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Facebook’s approach to fighting fake news is half-hearted
Earlier this week, Facebook hosted a group of reporters (myself included) at its NYC office for a Q&A session about its efforts to fight fake news. The event, led by Head of News Feed John Hegeman and News Feed product specialist Sara Su, began with Facebook showing us a short film called Facing Facts. It's a documentary that debuted last May, which tells the story of the company's uphill battle to rid its site of a misinformation plague that seems incurable. For months, Facebook has talked about how hard it is working to fix the issue (by hiring third-party fact-checkers, removing fake accounts and more), but on Wednesday it left us with more questions than answers. That's because Facebook believes reducing and flagging fake news stories is better than removing them altogether, and that doesn't seem like the best approach.
Mental health and the relentless YouTuber life
Jacques Slade was spending a week at the beach recently, away from the internet and his responsibilities as a full-time YouTube creator, where he's about to reach 1 million subscribers. It was supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy life. But being stress free, even on vacation, doesn't come easily for him. Slade, who makes videos about sneakers and technology, said he couldn't fully enjoy it because he was worried about not having anything to post on YouTube when he returned. "I don't have content for the next four or five days," Slade worried. "What's that gonna do to me? What's that gonna do to my bottom line? When I come back, are people still gonna watch my videos?"
Social media made the World Cup fun again
Like a lot of England fans, I have a complicated relationship with our national football team. Nobody fetishizes a noble failure like, or hold a grudge for anyone deemed too successful, like we do. Tournament football is therefore an exercise in violent cognitive dissonance as we try to cultivate a sense of hope for the men's team. Except this time, it wasn't that painful at all, and watching this World Cup has actually been fun, and it's all thanks to Social Media.
Facebook is bringing augmented reality ads to the News Feed
Facebook is now testing augmented reality ads in its News Feed, the company announced today at an event in New York City. The new feature, which is limited to users in the US at launch, will let you virtually try on items including fashion accessories, cosmetics, furniture and more. The goal here, of course, is to help you visualize what a product looks like on you, or around your physical environment, before you buy it. Michael Kors is the first brand to have AR Ads in the News Feed, where it is going to allow people to browse different sunglasses, use the camera to "put them on" and then buy a pair if they like it -- all within an ad.
Timehop admits attacker stole 21 million users' data
Timehop, a popular app that reminds you of your social media posts from the same day in past years, is the latest service to suffer a data breach. The attacker struck on July 4th, and grabbed a database which included names and/or usernames along with email addresses for around 21 million users. About 4.7 million of those accounts had phone numbers linked to them, which some people use to log in with instead of a Facebook account.
Drake is the king of memes
Drake has done it again. And no, we're not talking about him repeatedly smashing Apple Music and Spotify streaming records. We're talking about one of his tracks being turned into meme gold. This time it's the track "In My Feelings" from his new record, Scorpion. The internet has taken the lyrics and turned them into a dance that's about to conquer social media. What seems to resonate with his fans the most is the chorus, in which Drake asks, "Kiki, do you love me? Are you riding? Say you'll never ever leave from beside me. 'Cause I want ya and I need ya." Anyone who listens to Drake regularly knows he's always been an unapologetic emotional dude, and people love to turn his brooding and confessionals into viral fodder.
WhatsApp enlists outside help for its fake news problem
Over the last two months, misinformation spread through WhatsApp in India has riled up lynch mobs that killed twelve people. After the country's government sternly criticized the messaging service for its role in the violence, WhatsApp is offering researchers up to $50,000 in grants to study fake news on the platform.
FBI, SEC and FTC are also investigating Facebook's data leak
Facebook has to deal with multiple federal agencies simultaneously investigating its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. According to The Washington Post, the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have joined the DOJ's probe into the two companies. The New York Times reported back in May that the FBI and the DOJ are looking into the political consulting firm, but it sounds like the probe is much bigger than that.
Fake news on WhatsApp is inciting lynchings in India
Fake news isn't just an American problem, or a political problem, or a Facebook problem or a Twitter problem. Yesterday, the Washington Post reports five people were killed in a lynching in India spurred by online rumors of child trafficking. The Times of India said police believe that because of rumors traffickers were active in the area, villagers killed the group after one of them spoke to a child. It's the latest in a series of violent incidents in the country that have left twelve dead over the last month, all connected to fake messages on social media, which have mainly spread through the messaging service WhatsApp.
Facebook is showing users all the ads a Page could serve
A day after it was reported that Facebook was getting ready to launch new ad transparency tools globally, the company is now making a major change to Pages. Starting today, people will be able to see any active ads running on a Page across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, even if they're not being served to them specifically. On Facebook's site, you can go to a Page and you'll see a new "Info and Ads" button, which you can click to get information like when it was created, name history and see all the ads it has served since day one. If you notice anything suspicious, like a dubious political ad, you can then report it. Facebook says it'll be adding more Page information in the coming weeks.
China may punch a hole in the 'Great Firewall' for select tourists
The Chinese government's prohibition of popular social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has spanned several years. China has previously flirted with relaxing its strict internet rules, but it stood firm and such promises never materialized. Now, its island province Hainan may take the lead -- all in the name of tourism.
Instagram’s IGTV could soon challenge YouTube’s dominance
Instagram was born as a simple photo-sharing app in 2010, but it began moving into video in 2013, when it started letting users upload short clips. Now, five years after making that initial push into the space, the company plans to take its efforts even further with the launch of IGVT. It's a stand-alone app that'll feature vertical videos up to an hour long, which is a major shift from the one-minute time limit on Instagram. IGTV will also have a dedicated space in the main Instagram app, in case you want to watch these videos in the same place you look at pictures and Stories. With creators including Fortnite champ Ninja and singer Lele Pons on board, it's clear Instagram wants to lure internet personalities like them to IGTV -- even if it can't pay them just yet.
A first look at Instagram's IGTV
As rumored, Instagram is ready to get into long-form video. And today the company made those plans official with the reveal of IGTV, its new standalone video app geared toward internet creators, like the ones who have made a living out of YouTube. IGTV is all about vertical videos, and although it has its own app, you can get the full experience within the main Instagram application, too -- from uploading to keeping up with your favorite content makers, including the cutest dog on earth, Jiffpom. Inside Instagram, soon you'll see an icon that'll take you into the full vertical video experience, or you can choose to download the IGTV app if you want to keep Stories and pictures out of it.
Instagram reaches 1 billion monthly users
After surpassing 800 million monthly active users last September, we knew it was only a matter of time before Instagram would reach that coveted 1 billion mark -- and today is that day. The company has announced its latest milestone at an event in San Francisco, where it's also launching IGTV, its new standalone long-form video app. With 1 billion monthly actives, Instagram continues to grow at a tremendous pace since being acquired by Facebook in 2012, when it had just 40 million. If that's not impressive, then what is? Instagram now also joins other Facebook-owned social apps that have hit that remarkable number: Messenger (1.3 billion) and WhatsApp (1.5 billion). And then, of course, there's Facebook, which is at 2.2 billion and counting. Despite the privacy controversies of late, it's clear people love Facebook products, and Instagram's insane growth is only one of the many perfect examples of that.
Instagram takes on Snapchat and YouTube with IGTV
Where there's smoke, there's fire. For Instagram, that smoke recently came in the form of rumors about it launching a feature to host curated, long-form videos in its app. And well, there's fire, alright. Today, at an event in San Francisco, Instagram made IGTV official, a new standalone app geared toward creators like those on YouTube and Snapchat Discover. As expected, this is all about giving users the ability to upload videos that are longer than a minute (up to an hour). And yes, the footage is vertical, as this is intended to be a mobile-first experience. IGTV will be available on Android and iOS "in the coming days," but you can watch the longer videos starting today inside the main Instagram app.
Twitter is making it easier to follow your favorite topics and events
Twitter has always been the ideal site for conversations and reactions around live events, be it a sports game, an awards show or serious breaking news. Up until today, you've been able to use the Twitter mobile apps to get notifications from specific accounts you're into, like an NBA team or a media outlet, as well as breaking news. But now, the company wants to take that one step further and make it easier for you to see the latest about events and topics you care about. You'll notice this in the form of push notifications that will be sent to your phone based on your particular interests, including who you follow and what you tweet about.
Twitter promises a fix for its age-limit account lockouts
Those who recently got locked out of their Twitter accounts for being younger than 13-years-old when they're actually much older may want to keep an eye out for a follow-up email. In a series of tweets, the social network has explained that its system "became aware of accounts that were set up by people when they were younger than 13" after it implemented product changes to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Those accounts were automatically locked, even if it has been years ago since they were created, and Twitter says it didn't expect that to happen at all. Now, the social network has promised to help people affected by the issue get their accounts back.
Watch this weekend's Governors Ball music festival live on Twitter
Festival season is officially upon us. But if you'd rather not stand in the sun for hours to hear any of this weekend's Governors Ball performances from New York, Twitter's got you covered. The microblogging service will be live-streaming the concert all weekend long, with performances from Sylvan Esso, Jack White (above), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Post Malone, Eminem, CHVRCHES and others among the scheduled acts. Note that the stream schedule embedded below is through AT&T, and is split among two different channels.
Uganda imposes a social media tax to prevent 'gossip'
Today, Uganda's parliament passed a controversial "social media tax." It will consist of a daily fee of about 200 shillings (5 US cents) levied on anyone who uses social networking and messaging apps and platforms like Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter. According to Trading Economics, in 2016, Uganda had a per-capita income of $666.10, so this isn't an insubstantial tax.
Teens are using Facebook less and less
Pew Research Center released a new study today on teen social media use and among findings on internet usage, the impact of social media and smartphone access, the report notes a shift in which sites are preferred by teens. In a similar study released in 2015, Pew Research Center found that 71 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds said they used Facebook, while around half used Instagram and 41 percent used Snapchat. Now, just 51 percent of teens say they use Facebook, while YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat lead amongst the age group. Around 85 percent of US teens surveyed said they use YouTube (which wasn't included in the 2015 study), while 72 percent and 69 percent say they use Instagram and Snapchat, respectively.