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Instagram upgrades DMs with focus on creators

Sarah Perez — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:23:10 +0000

Instagram on Friday announced an update to DMs, its direct messages inbox, which will improve the experience for those who receive a lot of inbound messages, like creators and influencers. Now, the app is introducing tools that will allow users to sort and filter their “message requests” — meaning those messages that don’t arrive in […]

Instagram is lowering video quality for unpopular videos

Anthony Ha — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 20:25:17 +0000

The popularity of an Instagram video can affect its actual video quality: According to Adam Mosseri (the Meta executive who leads Instagram and Threads), videos that are more popular get shown in higher quality, while less popular videos get shown in lower quality. In a video (via The Verge), Mosseri said Instagram tries to show […]

Instagram rolls out new safety features to protect teens from sextortion

Aisha Malik — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Instagram is introducing a series of new safety features to protect users from sextortion scammers, the company announced on Thursday. Most notably, the company is no longer going to allow people to screenshot or screen record ephemeral images or videos sent in private messages. Up until now, you have been able to screenshot ephemeral content […]

Threads will start showing others when you’re online by default

Aisha Malik — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:12:02 +0000

Meta’s X rival Threads is rolling out a new “activity status” feature that will let you see when someone on the social network is online. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the feature on Tuesday in a Threads post, noting that it’s meant to act as “a way to help you find others to engage with […]

Instagram’s latest feature is a digital business card for your profile

Aisha Malik — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Instagram is rolling out a new “profile card” feature that is essentially a digital business card for your profile. The official launch comes a few months after the Meta-owned social network was spotted testing the feature with select creators. The new two-sided profile cards are designed to make it easier for users to share their […]

Meta is testing a feature to let you post Instagram Reels directly on Threads

Ivan Mehta — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 08:03:36 +0000

Since its inception, Meta’s Threads has tried to leverage the network effects of its other social networks Facebook and Instagram by experimenting with cross-posting and highlighting Threads posts on a carousel. Now, the company is testing a new feature that will let you share Instagram Reels directly to Threads. App researcher Alessandro Paluzzi found that […]

Meta has rebuilt Instagram and Facebook for its Quest headsets

Aisha Malik — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 17:36:44 +0000

At its annual Meta Connect event on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company has rebuilt its social apps for mixed reality. “We’ve got all new Instagram and Facebook experiences to bring your feeds and your Reels with you into mixed reality,” Zuckerberg said. “A really nice interface so you can lean back […]

Meta AI can now understand and edit your photos

Sarah Perez — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 17:28:16 +0000

Meta announced that Meta AI will now be able to help you edit photos using AI technology as well as answer questions about the photos you share.

Meta AI’s GenAI ‘Imagine’ features expand across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger

Sarah Perez — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 17:28:15 +0000

With the update, users will be able to use prompts to generate AI photos directly in their feed, Stories, and for their Facebook profile pictures.

Meta AI gets lip-synced translations and celebrity voices, like Judi Dench and John Cena

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 17:28:11 +0000

Meta is bringing a voice mode to its AI assistant, Meta AI, along with an Meta AI-powered translation feature for Instagram Reels.

Instagram tightens restrictions on teen use, putting parents in control

Aisha Malik — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Instagram is introducing Teen Accounts to automatically enroll young users into an app experience with built-in protections. The company announced that starting on Tuesday, it will start placing all current and future accounts held by a teenager into a Teen Account. Instagram is also rolling out new updates to its parental supervision feature that allows […]

Meta is making its AI info label less visible on content edited or modified by AI tools

Aisha Malik — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 20:11:32 +0000

By making the AI info label harder to find, it might be easier for users to be deceived by content that was edited with AI, especially as editing tools become more and more advanced.

Threads makes it easier to evangelize the open social web with a new direct link feature

Sarah Perez — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 17:08:44 +0000

It’s a small advance, but one that speaks to Meta’s enginerring team paying attention to how the fediverse community is trying to educate Threads users about the possibilities.

YouTube Shorts’ collaborative Add Yours sticker is now available to all users

Aisha Malik — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 17:48:49 +0000

YouTube confirmed on Wednesday that its collaborative “Add Yours” sticker for YouTube Shorts is now fully rolled out. The Google-owned company first announced the feature back in July. The sticker works just like Instagram’s feature of the same name, as it prompts users to share their own take on a creator’s video. Both platforms’ “Add […]

Threads is not working on its own DM system yet, but it might make it easier to send Instagram messages

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 10:10:40 +0000

The Threads team is not yet working on a separate inbox or a direct messaging system for the social network, despite user demands, and will continue to use the Instagram inbox. However, the company might make it easier to send messages to Instagram right from the Threads app. App researcher Adwaith Varma posted on Threads an unreleased […]

Canva wants you to pay a lot more for its AI features

Cody Corrall — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 17:05:00 +0000

Canva is dramatically increasing prices for some customers. Canva Teams subscribers on older pricing plans will see a 300% increase for a five-person plan, jumping from $119.99 per year to $500 per year. Users will get a 40% discount for the first 12 months before the switch takes effect. The company is pointing to its […]

Instagram jazzes up its DMs with stickers, photo editing, and themes

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Meta-owned Instagram is jazzing up the inbox by adding new features for photo editing, sticker creation and themes. The company is trying to make Instagram more appealing as a messaging app with features to make conversations more engaging. While some of these features might not sound new, it’s all about removing friction for users that […]

As more Instagram users engage with Stories, the app adds a comments feature

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 16:39:56 +0000

Instagram’s latest feature aims to boost user interaction within Stories. The social media platform now allows followers to comment on each other’s Stories, making the experience more community-focused, akin to livestreaming where users can engage in larger discussions. A few users have already spotted the feature, including marketing strategist Taylor Loren (@taylor.loren on Threads). Meta […]

Meta and Spotify spotted developing a new social music-sharing feature

Sarah Perez — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 20:40:39 +0000

Meta and Spotify are exploring deeper music integration in Meta’s Instagram app. New findings indicate the companies are testing a feature that would allow users to continuously share what music they’re listening to through Instagram’s Notes. The new functionality was first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who often finds unreleased features while they’re still […]

How to tell if your online accounts have been hacked

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 11:30:09 +0000

This is a guide on how to check whether someone compromised your online accounts.