Several advertisers have left the micro-blogging platform, as the company reduces internal revenue projections.

Twitter will soon start selling usernames via online actions that have remained inactive in order to boost its revenues.

According to The New York Times, engineers at the company are planning to organise online auctions where people can bid for usernames or Twitter handles.

It is still unclear how much Twitter will charge for selling inactive usernames.

“The company has discussed selling some user names through online auctions, people with knowledge of the plans said,” according to the report.

In December, Musk said in a tweet that Twitter would soon start freeing up 1.5 billion usernames.

“Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts,” posted Musk.

He said that these are “obvious account deletions with no tweets and no log in for years”.

After acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, Musk posted that he was interested in freeing up accounts with desired usernames.

Since Musk’s takeover, the billionaire has been aiming to boost the company’s revenue, including charging money for its $8 Blue subscription service with verification.

Several advertisers have left the micro-blogging platform, as the company reduces internal revenue projections.

Musk also said that the micro-blogging platform is working on a process to inform the users whether their tweets have been suppressed under a process known as “shadow banning” and they can appeal against the ban.

 “Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water.

IAS Taran prakash sinha 

Lay your bed where the cat sleeps.

Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.

Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit.

Plant the tree where the mole digs.

Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself.

Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.

Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.

Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water.

Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.

Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.”

Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Write to Diya Mali

 Twitter’s updated account verification program has finally launched.

New Delhi : China-based Huawei outsold Apple’s iPhones in the first quarter of this year, seizing the California company’s second place spot in a tightening smartphone market dominated by Samsung, a tracker said on Tuesday. A total of 310.8 million smartphones were shipped globally during the first three months of this year in a 6.6% decline from the same period in 2018, according to preliminary data from the Chinese-owned International Data Corporation.

It was the sixth consecutive quarter of decline for global smartphone shipments, the market tracker added. IDC saw the results as a sign that 2019 will be another down year overall for smartphone shipments, apart from strong growth by Huawei. “It is becoming increasingly clear that Huawei is laser focused on growing its stature in the world of mobile devices, with smartphones being its lead horse,” said IDC mobile device program director Ryan Reith.

“The overall smartphone market continues to be challenged in almost all areas, yet Huawei was able to grow shipments by 50%.” South Korean consumer electronics behemoth Samsung saw smartphone shipments drop 8.1% to 71.9 million in the first quarter.

Huawei, meanwhile, weighed in with 50.3% growth to ship 59.1 million smartphones and put it within “striking distance” of Samsung, according to International Data Corporation. 

Facebook-owned Instagram, it appears, has capitalized a lot from India banning TikTok, the video creating app that owned by China’s Bytedance. With the United States also looking to ban TikTok, Instagram’s Reels may be the solution that content creators are looking for.

Launched earlier this week, Reels made its India debut at 7.30 pm on the night of July 8, 2020. If you do have Instagram on your phone and want to use reels, the app may have in all likelihood updated on your phone, so you can directly use the feature.

Instagram launches Reels in India: Here's how you install and use the feature to make TikTok-like videos
In case you don’t see the update, here’s what you do

- Visit your Goolge Play Store or Apple Store, go to Instagram and tap on the update button

- Once you open Instagram, tap on the Instagram camera. Reels will be right next to Boomerang, Superzoom and Layout

- Click on Reels and check out the vast array of music available on the IG Library. Unlike Instagram music, Reels has a far wider music collection, ranging from Bob Dylan to Lady Gaga

- Much like TikTok, Reels also come with an option to record original voice besides lipsyncing.

- You also have the option of editing the videos before sharing it, giving you the chance of becoming a content creator

Users with a Public Instagram account will be able to share Reels on Explore. This will build a better chance for the Reel to be seen and discovered by the wider Instagram community.

India on June 29 banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including hugely popular TikTok, UC Browser and Cam Scanner, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. The ban came in the backdrop of the standoff with Chinese troops in Eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile, on Monday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that the United States has to take a different path on China as the previous policy of helping them open up their economy with the belief that this would lead to more political freedom has not worked.

"The theory of the case that was more economic opening will lead to more political freedoms, more fundamental rights being provided to the Chinese people, just turned out not to have been true. It just didn't work. I'm not criticizing those who came before; we can now plainly see that it didn't work, and that means the United States has to take a different path," Pompeo told Tony Perkins of Washington Watch in an interview.