There’s no longer any question that Threads and Bluesky have created the most viable alternatives to the platform once known as Twitter. But while the two services may share some of the same goals, they’ve shown very different visions for how text-based social networks should operate.
It’s never been more exhausting to be online than in 2024. While it’s been clear for some time that monetization has shifted social media into a different beast, this year in particular felt like a tipping point. Faced with the endless streams of content that’s formulated to trap viewers’ gazes, shoppable ads at every turn, AI and the unrelenting opinions of strangers, it struck me recently that despite my habitual use of these apps, I’m not actually having fun on any of them anymore.
Bluesky has rolled out an update that fixes one important issue that could lead to impersonation on the decentralized social network.
Clickbait videos have always been annoying, but there are times when they can be downright harmful. YouTube has vowed to strengthen its enforcement efforts when it comes to dealing with "egregious clickbait" on its website, particularly those that cover — or pretend to cover — breaking news and current events.
Another day, another new Threads feature. Meta’s app will “soon” be rolling out a feature that allows users to re-share photos and videos to their timelines with credit to the original poster but without the original post attached.
Threads is rolling out its take on the Starter Packs concept from Bluesky. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri's post about the update explains that collections of recommended profiles will be suggested when users start following topics and as part of the For You feed.
BeReal, the in the moment social media platform, is far from its 2022 heyday, but that hasn't stopped one organization from going after it. Austrian advocacy group Noyb has filed a complaint surrounding the platform's data consent banner practices. The organization claims that the banner disappears if users accept that their personal data can inform advertising practices, but if they click reject then the banner appears daily.
Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Messenger are coming back online after widespread "technical issues" took down many of Meta's biggest apps for several hours Wednesday. "We’re 99% of the way there - just doing some last checks," the company wrote in an update on X nearly four hours after first acknowledging the outages.
Meta is expanding its feature that helps users avoid “Facebook jail.” Earlier this year, the company began allowing Facebook creators to complete in-app “educational training” for first-time rule violations in order to avoid strikes on their accounts. Now, the company is expanding the feature to all Facebook users and opening it up to creators on Instagram.