Study finds that Instagram is beneficial to the wellbeing of queer youth
There is much said about the negative impact of social media on mental health and general welfare, but a new study suggests that there are benefits too -- especially for minority and marginalized groups such as the LGBTQIA+ community.
In particular, Instagram has been found to be a boost to the wellbeing of queer young people. Surveys of Instagram users in the United States and Poland showed that access to supportive online communities brought about a range of psychological benefits.
Instagram is working on a Dislike button that will anonymously downrank comments
Across pretty much every social platform there is a strange focus on responding positively to content through the use of a ‘like’ button. Instagram is no different in this regard, but this could be about to change.
Some users have noticed a new down arrow button next to comments which has been confirmed by Instagram's trial of a new feature. The button enables users to dislike a comment under a post, but it does not work quite as you may expect.
TikTok creators can easily share their content to YouTube thanks to new Repurpose.io partnership
YouTube has announced a partnership with Repurpose.io designed to make multi-platform publishing easier than ever. An automated system makes it possible to repost TikTok content, as well as Instagram Reels, as YouTube Shorts.
The uncertain future of TikTok in the US has shaken creators who have built up substantial and lucrative followings on the Chinese-owned social platform. YouTube is eager to make the most of this uncertainty, and is clearly hoping that the new Repurpose.io partnership will help it to steal TikTok users.
Meta will continue to use fact checkers -- for now, at least, and only outside of the US
When Mark Zuckerberg announced recently that Meta was ditching fact checking on Facebook and Instagram in favor of X-style community notes, the response was very mixed. While hardly a clean line between the two camps, those with conservative political leanings tended to see this as a good thing, while those of a more liberal bent voiced concerns about the potential for misinformation.
The recent announcement about moving away from fact checking was widely seen as Zuckerberg trying to curry favor with Donald Trump, now installed as the 47th president of the USA. Now a new pronouncement from the company makes it hard to shake the notion that stepping away from fact checking was a politically motivated move.
All social media platforms can learn from Instagram’s option to reset content recommendations
A huge proportion of what you encounter on social media platforms is selected by algorithms (this should be news to very few people), and algorithms are problematic.
The content that is pushed to you is supposed to be based on your past interactions, the people you are connected to, the things you like, and so on, but it is easily polluted and corrupted. And this is why Instagram’s current test that gives users a way to reset their recommendations and start afresh is so welcome.
Meta is training its AI using an entire nation’s data… with no opt-out
The question of how to train and improve AI tools is one that triggers fierce debate, and this is something that has come into sharp focus as It becomes clear just how Meta is teaching its own artificial intelligence.
The social media giant is -- perhaps unsurprisingly to many -- using data scrapped from Facebook and Instagram posts, but only in Australia. Why Australia? Unlike Europe where General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) necessitated Meta to give users a way to opt out of having their data used in this way, Australia has not been afforded this same opportunity. What does this mean?
Meta enters the fediverse by allowing some users to cross post between Threads and other platforms such as Mastodon
The groundswell of interest in the fediverse really kicked off when Elon Musk took over at Twitter, renamed it X, and made a seemingly endless series of controversial changes and decisions. A large number of users sought new homes, and the likes of Bluesky and Mastodon reaped the benefits.
Another recent entrant into the social arena is Threads -- Meta's answer to X. For quite some time there has been talk about plans to plug Threads into the fediverse, much to the disgust of many Mastodon users. Now this day has rolled around, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing that fediverse integration is now available to some users in beta.
Now you can edit Instagram DMs, pin messages and more
Meta has announced a series of updates to Instagram, all of which are likely to be welcomed by users. Perhaps the most significant change is the option to edit the DMs you've sent, but there are other notable new features -- including disabling read receipts.
The latest round of Instagram updates also sees the introduction of a message pinning option that makes it easier to access keys one-on-one or group chats. On top of all this, reply options have been upgraded, new themes have been added, and more.
Instagram under Elon Musk's control as part of X, the 'everything app'? This is how it could work
The rivalry between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg is hard to miss. There was, for a while, talk of the two men having a cage fight -- although that predictably came to nothing -- and Zuckerberg's Meta recently introduced its "Twitter killer" app, Threads, after perceiving weakness in Musk's own social media platform (now called X).
While Threads hasn't been quite the huge hit that Meta was hoping for (just yet at least), it has clearly had some impact on X. You should never bet against Elon Musk though. If you've ever wondered what Meta's Instagram might look like if Musk took over that as part of X's expansion of the "everything app", we have the answer.
View your Threads (or anyone else's) on the web
Although it only launched a couple of days ago, Meta's new Twitter rival Threads is already a big success. It's lacking some important features at the moment, although they are coming, and not all of its capabilities are obvious.
For example, it's not clear how to add a second account to Threads, or how to switch between accounts, but it is possible.
Meta publishes Threads Dictionary to help newcomers decipher the jargon
For many people the release of Threads, Instagram's text-based conversation app, represents an alternative to Twitter -- a platform which is widely considered to have become more toxic and problematic under Elon Musk. But for an even larger number of people, Threads will be their first step into this type of social media.
Switching from Twitter, Mastodon or Bluesky to Threads -- or using them in conjunction with each other -- is painless, but for anyone who has never used such a platform, the language surrounding it can be slightly mystifying. And this is why Meta has released a Threads Dictionary to bring users up to speed.
How to add and manage multiple accounts in Threads, Meta's new Twitter rival
Threads, Meta's Twitter alternative, is now live and already proving incredibly popular. It's very much a work in progress, with lots of features missing, but the developers are working hard at bringing these to the app.
One question I've seen asked quite a few times is how to add a second account to Threads, and it's definitely not as obvious as it could be. The process is easy enough though, just follow these steps.
Now you can pay to get verified on Facebook and Instagram as Meta takes a leaf out of Twitter's book
Not to be outdone by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg has taken to Instagram to announce the rollout of a paid-for Meta Verified program. While it is already possible to receive a Twitter-style blue tick of verification on Facebook and Instagram, the new subscription service will give users the opportunity to pay for the badge.
Echoing the claims of Musk, Zuckerberg says that "this new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services". With a charge of between $12 and $15 per month, there is obviously a financial benefit for Meta as well.
Oversight Board recommends Meta change its policies to respect transgender and non-binary people
It is quite some time since Facebook was hit with the "free the nipple" campaign that demanded the company stop censoring or removing images of breastfeeding women. But now Meta is facing new recommendations from its independent Oversight Board to update the Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard that it applies to Facebook and Instagram content to ensure it is "governed by clear criteria that respect international human rights standards".
The recommendation comes as the Oversight Board overturned Meta's decisions in 2021 and 2022 to remove content posted by a couple -- one of whom is transgender, the other non-binary -- for violating Sexual Solicitation Community Standards. Meta is criticized for taking a simplistic view of gender, with the Board saying that it is "unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people, and requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender, which is not practical when moderating content at scale".
Phishing for likes: How cybercriminals are exploiting Instagram's copyright reports
For anyone invested in social media, copyright infringement is a big deal. Users must be able to protect their intellectual property from imposters and opportunists trying to ride their coattails. As such, most platforms invite content owners to report infringement, but this useful function has joined the long list of communication channels cybercriminals exploit.
Trustwave researchers have found criminal gangs are impersonating Instagram’s copyright report emails in phishing campaigns, angling to trick users into sharing their details.
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