Meta

After testing giving users control over the algorithm that controls the display of Reels on Instagram, Meta has now rolled out this personalization feature to everyone in the US.

With algorithms so easily thrown off by a rogue period of viewing, these new controls give users a way to redirect the algorithm back in the direction they would prefer. It is a quick and easy way to make it clear the type of content you are definitely interested in, as well as indicating the stuff that you really don’t want to see.

Meta has announced a series of major design changes to Facebook which it will be hoping will help it to maintain a place of significance in a swamped social media world. The changes are pretty much across the board, but changes to Feeds are likely to be most noticeable.

Revamps to the Feed, search, and navigation systems are consumer facing, but Facebook has not forgotten creators. Improvements have been made to streamline the creation of both Feed posts and Stories.

A long-awaited change has landed in Instagram, providing users of the social media platform with a new way to share other people’s stories to their own timeline.

Instagram has stood apart from other social platforms in a number of ways, but notably in the lack of option for the sharing of other people’s public content. Now this is changing, helping to bring Instagram in line with other platforms, and giving users something they have been asking for for a very long time.

In apps, there are some changes which are gamechangers, others which are aesthetically pleasing, others still which sit somewhere else. Such is the latest change visible in the newest beta version of the Android edition of WhatsApp.

We have already seen various color and theme options introduced that make it easier than ever to personalize the look of chats, be that for differentiating between them more easily, or something else entirely. Now a more subtle change is on the way which introduces a softness which has been absent.

Limitless has announced that it has been acquired by Meta. Formerly known as Rewind, Limitless is a company that says, “our vision is to free the human mind from its biological limitations”.

To this end, the company produces AI-powered wearable, including a pendant that can record and transcribe conversations. Numerous usage scenarios have been put forward, including helping people with dementia, ADHD or Alzheimer’s.

WhatsApp is popular enough to be considered ubiquitous these days, with the group chat feature used by families, work colleagues, friends and other collections of people to keep in touch. But while group chats are very useful, there are undeniable issues with WhatsApp’s approach.

A key issue is that when a new member is added to the group, they are only able to see messages which are sent from that point in time forward. Anything that was sent previously is invisible. But an important update could see this changing quite soon.

Every so often there are posts that do the rounds on social media that suggest terrible policy changes are coming. This is happening again, with a message claiming that Meta is going to start using the content of private DMs to train AI.

The unfounded claims are being tied to a Privacy Policy update which is due to come into force on December 16. While it is certainly true that Meta’s new policy kicks in in a couple of weeks, there are falsities being attached to it in scaremongering posts that have gone semi-viral.

In a few short weeks, Microsoft is removing its Copilot chatbot from WhatsApp. The company says that while it has helped millions of people, the removal comes because of a change to Meta’s platform policies.

As of January 15, WhatsApp is purging all LLM chatbots from the platform, so Microsoft has little choice in the matter. The company stresses that Copilot itself is living on in plenty of other places, and has some helpful information for those who will be affected by the change.

Meta is giving all Facebook users the option of posting under a nickname in Facebook Groups. While the option to post anonymously already exists, the nickname option takes things a little further.

The use of a nickname still allows for a degree of anonymity, while simultaneously allowing for some expression of personality. Additionally, posting with a nickname makes it easier for other people to track things that have been posted by the same person.

Instagram users are in line for a better Reels experience thanks to a number of newly unveiled camera experiences. There is quite a lot to explore here, but perhaps the most significant change is the option of posting videos up to 20 minutes in length.

The word “creator” is bandied about quite liberally in Instagram’s announcement, giving you a good idea of where the new improvements are to be found right from the start. That said, the new features and options are not really limited to that esteemed breed: the digital creator.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.