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Facebook Identifies 2021 Topics and Trends

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Facebook studied anonymized data of topics important to people on Facebook and Instagram to understand user trends. They discovered multiple insights that suggest the most important topics and trends will be for 2021.

Four Trending Topic and Trend Categories

Facebook organized their insights into four broad categories.

  1. Education and Action
  2. Technology
  3. Lifestyle
  4. Leisure

Education and Action

United States

By education and action, Facebook is labeling a trend in social media where user interest in learning about the state of society and politics locally and across the United States and the world grew from awareness to actively learning and then to action.

Facebook used the Black Lives Matter movement as an example of how Facebook and Instagram users were educating and taking action.

Facebook user insights

According to Facebook:

“Shared instructions for calling elected officials underscore a renewed investment in local government, and people are advocating for policies that will benefit their cities, towns and neighborhoods.

People are shifting their time and money toward advocacy…”

Australian Trends

Facebook also highlighted an interesting trend in Australia that relates to books. Users are increasingly interested in talking about authors and books. Literature related activities included joining online book clubs to socialize with others with a shared interest in books.

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Facebook’s data shows that discussions related to authors, literature and history have spiked and will continue to be trends into 2021.

Facebook trends for Australia

“Beyond the books themselves, small bookstores are reinforcing their presence in local communities,9 offering online lectures, discussion groups and kids’ story times. Libraries have also taken an active community role, delivering books and calling to check on elderly people.10 As books become wider windows into the world, literary tradition is going from hobby to habit. “

2021 Lifestyle Trends

Lifestyle trends in the past tended to revolve around travel, food and drink, entertainment and fashion. The 2019 Topics and Trends report highlighted trends outside of the home:

“Green products and sustainability reflect a new eco-consciousness across beauty, fashion and travel. Food topics also popped outside of cuisine discussions, as people took new interest in the health and wellness benefits of some ingredients. And we’re now seeing the decentralization of traditional models in things like exercise, shopping and even screen time.”

The 2021 Topics and Trends report shows that lifestyle topics and trends for the UK, Canada and the United States revolve around the home, reflecting the reality of life in a pandemic.

Popular topics include gardening, casual culture trends inspired by the reality of the work at home environment and do it yourself (DIY) home renovations.

Gardening is Important to Consumers

Facebook’s report highlighted gardening trends:

“New to even kitchen gardening, many are consulting how-to books and online resources for their first season in the soil; searches for “how to grow an avocado,” for instance, increased by 100 times between mid-April 2019 and 2020.”

Facebook trends surrounding gardening

Casual Culture

Facebook pointed out a trend that it named Casual Culture. Casual culture is a reflection of the fact that many people don’t have to focus on their exteriors such as haircuts or fashion. The consumer focus has turned to comfortable clothes, self-care and what Facebook calls more authenticity in communication.

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Facebook explains:

“For ages, people have worked to present polished versions of themselves, putting on an outfit and a smile to head into the office, an appointment and even the store. With in-person meetings largely on hold and the video screen providing a virtual window into peoples’ home lives, Americans are prioritizing authenticity over appearance, even if that means being vulnerable.”

Facebook trends graph about authenticity

Canadian Home Trends

Facebook highlighted the trend of focusing on home as literally focusing on the home. Popular topics and trends in Canada were those having to do with making over the home in order to accommodate the activities that were previously done outside of the home that are now accomplished inside the home.

Typical topics were creating space for work but also space for school and working out. Other topics included fixing up the backyard.

Screenshot of a trend graph of home topics

Facebook noted:

“In backyards and on balconies, people are installing raised beds for gardening and adding lawn furniture.27 The indoors is just as busy as workers graduate from improvising desk space to building out ergonomic home office setups and cordoning off areas for exercise. As people increasingly work and play in their own spaces, they’ll be asking more of their homes…”

Technology

Facebook highlighted the increased role of technology around the world for facilitating online commerce in places where online shopping hadn’t yet taken hold to the degree in other countries.

From India to Australia to Mexico. India and Mexico have had issues with online shopping due to internet connectivity and preferences to shopping with cash. Australia had issues related to difficulties in delivering to a population that is so spread out.

In India, eCommerce, home entertainment plus work and educational activities are increasingly moving online.

Australia is trending toward what Facebook calls a hybrid version of online shopping. This reflects a mix of online shopping with delivery and online shopping with pickup at the store.

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Mexico is being transformed by Neo Banking, which is a form of cashless payments via banks that have no physical presence to bank at. These are allowing more and more Mexican consumers to take advantage of cashless payment methods.

According to Facebook:

“Customers are also seeking out safer digital-first shopping options, and many businesses are adopting cashless payments. This may lead to lasting changes in how people bank and purchase: One study predicts two-thirds of Mexicans will reduce their cash use in the future.”

2021 Online Shopping Topics and Trends

Facebook’s report showed how online shopping continues to become the standard way of purchasing goods. It also shows how consumers are focused on purchases that enhance their home life. These trends are predicted to continue through 2021.

Citation

Read the 40 Page Facebook Report:

2021 Topics and Trends Report From Facebook IQ

Searchenginejournal.com

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Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again

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Facebook Problem Again

Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.

Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.

Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.

When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.

Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.

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During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.

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Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

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Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said.

Haroon Shahzad (right) with attorney Aneeqa Maria. | The Voice Society/Morning Star News

Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes.

Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail on Nov. 6, but the decision and his release on Nov. 15 were not made public until now due to security fears for his life, Maria said.

Shahzad told Morning Star News by telephone from an undisclosed location that the false accusation has changed his family’s lives forever.

“My family has been on the run from the time I was implicated in this false charge and arrested by the police under mob pressure,” Shahzad told Morning Star News. “My eldest daughter had just started her second year in college, but it’s been more than four months now that she hasn’t been able to return to her institution. My other children are also unable to resume their education as my family is compelled to change their location after 15-20 days as a security precaution.”

Though he was not tortured during incarceration, he said, the pain of being away from his family and thinking about their well-being and safety gave him countless sleepless nights.

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“All of this is due to the fact that the complainant, Imran Ladhar, has widely shared my photo on social media and declared me liable for death for alleged blasphemy,” he said in a choked voice. “As soon as Ladhar heard about my bail, he and his accomplices started gathering people in the village and incited them against me and my family. He’s trying his best to ensure that we are never able to go back to the village.”

Shahzad has met with his family only once since his release on bail, and they are unable to return to their village in the foreseeable future, he said.

“We are not together,” he told Morning Star News. “They are living at a relative’s house while I’m taking refuge elsewhere. I don’t know when this agonizing situation will come to an end.”

The Christian said the complainant, said to be a member of Islamist extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and also allegedly connected with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the charge because of a grudge. Shahzad said he and his family had obtained valuable government land and allotted it for construction of a church building, and Ladhar and others had filed multiple cases against the allotment and lost all of them after a four-year legal battle.

“Another probable reason for Ladhar’s jealousy could be that we were financially better off than most Christian families of the village,” he said. “I was running a successful paint business in Sargodha city, but that too has shut down due to this case.”

Regarding the social media post, Shahzad said he had no intention of hurting Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Facebook page.

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“I posted the verse a week before Eid Al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] but I had no idea that it would be used to target me and my family,” he said. “In fact, when I came to know that Ladhar was provoking the villagers against me, I deleted the post and decided to meet the village elders to explain my position.”

The village elders were already influenced by Ladhar and refused to listen to him, Shahzad said.

“I was left with no option but to flee the village when I heard that Ladhar was amassing a mob to attack me,” he said.

Shahzad pleaded with government authorities for justice, saying he should not be punished for sharing a verse from the Bible that in no way constituted blasphemy.

Similar to other cases

Shahzad’s attorney, Maria, told Morning Star News that events in Shahzad’s case were similar to other blasphemy cases filed against Christians.

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“Defective investigation, mala fide on the part of the police and complainant, violent protests against the accused persons and threats to them and their families, forcing their displacement from their ancestral areas, have become hallmarks of all blasphemy allegations in Pakistan,” said Maria, head of The Voice Society, a Christian paralegal organization.

She said that the case filed against Shahzad was gross violation of Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which states that police cannot register a case under the Section 295-A blasphemy statute against a private citizen without the approval of the provincial government or federal agencies.

Maria added that Shahzad and his family have continued to suffer even though there was no evidence of blasphemy.

“The social stigma attached with a blasphemy accusation will likely have a long-lasting impact on their lives, whereas his accuser, Imran Ladhar, would not have to face any consequence of his false accusation,” she said.

The judge who granted bail noted that Shahzad was charged with blasphemy under Section 295-A, which is a non-cognizable offense, and Section 298, which is bailable. The judge also noted that police had not submitted the forensic report of Shahzad’s cell phone and said evidence was required to prove that the social media was blasphemous, according to Maria.

Bail was set at 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US $350) and two personal sureties, and the judge ordered police to further investigate, she said.

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Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29 posted on his Facebook page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols, as Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat.

A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice.

Though Shahzad made no comment in the post, inflammatory or otherwise, the situation became tense after Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers telling people to gather for a protest, family sources previously told Morning Star News.

Fearing violence as mobs grew in the village, most Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind.

In a bid to restore order, the police registered a case against Shahzad under Sections 295-A and 298. Section 295-A relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine, or both. Section 298 prescribes up to one year in prison and a fine, or both, for hurting religious sentiments.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.

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Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.

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CHARLOTTE HORNETS MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on X: Facebook – All Hornets X – …

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