social media
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Facebook announces plan to fight misinformation campaigns
Facebook made its most direct statements about how the platform has been used to spread misinformation in a report released today by its security team. The report acknowledges how actors created a coordinated campaign on the platform to spread misinformation during the 2016 U.S. election, and explains measures Facebook is taking to combat it. “Our mission is to give people the power to… Read More
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A chat with Imzy co-founder Jessica Moreno on building a kinder online community
Jessica Moreno and her co-founder Dan McComas couldn’t find the kind of inclusive online community they were looking for when they left Reddit in the summer of 2015 so they left the Bay Area and headed east to Salt Lake City to start Imzy, a community platform encouraging kinder interactions with like-minded individuals. Moreno and McComas spent six years prior to… Read More
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MikMak is using mini infomercials to help retailers turn their stories into sales
MikMak, the New York-based startup that is trying to make short and catchy infomercials (aptly named minimercials) the future of commerce, is launching a new feature to help retailers monetize their stories on Instagram and Snapchat. The new product is called Attach, and serves as a middleman between a retailer’s daily story on a platform like Instagram and the actual product available… Read More
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Twitter is reviewing whether to store some user data in Russia
Twitter is considering localizing the storage of some of its Russian users’ personal data in order to comply with data localization laws, TechCrunch has learned. Read More
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Facebook is improving the 360 video experience by predicting where you will look
From the stage of F8, Joaquin Quinonero, Facebook’s Director of Applied Machine Learning, described a new technique the company is using to improve the watching experience for 360 videos. The format is challenging to deliver because of its size, but Facebook is using machine learning to reduce the number of pixels that have to be rendered at any one time. By predicting where a viewer… Read More
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Facebook analytics gets smarter with Automated Insights and Custom Dashboards
Facebook’s VP of Partnerships, Ime Archibong, announced updates to Facebook Analytics as well as Facebook Login and Account Kit during his F8 keynote address. Analytics is getting greater customizability and a machine learning boost while Login and Account Kit are benefiting from additional transparency and accessibility. Read More
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Udacity is going to help Facebook teach engineers within its Developer Circles
Facebook’s been steadily growing its Developer Circles initiative in recent months and today during its annual F8 conference the company provided an update on growth and announced a new partnership with Udacity. Developer Circles is Facebook’s community-driven initiative for engaging with and training developers. Read More
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The Mercury Effect
Facebook hosted a murder. But for all the talk about content moderation, machine learning, flag-monitoring algorithms, the problem isn’t the platform, and it isn’t one that can be solved by the platform. That’s because the problem is people. Read More
Latest Crunch Report
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Facebook releases timeline of Cleveland shooting videos
Facebook is facing backlash after a Cleveland man uploaded a video of himself shooting someone to the social network, and followed it with a Live video confessing to the murder. The slaying and its subsequent distribution across Facebook has raised questions about how the company moderates violent content. Justin Osofsky, Facebook’s vice president of global operations, released a… Read More
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Facebook again under fire for spreading illegal content
An investigation by a British newspaper into child sexual abuse content and terrorist propaganda being shared on Facebook has once again drawn critical attention to how the company handles complaints about offensive and extremist content being shared on its platform. Read More
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Spotting sockpuppets with science
If you’ve ever ventured into the comment section of a website or spent any time on forums or social media, you’ve probably encountered sockpuppets, fake accounts controlled by a single person — though it’s possible you didn’t know it at the time. New research may help ID these overeager commentators automatically, which is good news for engendering sane… Read More
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You can now draw with a thicker brush in Snapchat
Yesterday Snapchat tweaked their drawing tool so you can draw thicker lines on your snapsterpieces. To change your brush size all you have to do is select a color to draw with, then use two fingers to “pinch” in or out to make the brush size bigger or smaller. Read More
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Amazon quietly launches its own social media influencer program into beta
Social media influencers – like Instagram stars or YouTube celebs – often promote products they like, either as part of a brand relationship or as means of generating income through affiliate sales. Now, Amazon is looking to get in on this action as well. The company has quietly launched the “Amazon Influencer Program,” which is currently in beta testing as of a couple… Read More
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Twitter is getting rid of the egg avatar (because that will totally fix the abuse problem)
Everyone knows that Twitter has a harassment problem. And while the service has tried things like banning abusive users (both on a temporary and permanent basis) it hasn’t really fixed the problem. Today, they’re announcing another sweeping change that fails to address the real problem: they’re cracking the egg. Read More
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UK wants tech firms to build tools to block terrorist content
U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd is holding talks with several major internet companies today to urge them to be more proactive about tackling the spread of extremist content online. Companies in attendance include Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook, along with some smaller internet companies. Read More
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Facebook introduces personal fundraising tools, donate buttons in Facebook Live for Pages
Facebook today announced it’s expanding its set of online fundraising tools to include its own GoFundMe competitor, with the added support for personal online fundraisers. The new tool will allow Facebook users to raise money for personal crises and other campaigns. Facebook also is adding the ability for Facebook Pages to add a “donate” button to their live broadcasts. Read More
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Facebook Stories looks like an ill-fitting mask
Facebook has finally capped off its strategy of cloning Snapchat’s USP by slotting a camera-first, ephemeral multimedia sharing feature into its entire social sharing estate. Read More
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Social media firms facing fresh political pressure after London terror attack
Yesterday UK government ministers once again called for social media companies to do more to combat terrorism. “There should be no place for terrorists to hide,” said Home Secretary Amber Rudd, speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr program. Read More
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A new app lets you list and Shout
Shout is a sharing app. Think of it as a stripped-down Pinterest for those with no interest in messing with pretty photos of cookies and you get the general idea. And I think, with a little work, it could be a go-to collaboration tool for partners shopping for supplies, couples interested in not buying two boxes of beans at the grocery store, and a micro-blogging platform for the plugged… Read More
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