals and government regulations.
Boarding students are placed on our borderless internet, which is a problem.
The way these rules are created can affect the way websites are monetized, and we ’ ve seen the service not available outside of their country (BBC Player).
But we have moved beyond copyright and countries are starting to ask deeper questions, such as what is acceptable on websites hosted in our country (.de stands for Germany, .ca stands for Canada, .es stands for Spain, etc.)
Social media platforms now have a lot of control over content governance.
This is where the way a website creates content typically fails, and even if it ’ s not a place for content hosting, it ’ s usually where traffic comes from and where it ’ s shared.
This is actually what makes this lazy Ama cool Reply
Oh, and you also asked about my YouTube channel … lol, I sold the site and YouTube channel at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was a video I sold a few years ago that felt like a thing in a previous life.
Things have changed a lot and that ’ s why I want to move on.
Being a YouTuber for more than 10 years is enough, and when I started working 15 years ago, things were very different.
It ’ s clear that successful videos have a formula, and to be honest, consumer technology has become highly predictable.
John T.
February 12, 2024 at 8: 46 PM
Connect your thoughts to the question you suggested yourself: Who controls the internet?
Monica Freitas February 12, 2024 at 8: 50 PM
John T.
It ’ s a good question, and it ’ s closely related to David Smoke ’ s question.
Nicole Scott February 13, 2024 at 7: 27 PM
John T: To my relief, no single company or government can control the Internet.
It's a combination.
Learn about ICANN's multi-stakeholder approach to managing assigned Internet names and numbers (IP addresses, DNS country identifiers such as .de, .ca, .tech.com).
Governments, private citizens and companies like IONOS have a place at the negotiating table to reach consensus on how things are going.
In fact, I spoke to ICANN and the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) in episode 2, “Who Really governs the Internet? ”
The government did play a role and we have to be vigilant to make sure they don't overcontrol.
We need them to make sure that companies don ’ t allow monopolies because of the lack of competition, which is bad for consumers and therefore service will be bad.
We have many examples of how monopolies can lead to over-expansion in terms of privacy.
The gratifying thing is that a lot of people are making decisions, so we have a hope of controlling businesses and governments.
But then again, I am a girl half full of glasses!
Valentine 's Day Ineda February 12, 2024 at 8: 57pm
Nicole Scott, that ’ s very insightful.
Have you seen any promising initiatives or projects already addressing these issues or working towards positive change in technology?
I am always looking for inspirational examples!
Nicole Scott February 13, 2024 at 6: 09 PM
Valentine Enedah Honestly, pretty much everything the Mozilla Foundation is involved in is great.
They always hold the pulse that our online freedom needs to be protected.
Also, if you want to be inspired, Cory Doctorow is a great barometer for when something goes wrong and what initiatives you should take part in.
I know it doesn ’ t answer your question, but if I ’ m looking, that ’ s where I ’ ll start.
Interestingly, the first thing I thought about was where I was going, not the actual plan!
* 1
Monica Freitas February 12, 2024 at 7: 55 PM
This is tough for any independent publication. Why do you think the industry is in such a bind?
Also, based on your extensive experience, which technology trends are you most interested in and which do you think will be an important part of the network?
Nicole Scott February 13, 2024 at 6: 31 PM
In fact, if I were you, I would really feel that now is a good time to get into this industry! There is a lot of uncertainty. Right.
But as long as there is a change, there is a chance.
When I created my first website, it was four months since 10,000 journalists were unemployed in North America.
I ’ m not the greatest journalist, but I know the way things are not.
So I launched a tech blog, and now tech blogging has become the standard for journalism.
But now they ’ re a problem because they don ’ t have standards.
When I started, my blog had journalistic integrity and was 10 times faster than any traditional new medium.
There is now an opportunity to do well in a new form.
This is the most meaningful move in my current career.
I think Sophia Smith Galer is a prime example of a young journalist who has found her expertise and turned it into a successful micro-learning channel that has propelled her journalism career.
She ’ s basically the reason I own TikTok (though I ’ m more active on Insta), and she made me realize that TikTok journalism is a genre I can respect.
https: / / www.tiktok.com / @ sophiasmithgaler
https: / / www.instagram.com / sophiasgaler /? hl = en
When I look around at people like me who have worked in this industry for a long time, it ’ s because they are always focused on the market and adapt quickly.
In the words of his grandson, “there is a chance in chaos. ”
Many journalists who are not supposed to work are losing their jobs.
Unfortunately, just because you can write doesn ’ t mean you should be a journalist.
Those businesses that stay will have their own niche, and the industry is changing and something new is needed.
Maybe now is the best time to enter!
Arthur Umeri February 13, 2024 at 10: 47 AM
Hello Nicole Scott, you have shared some thoughtful insights so far. Thank you!
Earlier, in response to Valentine Enedah ’ s question about how emerging technologies will impact digital democracy, you mentioned Web5 – a technology that will merge “the convenience of Web2 and the decentralized promise of Web3. ”
One might ask how the decentralization promise of Web3 coexists with the Web2 element.
Nicole Scott February 13, 2024 at 7: 43 PM
The concept of Asher Umerie is so new that everyone I interviewed hasn ’ t heard of it!
Web3 stores data on public network solutions such as Filecoin or Interplanetary File System (IPFS), and Web5 allows users to store and control their own data through decentralized network nodes.
The Web5 framework also doesn ’ t run with smart contracts or tokens like Web3.
Web5 uses the Bitcoin Lightning Network, a Layer 2 payment protocol that runs on the main Bitcoin blockchain.
This enables fast network functionality without having to rely on tokens, transaction fees, trusted validators, or other consensus mechanisms.
Using this protocol can facilitate peer-to-peer infrastructure for personal servers, thereby reducing centralized governance.
To me, the concept of decentralized networks feels like a return to the millennial era, with services like BitTorrent embodying successful open source, peer-to-peer file-sharing systems, just as the original Napster did for music, albeit illegally.
Part of her interview appears at the beginning of episode 4 as they are actively working with the developer community to enable Web5.
Here is a link to TBD ’ s Web5 explanation page.
* 1
Monica Freitas February 13, 2024 at 4: 11 PM
Simon Morgan, thank you for joining us!
Monica Freitas February 13, 2024 at 2: 01 PM
Well said, Nicole Scott (Nicole Scott)! I think your answer is related to these questions:
Does the fact that Chinese internet users know their internet is not free make them more aware of digital technology?
Does what we think about online freedom make us complacent?
How do you think web censorship will affect technological progress, if any?
Adrian Morales February 13, 2024 at 5: 02 PM
Hello, Nicole Scott (Nicole Scott)! As a veteran journalist who talked about how the industry has been broken in some ways in this AMA, do you have any advice for budding journalists or writers who may feel frustrated when trying to break through in an industry that seems a bit shaky today?
Simon Morgan February 13, 2024 at 8: 19 PM
Hi, David Smoke.
Thanks, you raised a good question.
While I ’ m not the best person to talk about our (IONOS) technology roadmap, I very much agree with you that IaaS is a very oligopolistic domain.
I think it ’ s fair to admit that we don ’ t currently have any “breakthrough technologies ” to disrupt the dynamics of the market.
But we very much see ourselves as an alternative to big tech companies, especially mid-sized ones.
Some examples include fairer pricing, designing SLAs based on customer needs, and a commitment to use and deliver open source technologies (e.g. Nextcloud, MariaDB, Alma Linux, kernel development).
We play an active role in sponsoring and co-developing open source CMS such as Typo3 and Joomla.
Since we come from a more traditional large-scale hosting background, there is still a lot of work to be done in the cloud, IaaS space.
One small caveat I can provide is that we are actively discussing open source or more favorable alternatives to mainstream virtualization technologies.
Things like this can spare our customers from the excessively high licensing commitments of certain vendors, and I don ’ t want to mention it directly 🙂
Managed AI / machine learning solutions will be another area where we ’ re seeing big tech companies step up to control risk.
We take this into account in our product roadmap in this area.
Valentine 's Day Ineda 14 February 2024 2: 43
Nicole Scott is awesome!
The Mozilla Foundation and Cory Doctorow are unquestionably leaders in advocating for online freedom and raising awareness of important issues.
It ’ s so cool to hear that you trust their judgment and see them as a source of inspiration.
Thank you for sharing! If you come across any interesting initiatives or plans, I would love to hear from you too.
* 1
Monica Freitas February 14, 2024 at 2: 26 PM
Well said, Nicole Scott (Nicole Scott)! I think your answer is related to these questions:
Does the fact that Chinese internet users know their internet is not free make them more aware of digital technology?
Does what we think about online freedom make us complacent?
How do you think web censorship will affect technological progress, if any?
Nicole Scott February 14, 2024 at 7: 13 PM
Mónica Freitas: Does the fact that Chinese internet users know their internet is not free make them more aware of digital technology?
Does what we think about online freedom make us complacent?
Internet users in China are 100% more digitized! They don ’ t rely much on apps, but quickly turn to new services.
In fact, many older people have to use the app to complete many daily tasks.
This makes more people proficient in digital technology.
Knowing that many websites are blocked, propaganda is a recognized part of the media field, which is a reality around the world.
I do think our perception of 100% online freedom makes us complacent!
Online censorship affects technological progress, which is most evident in search engine optimization.
I spoke to Lily Ray, one of the world ’ s top SEO experts, about the impact of SEO.
It explains how SEO affects how results are presented.
What people can find can influence how they think about a topic.
The algorithms used by Google and other browsers and the strategies around it are evolving.
* 1
Monica Freitas February 14, 2024 at 2: 27 PM
Simon Morgan Can you tell us about yourself and your technology journey?
Simon Morgan February 14, 2024 at 4: 12 PM
Mónica Freitas Of course, I should have done it earlier 🙂 Well, I ’ m a professional marketer who leads all marketing campaigns for professional users like developers or IT specialists for IONOS.
My love of technology began at an early age when I was obsessed with upgrading and repairing computers.
At some point, when you still need more than 20 floppy disks to install, I try to get Linux running on my computer.
Since then, I have been an advocate and user of open source software.
I ’ m really excited to be able to combine these things in some way at IONOS and advocate internally for a more responsible network.
John T.
February 14, 2024 at 2: 29 PM
Nice to hear about this, Nicole Scott! How did you and Simon Morgan work together?
Simon Morgan February 14, 2024 at 4: 16 PM
John T: My boss met Nicole at a job before.
In an interview, the topic of Internet freedom came up and we (IONOS) were happy to be part of it.
I then coordinated our support and engagement with Nicole ’ s project.
Mainly because I am very passionate about these topics and advocate for them within our company.
As a marketer, working with a real video journalist has been a very interesting and great learning experience for me.
Sidra February 14, 2024 at 2: 52 PM
Hi Nicole Scott and Simon Morgan! Welcome to the HackerNoon logging channel.
Glad you are here and thank you for touching on a subject very close to the spirit of HackerNoon.
I am pleased to introduce you to the series on our platform.
My question is, what do you think of the networks (deep networks and dark networks) that are outside of ICCAN and conventional governance / control mechanisms?
Simon Morgan February 14, 2024 at 4: 27 PM
Cindy, wow, that ’ s a hard question to answer.
I don ’ t think I have a clear understanding of this topic yet.
But perhaps I can say this: I think the cyber realm, which goes beyond regulation, plays an important role.
Yes, you ’ ll get all the bad stuff, like trading illegal goods or promoting crime, but on the other hand, something like the Tor network is a space that no organization can touch.
Any organization (no matter how good they work today) may at some point start acting only for the benefit of one group and not all.
As such, it provides a balance for communication systems that becomes critical when other things fail or are limited.
There may be a situation where, for example, citizens of a country are isolated from the rest of the world in communicating or conducting any financial transactions.
Perhaps decentralized systems may be the only way to protect some of the fundamental rights of individuals, such as being able to communicate freely with anyone they want and participate in trade.
In other words, eliminating everything that might be bad or bad doesn ’ t necessarily lead to a better world.
Today ’ s situation may change immediately, and then those affected need to make choices and alternatives instead of relying on government or organizational decisions to act in their best interests.
* 1
Jose Hernandez February 14, 2024 at 3: 45 PM
Hello, Nicole Scott, how do you see the change in journalism since 2006, and how much of it do you think is due to the continued rise of the internet?
Nicole Scott February 14, 2024 at 7: 24 PM
Jose Hernandez The Internet has fundamentally changed the way businesses operate.
Although chiropractors can tweak clients without a website, search algorithms have greatly influenced their digital discoverability and practice development.
Journalism is the same as any business.
It changed with the times, and the democratization of access meant that everyone could become a publisher, but journalistic standards were optional.
Influential culture turns personal truth into journalistic truth.
This has to do not only with technology, but also with the cultural shift that takes place around it.
Monica Freitas February 14, 2024 at 6: 26 PM
Simon Morgan, awesome! What are your favorite tech trends?
John T.
February 14, 2024 at 6: 28 PM
Simon Morgan great collaboration! Which side are you on in the free range of the Internet? Professional DAO?
Simon Morgan February 14, 2024 at 8: 29 PM
John T: I would say that in order to be able to take a tough stance, I still have a lot to learn.
What I have tried to express in other responses is that I believe that decentralized approaches are an important counterbalance to traditional approaches.
Because almost no organization can always act in the best interests of all.
Beyond that, I also have some concerns about the DAO because it ’ s not always the DAO – there ’ s no risk of being influenced by a small number of people acting for their own benefit.
The only difference is that these people will remain unknown forever.
For traditional organizations, there are appropriate legal systems and processes in place, despite possible shortcomings.
In other words, I can sue them.
For unnamed groups, once problems arise, the consequences can be dire.
So at the moment I ’ m not advocating any method or ideology, but I ’ m advocating digital literacy.
We need more people to understand the pros and cons of both sides, as most people don ’ t! Beyond that, I see myself more as an open source advocate, which also answers the question of Mónica Freitas.
I just came back from FOSDEM and was mainly talking about the future of open source.
We ’ re faced with age issues and the fact that big tech companies rely on free contributions without giving enough back.
This situation needs to change, especially as LL.M. proliferates and more open source projects become single-vendor programs, which could change their licenses overnight and cause their projects to shut down.
Monica Freitas February 15, 2024 at 11: 16 AM
That ’ s where the AMA ends.
Thank you to Nicole Scott and Simon Morgan for your valuable time and thoughtful answers!
Looking forward to seeing what you will do next!

Fitzpatrick's friends system, allowing users to subscribe to and interact with each other's journals, was key to the platform's early success.

Title:

Content: Reddit on building & scaling r/place

Altitude SF 2017 brought together technical leaders from Reddit, the ACLU, TED, Slack, and more to explore the future of edge delivery, emerging web trends, and the challenges of cloud infrastructure and security. In this post, we’ll share Daniel Ellis’ talk on how Reddit built and scaled r/place, their real-time April Fools’ project.

Daniel Ellis, Senior Software Engineer, Relevance, Reddit

At its core, r/place’s motto was: “Individually you can create something, together you can create something more.”

r/place was a globally shared, 1,000 x 1,000 pixel canvas on which each user could paint a pixel at time:

Everyone painted on the same grid together, with one catch: you only got one pixel every five minutes. You couldn’t draw anything on your own — you had to draw with other communities. (“When you joined with other people you could make something a lot better.”)

A lot of subreddits came together, resulting in a richly populated final canvas filled with country flags, memes, and the Mona Lisa:

In total, the project had 1.1 M unique users, 150,000 concurrent users, 16.5 M tiles placed (enough to cover the board 16 times over), and was finished in 72 hours.

Challenges for building r/place

There were numerous challenges to take into account when approaching this project:

  • There was only one shot to launch, and the project only lasted a few days. With a set deadline of April 1, there was no pushing the launch back. And, the project had to be ready to scale and in good working order immediately, or else no one would use it.

  • Keeping the main site unaffected. The team had to ensure the rest of reddit.com remained in good shape.

  • A small team (3-4 engineers), with the rest of reddit.com to work on.

  • They had no idea what users would do with it, which was more of an ideological challenge than a technical one; they were offering up an entirely blank canvas for users to draw on: “The idea of giving the internet free rein over that can be scary.”

With those challenges in mind, the team tracked their stress levels over time:

The chart gave the team a sense of where to put more focus or get more people on board, i.e., “The backend people were a little more stressed.”

How it worked

Reading the board was “the simplest” part of implementing r/place: they cached the board on Fastly’s CDN with a time to live (TTL) of one second (this was to reduce load on the data store as much as possible — a little bit of latency was fine because updates were also streamed via websockets to the user).

The second major part was drawing a pixel: a request came in and passed through the CDN and load balancer untouched, and the application server would check to make sure the user was logged in, the account was of the right age, and that they hadn’t placed a pixel in the required amount of time. If all that checked out, an update was sent to a few places:

  1. A websockets cluster (a fan-out exchange from RabbitMQ) that let people’s clients get that message back and display it onto the board for real-time updates.

  2. The event collector (a kafka pipeline), allowed the team to do an analysis as well as release the data to the community (who created heatmaps, among other creative endeavours) once the game was finished.

  3. Redis, where a bitmap of the board was stored in one key (more on this later).

  4. Cassandra, where the actual data about the user who drew the pixel was stored, which allowed users to click a pixel to see when it was placed and by whom.

Backend choice: Cassandra v Redis

There was some back and forth over whether to use Cassandra or Redis for the actual storage of the board; each choice had its pros and cons:

Cassandra was the initial choice — it serves a significant portion of reddit.com, therefore having the benefit of being a familiar technology which had plenty of in-house expertise — and offered a 36 node cluster, about 96 TB of data, 90,000 reads/sec, and 30,000 writes/sec.

However, Cassandra did not fit this project’s data model very well: the team needed to have one million records of individually addressable pixels, and then needed to be able to return all of those pixels when someone loaded the board; with Cassandra, this took the form of a million columns in a row. Further, the use of Cassandra presented a “double-edged sword:” they knew it’s a good data store because it’s used all the time, but if something happened with the project it was potentially a way to hurt the main site (by using the same Cassandra instance to run r/place and reddit.com, they risked bringing down both).

Redis, on the other hand, fit the data model well — it was “exactly what they needed.” It’s not used much for the main site (Redis is used for counting, so active users can be seen in the sidebar), so didn’t carry the potential of affecting reddit.com if something went awry with r/place. However, since it’s not used a lot, it was more unfamiliar than Cassandra.

Board format

For efficiency's sake, the team cut the palette down to 16 colors, storing them in a four-bit unsigned integer — a bitmap that the front end could interpret as red, green, and blue.

Here’s a scaled-down example:

On the left you see the data as stored and transmitted, and on the right how it “wraps around” when placed on the grid. After a write, a particular place in the bitmap was addressed based on the coordinates (x + y * canvas_size), which meant they could store pixel information for one million pixels in 500 kilobytes of data. This value could be made even lower by gzipping when downloading the data in the browser.

Setting a pixel: SETBIT v. bitfield

Initially they looked at SETBIT, a Redis command that lets you set individual bits, for enabling users to set pixels on the board. They’d run SETBIT, the name of the key, the offset they’d want to write into the key, and the value. In action, it would look something like this:

SETBIT canvas 100 1
SETBIT canvas 101 1
SETBIT canvas 102 1
SETBIT canvas 103 1

Repeating the command four times wasn’t ideal — another downside was that if users tried to set their same pixels in the same spot, a random mix of colors might result, something that could be addressed by making it atomic, like the concept of transactions in SQL.

The team eventually settled on BITFIELD, which is able to operate with multiple bit fields in the same command call. BITFIELD also shortened the command to two lines — when the pound sign was added, Redis automatically calculated the bit position — as seen in the following example:

BITFIELD key SET TYPE OFFSET VALUE
BITFIELD canvas SET u4 #25 15

Getting the pixel

The team didn’t need to use BITFIELD at all for the GET, instead using a simple GET, and letting the client handle parsing the pixels. The code was a bit more complicated since there are no unsigned four-bit integer arrays in JavaScript, so they had to parse it as an eight-bit integer array and do their own bit shifting, but overall this was small in the grand scheme of r/place implementation. (Check out the slides to see the command in full.)

Load testing for the real world

To make sure everything would work, the team set up load testing; they scaled up their network so r/place could handle 180,000 writes per second, which was more than they’d need (for context, all of reddit.com gets about 30,000 requests per second).

They also load tested with a mixed workflow more conducive to the real world. Initially load testing had been done with SETs only, but adding one GET of the key per second caused a huge hit in the capacity for SET operations, which made sense: “A SET is pretty small — setting a single pixel value — but a GET is getting them all!” 10 reads/second were added to the mix, which resulted in a drop of 20,000 writes a second (i.e., adding 1 read/sec meant a loss of 2,000 writes/sec).

At this point caching seemed like a good idea, but they also tested board load time, which had only been tested internally at a small scale. The board was loaded with “a million random pixels,” immediately resulting in what had been a sub-second load time in Cassandra jumping to over 30 seconds. For Redis, loading the board translated to getting a single key, which was more like 10ms. This load test was the final deciding factor for Redis, and also illustrated how it’s important to incorporate real-world data when testing.

Caching: a multi-tiered approach

Fastly’s CDN was the “first line of defense,” and adding it was as simple as adding a Cache-Control header with max-age=1 — they wanted to keep a low TTL to ensure fresh content while still limiting the traffic back to Redis to just one request a second.

If data in Fastly was stale, they’d fall back to the server-side cache — each application server had a local memcache instance for this purpose. Finally, if neither of those caches had the data, they’d fall back to Redis. Changing caching was controlled with GET parameters (though they ended up not needing to). Everything took “very little” actual code but paid off in terms of reducing load to the system.

Takeaways

Building and scaling r/place inspired the following sage advice:

  • Have knobs you can tune, like cooldown timers — they ended up running into trouble with the RabbitMQ cluster, so they changed rate of throughput for updates while diagnosing.

  • Have switches you can flip — it’s nice to have things you can turn to without shutting everything off (they wouldn’t have wanted to shut down the entire game because a piece of the infrastructure wasn’t working properly).

  • Load test everything with real-world data — in Reddit’s case, this showed the need for caching and another backend store — had they just tested simple reads and writes they might have missed problems arising from disparity in sizes for GETs vs SETs.

  • Use power principles — there wasn’t much time to execute the project, so anything they chose to implement needed to have a disproportionate payoff (e.g., there was a bug that “stayed until the end” but at the end of the day, it wasn’t a big enough deal to delve into).

Watch the talk below, and stay tuned — we’ll continue to share customer stories from Altitude (and beyond).

Anna MacLachlan
Content Marketing Manager
Published

8 min read

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Anna MacLachlan
Content Marketing Manager

Anna MacLachlan is Fastly’s Content Marketing Manager, where she talks to brands and partners to tell stories about scale, security, and performance. She received her MA in Comparative Literature from NYU and loves megafauna and mountains.

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LiveJournal's friends system, tags, and communities emphasized social interaction and community-building, setting it apart from other blogging platforms.

Title:

Content: Contact Swipecast: The Expert Tinder For Designs And Creatives

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inplace-infolinks
Inplace #2

Contact Swipecast: The Expert Tinder For Designs And Creatives

When Peter Fitzpatrick moving his very own modeling organization, quiet Models NY, 5yrs before, he was stunned by how unproductive the industry had been.

“A countless the procedure from how systems are scouted, to the way that they include booked, to the way that they communicate with clientele have numerous extra degree. it simply isn’t going to make some feeling,” he or she explained.

it is simply nowadays, though, which is the man worked out how to use tech to stamp out of the inefficiencies. Here, Fitzpatrick introduced Swipecast, a cell phone industry allowing photographers, developers, designers, and shops to arrange models through an iPhone software. The actual way it is effective is simple: business swipe through a look-book type index to find systems and straight email these people for a position. The two cover the exchange through app while the cash reaches the style just after the work is complete. Swipecast expectations to take advantage of not merely the $4 billion international female acting industry. From the application intentions to add in a variety of users from male models to locks and make-up artists, Fitzpatrick reports market prospects north of $20 billion (although after all this, it’s hard to approximate exactly how many experts will in actuality embrace they).

Screenshots from your Swipecast app

Although Fitzpatrick possesses a modeling agencies, he or she realizes how they could hinder some elements of this business. Given that sizes expect companies to discover tasks, most of them manage just one or two days a week and enjoy payments times after a photo capture (from inefficiencies in how tasks are invoiced). As stated in stats from your ny work department, the hostile yearly salary for a model is $43,570. Through Swipecast, types can ideally earn more by reserving brand-new activities on the free era. Even better, these people maintain lots of the bucks — while businesses can take as many as one-third of a model’s income as profit, Swipecast simply will take ten percent.

From the clients stop, the app assists creatives familiarize yourself with systems before reserving them. “i prefer that you are able to have a chat immediately utilizing the design before cooperating with all of them,” explained Katie Burnett, a stylist who’s worked with Armani Exchange and Harper’s Bazaar China. “This makes it possible for me to see an exceptionally common sense from the identity from the style and the things they’re going to become over established before an editorial capture or a career.”

As a less clear profit, Swipecast can certainly help creatives spend less. Instead of flying out local models to exotic locales for international photo shoots, photographers can swipe through their phone to look for local talent when they arrive to the destination. At work, Fitzpatrick provides spoken to visitors which have paid for types to travel 3-4 hours to a location with connecting aircraft, lodges, and beste datingrecensies numerous cab trips, just by work in which the product’s look isn’t really actually included in the specific pic. “Now they’re going to be able to get hometown models for a portion of money,” said Fitzpatrick. They estimates that visitors who usually invest $2,500 to $3,000 on trips for items can come across local part-time types on Swipecast for at least $500 each day. Swipecast also offers an unconventional amount characteristic which comes in useful for up-and-coming styles stylists and photographers. Capable make use of “trade” alternative, exactly where the two trading their unique clothing or components for a model’s hours as opposed to paying the regular week speed.

Swipecast have multi-step affirmation and a two-way ranking program to make sure that both designs and clientele might have an enjoyable knowledge. Non-legitimate visitors tends to be straight away vetted outside; they can’t book framework unless they enter their particular personal data, company email, and charge card. This should be a marked improvement over a similar try by version Mayhem, a profile web site for specialist framework and wedding photographers. The difficulty am that it was too open — recently, there seemed to be a scandal when the site neglected to advise the customers that there are rapists hiding on the internet site.

Fitzpatrick dreams Swipecast will ultimately function like a cultural system. He or she imagines a scenario exactly where brands stay in touch with the software, in preference to through personal telephone calls or messages. This is especially of great help for unknown styles exactly who fly into different countries and frequently change cell phone numbers. Rachel Finninger, a model which walks runway series for huge brands such as for instance Dior, Gucci , and Calvin Klein, intends to make use of Swipecast mostly for its social aspect. “everything I really love about Swipecast usually it’s not just about scheduling activities,” she explained. “You can use Swipecast to remain in push using group we see on preset.”

This public breakthrough aspect should help designs that aren’t just as Instagram-famous as rest in the industry. “For the girls not just big on social media optimisation, Swipecast is another chance for them to showcase their particular collection,” said Kaia Kongsli, a model exactly who works on the advertising group of Swipecast. “Maybe they don’t need many supporters, but our very own system may help brands be found by photographers they mightn’t make use of normally.” Framework from a compact place that simply don’t get access to huge firms can add photographs throughout the application and hope for a serendipitous relationship. The application let owners to sift models by her ethnicity, specifications, mane and eye design, area, as well amount of Instagram enthusiasts they already have. Swipecast’s learn supply still has the curated databases of workers such “Top Runway items” or “Top recreations physical fitness sizes.”

The application have established at a great occasion, due to the fact modeling business moves farther along toward discovering latest and unique face. However, Fitzpatrick helps it be evident that Swipecast is absolutely not searching substitute organizations — it is simply catering to some other industry opportunity. “It’s not just the current sector we’re seeking. Actually an industry that does not exist,” revealed Fitzpatrick. To enhance their program, he is concentrating to begin with on towns certainly not known for their trend action. Jacksonville, Fla., one example is, offers photographers or stores who does benefit from finding nearby versions for fast jobs. In addition, he intends to spread the application to places wherein systems truly are derived from, particularly Brazil and Scandinavia. While it’sn’t nevertheless very clear whether these supplementary opportunities will posses treasures, truly exciting to check out just where Swipecast will go.

The platform's combination of blogging and social networking features attracted established bloggers and diary writers, fueling its user base growth.

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Content: In Russia, it is necessary to develop measures to support self-employed bloggers, said Deputy Director of RAEC, Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergey Grebennnikov.
Answering the question of the correspondent of IA REGNUM “Why the departure of foreign sites in the future will benefit Russian bloggers and online sites? ”, he explained:
Blogger
(cc) NeONBRAND
“After the start of the Russian military special operation in Ukraine, many foreign social networks became inaccessible to Russian users – Instagram (an organization whose activities are banned in Russia) and Facebook (an organization whose activities are banned in Russia) were recognized as extremist and banned in Russia, TikTok disabled the ability to post new content, Youtube – monetization.
Of course, this does not affect Russian bloggers.
The positive point is that we have a fairly large number of our own services, including the social network VKontakte, which until February 2022 was the leader in the number of users in Russia.
Already in March 2022, a meeting was held on the site of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation under the auspices of the Commission for the Development of the Information Society, Media and Mass Communications of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and the Russian Association of Electronic Communications to discuss the future of the blogger community in Russia.
As part of our meeting with representatives of the blogosphere, we came to the conclusion that the topic of the development of domestic analogues of social networks is very relevant.
It is time to create a special working group to develop support measures for self-employed bloggers who worked through social networks that have left the Russian market and for those who are now actively mastering domestic analogues.
Many of the domestic platforms have a wide functionality, including useful for the development of the blogosphere.
However, the transition of bloggers to Russian sites is not painless.
Reasons: difficulties with moderation; inability to fully transfer subscribers to a new platform; difference in the audience of platforms; interface features; lack of usual metrics.
Despite the fact that many bloggers and businesses are accustomed to foreign sites, Russian social networks are now trying to create services convenient and useful for both entrepreneurs and content creators.
“VKontakte ” in the spring held a large-scale program to support authors, and also offered entrepreneurs tools to start and develop their business on the Internet.
Thus, according to a study by RAEC, 44% of respondents from among SMEs named VK the main channel of Internet communication.
Other Russian online platforms are also attracting new users.
We have social networks for different audiences and content formats.
“Classmates ” appeared long before the appearance of all social networks and, of course, for older audiences they are more familiar.
Yappy - an analogue of TikTok - is more interesting for teenagers and young people.
Well, LiveJournal, where bloggers who began to keep a diary at the peak of their career return again.
"Yandex.
Zen is suitable for content creators.
It does not matter that “Yandex ”.
Zen has recently returned a tape of recommendations and introduced new tools for promoting channels.
There is still an opportunity to create and develop new Russian platforms.
For example, Russian social networks ЯRUS and TenChat were recently launched.
But if someone wants to create an analogue of Facebook or Instagram (recognized as extremist organizations whose activities are banned in Russia), it seems to me that it makes no sense to repeat what has already existed for many years.
You need to create completely new social platforms with some other chips and tools that the user needs.
I am sure that we are waiting for the birth of a new, unique market.
Russian companies are already open to cooperation, and this can not but rejoice. ”
As reported by IA REGNUM, every year on June 14, the Internet community celebrates the International Day of the blogger.
In 2022, one of the “best ” gifts for their holiday, Russian bloggers received from YouTube – the Google-controlled video hosting completely suspended all monetization functions, including Premium subscription, Music Premium, sponsorship, super chat, superstickers and“ merch ”.
Demonstrating its anti-Russian position, Google did not limit itself to video hosting, but announced the suspension of the sale of all online advertising in Russia in the search engine of the same name and from external publishing partners.
“When the strongest player disappears in the market, the weak have the opportunity to compete.
I think that it is for online platforms that this is a great opportunity to improve the product, understand what the audience needs and introduce more and more chips.
Moreover, quality standards have already been set, ” said Anton Petukhov, Chairman of the Influence Marketing Committee (IAB).
According to Vladimir Zykov, Director of the Association of Professional Users of Social Networks and Messengers (APPSIM), unlike Europe, Russia has its own platforms, social networks, mail, clouds for storing information and data, and so on.
And Europe does not have this, it is completely dependent on American sites, and this, of course, is a big trouble for them.
Read also: Russian online platforms have the opportunity to compete – expert
Blogger ’ s Day: Why Russia Wins Despite Censorship

LiveJournal peaked at 2.5 million active accounts in 2005, but declined due to competition from platforms like Facebook.

The rise of Facebook and other social media platforms led to a decline in LiveJournal's user base.

The platform's decline is due to the rise of other social media platforms, lack of updates, and changes in ownership and management.

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25 Years Of LiveScore: CEO Sam Sadi On Fueling Fans’ Passion, Broadcasting The UCL & More

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Widely accepted to be the oldest app of its kind, LiveScore–as the name clearly suggests–is a live sports score app that is now in its 25th year of existence. Unsurprisingly, they have been trendsetters in the ever-growing industry for a number of years and continue to innovate, so I spoke to LiveScore Group CEO Sam Sadi to understand their history and what they are working on currently.

The Origins Of LiveScore

The idea of LiveScore was “born out of a necessity” for a Manchester United fan in South Africa named Peter Jerie, who was a programmer. He would often go out on treks but wanted to be updated with his team’s matches, so he wrote a code to get Teletext updates sent to his phone via SMS.

He soon realized that this could be a popular service after gauging reactions from his friends, so he registered LiveScore on the internet back in 1998. The business has grown leaps and bounds since then, but Sadi says the objective remains the same, “To fuel fans’ passion for sports and try to improve their experience with sports.”

One of the first additions to the app was an expansion in sports coverage. Although it started with the idea of having real-time soccer score updates delivered, it soon began to include cricket, basketball, hockey and tennis, although soccer remains its flagship offering.

In 2017, LiveScore was acquired by the Gamesys group of companies who then demerged what is presently the LiveScore Group in 2019, heralding an era of further progress for the platform.

Focusing on a soccer-oriented perspective, one of the key developments on the platform was what they call the “Convergence Model.”

The Convergence Model

Sadi says the convergence model was born out of a consumer need, pointing out that sports content delivery is quite flawed today as the average fan has to navigate through multiple apps and platforms and pay for various subscriptions. Therefore, he calls it, an “uneconomic, but also quite complex and fragmented landscape.”

So, LiveScore identified this problem and “started designing a product ecosystem that converges as many sports content types as possible in a single frictionless user experience.” This adds to live match scores through stats and data, written/video news and analysis content as well as betting, which they see as a “transactional type of sports content that is part of many sports fans’ experience.”

Sadi says their business model has a strategic edge over traditional online sports media companies, as LiveScore can monetize much more effectively rather than rely on ad revenue. He also sees an advantage over online sports betting companies, stating that they can attract and retain new users much more easily. Ultimately, he claims this enables them to provide more value to the user.

Live Broadcasting

An example Sadi cites is their free-to-air live broadcasts of every UEFA Champions League (UCL) match to half a million users in Ireland over the last three seasons. The integration of broadcasts into live score apps was unheard of just a few years ago, and even as it started it was either based on a pay-per-view model or only had lesser-followed leagues freely available.

Sadi recognizes that this model of putting premium sports behind paywalls naturally limits audience access, leading to the current generation of sports fans not having comfortable access and even giving it up for free snippets on Instagram, YouTube or such highlights-based platforms. He says LiveScore really believes in the free-to-air model, acknowledging that it does not make as much revenue as Pay TV operators do but believes that the audience growth and subsequent brand value increase and ad value increase sufficiently offsets it. In fact, he believes this to be a more sustainable equation.

However, this idea of making such premium content freely available to fans is much tougher to execute. The valuation of broadcast rights for the world’s top leagues is mind-numbingly high right now. For instance, the English Premier League’s rather convoluted ongoing broadcast deal in the UK with Sky, BT and Amazon is worth over $6 billion over a three-year period from 2022 to 2025. Sadi acknowledges that the prices of live rights in many territories are quite distorted for a variety of reasons, so players like LiveScore have to find the right opportunities (as they did in Ireland) if they are to stick to the free-to-air model.

In any case, the idea of making sports freely accessible (or at least much more affordable) for fans is a prudent one–something that everyone from these apps to FIFA themselves is looking to work towards. Only time can tell how feasible it is, but this space is worth keeping an eye on.

For their part, Sadi says LiveScore will continue to cater to fans’ ever-growing wants by expanding their coverage across more sports and territories at least. Their premium live broadcasting plans will hinge on the results of the UCL experiment in Ireland among other factors, but at least they are trying to change something.

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The acquisition of LiveJournal by Six Apart and later SUP Media led to a decline in popularity among its core users.

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Content: How Twitch Built a Global Live Streaming Network with Amazon IVS via @ amazonivs
960 readings
How Twitch Built a Global Live Streaming Network with Amazon IVS
2022 / 07 / 02
By @ amazonivs 960 Reads
ZH
Too long; studying.
From RushTix and Codices to DeNA, BeLive, GoPro, and more, established brands and startups around the world are discovering the power of real-time interactive video.
By using Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS), these innovative companies are transforming the future of e-commerce, fitness, user-generated content, and more by optimizing the live streaming experience for creators and viewers.
Officially launched in July 2020, Amazon IVS is a hosted live streaming solution designed to allow developers to add live video to their applications or websites and enable interaction with video without having to invest in streaming infrastructure, but its development dates back much earlier and shares its origins with one of the most widely used streaming platforms in the world.
More than 2.5 million viewers tune in to Twitch at any given moment, with the site averaging 31 million viewers a day.
In 2021, more than 1.3 trillion minutes of live video were watched on Twitch, a considerable increase from more than 1 trillion minutes watched on the site in 2020 and 600 billion minutes in 2019.
By using Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS), these innovative companies are transforming the future of e-commerce, fitness, user-generated content, and more by optimizing the live streaming experience for creators and viewers.
Officially launched in July 2020, Amazon IVS is a hosted live streaming solution designed to allow developers to add live video to their applications or websites and enable interaction with video without having to invest in streaming infrastructure, but its development dates back much earlier and shares its origins with one of the most widely used streaming platforms in the world.
People Mentioned
Companies Mentioned
@ amazonivs
Amazon Interactive Video Service (IVS)
RushTixCodicesDeNABeLiveGoPro and other well-known brands and startups around the world are discovering the power of real-time interactive video.
By using Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS), these innovative companies are transforming the future of e-commerce, fitness, user-generated content, and more by optimizing the live streaming experience for creators and viewers.
Officially launched in July 2020, Amazon IVS is a hosted live streaming solution designed to let developers add live video to their applications or websites and enable interaction with video without having to invest in streaming infrastructure, but it has a history of development dating back much earlier and shares origins with one of the most widely used streaming platforms in the world.
More than 2.5 million viewers tune in to Twitch at any given moment, with the site averaging 31 million viewers a day.
In 2021, more than 1.3 trillion minutes of live video were watched on Twitch, a considerable increase from more than 1 trillion minutes watched on the site in 2020 and 600 billion minutes in 2019.
Streaming live video across the globe is a notoriously difficult process due to the unpredictability of the internet and live events.
Live streams must be delivered as close to real-time as possible, especially for the kind of interactive content that runs on Twitch.
Today, more than 98% of Twitch traffic is still on its network, which is one of the largest in the world dedicated to live streaming.
However, its starting point is much lower.
Start "Life Casting"
Twitch was born on Justin.tv in 2007 and was founded by Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, Kyle Vogt, and Michael Seibel.
Originally only available in the US, the site ’ s first iteration featured Kan ’ s 24 / 7 live streaming for daily tasks.
Justin.tv later opened up to other creators for live streaming, while a segment dedicated to video game streaming was launched in 2011 as Twitch Interactive.
Early infrastructure included several computers in a facility located in the same location, transmitting video over a third-party content delivery network (CDN), which quickly generated huge bills.
In search of a more economical way to start a business and expand its audience, the founders looked for a way to save money by offering videos directly.
Their solution was to hire networking expert Jon Shipman, who launched Twitch on the road to building his own infrastructure.
As an event-driven platform, Twitch ’ s traffic has fluctuated and often skyrocketed, which can be stressful in the early days of entrepreneurship.
Co-founder Shear explains: “Kyle and I used to get up early on Saturday mornings so we could oversee servers during peak viewing periods.
After nine months of hard work, Kyle had a well-deserved vacation, but he was completely off the grid and our servers started to fail.
Someone on our team called a pizza shop near where he lived and asked them to deliver a pizza, with a message written in Sharpie on the box to the effect: “The server is down. ”
We need you to fix it.
Needless to say, he did it.
Laying the foundation for growth
Twitch eventually started hosting almost all of its own traffic to ensure video quality and minimize reliance on CDNs.
Martin “Marty ” Hess, general manager of Amazon IVS, which is responsible for the video infrastructure used by Twitch, noted:“ It will be a challenge to serve a global audience well using only the public internet, as Twitch is vulnerable to bottlenecks. ”
“For example, if the video is from San Jose, California, and the audience is in Berlin, Germany, then the video may be delayed in a lot of places.
Maintaining a dedicated network [Point of Presence] with backbone links and PoPs gives greater control over the quality of the flow and global delivery. ”
As capacity has increased over the years, Twitch was acquired by Amazon in 2014, expanding its dedicated network and data center team.
The professional team ensures that its software runs with the lowest possible latency on thousands of servers around the world, automatically resolving component failures so that problems in one place don ’ t affect systems around the world.
The team began with a high degree of focus on developing unified media streaming software that never fails and optimizing streaming.
“We have local PoPs in every major market.
On top of that, our software layer is constantly fine-tuned to deliver the highest quality video within the available bandwidth.
Our network is only used for live video, which is very unique, ” Hess said.
Development with a focus on user experience
By livestreaming its core offering, stability is (and remains) paramount for Twitch.
“In the early days, we relied on third-party software to get video from broadcasters and prepare to distribute it, but one failed instance would interrupt multiple streams, so we focused on never letting our system crash.
Then, one of our developers wrote the distribution software, basically on a weekend.
It was quite a bit of technical flexibility, but it got a lot of attention and showed us that it was possible, ” Shear recalled.
“It took us about a year to fine-tune the software and get it ready for production, and after rigorous testing, we rolled it out on the web, ” Hess added.
“A version of the software is now also publicly available via Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS), which launched in July 2020. Amazon IVS allows users to leverage the power of Twitch ’ s live video streaming technology and launch channels in minutes. ”
Prioritize dedicated global video networks
One reason Twitch was able to keep up with historical peaks in demand throughout the pandemic was to have a dedicated global video network.
Shear shared, “Thankfully, we have enough capacity to continue to deliver high-quality, interactive live experiences as our audience growth exceeded our expectations. ”
We have also further optimized video quality to improve the reliability of available bandwidth, including providing only SD streaming options when public internet infrastructure was particularly restricted in the early days of the blockade. ”
According to Hess, “Twitch addresses unique challenges, such as managing a live stream that leaps from 10 viewers to more than 1 million viewers in a matter of seconds.
Solving these issues has led to rock-solid video technology that is now available to other customers as well. ”
Built for the future
There ’ s no magic formula for Twitch ’ s enduring success, but the company ’ s unparalleled focus on live video experiences and technology has been key to boosting growth.
“I think we ’ re still in the early stages of a live video feature.
Amazon IVS is designed to let other people do what we do on Twitch and make it easy to connect to live video, ” Shear said.
To learn more about building interactive live video experiences with Amazon IVS, visit: https: / / aws.amazon.com / ivs /
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LiveJournal is still operational but its user base and dominance have significantly decreased.

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LiveJournal still attracts new users, especially in regions where other social sites are less popular, and is used by Russian bloggers and diary writers.

After Russian users could no longer use foreign social networks, where did they post their blogs?