Instagram Adds Features to Better Compete in Social Space

Meta Platforms is updating Instagram, adding Notes, a way to share using just 60 characters plus emoji, and testing Candid Stories, which allows users to capture what they’re doing in the moment, similar to competing social app BeReal. Notes will appear for 24 hours at the top of the inboxes of those users to follow or on their list of Close Friends, with their replies showing up as DMs. “During testing, we learned that people liked having a lightweight, easy way to share what’s on their mind and start conversations,” Meta says. Continue reading Instagram Adds Features to Better Compete in Social Space

Twitter Circle Goes Wide with Tweets for 150 of Your Friends

Twitter is rolling out Twitter Circle globally on iOS, Android and on Twitter.com. The feature, which emulates Instagram’s Close Friends, lets people tweet to a select circle of up to 150 connections. “With Twitter Circle, people now have the flexibility to choose who can see and engage with their content on a tweet-by-tweet basis,” the company said, couching it as a way to “have more intimate conversations and build closer connections with select followers.” Before posting on Twitter, users will now see an option to share tweets with either their circle or full followers list. Continue reading Twitter Circle Goes Wide with Tweets for 150 of Your Friends

Facebook Unveils New Features to Keep You from Using Other Networks

  • Facebook has announced a few new features to help users organize information and friends, “features that could, put simply, eliminate your desire to use any other social network,” reports The Next Web.
  • New Friends Lists are created automatically based on similarities in profile information (people you work with, go to school with, etc.). There is also a Close Friends list and Acquaintances as well as Suggestions that allow you to manage friends lists easily.
  • Facebook also features the Subscribe button “eliminating your desire for any other network.” Similar to Twitter’s “follow” you can subscribe to non-friends and select what specific information you’d like to receive from them (like updates, photos, and/or games). Users can post information publicly or just to friends (so subscribers won’t see).
  • Latest from Facebook, The Next Web reports in a related article, is the ability to tag non-friends in comments and posts.
  • These changes may help users to navigate information and target certain groups of friends more easily.