From Facebook to Instagram, social media platforms keep on evolving and it's becoming hard to keep up. It’s hard to tell whether the intent is to reflect the constant changes in real life or a way for developers to keep us glued to our screens even more. But one thing’s for sure: with social media undeniably an extension of our identities in this digital era, being in the loop on these social media updates is almost imperative in order for us to function.
Privacy issues have long been an issue when it comes to Facebook. That’s why in yet another attempt to address the situation, especially with the growing predatory behaviour towards young women occurring on the platform, Facebook has added a ‘lock account’ feature as a recent update. Contrary to just putting your account on ‘private’, this new addition to Facebook’s privacy settings closes the account to non-Facebook friends. This includes inability to zoom into profile photos, cover photos, and check posts on locked accounts. This is in contrast to regular Private settings where photos can still be clicked on whether or not you’re Facebook friends or not.
Similar to most Facebook updates, rollout for this feature is still irregular based on region and device. While it’s already available for some users in our region, some users may still need to wait a couple of weeks to access the ‘lock feature’ update on their accounts.
Our take on this update: We’re all for updates on privacy settings, and we hope Facebook won’t have any major privacy glitches that compromises personal information on a larger scale.
For the longest time, Twitter was the only ‘main’ platform that didn’t follow day-only content (previously made popular by Snapchat and eventually rolled out by Facebook through My Day and Instagram through Stories). However, a couple of months ago, they launched Fleets which allows users to share content that only lasts up to 24 hours — only to announce its removal by 3 August.
Following this announcement, Fleets will be replaced with a new developing feature (currently only available through iOS in beta for some users), allowing people to upvote or downvote replies. However, unlike Facebook dislikes or Reddit’s downvotes, Twitter’s downvotes won’t be made public and will only be included to allow users to be more mindful of both their content and replies on the platform. Whether or not it’s a good idea, we still have to find out once they start rolling out the feature for all users. For now, what do you think?
Our take on this update: The thought of downvotes entering Twitter had us having second thoughts. After all, Twitter is all about quoted replies or direct replies that allow for open discussion among users despite the limited character count per Tweet. However, upon learning that downvotes are only for the user’s own viewing, it somehow makes it a smart move for social mindfulness.
Instagram introduced a lot of updates in the past couple of months. But it looks like the platform’s not done with its changes yet. The photo-sharing platform started a ‘translate’ feature on Stories, which allows users to finally be able browse through IG Stories in foreign languages and understand the text in their local language. Simply tap the upper left part of the Story saying ‘See Translation’ under the user’s display name and voila! Read on.
Our take on this update: Machine translations are still not 100% percent accurate, but hey, it’s a great start when interacting with foreign peers on the platform, right?
Facebook adds lock account feature
(Photo from: Joshua Hoehne via Unsplash)
Privacy issues have long been an issue when it comes to Facebook. That’s why in yet another attempt to address the situation, especially with the growing predatory behaviour towards young women occurring on the platform, Facebook has added a ‘lock account’ feature as a recent update. Contrary to just putting your account on ‘private’, this new addition to Facebook’s privacy settings closes the account to non-Facebook friends. This includes inability to zoom into profile photos, cover photos, and check posts on locked accounts. This is in contrast to regular Private settings where photos can still be clicked on whether or not you’re Facebook friends or not.
Similar to most Facebook updates, rollout for this feature is still irregular based on region and device. While it’s already available for some users in our region, some users may still need to wait a couple of weeks to access the ‘lock feature’ update on their accounts.
Our take on this update: We’re all for updates on privacy settings, and we hope Facebook won’t have any major privacy glitches that compromises personal information on a larger scale.
Twitter removes Fleets and adds downvotes
we're removing Fleets on August 3, working on some new stuff
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 14, 2021
we're sorry or you're welcome
For the longest time, Twitter was the only ‘main’ platform that didn’t follow day-only content (previously made popular by Snapchat and eventually rolled out by Facebook through My Day and Instagram through Stories). However, a couple of months ago, they launched Fleets which allows users to share content that only lasts up to 24 hours — only to announce its removal by 3 August.
Following this announcement, Fleets will be replaced with a new developing feature (currently only available through iOS in beta for some users), allowing people to upvote or downvote replies. However, unlike Facebook dislikes or Reddit’s downvotes, Twitter’s downvotes won’t be made public and will only be included to allow users to be more mindful of both their content and replies on the platform. Whether or not it’s a good idea, we still have to find out once they start rolling out the feature for all users. For now, what do you think?
Our take on this update: The thought of downvotes entering Twitter had us having second thoughts. After all, Twitter is all about quoted replies or direct replies that allow for open discussion among users despite the limited character count per Tweet. However, upon learning that downvotes are only for the user’s own viewing, it somehow makes it a smart move for social mindfulness.
Instagram adds translate feature for IG stories
Instagram introduced a lot of updates in the past couple of months. But it looks like the platform’s not done with its changes yet. The photo-sharing platform started a ‘translate’ feature on Stories, which allows users to finally be able browse through IG Stories in foreign languages and understand the text in their local language. Simply tap the upper left part of the Story saying ‘See Translation’ under the user’s display name and voila! Read on.
Our take on this update: Machine translations are still not 100% percent accurate, but hey, it’s a great start when interacting with foreign peers on the platform, right?
Next, these are new YouTube stars to hit that subscribe button on, stat!
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at [email protected].
