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Just as you thought social media platforms had all corners of the internet covered, along comes Threads, created by Facebook and Instagram owners Meta. In what has been described as a rival to Twitter, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has already had over 10 million people signed up in the first few hours of launching. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter For some, it’s a matter of jumping in with both feet and navigating the waters from there. Others will sit back and take a little more cautious approach. Either way, learning how to navigate the social media jungle using these few simple tips will be invaluable... Take a social media detox It’s easy to use social media compulsively and excessively. You can become so accustomed to scrolling through posts, laughing at videos and liking images that it can take over. According to data found by audience insights platform GWI, 29 per cent of people across Britain use more than five social media apps, with 54 per cent of 16-24-year-olds doing the same. “There has been a substantial surge in social media consumption over the past decade. What initially began as occasional Facebook ‘check-ins’ has now evolved into spending six to eight hours per day on various social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and now, Threads,” said Marvin Winkelmann, the managing director of AFK Digital. That’s why he says moderation is key. “I strongly advocate for individuals to not only take periodic breaks from social media to rejuvenate their wellbeing but also to consider reducing their engagement before bedtime and during meals. By doing so, we can prioritise face-to-face interactions, which hold even greater significance than merely keeping up with the seemingly idealised virtual world.” Practise the right social media etiquette Winkelmann highlights that different platforms have different niches in terms of how people generally interact. “But a rule of thumb should always be to treat other users with respect.” It’s also why Chris Hackett, the founder of Face Digital, an SEO advisory firm, believes we all need to learn the right social media etiquette, which dictates how people should behave around others online. “Always be yourself,” he said. “Whether you’re using social media for personal or professional reasons, people connect with authenticity. This doesn’t mean you should be airing out your personal details, but you don’t have to hide behind an online persona. “Be careful with what you say. It may feel like a safe space, but using social media to vent or voice controversial opinions can come back to haunt you in the future. “And don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want an employer to see. Social media is, for the most part, public. Before you fire off that tweet, imagine a potential employer reading it and what they may think.” Be careful of negativity Hackett advised against getting into arguments on social media. “There are a lot of keyboard warriors around, and there is nothing to gain by arguing with them. If you don’t like something, scroll past it.” Plus, some of the negativity on social media could have an impact on your mental health – which is why it’s important to look after yourself. “Social media has become a constant figure in everyone’s lives, to the point where it can be detrimental to our mental health. The best way to deal with negativity is to take time away from toxic online environments,” said Hackett. Winkelmann added: “It is crucial to acknowledge that social media platforms tend to accentuate negativity due to the provocative nature of negative content. People love to disagree and share their opinions online. “As a result, the algorithms used by these platforms are designed to amplify such content. It is important for individuals to remain aware of this fact, bearing in mind that much of what is observed online is often an embellished representation of reality anyway.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

WhatsApp will finally stop ruining people’s photos. The messaging app is a hugely popular way of sharing images and videos with friends. But it also shrinks those photos and clips down into a much smaller size, meaning that they are lower quality when they arrive on people’s phones. Now WhatsApp says it is rolling out an update that will let people send pictures in “HD quality” and “high resolution”. The update is coming for images in the “next few weeks”, WhatsApp said. HD videos will be “coming soon”, presumably on a longer timescale. All of the images will be protected with end-to-end encryption, as with messages sent on the app. WhatsApp will still make standard quality the default option when people are sending photos. It said that remains the way to “ensure sharing photos over WhatsApp remains fast and reliable”. Users will also have the option to receive images in standard definition – even if it has been sent in HD. If a person is being sent pictures but have a bad connection, they will receive it in standard quality and be given the option to upgrade it to full resolution. WhatsApp has long offered the option to change the quality that images are sent in, or to have the phone automatically choose between sending better images or saving data, depending on the connection. But even choosing the “best quality” option means that they are heavily compressed, and will lose the details and resolution of the original picture. Until now, users have been forced to use a complicated workaround to get images to send in full quality. That meant using WhatsApp’s options for sharing documents, and then sending an image through that – a fix that will no longer be required. WhatsApp has required some notoriety for shrinking down and compressing the images that are sent through it. Most other messaging platforms – including those made by Meta, such as Instagram and Messenger – are much better at preserving the quality of images sent through them. Read More WhatsApp rolls out AI tool for creating custom art iPhone 15: Global smartphone demand collapses as Apple aims to take top spot World’s first ‘superfast’ battery offers 400km range from 10 mins charge

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