State Champ Radio social media
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / X / Elon Musk
It looks like Elon Musk’s X is giving blue checks back to the platform’s most popular users, and they are like, thanks, but no thanks.
Overnight, Elon Musty’s X, formerly Twitter, “gifted” premium subscriptions to some users on X, mainly those who vowed never to pay for the subscription service that gave users the “blue check,” along with access to other premium features.
Musk confirmed in a post on his bootleg platform that this is the case, writing, “Going forward, all 𝕏 accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free, and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free.”
Those who have gotten their blue checkmarks back to their names are taking to the platform to let their followers know they are still ten toes down on their initial stance and did not give Bootleg Tony Stark any money to get back their checks.
Acadmey Award-nominated actor Jeffrey Wright was one of those users who expressed that sentiment, sharing a screenshot of a notification from X that he was getting his complimentary subscription to X Premium.
In the caption for the post, he wrote, “Pay $8? Kidding. Help me. But don’t say anything too free speechy about me or my Garbage Tower of Babel shitsite.”
Netflix’s Good Times star also spoke on the matter, writing, “What happened? I didn’t pay for this. I would NEVER pay for this. When did the Blue Check mark start getting passed around again?!
Actor Mark Hamill, aka our guy Luke Skywalker, responded to Brown’s post, “I didn’t pay when it went away, & really didn’t care. Then, out of nowhere, it mysteriously reappeared. #whatever.”
Well, the sentiment remains thanks, but no thanks.
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If social media has taught us anything in the last decade and more, it’s that there are a lot of creeps and weirdos out here on all sides. A woman on X had to protect her account after essentially cosigning sexual assault and homophobia in a two-for-one tweet, prompting others to call her She Diddy.
She Diddy began trending early Thursday (April 4) morning after X user @themdolll tweeted some thoughts that somehow got connected to some other recent happenings involving Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The tweet, which X user @ScamFisher screengrabbed, reads as follows:
once i reach fa that dic & you move my hand u can get tf on gay ass ngga
X user @FirstName_Alan quoted @themdolll’s tweet, writing in the quotes, “It’s called consent She Diddy” and all hell broke loose from there.
Since that exchange, She Diddy has gone viral, seeing Combs’ nickname repurposed once again in an unfortunate fashion. In recent times, the phrase “No Diddy” has cropped up which seemingly has a homophobic bent although it appears it isn’t dominating the conversations of late.
As it stands, fans and onlookers are more aware than ever of the specter of sexual assault in the wake of Diddy’s recent legal issues. Further, it’s revealed that some people have some zany views about consent, assault, sexuality, and conduct. Adding to this, Diddy has his fair share of defenders along with those who wish to see his downfall in connection to the mounting allegations he faces.
Perhaps not wanting that image on her jacket, @themdolll has since made her X page private so we don’t know if there have been any other statements or responses to her earlier quip.
Check out the reactions under the X trending topic She Diddy below.
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Photo: Prostock-Studio / Getty
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Source: Ivan Pantic / Getty / Black Twitter
Unsurprisingly, there is a documentary about Black Twitter, but actual Black Twitter, or Black X, should we call it that? Nah, we’re going to stick with the original name, is on the skeptical side about who is involved.
The docuseries from former Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny coming to Hulu is not even out yet. Still, a trailer for it is being met with an enormous amount of skepticism due to the people who will be involved and speaking about the influential and popular subsection of Twitter, now unfortunately known as X, thanks to Elon Musk.
According to a press release. The series will take its cues from Jason Parham’s 2021 Wired cover story, “A People’s History of Black Twitter,” and “charts the rise, movements, voices, and memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life.”
To help break down Twitter subsection’s rise to popularity and eventually carry the social media platform on its back will be Roxane Gay, Jemele Hill, Sam Jay, Amanda Seales, Kid Fury, April Reign, Raquel Willis, Apple Music’s LowKey, Chris Foxx aka @FoxxFiles, and more.
The Reactions To The Black Twitter Docuseries Are Already Pouring In
Therein lies the issue: many feel many people are being left out in this docuseries and are giving it the mean side-eye.
One X user wrote, “The real meat and potatoes of Black Twitter is everyday people. Not B-list Black celebrities and pseudo intellectual Talking Heads.”
Fair.
[embedded content]
Another user on X pointed out just how crazy this debate is, writing in the post, “Black Twitter arguing over whether that Black Twitter documentary is gonna include all the right people and topics, is the most Black Twitter thing ever.”
Prentice Penny also got involved in the debate, adding: “I’d like to think after 20 years of holding the culture down, y’all would trust I got #blacktwitterhulu best interest in mind. But lowkey, I also love black Twitter mad hesitant and petty ’bout it, too! LOL!”
When this documentary arrives on Hulu on Thursday, May 9, it seems likely that there will be a lot of hate-watching and live tweeting.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
1. Damn, that’s how y’all feel?
2. The video, lol
3. She’s right
4. Good chance they are going to be hate-watching
5. Always late to the party.
6. Very accurate
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Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty / TikTok
Content creators might want to start working on their Instagram Reels skills after the GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that could end TikTok’s run in the United States.
In a rare act of bipartisanship, the House agreed on a measure calling for TikTok’s owner, the Chinese-owned company ByteDance, to divest the TikTok app or risk a US ban.
The bill passed with an eye-opening 352-65 vote and one member voting present, but it still faces uncertainty when it reaches the Senate.
Per CNBC:
The legislation, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was introduced March 5 by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Two days later, House members on the Energy and CommerceCommittee voted unanimously to approve the bill, which refers to TikTok as a threat to national security because it is controlled by a foreign adversary.
The bill now heads to the Senate where it faces an uncertain future as senators appear divided about the legislation, and other federal and state-led efforts to ban TikTok have stalled.
TikTok Repsonds To The Bill Passing The Senate
As expected, the folks at TikTok were not happy about the developments.
“This process was secret, and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban,” a spokesperson for TikTok said after the vote was passed. “We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.”
President Joe Biden has already expressed that he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Ironically, President Biden has an official TikTok account that his administration created in February as part of his re-election campaign.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration would provide “technical support” in crafting the bill and noted in a March 6 briefing, “It’s on legal standing, and it’s in a place where it can get out of Congress, then the President would sign it.”
The House claims the bill “does not ban TikTok” and demands ByteDance to divest from TikTok within 6 months” “to remain available in the United States.”
If the bill passes its final hurdle and gets Biden’s signature, Apple, Google, and other internet-hosting companies can no longer support TikTok or any other ByteDance apps.
Donald Trump Thinks He’s Slick
While most lawmakers agree that TikTok threatens the country’s national security, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump feels otherwise.
In an interview with CNBC, he claims that getting rid of TikTok would only make Facebook and Instagram’s owner Meta more powerful.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump claims.
His comments are hypocritical because, in 2020, he signed an executive order banning TikTok and WeChat “transactions” and eventually giving his approval of a $10 billion and $30 billion acquisition involving Microsoft that eventually fell through.
The Biden Administration would revoke his executive orders.
Content Creators Are BIG MAD
Content Creators are BIG MAD about the ruling and were present at Capitol Hill to let lawmakers know that this ban will affect their livelihoods.
Social media is also reacting to the news, and can’t believe the only thing lawmakers can agree on is that allowing a company possibly owned by the Chinese communist party company access to your data is bad, while other pressing issues like the minimum wage, “border crisis,” inflation, which is cooling, but still high in some areas due to various reasons, health care remains unsolved.
Remember that the GOP controls the House of Representatives and decides what bills come to the floor.
Just saying.
Anyway, TikTok has even reached out to its followers in anticipation of the bill passing the House.
We shall see if the Senate agrees with the House on the matter; there is no guarantee that this will happen.
You can see more reactions to TikTok’s possible banning below.
2. Howling
3. Fair question. But lets direct this question to the Republicans in the House who think thoughts and prayers are effective gun control measures.
4. They can always bring the content to Instagram Reels
5. Damn, we are doomed.
6. The TikTok debate has been going on since 2020. So we can’t say this accurate.
7. We’re not opposed to Trump being banned.
8. He is singing a different tune, so maybe they already did.
Doja Cat deleted her Instagram account and announced to fans that she was taking a break from the service to giver herself time off from what she described as a toxic atmosphere. “hey i’m gonna deactivate because i’m not really feeling this anymore. you guys take care of yourselves,” the rapper/singer wrote according to screengrabs […]
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / TikTok
TikTok’s run in the US over? The social media platform is trying its best to remain on smartphones in the States, but the US Government is working really hard to end its stranglehold on social media content creators.
Spotted on The Verge, TikTok is relying on its users to contact their local congress members as a bill calling for the app’s ban gains support in Congress.
The social media platform sent out a push notification warning users about the ban, claiming the government is trying to strip their constitutional rights from them.
Per The Verge:
TikTok sent users in the US a push notification on Wednesday, warning that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok” that would “[strip] 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.”
The page says that a ban would “damage millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience.” The alert includes a way for users to find their representative and call their office.
The notification comes shortly after the White House expressed support for a bipartisan bill directed at TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
The bill — called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — is in response to the perceived national security risks of TikTok, particularly around how the company collects user data.
The bill would require that TikTok break off from ByteDance or risk being removed from app stores in the US.
The Irony
The White House’s support for the bill is ironic due to President Biden’s presence on the platform under the handle @BidenHQ.
Congress has been trying for years to ban the app, with some states successfully banning the app from government devices, and Montana became the first state to ban it successfully.
A judge put a halt on the ban, which is the subject of numerous court challenges. If the government is successful in passing the ban, the American Civil Liberties Union is already pointing out that it will be a violation of the First Amendment.
TikTok has been having a rough year, with UMG (Universal Music Group) pulling music off the platform after both entities did not extend their licensing agreement.
It sounds like TikTok is in danger. There’s always Instagram Reels. Just saying.
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Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty / Machine Gun Kelly
Machine Gun Kelly debuted a new look, and people are giving him a blank stare.
It’s a new year and clearly a new MGK. The “rapper,” now a mega-popular rockstar, is prepping his fans for new music and rebooted himself with some fresh ink.
He showed his eight million-plus followers his new body tattoo on Instagram, a complete cover-up with nothing but pure black ink.
In the caption for the post, the “Emo Girl” crafter said his new body tattoo is “for spiritual purposes only” and thanked his tattoo artist @roxx.
In an Instagram Story post, MGK revealed that the artist used “44 needles” while Roxx wrote, “Never met a tougher one,” regarding the musician sitting down getting the epic that done.
The post has received over 600,000 likes, and people are sharing interesting thoughts in the comments. Power Book II: Ghost actor Gianni Paolo had high praise for the tattoo, saying, “insane.”
Even the Tiger King, Joe Exotic, currently serving a 22-year prison sentence, had something to say and shot his shot, writing in the comment section, “A tiger and a bit of meth, and you would be mine. Lol.”
We are sure Machine Gun Kelly’s current fiancee, actress Meagan Fox, is not trying to share her man with Joe Exotic.
Some people in the comment section do not like his tattoo. One commenter said, “Stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
Another person joked, “Bro looking like the adidas logo.”
Where’s the lie?
Welp, the work is done, MGK is happy with it, and that’s all that matters.
You can see more reactions to the tattoo in the gallery below.
2. Well damn
3. Possibly
4. There’s a thought
7. Spits out drink
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / TikTok
TikTok made vertical videos all the rave. Now, the social media platform wants its users to start recording longer horizontal videos.
Spotted on The Verge, TikTok is now incentivizing its users to record horizontal videos that are also longer than the standard minute video.
Per The Verge:
TikTok appears to be incentivizing creators to start posting horizontal videos that are more than a minute long, according to a prompt seen by creators @candicedchap and @kenlyealtumbiz. The platform says it will “boost” these videos within 72 hours of posting. Creators who’ve been on TikTok for more than three months will be eligible for the viewership boost as long as the videos are not ads or from political parties.
According to the website, the “YouTube-ization” of the platform has been well underway for quite some time, with the US Government’s not-so-favorite platform pushing 30-minute videos.
TikTok already allows users to upload 15-minute-long videos.
The platform has already pushed users to flood timelines with more YouTube-esque content. The Chinese-owned platform introduced a new paywall program that allows content creators to upload a series of 20-minute-long videos into collections for paying subscribers.
Creators can set their prices to $1 to $190 subscribers. We have no idea who would pay the latter for a subscription.
It’s funny to see TikTok going towards horizontal videos, as other platforms like Instagram and YouTube have been moving towards vertical videos.
We are interested in seeing if TikTok users will use the latest feature.
Weverse seems to fly under most of the music industry’s radar despite its strategic importance to its owner, HYBE, the K-pop juggernaut that has successfully leveraged BTS’s success to build an increasingly global, technologically advanced music company.
The social media company’s 10 million monthly active users — 90% of which come from outside South Korea — are few by some standards. TikTok, Instagram and Facebook boast more than 1 billion apiece. But it’s the home turf for artists with some of the most loyal fanbases on the planet. And HYBE is leveraging those acts’ popularity to build a must-visit destination for fans of K-pop and, eventually, other genres, too.
When Jimin, a member of BTS, performed a solo show at Lollapalooza in 2023, it was livestreamed on Weverse. When Jung Kook, another BTS member, hosted an at-home livestream in February, Weverse drew 16 million real-time views. When HYBE group ENHYPEN performed a showcase for its Dark Blood EP, it brought 2.4 million real-time views to the platform.
Artists use Weverse to host live chats with fans to promote new albums and its e-commerce platform to sell merchandise. Last year, Weverse Shop sold over 18 million branded light sticks from K-pop group Seventeen, a handheld device used at the band’s concerts that carries a $64 price tag in the United States.
All of this feels like it’s just the beginning. As K-pop surges in popularity globally, Weverse’s traffic is on the rise. Last year, its average user spent 250 minutes on the platform and visited 10.2 days per month, up from 171 minutes and 9.2 days in 2022. Traffic was up 47% in Africa and 25% in the Middle East. It now has 117 artist communities, including 13 SM Entertainment artists — including Super Junior, Riize and NCT Wish — who joined in September. And as Weverse president Joon Choi explained in an interview with Billboard, the company’s next target is the United States.
Do artists bring their fans to Weverse, or do they tap into the passionate user base you have?
That happens in both ways. Existing Weverse users contributed a lot to the new community of the SM Entertainment artists. But, at the same time, we could clearly see the new user registration spike right after SM artists joined Weverse. So, we’re very happy with this kind of migration. It happened with no hassle.
What about adding artists from the United States to Weverse? Many artists under the HYBE umbrella could be potentially added to the platform to reach new fans.
That’s still in discussion. I think we can come up with more exciting news in the near future.
Weverse has an office in Los Angeles [in Santa Monica]. What are you doing to build Weverse and build the brand in the United States?
The first thing is we are aggressively hiring people who would serve the basic functions including commerce functions, as well as artist support. In terms of raising and improving market awareness, I think that’s something we will be more aggressively working on in 2024. So, as we gain the momentum from new artists and North American artists joining and creating communities on Weverse in America, we will aggressively work on raising the market awareness this year.
Fandom is a word that has become more commonplace as K-pop has grown more popular. I think it’s also a tough word to define properly. How do you define fandom?
I think there are multiple segments — or I would say cohorts — among users of our services. Starting from light listeners, and then we would have more active listeners, we would probably consider them being monthly subscribers to Spotify or Apple, they will be probably the more active listener. And then on top of that there must be a cohort that is more engaged. And those will be probably concertgoers or those people who actively purchase albums of these particular artists. From that particular cohort or user segment, we will probably call them fans. As their engagement level goes up, and they become more active in their fan activities, they will be considered the most dedicated or enthusiastic fans. When you think about any business, you think about the framework of the user acquisition funnel from the very top to the bottom. When it goes to the very bottom, the core of the users, there are users or fans who are ready to purchase whatever the artist is offering. So, from the very bottom to the top, Weverse climbs up to the light users.
What specifically does Weverse do to help serve artists’ superfans better than other social platforms or a streaming platform like Spotify?
Before Weverse, the superfan experience was scattered here and there. You buy merch here, you go to the concert, and you get together in some places. Those experiences were all scattered around. But I think Weverse was the first service to get everything together in the best, [most] convenient way. Number two would be global. To go global, we really value the importance of translation. So, we provide real-time translation in 15 languages.
How does how does Weverse make money? Is it advertising? Is it taking a percentage of sales?
When it comes to advertising, we don’t have it yet, but we are working on it. So, we’re going to launch our advertising service this year. And before that, basically we get a revenue share from album sales, merch sales or any kind of digital value provided to the fans.
I’ve noticed a lot of merchandise for sale. How do you fulfill those orders? Do you have partners in different countries to help?
When it comes to a commerce system, we built everything in-house except for the fulfillment side. Obviously, we have international fulfillment partners. We have warehouses in Korea, Japan and the U.S. — in Carson, south of L.A. So, we get orders from more than 200 countries around the world. We ship everywhere.
You sell CDs, correct, and digital downloads?
Correct.
Do fans in Korea still buy CDs and download albums and tracks in high numbers?
They do both, obviously. Physical albums still do very high volume. And on top of that, Weverse also tries to provide digital/physical experiences together. That’s the reason why we launched Weverse Album last year, which is basically an album without a CD. The album comes with the QR code, then users can download the original high-quality music source and enjoy within Weverse.
What’s more popular in Korea, CDs or vinyl?
CDs. Vinyl is not as popular as in the U.S.
You launched Weverse by Fans, which allows users to customize merchandise. Can you tell me how many artists are using that and what the early results have been?
Currently, Weverse by Fans is in the beta phase. As of now, we have eight Korean artists who are using the Weverse by Fans: TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, Le Sserafim, NewJeans, BOYNEXTDOOR, XIA, Hwang Min Hyun and Baekho.
Weverse does live streaming, whether it’s live performance or chats with artists. How important is that to Weverse?
Weverse Live is highly important to us. Weverse Live offers many different layers that I would say are different types of livestreaming. With the first one, we might have some special arrangement celebrating or marking an album’s release or album showcase. So, Weverse Live can be used for that. And there can be more instant or casual livestreaming, using the Weverse Live as well. The Lollapalooza performance that BTS member Jimin did last year, that was on Weverse Live as well. Weverse Live offers many different types of livestreaming starting from very large-scale concert streaming to a very casual or instant livestreaming done by individual artists.
I would like to add the three reasons why Weverse Live is of great value and importance to Weverse. First, after we release the service, Weverse Live, the users’ duration [of visit] and also their likelihood of revisiting Weverse have all gone up. So, the retention rate has significantly improved thanks to Weverse Live. And the second reason is that users are very satisfied with the quality of livestreaming services that we offer. They often give us feedback that compared to other major livestreaming services they are highly satisfied with the quality of livestreams that we provide. And the third reason is that Weverse Live has been integrated with live commerce, Weverse Commerce. When an artist or a label decides to do so, we can also turn on Weverse Commerce. That has really helped boost sales.
What might somebody sell with Weverse Commerce? A new album release?
Yes, our albums have been the most frequently sold items using the live commerce feature. Artists and labels prefer selling albums. That was the main item that was sold on live commerce. But, as I mentioned earlier, artists want to add the Weverse by Fans feature as part of the live commerce. So that’s something that we’re working on right now.
Since HYBE owns Weverse, it also owns a lot of data about its fans. How does HYBE leverage that data for either insights or marketing?
As you know, HYBE is a multi-label system. Underneath the multi-label system, each label is actively leveraging the fandom data coming from each community. However, what you need to understand is that within Weverse, there are many artists that are not HYBE artists, right? So, each label is working like a silo — they have access and they leverage the data only within their own community. So that’s what I want to clarify first.
As you know, Weverse is a platform and the neutrality of data and our service’s neutrality has been emphasized from the very beginning. From the early days of Weverse, that was something that we always have emphasized. Maybe because we have emphasized that importance, more than 90% of artists that have joined Weverse are not HYBE artists.
Could you give me insight into the size of the company, where your employees are, where you have offices? How could you describe the size of your footprint?
When we first started Weverse, we started with 50 to 60 people. But as I mentioned earlier, we went through a very compact, rapid growth within the last three or four years. So now we have about 370 people in Korea. So, in total around the world in three headquarters in Pangyo [South Korea], here where I am in Tokyo and Santa Monica, we have a total of about 450 employees. More than half of them are engineering people. I think it’s very hard to find any music company that has this many engineering people in-house. So, I think that was the biggest challenge we’ve been going through and also it has been very successful so far.
Do you expect to grow in 2024?
Yes. I’m very sure. Because, I mean, it has been [an] investment in advance because Weverse has massive traffic and a global scale. That requires a lot of work under the hood, way more than the surface features you can see from the web or app. There are a lot of things underneath that. So, it has been a very heavy lift, and that requires a lot of technological investment and investment.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Source: Dia Dipasupil / Getty
Veteran television host and journalist Don Lemon is poised to return with a new show—this time, on the social media platform X.
In a surprising move, the former CNN anchor announced that he’s coming back with a new show on X, formerly Twitter, according to Variety. Lemon made the announcement in a post on the platform on Tuesday (Jan. 9), writing: “I know now more than ever that we need a place for honest debate and discussion without the hall monitors. This is just the beginning so stay tuned.”
Lemon stated that The Don Lemon Show would be produced by his new media company. In its own post, the business account for X revealed that the show will be exclusively aired first on the platform, and will consist of “30-minute episodes, three times a week, covering politics, culture, sports and entertainment.” According to reports, there were talks between Lemon and X for the past six months leading to him being signed to the deal.
“Don’s new company will take his no-holds-barred approach to storytelling to the next level in this raw and authentic program,” said Oren Rosenbaum, a partner at the agency UTA, which represents Lemon. “Leveraging technology like AI and many decades worth of experience, Don will break news and provoke thoughtful conversation through his direct and unfiltered take on today’s most important stories.”
The former anchor, well known as one of the top personalities at CNN who grew in stature while Jeff Zucker was president of the network from weekend anchor and reporter to hosting a primetime show, parted ways with Warner Bros. Discovery last year. The decision was prompted by Lemon’s statements about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s age while serving as a co-host of the network’s new morning program and clashing with Kaitlan Collins, who was also a host. Lemon joins other notable figures who’ve signed a deal to host programming on X, including conservative personality Tucker Carlson, former Senator Tulsi Gabbard, and CBS Sports talk show host Jim Rome.
