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Instagram now lets you evoke emotion by adding music to your posts

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We all know the power music can have from watching movies. A simple switching up of a soundtrack can completely sway a viewer to experience different emotions even when watching identical footage. In fact, research shows us that music has as powerful an effect on our brains as cocaine.

So it’s no accident then, that Instagram is harnessing this power by allowing users to add a music track to their ordinary posts in the feed. Skeptics could say that it’s just yet another way that Instagram is trying to keep up with rival social media app TikTok which has used music right from the start.

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TikTok adds Photo Mode feature which is strangely similar to Instagram

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If you’ve been following social media news recently you’d be right to think that the apps have all gone a bit crazy having identity crises. Instagram wants to be TikTok, BeReal and Snap all in one, Snap and YouTube want to be TikTok, and BeReal just sorta wants to be left alone to do its own thing. It’s all so exhausting. And now, in an added twist of multiple personality disorder, TikTok has just added its own Instagram -like feature called Photo Mode.

Photo Mode is, well, what it says on the tin. The update allows TikTok users to share multiple still photos in a post, along with captions of up to 2,200 characters. Photos are displayed in a carousel format, with one image after another. Other users can swipe through the carousel at their own pace.

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Hilarious TikTok trend mocks street photographers and how they approach people

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Perhaps you’ve noticed the recent trend on TikTok and Instagram, with street photographers approaching people, complimenting their style, and asking for a photo. I suddenly started seeing a gazillion Reels and TikTok videos like this, and there’s now a trend that mocks it… And it’s absolutely hilarious. I found a couple of videos to share, and I hope they will make this Monday a little better for you as they did for me.

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Is BeReal losing its point?

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When it first showed up, BeReal seemed like a breath of fresh air among all those social media filled with filtered faces, staged lives, and fake smiles. This app was dubbed “anti-Instagram,” as its goal was to have the users share the genuine, unstaged moments of their lives.

But is BeReal losing its point only a few months after its launch? I have some thoughts about it, and I believe there are two main reasons why this app might fail before it even properly takes off.

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Instagram Model incites ridicule as she gets annoyed by passers by getting in her shot

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A video of an Instagram model trying to shoot a video in a busy London Underground station has sparked an online debate about photo and video shoots in public places. The video shows the finished video for social media versus what it took to shoot it, with passers-by continually getting in the shot. The model is visibly getting more and more frustrated.

Model and influencer Antonia Freya Lydia was trying to shoot a video of her wearing a black cocktail dress with the tube train rushing past in the background. It’s actually kind of a cool, idea, particularly when put with Kate Bush’s 80s hit “running up that Hill” which leapt to fame again due to Netflix’s Stranger Things.

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TikTok Now is the latest attempt to copy BeReal

It looks like TikTok isn’t just the app other social media are trying to copy. This time, it’s TikTok that’s copying features from another app that’s been rapidly growing in popularity.

That’s right, I’m talking about BeReal. After Instagram, now TikTok now has its own version of real-time dual camera view. It’s called “TikTok Now” and it lets you share “your most authentic moments” with your followers.

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YoloLiv goes vertical with the Instream, letting you stream directly to Instagram and TikTok

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YoloLiv has created a nice little lineup of all-in-one video switcher/encoder/streamer/recorder/monitor devices, starting with the original YoloBox, the YoloBox Mini and more recently, the YoloBox Pro. Now, they’ve taken that principle and applied it to the rapidly growing world of Instagram and TikTok live streaming with the new YoloLiv Instream.

The 7″ box lets you mix multiple HDMI and USB camera devices and features many of the usual features you’ve come to know from the exiting YoloBox products, such as overlays and multiviews to let you directly stream vertically to social media. And it’ll let you do it without a computer or even your smartphone.

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TikTok launches text-to-image generator in app

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TikTok has launched a new text-to-image generator which you can access directly inside the app. The generator lets you type in a short description which then generates a fairly abstract and colourful AI impression. The effect is called AI Greenscreen and can be accessed via the camera part of the app.

If you haven’t already heard of text-to-image generators recently then I’m not sure where you’ve been hiding. Dall-E2, Google and Midjourney have all made headlines with their AI-generated images, some being more realistic than others. The technology was first introduced in 2021 and has been improving at an alarming rate. The inclusion into an app such as TikTok just further goes to show how this technology is becoming mainstream.

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After user backlash, Instagram gives up on becoming “Tinstatok”… For now

I don’t remember people complaining more about Instagram ever since its algorithm-based Feed replaced the chronological one. But it looks like users are fed up with the app’s efforts to become a poor copy of TikTok. So fed up, in fact, that it made Instagram ditch the changes it’s been making to the app recently. Or at least they’re ditching them until the dust settles.

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This hilarious video says what we all think about Instagram’s “evolving”

After users’ backlash over Instagram’s “evolving” into TikTok, its CEO Adam Mosseri responded to users’ concerns in a video he posted on Twitter. It didn’t take long for Dan Toomey to make a parody video, and I just had to share it.

In the video, Dan pretends to give an announcement about Instagram’s latest changes. But unlike Mosseri, Dan is saying what I believe we’re all thinking – and he does it in a truly hilarious manner.

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