On the surface, social media may seem tranquil, but a tempest of changes is churning. Some insane insinuations are already circulating for one platform, milestones are being reached on another, and sites are starting the year with new ideals. Here’s what you might’ve missed in social media news this week.
Twitter Flies Away From Staple Features
On Tuesday, Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, started some eyebrow-raising rumors about upcoming changes to the microblogging site. The biggest rumor thus far would entail obliterating the 140-character limit and replacing it with as many as 10,000 characters. In a cleverly expanded tweet, Dorsey explained, “We’ve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on Twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it… Instead, what if that text… was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted.” For now, this drastic change is still a rumor that is ruffling feathers with the faithful Twitter fans.
Facebook Messenger Reaches Milestone
If you recently caved and downloaded Facebook’s Messenger app, you’re literally one of the millions. On Thursday, Facebook officials announced the app now has 800 million monthly active users. According to Nielsen, this was the fastest growing app in the U.S. last year with more than 100 million new downloads in less than six months. Vice President of Facebook’s Messaging Products, David Marcus, says this boom in downloads has already caused a decline in standard messaging services and will one day replace isolated apps altogether. Basically, Marcus believes you will one day buy plane tickets, call customer service reps, and do all your banking through Facebook messenger instead of individual websites.
Pinterest Puts Focus on Diversity
On Wednesday, Pinterest announced a new hire for a role that the company has never had before. Candice Morgan has been brought on to help build and lead the company’s new diversity division. This week’s announcement was paired with two new engineering programs specifically designed for employees from non-traditional or underrepresented backgrounds. These “Apprenticeship Programs” hope to educate and inspire future technical professionals.
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