Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

The year is already coming to a close and we know a lot has happened. Life is full of the good, the bad, and the -non-literal- ugly, it's safe to say that life likes to dish out a good mix of the three (sometimes all at once). When prompted to look back on 2022, as with most years recently, the initial reaction probably tends to be something along the lines of “oof.”

We understand th is reaction, but while every year has its difficult times and unfortunate events, there is also a lot of good that happens as well. It’s all about how you frame it. It's easy for negative things to come to mind first, especially when you’re already feeling downbad. However, that shouldn’t cast a dark cloud over the entire year, it might be quite the opposite actually. Let's go back to the word at the top of the page: gratitude. Gratitude is the act of being thankful, it is the warm appreciation you feel when looking at the great things in your life and that life in general has to offer, and it often leaves people in a much better mood. While people were busy posting that they are #grateful they did not always feel that way. Again, gratitude is an emotion. Fortunately, it is pretty easy to move towards feeling grateful, because all you need to do is count your blessings.

“It’s the little things in life.” You’ve definitely heard that before and likely rolled youtube eyes. But time will teach you that it has always been the little things in life. A lot of people want to make it big and watch the sunset from the back of their yacht. Well a yacht costs a lot of money and you can watch the sunset for free from a bench or from your window. Perspective. That's pretty incredible when you think about it right? Life is full of the little things and acknowledging them can make life at least a little better.

There are fun little tricks you can do that will remind you of all the amazing things you have in your life. For example, every time you feel cold water, whether that be from washing your hands, the rain, or the shower, list three things you are grateful for. It doesn’t always need to be grand – most of life isn’t – it just needs to be genuine.

Another aspect of life many seem to take for granted are relationships. That bond you share with other people: be it your family, friends, classmates, or even just that person you always run into but don’t really know. All of those connections are special because out of the millions of people and places in the world, you and that other person happen to be in the same place at the same time, and have this shared experience together. That’s technically a statistical miracle, but because it happens every day we tend to take it for granted. We even take our friends for granted, blowing them off to order takeout and binge a TV show (although sometimes that is peak existence). We should be incredibly grateful for our friends, they are the family we choose or so happened upon. Knowing somebody will be there to make you laugh, smile, support your crazy ideas, and be a shoulder for you to lean on is really incredible. Even knowing that you would happily do that for one of your friends is plenty to be thankful for. If there is somebody you owe a quick thank you to, maybe now is a good time to tell them.

We also wanted to take the time to say thank you. Seriously, this isn’t an obligatory “we’d like to thank our valued customers” type of thank you, we are genuinely thankful for you. If you just like reading our blogs, enjoy our Instagram page, or love our app, we appreciate it. Not everyone has the privilege of having people support their dreams (our dream being to help people create new friendships and connections online) and when over 60 million people continue to support Yubo’s vision, it is pretty hard not to be grateful for that. Every single team and member of Yubo is thankful for our users. You make our jobs fun, challenging, and genuinely rewarding.

With Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, if you celebrate, we would like to wish you a happy turkey day (to the vegans too). There is something special about when family and/or friends come together simply to share a meal and their time with each other. We also hope that you will continue to focus on all the little things life has to offer past Thanksgiving, every day is full of them.

Thank You

Everyone has heard the age old expression, “opposites attract.” Whether you’re talking about The Beauty and the Beast, Ron Weasley and Hermione, Wall-E and Eve, or Shikamaru and Temari; opposites attract is one of the oldest tropes in fiction. But, does the same idea apply to platonic relationships? Do similar interests matter when making friends? Yes, and no. 

Similar Hobbies & Interests Make it Easier to Make Friends

If you research how to make friends, most articles such as this one, will tell you a key component to making friends is through joining something. Whether it’s a club, organization, or even a fandom, the key is to be with like-minded individuals who share similar interests to you.

For example, if you’re a major anime fan, head over to an anime convention! As described in a cosplayer thread, conventions are “the easiest way to make new friends… it's easy to just chat with people.” Any fan of anything absolutely loves to talk about their theories, reviews, ideas, or just their love of that topic! It’s easy to start off any conversation, or soon-to-be friendship, with an opener about your common interest. In a recent survey directed towards Americans about friendship, 51% of surveyors said they have activity friends, meaning those that they participate in different activities with whether it be hobbies, sports, or anything else social. 

Making friends by absolutely fangirling over a concept doesn’t just have to be something that happens in real life either. Thanks to social media, and of course, the internet, people from all over the world can meet those with similar interests to them! Online friends may be a bit more rare than real-life friends with 39% of surveyors from the previously mentioned survey saying they have friends that they purely only interact with on the internet, and never in person. But, these bonds can be twice as strong. 

You might have noticed this yourself, but humans tend to be more confident online than in person. Of course, this might make you think of internet trolls, who have confidence because they’re able to hide, but for this instance, we’re taking a look at a more positive side of internet interactions. So, what are the reasons behind the boosted confidence and how does it help you make friends?

When introducing yourself to someone online with a known interest similar to yours, you can get straight to the point of discussing your passions. No more wasting time with the obligatory (and boring) greetings. Plus, talking about a shared interest instantly brings a level of excitement to the conversation that you both share. You’ll feed off each other's energy and thanks to the safety of your screen, you don’t need to think of strong responses right away. You have time to read what they said, process it, think of what to say, and send a worthy reply. Just because you need some more time online (usually) to add to a conversation, doesn’t make the conversation any less genuine. 

At Yubo, we want to make meeting and making new friends as simple as possible. That’s why we added the add by tag feature to be the ultimate icebreaker. 

What are tags on Yubo? Yubo tags are interest-based signs that can be added to any user’s profile. Users can add as many tags as they’d like! All they have to do is go to their profile, click “tags,” and then pick their favorite tags from any of our 18 categories:

TV & Podcasts, Games, Music, Movies, Sports, Food, Languages, Schools (higher education only), Places, Manga & Anime, Lifestyle, Activities, Pronouns, Brands, People, Books, Spirituality, and of course, Yubo.

And then, if a user would like to add someone else with the same tags, all they have to do is open up their profile, click on the said tag, and then they’ll see a list of those who all have the same tag in their own profile. Watch a full tutorial and explanation of the add-by-tag feature below!

Find your Friends on Yubo with Add by Tags

Are Friendships Stronger because of similar interests?

Having similar interests can definitely make friendships easier to form and maintain. If the two of you are into the same musician, you can listen to their music together. If you’re both obsessed with the same tv show or book, you can read it or watch it at the same time. If you’re into basketball, you can discuss strategy or the game that’s on. Having similar interests or hobbies can help ensure you never run out of something to connect on or talk about with that friend. 

Do you need to share interests to be friends?

No. While having similar hobbies or interests can make friendships easier, it does not reflect the quality of your friendship at all. Opposites attract doesn't just apply to romantic pairings on the screen, but also to your friends in real life. Many friends have stark differences that end up complementing each other. When making a friend, or evaluating a current friendship, all that truly matters, is how they make you feel. 

Do Similar Interests Matter When Making Friends?

Yes, Yubo does not cost anything. It’s a free app to download from the Appstore or Google Pay Store. All Yubo’s main features are free to use.

One thing that makes Yubo unique when compared to other social apps, is our freemium model. We provide our users with the option to purchase bonus features to enhance their experience on the app, similar to what is often seen across gaming culture. Again, Yubo and all of its core features are completely free to use, but some users who want a bit more out of their Yubo experience might want some of the bonus features offered.

Is Yubo Free?

YuBucks are Yubo’s in-app currency that allow users to purchase things like Pixels and Boosts from our in-app store. There are a variety of YuBuck bundles users have the option to purchase, offering different quantities to better fit their wants. We noticed that our community often tops up their YuBucks balance quite often, so we introduced a YuBucks subscription which gives users 3,500 YuBucks every week at a discount rate. You cannot send YuBucks to other people, but you can send your friends Pixels!

Pixels are Yubo’s in-app digital collectables. At the time of writing this Yubo has released 13 editions of Pixels! Each new Pixel edition is done by a different artist that Yubo collaborates with in order to deliver fresh and amazing Pixels every time. Most Pixel collections are limited editions, which means that they are only available for a limited time. Others have made it to our Pixel Hall of Fame and are around forever. For example, the Zodiac Pixel collection will always be available because our users like sending friends their zodiac signs on their birthdays. And of course, there are other classics like Dabocado and Rhinomillion that we just don’t have the heart to get rid of.

You might be wondering, what does a Boost do on Yubo? Well, a Boost promotes the livestream you are in, making it more visible on the livestream page so other people are more likely to see it and join you and your friends. When our community tries to host games or funny conversations that pair better with a large audience, they will boost their live in order to get more engagement.

You have the option to do a single boost or you could go big and do a 30x boost! Other lives might be boosted as well, so it is good to know that the live with the most Boosts is the top live and the rest follow in Boost order. Many boosted lives going on at the same time may cause a Boost war, where users will try and out-boost other lives to claim first. But there's a catch (literally). Boosts only last for two minutes and then they expire. This is where the phrase, “catch the Boost” came from. If you hopped in a boosted live, you definitely heard it.

With the Power Pack you get a free Boost, Turbo, and Spotlight every week and unlimited swipes, plus the ability to see who swiped on you.

Spotlight puts your profile at the top of users home screens, making it easier than ever to form new connections. As soon as they click on your spotlighted profile, they can send you a message, so you better be ready to talk!

Turbo makes your profile a priority in the swipe section. After activating Turbo, your profile will be the first one to appear in everyone's swipes – talk about getting noticed. There are time options for Turbo as well. If you have the Power Pack or the Elite Pack, which we will get to next, you get a free Turbo every week that lasts five minutes. But, if you have some extra YuBucks lying around, you can use those to increase the time duration to up to two and a half hours! 

While the Power Pack is definitely powerful, a little pun intended, the Elite Pack is the all access pass to Yubo. Elite Pack owners get everything the Power Pack has to offer plus a few more features, like: sending messages before you become friends, appearing first in swipes to everyone you swipe right one, and being able to see your swipe history. 

Again, every core feature of Yubo is completely free. The Power Pack, Elite Pack, Pixels, and YuBucks are for those who are willing to spend a little to get more out of Yubo. Please enjoy our app responsibly. Occasionally, Yubo hosts fun “competitions” or giveaways on Instagram and Twitter where you can win awesome Pixels or even the Power or Elite Packs for free!

Yubo does not cost anything. It’s a free app to download from the Appstore or Google Pay Store. All Yubo’s main features are free to use. One thing that makes Yubo unique when compared to other social apps, is our freemium model. We provide our users with the option to purchase bonus features to enhance their experience on the app, similar to what is often seen across gaming culture. Follow the Yubo team as they present all the paid features that can enhance your Yubo experience.

Is Yubo free?

Generation Z is leading to be the most influential generation of all time. They’re a generation of people who grew up witnessing injustices on social media, who went through a global pandemic during what was supposed to be the best years of their life, who can amplify their voices with a simple tweet, and who are excitedly changing traditional norms of society. 

Today’s Midterm elections in the United States are the first time we as a nation will be able to see the true impact of Gen Z on U.S. politics. To better understand Gen Z and their crossover with politics, we sent out a poll to over two thousand Yubo users of voting age in the United States asking for their views on the upcoming election and American politics.

Gen Zers (typically) are those born from 1997 to 2012, and currently counts for those of ten to twenty-five years of age. In the United States, Gen Z is the most racially diverse generation thus far with only 52% of Gen Zers being white, while their predecessors, Millennials, were 61% white. They also happen to be on track to be the highest educated generation we’ve seen, already enrolling a higher percentage of Gen Zers into college than Millennials had respectively. This sets Generation Z to not only be a more informed group, but a group who better represents all people within the United States.

Will Generation Z Vote in the upcoming elections?

Out of over 2,000 Gen Z users polled, 69.8% of surveyors said yes to voting in the upcoming election. By 2024, Millennials and Gen Z are estimated to account for the largest percentage of U.S. voters, giving them a real opportunity to make changes. But, what type of changes may these be?

What topics matter most to Gen Z when voting?

50% of surveyors said the Economy was the most important topic to them. This was followed by social justice at 43%, healthcare at 42%, and employment at 32%. Taxation, education and climate change all had similar numbers near 30%. Foreign policy/relations and international trade were the least picked options. 

Gen Z’s concerns match what their generation has gone through. Many have graduated from high school, expecting to move out, only to be hit with the high costs of homes, rent and interests rates, plus a worldwide pandemic affecting employment. Due to the increase of social media, Gen Zers are more aware of social justice issues than ever. In a study done by Reach3, they found that 77% of those asked, said TikTok helped them learn more about social justice, as well as politics. An early display of the power social media has on politics can be seen with one of the past presidential candidate’s rallies receiving over 1 million RSVPs, just for less than nineteen thousand supporters to show up in person. What caused this fakeout? Young supporters of a Korean Pop band wanting to make their idols proud by taking a stand for what they believed in. All communication was done strictly through social media. 

Surprisingly, when we polled our users asking if they share their political opinions on social media, 61% of users said no while 72% of users said they believed sharing political opinions on social media has an impact. 

How does Gen Z determine who to vote for?

We know the topics most important to Gen Z, but now, how do they pick a candidate? Well, in our Yubo poll, 68% of surveyors said they would choose a candidate based on their specific ideas and plans while only 17% said they would choose a candidate based on their party alone. Gen Z is seeking a candidate who truly represents their beliefs, instead of just representing a party they’re supposed to align with. They’re ready to move on from the traditional style of politics, and truly focus on the individual who can shape the country into the view they want to see. 

When asked if American politics are outdated, 64% of respondents answered yes with 55% of them blaming this on the two-party system, electoral college, winner-take-all voting, and the requirements to vote. 25% of poll takers, however, believed the two-party system is the key reason American politics are outdated. 

How Can You Be More Involved in Politics?

You don’t need to have thousands of followers to make a difference, all you need is to use your voice. First and foremost, go out and vote! After that, you can post your beliefs to whichever social media platform you may have. If you’d prefer to stand for what you believe in more physically, then volunteer for a campaign or attend peaceful protests throughout your community. You can join a nonprofit organization to spread their message or donate to your favorite NGO. However you chose to be a part of the change is up to you, and no matter how small the action may seem, it only needs to impact a single individual to ignite change. 

Generation Z is leading to be the most influential generation of all time. They’re a generation of people who grew up witnessing injustices on social media, who went through a global pandemic during what was supposed to be the best years of their life, who can amplify their voices with a simple tweet, and who are excitedly changing traditional norms of society. 
On the occasion of the Midterm elections in the United States and to better understand Gen Z and their crossover with politics, Yubo sent out a poll to over two thousand Yubo users of voting age in the United States asking for their views on the upcoming election and American politics.

Gen Z and Voting

Let’s be honest, despite being an extremely toxic behavior, trolling is harmful! Nowadays, everyone has crossed paths with a troll on social media, not only do they tend to be irritating, but what’s most impressive is their dedication to cruelty by creating drama and negativity online. You’ve probably wondered, how do these trolls find the time and energy to connect online and feel the need to purposely provoke or attack individuals. It’s difficult to understand their why, and sometimes, to detect it. Most trolls on social media do not have a precise purpose or plan, except for making sure they trap you into a conversation or situation you don’t want to be a part of.

What’s the typical behavior of a troll?

Trolling is essentially posting hateful or inappropriate content that targets others purposely or commenting virulently to someone else’s post. In most cases, trolling reaches a point where it can be considered as online bullying or harassment. They look to get a response, whether it’s forcing a reaction or emotionally affecting you, and then they keep pushing in that direction until it becomes impossible for you to not respond and engage into a never-ending and painful debate.

That type of behavior is difficult to combat and manage for social media platforms, governments and authorities as trolls create multiple accounts a week, jump from one to another with an obviously fake name and no location. For this reason, the trolls feel increasingly powerful and untouchable as they can’t be held accountable for their actions online.

Not all trolls are bad trolls though. Some are just trying to have some fun. They goof around and make jokes that don’t attack anyone. But, they still can be irritating for continuously spamming certain posts, by sharing hundreds of memes a day for instance. 

Being confronted with trolls online every day can end up affecting your self-esteem and mental health, especially if you are directly targeted or criticized by a crowd. Indeed, another typical behavior is to act as a group. Repetition is what can make it unbearable for you to ignore and when it reaches a point where you can’t ignore it any further. Online hate is not only criticisms about your looks, choices or personality. Online hate can include hateful comments about race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and everything that makes you “you”. 

Long term, it’s tricky to keep a distance mentally with negative and absurd comments. This type of online activity can result in depression, helplessness and anxiety for its victims. That’s why it’s so important not to let trolling last and to address it right away by an adult or specialists that can support you in dealing with the trolls and how you respond to them

There are many resources online, we provide some useful links on our website.

There is no magical solution to remove trolling, of course, and most of the useful tips rely on you to follow them in order to deal with trolls efficiently. But there are a couple of things you can do to protect yourself from these behaviors.

First and foremost, and I know it seems easy to say, but just ignore them. Follow this famous quote, “Silence is better than unnecessary drama”. Don’t play their game, be better than them. The main fuel that feeds their harmful comments is your response. If you become a participant in the conversation, then they will see it as the perfect opportunity to ridicule you until you break. You can also help protect others. If everyone ignored the trolls, then, they would no longer have that entertainment value gained from trolling and they might consider investing their time into something else -- at least that’s our hope for the future.

Another tip is to find the right balance between monitoring your social media accounts to make sure it doesn’t escalate and knowing when to step away. When it becomes overwhelming, just close the app, put your phone away, talk to some of your friends, watch a Netflix show, take care of yourself until the wave of anxiety or potential anger has passed. The good thing about the internet is that there is such a flow of information and messages circulating every day that they will quickly jump into another drama starter and leave you alone. You can safely delete their comments, block them, and move on to a positive mindset right away. In addition, every social media has a support team you can report the trolls to, and of course, if you ever feel threatened, contact the police. 

How To Mute Words and Report on Yubo

Another useful thing to remember is that you can record or screenshot any negative comments or DMs you receive before they get deleted so that you keep actual proof of what happened, which would later be useful to try and catch perpetrators.

Even if their reaction can be unpredictable, before posting anything, look at it twice and make sure you anticipate the kind of replies you might get. Don’t forget you can delete your posts or comments at all times if you have doubts. 

Let’s be honest, despite being an extremely toxic behavior, trolling is harmful! Nowadays, everyone has crossed paths with a troll on social media, not only do they tend to be irritating, but what’s most impressive is their dedication to cruelty by creating drama and negativity online.

What's Trolling on Social Media?

Witches, warlocks, goblins and ghouls can give quite a fright, but what will await you on Yubo this Halloween night? Find your zodiac sign below to see what the crystal ball has predicted. 

Taurus - Reaffirming to the streamers that there will NOT be scary stories shared. While you love the festivities of Halloween, you can do without the spooky parts. Be ready to tell them every few seconds that there’s a strict no scary stories allowed policy in your livestream rooms. Let that Taurus energy shine. 

Aries - Falling for the Trick on Yubo Live. Trick-or-treat except it’s a trick with no treat. There’s not many ways for others to trick you, but people tend to get extra creative on Halloween. When you choose “trick” during the game on live, you won’t be expecting the jump scare you’ll receive. It probably won’t be a lesson learned, but your Yubo friends will make sure you don’t forget that moment for a while. 

Gemini - Ghosthunting on Yubo Live. You're determined to prove to the viewers that your house is indeed haunted. Whether it’s true or you made up the horror story about the sweet family who lived in the home 200 years ago, no one will know for sure. But, now's the time for you to show just how haunted that house is. The lights begin to flicker. Is it the ghost or did you overload the circuit? 

Aquarius - Making New Friends, completely unrelated to Halloween. What? It’s already Halloween? You’ll be just hanging out on Yubo, messaging some awesome new, totally not spooky, people. If you’re up to it, you’ll be extra kind and send them a special Halloween pixel. 

Cancer - Hiding from the scary stories in layers of blankets, but still streaming. You have a love-hate relationship with scary stories. They terrify you, but they also exhilarate you. You will invite different users up to share their spookiest story, and with each story you’ll grab another blanket to create a protective layer between the monsters and you. You’ll eventually grab your dog, cat, or ferret for more comfort, but you’re too enthralled by the story of the woman in the rosebush. Spoiler: it’s thorny. 

Leo - Collecting All of the Halloween Pixels. Did someone say limited edition spooky pixels? You love showing off your pixel collection, so you’ll make it more special by adding the most exclusive pixels you can. Perhaps you’ll even be inspired to mimic one as your Halloween costume: the evil jack o’lantern, zombie jock, stylish witch, classic creepy doll, hip vampire, or the Skeleton who’s bad to the bone? Just avoid dogs if you chose the last one. 

Virgo - Taking your Live audience on the carefully laid out trick-or-treat route you’ve made up. Would some consider you as a little old to be trick-or-treating? Possibly, but we celebrate you for embracing the Halloween spirit. All the past years of trick-or-treating have prepared you for this night: the night where you’ll reach a record high of candy received. Your viewers will be in awe at your skill and it may even inspire them to go trick-or-treating one more time. 

Libra - Brainstorming 100+ different halloween Live titles. Halloween Fun. Too basic. Ghouls and ghosts. No one will understand that. Pumpkin Spice. Yeah, you’ll figure it out eventually. You’ll keep changing it throughout your Live. The viewers and other streamers will critique your choices, and cause you to change the title yet again. But, eventually, you’ll come across the perfect spooky name for your livestream. 

Scorpio - Hosting the makeup or special effects Live. It’s time to show off that artistic talent you’ve been practicing for months. Will there be gore, fright, or just something that shows well under your ring light? We cannot wait to see what creative look you’ll be creating!

Sagittarius - Wearing the best costume ever. While the crystal ball can’t foresee what costume that is, it’s clear that it’s unique. That costume will become your new personality for the next few months. It’ll take over your profile pictures, profile videos, bio section, and you may still even wear it a few times afterwards when invited up to stream. 

Capricorn - Hosting the Halloween Dance Party. Scream & Shout because it’s time to host the most epic Halloween virtual dance party ever witnessed. Heads will Roll at the amount of Spooky, Scary Skeletons doing the Time Warp in perfect unison. Whether you’re playing Thriller or a Ghostbusters remix, make sure you join the party before I Put A Spell On You. After all, This is Halloween. 

Pisces - Sharing Their Craziest Halloween Story. What’s the scariest thing on Halloween? The antics a Pisces gets up to. We know you have some absolutely insane stories to share, and we’re sure your fellow Yubo users can’t wait to hear them. No matter how many times you’ll tell the story, it will never get old and it never fails to leave your listeners a little ghostly. 

Yubo Horoscope: Halloween

Despite both logos being yellow, Yubo is not affiliated with Snapchat and is its own live social discovery app for Gen Z. However, Yubo does have a partnership with Snapchat revolving around the Snapchat Camera Kit.

Yubo Origin Story

If you have spent time on the livestreaming section of Yubo, you might have noticed camera filters similar to ones on Snapchat. Again, Yubo is not connected to Snapchat, it just utilizes Snapchat’s Camera Kit – which is an AR tool that Snapchat provides for platforms to use! It allows platforms and creators to use Snapchat’s filter system and features in other apps. Snapchat is the social media hub of face filters - from ones that put fun little butterflies on your cheeks, to ones that completely warp your face. Snapchat filters have even begun dipping into augmented reality and filter-based games! Snapchat also has an open filter system, where practically anyone can create custom filters and upload them to Snapchat for others to use. Since Snapchat has become the mecca for face mobile app filters, they decided to share their technology through a Camera Kit. Livestreaming is a large part of how users interact on Yubo so it made sense to naturally integrate filters to make Lives more fun and comfortable. Instead of working from the ground up, Yubo partnered with Snapchat to use its already amazing technology to spice up livestreams with fun filters. That is why you will notice a small watermark that says “powered by Snapchat” when using them. In addition to the Camera Kit lenses, Yubo also creates its own filters and game filters to be used exclusively in the Yubo app! 

In fact, Yubo just debuted its first filter-based game, Pixel Muncher! In this game, Pixels, which are Yubo’s in-app digital collectables, fall from the sky, but so do spiked wrecking balls. The goal is to catch as many Pixels as you can without catching the wrecking balls. Players will also notice three hearts at the top of the screen, every time a player accidentally eats a wrecking ball, they lose a heart. If the player eats three wrecking balls, the game ends and shows them their score. After the player catches a certain amount of Pixels, the game gets faster and speeds up the rate at which they fall. Just like any other filter in the Yubo app, multiple people can play Pixel muncher at the same time. So don’t be surprised if you see a live with ten people on stage playing Pixel Muncher to see who gets the highest score.

Yubo added face filters to its livestreaming feature for two reasons. The first reason is simple: it's fun. With tons of filters for users to choose from there are endless livestreaming possibilities. Lives can be themed where everyone on camera is an alien or a Dorito chip - we don’t judge. Users are always trying to find new and funny filters to show their friends. The second reason is to help take the edge off of social anxiety. Some people are shy and don’t want to fully expose their face on camera, but still want to interact beyond being camera off. This is where filters can really help bridge that gap and make users more comfortable. With filters they can more confidently interact on screen with other users. Maybe all they need is a subtle filter that adds butterflies or flames to their cheeks, maybe they like using the Yubo-favored “big mouth” filter. Or perhaps they only want their eyes and mouth to be visible, so they lean towards the alien, sloth, or even banana filter.

Yubo’s Interactive Filters: Be what you want, when you want

Yubo is one of the few social media platforms that is actually “social”. When you think of social media, many platforms involve scrolling through carefully curated feeds or highly-edited content. While this format of course offers value in its own way, it tends to encourage more passive engagement and lead to parasocial relationships. Instead, Yubo focuses on creating an environment that allows for authentic interactions. Yubo users have the chance to talk with others in real time through Yubo’s signature livestreaming feature or share direct messages with others as well. 

Ultimately, Yubo saw the need to help create new connections, not just give them the tools to stay connected to people they already knew. While implementing filters might seem like a small step towards that goal or even an industry standard at this point, it is largely important to ensure every user has the tools they need to form new connections. Yubo is a stand alone app with industry leading safety technology and 60M users across the world. Yubo strives to be the leading live social discovery app for Gen Z and will continue to create genuine connections online.

We both have an amazing yellow logo and this seems to confuse some people. But Yubo is not affiliated with Snapchat and is its own live social discovery app for Gen Z. However, Yubo does have a partnership with Snapchat revolving around the Snapchat Camera Kit. The Yubo team is here to show you all its advantages!

Is Yubo connected to Snapchat?

That is up to you to decide! When you create a Yubo account, the app will ask if you would like to allow Yubo to use your location, you can then select “yes” or “no.” Sharing your location is not required to use Yubo, but it does slightly hinder the Yubo experience. Of course, you can change your location sharing settings at any time. Simply go to Settings > Safety and Privacy > Location > here you can turn on or off “use my location” and you can decide if you would like to hide your city as well. We give users full control over their privacy when it comes to the Yubo app and interacting with other users.

As a social discovery app, we want our community to make genuine connections. Yubo prioritizes showing you people and lives that are closer to your location, if you choose to share it. Don’t worry, this does not mean you are always going to be swiping on your neighbors. It simply means you will see lives and people closer to you first. For example, if you live in New York, you will see New York-based lives before you see Chicago-based lives. But, we also understand the fun in meeting new people from completely different backgrounds, which is why we don’t limit the reach of people you can meet on Yubo. We encourage making new friends, whether they be in the same city or another country.

You can control the regions you would like to see for both swipes and lives!

To change the location settings for Yubo’s swipe feature, head over to Settings, then Swipe Settings (it has its own tab). Here, you will see a location tab, tap it to change your swipe settings. You can choose between three main options: country of location first, all around the world, or country of location only. If you select the country of location first option, you will be able to select the maximum distance away of users to show you. It can be anywhere in the range of 18 miles to 65 miles. That’s about 19 kilometers to 104 kilometers for pretty much everyone outside of the United States. You even have the option to hide your profile from swipes, which means other people will not see your profile in the swipe section.

Once you are at the Live page, in the top left corner you will see a hamburger (the stack of lines, yes, it is actually called a hamburger). Tap it and you will see live filters. If you select distance, yubo will show you lives in order of distance, starting closer and getting farther. On this page, you will also see a location menu, where you can choose specific countries or select the worldwide option. Just like that, you can virtually travel around the world!

Changing your location on Yubo is fast and easy. All you need to do is go to Settings > Safety and Privacy > Location. Here you will see a tab that reads, “city.” Simply tap the city tab to refresh your location! You cannot manually enter a location because we believe in creating an authentic user experience and we do not want to give any power to potential trolls. 

Does Yubo use my location when the app is closed?

No, Yubo will never use your location unless you are actively using the app. We do not want to infringe on any of your privacy rights, nor your data. Additionally, we do not share any of your location data with anyone. It is kept safe and secure with us!

What if I don’t share my location with Yubo?

If you decided to disable location sharing on your Yubo account, it won’t hinder the Yubo experience at all! You will still be able to access lives from all around the world, meet people within similar interests in the swipe section of the app, and use almost every feature Yubo has to offer. The only features you will not have access to are the location-based features. These include filtering the swipe radius closer to your location and showing lives closer to your first. Instead, the lives and users will be tailored to you by the country you signed up with if you are even using those features in the app. You don’t need to share your location to enjoy Yubo. 

So, if you want to meet new people with similar interests near your or on the other side of the globe, hop on Yubo, the safest place for young minds to connect.

At Yubo, we place the safety of our users at the heart of everything we do. And this concern also includes protecting the privacy of Yubo users. Of all the information we share every day on the internet, location is a very valuable piece of data and sometimes it is best kept to oneself. It's always important to know who you're sharing your location with, so here's a quick guide to everything about location on Yubo.

Does Yubo Use Geolocalization?

Safety is at the core of everything Yubo does. No matter what new feature is implemented, Yubo will always prioritize the safety of its community above all else. Yubo aims to create a space where people from all over the world can interact authentically, whether it be in Lives or through swipes. Yubo does a lot to uphold its Community Guidelines through advanced AI, real-time human moderation, and extensive safety features. Even with all of this in place users still might run into something they find harmful or inappropriate. This is why Yubo made its report feature as quick and simple as possible.

Yes. To report a user on Yubo, simply tap on their profile. In the top right corner, you will see a shield with an exclamation mark icon, tap on that and select “Report”. Next, there will be a set of categories you can select to give better context to the situation. If you would like, you can even type an explanation as to why you are reporting the user and add photos or videos as well to further support your report and to help the Yubo team effectively investigate the issue.

To report a Live on Yubo, tap on the number of participants or swipe right on the screen to pull up the Live information. Next to the Live title, you will see a shield with an exclamation mark icon. Tap it and select a category to give moderators more context. Similar to reporting a user, you have the option to type an explanation and provide photos or videos to the report. It is that easy and takes well under a minute to report a user or livestream on Yubo.

What happens after you make a report on Yubo?

After you report someone or something on Yubo it is immediately sent to a real-time moderator, or otherwise known as a Yubo Safety Specialist. Our team of Safety Specialists work 24/7, 365 all around the world. When a report is submitted, members of our safety team will review the report and look over any additional information provided. Depending on the scenario, they might have enough information to make a decision just from the report – for example, if a user is reported for having uploaded inappropriate media to their profile. The moderator can simply confirm this, remove the media, and potentially even give the user a temporary ban from uploading media depending on the severity of the case. If a Live is being reported, oftentimes moderators will need to monitor the Live in order to make a fair and accurate judgment. This is why submitting additional information, such as photos or videos, helps moderators come to the right decision much quicker.

If you are reported on Yubo, this means that a moderator came to the understanding that you violated Yubo’s Community Guidelines. Depending on the violation, the results can range from a warning to a short temporary ban from uploading media or joining lives to a permanent ban from the Yubo app. If you were given a ban that you feel was unfair, you can contact our support team here.

If there is a user who is dampening your Yubo experience, you can also block them by tapping the shield icon with an exclamation mark, then selecting “Block”. When you block a user, they are NOT notified. They will also not be able to see your profile, contact you, watch your live, or see your comments in lives anymore. The same will happen for you as well. You can always unblock users at any time by going to your profile, tapping the settings icon, tapping “Safety and Privacy” then tapping “Blocked Users.”

Since Yubo is dedicated to creating a safe space for users to enjoy socializing, they also added a Muted Words feature, where you can decide what words you would not like to see. With this feature, you can choose to hide any words, phrases or emojis from across the app that you might find personally harmful or triggering. 

The user who has been reported will never know who reported them or for what reasons. All the information that goes into a report is strictly confidential in order to protect the users’ privacy. This is also essential to creating a safe space, as Yubo does not want users to be afraid to report bad behaviors. Naturally, moderators will see the report, the category selected, and any additional information the user decided to provide. However, this information is only used to give the moderator context on the situation and never goes any further. The moderator then assesses the situation and refers to our Community Guidelines and safety practices before deciding how to resolve the situation and what action to take.

While we know the idea of reporting can be overwhelming at first, at Yubo we try to make it as easy and straightforward as possible and can assure you that our safety team works hard to help our community feel safe. At Yubo, there is no place for harmful or hateful content or interactions in any form and we plan to keep it that way!

Safety is at the core of everything Yubo does. No matter what new feature is implemented, Yubo will always prioritize the safety of its community above all else. Yubo aims to create a space where people from all over the world can interact authentically, whether it be in Lives or through swipes. This is why Yubo made its report feature as quick and simple as possible.

Can you report someone on Yubo?

How Does Yubo's Reporting feature Work?

October 1st began World Bullying Prevention Month – A month dedicated to raising awareness and fighting against bullying, and instead promoting kindness, acceptance and inclusion. As of 2019, according to studies by Pacer, 20% of students have reported being bullied in school and 37% bullied online in their lifetime. Cyberbullying takes place online or digitally and can include crude comments, mean texts, and offensive posts about an individual or group. Effects of bullying, whether in real life or virtually through a screen, can have lifelong effects on its victims such as increased risks of mental health issues and suicide, poor physical health, and damaged self-esteem. With this new epidemic of cyberbullying, what can you do to help prevent bullying on social media for Bullying Prevention Month and beyond? Check out these incredible NGOs and their inspiring initiatives: 

PACER, a national bullying prevention center in the US, strives to promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion in order to prevent bullying and create a better environment for students everywhere. Interested in learning more about what Bullying Prevention Month is? In collaboration with a student, PACER released a video of how to show your support this month and more information about Bullying Prevention Month (we highly recommend watching this or the other student-made videos proudly displayed on their site). Whether you’re a student, parent, or educator, check out PACER for a number of resources on how to prevent bullying, encourage those who’ve been bullied, and most importantly, strategies for spreading kindness. If you’d like to support PACER, consider taking the kindness pledge, joining the student video contest, or donating to help continue PACER’s free services. 

PACER's National Bullying Prevention Month

Stomp Out Bullying is a leading national nonprofit in the US dedicated to changing school culture for all students. With a motto of being “unapologetically kind” to combat bullying, Stomp Out Bullying is proving kindness is the greatest tool of all. Join them in stomping out bullying by wearing blue to show your support. Stomp Out Bullying also offers important facts to enlighten your world about bullying, a HelpChat crisis line for teens aged 13-24 to turn to, and resources for both educators and parents to advise them on if students are being bullied, or on how to help spread kindness. To support Stomp Out Bullying, consider donating, getting involved, creating a partnership, participating, becoming a youth leader, or purchasing Stomp Out Bullying’s merch. 

Kids Help Phone is Canada’s primary online mental health service with free support to young people open every hour of every day. Their online site offers interactive activities focused on wellness, mental health tips and information, and forums. In 2021, Kids Help Phone reported that they had Canadian youth reach out to them 4.6 million times and that they held 172,000+ counseling and live chat sessions, 242,000+ text sessions, and 100,000+ peer-to-peer community sessions. To support Kids Help Phone, please consider donating, volunteering, fundraising, or even just sharing your own story with Kids Help Phone. 

The Diana Award was founded based on Princess Diana’s belief that young people have the power to change the world and prove so by helping youth unlock their potential, creating opportunities for young people, and inspiring action in them. The Diana Award offers an anti-bullying program across the UK to help youth become student ambassadors to tackle bullying. Their new initiative, #FreeTheShoulders aims to bring people together around the world together to fight all forms of bullying. Join the fight or consider donating, partnering with The Diana Award, joining their programs, hosting a fundraising livestream, or showing your support by wearing the merch.  

Reach Out offers a safe online space for youth to connect with others, improve their mental health, and feel like they’re not alone in what they’re facing. With an online anonymous chat feature, teens can reach out for advice and help, parents can seek guidance on how to support their children, and schools can learn what to offer to improve their students' and staff's wellbeing. Reach Out also offers an online forum community, filled with positivity, for teens and others to reference when needed. If you want to support Reach Out, you can volunteer, donate, fundraise, or spread awareness.

eEnfance Association fights cyberbullying in France by offering French youth, parents, and educators interventions and training on the responsible use of the internet as well as the risks involved. Victims of cyberbullying of any kind can anonymously contact 3018 at any time, any day to get support and advice. Support eEnfance by donating, volunteering, or sponsoring eEnfance. 

How Does The Yubo App Fight Against Bullying?

At Yubo, safety is at the core of every decision we take and we want to ensure users feel like they’re a part of a positive online community. While Yubo has an extensive moderation team and vast safety processes in place, we’ve also added features to give the users control of what they want to see. With our muted words feature, users can choose the words they do not want to see or that they find personally harmful or triggering, and Yubo will never show those words to them in live streams or messaging. Users are also able to block other users they do not want to interact with and easily report anyone they find to be disrespectful. At Yubo, we have strict Community Guidelines in place that prohibit bullying, hate speech, violence, and much more. Any time a user reports a violation of these guidelines, we investigate and take appropriate action. We are always looking for new ways to make Yubo as safe a place as possible and are dedicated to fighting against the harms of online bullying through innovative safety features, user education, and partnerships with important charities and NGOs. 

October 1st began World Bullying Prevention Month – A month dedicated to raising awareness and fighting against bullying, and instead promoting kindness, acceptance and inclusion. As of 2019, according to studies by Pacer, 20% of students have reported being bullied in school and 37% bullied online in their lifetime. Effects of bullying, whether in real life or virtually through a screen, can have lifelong effects on its victims such as increased risks of mental health issues and suicide, poor physical health, and damaged self-esteem. Check out these incredible NGOs and their inspiring initiatives.

Yubo's Take

Here for all of it.