In social media news this week, Facebook cuts ties with Twitter reports, Messenger wants its users and friends to have fun in AR and Snapchat utilises your voice for its Lenses.
Facebook Says Its Goodbyes
Facebook puts an end to its time with Twitter as it stops users being able to post directly from their Twitter account. If you posted tweets or retweets to your Facebook account from your Twitter profile, then you may be saddened by the news that Facebook has cut its ties with Twitter and lots of other apps in an aid to clean up its system – auto-posting is now a thing of the past! Many will now be forced to find alternatives to automatically posting content, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As with all new updates, there are some positives, as users will now have to change their content to post to Facebook from Twitter, meaning errors from cross-posting will start to decline. Nothing is more dreadful than seeing a hashtag that worked on Twitter, dive bomb on Facebook and with the barrier up, the hashtags can stay where they belong…and work.
AR Multiplayer on Messenger
For those of you looking to play with friends online but can’t splash out on an XBOX One or PlayStation 4 this summer, Facebook has added new features to Messenger that will make connecting with other users a whole lot more fun! Messenger now has two new AR games on the platform that let you play with up to six friends…so far. It looks like Facebook is taking full advantage of its AR tools, by using them to connect people in a livelier environment. There are only two games up at the moment, but Facebook are looking to create more in the upcoming future. However, right now you can verse your friends at a serious face contest in Don’t Smile, or guide a spaceship with your nose in Asteroids Attack.
The Power of Your Voice
Snapchat has also added to its Lenses feature this week, with the introduction of Lenses that can simply be triggered by your voice. That’s right, you can stop raising your eyebrows and trying to get that smile right as Snapchat have made it so certain words will activate an animated Lens. At the moment, the sensors are working with simple words like ‘Yes’ and ‘Love’, which will trigger different effects when said. It’s definitely a step forward for Snapchat and it’ll be interesting to see if voice-controlled lenses will make the other styles redundant. However, I for one will miss having to smile horrifyingly at the camera until dog ears appear on my head.
