LinkedIn is expanding its Clubhouse-style live audio feature as it looks to draw more creators to its platform. The company, which first launched live audio events in January, will now open up hosting capabilities to all creators.

With the update, all LinkedIn creators who use the platform’s “creator mode” will be able to host live audio events so long as they stay in line with the platform’s “community policies of being a trustworthy, safe, and professional provider of content.” Though event hosting is currently limited to creators, any LinkedIn user is able to participate in the chats.

Similar to Clubhouse, creators on LinkedIn can schedule their audio events in advance and share the upcoming talks with their network. The company says creators are already using audio features to expand their professional networks, connect with potential clients and reach new followers. Video-centric live events are also in the works, though LinkedIn hasn’t given an update on when that will launch. 

The expansion comes as LinkedIn has significantly ramped up its efforts to become a more creator-centric platform. The company says more than 10 million people are using the site’s creator mode, nearly double the 5.5 million who were using it in March. Now, LinkedIn is trying to help those creators broaden their reach. The company is tweaking the way creator profiles and their content appear in search results and in the LinkedIn feed in order to make it easier for people to find and follow them. It also plans to make creator profiles embeddable to outside websites so creators can more easily promote their LinkedIn content on other platforms.

TikTok will allow users to create and customize animated avatars to star in their videos. The feature, officially called TikTok Avatars, is a lot like Snapchat’s Bitmoji or Apple’s Memoji characters.

Users can customize the look of their avatar by changing its appearance, clothing and other characteristics like piercings and hair texture. The app will have ready-made templates that can be tweaked, or you can start from scratch to create a completely unique avatar. Once the avatar is created, TikTokers can use the character in their videos, with the ability to add different voice effects or animated “reactions.” And, similar to Apple’s Memoji, users can record videos in which their avatar mirrors their own facial expressions and gestures.

TikTok Avatars was first spotted back in February, though the company hadn’t confirmed its existence until now. Though the company is hardly the first to experiment with animated representations of its users, the addition is likely to raise questions about whether TikTok is eyeing a potential metaverse tie-in. For now, the company hasn’t commented on any metaverse plans, but TikTok says it plans to “continue exploring ways to bring Avatars into more TikTok experiences.”

Apple is working on a new whiteboard-style app to enable people to collaborate in real-time. Called "Freeform," the app allow groups to work together via FaceTime. Freeform will be available on iPadsOS 16 "later this year," and will also be available on macOS and iOS.

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Apple is expanding its personal safety features in iOS 16 with Safety Check, a new feature meant to make it easier to lock down privacy and security settings. Safety check allows users to quickly review which contacts may have access to their location or calendar info, as well as the permissions being used by individual apps.

The feature is formatted into a checklist to make it easy to review and revoke access on an app-by-app or contact-by-contact basis. The company said the feature could be particularly impactful for people trying to flee an abusive relationship.There's also "emergency reset" that allows people to reset their Apple ID password and revoke access to specific apps and personal information. 

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Apple will soon allow you to take back messages you didn't really want to send. The upgraded Messages app in iOS 16 is getting a new "undo send" feature, as well as the ability to edit chats you've already sent and mark threads as unread. 

The company is also giving dictation a serious upgrade, which should make it easier to send messages on the go. With the updates, dictation can automatically add punctuation to longer messages, and can even add relevant emoji characters. 

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Meta is adding a slew of new tools to Reels as it tries to keep up with TikTok. The updates include new editing features, longer uploads and the ability to push reels into Facebook feeds. The changes come as Meta has made competing with TikTok one of its top priorities. Mark Zuckerberg has said that attracting younger users — who are increasingly spending more of their time on TikTok, not Meta-owned apps — is the company’s “north star.” And that Reels will be “as important for our products as Stories.”

In keeping with that theme, Reels on Instagram are getting several features that have long been popular on Stories, including poll, emoji and quiz stickers, which have helped boost engagement with Stories over the years.

The app is also adding new editing tools that should give creators more flexibility in the types of videos they can create in the Instagram app. Notably, creators will be able to import their own audio, so they can add sounds from videos in their Camera Roll to their Reels.Instagram is also adding templates, to make it easier to riff on other creators’ videos. Finally, the app is expanding the maximum length of Reels to 90 seconds, which is nowhere near the 10-minute videos TikTok recently announced, but is a significant bump from the previous 60-second limit.

Meta is refreshing Reels on Facebook as well. The company is adding separate editing tools for desktop, including video clipping features so creators can easily grab portions of live and other longer form videos and turn them into Reels. Facebook is also getting new scheduling and audio tools to more easily publish and edit reels from desktop.

Finally, Facebook will start pushing a lot more “suggested” Reels into users’ feeds. Reels will appear more often on Facebook, similar to how Reels have slowly been taking over Instagram’s feed in recent months. The company will also prompt Instagram creators to start cross-posting their Reels to Facebook.

Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down as COO of Meta after 14 years as one of Mark Zuckerberg's top lieutenants at the company. She will remain on the company's board, spokesperson Andy Stone said. 

It wasn't immediately clear who will replace her.

"The debate around social media has changed beyond recognition since those early days," Sandberg wrote on Facebook. "To say it hasn’t always been easy is an understatement."

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Instagram will start pushing Amber Alerts to users’ feeds to notify them about missing children in their area. The company says the feature will start rolling out tomorrow and it will be live in 25 countries over “the next couple of weeks.” 

Even so, Instagram users shouldn’t expect to see them very often. The company notes that the alerts are meant to be “rare and specific to the search area.” Instagram will use factors like IP addresses and location data (if enabled) in order to determine which accounts to push the notices too.

When they do appear, the alerts will crop up in users feeds, not as in-app notifications. Unlike the mobile notifications that are often pushed via wireless carriers for Amber Alerts, Instagram's version will include a photo and description of the missing child, as well other relevant details, like where they were last seen. There will also be a phone number to report sightings or other tips to law enforcement.

While not the first time Meta has added Amber Alerts — Facebook started surfacing them to users in 2015 — the company notes Instagram could be particularly impactful as it’s a “visual-first” platform that is already widely used by teens.

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a $150 million fine for Twitter over its"deceptive" use of user data for targeted advertising. The charge stems from the company’s admission in 2019 that it had for years used Twitter users’ phone numbers provided for two-factor authentication to also serve targeted ads. The company said at the time that its use of the phone numbers for ads was “an error.”

We’ve reached out to Twitter for comment.

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If attendees at Twitter’s annual shareholder meeting were hoping to clear up confusion surrounding Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company, they likely left disappointed. Despite numerous questions about the future of Twitter, the company's executives had little to say about Musk, who did not attend the meeting.

“We’re working through the transaction process,” CEO Parag Agrawal said during the meeting. The status of the deal has been somewhat unclear since Musk announced it was “on hold,” due to his concerns about bots on the platform. Twitter executives have maintained they are moving forward with their plans.

“Even as we work towards closing this transaction, our teams and I remain focused on the important work we do every day to serve the public conversation,” Agrawal said.

Twitter had said ahead of the meeting that it wouldn’t answer questions related to Musk’s acquisition of the company, which will need to be formally approved by Twitter stockholders at a later date. Even so, shareholders tried to get Twitter executives to address the issue. The very first question in the Q&A portion of the meeting asked what will happen to Twitter shareholders’ stock if “someone” buys the company and takes it private. “We aren't able to address these questions today,” Sean Edgett, Twitter’s General Counsel, said, directing people to the company’s previous SEC filings.

Shareholders also raised questions about the future of the company’s content moderation policies. Agrawal said the company remains “focused” on existing its current policies and “decreasing our reliance on user reports.” Though he didn’t directly address comments Musk has made about loosening its rules, he said that “silencing political commentary is antithetical to our commitment to free speech.”

The meeting also marks the end of co-founder Jack Dorsey’s tenure with Twitter. He had stepped aside as CEO in November, but remained on the board of directors until the meeting. As with much of Twitter’s future, it was unclear who will succeed him.