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17 Jul
6

Twitter Adds Additional Filters to Mute Abusive Accounts

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

mute accountsOne of the problems that Twitter has continued to struggle with is all the abusive and trolling comments that are on the platform. This is a common problem that comes partially from how global and public the social media network is. Since strangers all over the world can see tweets of other strangers, it is easy for abusive accounts to thrive. While users are allowed to set accounts to private, most don’t as this can keep them from connecting with people they are hoping to connect with. The new filters are intended to help users protect themselves, while allowing their account to remain open to the public.

 

The new filter options allow you to block notifications that come from accounts that are the most likely to be trolls. You’ll now be able to mute notifications that come from new accounts that you don’t follow, accounts that don’t follow you that you also don’t follow, or even just all accounts that don’t follow you. These new filters are targeted at protecting you from unwanted spam and from abusive comments as well.

 

The new filter options are actually an addition to an earlier update that allowed users to mute notifications from those without a profile picture, without a confirmed email address or phone number, and accounts that a user didn’t follow. The new filters are easy to access by going into notifications on your app, clicking on settings, and then checking the boxes for your preferred filters. This allows users to mute the types of accounts that they are personally more concerned with.

 

While the new filter settings are designed to help curb abusive and troll-like behavior on the platform, the problem isn’t completely solved by this feature. As Twitter users have to opt into the different filters, they may still leave the different accounts not muted if they don’t realize that this feature is out there or know this, but choose to see these different notifications. It is a step in limiting harassment and trolling, but Twitter still is far from solving this problem entirely.

06 Jul
6

Instagram Releases New Functions to Block Offensive Comments and Spam

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

instagramInstagram recently released its plans to crack down on the offensive comments and spam that often fills the comment sections of videos and pictures shared on this social media site. Their new filters for comments will work to block certain types of offensive comments and to prevent spam. Of these filters, the spam filter is one that is going to take effect most widely as it can weed out spam in nine languages rather than just English.

 

The new feature that Instagram is now using for blocking spam and offensive comments is one that is built using new AI programming. The program is designed with recent advances in machine learning which are meant to help the filter better understand the context within a comment. The goal is to eventually have this program trained to block offensive comments without having a lot of false positives. There are still certain phrases that are creating false positives, but the new filter has been implemented on Instagram since it has proven to be effective.

 

Now that this feature is available, Instagram has made it so this is something that users have to opt out of rather than opting in. The filter is set to be on by default, but can be turned off manually if users wish to view comments that it would otherwise be filtered out. By adding this filter and making it so the filter is automatically on, even those who aren’t very tech savvy or those new to Instagram will be able to benefit from the new filter. Filtering out offensive comments automatically will help to protect self-expression on Instagram.

 

The new steps that Instagram is taking are in hopes that they will be able to make Instagram more welcoming to all people. Their filter strikes back against body shaming, racism, and other types of hateful language that can often be seen in the comments of Instagram. Many users are already praising Instagram for taking steps to prevent these hateful comments. Even with this filter enabled, Instagram users will be able to continue reporting any comments that may get through the filter while this program continues to expand. The offensive comment filter will be updated to work in other languages in the future.

15 Jun
6

Facebook Adds GIFs to Comments in Honor of the 30th Anniversary of the GIF

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

facebookToday ends Facebook’s resistance to adding GIFs to the comments in their website. In honor of the 30th anniversary of the GIF they have released a new feature that allows GIFs to be posted as comments within the newsfeed and profile pages of their website. Many users are really excited about this new feature as they have been hoping for GIFs to become the norm in the comment section for a while.

 

Previously, Facebook has allowed GIF’s in messenger but not in other areas of the website. There were some workarounds that were made to allow for GIFs to be posted, but people have been waiting for these to become a more common part of the comments on Facebook for a while. Facebook has now launched the ability for people globally to use a GIF feature which will allow you to choose from GIFs that can express how you are feeling in the best possible way.

 

The new GIF feature makes it easy for Facebook users to use GIFs to respond to a variety of different posts. To add a GIF in the comments section you just have to press the GIF button and then type in what you are looking for. From there you’ll be able to scroll through the selection of GIFs and then choose one that states exactly what you are trying to say. Facebook has also created some special GIFs for this occasion featuring popular internet celebrities.

 

In addition to their new feature, Facebook has also set out to solve the debate on the correct pronunciation of GIF. They are currently running a Facebook poll where users can vote on whether it is pronounced with a hard or soft G sound. This is just one more way that Facebook is working to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the GIF.

08 Jun
6

Instagram Continues to Add Features to Keep Up with Snapchat

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

selfieInstagram is continuing its battle with Snapchat as it continues to add similar features to allow for a greater level of competition. Their newest update includes a range of similar features including the ability to add face filters with live special effects. Instagram users can select the new face icon at the bottom of the screen and use these different types of filters when taking pictures on rear facing or front facing cameras and even creating Boomerang video clips.

 

Other features that are also part of this update included the ability to record video and play it in reverse, something that Snapchat had already developed. Another addition is the ability to add hashtag stickers that link to that hashtag, allowing users to explore similar pictures or videos that have been tagged with the same hashtag. They’ve even added a feature that allows users to cover a picture with color and then erase certain areas of the picture in a creative way.

 

Over the last year or so, Instagram has been quickly adding a lot of new features so that they can continue to compete with similar apps. Many of these features aren’t that different from ones that Snapchat offers already. Instagram has been adding all kinds of different features that are ones that match with Snapchat as this application is one of its biggest competitors. Offering features that are similar or better than Snapchat may help them to stay relevant in the long run.

 

New features including face filters, hashtag stickers, and the erase tool are available in the newer versions of Instagram. They are available in version 10.22 and newer. To update the Instagram version that you are using visit the iTunes app store or the Windows store where you can install the new version of Instagram. Once this is installed, you’ll be able to enjoy experimenting with all the new features.

01 Jun
6

Facebook Updates Albums to Include More than Pictures

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

facebook albumToday, Facebook is rolling out a new update that will change the way that Facebook users experience albums on Facebook. Previously, Facebook albums could only include photos, but with the new update, Facebook users will be able to add a lot more to these albums. Facebook’s update to the albums will make it so that people can share much more than photos when sharing memories with friends.

 

In their revamp of the photo album feature, Facebook has made it possible to add different videos, check-ins, and text posts to the albums. This will make it so that users will be able to compile additional information into the albums rather than just putting pictures into them. Facebook users will be able to have a lot more flexibility when it comes to creating albums and choosing a variety of items to include within them.

 

With the new update, users will now be able to drop basically any post from their social network and save it into an album. The feature is a bit like scrapbooking where a person gathers bits and pieces to transform these into a complete album to store memories. In addition to this, Facebook has made it so that you can display a featured album on your profile page as well. These updates are meant to allow people to more easily store memories and bring further focus to their albums.

 

In addition to these updates, users will be able to follow and unfollow different albums so that they will be able to stay in the loop on what their friends are adding to their albums. The notifications are easy to turn on and off making it so that Facebook users can more easily decide how to work with these albums. The new changes are currently available on Android and will be rolling out on iOS soon.

18 May
7

Facebook Makes Further Steps to Shut Down Clickbait

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

clickbaitIn a continuation of their battle against misinformation and misleading news, Facebook has announced further updates that target clickbait specifically. They have been working to create a tool that can identify clickbait based on specific articles and posts rather than certain sites that often create clickbait type articles. An initial update was focused on just illuminating repeat offenders or websites that put out a lot of clickbait type articles, while this is focused more on individual posts and their headlines.

 

The new tool that Facebook will be using is going to be focused on the headline of an article and whether or not this headline is hiding key information to inspire people to click it or exaggerating certain information for the purpose of clicks. Posts that are found to have some key identifiers that make their headlines likely to be clickbait, will be pushed down in the news feed so that viewers are a lot less likely to run into them and click on them. This is good news for Facebook users that commonly are attracted and disappointed by these different types of posts.

 

Facebook’s anti-clickbait tool has been trained to focus on specific signals that generally show that a page is clickbait. They focus on which words often are seen in clickbait headlines and not in reputable news articles. The tools have been extended to recognize clickbait headlines even when articles are not in English. This is going to be a process that is automated throughout Facebook to match different phrases with clickbait criteria that has been previously identified.

 

Ever since the US presidential election, Facebook has been working to clean up its platform to make sure that it can eliminate misinformation and sensationalized headlines. The new update is yet another one targeted at eliminating misleading news and preventing the spread of this throughout the platform.

04 May
5

Small Businesses Can Reach More Customers With a Quality Social Media Campaign

In Social Networking | No comment

social media marketingWhile social media has been around for a long while now, many small business owners still aren’t using social media to the fullest potential. Many of these business owners just aren’t on social media or are using social media in a way that doesn’t help with gaining customers or sales. It is important that all business owners use a quality social media campaign to connect with customers and advertise their business.

 

Some business owners have already discovered the ways that social media can help their business, but a recent survey found that nearly half of small businesses don’t have any formal social marketing strategy that they are using. A big part of this is that many business owners aren’t sure how to use social media to their benefit. Others are overlooking important new tools. For example, Instagram is becoming a much more valuable marketing tool, but only one in three small businesses polled were even using the site.

 

Of course, just getting your business on social media isn’t enough. Business owners need to make sure that they are able to use the different social media sites in a way that is actually good for their business. Too many business owners find that they are able to increase sales in the short term using social media marketing and then start to think that the more posts they put in the more sales they’ll see. Unfortunately, this can lead to the marketing soon becoming annoying to those following social media accounts, which can negate any benefit the social media marketing might have had.

 

Another common mistake is business owners not updating their strategies to branch out to new social networks or new features of the social networks that are available. With live video becoming popular on the various social platforms, business owners may want to begin using this feature and others like it to promote their business. As with anything that is part of social media marketing, quality content is important so focusing on creating content that is engaging, interesting, and entertaining for those following a business can be key to making social media marketing count.

13 Apr
6

Twitter’s Update Prevents @Usernames from Counting Toward Character Limits in Replies

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

conversationOver the past year, Twitter has made many moves to prevent their 140-character limit from being too limiting to users. This has meant making it so that pictures and videos don’t count toward the 140-character limit on tweets. In Twitter’s latest update, it has begun preventing @username tags from limiting characters left when replying to posts. This allows users to have more characters to give to their reply rather than having characters eaten up by tags.

 

Instead of having to add @username to a reply tweet, users will now be able to tap on a button labeled “Replying to…” to manage which people are part of this conversation. This will make it so that the username will appear above the text of the Tweet rather than as a part of it, giving you more of your 140-character limit to use in the reply.

 

This change is going to make it so that conversations between two or more people on Twitter can move a lot more smoothly. People won’t have to look at the clutter of @username tags on the beginning of the tweet when they are trying to read a conversation. This should help to clear up conversation and make it easier for people to communicate thorough twitter.

 

The main goal of the update is to make it so that Twitter is a place where conversation is allowed to flow a lot more easily and naturally. Despite this goal, some people worry that this new feature will allow reply tweets to become a lot more spam like in quality. People will be able to post replies to a wide number of people much more easily as these tags don’t count against the character count.

06 Apr
6

Facebook Adds New Tools to Prevent the Spread of Revenge Porn

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

facebookOne of the problems that Facebook has faced in the past is the spread of pictures within their various platforms. The way that Facebook sharing and the internet in general work can make it challenging to stop the spread of an image once it is out there. This can be frustrating and unpleasant for people who have their pictures being distributed without permission. Facebook has recently been working on tools that can help prevent the spread of these different images and especially of what is often called “revenge porn.”

 

Initially Facebook had been controlling the spread of these images simply by having users report them and then removing them as they appeared. The main problem with this was that the images would still continue to spread as people would see them and share them or save them before the image could be reported. For this reason, Facebook has extended the tools it uses. They will now be using image matching software to find images that have been previously reported and removed. When someone tries to post this image or send it to another user, they will automatically receive an alert saying that the content violates Facebook policy.

 

Some people have voiced concern about how this software will work. Many are worried about the way that the images will be stored so that Facebook can use them with photo matching software. Facebook says that the images will be kept for a certain period of time, but then they will be reduced to data that is essentially the image’s virtual fingerprint. Photos cannot be reconstructed from this information, allowing for greater privacy. Images that are stored temporarily will have parts blurred out to further protect privacy.

 

It is likely that a recent case involving a young girl in which Facebook was found to have fault for failing to prevent the spread of these images has contributed to Facebook’s desire to control these different types of images better. While pictures will still have to be reported initially, Facebook will be able to use software to prevent the images from appearing again within their various platforms.

23 Mar
6

Instagram to Release a New Update to Help Businesses Using this Platform

In Social Media, Social Media News Brief, Social Networking | No comment

instagramWhile many updates to different social media sites, include updates that help make different items much more user friendly, many social media sites have begun to work on making their social media sites appeal much more to businesses as well. Most recently, Instagram announced that they would be adding a new update that would allow users to schedule appointments with businesses from Instagram pages. This update is one that will allow customers and businesses to connect more easily.

 

There are at least eight million businesses that have accounts on Instagram, so adding an update to help these businesses thrive makes a lot of sense. The idea of this update is to make it so that businesses can easily transfer people looking at their pictures to actual customers. People who see things that they like within the business Instagram account will not only be able to like pictures, but schedule appointments based off of them.

 

The main benefit of this new update is that businesses will be able to see the way that their Instagram campaign actually contributes to their business itself. They’ll be able to track customers coming from Instagram to see how sharing photos on this site can turn followers into paying customers. This will also allow Instagram to compete with websites like Yelp and OpenTable as many of the features they offer will now be similar to ones on these websites.

 

While the new update is not intended to change the focus of Instagram as a platform, the intention is to allow businesses new ways to connect with customers. By providing an easy way for customer to make appointments after seeing photos that inspire them to go to a certain business, Instagram is extending the way in which people and businesses can interact on their platform.

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