Facebook kills App Invites, the native app Like button and other dev features

It’s been a while since my Facebook notifications feed was filled to the brim with invites to play FarmVille, but I’ve been reminded every so often at how awful those times were. It seems that tool for growing an app’s audience is not long for this world as Facebook has announced that App Invites, alongside a bunch of other developer integrations, will be sunsetting over the… Read More
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Twitter confirms it’s testing a tweetstorm feature

Twitter confirms it’s testing a feature that allows users to more easily create “tweetstorms” – those series of connected tweets that have grown to be a popular workaround for Twitter’s character count limitations. The feature, which was recently spotted in the wild, offers a new interface for composing tweets, where individual tweetstorm entries can be written… Read More
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Facebook launches Creator app for influencers to build video communities

Facebook wants to turn mindless, passive video consumption into “time well spent,” and now it’s giving social media stars a powerful tool to foster communities around their content. Today Facebook launches Facebook Creator, offering influencers Live Creative Kit for adding intros and outros to broadcasts, a unified inbox of Facebook and Instagram comments plus Messenger… Read More
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Imgur’s favorite folders turn 250M meme lords into curators

Either you’re one of 250 million monthly Imgurians, or you probably have no idea what Imgur is. But those who are part of the addictive image-sharing community know there’s been one feature at the top of the request lists forever: favorite folders. Today, Imgur fulfills the wishes of the masses with the official launch of favorite folders. Read More
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Instagram Stories adds no-frills photo-only posting from mobile web

Instagram really wants the developing world on Stories. They won’t be able to use Instagram’s augmented reality masks or share videos, but starting today mobile web users can post to Instagram Stories. Previously, mobile web users could only view Stories, which have to be created in Instagram’s native apps. But now users can snap photos, overlay text captions, and share them… Read More
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Twitter removes verified checkmarks from several white supremacists’ profiles

A few hours after announcing a review of its verification program, Twitter began revoking the verified status of some accounts. White supremacists Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler are among the users who no longer have a blue checkmark displayed on their profiles. Read More
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Twitter to revoke verification for some accounts as part of overhaul

Twitter says that it’s making progress on its plan to review its authentication system, which it’s conducting in the wake of backlash against the social network verifying the account of a white supremacist rally organizer. As a result, it’s going to change how it treats verification of accounts, and will unverify some users “whose behavior does not fall within”… Read More
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Facebook teen-in-residence defects to Google and launches Lies

At age 17, Michael Sayman was Facebook’s youngest employee ever. Having already launched 5 apps, he wowed Mark Zuckerberg, earned a demo spot on stage at Facebook F8 conference, and scored a full-time engineering gig as the social network’s go-to teen. Over the past three years, he helped Facebook try to crack the middle school market with apps like the now defunct Lifestage. But… Read More
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Study: Russian Twitter bots sent 45k Brexit tweets close to vote

Research conducted by a group of data scientists looking at how information was diffused on Twitter around the June 2016 EU referendum vote suggests more than 150,000 Russian accounts were involved in tweeting about #Brexit. Read More
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LinkedIn rolls out its Career Advice mentoring program to US, UK and India

LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social platform for the working world with some 530 million members, has made a big push in the last couple of years to position itself not just as a place to look for new jobs and network, but as a place for professional development — including services for online learning; steady streams of news and other content to expand your knowledge; and most… Read More
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Twitter details how it reviews and enforces rules around hate speech, violence and harassment

Twitter has been under fire lately (slash always) for its methods to deal with harassment and abuse on its platform. In an effort to provide some insight into its thinking, Twitter has added some new articles to its help center that detail how the company reviews and enforces rules, as well as the factors it considers in its decision-making process. Read More
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For the next six hours you can guide a robot through a web of miniature Reddit-themed escape rooms

Something weird is about to happen on Reddit. Starting at 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday, an AI-powered robot the size of a computer mouse will star in a live event that’s part reality show, part interactive puzzle and all an homage to the internet’s premier repository of dank memes. Read More
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Twitter launches lower-cost subscription access to its data through new Premium APIs

Twitter tried to mend its relationship with developers earlier this year with the launch of a new API platform which focused on streamlining APIs and the promise of additional tiers of access. Twitter said it would offer free APIs for testing ideas, self-serve access, as well as paid access for increased functionality, in addition to its enterprise APIs. Today, Twitter is delivering on its… Read More
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Facebook says Russia did try to meddle in Brexit vote

BuzzFeed has obtained a statement from Facebook in which the tech giant admits, for the first time, that some Russia-linked accounts may have used its platform to try to interfere in the UK’s European Union referendum vote in June 2016. Read More
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YouTube is now taking down more videos of known extremists — in major policy change

A spokeswoman told us YouTube has broadened its policy for taking down extremist content: Not just removing videos that directly preach hate or seek to incite violence but also removing other videos of named terrorists, unless the content is journalistic or educational in nature — such as news reports and documentaries. Read More
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Facebook launches collaborative Stories for Groups and Events

Facebook is combining its Snapchat Stories clone with features Snapchat can’t match. Starting today, users of Facebook Groups and Events will be able to contribute to a Facebook Story visible to the rest of the members and moderated by the admins. In essence, these collaborative Stories will work like a private hashtag so multiple people can add content but only those involved can see it. Read More
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/social/~3/VfPN8sC2_04/

Facebook Stories replaces Messenger Day with synced cross-posting

Facebook is cleaning up the redundancy in its Snapchat Stories clones. Today Facebook is killing off the Messenger Day brand and merging the chat app’s stories feature with Facebook Stories. Now, just called “Stories,” 24-hour ephemeral posts in either Facebook or Messenger will appear in both apps, and viewing will be synced, too. Read More
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/social/~3/bVGAZetzG5U/

Snapchat’s epic strategy flip-flop

It takes courage to say you were wrong about almost everything. But that’s what Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel did this week, and that’s what it will take to save Snapchat. From algorithmic feeds to partnerships to target markets to recruiting adults, Snap is planning a 180-degree turn across the board. Read More
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/social/~3/wBfugaHwG-8/

Spotify expands merch to beauty products, sells out tickets for Who We Be

Spotify, the $16 billion digital music “startup” that is hotly tipped for an IPO, continues to lay the groundwork to diversify its platform beyond basic streaming. In the latest development, the company is going to start selling beauty products. Yes, you read that right, you can now buy makeup on Spotify. The new service is the latest expansion of Spotify’s partnership… Read More
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/social/~3/NII6yeZJui8/

I watched 1,000 hours of YouTube Kids’ content and this is what happened…

What do you get if you endlessly recombine Spiderman and the Joker with Elsa from Frozen and lashings of product placement for junk food brands like McDonalds? Read More
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Source: https://techcrunch.com/