Articles about Social Media

Business leaders fear Gen Z employees may leak company secrets for likes and lols

Application generation

PasswordManager.com has released a new survey looking at how business leaders view Gen Z employees (those born around the mid-to-late 1990s through the early 2010s), especially when it comes to the handling of sensitive company information.

The results reveal that many bosses are worried about the younger generation, with nearly half of respondents believing they could leak secrets for social media attention.

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Mastodon to roll out post quoting with powerful protection options

Mastodon quotes

Mastodon is to roll out the ability to quote other people’s posts in your own posts on the decentralized social platform. This is something that has been a very long time coming, with Mastodon having talked about it for months.

The reason it has taken so long for post quoting to become a reality is because of the protections that have been built-in. Specifically, users have controls over who is able to quote their posts in order to avoid “dunking” – the phenomenon that sees mass quoting used for negative purposes.

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Private bookmarking lands on Bluesky

Bluesky bookmarks

Bluesky was one of the social media platforms that enjoyed a surge of interest as people voted with their feet against Elon Musk. Still somewhat in its infancy, Bluesky continues to evolve and is slowly adding features that are common on many of its rivals.

The latest addition is bookmarking, or Saved Posts, a simple way to save a post so you can easily return to it at a later time. Unlike liking a post, bookmarking or saving is not public, so no other user will be aware of what you would like to look at again.

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Facebook Pokes are back – and your guess is as good as ours

Facebook Pokes are back

Anyone who was a Facebook user in the early days of the social platform (at least when it was a global platform, not just one limited to students) will remember Facebook Pokes. Poking someone on Facebook (oh, do grow up!) was a wordless – slightly creepy – way of interacting with another person.

A Soke did not really serve any purpose beyond reminding someone of your existence in a somewhat passive-aggressive way. Having experimented with reviving the Poke, Facebook is having another go at making the idea relevant in 2025. This is more than just the return of the Poke; this is the Poke on steroids.

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Instagram adds new DM tools and tests picture-in-picture video

Instagram logo render

Instagram has a handful of updates to explore – some available to everyone, others in testing with a smaller group. First up there are updates to the handling of DMs, something Instagram is billing as being aimed at creators.

While creators’ inboxes are likely to be busier than the average person, everyone can use the new DM tools which provide new ways to sort and filter messages. Another exciting development sees the testing of picture-in-picture video mode for viewing Reels.

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WhatsApp is working on Instagram profile verification

WhatsApp Instgram verification

WhatsApp beta testers have access to a new option that allows them to link to a verified Instagram profile, complete with a special icon that others should recognize.

This ability is not necessarily something that will appeal to or interest all WhatsApp users, but it is certainly something that has value for some types of user. Creators are among those who are likely to welcome this addition, as are companies and brands looking to build trust and drive engagement.

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How to stop Instagram sharing your location

Instagram map

Instagram recently added a number of new features, including sharing your location. While some additions – such as reposting – were welcome, location sharing sparked concerns.

The new Instagram map feature allows the people you are connected to on the social media platform to see your location – and you can see theirs. Instagram has pitched this as being useful to parents, but many users are worried about the privacy implications of location sharing.

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You can finally repost content on Instagram

Instagram map

Whichever social media platform you prefer, the range of features is pretty similar across all of them. Instagram, however, has only just added the option to repost content.

Instagram has been testing the reposting of reels and posts for some time, but it has only just officially launched to all users. But this is not all. Reposting is just one of a trio of new features to hit Instagram.

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TikTok announces a suite of trust and safety tools

TikTok safety

Just as with the internet in general, concerns have been voiced about the safety of social media platforms. To help address these concerns, TikTok has unveiled a series of tools and features designed to help keep users safe and informed.

There are various new options which cater to different types of user. Some are for creators, others for parents who are worried about how their offspring are using TikTok. There are also features with a broader audience, notably Well-being Missions.

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WhatsApp is ditching its native Windows app for a crappy web wrapper

WhatsApp balls`

There is some disappointing news for WhatsApp users who like to work with the desktop app. In what appears to be part of a streamlining process, Meta is dropping the UWP app in favor of a web wrapper.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this, but few people who have compared the native Windows app with the web-based version off WhatsApp can have failed to notice the performance difference. The WhatsApp UWP app has always been snappier, more responsive, and used fewer resources, so in some ways it feels like a backwards step to switch to a web wrapper.

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WhatsApp is developing a way to use status updates to run surveys

Close-up of WhatsApp icon

WhatsApp is not only one of the most popular communication apps out there, but also one of the most dynamic and frequently updated. The beta releases for WhatsApp are exciting places to hang out and a great way to try, or at least glimpse, new features.

The latest update does not buck the trend. In the most recent beta release for Android, we see developers working a new way to make use of status updates. These are already highly versatile but soon will provide a way to pose questions.

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‘Side hustle’ is the most popular misleading personal finance trend on TikTok

TikTok on phone

A study into harmful personal finance trends on TikTok has found that the hashtag “side hustle” is the most common trending term. #sidehustle was found attached to millions of posts on a daily basis, with many providing misleading, incorrect or costly advice.

There has long been concern about the negative impact of social media influencers, and a key area of alarm is financial guidance. A particular worry is that Gen Z is increasingly turning to social media platforms such as TikTok for financial advice, or ideas about how to make money quickly.

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Facebook introduces the biggest change to text posts in years

Facebook music sharing

Facebook posts take many forms – images, videos, links, reels, and text. The company has tweaked and added to the posting options over the years and has now just announced a neat new option for text-based posts.

Just as is possible on other social media platforms, Facebook users are being given the chance to embellish their text posts with background music. Working in a similar way to adding background music toa video post, there is a limit library of tracks to choose from.

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Instagram opens up Trial Reels feature to more creators

Instagram Trial Reels

We first heard about Trial Reels last year, and Instagram launched the feature to a limited number of creators back in December. Now the social media giant is giving more people access to the feature which is designed to help grow a following.

There is not yet free access to Trial Reels for everyone and anyone; there are entry requirements. The promotion tool is aimed at creators, and a following of at least 1,000 is needed to get started. You will also need to have an account that is set to public. So, if you meet these criteria, what does Trial Reels mean for you?

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Elon Musk shunned by Linda Yaccarin as she steps down as CEO of X

Elon Musk X profile

Linda Yaccarin has made the surprise announcement that she is stepping down from her position as CEO of X.

Having been the head of Elon Musk’s social media platform for two years, Yaccarin has not given any reason for her decision to leave. However, her announcement comes after xAI’s Grok chatbot spewed out a series of antisemitic content.

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