BRB, exploring a whole new world…
Facebook Pay has started rolling out to U.S. Facebook and Messenger accounts, and will eventually be able to facilitate payments across the full Facebook family of platforms (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp). It’s currently only available for fundraisers, person-to-person payments, event tickets, in-game purchases, and select Facebook Marketplace purchases. Payments will be processed in cooperation with Stripe, PayPal, and other payment processing services, and will accept most credit and debit cards. (Facebook notes that Facebook Pay is totally separate from its planned Calibra digital wallet, which is tied to its Libra cryptocurrency project.)
Facebook’s mobile app now allows greater control over your Shortcuts. You can now control both which features offer visible Shortcuts at the bottom of your app, and which ones will show you notifications (those annoying little red dots). Shortcuts that can be shown or hidden include Marketplace, Watch, Groups, Events, Profile, Friend Requests, News, Today In, Gaming and Dating, among others.
Instagram is officially expanding their test of hiding Like counts on posts to the United States. As usual, we haven’t been paying attention to Canada, so people are really surprised by this news, even though it’s been in testing in Canada and elsewhere since April.
Instagram has also introduced the new Instagram Reels feature in Brazil, which takes direct aim at TikTok by letting users create 15-second videos set to music. Reels will be shareable within Stories and separately discoverable on the Explore tab, with a “Top Reels” sub-tab to encourage virality.
Twitter’s preparing to launch the new Topics feature, which will let you follow conversations around particular topics the same way you’d follow an account (or, more relevantly, the way you can now follow hashtags on Instagram). They claim suggested posts will be “relevant” and “valuable"; if the Trending posts are any indication, I am skeptical, but am still looking forward to the feature.
Twitter is also addressing the continued presence of “deepfake” accounts - or, rather, “synthetic and manipulated media” - on the platform, and are seeking public feedback on how to moderate such content. They seem to be seeking less of a removal policy, and more of a reporting and labeling structure.
YouTube’s revised terms of service have some users worried their accounts will be deleted if they are dubbed “not commercially viable.”