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Twitter and Fox Sports have high hopes for their World Cup live show
With the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia just around the corner, right holders to the event are starting to share more details about their coverage plans. And, to no surprise to anyone, social media will play a major role in that. Fox Sports, FIFA's English-language broadcast partner in the US, is going all out on Twitter this year with a partnership that includes a daily, 30-minute live show from Russia and bringing near-live highlights to the platform. Twitter, which has around 330 million active users, has been ramping up its sports efforts in recent years, and it plans to use the upcoming World Cup to showcase the power (and potential) of its platform. Just yesterday, the company announced a three-year deal with Major League Soccer to stream 24 games per season.
Facebook expands breaking news label to more publishers
Facebook began testing a "breaking news" label for developing stories back in November, and now the social network is expanding the option to more publishers. Starting this week, the company says 50 more outlets in North America, Latin America, Europe and Australia will be privy to the tag. That's in addition to the "small group of local and national publishers" that are already using it. If all goes well, Facebook said it may offer the option to even more publishers in the future.
Twitter’s fake news problem is getting worse
Earlier this week, we endured another school shooting. This time, in Parkland, Florida, where at least 17 students were killed. During the shooting's aftermath, hoaxes and disinformation spread on Twitter. It's a phenomenon that happens after every tragedy, and it doesn't seem to be going away.
Logan Paul hasn’t learned his lesson
Logan Paul, the YouTube star who came under fire recently after posting a video of a corpse, is at the center of yet another controversy. This time around, Paul is facing backlash for uploading a video in which he's seen shooting two lifeless rats with a Taser gun. As if that wasn't enough, in a now deleted tweet, he joined the Tide Pods internet challenge, suggesting he'd eat one of the detergent capsules for every retweet he got. Perhaps that's just his sense of humor, but Paul should have known that everything he does from now on will be heavily scrutinized.
Facebook's 'downvotes' test tries to fix comment moderation
Back in 2016, Facebook reportedly chose to roll out Reactions instead of a dislike button, because the latter would've sown too much negativity. According to The Daily Beast, though, the social network is now testing a "downvote" button, which has its own place underneath comments separate from Reactions. While it's easy to think of it as the antithesis to Like, Facebook told us that's not the case at all. "We are not testing a dislike button," a spokesperson told us. "We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the US only."
Snapchat swaps mess for money
Snap Inc. took a major risk when it completely redesigned Snapchat a few months ago -- it's no secret that people don't like change. But after constantly struggling to add new users since going public last February, the company decided it needed to make adjustments in order to attract people and keep others coming back. The solution was to refine the app with an easier-to-use layout and to separate friends' posts from media content. Suddenly Snapchat became a more refined app. It no longer feels like an overwhelming, discombobulated mix of stories from people you know, others you don't and publishers that are trying to get your attention. And based on Snap's Q4 2017 earnings report, the move seems to be paying off.
We spend less time on Facebook, but it still makes loads of money
The past few weeks haven't been easy for Facebook. After announcing an overhaul to its News Feed earlier this month, one that places emphasis on people's interactions over content from brands, the company has been taking heat for its new approach. Not only because Facebook is leaving publishers who relied on its platform behind, but it also isn't offering the best solution to fix its fake news problem. A blunt two-question "trusted" news survey simply won't cut it. CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said that, with these changes, he expects users' time on the site to go down, but he believes keeping people happy will be better for Facebook's bottom line in the long run.
Snapchat drops white frames around Snaps from Camera Roll
Snapchat has (finally!) completely killed off the white frame around snaps not captured with its own camera. The app's latest version drops the border when you add Snaps from the Camera Roll to your Story -- an extension of its update last year, which gets rid of that white space around photos and videos shared from Memories. Now, there's not much difference between Snaps you take on the spot and old photos and videos you post as Snaps. The only way you'll know if something wasn't truly taken right at that moment is to look for the small note on it that says "From Camera Roll" or "From Memories."
YouTube invests $5 million in 'positive' video following backlash
YouTube has faced some serious backlash against awful content, lately, from exploitative childrens' videos to Logan Paul's ill-advised video of a corpse. YouTube needs to up its positivity, and it may be doing so with a $5 million additional investment in its socially-aware Creators for Change program, which premiered at the Tribeca TV festival last year.
Twitter's Lite app reaches 24 more countries
Twitter's data-saving application has landed on the local Google Play stores of 24 new locations. The social network has released its Lite app in Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nepal, Panama, Peru, Serbia, El Salvador, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Tanzania and Venezuela after a successful test run in the Philippines.
Facebook says messaging apps aren't turning people into hermits
Think people are replacing face-to-face communication with gadgets and chat apps? A Facebook study says you're dead wrong. Based on the survey commissioned by the Messenger team for the 25th anniversary of the first text ever sent (December 3rd, 1992), those who message their friends more often are 52 percent more likely to meet up with people in person than those who don't send messages as much. Makes sense, since the more you keep in touch, the more likely you are to set up meetings, parties and dates. "What we found is that messaging turns out to be not a wedge, but instead a bridge bringing us closer together," the team said.
Facebook explains bizarre revenge porn prevention program
When Facebook revealed its experimental porn prevention program in Australia, it raised a lot of eyebrows. After all, you'll first need to upload your sensitive images if you don't want them to get posted by anybody else. Now, Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis has defended the test feature in a post that also explains how it will work in detail. She clarified that it's "completely voluntary" and that Facebook will still remove any intimate images you report, hash them and prevent them from being uploaded again. This method is merely an "emergency option" for people who want to proactively prevent their photos from being shared.
Twitter launches $99 subscription tool to promote tweets
Twitter is making it easier for small businesses and power users to give their tweets a boost. The social network has officially launched its first ad subscription tool called "Promote Mode" as a public beta. Twitter started testing the always-on mode as an invite-only feature in July, giving users access to a feature that can automatically blast their tweets and profiles into strangers' (aka non-followers') timelines. Now that it's available to the public, more people who don't have the means, the know-how or the time to launch ad campaigns of their own can pay $99 per month for the service.
'Pokémon Go' developer buys social animation startup Evertoon
Game developer Niantic has become a well-known name since it released Pokémon Go to massive popularity last summer. Unfortunately, the game has recently seen a rather sharp decline in its active user community in the past year and a half. Perhaps that explains the company's recent acquisition of a relatively unknown startup, Evertoon, which makes an app for creating animations with customized avatars. "Today I am excited to announce that we have acquired the Evertoon team," wrote Niantic boss John Hanke, "who bring with them a wealth of talent and experience in mobile products, tools for creativity, and community building."
Recommended Reading: Is 'Stranger Things' really that popular?
In Netflix's Upside Down Reality, 'Stranger Things' Is a Hit Before It Even Premieres Victor Luckerson, The Ringer The excitement around Stranger Things season 2 has been building for months. We've seen soundtracks, merchandise and all kinds of promo tie-ins with other companies along the way. As the show returns this week, the buzz is already so high that reviews probably won't even matter -- people will binge it anyway. It also helps that the first season was both really good and seemed to be really popular, despite the company not releasing any numbers. The Ringer takes a look at how Netflix creates the feeling of must-see TV even though we might not ever find out how popular its shows really are.
Twitter explains why it takes time to roll out new safety rules
Twitter has been trying to stamp out harassment, violence and abuse on its platform for years, but it's nowhere near achieving that goal. Since its administrators regularly get a lot of flak for not moving fast enough to make the website safer, Twitter has published a post explaining why it takes time to conjure up and roll out new policy changes. The company says creating new rules "requires in-depth research around trends in online behavior, developing language that sets expectations around what's allowed, and reviewer guidelines that can be enforced across millions of Tweets."
Now Twitter's quest to become a 'safer' place has a schedule
You no longer have to wonder when you'll see Twitter implement the new rules promised by its CEO and outlined in that leaked email. The social network has released a "Safety Calendar," which details when it will roll out a series of new rules to make the platform a safer place. As the internal email said, the company plans to crack down on hate and violence on its website: on November 3rd, it promises to start suspending accounts of "organizations that use violence to advance their cause."
Instagram tool finally lets you cross-post Stories to Facebook
You'll probably have a lot more Facebook Stories to watch in the near future... except you can also watch most of them on Instagram. According to TechCrunch, the social network has begun rolling out a feature that allows you to cross-post Instagram Stories to Facebook Stories if you're in the US. The company began testing the feature in August, but as always, only a handful of people were lucky enough to get access to it. Now that it's officially out in the US, the feature will arrive on your Instagram app in the near future if it hasn't yet, giving you an easy way to share what's going on with your life with nan and pop.
White House: Yes, the president blocks critics on Twitter
Yes, the president does block critics on Twitter. That's what the latest legal filing related to President Trump's Twitter activities has revealed. If you'll recall, seven individuals filed a lawsuit claiming Trump is violating the First Amendment by barring their access to his account. Now, the Knight First Amendment Institute, a Columbia University group helping the plaintiffs, has announced that both sides have filed a formal legal acknowledgement in which they agree upon a set of facts. In that filing, the White House said it will not contest the plaintiffs' claims.
Facebook allowed advertisers to target anti-Semites
As further proof that the Facebook ad network needs a lot of work, ProPublica has discovered that it allowed advertisers to target anti-Semites. When you buy ads on Facebook, the system prompts you to add targeted categories, which are real keywords or phrases people use on their profiles. Well, ProPublica has proven that the ad network recognizes anti-Semitic sentiments from users' profiles as valid ad categories, including "Jew hater," "How to burn jews," "Nazi Party," "Hitler did nothing wrong" and "German Schutzstaffel." Since the network's algorithm handles ad purchases from start to finish with no human input, ProPublica was able to get the anti-Semitic ads it purchased for its investigation approved within 15 minutes.
