In social media news this week, Facebook tests a feature that will let users upload their own voice clips, Twitter wants to verify all of its users, Youtube reaches out to Wikipedia for facts and Snapchat starts work on a ‘mentions’ feature.
Facebook Wants You to Use Your Voice
Ever had something to say in your head, but you couldn’t quite put it into typed words? Well Facebook, once again, is here to save the day. This week, the social site has been testing ways for people to communicate on the platform further than status updates, shared videos and photos. They confirmed that they are working on a Voice Clips feature that will let users share their updates via their own voice box. This will create a whole new way to communicate and share as it opens up the channel to podcasts and mini-speeches. The new feature will align with Facebook’s plans to return to its original purpose – to connect friends and family.
There are still some questions unanswered though such as ‘How long can the voice clip recording be?’ and ‘Is there a fool-proof method that means I won’t sit on my phone during a strong, solo karaoke session?’
Blue Ticks for Everyone
The blue Twitter tick was only available to a select few – celebrities, businesses and established brands. However, it seems Twitter is looking to open the verification symbol to everyone, making it less of mark of prestige and fame and more of an indicator of real identity. Twitter want the tick to steer away from the idea that if someone has the symbol, then the social media site backs what they say and regard their tweets as eligible and deem them worthy to be read by all.
Youtube Tries to Set It Straight
Youtube has decided to use Wikipedia to help users understand different viewpoints on popular conspiracy theories videos. They aim to give users every angle to a story to avoid controversy with a feature that links to the relevant news article. This comes after the video site came under fire for the debatable algorithm it uses for recommendations.
Hey, Did Snapchat Mention…?
Snapchat has confirmed that it is working on a ‘mentions’ feature in its Stories, so users can ‘@’ their friends in their snaps. When someone is tagged in a story, their username and Bitmoji can be accessed by swiping up and the user can be added from the feature.
It’s essentially for those who want to shout out their friend for people to add, but it might work interestingly in the world of influencer marketing. I guess only time and tags will tell.
