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Twitter tests four new emoji Tweet reactions alongside 'Like'
Twitter network might be finally expanding from just "Likes" as it's testing four other reactions in a limited test.
Instagram is still trying to figure out the best way to hide likes
Instagram is testing a new way to hide likes in its first major update to the long-running experiment.
Instagram 'unintentionally' hid likes for more people today
A bug added more people to Instagram's test program, but now it's rolling back the change.
YouTube Music finally lets users filter out liked YouTube videos
The forced transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music is upon us, and for those making the switch, one annoying aspect of the new service has been how it blends random videos from YouTube in with music.
Instagram expands hidden likes test worldwide
Instagram started hiding the total number of likes on posts for some people in the US this week as part of a broader test. It made like and video view counters private in other countries over the last few months, and now it's ready to expand the test elsewhere.
Instagram's push to hide 'Like' counts comes to the US next week
Instagram has been testing out a change that hides the "likes" counter on posts around the world for months, but not in the US. According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, that's about to change. During an interview at the Wired 25 event today Mosseri explained that it will start testing the change in the US next week, "not the whole US at once," but enough that some of you will have it on your profiles. With the test enabled, people still see the number of likes on their own posts, but not other people. He said the purpose is to "depressurize" Instagram, and they're looking to see how it impacts the feelings of users, as well as how they continue to interact with the platform. Instagram has previously said "We want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get. You can still see your own likes by tapping on the list of people who've liked it, but your friends will not be able to see how many likes your post has received." When and where the test is enabled, looking at someone else's profile simply shows a picture has been liked by [one name] and others. Of course, that doesn't stop people from focusing purely on follower count as a measure of comparing popularity, and you'll still see when only one person liked your vacation photo (thanks Greg, you're a real one), but maybe it's a small step in the right direction.
Facebook will test hiding ‘Likes’ on its own site
As rumors suggested, Facebook is getting ready to start hiding "Likes" on its own site. The company has now officially started a test that will remove public visibility of Like, reaction and video view counts from people's posts and ads across Facebook. This is going to be happening only in Australia, though, and Facebook told Engadget it has not decided whether the test will expand to other places in the future. Facebook said it wants to get some initial results from Australia, before eventually deciding which steps to take next.
Instagram will start hiding 'Like' counts for users in Canada
As rumored, Instagram is indeed getting ready to roll out a test that hides "Like" counts from people looking at your pictures and videos. The company made the announcement at Facebook's F8 developers conference, where it revealed that it will start doing this with users in Canada next week. With the test, Instagram plans to remove the total number of likes from photos and videos on that show up on the main feed, profiles and permalinked pages.
Instagram test visualizes hiding 'Like' counts from viewers
Everyone has their own opinion about what specifically is wrong with social media, but the currency of likes is a commonly-cited issue. The latest grab bag of Instagram test features dug up by Jane Manchun Wong includes a version that doesn't let the audience see how many likes a post gets. The person who posted it still does, but as the app describes it, "We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get. During this test, only the person who share a post will see the total number of likes it gets." Maybe that would help spread out the love on social media instead of people simply liking what others like, or maybe it wouldn't have much of an impact at all. Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that it's an internal test the public can't see -- yet. It also didn't hide follower counts, which more commonly measure one's popularity, nor did it appear to impact the way posts are ranked by Instagram's inescapable algorithmic feed. Still, at least we'd never have to hear about the 'most-liked post ever' ever again (even it was ultimately for a good cause).
New York settles with company selling fake social media followers
The state of New York's Attorney General has settled a case with a company that made millions of dollars selling likes, comments and followers on social media, according to CNN. The activity of the now-defunct Devumi was discovered as part of a probe carried out by New York's Attorney General's office. The owner of the company, German Calas, Jr., will pay a pretty insignificant penalty of $50,000 to cover the cost of the investigation.
Stock photo of an egg beats Kylie Jenner's Instagram record
It's a tale as old as time: Some bright spark decides to make a statement about how vacuous the system is, by exploiting its absurdity to their own ends. Today's entrant in the canon is the Instagram account for World Record Egg, which is now the most-liked image on the site. In its bio, the anonymous creator says that it's aiming to beat "the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)!." At the time of publication, the image -- of an egg -- has received more than 25 million likes.
Instagram cracks down on fake likes, follows and comments
Instagram announced today that it's cracking down on the use of third-party apps to boost growth. The company said that apps that generate fake likes, follows and comments violate its policies and going forward, those who use these sorts of apps will be prompted to stop. "We're taking a number of steps to limit this kind of unwelcome behavior," Instagram said. "Accounts we identify using these services will receive an in-app message alerting them that we have removed the inauthentic likes, follows and comments given by their account to others." They'll also be asked to change their passwords.
Twitter says unwanted tweets on your timeline are a bug, not a feature
A few users on Twitter have noticed something odd with its algorithmically-inserted tweets: it's inserting tweets and claiming people they follow Liked them, even though a scan of their profile page and its list of Liked tweets shows that they didn't. As it popped up on the timeline for @TappyPaws, she noticed a trend towards political tweets by the president, so there was some speculation that this is part of a test by Twitter to break people out of so-called "bubbles" and increase interaction with other viewpoints. More investigation showed that some of the inserted tweets had been quoted in posts that those friends did actually click like on, or were tweets that the actually-Liked tweets replied to, suggesting that the service's process has a bug. While a Twitter spokesperson was not specific about the reason, they backed that interpretation up and told Engadget "This is not a test. This is a bug involving Likes that we're working to fix. The issue is affecting numerous accounts." Whatever the issue is, if you'd like some control back -- in lieu of Twitter offering a strictly chronological timeline -- user Andy Baio has posted a search filter that "strips out all retweets, replies, media, links, and people you don't follow." You can easily access it at any time by just going to www.realtwitter.com.
Netflix's overly simplified thumb ratings are here
The rumors are true: Netflix is dropping its star-based rating system in favor of "Thumbs," a new way for you to vote up (like) or down (don't like) on movies and TV shows that show up on your feed. As Variety reported earlier this month, the streaming service began testing this feature in 2016, but only with a small number of subscribers. Starting today though, Netflix will start rolling it out to all users on its site, mobile apps, gaming consoles, set-top boxes and smart TVs.
Researchers can guess your age based on your Instagram likes
If you're the sort of person who carefully prunes your unloved Instagram photos, chances are good you're a teenager. At least, that's one of the findings in a new set of research papers on social media behaviors from Penn State University. As associate professor Dongwon Lee told the Atlantic, the practice of going back and deleting photos is common among teens on the platform because they, "want to be very popular so they're very conscious of the likes they're getting."
The NBA counts more than a billion likes and followers
Ahead of tonight's NBA All-Star Game, the league proclaimed it's the first pro sports association with over a billion combined likes and followers on social media. It's debatable how many people that figure actually represents, but it apparently comes from combining likes and follows for the league, teams and individual players across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tencent and Sina. However you count it, there's no doubt that the NBA encourages interaction online, claiming nearly 90 percent of players have an account at least one platform. Unsurprisingly, LeBron James leads players with 66.3 million likes and followers, while the Lakers are the number one team despite racking up an 11 - 44 record this season.
The 2016 presidential race according to Facebook 'likes'
The data-minded folks over at FiveThirtyEight have teamed up with Facebook to find out what parts of the country support which candidate via an interactive map. While FiveThirtyEight stresses that this is in no way a representative sample (Facebook users skew heavily younger, low-income and female, for instance), it's still interesting to see where candidates stack up in terms of page likes.
Instagram wants you to know how many people watch your videos
Until now, judging the merits of your Instagram videos was based solely on likes. Soon, you'll know exactly how many folks have watched your footage. The photo-driven social network is replacing likes with view counts at the bottom of a video. If someone watches at least 3 seconds for your video, it counts as a view. Don't worry, you can still see your likes, too. You just have to tap on the view count in order to do so. There's no definitive arrival date for when the counts will hit in your timeline, but you should be seeing the change "over the next few weeks."
Twitter tests emoji reactions for the times a heart won't do
Still bummed that tapping a heart is the only way to show your appreciation, sadness or any other reaction for a tweet? Well, that may change. Twitter user @_Ninji stumbled across emoji reactions in a jailbroken version of the social media app. Despite being included in the developer build, the feature still needs a lot of work, but it does allow users to employ the frown, party noisemaker and 100 emjois (just to name a few) to get their point across. The discovery comes right on the heels of Twitter swapping stars out for hearts when a tweet is favorited, much to the chagrin of most of the internet. Facebook recently added animated options for more appropriate reactions than a simple Like as well. Since the Twitter emojis appear to be a long way from finished, we'd surmise we'll hear more about the tiny pictures in tweets soon enough. Here's to hoping the taco and poop emoji make the cut. We've reached out to Twitter for more information, and we were sent the monkey with its hands over its mouth emoji.
Microsoft bets on Facebook for Windows 10 apps
Microsoft and Facebook have always been strange bedfellows, but Windows 10 will fully embrace the social app. Redmond's new SDK tool will help developers create universal apps with Facebook integration for Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 -- including authorization, likes, dialogs, the Graph and other functionality. As a user, that means you're more likely to see Facebook features turn up in Windows 10 apps as soon as they're released, whether using a tablet, phone or PC.
