social media
Roots is designed to help people get a better handle on what sort of apps are worth spending time on and which are not.
Former Snap engineer launches Butterflies, a social network where AIs and humans coexist
Butterflies wants to let users create AI personas that then take on their own lives and coexist with others.
There has been a lot of bad news about social media startups lately. Multiple companies, including Twitter alternative Post News, and IRL have shut down. And ShareChat’s valuation has dropped…
TikTok is testing streaks that are similar to Snapchat’s in order to boost engagement, including how long people stay on the app.
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.
How Maven’s AI-run ‘serendipity network’ can make social media interesting again
Everything in society can feel geared toward optimization — whether that’s standardized testing or artificial intelligence algorithms. We’re taught to know what outcome you want to achieve, and find the…
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. OpenAI announced this week that…
Elon Musk’s X is preparing to make “likes” private on the social network, in a change that could potentially confuse users over the difference between something they’ve favorited and something…
Social networking startup and X competitor Bluesky is officially launching DMs (direct messages), the company announced on Wednesday. Later, Bluesky plans to “fully support end-to-end encrypted messaging down the line,”…
Meta Threads is testing pinned columns on the web, similar to the old TweetDeck
X, formerly Twitter, turned TweetDeck into X Pro and pushed it behind a paywall. But there is a new column-based social media tool in town, and it’s from Instagram Threads.…
Reddit announced on Wednesday that it is reintroducing its awards system after shutting down the program last year. The company said that most of the mechanisms related to awards will…
If you write the words “cis” or “cisgender” on X, you might be served this full-screen message: “This post contains language that may be considered a slur by X and…
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…
WhatsApp is introducing a new way for people to organize events in Communities, the company announced on Wednesday. The feature makes it easier to plan get-togethers and events directly in…
Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in the fall of 2022, the market for Twitter alternatives has been saturated with would-be competitors ranging from smaller startups to open source apps to…
Bill to strengthen national tipline for missing and exploited children heads to Biden’s desk
A bipartisan bill designed to protect children from online sexual exploitation is headed to President Biden’s desk. Proposed by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-SC), the bill aims…
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.
Social media companies have too much political power, 78% of Americans say in Pew survey
Finally, something that both sides of the aisle can agree on: social media companies are too powerful. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 78% of American adults…
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone joins board of Mastodon’s new US nonprofit
Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder, is among those who have joined the board of directors of Mastodon’s new U.S. nonprofit, Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko announced over the weekend. Mastodon’s service,…
Why Meta is looking to the fediverse as the future for social media
Meta’s move into the open social web, also known as the fediverse, is puzzling. Does the Facebook owner see open protocols as the future? Will it embrace the fediverse only…
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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…
Bluesky backs a project that would let Mastodon apps, like Ivory, work with its network
SkyBridge was among the recipients of a small distribution of $4,800 in grant funding from Bluesky, distributed across projects.
AirChat, the buzzy new social app, could be great — or, it could succumb to the same fate as Clubhouse
Over the weekend, another social media platform exploded into the fray: AirChat. The app is like a combination of Twitter and Clubhouse. Instead of typing a post, you speak it.…
Snap plans to add watermarks to images created with its AI-powered tools
Social media service Snap said on Tuesday that it plans to add watermarks to AI-generated images on its platform. The watermark is a translucent version of the Snap logo with…
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…
Naval Ravikant’s Airchat is a social app built around talk, not text
Airchat is a new social media app that encourages users to “just talk.” A previous version of Airchat was released last year, but the team — led by AngelList founder…
From remote work to magnetic keyboard switches, we have your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.
It actually makes sense that in an era of oversaturation, people would escape to a more quiet and rather peaceful corner of the internet to dream once more.
Lyrak to take on X by combining the best of Twitter with fediverse integration
Lyrak is a new X rival that aims to differentiate itself by focusing on real-time news and monetization options for creators.
Flipboard deepens its ties to the open source social web (aka the fediverse)
Flipboard users can now see their new followers and other activity around the content they share in the fediverse directly in the Flipboard app.
