Skip to main content

Social Feed: Fire department saves kid on Facebook; YouTube’s latest gaffe

Social media is a fluid technology — nearly every day, the major social media networks are announcing a big change, coming under fire for the latest controversy or moving forward in smaller ways. Social Feed is a collection of those smaller changes that you may have missed with this week’s biggest news — like Facebook axing Explore and the split feed tests, Twitter’s new bookmarks and YouTube’s new geotags. Find Social Feed every weekend for the latest social news tidbits.

YouTube’s new moderation staff accidentally suspended some channels

In the wake of the Logan Paul fiasco and a fake news video of a Florida school shooting survivor hitting the trending section, YouTube’s moderators got a bit overzealous this week. In a statement on Wednesday, February 28, YouTube said that new members of the team misapplied policies and removed videos that should not have been taken down. Bloomberg said that several entire channels — with largely right-wing views — were pulled. YouTube’s statement continues an ongoing discussion on finding the balance between moderation and censorship.

Facebook Pages tests Broadcast Messenger, a tool for sending out mass chat messages

Businesses could soon have the ability to send out mass messages on Facebook. On Wednesday, Facebook began testing the Broadcast Composer with select Pages in the U.S., Mexico, and Thailand. The tool allows businesses to send a group of people the same message using the messaging tools in Pages. Facebook says the tool is designed for small businesses that don’t have the resources to develop auto-response bots.

So are Facebook users about to get a bunch of marketing messages on Messenger? Not exactly — businesses can only send the messages to users that initiated contact. Facebook says it will be looking to see that both people and businesses find value in the tool before considering a wider rollout.

Facebook also added new quick responses for Pages along with more customization options for businesses using Messenger.

Fire department saves a choking child — via Facebook

When one Michigan woman needed to call 911 but didn’t have a phone, the mom instead messaged a fire department on Facebook. When her son started choking, the mom reached out to who she thought was a local fire department on Messenger. In her panic, however, she contacted the Wayland, Massachusetts department instead of the Wayland, Michigan department. The Massachusetts department, however, contacted the appropriate authorities and walked her through what to do until an ambulance arrived. The fire department later reported that the boy is fine after the ordeal.

The EU gives social networks a one-hour deadline to remove illegal content

The European Union has released new recommendations for social media companies and the guidelines now give the networks an hour deadline to remove illegal content such as hate speech and child pornography once the post is flagged by authorities. The changes also push for both more automation and more human oversight to the process. The recommendations aren’t actually law but the European Commission says it will follow-up with legislation if the guidelines aren’t followed.

Facebook is spending $3 million to help local journalism

After rolling out efforts to promote local news in the news feed, Facebook is now looking to boost local journalism with a new accelerator program. The three-month, $3 million program is designed to help newspapers grow their digital subscriptions. The Facebook Journalism Project will work with 10 to 15 metro news companies on training and coaching, including individualized plans to help that particular area. The program already includes several large but local publications such as the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, and the Miami Herald.

Facebook says there were few Russian-backed ads during Brexit

Facebook found only $1 worth of Russian-bought ads on Brexit topics last year and after continuing with a second investigation, the social media platform did not increase those numbers. The network promised to look into the ads again after criticism, but now says it didn’t find any ads outside of the three purchases that amounted to less than $1. In comparison, Facebook’s investigation into an alleged disinformation campaign during the U.S. presidential election uncovered more than 1,000 times that with more than 3,000 ads.

Feedless is an app for social media users that can’t handle the distraction

If Facebook’s news feed algorithm changes to promote more posts from friends isn’t enough, a new app could help eliminate the distraction — by removing the feed entirely. Feedless is an iOS app by Ryan Orbuch that dwindles Facebook, Twitter and Instagram down to only a few basic features. With the app, users can update their status and see notifications — but the news feed is gone. The app only works inside the Safari browser version of the social networks, but the free app already has a handful of five-star reviews on the App Store.

Editors' Recommendations

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
What is Ambient Mode on YouTube?
The red and white YouTube logo on a phone screen. The phone is on a white background.

YouTube recently announced a number of changes to its video-watching interface. One of these changes is a new feature known as Ambient Mode.

In this guide, we'll go over exactly what Ambient Mode on YouTube is and show you how to enable or disable it.
What is Ambient Mode on YouTube?
Ambient Mode is basically a lighting effect that surrounds a given YouTube video with a soft, glowing light that usually reflects the colors featured in the video itself. The effect kind of resembles the glow of a television screen in a room where the lights are off (which YouTube has said was the inspiration for the effect). YouTube also said that Ambient Mode is supposed to make the video-watching experience of its dark mode "more immersive." Ambient Mode was officially announced in late-October 2022 and is available on the web, Android, and iOS.

Read more
YouTube is rolling out handles. Here’s what you need to know
The red and white YouTube logo on a phone screen. The phone is on a white background.

YouTube recently announced that it would be rolling out handles for YouTube channels. Whether you've just heard about them or you already got an email from YouTube saying it's time to choose one, you're probably wondering what they are and how they're different from YouTube channel names.

In this guide, we'll go over what a YouTube handle is and answer a few questions about them so you can better understand what they are and be better prepared to choose one when it's rolled out to you.

Read more
YouTube brings pinch to zoom and video navigation changes to everyone
The red and white YouTube logo on a phone screen. The phone is on a white background.

YouTube is updating its user interface with a slew of changes, and chief among them are the pinch-to-zoom feature and "precise" video navigation.

On Monday, YouTube announced quite a few updates to its viewing experience on mobile and web. Notably, the video-sharing platform said that it was finally "launching pinch to zoom and precise seeking to all users starting today."

Read more