Tag Archives: author_name|Karissa Bell

News on social media is a fractured mess, Pew study indicates

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Pew Research and the Knight Foundation just put out a pair of lengthy reports on how Americans are experiencing news and politics on social media. There are a number of noteworthy stats in the research but, for me, it mostly underscores that news distribution is kind of a mess.

It’s not that news has disappeared from X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, but the way that most users are encountering news content is vastly different from platform to platform. And much of what people say they are seeing is not coming from journalists and media organizations but influencers other unconnected accounts.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that most people aren’t on social media to follow news. A minority of TikTok (41 percent), Instagram (33 percent) and Facebook (37 percent) users reported that “getting news” was a “major or minor” reason they used the platform. X, as Pew points out, was a notable exception, with 65 percent of people reporting news as a reason they use the service.

That may not be especially surprising, given Twitter’s long-running reputation as a news source and Meta’s more recent shift away from the media industry. And even though majorities of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok said they didn’t seek out news, most people reported that they see some kind of news-related content on the platforms.

But when you dig into the kind of news participants say they see, the top categories were opinions and “funny posts” about current events. Look at the breakdown below: opinions and funny posts were significantly more prevalent than news articles or “information about a breaking news event” on every platform. (Again, the only exception was X, where people said they see articles at roughly the same rate as “funny posts” about the news.)

Most of the news-related content people see is opinions and funny posts.
Pew research

It’s also striking to consider the sources for news-related posts reported by the study's participants. On every platform except X, the top source of news and news-related content is not journalists or media orgs. On Facebook and Instagram, it’s friends and family, and on TikTok it’s “other people.” The “other people” category is also quite high for X, with 75 percent saying they see news from these accounts. This suggests that much of the news content people see on X and TikTok is being driven by those platforms’ recommendation algorithms.

News sources looks very different on each platform.
Pew Research

While Pew typically repeats the same sorts of studies at regular intervals, allowing readers to extrapolate trends over time, this study is brand new, so unfortunately, we don’t have historical data to compare all these stats to. But they do broadly reflect what many in the media industry have been experiencing over the last few years. Publishers are getting far less traffic from social media, and news is increasingly filtered through influencers, meme creators and random algorithmically-surfaced accounts. It’s also worth noting that for every platform, most people said that at least “sometimes” they see inaccurate news. And for X, which had the biggest share of news consumers and people seeing journalistic content, 86 percent of participants reported seeing news that “seems inaccurate.”

The report’s authors don’t draw a conclusion about what this all means in general, let alone in an election year when there is increasing anxiety about the spread of AI-fueled misinformation. But the report suggests that finding reliable and accurate news on social media is far from straightforward.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/news-on-social-media-is-a-fractured-mess-pew-study-indicates-140001507.html?src=rss

Apple’s new AI-powered Siri can use apps for you

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As expected, Apple’s assistant is about to get much more helpful thanks to a load of new AI-powered capabilities. During WWDC, the company previewed a new version of Siri that can take actions on your behalf and understand a wide range of new queries.

The new version of Siri has a better understanding of the apps on your phone and will be able to take more than 100 actions based on your activity and device. For example, you could ask Siri to show you specific photos or memories in your Photos app or to find tracking details for an expected delivery from an email in the Mail app.

Siri will also be able to perform some tasks for you, like adding an address to a contact card, tweak a photo, or share a summary of your notes in an email. Third-party developers will also be able to take advantage of these new capabilities with a new “app intents framework” that will allow them to tap into Apple Intelligence and make certain actions compatible with Siri.

Apple said that Siri’s new AI powers could be a major time saver for otherwise tedious tasks. One example offered by the company was the need to fill in a driver’s license number in an online form. Instead of searching your photos yourself, you could ask Siri and it would be able to find the image of your license, grab the number and fill in the form. Siri can also answer questions based on details from your messages and emails, like remembering your dinner reservations or providing up-to-date flight tracking for a previously-shared reservation. 

Siri will be able to respond to text commands.
Apple

Another major change is that Siri will no longer be only a voice-activated assistant. Apple is adding a “type to Siri” feature that makes it a bit closer to the experience of other generative AI chatbots. When you do chat with Siri, the experience should feel more natural as the assistant will be better able to respond to queries when the command isn’t spoken perfectly. Apple demoed how Siri could respond to a request about weather conditions even when the speaker stumbled over their words and misspoke. Additionally, the assistant can provide help and answer about iPhone capabilities, like “I need to scan a document.”

Siri will also be able to take advantage of chatGPT, thanks to Apple's newly-announced OpenAI partnership. For some text-based queries, users can opt to get an answer from chatGPT from within the new type to Siri interface. 

Apple didn’t specify when all of the new Siri capabilities will launch, but said the new version of its assistant will be coming to iPhone, iPad and the Mac. The revamped Siri is part of Apple’s push into “personal intelligence,” which Tim Cook described as the “next big step” for the company.

Catch up here for all the news out of Apple's WWDC 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-new-ai-powered-siri-can-use-apps-for-you-184116016.html?src=rss

Apple redesigned the Photos app in iOS 18 to intelligently organize your memories

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Apple’s iOS 18 update — which the company described as the "biggest ever" — will bring major changes for the Photos app. The company previewed the redesigned, which, among other things, automatically organizes all your photos around memorable moments like trips and events. 

The new version will ditch the app's current tabbed layout in favor of a single screen where you can view all your photos, albums and memories in one place. The familiar grid view of all your images will live at the top of the app, with intelligently organized “collections” below. 

The redesigned Photos app arriving in iOS 18.
Apple

Apple is also making the app smarter with its new collections, which will sort your photos into album-like views based things like on recent trips and the people you spend the most time with. The feature is a bit like the existing "memories" feature in photos, in that it groups like images together and can autoplay them when you want to revisit the moment. (Though, unlike memories, collections don't include sound effects and animations.) 

Photos is also more customizable with the ability to pin collections to a dedicated section of the app. And new filtering abilities will make it easier to look for specific types of pictures or weed out screenshots while browsing. 

The Photos app will also benefit from Apple's new AI abilities in iOS. Photos is getting AI-powered image editing with a new "Clean Up" editing tool that can remove background objects similar to Google's "magic eraser" feature. You'll also be able to create custom stories based on your photos with a new memories feature that allows you to type a description of the moment you want to capture. "Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc," the company says. 

The new redesigned Photos app will be arriving with the iOS 18 update later this year. 

Catch up here for all the news out of Apple's WWDC 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-redesigned-the-photos-app-in-ios-18-to-intelligently-organize-your-memories-174959393.html?src=rss

After its reputation went up in flames, Humane warns users its charging case may too

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If the wave of overwhelmingly negative reviews weren’t enough, it seems that Humane has discovered yet another major issue with its once-hyped AI Pin. The company is warning customers not to use the device’s charging case due to a potential “fire safety risk.”

In an email sent to AI Pin owners, the company said it had received a report of a “charging issue” that led to “a quality issue with the battery cell supplied by a third-party vendor used in your Charge Case Accessory.” Humane didn’t explicitly indicate whether the unspecified “charging issue” caused an actual fire, but it said an investigation found that “certain battery cells supplied by this vendor may pose a fire safety risk.”

While Humane is so far not using the word “recall,” the company is advising people to stop using the charging case immediately. Other charging accessories, including the battery booster and charge pad, are apparently safe as their batteries come from different suppliers. We’ve reached out to Humane for more information and whether they have plans to refund or replace the $149 accessory for people who have already bought one. In the meantime, the company is offering customers two months of its subscription service for free.

The full text of the email is below.

Out of an abundance of caution, we are reaching out today to ask that you immediately stop using and charging your Charge Case Accessory due to an issue with certain battery cells for the Charge Case Accessory.

Upon receiving a single report of a charging issue while using a third-party USB-C cable and third-party power source, we identified a quality issue with the battery cell supplied by a third-party vendor used in your Charge Case Accessory.

Our investigation determined that the battery supplier was no longer meeting our quality standards and that there is a potential that certain battery cells supplied by this vendor may pose a fire safety risk. As a result, we immediately disqualified this battery vendor while we work to identify a new vendor to avoid such issues and maintain our high quality standards.

The issue identified is isolated only to certain battery cells used in the Charge Case Accessory and is not related to the Charge Case Accessory hardware design.

Importantly, Humane’s Ai Pin, its Battery Booster(s) and Charge Pad are not affected as the disqualified vendor does not supply batteries or any other components of those Humane products, and are safe for continued use.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/after-its-reputation-went-up-in-flames-humane-warns-users-its-charging-case-may-too-215119193.html?src=rss

New York is about to give parents more control over their kids’ social media feeds

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New York is poised to pass a law that will bar social media platforms from showing algorithmic feeds to teens without parental consent. The Wall Street Journal reports that lawmakers in the state have reached a “tentative agreement” on a bill that will be voted on later this week.

State officials, including Governor Kathy Hochul, introduced a bill requiring parental consent for algorithmic feeds last year. The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act doesn’t restrict the type of content teens can view on social media apps, but they wouldn’t be able to view algorithmic feeds without permission from their parents or guardians. The latest version of the bill will also block teens from seeing in-app notifications overnight without parental consent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

If passed into law, New York would become the latest state to attempt to rein in social media platforms’ access to teens with age verification requirements. Utah passed a law last year requiring social media apps to get parental consent, though the measure was later scaled back. Lawmakers in California have also proposed limiting teens’ access to algorithmic feeds.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-york-is-about-to-give-parents-more-control-over-their-kids-social-media-feeds-230205845.html?src=rss

Meta is testing a new ad in the Instagram feed that you can’t scroll past

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Instagram ads may soon be much harder to ignore. As TechCrunch reports, Meta is testing a new type of non-skippable ad in the Instagram feed, which the company is calling an “ad break.”

With the new ads, which have already been spotted by some users, you can’t scroll past the feed ad until the”ad break” finishes. According to screenshots shared on Reddit and X, it appears that the “breaks” are a few seconds long, though it’s not clear if the length could change should Meta decide to make the new format official. “Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram,” an in-app message states. “Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing.”

While non-skippable video ads are common on other platforms, like YouTube, it’s a new and much more aggressive format for Instagram. It’s also notable that the company is experimenting with the ads in its main feed rather than in Reels or Stories, where video ads are more common (but for now still skippable).

Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company confirmed to TechCrunch that it was testing the new ad format. “As we test and learn, we will provide updates should this test result in any formal product changes,” a Meta spokesperson said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-testing-a-new-ad-in-the-instagram-feed-that-you-cant-scroll-past-195201532.html?src=rss

Meta says the future of Facebook is young adults (again)

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When you think of the 20-year-old social network that is Facebook, its popularity among “young adults” is probably not what comes to mind. Naturally, Meta wants to change that and the company is once again telling the world it intends to reorient its platform in order to appeal to that demographic.

In an update from Tom Alison, who heads up the Facebook app for Meta, he says that the service is shifting to reflect an “increased focus on young adults” compared with other users. “Facebook is still for everyone, but in order to build for the next generation of social media consumers, we’ve made significant changes with young adults in mind,” he wrote.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because Meta executives have been trying to win over “young adults” for years in an effort to better compete with TikTok. Mark Zuckerberg said almost three years ago that he wanted to make young adults the company’s “North Star.” And Alison and Zuckerberg have both been talking about the Facebook app’s pivot to a discovery-focused feed rather than one based on users’ connections.

That shift is now well underway. Alison said that the company’s AI advancements have already improved recommendations for Reels and feed, and that “advanced recommendations technology will power more products” over the next year. He added that private sharing among users is also on the rise, with more users sharing video (though no word on the once-rumored plan to bring messaging back into the main app).

Notably, Alison’s note makes no mention of the “metaverse,” which Zuckerberg also once saw as a central part of the company’s future. Instead, he says that “leaning into new product capabilities enabled by AI” is a significant goal, along with luring younger users. That’s also not surprising, given that Meta and Zuckerberg have recently tried to rebrand some of the company’s metaverse ambitions as AI advancements.

But it’s also not clear how successful Meta will be in its efforts to win over young adults. Though Alison says Facebook has seen “five quarters of healthy growth in young adult app usage in the US and Canada,” with 40 million young adult daily active users, that’s still a relatively small percentage of the 205 million daily US Facebook users the company reported in February, the last time it would break out user numbers for the app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-says-the-future-of-facebook-is-young-adults-again-203500866.html?src=rss

Meta says the future of Facebook is young adults (again)

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When you think of the 20-year-old social network that is Facebook, its popularity among “young adults” is probably not what comes to mind. Naturally, Meta wants to change that and the company is once again telling the world it intends to reorient its platform in order to appeal to that demographic.

In an update from Tom Alison, who heads up the Facebook app for Meta, he says that the service is shifting to reflect an “increased focus on young adults” compared with other users. “Facebook is still for everyone, but in order to build for the next generation of social media consumers, we’ve made significant changes with young adults in mind,” he wrote.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because Meta executives have been trying to win over “young adults” for years in an effort to better compete with TikTok. Mark Zuckerberg said almost three years ago that he wanted to make young adults the company’s “North Star.” And Alison and Zuckerberg have both been talking about the Facebook app’s pivot to a discovery-focused feed rather than one based on users’ connections.

That shift is now well underway. Alison said that the company’s AI advancements have already improved recommendations for Reels and feed, and that “advanced recommendations technology will power more products” over the next year. He added that private sharing among users is also on the rise, with more users sharing video (though no word on the once-rumored plan to bring messaging back into the main app).

Notably, Alison’s note makes no mention of the “metaverse,” which Zuckerberg also once saw as a central part of the company’s future. Instead, he says that “leaning into new product capabilities enabled by AI” is a significant goal, along with luring younger users. That’s also not surprising, given that Meta and Zuckerberg have recently tried to rebrand some of the company’s metaverse ambitions as AI advancements.

But it’s also not clear how successful Meta will be in its efforts to win over young adults. Though Alison says Facebook has seen “five quarters of healthy growth in young adult app usage in the US and Canada,” with 40 million young adult daily active users, that’s still a relatively small percentage of the 205 million daily US Facebook users the company reported in February, the last time it would break out user numbers for the app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-says-the-future-of-facebook-is-young-adults-again-203500866.html?src=rss

The TweetDeck clone for Threads is finally here

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The web version of Threads just got a whole lot more usable. Meta is rolling out the new Tweetdeck-like column view to all users, after it started testing the feature earlier this month.

The new look, which some Threads users have nicknamed “ThreadsDeck,” allows you to pin up to 100 different feeds to the Threads home page. Each column can also be set to auto-update so you can follow new posts as they come in.

While Tweetdeck fans will appreciate the familiarity, the new view also addresses some of the headaches of Threads’ “for you” algorithm. While the new column layout won’t let you eliminate the “for you” feed entirely, you can more easily hide it in the column view and put your “following” feed and any others side-by-side. It also vastly increases the number of posts you can view at any one time, making it a much more practical view for finding real-time information.

Threads’ “for you” feed has been a long-running source of complaints from many users, who question why the feed often seems to surface days-old posts and random stories from unconnected strangers instead of more timely updates. Meta’s controversial decision to automatically limit “political” content in its recommendations is also often criticized.

At the same time, the company does seem to recognize that users want to be able to find news and other timely updates. Threads has also recently gotten a “recent” filter for search results, and has a limited version of “trending topics.” Threads’ column view also makes both of these features more visible since you can set dedicated columns for specific search topics to track at-a-glance.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-tweetdeck-clone-for-threads-is-finally-here-191132892.html?src=rss

The TweetDeck clone for Threads is finally here

Posted on by

The web version of Threads just got a whole lot more usable. Meta is rolling out the new Tweetdeck-like column view to all users, after it started testing the feature earlier this month.

The new look, which some Threads users have nicknamed “ThreadsDeck,” allows you to pin up to 100 different feeds to the Threads home page. Each column can also be set to auto-update so you can follow new posts as they come in.

While Tweetdeck fans will appreciate the familiarity, the new view also addresses some of the headaches of Threads’ “for you” algorithm. While the new column layout won’t let you eliminate the “for you” feed entirely, you can more easily hide it in the column view and put your “following” feed and any others side-by-side. It also vastly increases the number of posts you can view at any one time, making it a much more practical view for finding real-time information.

Threads’ “for you” feed has been a long-running source of complaints from many users, who question why the feed often seems to surface days-old posts and random stories from unconnected strangers instead of more timely updates. Meta’s controversial decision to automatically limit “political” content in its recommendations is also often criticized.

At the same time, the company does seem to recognize that users want to be able to find news and other timely updates. Threads has also recently gotten a “recent” filter for search results, and has a limited version of “trending topics.” Threads’ column view also makes both of these features more visible since you can set dedicated columns for specific search topics to track at-a-glance.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-tweetdeck-clone-for-threads-is-finally-here-191132892.html?src=rss