AI 资讯
I Built a Tool to Track Which World Cup Players Are Blowing Up on Social Media
Every World Cup there's a moment. Some player nobody outside their domestic league had heard of scores an absolute screamer in a knockout match, and by the time they've finished celebrating, their follower count is climbing like a rocket. I always found that fascinating, but I could never see it happening. By the time the "X gained 3M followers!" tweets show up, the surge is already over. So this tournament I built a little tracker that snapshots player follower counts on a schedule and shows me the growth curve in near real-time. Here's how it works. The problem with doing this "properly" My first instinct was the official APIs. That died fast. Instagram's Graph API won't give you follower counts for accounts you don't own. TikTok's Research API is academics-only and takes weeks of applications. X's API now starts at $100/month and climbs steeply from there. I just wanted public follower counts — numbers anyone can see by opening the app. I didn't want a data partnership and a legal review. I ended up using the SociaVault API , which wraps public profile data from each platform behind one key. One request, one credit, JSON back. The shared client Everything runs through one tiny helper: // Node 18+ has fetch built in const API_KEY = process . env . SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY ; const BASE = " https://api.sociavault.com " ; async function sv ( path , params ) { const url = new URL ( BASE + path ); Object . entries ( params ). forEach (([ k , v ]) => url . searchParams . set ( k , v )); const res = await fetch ( url , { headers : { " X-API-Key " : API_KEY } }); if ( ! res . ok ) throw new Error ( ` ${ res . status } ${ await res . text ()} ` ); return res . json (); } Grabbing follower counts across platforms Each platform nests the count slightly differently, so I use fallback chains to stay defensive: async function instagramFollowers ( username ) { const data = await sv ( " /v1/scrape/instagram/profile " , { username }); const p = data . data ?. user ?? data . data ?? data
开发者
At least one UK government department is reportedly done with X
UK attorney general Richard Hermer told his staff his office was quitting X, according to The Guardian and The Observer.
开发者
Pixi’s new iOS app turns text messages into interactive AR experiences
Forget stickers, GIFs, and emoji reactions. Pixi is betting that the next evolution of messaging is interactive augmented reality (AR).
AI 资讯
I Replaced 5 Social Media APIs With One Key (and My Code Got Way Simpler)
A while back I was building a side project that needed public data from a few social platforms. Nothing crazy — profiles, posts, some engagement numbers. I figured I'd just grab each platform's official API. Reader, I did not "just grab each platform's official API." Here's what that road actually looked like, and how I ended up consolidating everything down to one key and roughly ten lines of shared code. The five-API nightmare Instagram (Meta Graph API). Great if you own the account. Useless for pulling public data about accounts you don't. Endless app review. TikTok. The research API is academics-only with a long application. For commercial use, basically nothing. X (Twitter). Used to be wonderful. Now $100/month to start, more for anything serious. YouTube. Honestly the best of the bunch — generous and well-documented. Credit where due. LinkedIn. Partner-only. For most people, no useful public access at all. So to cover five platforms I was looking at: five sets of credentials, five auth flows, five rate-limit models, five totally different response shapes, two flat-out rejections, and a monthly bill. For a side project. What I actually wanted getProfile ( " tiktok " , " someuser " ) getProfile ( " instagram " , " someuser " ) getProfile ( " twitter " , " someuser " ) Same call shape, same auth, same error handling. That's it. I don't care that each platform structures things differently internally — I want one boundary that hides that from me. The consolidation I switched to SociaVault , which puts public data from all of these behind one API and one key. My entire client became this: const API_KEY = process . env . SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY ; const BASE = " https://api.sociavault.com " ; async function sv ( path , params = {}) { const url = new URL ( BASE + path ); Object . entries ( params ). forEach (([ k , v ]) => url . searchParams . set ( k , v )); const res = await fetch ( url , { headers : { " X-API-Key " : API_KEY } }); if ( ! res . ok ) throw new Error ( ` $
开发者
Social media’s next evolution: User-controlled algorithms
Social media feeds are becoming more customizable as platforms like Threads, Instagram, and TikTok introduce tools that let users directly influence the algorithms powering their recommendations.
AI 资讯
Mastodon looks to newsletters to help revive the open social web
Mastodon’s newly launched newsletter feature lets anyone subscribe to creators by email, even without a Mastodon account.
科技前沿
Meta's Threads app now has half a billion monthly users
Almost three years in, Meta's X competitor is still growing.
开发者
Threads adds new personalization and community features as it reaches 500M monthly users
The Meta-owned social platform announced a series of new features launching today, including a "Your Algo" tool that lets users control what they see in their feeds
AI 资讯
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth Admits the Company’s AI Reorg Was ‘Atrocious’
In an internal memo seen by WIRED, Bosworth promised employees more stability, better communication, and the return of workplace perks as the company seeks to improve morale.
AI 资讯
Facebook’s new AI Mode search gets its info from public posts
Your public Facebook posts could help inform AI-generated results in Meta's new AI Mode. When you search on Facebook, the "AI Mode" option will appear alongside the usual search modes like "People" and "Marketplace." It's one of several new AI features Meta is rolling out starting today, including photo presets that swap sports jerseys onto […]
科技前沿
UK to ban social media for kids under 16, may impose overnight curfews
Critics say bans push kids to riskier alternatives and can be beaten with VPNs.
AI 资讯
Meta’s new ‘AI Mode’ on Facebook pulls from public info across its platforms
Meta announced Monday that it's rolling out a wave of new AI features on Facebook, the latest sign of the company's effort to catch up in the AI race and keep users more engaged on the platform.
AI 资讯
Big Tech’s desperate last push at AI regulation
For months, Big Tech's Washington lobbyists have chased after the holy grail of pro-AI legislation: preemption. This would be a comprehensive federal law, passed in Congress and signed by the president, applying one set of AI rules across the entire country and overriding the legally messy state-by-state approach to regulation. For months, lobbyists have run […]
AI 资讯
These are the countries moving to ban social media for children
Australia was the first country to issue a ban in late 2025, aiming to reduce the pressures and risks that young users may face on social media, including cyberbullying, social media addiction, and exposure to predators.
创业投融资
UK unveils sweeping social media ban for users under 16
The ban would apply to a range of social media platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.
科技前沿
UK will ban social media for children under 16
The UK is following Australia by banning young people under 16 from TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.
开发者
Under-16 social media ban announced by UK government
The UK is the latest country to follow Australia in implementing a total social media ban for children under 16, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced. The ban, which could take effect from early next year, will be joined by wider measures that will also prevent children from talking to strangers in online games, livestreaming, […]
创业投融资
UK may ban social media for children under 16
The U.K. seems to be following Australia's lead in banning a wide swath of social media for teens.
产品设计
A better way to manage all your screenshots
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 132, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, happy soccer, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been preparing for a month of getting absolutely nothing done during the World Cup. […]
AI 资讯
Meta’s months-old AI unit is a soul-crushing gulag, say the engineers stuck inside it
A new report suggests the unit, which employs 6,500 people, is on the verge of revolt.