This week, Instagram is introducing some updates to the feed (whether we like it or not), YouTube takes inspiration from another fan-fave video app, and Facebook takes its AI assistant to the next level with its new app.
Meanwhile, a dog has gone viral for his relatable jealous stare, a big ol’ wave took centre stage at Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton show, one photographer is capturing the World Cup from home, and more. Read on for more social media news.
Instagram head, Adam Mosseri, has revealed a new update to the platform’s algorithm. Shared on his Instagram account, Mosseri showed off the new Your Algorithm feature which lets users specify topics they want to see more or less of. But, IG users are flooding the comments with other requests: “WE JUST WANT OUR ALGORITHM TO SHOW THE PPL WE FOLLOW.”
Facebook reimagines Creator Studio with new AI app
Image credit: Meta
Facebook is launching a stand-alone AI companion app to help creators grow on the platform. The app will use Facebook’s existing AI creator assistant which helps provide video ideas, summaries of comments, explain analytics and more. There are also new features like an AI-powered comment tool which highlights important comments and draft replies in the creator’s own tone.The app is currently being tested with a select group of creators.
Instagram updates TV app
Image credit: Instagram
Instagram is giving its TV app a makeover with new features including channels, the ability to cast from your phone and support for horizontal videos and Stories. It is also testing new ways to bring longer-form videos to the app with new episodic series and Live TV. While currently only available on Amazon Fire and Google TV, the app is soon to roll out to Samsung TVs.
YouTube is adding a new “clear screen” mode on Shorts that hides icons and text from the video. It is also changing the “thumbs-up” button to a “heart icon”. Shorts is also adding a 2x speed opinion which is activated by holding the edge of the screen or by swiping down. All of these feel very familiar *cough* TikTok *cough*, but I guess it makes endless scrolling feel even more familiar to us all.