A new week means more changes and improvements to the apps and platforms we so dearly love. This week, WhatsApp tests the ability to share statuses on Facebook, Twitter releases its stance on public figures and censorship, and Instagram gets a new sticker that allows you to chat.
Share WhatsApp Statuses On Facebook
WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, Inc., has more to it than messages. The app became well known for its ability to level the messaging playing ground and has evolved alongside Facebook and Instagram. Facebook confirmed earlier in the year that the messaging function on WhatsApp would soon merge with Facebook Messenger and Instagram direct messages – although that update is not rolling out until the fall or winter of 2019. While we wait for our messages to all show up in one place, Facebook, Inc is testing WhatsApp’s ability to share statuses across other platforms such as Facebook – similarly to sharing an Instagram post to your Facebook. However, WhatsApp isn’t stopping at Facebook, but also testing this feature across Google Photos and even Gmail! While this raises some eyebrows considering the data sharing incident of 2017, this feature could be useful in letting all your friends on all your platforms know what’s up with you.
Twitter To Hide Harmful Tweets of Political Figures
Twitter announced a new policy this week that allows them to hide (or show less) of a tweet from a political figure that they deem possibly abusive or harmful. In a blog on safety, Twitter said “In the past, we’ve allowed certain Tweets that violated our rules to remain on Twitter because they were in the public’s interest, but it wasn’t clear when and how we made those determinations. Serving the public conversation includes providing the ability for anyone to talk about what matters to them; this can be especially important when engaging with government officials and political figures… By nature of their positions, these leaders have outsized influence and sometimes say things that could be considered controversial or invite debate and discussion,” today’s blog read. “A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable.”
The new process will make it abundantly clear to those who are creating harmful content that their tweet will be less visible. For more information and to read the full blog post, click here.
New Instagram Sticker: Group Chat
Instagram released another new sticker for Instagram Stories, which allows users to click and opt-into a group chat, hosted by the person who posted this sticker. The new Instagram sticker is called “Chat” – which explains exactly what it does. While this sticker option is fun for friends, it is an opportunity for businesses as well to release information – whether it is a sale, a product, a piece of information, or a topic – and to captive “hot leads” who want to know more by clicking on the sticker and opting in.
Did you know 57 percent of brands believe that stories have been “Somewhat effective” or “Very effective” for their marketing?
Learn how to tell your story better on social media at one of our intensive, hands-on bootcamps!
Click here to learn what workshops we have available near you.
