Apple Help: SOCIAL MEDIA

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Sunday, May 3, 2015

YouTube's first North American FanFest attracts thousands, but wants to stay 'grassroots'

YouTube stars gather before YouTube FanFest in Toronto on May , 2015.

TORONTO — In a white-and-red room replete with YouTube branding, jars of chewy berry candy and T-shirt-clad publicists, a group of camera-ready millennials flash their pearly whites as they pose for a selfie.

While they're not boldfaced names among people your parents' age, these YouTube personalities attracted thousands to the video-sharing website's first-ever North American FanFest in downtown Toronto on Saturday. The one-day live event, which featured 16 of YouTube's most popular vloggers from Canada and abroad, followed previous FanFests in Asia that each drew thousands of screaming admirers.

this impressive turnout, however, one YouTube executive still describes FanFest as "grassroots" — especially when compared to VidCon, an annual online-video conference that attracted 18,000 people last year, but started in 2010 with just 1,400. (YouTube hassponsored past VidCon events.)

"VidCon started almost like FanFest many years ago," Laura Lee, YouTube's global head of top creators, toldMashable on Friday at a press event. "But now, it's so established and big because of its success, that it's really just kind of [YouTubers] going there, sort of tending to their fans and their empires.Whereas with FanFest ... it has more of that organic kind of 'we're pulling folks together; we're bringing fans there.'"

She added that FanFest, which first launched in Singapore in 2013 before later spreading to India, Australia, Korea and Japan, provides fans with "that in-person payoff."

Much like how Lee sees FanFest as a more approachable version of VidCon, some YouTubers see themselves as more approachable versions of celebrities. And that's despite their sheer online reach — together, Saturday's participating YouTubers boast 59.9 million subscribers and 6.8 billion views.

"It's like the new generation of celebrities, and we have different relationships with our viewers, right? So we're not as untouchable as like Beyoncé because Beyoncé's like a queen," said Lauren Riihimaki, 21, a beauty and style vlogger known as LaurDIY. "It's more like a role model or older sister figure, rather than someone that they know they'll never have the chance to meet."

"I think we're just relevant to their lives," added Riihimaki, a Canadian, who has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers.

While the average age of YouTube fans skews young, their buying power will only increase as they get older. And it's an audience that prefers YouTube personalities over mainstream celebrities, according to a recent Varietycommissioned survey.

But this distinction between online and traditional stars is blurring, said Michael Stevens, a 29-year-old YouTuber who creates educational videos under his "VSauce" channels. Stevens, an American now based in the UK, has a total of 8.6 million subscribers.

"It's been changing slowly. Younger people today don't see a difference between what platform they're getting their entertainment from, or what they're using to communicate," he said. Stevens cited fellow YouTuber Grace Helbig's late-night talk show on E! and Epic Meal Time's cooking show on FYI, Epic Meal Empire, as examples of YouTubers with network shows.

Despite moving on to more traditional pastures, however, these personalities still stay true to their online roots. For example, The Grace Helbig Show is an extension of Helbig's YouTube channel, featuring longer sketches and other YouTube stars. Meanwhile, Canadian singer and producer Mike Tompkins had a record deal, but returned his focus to YouTube after it turned sour. The 27-year-old said the route to success, whether online or not, is "all the same."

Some have even turned down offers to do mainstream work because they genuinely feel they're digital first, and perhaps even only, YouTube's Lee said. "I think there's been a change, a paradigm shift."

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Monday, April 27, 2015

Emoji are about to take over Instagram

Instagram just made emoji posted within the app a lot more powerful. The company updated its iOS and Android apps Monday with the ability to add emoji hashtags to posts along with three brand-new filters.

Previously, Instagram's hashtag feature did not support emoji, so comments or captions with the hashtag symbol and emoji were not searchable. Now, users can add emoji (or a string of emoji) to hashtags and posts that have been previously tagged with the characters will also show up in searches.

"Over the past few years, emoji have become part of a universal visual language," the company wrote in a blog post. "With emoji hashtags, you can discover even more by adding them to your own photos and videos, searching them on the Explore page and tapping on them when you see them in captions."

ReyesJunoLark — The new Reyes, Juno, and Lark filters.

Monday's update also added three new filters to Instagram's toolkit: Reyes, Juno and Lark. Reyes is a more muted filter that "brings a dusty, vintage look to your moments," according to Instagram, while Lark emphasizes blue and green tones and Juno " tints cool tones green while making warm tones pop and whites glow for vibrant photos of people."

Instagram also plans to update the app with new filters more often, the company said, noting that two of the filters introduced its last big update, Ludwig and Crema, are among the app's most popular. Those who are worried about their filter tray getting too crowded can choose which filters appear — and rearrange their order — in the "manage" menu at the end of the app's filter list.

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How to make a MyIdol character that actually looks like you

If you've checked almost any social network in the last few days, chances are you've seen weird animated avatars of your friends (or celebrities) singing, dancing or gyrating on stripper poles.

All these images and videos have come from MyIdol, a Chinese app that's blown up in the U.S. It uses your phone's camera or uploaded photos to transform your face into a wild, animated doppelgänger. But the whole app is written in Simplified Chinese, meaning you'll have to spend a bit of time poking around if you want to learn how it works.

But we've done the work so you can learn how to quickly make embarrassingly strange videos of your cartoon self singing "Let it Go."

Where do I get MyIdol?

You can find it by searching "MyIdol" in the App Store, or click on this link. Currently there is not an Android version.

Does the app cost anything?

No, and changing your character's clothes/hair doesn't require money either.

Getting your face in the app

When you get started, MyIdol will give you a little instructional video on how to take the best photo for the app. Make sure you're in a well-lit room, under a direct light source so there are few shadows on your face. Then remove any hats or glasses — the camera isn't really sure what to do with these. Push your hair out of your face as well.

You'll want to take a selfie straight on, without tilting your head. The app has handy guidelines and will show you a green box when your face is positioned well. Snap the photo and keep it by pressing the checkmark. Alternatively, you can upload a picture from your camera roll, but it needs to meet the same criteria — though this is a great way to put your friends or celebrities into the app.

MyIdol then scans your face and asks you to double check the boundaries of your facial features by repositioning green markers on the screen. This is definitely where shadows or facial hair could give the app trouble, so make sure everything is correct. (I used Game of Thrones Khal Drogo actor Jason Momoa to show how facial hair can trip the app up.)

Next, you'll be presented with two buttons. Most non-Chinese speakers might assume the green button means to proceed, while the red one means go back, but they are actually asking you to pick your gender. Tap the green button on the left for male and the red button on the right for female. (Don't worry if you mess this up; it's easy to fix later.)

Voila! You're scanned in

Your face (or your chosen victim's) is now on a little mini just begging to be customized. But before we go on, let's explain the menu:

You'll see four buttons on the bottom row. Click the one with the jacket to get started on customization.

This section has tons of options that can zap a lot of your time. The first button, with the clock, determines your age. (Theguide by app maker Avatarworks calls this "Time Machine.") You can have fun turning your character into a wrinkled little raisin, or a bright-eyed cherub. (Seriously, why are baby's eyes reminiscent of an anime character's?)

The next tab is makeup and skin tone. You'll be able to somewhat change your skin tone, though the options are very limited for lighter tones. (And, inexplicably, there is also green and blue.) You can also change your skin tone's warmth with the bottom slider or improve your skin quality with the top three.

(Worth noting: This is where I learned you could change your gender in the editing process, by hitting the two buttons at the top center of the screen.)

The next options were a lot more self-explanatory, as you'll be able to change your avatar's hair and clothing. There are separate tabs for glasses, hair style, facial hair, colored contacts, tops, bottoms, shoes and face paint. The biggest tip here is that things that are grayed-out aren't behind a paywall; instead, you just need to click and let it load. Green text appears over it while it's loading, and you can load multiple items at once, which is huge since bigger ones take a while.

The biggest disappointment for many people is there are lots of hair styles, but not a lot of hair types or textures. You can't select color and style independently, meaning styles are locked into one hair color. I couldn't really find any close to my hair, which admittedly is pink, though there were a few alternative options.

There are also full outfits in the some of the tabs. The one with the flower has some strange choices (the guide calls this tab "girl suit"), and the tab to the far right featuring a little leotard icon has even more options. You'll find a lot of weird choices, including some super heroes, fancy dresses, athletes and a giant panda. Many of these also come with an accompanying animation when you put them on.

Now, on to the fun part

While MyIdol's robust character creator can be fun, what's really great is making your little avatar literally dance for your amusement. Once you've finished customizing, tapping the top left corner will take you back to the main menu.

You can now create movies starring mini you. Tap the little film camera icon to jump right in. Flip through the tabs up top to check out a variety of movie modes, which will take a little bit of time to load into MyIdol. (This is another great time to load a bunch of movie options and put your phone down for a few minutes.) A lot of the songs put your character into karaoke mode. While most of the songs are Chinese, there are a few Japanese and English tunes thrown in too, including Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" and the inescapable Frozenanthem, "Let it Go."

After you've previewed a track, you have two options at the bottom. The green button on the right lets you export and share your movie, unaltered. The option on the left allows you to dub in your own audio. You'll be taken to another page that asks you to press a large green button to record your own audio, so you can sing your own lyrics or dub in different music.

Wrapping up

Since MyIdol was built with Chinese users in mind, most of the sharing features are linked to Chinese social networks, not Facebook or Twitter. You can still export videos and photos to your camera roll to post wherever you'd like, though this option doesn't work with the auto-generated gifs.

The company has said it plans to offer anEnglish language version due to the app's popularity, but if the app maker needs to get licenses for English songs, that may slow down the process.

Do you have any other MyIdol tips? See anything we missed? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

5 tips to make Facebook Messenger work better for you

IMAGE: FLICKR,

Whether you like it or not, Facebook's standalone Messenger app is an essential part of a full FB experience on iOS.

Below, we take a look at a few ways you can super-charge the way you use Messenger.

1. Mute notifications for a set period.

One of the biggest complaints about Messenger is the annoying notifications. You can manage these both in the app and in your iPhone's settings to ensure they are at a level — and of a style — that suits you.

To manage notifications in-app, head to the Settings menu (the cog icon at the bottom-right of your screen) to view your options. To change your iPhone's Messenger notification settings, go to your iPhone's Settings menu, and then scroll down until you see "Messenger" in your list of apps. Tap it, and then hit the "Notifications" option.

One really handy thing to know is that you can turn notifications off for just a certain period of time — ideal if you're in a new, noisy group chat for which you don't need constant updates.

To do this within the Messenger app, tap on the conversation for which you want to end notifications, click on the "i" icon at the top-right of your display, then "Notifications," and then select the time period you want to mute it for.

Alternatively, if you want to mute all notifications from all conversations for a set time period, you can do this from the Messenger app's Settings menu.

2. Delete a single message.

Rather than delete an entire conversation, it's possible to delete just one message within the thread. Simply tap and hold on the specific message you want to delete until you see a "Delete" option appear.

Bear in mind, once you've deleted a message, you can't undo.

3. Check if your message has been read.

Facebook Messenger will show you if your friend has received and read any messages you send. Just look for the circle icon that appears to the right of your display.

The chart above shows how the icon changes depending on whether your message has been received, delivered or read.

4. View — and hide — location data.

Messenger offers some interesting location services that are worth knowing about, even if it's just because you'd like to opt out of them.

If location services are enabled for Messenger, it's possible to see the location where someone was when they read your message. To view location data for an individual message, tap on the message. If the person had location services enabled at the time, a map will load showing where they were when they read it.

To enable your location services in Messenger, go to your iPhone's Settings menu, then Privacy and then Location Services. Scroll down to Messenger and toggle location services on or off.

Once you've enabled this, you can easily turn it on or off within the Messenger app before you send a message by tapping the arrow that appears at the bottom of your message screen. A blue arrow means on, while a grayed-out arrow means off.

5. Name and pin a Facebook Group conversation for quick access.

You can save your favorite Facebook Group chats for quick access under the "Groups" tab. All you need do is click the tab, tap on the option to "Pin" at the top-left of your screen, and then select which Group chats you'd like to save from the list that appears.

If you'd like to give a Group chat a name (so it doesn't show up as a list of Facebook friend's names), it's simple to change. Go into the chat, click the "i" icon and tap on the group's existing title (the list of names) to rename it.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

5 tips to make Facebook Messenger work better for you

IMAGE: FLICKR,

Whether you like it or not, Facebook's standalone Messenger app is an essential part of a full FB experience on iOS.

Below, we take a look at a few ways you can super-charge the way you use Messenger.

1. Mute notifications for a set period.

One really handy thing to know is that you can turn notifications off for just a certain period of time — ideal if you're in a new, noisy group chat for which you don't need constant updates.

Alternatively, if you want to mute all notifications from all conversations for a set time period, you can do this from the Messenger app's Settings menu.

2. Delete a single message.

Bear in mind, once you've deleted a message, you can't undo.

3. Check if your message has been read.

Facebook Messenger will show you if your friend has received and read any messages you send. Just look for the circle icon that appears to the right of your display.

The chart above shows how the icon changes depending on whether your message has been received, delivered or read.

4. View — and hide — location data.

Messenger offers some interesting location services that are worth knowing about, even if it's just because you'd like to opt out of them.

To enable your location services in Messenger, go to your iPhone's Settings menu, then Privacy and then Location Services. Scroll down to Messenger and toggle location services on or off.

5. Name and pin a Facebook Group conversation for quick access.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

The Super app: Making tiny works of art to inspire empathy

IMAGE:

We bet the "Social" folder on your phone is pretty full. If you always think twice before taking the plunge with a new app, we get it.

That's why we've taken a look at Super, a visual social app created by Twittercofounder Biz Stone and Ben Finkellaunched in November 2014, designed to "inspire empathy."

Have a read through our look at the app below. Let us know in the comments if you use Super, or if you might consider giving it a go.

The low-down on Super

Super is described as a "bold, condensed and oblique take on social." It's free on iOS and Android devices.

The app lets you put snippets of text over images — typically thoughts, opinions, quotes and status updates. You then share these to your followers, the wider Super community and to other social sites.

The thinking behind this, according to Super, is that "the right composition of images and text can convey more emotion than either images or text alone," and that "it's a new and unique way to connect with people on a deeper level."

The app

Once you've created a Super account, you can find your existing contacts on your phone, Facebook and Twitter. You then add pages to your profile by creating posts.

Each post begins with what Super calls a "starter," such as "I love," "If," "I always," "People say" and "My pet peeve." Topical starters are also available on certain dates.

Once you've entered your text, the app loads imagery relevant to the context. You can scroll through the suggested images to choose a suitable pic, tap the screen to get a random image, snap a fresh pic then and there, or upload your own image from your phone.

Your posts don't have your username on them, but other Super users can see who has created a post by swiping right to see the creator's Super profile.

Super content

You can search Super by keyword, users or content. There's also the ability to browse via category, such as "Nearby," "Popular" and "Newbies" on the "Explore" tab. Trending topics will also appear here.

If you want to like a post, you can tap the heart icon. If you want to respond to a post, you simply click on the icon with three dots and you get a set of response "starters" to craft a reply.

Super gallery

To give you a better idea of the kinds of posts you can expect to see on Super, we've created a brief gallery of some of Biz Stone's recent Super content. As you will see, it's an eclectic mix of quotes, status updates and thoughts.