Everything New in Facebook and Instagram

Image Source: fiftypluslife

By Erkan Nasirli

Science and Tech editor

The Pawprint

Following Mark Zuckerberg’s humiliation after the Facebook privacy scandal and the United States Congress fiasco where Zuckerberg testified, a new update to the main social media platforms owned by Zuckerberg was illustrated at the Facebook Developer Conference conference on April 30th.

The conference centered around a new privacy-based approach, this encompasses many new features that are coming to several platforms, like a complete Facebook redesign, a Facebook messenger feature that allows you to focus on close friends, new camera features for Instagram, and even a dating platform within Facebook.

Messenger is getting a complete redesign aimed at close friends that will feature stories, similar to Instagram, with the ability to watch videos with friends, and the capability to call friends from Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp all through the Messenger App. Additionally, Messenger will also be getting the long-awaited desktop app for Windows and Mac computers.

The Facebook redesign will bring a dating feature to the platform called Facebook Dating.

This will allow people to find a match based on their interests on Facebook. A controversial new feature will be added as well called Secret Crush, which will allow people to create a private list of people that they are interested in dating, and if two people add each other to the list they will match. A similar feature will be added as well, but instead of dating, its meeting new friends based on common interests.

Instagram will be getting a camera redesign, as well as a removal of the traditional like count. This means that followers on Instagram aren’t able to see how many people liked a post unless they manually count it.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, is the attempt to combat cyberbullying on Instagram. This includes giving users a nudge if they are about to comment something rude or offering Away Mode which lets users take a break from Instagram if they are going through something. Limiting certain users interactions will also be possible.

Obviously many users are having trust issues with using social media platforms owned by Mark Zuckerberg, but nonetheless, this update looks like a step in the right direction.