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Snap CEO Evan Spiegel admits app redesign was 'rushed'
To say that Snap's major redesign wasn't well-received is an understatement. People hated it so much that it slowed down the app's user and revenue growth when it seemed like it was on the rise. In an internal memo obtained by Cheddar, Snap chief Evan Spiegel has admitted that the company rushed the redesign, "solving one problem but creating many others." No, he doesn't regret separating friends' posts from influencers -- he said that the change was necessary for the long-term success of the platform and that by doing so, it "got ahead of the existential crisis faced by many platforms today." What he regrets is not testing the redesign more with a smaller number of the community before rolling it out to everyone.
Google CEO to attend White House meeting on social media
Following the meeting he had last week with Republican lawmakers in Washington, DC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has agreed to attend a meeting of social media companies hosted by the White House. The Trump administration is also hoping that representatives from Facebook and Twitter will attend as well, Bloomberg reports. Larry Kudlow, the White House economic advisor, was among those who met with Pichai last Friday to address claims of bias, and he said today that the discussions went well.
Twitter touts its recent work to 'protect the integrity of elections'
It's almost the midterm elections in the US, and that means disinformation campaigns could be working overtime. Social networks have been introducing new features, rolling out changes and even asking the government for help to fight off trolls and fake news disseminators. Twitter, for instance, has expanded its ability to spot and remove fake accounts. In a post detailing its elections integrity work, the microblogging platform said it may now delete "fake accounts engaged in a variety of emergent, malicious behaviors."
Facebook could launch its video chat devices this month
Facebook will finally reveal its long-rumored video chat device called "Portal" next week, according to financial website Cheddar. A previous report by the same publication said the company was supposed to unveil the device during its annual F8 conference in May. However, the revelation was pushed back due to all the scandals the social network had to face over the past few months, particularly the Cambridge Analytica fiasco and the role it played in Russia's election interference in 2016.
You can’t make a reality game show out of social media
Technology's ubiquity has become a real problem for the entertainment industry because life is easier now. There's a reason that horror films these days always seem to feature a shot of someone discovering they're in a signal blackspot. Shows like Sherlock have found novel ways to incorporate technology into their narratives, but clearly, it's still a bit of a fudge. It's even worse in the world of reality TV, which often relies on throwing people into hostile situations and filming the results. Would-be victims can cope with the faux-isolation or trauma much easier if you're packing the sum total of human knowledge in your back pocket. It explains why so many big reality shows, like Jersey Shore, Big Brother and The Amazing Race ban the use of phones.
Why are people pretending to be dead on Instagram?
Ahmed Simrin, 15, is one of the millions of teenagers who uses Instagram. He doesn't post pictures on his page every day (there are two total), yet somehow he's managed to get nearly 3,000 people to follow it. That doesn't make him a social media influencer, by any means, but his Instagram page quickly stands out when you realize one of the photos has over 22,000 comments and 4,000 likes. This type of engagement is typically only seen on accounts from celebrities. His viral picture, posted in October 2017, isn't anything out of the ordinary, either: It's Simrin simply standing next to his friend, each staring directly into the camera, with a caption that reads "Fresh out the oven." But then you look at the comments, and it would appear that poor Simrin is no longer with us. There are thousands of users telling him to rest in peace. "RIP, you'll be missed." "RIP, bro." "You died way too young." "I can't believe you're gone." The list goes on and on.
Facebook hopes to prove AR is more than selfie filters and games
As I sit surrounded by software engineers in a conference room with no natural light, playing augmented reality games on an iPhone, I forget for a second that I'm in Seattle visiting Facebook. Not Amazon or Microsoft. Facebook, a company that's evolved from a simple social network to a full-on technology behemoth. Here, inside the company's largest engineering hub besides its Menlo Park headquarters, Facebook says people are working on many of the projects that will impact its 10-year road map and mission of "bringing the world closer together," including Games, Groups, Messenger and, of course, ads. But I'm here to talk about one particular emerging technology that the company believes will be key to its future: augmented reality.
Facebook is fact-checking photos and videos to fight fake news
It's no secret that Facebook has been struggling to stop fake news from spreading on its site, though it has indeed made progress since the 2016 US presidential election. Now, as part of its ongoing efforts to fight misinformation, Facebook has announced that its 27 fact-checking partners across the world now have access to a new tool that will analyze pictures and videos. According to Facebook, this feature is powered by machine learning and is designed to help reviewers identify and take action against false content faster.
Recommended Reading: Brands are not your friend
Why Comcast Sent Me Pizza Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Brands -- well, #brands may be the more accurate term here -- do all sorts of things that seem like they're rewarding you, dear customer, for some action or loyalty. The Atlantic dives into how these acts of kindness and mountains (literally) of freebies almost always stem from an ulterior motive, especially when social media is part of the equation. Just because Comcast sends you a stack of pizzas, doesn't mean you're best pals.
Banning Alex Jones proves Twitter can’t be impartial
All efforts to save @RealAlexJones and @InfoWars from themselves have failed, and you can blame Jack Dorsey for that. Whether or not he intervened in applying a seven-day suspension for rulebreaking tweets (the company denies it) he's successfully undermined the values Twitter claims to hold high. A month ago, when YouTube and Facebook took action against the accounts, Dorsey said: "We're going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories." So how'd that work out? Twitter claims justification for the ban comes from tweets and videos posted yesterday targeting CNN reporter Oliver Darcy. Unfortunately, we won't ignore the fact that this action occurred within 24 hours of its CEO being personally exposed to Jones' outrage. If Twitter wants to show, as Jack told Congress yesterday, that "Impartiality is our guiding principle" then it's difficult to imagine a more spectacular example of failure.
Are Facebook and Twitter scared enough to work together?
The last time a bunch of social media execs testified before congress the hearings ended with US House Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) calling it a "dumb" and "stupid" sideshow. He said there were more important matters for Congress to be discussing the "content-filtering practices" of internet companies, and that Facebook, Twitter and Google can't have user posts be regulated because of the First Amendment anyway. Still, members of the Senate and House are keen on finding ways for Silicon Valley giants to keep their services safe, particularly from foreign interference and other bad actors trying to create discord among Americans. But rather than get into a battle with Congress over potential federal regulation, which would likely cause some controversy, Facebook and Twitter seem willing to work together on solutions for these issues in order to avoid that path.
Twitter wants to ‘increase the health of public conversation’
Twitter doesn't only want to be more transparent about the toxic content on its site, it also wants to be more proactive about removing it altogether. Speaking to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce today, as part of a hearing titled "Twitter: Transparency and Accountability," CEO Jack Dorsey said that his company's singular objective is to "increase the health of public conversation." But he said this isn't just about spotting and removing abusive content like harassment, or blocking suspicious accounts. It's also about doing so in a timely, more proactive manner. As it stands, Dorsey said, Twitter relies heavily on users reporting others' bad behavior and that simply needs to change.
Twitter is considering a transparency report on suspended accounts
As part of his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, in a hearing titled "Foreign Influence Operations' Use of Social Media Platforms," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that his company is exploring the idea of a transparency report for suspended accounts. He said that, while details of what this document would look like or what information exactly it could include are still being worked out, it's something that's heavily on his mind. Twitter already has a bi-annual transparency report which discloses how many accounts it removes for promoting terrorism, and Dorsey said doing something similar for suspended accounts would only be a matter of figuring out its implementation.
What to expect when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies to Congress
Nearly five months after Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress, it is now turn for Twitter boss Jack Dorsey to do the same. On September 5th, he will take the witness stand twice on Capitol Hill, first in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee and then the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dorsey will be alongside Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg for the Intel Committee's "Foreign Influence Operations' Use of Social Media Platforms" hearing, followed by a solo appearance in the Energy and Commerce Committee's own, entitled "Twitter: Transparency and Accountability."
Watch tomorrow's Jack Dorsey congressional hearings right here
Another round of social media congressional hearings is upon us. This time, it's Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's turn, who will be testifying alongside Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg before the Senate Intelligence Committee on September 5th. But that hearing, which will focus on foreign election interference, won't be the only one of the day for Dorsey. He's also set to testify alone in a hearing from the House Energy and Commerce Committee entitled "Twitter: Transparency and Accountability." There, he'll be asked questions about how the company's algorithms work to filter out abuse, as well as its decision-making process when it blocks certain content (and accounts) from appearing on its site.
UK broadcasters urge the government to create a social media watchdog
A smorgasbord of TV broadcasters, mobile network and internet service providers has urged the UK government to strengthen its oversight of social media companies. In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph, executives from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, as well as Sky, BT and TalkTalk, called for a new, independent regulator to help tackle fake news, child exploitation, harassment and other growing issues online. "We do not think it is realistic or appropriate to expect internet and social media companies to make all the judgment calls about what content is and is not acceptable, without any independent oversight," the collective wrote.
Twitter is testing threaded replies and status indicators
Twitter wants to be more conversational -- and apparently more like a message board and a chat app. In a post retweeted by Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, the company's head of product Sara Haider showed screenshots of two features the platform is testing. One of them is reply threading, which shows responses as nested, color-coded tweets. They seem more similar to Reddit's threads and Facebook's, since even a response to a response is indented.
Facebook temporarily deleted cross-posted tweets
If your Facebook suddenly looked sad and empty, devoid of all those tweets you cross-posted over the years, don't worry: they'll be back soon enough. Some users have recently discovered that their cross-posted tweets disappeared from Facebook, including discussions that took place on the platform, and for a while it wasn't clear whether it was caused by a bug or whether either social network planned it on purpose. Turns out it was a result of Facebook's decision to sunset the cross-posting feature, which took effect earlier this month.
Instagram is testing virtual communities for college students
Facebook's pledge to "spark conversations and meaningful interactions" apparently extends to Instagram. The photo-sharing app has started testing a feature designed to bring college students going to the same university together in a virtual community. According to CNBC, the Facebook-owned company is inviting select users to join groups for their schools based on the accounts they follow, their connections and their public posts. If someone who got invited chooses to try it out, they have to opt in by choosing their university and graduating year from a set of predetermined choices.
Facebook test feature shows what you have in common with strangers
If one of Facebook's latest experimental features makes its way to everyone, you'll be able to find out how you're connected to random commenters on public posts. The social network is testing a feature called "things in common," which displays tidbits of info you have in common with people you're not friends with. A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the test to Engadget and has told us that the feature will show you tags like "Went to the University of so-and-so" if you have the same alma mater or "A member of Girls LOVE Travel" if you're both members of that group, for instance. If someone lives close by, the tag will say "From San Francisco, California" or wherever it is you're from.