Hello Spark Bites readers, we have some tragic news to report. As of today, this will be our FINAL Spark Bites. It’s been a good ride, but sadly we’ve got to bounce…
(Belated) April Fools! You didn’t think we were going to pass up a time-honored tradition full of deception and mischief, did you? Tricks and banters are in the forecast as March turns into April—and we couldn’t resist adding some giggles into your life.
The fun has just begun with your weekly dose of social media updates. Instagram is currently testing a fast forward/rewind feature for videos, Tinder played a terrible joke on us, Spotify’s newest subscription plan has the number two written all over it, Snapchat has taken status update to a whole new level, and Facebook is giving users information as to why ads are on their feeds.
Trust and believe that after reading Spark Bites this week, you’ll be ONE step ahead of the curve so that you’ll never be the fool again.
Instagram has truly outdone itself AGAIN. The streets are talking… and we have been listening. Last week, Instagram caused a media frenzy with their checkout feature for us shopaholics.
Although we aren’t even gagging about that anymore! In fact, the real GAG is that Instagram has a new seek bar feature that will enable users to fast-forward and rewind videos on its app. One of the most highly requested updates on Instagram has been video control—we WANT it and we NEED it.
This revelation was uncovered by a popular app researcher, Jane Manchun Wong, who is known for finding hidden social media gems. Yes, Jane! Come through for the people!
Hold the phone, guys! Trust, our fingers are itching to skip over that one friend who post 50 stories a day, but there is no official date for this tool to be open to the public yet! This waiting game sucks and we aren’t laughing.
Tinder
Tinder did us dirty… A shady friend! Similar to the masses, we’ve been personally VICTIMIZED by their hoaxes. In the midst of April Fool’s, the notable dating app thought it would be comical to hit us where it hurts. One word, my comrade: height!
Tinder recently announced a new update (which was fake, of course) called the Height Verification Badge (HVB), which supposedly made all users state their ACTUAL height rather than their aspirational height. We may or may not be familiar with the deception of the dating app population on the topic of their reported height. The LIES they tell!
This was all an April Fool’s joke. Tinder played us good. Yes, we are MAD salty! Don’t worry Tinder, next year something is coming for y’all.
Spotify
The team at Spotify must have had “Party For Two” by Shania Twain jamming through their corporate office as a result of the newest subscription option.
Premium Duo is the name of a new premium subscription plan where you and a special little friend can have a shared account for $14 per month. Alright, or maybe just a regular little friend. Sue us! We’re just trying to play cupid.
Some of the perks include a duo mix compiled from tracks both of you love, the ability to share your library of saved music, and of course managing the accounts and settings.
Two’s really a company—we guess family subscription got its leg pulled with this new test. Ouch! Duo is in and Family is out.
Another dark mode update? Sis, we know! Ain’t no scheme here! But this is a good scoop! Twitter has exposed the ruse of these so-called “dark mode” features from several of these other apps.
Facebook Messenger, Skype, and some Google apps were real slick with their dark mode feature recently. But their dark modes aren’t really, well, dark. They’re more of a blue-ish undertone and as for YouTube—phew chile—they classify dark mode with the colour—wait for it—gray!
Props to Twitter, they are coming up out with a genuine black background called Lights Out. Putting the others to shame!
“Why am I seeing this post?” A quote you’ll be seeing a lot on Facebook. The new feature allows users to see information about why a specific post has appeared on your News Feed.
The new drop-down menu on the top right of every post, will show Facebook’s logic for why it thought we might want to see it. The app will also give us control over how often we see posts like it in the future.
Given the looming foolish spirit, it made sense to wonder if this news was legit or simply another stunt that would be proven false. However, transparency seems to be a constant topic of discussion for Facebook and we’re betting this feature is here to stay.
Snapchat
Damn, Jane’s back at it again with hidden gems! Our favorite app researcher discovered a new test on Snapchat.
Snap is currently testing a Foursquare-style on Snap Map to show where you are and what you’re doing through Bitmoji characters. Privacy won’t be issue as Snapchat saved all your activities into a virtual diary called Passport.
We’ll wait to see if the Snap Status will be worthwhile…
From practical jokes to spreading hoaxes, we hope this week’s Spark Bites helped you separate the real social media stories from the fakes. Phew! we’ve made it through unscathed but it was nice to take a moment for comic relief. Until next time, stay classy!