Twitter is thinking about new ways to share tweets with specific groups of people. The company showed off two concepts for new features that would allow users to target tweets toward specific audiences without having to switch accounts or change privacy settings.

The first would enable people to designate “trusted friends” so some tweets would only be visible to that group. The idea is similar to Instagram’s “close friends” feature for Stories. According to an image shared by Twitter designer Andrew Courter, Twitter’s version would allow users to toggle the audience much like the way you can choose who is able to reply to you.

He added that “perhaps you could also see trusted friends' Tweets first” in your timeline, which would offer another alternative to the chronological or algorithmic “home” timelines Twitter currently offers.

Twitter

Another feature would allow people to take on different personas or “facets” from the same account. For example, a user could have a professional identity, where they tweet about work-related topics, and a personal one that’s meant more for friends and family. According to the images, users could have the option of making any one persona public or private, and new followers would be able to choose which “facet” they want to see tweets from.

Finally, Courter showed off a new concept for filtering replies that would allow users to choose specific words or phrases “they prefer not to see.” Then, if a user who is replying or mentioning the user tries to use one of those words or phrases, Twitter will let them know the words go against that person’s preference.

Twitter

According to the images shared by Courter, the feature wouldn’t prevent anyone from sending a tweet using the offending words, but it would make it less visible to the person on the receiving end. The idea is similar to other kinds of anti-bullying nudges Twitter has employed in the past, but would go a step further as each user could set their own conversational “boundaries.”

All these features are still just ideas — Courter noted that “we’re not building these yet” — so they may never actually launch. But the company is looking for feedback on the designs, so they could inform future tools Twitter does decide to build. At the very least, it sheds some light on how Twitter is thinking about issues like identity.

Alongside Oculus VR and livestreams, Facebook's gaming ambitions also include the cloud. Today, the company is making free game streaming available to 98 percent of the mainland US and bringing on board a major partner in Ubisoft. Facebook says it has now scaled-up its cloud computing infrastructure to the extent that it can roll out the service to 100 percent of the US by the fall. An international rollout is also underway, beginning in Canada and Mexico and expanding to Western and Central Europe by early 2022.

While its rivals Google and Amazon have opted for a standalone cloud gaming service for a monthly subscription, Facebook has built its offering into its main social network and accompanying Android app. Unlike the competition, which deliver console and PC games over the internet, the social network is focusing on smaller free-to-play mobile titles that it says are easier to host at its data centers. 

After launching cloud gaming on Android in a handful of US states last October, Facebook says it has added 25 titles to the service, including newcomers Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch by Atari, Lego Legacy Heroes Unboxed and Dragon Mania Legends by Gameloft and State of Survival by FunPlus. It's also redesigned its Play section with new categories, including a list of the top games in the US, improved filtering and sorting options.

More than 1.5 million people play cloud-streamed games on Facebook every month, the company revealed. With 195 million daily users in North America and more than 1.87 billion global users, the service has a big runway ahead of it. Despite offering less games than the competition, Facebook will be hoping that its focus on mobile titles can help it to thrive in the lucrative game streaming arena. The cloud gaming market will be worth an estimated $1.4 billion this year and over $5 billion in 2023, according to research firm NewZoo.

To bolster its appeal, Facebook is partnering with France-based developer Ubisoft. The studio's game subscription service is already available on Google Stadia and Amazon Luna, but (for now at least) Facebook will only host its mobile gaming titles. Ubisoft games available on the service include Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, Hungry Shark Evolution and Hungry Dragon, with Mighty Quest and Trials Frontier launching in the coming months. Facebook also recently acquired Unit 2, the developer behind game creation platform Crayta, with plans to integrate its tools into its cloud gaming platform.

On the infrastructure side, Facebook is focusing on lowering latency caps to allow it to host even more game genres across multiple devices. Currently, it says its "sweet spot" is in mobile sports, card, simulation, strategy, action-adventure, and puzzle titles, but it plans to add more variety to the mix in the coming months. 

Facebook says it is still working to get cloud gaming onto iOS devices. Though its gaming app is available on iPhones and iPads, it doesn't include playable games due to Apple's restrictions on third-party software.

Instagram doesn't see itself anymore as a platform where people go to share and look at photos. That's the main takeaway from a series of recent comments made by the head of the company, Adam Mosseri. "We're no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app," Mosseri said in a video he posted to his social media accounts this week. According to Mosseri, the main reason for that is that people come to Instagram "to be entertained," and it's not the only app that offers that in what is a crowded marketplace.

"Let's be honest, there's some really serious competition right now," Mosseri said. "TikTok is huge, YouTube is even bigger and there are a lot of other upstarts as well." To stay competitive, Mosseri said Instagram has to embrace that aspect of itself. "And that means change." One way the app will change is with Instagram handing out more recommendations. Mosseri referenced a test the company kicked off last week that's seen it intersperse "Suggested Posts" in users' feeds. He also said Instagram plans to embrace video more broadly, focusing on full-screen and immersive content.

In short, what Mosseri is describing is Instagram becoming more like TikTok. And that's something we've already seen the company try to do with features like Reels. Of course, it's one thing to adapt to your rivals and another to lose sight of what made your platform compelling to people in the first place. Together with things like a dedicated shopping hub, Reels and Stories have made Instagram feel bloated and less vital than it was before.

Facebook, Google, TikTok and Twitter have committed to battle online abuse and improve women's safety on their platforms. The four tech giants made the promises during the UN Generation Equality Forum in Paris.

The pledge follows four consultations arranged by the Web Foundation that took place over 11 months. The organization then ran a few policy design workshops in April to "develop prototypes that center the experiences of women most impacted by online abuse." Two core themes emerged: Curation, with a broad recommendation to "build better ways for women to curate their safety online," and Reporting, with a call to "implement improvements to reporting systems."

The tech companies promised to offer users more granular settings over who can see, comment on, reply to or share posts. Easier navigation and access to safety features, simpler and more accessible language across the user interface and "proactively reducing the amount of abuse" that women encounter are also among the commitments.

As for reporting, Facebook, Google, TikTok and Twitter say they'll enable users to have the option of tracking and managing the reports they file as well, as having more ways for women to access support and help as they go through the reporting process. The other commitments include "enabling greater capacity to address context and/or language" and "providing more policy and product guidance when reporting abuse."

According to the Web Foundation, the companies pledged to implement their solutions within a certain time frame. They'll provide insights and data on how they're carrying out those commitments. The Web Foundation will publish annual reports on their progress as well.

More than 200 prominent figures have signed an open letter to the CEOs of the four companies, urging them to take action based on the promises. Among those who have signed the letter are actors Emma Watson and Gillian Anderson, UK Members of Parliament Diane Abbott and Jess Phillips, Creative Commons CEO Catherine Stihler and ex-Australia prime minister Julia Gillard.

The Web Foundation says 38 percent of those who identify as women have experienced online abuse. The figure rises to 45 percent for Gen Z and Millennial women. Women of color, and those in LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized communities often experience much worse abuse.

Meanwhile, Facebook just opened a Women's Safety Hub that explains the platform's tools for bolstering privacy and security. It will also run training sessions to help people harness those tools. In addition, the hub has resources for victims of abuse. Facebook developed the hub with the support of nonprofit partners around the globe. The hub's resources will soon be available in 55 languages.

Facebook is diving into ephemeral messaging. After debuting self-erasing media and texts on Messenger and Instagram, the social giant is rolling out a similar feature on WhatsApp. Starting today, the app's beta testers on Android have begun to receive a "View Once" mode that wipes photos and videos as soon as you view and dismiss them. You'll know if you have access to the new feature if you see a dedicated button (that looks like a timer) in the caption input field, according to the experts at WABetaInfo. 

Not to be confused with WhatsApp's disappearing messages — which delete within seven days — photos and video sent using view once mode are single-use only and vanish after you close them. You'll get a notification once your media has been viewed. 

Despite the added sheen of privacy, there are some quirks you should be aware of before jumping in. As noted by WABetaInfo, disabling read receipts won't stop others from being notified if a view once message has been opened — though, you won't see when a recipient open yours. In groups, you'll be able to see when members have opened disappearing media even if you have read receipts disabled. 

Also, there's nothing stopping people from screenshotting your message without you finding out. View once apparently still works if you send a message to someone who doesn't have access to the feature. Those on iOS will reportedly get the new mode at a later date.

Facebook announced the feature in June on the heels of its divisive WhatsApp privacy policy update. The tech giant was forced to delay the new rules to mid-May from early February following an outcry over its access to additional user data. Facebook also later backtracked on its decision to limit WhatsApp features for those who didn't accept the changes. The company has previously painted ephemeral messaging as a way to encourage more authentic and intimate conversations.

Earlier today, an unfortunate bug led some people to believe Twitter had removed the toggle to switch between an algorithmic and chronological feed while using its web client. Throughout the day, people took to the service to tweet their frustration when they found out the star icon, which allows you to switch between the two feeds, was missing from their interface. 

The bug appears to have only affected some people, but that didn’t stop some outlets from reporting, based on an old support document, Twitter was removing the latest tweets view from its website altogether. Twitter’s Kayvon Beykpour and official support account later addressed the situation, noting it was a software issue the company has since fixed.

The fact so many were upset by this episode speaks to just how much people want to see tweets in the order they were sent out. Many depend on the platform’s chronological timeline to follow breaking events. That’s something Twitter eventually came to realize in 2018 when it started testing a way for people to switch between the two feeds.

Facebook has revealed its long-rumored standalone newsletter platform: Bulletin. Mark Zuckerberg announced the new project during a live audio room, saying that the project was a “response to what’s happening in the media ecosystem.”

Interestingly, unlike previous journalism initiatives from Facebook, Bulletin primarily lives outside of the main Facebook app. The newsletter platform has its own website, though it will take advantage of Facebook’s distribution tools. The newsletters will be integrated into author’s Facebook pages and readers can find the content in the news section of Facebook’s app.

Developing...

For the longest time, including links in Stories is something Instagram has only let a select few of its users do. Your account needs to have either been verified by the company or have passed the 10,000 follower milestone. Only then can you include a swipe-up link in your Stories. But in what could be a dramatic change for Instagram, it’s trying something different. The company told The Verge it recently started a test that gives a small subset of its users the ability to link to a website using a Stories sticker.

Whether the platform eventually allows everyone to share links in this way is up in the air. For now, Vishal Shah, Instagram’s head of product, told The Verge the goal is to track the types of links people post, as well as to ensure they don’t use the feature to push spam and misinformation. The company’s hope is to eventually transition to stickers as the primary way people access websites outside of the platform. “That is the sort of future system we would like to get to,” Shah told the outlet. 

Whatever direction Instagram ends up going with this latest test, as of recently the company has been experimenting with some significant changes to how its platform works. It was not too long ago it seemed Instagram would never allow people to post content from their computers, but that changed last week when it began a test allowing some users to do just that. At around the same time it started a separate trial to see how people respond to seeing suggested posts throughout their feed.  

Google has launched a new website called Find Food Support, which puts important resources on how to locate free and affordable food in the US in one place. Perhaps the most useful feature the website can offer is a new Google Maps tool that can point you to the nearest food bank, food pantry or school lunch program pickup site. 

As the tech giant explains, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated hunger for people around the world. According to Feeding America (PDF), 45 million people in the US alone had no reliable access to affordable food last year, including children who lost access to school lunches. That's a 30 percent increase from 2019. The non-profit has a slightly better forecast for 2021, but it still believes 42 million people in the country — 13 million of which are children, and 1 in 5 of which are Black individuals — may experience food insecurity this year. 

Google worked with No Kid Hungry, FoodFinder and the US Department of Agriculture to add 90,000 places with free food support across 50 states on Maps. The company said it will add more locations in the future. To use the tool, you only have to go to the website, whether on a PC or on mobile, and type in your location. It will then show you the nearest food banks and pantries with their addresses, phone numbers, and the days and hours they're operational.

Google

Find Food Support also houses YouTube videos showing how food insecurity affects people from all walks of life. The hope is to destigmatize food insecurity, since the stigma associated with getting help prevents people from seeking groups and organizations that can assist them in their time of need. In addition, the website contains links to food support hotlines, benefit guides per state and information for specific demographics and communities, such as seniors, families and children and military families. And in case you don't need food aid and want to help out, you can also find information on how you can donate food, time or money on the website.

Like the rest of the tech industry, YouTube was forced to transition from live to virtual events earlier this year when it shuttered its studio spaces for creators and musicians. Just four months later, with the pandemic subsiding, the Google-owned video platform is now embracing live entertainment like never before. YouTube has partnered with Hollywood Park, a near 300-acre mega development in Inglewood, California, to host a massive live venue. 

The "YouTube Theater" will be a three-story, 6,000 seater arena for performances that range from traditional concerts to the type of events you'd associate with its namesake. Think eSports and creator and community shows for the site's dedicated contingent of gamers and vloggers. Maybe the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers — whose 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium is in the same complex — will also drop in. Naturally, all those gigs, meetups and tourneys will feed back into the company's main platform, creating fodder for livestreamed and on-demand content that users will be able to watch on YouTube proper. 

YouTube

The Hollywood Park project has already corralled an eclectic bunch of pop stars to perform at the YouTube Theater with the help of Live Nation. Pitbull, Black Pumas, Devo, Trippie Redd and Marina and the Diamonds will all grace the venue through this year and the next.  

Formerly a historic racetrack frequented by Hollywood royalty, the site is being converted into a massive mixed-use development, home to almost 3,000 apartments, a sports stadium, a 300-room hotel and an 890,000-square-foot retail area. Construction on the theater is scheduled to be completed this summer.

Of course, it wouldn't be a YouTube event without some social interaction. In that vein, the venue will feature a massive exterior screen that guests can mirror themselves on and view clips through. Google could also use it to highlight the same products it sells at its newly opened debut retail store in New York City. 

YouTube isn't the first video service to broach live events, though the scale here may be unmatched by its closest rivals. Take Netflix: The world's biggest streamer owns New York's iconic Paris movie theater and has previously organized live comedy events. Disney and the rest of Hollywood, meanwhile, regularly turn up to Comic-Con to promote their biggest blockbusters. YouTube's heavyweight creators — who run the gamut from pranksters to serial toy openers to beauty and makeup experts — will likely be chomping at the bit for a chance to take to the theater's 6,100 square-foot stage.