We Are Social Asia’s Tuesday Tune Up
Twitter is working on an edit button
In dreamy news for those with typo tendencies, Twitter has officially announced that it is working on an edit button for tweets. The platform will be testing the feature out in Twitter Blue Labs, with subscribers able to use an edit tweet button ‘in the coming months’. This news comes in a big week for Twitter, with Elon Musk buying a 9.2% chunk of the channel. The prospect of editing tweets has proved rather divisive, with many arguing that it defeats the entire point of Twitter.
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022
TikTok launches new programme to help creative agencies reach its audience
Did somebody say TikTok University? TikTok has launched a new five-week programme that will help creative agencies to become ‘TikTok experts’. The Creative Agency Partnerships University programme will be hosted as a series of live webinar sessions, beginning on April 19. The idea is that this will help individuals lead conversations with clients, concept and create for the platform, and gain a newfound understanding of TikTok’s creative possibilities. Sign us up.
Twitter rolls out its ALT badge and improved image descriptions
Accessibility features are slowly improving on Twitter, with the platform rolling out an ALT badge and improved image descriptions globally. Images that have text descriptions will get a badge that reads ‘alt’, and clicking on the badge will bring up the description. Prior to this update, most users didn’t have access to alt text descriptions unless they were using a screen reader. These improvements will hopefully make these descriptions more widely available, making the user experience more accessible to those needing alt text descriptions.
As promised, the ALT badge and exposed image descriptions go global today.
Over the past month, we fixed bugs and gathered feedback from the limited release group. We’re ready. You’re ready. Let’s describe our images! Here’s how: https://t.co/bkJmhRpZPg https://t.co/ep1ireBJGt
— Twitter Accessibility (@TwitterA11y) April 7, 2022
Pinterest bans all climate change misinformation
Pinterest is becoming the first major digital platform to crack down on climate change misinformation with a comprehensive misinformation policy. The platform will now be able to remove content that denies the existence of global warming. It will also remove false content about climate change solutions that contradict scientific evidence and misleading information about public safety emergencies. This policy will not only apply to posts but to ads too. This means Pinterest advertisers will have to follow the same rules as users, with the channel’s advertising guidelines having been updated to reflect this.
Snapchat has a new lens to help you learn the American Sign Language alphabet
Snapchat is helping its users learn new skills by launching a new lens that lets you learn American Sign Language. Launched in partnership with SignAll, the lens teaches you to fingerspell your name, practice the alphabet and play games that put your new skills to the test. with social platforms not being the speediest when it comes to prioritising accessibility, this is a great addition from Snapchat, helping to educate its audience.
Ones to watch
Twitter is experimenting with an ‘unmentioning’ feature, Spotify is testing a TikTok-style discovery feed, and YouTube is testing a stricter moderation system.