Snapchat introduces ‘Family Center’ Listen up parents, it’s getting easier to protect your little darlings on social media. Snapchat is rolling out its first set of parental controls, under the banner of ‘Family Center’. Parents will now get better visibility over which accounts their teen is having conversations with on the app, as well as the ability to view their friend list. But teens, don’t panic, your parent won’t be able to see the contents of your message, so natter away as you please. To use the feature, parents or guardians will need to install the Snapchat app on their own device, then link their account to their teens through an opt-in invite process.
LinkedIn rolls out new features for creators Fancy yourself a bit of a LinkedIn influencer? Creators on the platform are getting a little treat, with the rollout of new features that make it easier to share visual content on the channel. In the next few weeks, creators will be able to add clickable links directly to their images and videos, helping them to drive traffic to their websites or other content. There’ll also be a new Templates feature that gives text posts a nice pop of colour, making them more eye-catching compared to the usual scrollable LinkedIn post. And last but not least, LinkedIn has started rolling out ‘Carousels’, allowing users to mix images and videos in a swipeable format. We love to see it.
You can now leave WhatsApp groups silently WhatsApp has made it easier to avoid awkward situations. Now you can leave annoying groups silently. Prior to this, all members of the group would have been notified, often causing a bit of a commotion and a few broken hearts. Now only the administrators will receive a notification. Not only this, but the app is working to block screenshots for ephemeral ‘view once’ messages. This means that your less flattering 6am selfies will stay between you and your recipient for the allocated three seconds you selected.
Facebook begins testing default end-to-end encryption on Messenger Your Messenger conversations could be getting a lovely new layer of privacy, as Facebook is testing default end-to-end encryption on the service. End-to-end encryption is currently available for users, but on a per-chat basis, meaning users have to opt-in to use the feature and let’s be honest, very few do. So Facebook is working to make it a default tool, making it much harder for third parties like hackers or law enforcement to get access to your juicy conversations. Other messaging services like WhatsApp offer end-to-end encryption, so this is a logical next step for Facebook, helping to protect their users from unwelcome eyes.
