WebProNews

Tag: Dom Hofmann

  • Byte Dealing With Spam Bots

    Byte Dealing With Spam Bots

    Byte made headlines when the Vine successor was released on January 24, aiming to fill the void left by Vine’s shuttering. In the intervening 36 hours, the new service has had its hands full with spam bots.

    In a blog post, founder Dom Hofmann acknowledged the problem and vowed to address it.

    “I wanted to post an update and make it clear that we’re aware of the issues with comment spam and more widely with certain types of comments,” writes Hofmann. “This is our top priority and we’re working very hard to address it. It should be noticeably better than it was 24 hours ago and should continue to improve over the next little while.”

    Hofmann also said the Byte team is working on video moderation, the ability to like comments and the ability “to block/filter/limit commenting.”

    The new features should go a long way toward mitigating the type of bots that have become the bane of social media. In the meantime, Hofmann thanked the community for the positive reception the app has received.

    “We are so thankful for the positive reception so far and I promise we’ll do right by it. Thank you for everything and please keep sharing what you’re thinking about with us.”

    As the app gains in popularity, it will be interesting to see how companies will use it to connect with customers. With its six-second, short-form videos, the new service will provide challenges and opportunities alike for concentrated communication.

  • Vine Successor Byte Released

    Vine Successor Byte Released

    Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann has announced the launch of Vine’s successor, Byte, according to TechCrunch.

    Vine was founded in 2012, before quickly being acquired by Twitter in early 2013. Vine was a short-form video app that let people shoot, upload and share six-second videos. Ultimately Twitter discontinued the app in 2017 as other platforms rolled out competing features. Instagram, in particular, hurt Vine as it rolled out the ability to post videos, rather than just photos. Since Vine’s shutdown, however, the market has seen the rise of TikTok and short-form videos are as popular as ever.

    Now one of Vine’s co-founders has announced the release of a new short-form video app named Byte. One of the significant ways Byte will try to differentiate from other, more established services is by helping users monetize their accounts, something other platforms do very little of.

    When TechCrunch’s Connie Loizos asked Hoffman if Byte would offer tipping, ad revenue or other options, Hoffman told her that “We’re looking at all of those, but we’ll be starting with a revenue share + supplementing with our own funds. We’ll have more details about exactly how the pilot program will work soon.”

    With TikTok recently in the news over security concerns, with the Pentagon even issuing guidance instructing military personnel to “uninstall TikTok to circumvent any exposure of personal information,” Byte could represent a more secure, profitable short-form video opportunity for many content creators.