Acquired by Facebook in 2012 for what is now the bargain price of $1 billion, Instagram continues to be a flagship platform within the Meta portfolio and TechCrunch continues to cover its evolution. Instagram has recently shifted its focus toward Reels, its short-form video product that is strongly reminiscent of TikTok, and its latest offshoot platform Threads, which is the company’s X challenger that could also become the wider public’s introduction to the fediverse and federated social networks.
Instagram Threads is rolling out the ability for users to signal which sort of posts they wanted to see more or less of by swiping.
The change would see Instagram becoming more like the free version of YouTube, which requires users to view ads before and in the middle of watching videos.
Instagram tests ‘trial reels’ that don’t display to a creator’s followers
Instagram is testing a way for creators to experiment with reels without committing to having them displayed on their profiles, giving the social network a possible edge over TikTok and…
Instagram now lets teens limit interactions to their ‘Close Friends’ group to combat harassment
Instagram is expanding the scope of its “Limits” tool specifically for teenagers that would let them restrict unwanted interactions with people.
Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses now let you share images directly to your Instagram Story
Meta is updating its Ray-Ban smart glasses with new hands-free functionality, the company announced on Wednesday. Most notably, users can now share an image from their smart glasses directly to…
Meta’s latest experiment borrows from BeReal’s and Snapchat’s core ideas
Meta is once again taking on its competitors by developing a feature that borrows concepts from others — in this case, BeReal and Snapchat. The company is developing a feature…
EU opens child safety probes of Facebook and Instagram, citing addictive design concerns
Facebook and Instagram are under formal investigation in the European Union over child protection concerns, the Commission announced Thursday. The proceedings follow a raft of requests for information to parent…
Meta’s newest social network, Threads, is starting its own fact-checking program after piggybacking on Instagram and Facebook’s network for a few months.
Over the weekend, Instagram announced that it is expanding its creator marketplace to 10 new countries — this marketplace connects brands with creators to foster collaboration. The new regions include…
Meta is encouraging more users to post to its X rival Threads. In its latest experiment, the company is providing an easy toggle for users to cross-post from Instagram to…
Threads users can now exert more control over who can quote their posts. This builds on a feature that already allows Threads users to limit who can reply to their…
Instagram now lets you post a secret Story that viewers can uncover with a DM
Instagram is adding a handful of new features for Stories to give users more creative ways to share content and engage with each other, the company announced on Friday. Most…
Instagram is updating its algorithm to surface more content from smaller, original creators
Instagram is introducing a few new changes to its ranking systems to better highlight content from smaller, original creators.
Meta’s Threads social network passed the 150 million monthly users mark recently, but the company is not slowing down its growth engine. To increase engagement, the social media giant is…
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Gen Z is losing its political voice on social media
President Joe Biden signed the bill this week that could ban TikTok from the U.S. if its parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform. According to young political content creators, the ban could decimate Gen Z’s access to political news and information. “An unfortunately large amount of 18- to 24-year-olds…
Threads launches custom mute filters, teases controls for quote posts
Threads and Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today that Threads is launching a new feature that lets users filter out words and phrases from their feeds and mentions. The “Hidden…
Meta adds its AI chatbot, powered by Llama 3, to the search bar across its apps
Meta’s making several big moves today to promote its AI services across its platform. The company has upgraded its AI chatbot with its newest large language model, Llama 3, and…
TikTok starts testing its Instagram competitor TikTok Notes in Canada and Australia
TikTok is rolling out its Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes, in select markets. The app is available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in Canada and Australia, the…
Meta’s Oversight Board probes explicit AI-generated images posted on Instagram and Facebook
The Oversight Board, Meta’s semi-independent policy council, is turning its attention to how the company’s social platforms are handling explicit, AI-generated images. Tuesday, it announced investigations into two separate cases…
After struggling with real-time trends, Threads tests a ‘recent’ filter for search results
Meta-owned social network Threads is finally testing a “Recent” filter to sort search results.
Meta to close Threads in Turkey to comply with injunction prohibiting data sharing with Instagram
Meta will “temporarily” shutter Threads in Turkey on April 29, in response to an injunction imposed by the country’s competition authority.
Meta is pushing ahead with its efforts to make its generative AI-powered products available to more users. Apart from testing Meta AI chatbot with users in countries like India on…
Meta will auto-blur nudity in Instagram DMs in latest teen safety step
Meta said on Thursday that it is testing new features on Instagram intended to help safeguard young people from unwanted nudity or sextortion scams. This includes a feature called “Nudity…
Hundreds of creators sign letter slamming Meta’s limit on political content
If you haven’t been seeing much political content on Instagram lately, there’s a reason for that. Since March, Instagram and Threads have instituted a new default setting that limits political…
Meta’s X competitor Threads invites developers to sign up for API access, publishes docs
After opening its developer API to select companies for testing in March, Meta’s Twitter/X competitor Threads is now introducing developer documentation and a sign-up sheet for interested parties ahead of…
TikTok’s upcoming Instagram competitor app for sharing photos could be named TikTok Notes, according to screenshots posted by users. TikTok also confirmed the app was in development. Over the last…
Meta explains why the NYC/NJ earthquake didn’t trend earlier in the day
Despite its similarities, Instagram Threads is no X. That’s not to say people weren’t discussing the earthquake on Threads — many were.
For the second time in just over a month, Meta’s apps, including WhatsApp, and to some extent, Messenger and Instagram, faced outages and intermittent issues. While it’s rare for services…
The fediverse — the name for the social network made of interconnected servers, like Mastodon and others — got another boost of legitimacy Tuesday as the @Potus (President of the…
Instagram is developing ‘Blend,’ recommended Reels for you and a friend
Instagram is developing a “Blend” feature that creates a private feed of Reels recommended for you and a friend. The company told TechCrunch on Friday that the feature is an…