UK users can now transfer money to their Facebook friends within the Messenger app. This brings Facebook a step closer to mirroring Chinese social giant, Weibo which combines multiple functions (banking, reviews, maps) within one app. Messenger payments has been available in the US since 2015. How will UK users respond?
Facebook experimented with fake news this week and it backfired spectacularly. In the trial Facebook aimed to suppress fake news by moving posts with the word ‘fake’ to the top of the news feed. The aim was to highlight disbelief in certain stories, but users ended up inundated with old misinformation. Guess it’s back to the drawing board.
This week’s news was filled with Twitter doubling the character limit to 280. But there was another change too – the character counter was replaced by a circle which changes colour as users type. The changes have caused much discussion, with some users arguing that Twitter should address fake news and abuse on the platform, before worrying about design.
Twitter is suspending user verification, with CEO Jack Dorsey describing the system as ‘broken’. This comes after white supremacist Jason Kessler received a ‘blue tick’, causing uproar online. The problem is that verification often translates to validation in the Twittersphere – and we can’t deny the societal influence of this social platform.
Visual
A fake version of WhatsApp was downloaded more than a million times before it was removed from Google Play Store. The fake version imitated WhatsApp branding and even the developer’s name. It contained fake ads and could download malicious software to users’ devices. It is still unclear who was behind the stunt.
Instagram’s branded content tool is being rolled out globally, with the platform urging influencers to tag posts paid for by brands. Influencers will now get notifications when Instagram detects that they have posted branded content without tagging it as so. For now influencers are only prompted, not forced, to tag brands… but does this hint stricter policies to come?
Winner
It would be most celebrities’ worst nightmare to have nude photos posted on social media, but sia is all in favour of baring all on Twitter. Responding to paparazzi who threatened to post nude photos of her, the singer posted some of her own. While many want celebs to tell the naked truth on Twitter, we’re not sure this is what they mean.
Loser
It’s out of the iOS Top 10, its stock is cratering… It has not been a good week for Snapchat. Wall Street sunk the stocks by 20% after Snap’s Q3 report showed that costs for hosting each user increased by 11% since Q2. The question now if whether Snap can reduce costs while driving more purchases from the platform.
Creative
Frozen pizza company DiGiorno threw some serious shade at one of its competitors on Twitter last week. Papa John’s motto “Better ingredients. Better pizza.” was turned into “Better pizza. Better sales.” by Giorno, reflecting their competitor’s decline in sales. The tweet tirade got pretty re-heated.
