Sometimes a YouTube video deserves more nuanced feedback than a simple comment, or a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down”. YouTube today is testing timed-specific emoji reactions for a small group of users. Viewers can throw out an emoji when a specific moment in a video resonates with them (or doesn’t). 

Users can also get a feel for how others reacted throughout the duration of a video. There will be a separate reaction panel in the comment section of each video that will display emoji reactions by the moment, similar to features already offered by Facebook Live and Twitch. 

“If you’re watching a video that is part of this experiment, you can react and see crowd reactions by opening the comment section of the video and tapping into the reaction panel. The test will also show you which moments other viewers are reacting to (which will be anonymized – we won't show who sent each reaction). We're testing multiple sets of reactions and will add or remove reactions based on how the experiment goes!,” wrote Meaghan, a representative from Team YouTube.

Google frequently experiments with new features on YouTube, but they don't always become permanent. YouTube recently tested letting users time their comments to specific points in a video and hiding the “dislike” button. As far as user engagement goes, YouTube is relatively light on options. 

Emoji reactions have been hit-or-miss on other social media platforms. Twitter experimented with emoji reactions to tweets last year, and reactions were largely ambivalent. But unlike tweets, videos are a lengthier medium and more likely to elicit a multitude of reactions. YouTube creators are likely to receive more detailed user feedback via emoji as well, such as being able to nail down if a joke landed or bombed.

YouTube is testing emoji reactions on a small number of channels to start but will expand the feature depending on the reception. Users will have a wide array of emoji reactions at their disposal, including the face with tears of joy, a heart, the shocked face, the celebration party poppers, the “keep it 100” sign, a question mark, the idea light bulb and a screaming cat.

Reddit is looking into the possibility of introducing some video features reminiscent of TikTok's, according to TechCrunch. While the project is still in its very early stages and hasn't even entered the testing phase yet, TechCrunch says it could include TikTok-like video editing tools that make it easy for you to "react" to another person's post or to incorporate it into your content.

On TikTok, you can use a feature called Duet to put your video side by side with another user's to create remixes, parodies and the like. In 2020, the service also introduced Stitch, which lets you integrate scenes from another video into your own. It enabled the quick creation of funny responses to viral videos and even responses that fact check wrong information going around on the platform. Reddit does allow you to post videos on its website, but it doesn't have features like Duet and Stitch yet.

You probably wouldn't think of Reddit if you're made to list social networks with a focus on video. And the goal of this project isn't to create a TikTok competitor, but rather to provide its users another way to engage in discussions, especially if the original post is also a video. Reddit did purchase TikTok rival Dubsmash back in 2020, but it shut down the service in February this year and incorporated video features from the defunct video-sharing platform. This particular project will also use video technology from Dubsmash. 

A spokesperson told TechCrunch that Reddit is now reaching out to individual communities to see if they're interested in the new video features. It will only take steps to begin initial testing after they receive (most likely positive) feedback from the communities:

"In line with our work to help people engage in the topics that matter to them through social audio, video, text, memes, and more, we're in the process of reaching out to a few Reddit communities to see if a new video feature we’re working on is something they find useful and fun. After getting feedback from Redditors, we’ll explore an initial test for this new capability."

Twitter is expanding DM searches to help you find the exact conversation you're looking for. The social media app now lets you use the search bar in the DM inbox to find specific messages. Type in a keyword or name, pick the "Messages" tab and you'll see any relevant messages, including older ones.

The company didn't mention which platforms supported the feature (we've asked for comment). As of this writing, we could only search for people or groups on the web.

Twitter introduced DM searches in 2019, when they became available to iOS app users. The feature didn't come to Android until 2021, but Twitter delivered an upgraded version that allowed searches of your full history rather than just recent threads. The firm teased the ability to search message content later that year, but it clearly took longer to deliver the upgrade than anticipated. Still, this might be appreciated if you're trying to unearth a must-have restaurant or revisit a favorite discussion.

For the first time, YouTube is letting users in the US stream thousands of free, ad-supported TV shows like Hell's Kitchen, Heartland and Unsolved Mysteries, it announced. That will put it into competition with OTA (over-the-air) TV and streaming services with ad tiers including Peacock, the Roku Channel, Tubi and others. 

YouTube will offer around 4,000 free TV episodes on top of the 1,500 movies already available. This month, it added a raft of new movie titles including Gone in Sixty Seconds, Runaway Bride and Legally Blonde, now available to stream for free (in the USA only) with ads.

With the new TV offerings, YouTube is no doubt hoping to keep American users glued to its platform. Having dozens of episodes from multiple series will allow users to binge like they do on Netflix and other platforms, though most of the content on offer is not what you'd call prestige TV. One of its biggest rivals in that regard is Roku TV, which had a very public dispute with YouTube that was only recently resolved.

Until last year, YouTube had been trying to fill content holes with its own programming via YouTube Originals. Earlier in 2022, however, it announced that it was largely abandoning those ambitions and would focus strictly on its Black Voices and YouTube Kids Funds. The program had some success with shows like Cobra Kai, but didn't pose much of a threat to services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. 

The humble GIF may have been invented in 1987, but in many ways, it’s never been more popular. Whether you pronounce the acronym with a soft g as its creator does or with a hard one as most people do, many of us turn to GIFs when we want to share memorable clips of TV shows, movies and news hits.

And if you’re a frequent Twitter user, the company is making it easier to create and share those clips. It has updated its iOS app to include a built-in GIF capture feature. All you have to do is open the camera module and swipe over to the GIF mode to record one of your own clips. You can see the feature in action in the tweet where Twitter announced its availability. At the moment, the feature is only available on iOS. When Engadget reached out to Twitter to ask about the GIF functionality making its way to Android, the company told us feedback it gathered from iOS users would “inform future updates.”

When Twitter reopened its form for verification requests last year, it also teased upcoming changes to its website. Those changes include a space for pronouns in the profile section, along with your other information. It's been almost a year since we first heard about the project, but now reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi has found proof that the company is indeed developing the feature and may have started testing it. Paluzzi has discovered a yet-to-be rolled out section when you edit your profile that lets you add whatever pronoun you want to use.

It's high time for Twitter to give its users the ability to do so. The social network is late to the party, after all: Facebook users have been able to choose their pronouns for years, though their options are limited to three. Instagram started allowing people to display up to four pronouns next to their name in their profile last year. LinkedIn also introduced a dedicated space for pronouns in profiles in 2021. And, after work-from-home arrangements took off due to the pandemic, Zoom and Slack followed suit. The video conferencing apps gives users the option to show their pronouns next to their names in meetings, while the business messaging platform made the space for pronouns a default feature last year. Previously, companies have had to add the option as a customized field for their workers.

That said, Twitter has yet to announce a launch date for the pronoun field.

Twitter said it has "labeled or removed" more than 50,000 pieces of content that broke its policy on manipulated media in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the company shared in a blog post today. Additionally, the platform removed roughly 75,000 accounts for “inauthentic behavior” and spam. Though this number encompassed users not specifically engaged in war propaganda, it included accounts associated with #IStandWithPutin, a hashtag that went viral last month thanks to a coordinated campaign of fake accounts. 

Unlike previous times where a single government or a state information campaign was to blame, Twitter found a wide range of actors were responsible for manipulating the platform, such as those recirculating old conflict footage as if it were new, as well as the many Ukraine-related fundraising scams that have cropped up in the wake of the invasion.

Last month Twitter also promised to not amplify any tweets from users that included links to state-affiliated media (a step-up from its old policy, which was not to amplify or promote tweets that were only directly from accounts of the state-affiliated media). Since February 28th, Twitter says it has labeled more than 61,000 unique tweets that included links to state-run media. It estimates doing so reduced the reach of these tweets by around 30 percent. 

Twitter has allowed Kremlin-backed media like RT and Sputnik (as well as other state-run media) to continue to operate their verified accounts, but labels and accordingly demotes what the outlets tweet. Both propaganda outlets are also banned from advertising on Twitter.

Misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine has thrived on social media, especially in the form of misleading photos and video. The government of Russia has blocked access to most Western-operated platforms for civilians (including Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok), largely as a way to suppress dissent amongst its own people. But the Kremlin’s own disinformation campaigns on these platforms appear to continue apace. A Russia-backed theory that the U.S. is helping Ukraine build bioweapons was further amplified by Chinese state media, as well as far-right and right-wing figures in the United States.

Netflix is finally gearing up to do something about unauthorized account sharing. After testing a notification last year that pushed people to stop mooching and get their own Netflix accounts, the company has announced another test in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru that will let subscribers pay extra to share their account with people outside of their home. According to Variety, subscribers will be able to add up to two "sub-members" for $2.99 each in Costa Rica. Those users will get their own Netflix logins, recommendations and profile. 

Additionally, Netflix will also let subscribers in those countries transfer individual profiles to completely separate accounts. That'll make it easy for moochers to keep their queue and recommendations intact. The company isn't committing to these features globally yet, but if it works out in those countries, don't be surprised if it starts nagging your parents to pay extra for your account.

"We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans," Chengyi Long, director of Netflix Product Innovation, said in a blog post. "While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households - impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members."

If anything, it's surprising it's taken Netflix this long to do something about account sharing. The practice is explicitly forbidden in the company's Terms of Service, but it's something many people do anyway. (And really, grandma doesn't need her own account just to watch her stories.) After raising its prices in North America earlier this year, it wouldn't be too shocking to see the company push for additional fees.

Just days after introducing a feature that made an algorithmically-generated feed the default for iOS users, Twitter is changing things back to the way they were before. “We heard you,” the company said. “Some of you always want to see latest tweets first. We’ve switched the timeline back and removed the tabbed experience for now while we explore other options.”

If didn’t follow the controversy Twitter created for itself, it all started last year when the company began testing a new tabbed interface for switching between its algorithmically-generated “Home” feed and reverse-chronolgical “Latest” feed. On March 10th, the company began rolling out the feature to iOS, promising it would come to its Android app and web client soon after. But what many people found, and ended up complaining about, was that the feature would default their feed to the algorithmic one every time they opened the app.

This isn’t the first time an internet company has rolled back a feature, but it shows that many people still want a chronological feed and dislike it when companies try to take that functionality away from them. When it comes to Twitter, there’s a case to be made that many people come to the platform to get first-hand accounts and information when there’s breaking news. So making that version of the website difficult to access isn’t doing anyone any favors.

With the Kremlin restricting access to online platforms like Twitter and Instagram in recent days, people in Russia are quickly losing access to information about the war in Ukraine that doesn’t come from the government. Enter Squad303, a website created by a group of Polish programmers to help people from around the world establish a dialogue with their Russian counterparts.

Spotted by The Wall Street Journal, the website randomly generates a number or email address for you to contact. It pulls from a database that contains 20 million cellphone numbers and approximately 140 million email addresses. Since the Squad303 went online on March 6th, its creators told The Journal that individuals from around the world have sent nearly 7 million text messages and 2 million emails in Russian, along with countless images and videos from the conflict.

“Our aim was to break through Putin’s digital wall of censorship and make sure that Russian people are not totally cut off from the world and the reality of what Russia is doing in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for told the outlet.

The website is named after the Royal Air Force’s famous 303 Fighter Squadron. It was one 16 units made up of Polish airmen that flew for the RAF during World War II. The 303 played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain, shooting down the largest number of Luftwaffe aircraft during the months-long campaign. In another historical allusion, the creators of Squad303 compared their project to Radio Free Europe, which began as a US-funded effort to broadcast news, information and analysis to Soviet satellite states during the Cold War.

Using the website, The Journal was able to talk to a 25-year-old law student from Moscow. They told the outlet they opposed the war but said they didn’t plan to protest against it for fear of retribution from the government. “Am I supposed to risk my education, my future?” the student said. “I know Putin is killing people in Ukraine, but it is not my fault, I am not killing anyone, and I am not supporting any wars.”

Even engaging in conversations like the one above is risky for Russians. Videos have recently emerged allegedly showing Russian police stopping commuters to screen the messages on their phones for signs of dissent.