Umpf / Blog / Friday Social: Top Twitter Quiz, Fake Instagram Posts & Facebook Controversy

Friday Social: Top Twitter Quiz, Fake Instagram Posts & Facebook Controversy

  • Social Media

Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter – @Umpf

Instagram Users Can Report ‘False Content’

Instagram users will soon be able to report posts they believe are fake – but only in America.

The photo-sharing site announced the plans this week, which aim to stop the spread of misinformation.

Posts rated as false by other users are then removed from areas where you can discover or search for new content, such as the ‘explore’ tab and hashtag search results.

It’s only being introduced in the US for now, so we’ll have to wait and see if it’s rolled out further.

Twitter to Offer New ‘Follow Topic’ Option

This week company bosses at Twitter said they’re rethinking the layout of the app’s timelines – with the possibility of pushing users to follow ‘topics’ that bring in well-engaged tweets from a variety of accounts that the user might not necessarily follow.

It’s currently being tested on Android and aims to help users find new accounts and communities with a range of insights.

The social media giant is also testing the ability to not only follow topics in your central timeline, but creating your own secondary timelines where you can bring in multiple topics, accounts and hashtags.

There are also plans to explore options to ‘unfollow’ a topic – helping keep certain tweets out of your timeline and avoiding spoilers for sports games or TV shows.

Facebook Listens to Messenger Recordings

Hundreds of workers were paid to transcribe voice recordings of Facebook users, it has been revealed.

The company is the latest in a string of big names to confirm it used third-party workers to do such work, following the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

Facebook said the work had been stopped ‘more than a week ago’, and added the recordings were transcribed manually to improve the artificial intelligence systems used to automatically transcribe conversations. It also said it was only carried out where users had opted in to transcription services and given permission for microphone access.

Study Reveals Effects of Social Media Use on Children

A new report suggests parents should make sure their children get enough sleep and discuss negative online experiences, rather than worry about the amount of time they spend on social media.

Researchers found that frequent use of social media does appear to be linked to poorer mental health, but the effects were not direct. Instead, they suggested the links to lack of sleep due to social media use, or cyberbullying, are more harmful.

The team suggested keeping phones out of children’s bedrooms, adding that teenagers need up to 10 hours’ sleep a night, and that adults ask children about their negative online experiences and whether they’re being cyberbullied.

And finally…

We love this bit of top content from the Tower of London – see if you can get to the end of this fun (yet incredibly frustrating) quiz: