WhatsApp brings back the About feature to supplement statuses
If you are a seasoned user of WhatsApp, brace yourself for a blast from the past. The company has just announced that it is bringing back one of its earliest features in a new and improved form.
What is returning is the About feature, a simple text field that can be used to share information about yourself, your availability, or anything else you can think of. It is not entirely dissimilar to the Notes feature of Instagram.
Meta launches Facebook content protection to stop Reel reuse
Creators on all social media platforms have a lot to worry about, but the theft or reuse of content must be near the top of the list. To help combat this, Meta has launched Facebook content protection to help prevent Reels from being stolen.
The automated tool can warn Facebook creators when their Reels are detected being reused on either Facebook or Instagram. If reuse is detected, creators have a number of options available to them, including blocking anything being used without consent.
Meta is killing off Facebook social plugins including the external Like button
There are few things more iconic online than the Facebook Like button. Found underneath every post on the social media platform, the button has become a handy way for sites to encourage engagement.
But now Meta has announced plans to discontinue two of its Facebook Social Plugins in the early part of next year. Specifically, it is the Facebook Like button that appears on external websites, as well as the Facebook Comment button. This is quite a change for the social media giant to come up with out of the blue, so what is the thinking behind it?
WhatsApp will soon support third-party chats
The wide range of messaging apps now available is great in terms of choice, but it also means that you almost certainly have contacts scattered across a number of different platforms. In turn, this means that you have had to install a large number of app in order to ensure that you are able to contact everyone that you need to.
But this could soon be changing for WhatsApp users. Several years ago, there were various messaging apps that could be used to conduct cross-platform chats, so you could use one app instead of several. This looks to be the direction in which WhatsApp is heading.
Finally! WhatsApp launches official Apple Watch app with messaging and voice note support
After years of requests, WhatsApp is finally, fully available on Apple Watch. The app gives users access to many of the core messaging functions found on the phone version, including reading and responding to chats, recording and sending voice messages, and viewing photos and stickers.
The new app will allow users to check messages, respond with quick replies, and listen to or send voice notes directly through the watch. If you rely on WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends, family or work, you can now use it while on a run, during a commute, or in situations where using a phone isn’t possible.
Facebook Group admins are gaining the option to switch group visibility from private to public
If you are in a Facebook Group which is private, you might want to keep an eye on things. Meta has just announced that Group administrators will be getting a new option that will enable them to change their group from private to public.
While Meta is promoting this as a way for group admins to “grow their communities”, there will be obvious privacy concerns for people who joined particular groups precisely because they were private. Meta believes, however, that it has things in control, insisting that member privacy can be maintained even if the switch from private to public is made.
Latest beta release shows more of how WhatsApp usernames will work
WhatsApp has been working on a username feature for what feels like forever, with information gradually slipping out about how this much-requested option will work. There are various reasons for wanting usernames, not least of which is that it just makes sense because it is how just about every other social networking or messaging platform works.
We have already heard from Meta that it believes usernames will help to improve security, and now the latest beta version of the Android app shows us more. Specifically, this latest release shows us how it will be possible to search by username and place calls without the need to know someone’s phone number.
Instagram adds Watch History so you can find Reels again
Instagram is borrowing an idea from TikTok, introducing a Watch History section that will be welcomed by many users.
While undeniably useful, pretty much the only thing that is surprising about this particular feature is that it has taken so long to appear in the app. It solves the problem of viewing a Reel within the app – and then never being able to find it again.
Instagram rolls out drawing and sticker options for DMs
Having someone sliding into your DMs on Instagram could be about to look a little different. The social media platform is rolling out the ability to adorn direct messages with stickers as well as freehand drawing.
As this has been in testing for a reasonable amount of time already, these options may already be familiar to subsets of Instagram users – but now they are rolling out to everyone. If you are yet to experience these new messaging tools, they may not be quite what you expect them to be.
Meta rolls out warnings to help protect older WhatsApp and Messenger users from scams
Online scams are nothing new, but there are now more channels through which they can be run. Among them are social platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger, and it is sad fact that older users are more likely to fall victim
This is precisely why Meta is rolling out a new system of warnings that appear in its messaging apps. The aim is to make users think twice about who they connect to and who they share information with as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
Instagram lets teenage users choose a different app icon
Most of the talk about teenagers using social media centers around keeping them safe or restricting what they are able to do. In many regards Instagram is no different, but now younger users are being given something extra.
Instagram’s design team has proudly announced the users with Teen accounts will be able to choose between a number of “aesthetics” for the app. Not available to anyone with a non-Teen account, the new option allows teenagers to select a different icons for the app, designed by Carlos Oliveras Colom.
WhatsApp is working on a new way to cut down on spam
Like email, SMS, and just about every other method of communication, WhatsApp suffers from spam. There are certainly things that can be done by users to stem the flow of spam that makes its way to their inboxes, but WhatsApp is also trying to help.
The platform has already introduced a system designed to automatically detect and block spam, but it is not perfect; no system is. And so, WhatsApp is trying another approach that will apply to businesses and individuals alike.
Get ready to reserve your WhatsApp username
It has been known for a little while that Meta has been working on a username system for WhatsApp. The popular messaging app is slightly unusual in not offering people a way to choose a username, but this is going to change at some point in the future.
Recent beta builds of the iOS and Android apps show that work is gathering paced, and the most recent development is a username reservation system. This will serve as a way for users to try to pre-select their preferred username even before the username system rolls out to everyone.
Meta is discontinuing Windows and Mac Messenger apps
Meta has confirmed that the Windows and Mac versions of its Messenger desktop app are to be discontinued. While no reason has been given for the deprecation, the company is probably trying to cut back on the number of products it has to develop and support.
There are just two months to go until the Messenger desktop apps cease to function, and users should start to see notifications to this effect when they log in.
Instagram adopts PG-13 system to protect younger users
Meta has announced major changes to Instagram that it will be hoping will keep regulators satisfied. Like all social media platforms, Instagram has long been under pressure to do more to protect younger users from seeing inappropriate content; with this in mind, Meta says Teen Accounts will be guided by the PG-13 movie rating.
What this means in practice is that teenagers should only be able to “see content that’s similar to what they’d see in a PG-13 movie, by default”. Acknowledging that this will not be enough to keep everyone happy, parents will also have the option of making controls stricter if they feel it necessary or preferable.
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