As per usual, this week’s Spark Bites has you covered with all the newest social media updates! Instagram is utilizing new technology to combat bullying on the platform, Google Plus is shutting down after seven years, and YouTube TV introduces a ton of new features! Read on for all the details.
- This week, Instagram announced that they will be using new machine learning technology that will proactively detect bullying in photos and captions. The posts that are cause for concern will then go through Instagram’s Community Operations team for human review. Specifically, the technology will be on the lookout for attacks on a person’s appearance or character, as well as threats to someone’s well being or health. Nice comments only please!
- Last year, Facebook introduced us to its Camera Effects Platform as a way to bring AR to users’ phones. This week, they announced that they were renaming the platform to Spark AR and launching it on Instagram. Facebook has already had social giants like Kylie Jenner, NBA, and Gucci use Spark AR to create effects for their followers. AR is a great way for brands to interact with their fans and we’re digging the name change!
- Hackers begone! WhatsApp has fixed a bug that allowed hackers to take over users’ applications while answering a video call. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, which, as we all know, has been having a string of security issues lately. Luckily, this security bug was squashed before any real damage was done!
- Adiós Google Plus! The social network will be shutting down for good amid reports that a security breach leaked the personal information of 500,000 people. The bug allowed up to 438 external apps access important information like usernames, email addresses, occupations, genders and ages. Data protection is a hot-button topic at the moment, and Google coming in with a blunder like this is a pretty unfortunate case of timeliness.
YouTube
- YouTube is trying to get you to cut the cable cord! The video viewing platform released a collection of new features that improve the user experience and enhance DVR capabilities. The new features include the option to fast forward through ads, a “dark theme”, a live preview of all the television networks available, and an option to hide sports scores for die-hard fans. All these updates will automatically roll out and they sure make cable look like a thing of the past.
Snapchat
- Lights, camera, Snap! Snapchat is set to release more than a dozen new original series this fall! These “shows” range from drama, mystery, horror, comedy, and docu-series and they’re all produced exclusively for Snapchat! They will also be referred to as “Snap Originals”. Episodes will be shot in vertical format, span around 5 minutes each, and will be released daily. Great, that’s one more thing for us to binge watch!
That’s it for this week’s Spark Bites social media roundup! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!
