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Social

  • WhatsApp becomes a file sharing service with new feature

    By on 14 July, 2017

    WhatsApp is no longer just a messaging app: it's now a file sharing service too. A new feature added to the chat app this week allows users to send a bevy of file formats to any user including app files, music files, compressed zip files and even Windows executables. The latter might be quite helpful if you're using the Desktop version. Previously, users could only send PDFs to each other (because that's exactly what social media users send to one another on a daily basis). There's one caveat though: the file you intend to send will need to be smaller than 100MB. If that...

  • #BeyonceTwins: Bey breaks Instagram with first picture of Sir and Rumi

    By on 14 July, 2017

    Beyonce might've been in the news recently courtesy of her husband's new album, but the singer-songwriter-mega social media star today unveiled her one-month-old twins to the world. And yes, they are utterly adorable. The post hit the social network around 5am Friday in South Africa, and subsequently garnered 3.1-million likes, with 137 000 comments to boot. It's on its way to becoming the most-liked post on the network ever, a title held by Beyonce's pregnancy reveal posted in February 2017. "Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today," reads the post. Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today. 🙏🏽❤️👨🏽👩🏽👧🏽👶🏾👶🏾 A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on...

  • Tinder gifts two people who have barely talked a trip to Maui

    By on 13 July, 2017

    Josh Avsec and Michelle Arendas liked each other so much that they never bothered to communicate -- and now they're being rewarded. After matching on Tinder in September 2014, the pair apologised back and forth for being too busy to chat. Hahahaha one day I'm going to meet this girl and it's going to be epic. Look at the dates of our tinder texts. pic.twitter.com/DASQK4c5cX — Josh Avsec (@Wes_03) July 8, 2017 Every month or two, one of the pair would check in to say that they were "in the shower" or "the middle of class". The gag ran on three years, with...

  • Donald Trump Jr posts emails of Russian collusion to Twitter

    By on 12 July, 2017

    Donald Trump Jr took to Twitter Tuesday to post a series of emails proving he had met with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign. The emails show correspondence with British-born entertainment publicist Rob Goldstone, who wrote on behalf of mutual friend and Russian popstar Emin Agalarov. Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017 "Emin asked that I schedule a meeting with you and the Russian government attorney ," Goldstone wrote. He stated that the meeting was to "provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her...

  • See You Again Gangnam Style: YouTube’s most watched video now belongs to Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth

    By on 12 July, 2017

    Psy's "Gangnam Style" is no longer YouTube's most watched video after Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" on Tuesday took the honour. K-pop hit "Gangnam Style" has had a remarkable run. Debuting in July 2012, the track was the first YouTube video to hit a billion views just six months later. It also became YouTube's most viewed video in November 2012, overtaking then-benchmark Justin Bieber's "Baby". The track hasn't had a formidable challenger, but that all changed on Tuesday. "See You Again" now has 2.902-billion views compared to "Gangnam Style" with 2.896-billion. 'See You Again' is set to become the first...

  • Aiden the Zoologist is the best 8-year-old on YouTube

    By on 11 July, 2017

    Do you know that ants with big heads are soldiers and that smaller ants are voyagers? Eight-year-old Aiden the Zoologist does, and he's ready to share even more of his animal knowledge with the world. Aiden wowed Twitter last month when he passionately explained the wonders of tree bark and beetles to his older sister -- and now he's got his own YouTube channel to show us all what it's like to be young and curious and so damn smart. My brother is an animal genius and wanted me to share it w you guys. He titles this: Trees danger and other...

  • The Weekend Social Trends Report: Dlamini Zuma, #MenIn4Words & more

    By on 10 July, 2017

    We know how much you enjoy living your life beyond the confines of your smartphone screen. But come Monday, you still want to hear about the social media highlights from the weekend, right? Well look no further than South Africa’s Weekend Social Trends Report, compiled for you by us, and fuelled by the country’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram community. Edition #2, 8-9 July 2017. Dlamini Zuma punts presidential prospects? It's not often we see a set of tweets propel an account into Twitter trending status, but Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma did just that Saturday. Speaking at a Catholic Women’s Union event in KwaZulu-Natal,...

  • 6+ news services using WhatsApp in useful ways

    By on 10 July, 2017

    WeChat is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms in the world, in no small part due to its wide range of uses beyond mere messaging. The platform makes extensive use of bots, QR codes and other features, enabling everything from payments to alerts. What about WhatsApp though? The Facebook-owned service is much less complex in this regard, but that hasn't stopped news outlets from stepping up anyway. We take a look at a few publications that offer WhatsApp functionality. Eyewitness News South Africa's own Eyewitness News offers news stories via WhatsApp, giving you another avenue to consume articles. And the signup...

  • #MissSAChallenge: Miss South Africa subverts hashtag to issue her own challenge

    By on 7 July, 2017

    Yesterday #MissSAChallenge became South Africa's latest passing social media fad thanks to images of Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters wearing gloves at a soup kitchen in Soweto. Quizzing the pageant winner for her choice of attire, Twitter also grabbed hold of the hashtag to post ironic images of themselves preparing food, putting on makeup or handling household items wearing gloves. Sometimes candy wrappers too. But Miss South Africa wasn't having any of it. Late last night, Nel-Peters -- after explaining why she wore the gloves and issuing an apology for offending users -- once again took to the social network to post...

  • Girl photoshops Ryan Reynolds into prom photos and a meme is born

    By on 7 July, 2017

    Gabi Dunn broke up with her boyfriend a few days after prom, but instead of letting her pictures go to waste she saw an opportunity to make them even better. My boyfriend and I broke up a few days after prom, so I decided to "edit" the photos a little @VancityReynoldspic.twitter.com/Ecvn5Wkgb4 — Gabi Dunn (@gabidunn99) July 4, 2017 Photoshopping in Ryan Reynolds, Dunn posted the images to Twitter, tagging the actor (and husband to Blake Lively). Six hours later, she had an endorsement from Reynolds himself, encouraging her even further. "#DontMessWithGabi," he wrote. We should photoshop me over his yearbook picture next. #DontMessWithGabihttps://t.co/o0qFBXvSNi — Ryan Reynolds...

  • Social media is real life [Opinion]

    By on 7 July, 2017

    Social media is real. It feels strange to have to say it so often, but social media is real life. Everything we hate about it, everything we love: it's all curated by human beings. And we're real. And what we do and make and see is real. This idea of a "real life" separate from what happens online -- the fact that IRL is a popular acronym -- is dangerous it doesn't allow us to properly address or analyse the way people use it. "He's not like that in real life," people say of Rob Kardashian after posting revenge porn to social...

  • Instagram Stories adds unique feature, Snapchat is shook

    By on 7 July, 2017

    Did Instagram just add a feature that Snapchat doesn't have yet? And is it actually pretty cool? Is it raining? In Cape Town? Okay, probably not, but the first two definitely happened. The Facebook-owned social network has announced a new feature that allows users to reply to stories with photos, videos or even boomerangs. The feature is included in the latest update, and is simple and user-friendly. To use it, users need only tap on the camera icon at the bottom of a story to take a photo or video. The feature includes all the frills of a normal story snap, including face filters,...

  • #MissSAChallenge: gloves, hygiene and angry tweets flood SA Twitter

    By on 6 July, 2017

    Yesterday Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was in Soweto serving soup and bread rolls to kids. Today, it's one of Twitter's top trending topics. Why? Three words: gloves, hygiene and #MissSAChallenge. On Wednesday afternoon, this tweet published by the official Miss South Africa Twitter account became viral. We're helping @TheMaslowHotel with the #MaslowSoupKitchen here at Ikageng in Soweto. pic.twitter.com/eM25SPl0tS — Miss South Africa (@Official_MissSA) July 5, 2017 Noticeably, Nel-Peters is wearing gloves in these pictures. And Twitter wanted to know why. Some users gave their opinions. Why are you wearing gloves? Scared of catching the Black or?? — Rosalia (@MsZondi06) July 5, 2017 What's unhygienic about touching black...

  • Rob Kardashian posts Blac Chyna revenge porn to Twitter, Instagram

    By on 6 July, 2017

    Rob Kardashian went on a Twitter tirade Wednesday night, posting nude pictures of ex Blac Chyna after she reportedly cheated on him in their family bed. Kardashian initially posted everything to Instagram, but moved to Twitter when his account was blocked presumably for posting nudity. Since Instagram shut me down everyone peep my twitter lol — ROBERT KARDASHIAN (@robkardashian) July 5, 2017 According to Kardashian, Chyna had sent him a video of her with another man in their bed "after just bought her 250k of jewelry ". He posted the video to Twitter. Along with the video were nudes that have since been...

  • #JHBFire reappears as another Johannesburg fire kills at least seven

    By on 5 July, 2017

    A fire that broke out today in a Johannesburg CBD building has killed at least seven people, according to the city's EMS. The number of fatalities from this morning building fire in the Joburg CBD has increased to seven. Pics by @MarykeVermaak pic.twitter.com/PypG0rCXjI — City of Joburg EMS (@CityofJoburgEMS) July 5, 2017 Fire at Cape York building in Joburg CBD has been extinguished, sadly 1 person has died trying to escape the fire. Pics by @moses_moyo pic.twitter.com/piDETyZoc1 — City of Joburg EMS (@CityofJoburgEMS) July 5, 2017 The fire, which burnt through the Cape York building on the corner of Jeppe and Nugget Streets in...