Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook all announced new features this week. Find out how the four giants are changing social media with the week’s #MMSocialReport.
And, trust us, they are big announcements. They range from Snapchat filters that you can apply to anything around you all the way to Facebook wanting you to use the platform using only your thought. Yes, it was quite the week.
1. Snapchat introduces World Lenses – live filters for just about anything
by @etherington via @techcrunch
Snapchat just took it to the next level. Filters—one of its staple features—are not only for your face anymore. You can now use them on anything and everything.
The feature, called ‘World Lenses’, allows you to interact in 3D on the Snapchat camera with whatever happens to be around you. Here you can check out videos and gifs of it being used (you can place a cartoon rainbow wherever you please):
2. Instagram Adds ‘Collections’ to Help Organize Ideas on the Platform
by @adhutchinson via @socialmedia2day
Learn how to use the new ‘Collections’ feature on Instagram, which allows you to save posts in collections you can later access easily. We already had something similar with the ‘Save’ option but this seems to be directed to those planning purchases on Instagram—a user behavior the platform is currently trying to expand.
Andrew Hutchinson looks at the feature’s potential uses beyond that and offers a comparison with the similar ‘Boards’ feature on Pinterest.
3. Tumblr has a new social video watching app called Cabana
by @AlejandroTauber via @TheNextWeb
Sharing a video over text when you’re away from your friends just wasn’t enough for Tumblr. Their new app Cabana lets you watch YouTube videos on your phone simultaneously with up to six friends.
Read about their motivation behind reaching for that unique experience of being there when your friends watch a great clip for the first time. It does seem like the best option when you are not with someone but you just have to see them react to that video you just found.
4. Facebook Messenger adds app extensions and a bot store
by @CaseyNewton via @verge
Facebook’s F8 conference on Tuesday left a considerable mark on Facebook Messenger. Casey Newton details some of the changes that rolled out for the app including a new app store for bots, new liberties for developers, QR codes, and even gaming.
5. Facebook’s plan to tap into your brain is strange, scary … and fantastic
by @LanceUlanoff via @mashable
Don’t freak out just yet — but Facebook wants to connect directly to your brain.
In an announcement that wouldn’t be completely out of place as the set-up to a sci-fi show, Facebook’s VP of Engineering Regina Dugan exposed the company’s wishes to allow you to control the platform through your brain. Without a keyboard and without a mouse, you’d be able to type and browse using thought alone.
As innovative as this might be, I can’t help but ask myself about the distance I want to keep between myself and my technology. If you care at all about where our world is going, this is news you don’t want to miss.
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