Instagram is working on new features to protect you from hackers and trolls, while Twitter cracks down on fake accounts. Here’s what’s trending in social media this week.
The Benefit of Twitter’s Follower Purge
Twitter is working hard to improve “information quality” on its service. In Q4 of last year, it suspended 58 million accounts. Recently, Twitter told the Washington Post that it suspended 70 million more. Also, Twitter acquired the online safety, security, and spam detection platform Smyte, and shared its spam removal process to make it easier for users to find credible information.
Twitter is relentless in its crackdown on suspicious accounts, and while this isn’t new, it’s worth mentioning. Why? Society is obsessed with our follower counts and has steered many of us away from our initial goal – to engage and share information with users. Fake accounts, bots, disinformation and other malicious occurrences plagued the platform in 2016. So this purge is beneficial for all of us! Now we can re-focus our attention on creating quality content and engaging with real and credible followers.
Haven’t seen a decline in your follower counts on Twitter? Congratulations! That means you are only following and engaging with real people! Keep up the good work.
More Control For Public Instagram Accounts
Instagram is cracking down on cyberbullying. On May 1, Instagram launched a filter to proactively hide bullying comments that threatens a person’s appearance, character, well-being, or health. This filter automatically removes negative comments on posts. Elite Daily reported that Instagram is finally testing out the ability for public accounts to hide comments.
Currently, if your Instagram profile is public, anyone can follow, view, and like your posts and Stories. The only way you can control who accesses your content is to change your profile from public to private. If your goal is to continuously grow your fan base and get as many eyeballs on your content as possible, turning your page private can limit that. There’s no word on when this will officially roll out, but this is huge for big brands to keep their pages clear of unwanted comments. Hopefully these moves help make Instagram a “safe place for self-expression and to foster kindness within the community,” which is the company’s goal according to CEO Kevin Systrom earlier this year.
Instagram Beefs Up Security
Instagram is acting quickly to the news published by Motherboard of hackers taking over phone numbers and accessing their online accounts. According to the article, hackers can steal you phone number by re-assigning it to a different SIM card, use it to reset your passwords, steal your Instagram and other accounts and sell them for bitcoin. Instagram only offers authentication through SMS to deliver a password reset or login code via text message.
The company told TechCrunch that it is building a non-SMS two-factor authentication system that works with security apps like Google Authenticator or Duo. It will generate a special code that’s needed to log in and that can’t be generated on a different phone in case your number is ported to a hacker’s SIM card.
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