Image used with permission by copyright holderFacebook has been heavily promoting its Live Videos feature since making it available to general users alongside celebrities in December.
Now that the live streaming functionality is available on both iOS and Android, the social network is updating its news feed (the timeline of status updates you see when you log in) to display Live Videos above older clips.
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Facebook will be hoping this encourages more people to use the feature, which already faces stiff competition from the Twitter-owned app Periscope. The viewing numbers for Live Videos, on the other hand, are already promising.
Earlier this week, when Facebook introduced the feature for Android, it stated that on average people watch a video three times longer when it is live compared to when it is not live. The higher engagement rate was likely the catalyst for the update. As Facebook puts it, live streams are “more interesting in the moment than after the fact.”
This isn’t the first time Facebook has rejigged its News Feed algorithm around video clips. In 2014, Facebook made an update that moved videos that had higher viewership figures to the top of timelines. The social network also takes into account the likes, shares, and comments on a clip in order to ascertain its placement on the News Feed. Additionally, last year, its algorithm began showing users similar videos based on clips they had watched in the past. It also monitors a viewer’s interaction with a clip, including the muting of sound, whether HD capability has been turned on, and if the video is watched in full screen in order to suggest more content.
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.
In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.
Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.
If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.
Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.
