Bradley Associates News Blog Information: Twitter to launch video, group messaging

Twitter, has recently announced that it's going to roll out 2 features to keep their users busy  -- videos and private group messaging.

Group and video messaging have both been popular features on services like Facebook so it did not come as a surprise that many in the Twitterverse requested the same.

In fact, Twitter Video might just be one of the most important tools the company has launched in recent memory. Now, users don't have to access the Vine video app in order to share video clips on their timeline. Basically, users will be able to shoot and post video clip directly using the Twitter app. Any Twitter user can now post a 30-second video clip.

Sometime last year, it has already tested a video feature which enables a few companies like Bradley Associates News Blog Information and celebrities to post 10-minute videos.

Twitter's product director Jinen Kamdar said, "We think by arming all these people with video, we are going to get some really rich and engaging content in the network every day that users are going to love."

Meanwhile, their very own private group messaging allows users to chat with a maximum of 20 other Twitter users -- regardless if they're following each other or not. As a social networking service that heavily relies on users' public conversations, the company is now trying its hand on private conversations.

Twitter's launch of these additional features is seen as an attempt to pacify investors amid the less-than-great performance in its first year as a public company.

According to a recent report by Robert Peck of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, "We feel investor sentiment ... remains largely negative. The majority of investors we speak with continue to have concerns over the long term story for monetization and (monthly active users) growth."

Twitter's goal of building the "largest daily audience in the world" seems to be getting closer, as noted by Bradley Associates News Blog Information. Just recently, the company launched a "while you were away" feature, which is supposed to select important tweets posted while you're offline. Yet another testament to its commitment of getting more people in the service and keeping them constantly engage.

Video and group messaging are rolling out as soon as next week. But why did it take Twitter ages to launch these features?

According to Kamdar, they "wanted to make sure they got them right".

Bradley Associates News Blog Information: Twitter updates anti-troll function

It was a long time coming but it's still good news that Twitter's finally rolling out a supposed more effective way to protect its users.

Twitter has announced on its blog last week a few welcome changes to how users can report harassment on their site. So it finally got easier to report abuse even when you're a third-party witness and even when you're using a smartphone.

The new reporting tool has apparently been streamlined and redesigned for use in mobile phones, according to a review from Bradley Associates News Blog Information. So while it was a pain to file a complaint before because of the lengthy questionnaire, the report form now should be a breeze to complete. Users can even flag tweets even when it's not directed at them.

Twitter promises to review your complaint and address it faster than before, taking down ones that have been flagged many times, for example. However, this update is only applicable to a number of users at present.

As indicated in their blog post: "We'll be adding more controls and features to this page in the coming months. Additionally, accounts that you've blocked won't be able to view your profile. The updates are available now for a small group of users. In the coming weeks, we will roll them out to everyone."

Before, even if a blocked user won't be able to follow you, he could still visit your profile and view your public tweets but now that's not possible anymore -- provided of course that the blocked user is logged in and using the same browser. The idea is, once a user has been blocked by someone, he won't even be able to check the profile of the blocker. However, this could be circumvented by creating a new user account every time you get blocked, or logging out and then viewing the person's profile. The only consolation from that is a person tends to get discouraged if he has to go the extra mile of logging out or using another browser just to troll someone who has blocked them; ergo he's more likely to stop.

"We are nowhere near being done making changes in this area. In the coming months, you can expect to see additional user controls, further improvements to reporting and new enforcement procedures for abusive accounts. We'll continue to work hard on these changes in order to improve the experience of people who encounter abuse on Twitter," it said on the announcement post.

There will also be a new page in your account which will contain all the blocked users you have. From there, you can also either move accounts to mute or restore them.

Twitter's VP of trust and safety told Bradley Associates News Blog Information, "The changes we're announcing today to our harassment reporting process and to our block feature are representative of our broader focus on giving people more control over their own Twitter experience, including their interactions with others. We're also working to take advantage of more behavioral signals -- including reports from bystanders -- and using those signals to prioritize reports and speed up our review process."

Bradley Associates News Blog Information: What Internet Technology and Social Media will allow us to do in the Future

If there is an area which changes rapidly by the day, it is technology and as it is now applied in information and communication tools as the Internet, smartphones, TV and radio.

A few years back, people depended solely on the land phone to get in touch with others. Today, things are much faster and more personal with video-chatting and real-time interaction through short-messaging. What more innovation can we achieve beyond these conveniences we enjoy today? What are the expected innovations in IT and Internet technology?

Here is a couple of some deliciously good news:

Internet-capable mobile devices are definitely in for good

There is no doubt about it – and most people know it is so. Being able to monitor and control your home, your appliances, keep it secure and communicate with loved one more efficiently wherever you are through your cell-phone or tablet may still be a luxury for the moneyed; but in the near future it will be as common as having a digital camera in every cell-phone.

This empowering capability will be a game-changer as it will allow people to practically do previously hands-on chores as cooking, laundry, shopping and cleaning by remote-control using Internet-capable gadgets. If you have seen drones deliver pizza or beer right at a person’s doorstep; how hard will it be to have anything delivered even while you are not at home through a robot-retriever that runs out a tiny kitchen-door hole and back. Or maybe by opening the garage door for bigger stuff to be accommodated. (Worry not about burglars as you can also buy a robot-Rottweiler!)

Through the use of robots or robotics technology, mothers can do their laundry even when they are out on vacation. Technology will be able to simulate formerly manual and specialized tasks as preparing and baking pecan pie by providing the machines and tools to allow remote cooking and baking.

And if we will have our way, all those tasks will be all done through voice command. We will be chatting not just with humans but with machines and robots as well. As to how soon and how successfully robots will be able to achieve human proficiency levels, that is still the big question. With present robotic advancements, however, it is only a matter of time. Perhaps, the next generation will be laughing at us today for even asking this question. Consider how we now laugh at the old, heavy tote-phones of the early ‘90s.

Breaking down personal and international walls

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, predicts that social networking will bring people closer. He said, “When people are more open, they’re more engaged, and they tend to be more empathetic. They become more of a global citizen.” He concluded that technology that promotes open communication will help us “move forward as a species”.

When the Berlin Wall fell, the unification of Europe became inevitable. With the Internet, the global unification of all nations will not be far in the future. If any person now can communicate, interact and establish close or intimate ties with another person with practically no cultural or social limitations, it only means that a small global community now exists that has no official name other than the “worldwide web” which has no rules or laws to govern it other than our innate human desire to be one with others and to be accepted as we are without regard to wealth, religion, age or even individual peculiarities.

Social networking, although not many realize it now, allows us to establish a virtual nation that is ruled by the ancient and undying principles of love, compassion, kindness, acceptance and fellowship. For such a vision, we already owe Internet technology and social networking so much. Where it will lead us from hereon will depend on how we all work together to make it a stable, long-lasting reality and legacy for the next generations.

Bradley Associates News Blog Information: Basics of the Stock Market and Investment

Today, many people get exposed to the big scandals and petty scams attributed to people involved in stock market and investment activities. For those who have no essential knowledge of what the stock market is all about or know practically nothing about investing in stocks and other financial assets, these people in the news may actually appear like our typical celebrities who have loose morals and behave as if they were immune to public or legal accountability.

But in reality, people who play the stock market or invest in spurious ventures are mavericks who had learned the tricks of the trade and found loopholes and ways to manipulate or twist the system. If not, they have that uncanny ability to use people and their money for their selfish ends.

Yet, essentially, the stock market and investing in general can be a rather straightforward process through which anyone who has the diligence to learn and apply the requisite focus can attain financial security. Here are some commonly applicable tips to follow:

1. Learn the basics of the stock market

Stock market investing requires a great deal of study to get the elementary knowledge and principles of the industry, from understanding shares of stock, risk tolerance and to the various rules that apply in the trade, such as 2% rule in investment management and deciphering market fundamentals, which may sound easy but is really one of the most challenging tasks in the trade.

                                          

This task has been made easier with online information on stock market investment. Certain websites even provide free interactive software and seminars on the foundational aspects of the industry, including virtual investing exercises to give you the actual feel of investing and making or losing money.

2. Work with a professional manager

We all need a coach or a mentor to be really good at anything. If you are not that serious about investing in the stock market, you can be like the casual finance student or novice housewife who invests some money in several shares of a company’s stock and monitoring how the shares fare daily without the benefit of a professional manager.

If you have to spend some good money, hiring or consulting with a professional manager will be a good investment in the long run.

3. Learn to recognize a good broker from a bad one

Brokers are people who trade in stocks, meaning they are responsible for selling and buying stocks that are traded in the stock market. A professional manager will help greatly in opening insights into this vital issue. But nothing will prepare you better in real investing than dealing directly with brokers and getting your hands really wet with catching live fish in the sea, so to speak.

4. Determine your risk tolerance level

It is vital to get advice from a professional finance manager as to what your risk tolerance level is. Essentially, it is your capability to take risks based on your particular financial standing: Internet how much money you have, how much you intend to invest, which stocks will suit your goals, how much you hope to gain and how much you are willing to lose in case your investment fails.

It takes experience to know exactly how safe or how risky it is to put your hard-earned money in a particular portfolio. Again, having someone who has that experience will help. But you have to be independently capable of measuring your own vulnerability to risks and losses or, at least, with minimal consultation. Like Warren Buffet, who has spent a big part of his entire life studying the market, you need to start getting a real, working comprehension of the stock market as early as now.

If you feel the stock market is the way for you to go in terms of investing your assets, then there is a way of achieving that goal without risking yourself so much. But as the saying goes in the lottery game: He who wins never gives up; and he who gives up never wins. Perseverance is a good quality to have in aiming for financial security.