Instagram switched from a reverse chronological feed to a relevancy-sorted feedin June 2016, leading to lots of grumbling from hardcore users. While it made sure you wouldn’t miss the most popular posts from your close friends, showing days-old posts made Instagram feel stale.

And for certain types of professional content creators and merchants, cutting their less likeable posts out of the feed — like their calls to buy their products or follow their other social accounts — was detrimental to their business. Instagram and Facebook moved to hide these posts over time because they can feel spammy.

“Based on your feedback, we’re also making changes to ensure that newer posts are more likely to appear first in feed” the company writes. Instagram’s VP of product Kevin Weil’s tweet indicates Instagram really is listening to all the complaints about the algorithmic feed:

Interestingly, despite all the anger about Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal and the #DeleteFacebook movement, we haven’t seen nearly as many calls to #DeleteInstagram. In fact, the #DeleteFacebook trend seems to overlook the corporate parent company that owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. Instead it focuses on just Facebook’s app, indicating that the scandal blowback might not be as much of an existential crisis.

If anything, the shift to the algorithmic feed caused much more of an uproar than any political issue or privacy scandal. While Facebook has become a core utility by bringing your real world identity to the Internet, Instagram is the pleasurable escape from that real world. And people get a lot more angry when you mess with their behavior patterns than when you highlight some abstract threat like misused personal data.

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Source: TechCrunch

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A source tells TechCrunch the same racist GIF was spotted in Instagram as well, indicating that Giphy is at fault. A tweet by Lyauna Augmon shows the GIF being used within Instagram. Giphy appears to have removed the GIF as it’s no longer available in Instagram. An Instagram spokesperson tells TechCrunch “This type of content has no place on Instagram. We have stopped our integration with Giphy as they investigate the issue.” The company confirms the change has been made but might take some time to propagate to all users.

[Update: This article has been updated to show that the GIF also appeared on Instagram, not just Snapchat.]

The Snapchat spokesperson says that all GIFs in Snapchat are meant to be “rated PG,” meaning they’re mostly suitable for the 13-and-up teens that are technically allowed on Snapchat.

The GIF includes disturbing text including a racial slur, which TechCrunch has blurred out below. It reads “N—– Crime Death Counter – Keep Cranking Bonzo, the Numbers Just Keep on Climbing!” TechCrunch received a screenshot of the GIF on Snapchat from a reader.

We’ve reached out to Giphy for comment but haven’t heard back.

[Update 3/10: Giphy has now provided a statement to TechCrunch, admitting it was to blame for a bug allowing the offensive GIF through. A spokesperson tells us:

“A user discovered an offensive GIF sticker in our library, and we immediately removed it per our content guidelines.

After investigation of the incident, this sticker was available due to a bug in our content moderation filters specifically affecting GIF stickers.  We have fixed the bug and have re-moderated all of the GIF stickers in our library.

The GIPHY staff is also further reviewing every GIF sticker by hand and should be finished shortly.

We take full responsibility for these recent events and sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended.”

Snapchat only launched the Giphy integration on February 20th so people could jazz up their photos and videos with moving images curated as safe by the Giphy team. TechCrunch broke the news on Instagram building a similar Giphy integration in late January, which launched a week later.

This isn’t Snapchat’s first run-in with racist content. Back in 2016 it was heavily criticized for creating an Asian “yellowface” stereotype augmented reality lens that gave people slanted eyes. Snapchat risks an unsavory reputation if it can’t keep its content under control. The slip-up could deter Snapchat from working more with outside developers, which it’s only recently allowed to bring content into its app via its Lens Studio and the Giphy integration.

The incident is embarrassing for Instagram’s parent company Facebook. It also casts doubt on Facebook’s Messenger Kids app, which also has Giphy integration that is only supposed to show G-rated imagery.

Snapchat and Instagram will have to decide whether they want help from outsiders even if it can’t guarantee the quality or safety of their content, or whether it will go it alone as they compete against each other.

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Source: TechCrunch

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Navalny, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest rival, posted a video on YouTube earlier this month, that showed metals oligarch Oleg Deripaska allegedly meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko on the billionaire’s yacht in Norway.

In the video, Navalny used Instagram posts from a woman called Nastya Rybka, who he claimed to be an escort. Rybka was on the yacht with both Deripaska and Prikhodko. The 25 minute video, which has been watched over 5 million times, claims that bribery took place.

Deripaska won an injunction against the video after a local court ruled that the video had violated his privacy rights. Last week, Deripaska said in a statement that Navalny’s video showed “outrageous false allegations.”

The female involved in the video took some of the Instagram posts down at the request of communications watchdog Roskomnadzor, but the Facebook-owned service also complied with the order to remove two more posts.

“When governments believe that something on the internet violates their laws, they may contact companies and ask us to restrict access to that content. We review such requests carefully in light of local laws and where appropriate, we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory,” an Instagram spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.

“We are transparent about any content restrictions we make for government requests with local law in our Transparency Report.”

Facebook’s latest transparency report, which covers the period between January and June 2017, shows it restricted 195 pieces of content after requests from Russia.

The YouTube video is still online and has not been taken down.

Google, which owns YouTube, has not responded to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Basic Element, one of Deripaska’s company’s, said that the injunction against Navalny’s video “has nothing to do with any political struggle” between him and his political opponents. In an emailed statement to CNBC, Basic Element said that the decision, by Roskomnadzor, to block access to the content was to do with a court order rather than any “political motives.”

“Any suggestion that it acted at the instruction of the Russian government is ludicrous,” a Basic Element spokesperson said.

Roskomnadzor is yet to respond to a request for comment.

Prikhodko provided a statement to business newspaper RBC last week. “The political loser has once again tried to organize a provocation,” Prikhodko said in the statement.

‘Shame on you, Instagram’

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The “temporary” restrictions on the apps Telegram and Instagram were imposed to “maintain tranquillity”, state news agency Irib reports.

The protests have been the biggest show of dissent since huge rallies in 2009.

President Hassan Rouhani has said Iranians have the right to protest, but not cause disorder.

The protests began in the north-east as an outcry against economic hardship and rising prices, but turned political in many places, with slogans chanted against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr Rouhani and Iran’s interventionist foreign policy in the region.

In his first public comments since the demonstrations broke out, the Iranian president, speaking at a cabinet meeting, said that citizens were “completely free to make criticism and even protests”.

But he added that the government would not tolerate any action that created “social disorder”, the Iranian Students News Agency reported.

After violence flared in many places on Saturday, it is unclear how many demonstrations are occurring on Sunday. Small crowds have gathered in Tehran and police have used water cannon to disperse protesters at a major intersection – as captured in a video obtained by BBC Persian.

source:BBC

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The “temporary” restrictions on the apps Telegram and Instagram were imposed to “maintain tranquillity”, state news agency Irib reports.

The protests have been the biggest show of dissent since huge rallies in 2009.

President Hassan Rouhani has said Iranians have the right to protest, but not cause disorder.

The protests began in the north-east as an outcry against economic hardship and rising prices, but turned political in many places, with slogans chanted against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr Rouhani and Iran’s interventionist foreign policy in the region.

In his first public comments since the demonstrations broke out, the Iranian president, speaking at a cabinet meeting, said that citizens were “completely free to make criticism and even protests”.

But he added that the government would not tolerate any action that created “social disorder”, the Iranian Students News Agency reported.

After violence flared in many places on Saturday, it is unclear how many demonstrations are occurring on Sunday. Small crowds have gathered in Tehran and police have used water cannon to disperse protesters at a major intersection – as captured in a video obtained by BBC Persian.

–

Source: BBC

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The new section, “Recommended for You,” is clearly labelled so as not to be confused with your own home feed. It will contain three to five suggested posts, we’re told.

This isn’t the first time Instagram has offered recommended content. But previously, you’d have to head to the Explore section to see recommended posts and videos – they wouldn’t be pushed to your home feed. You could also see what posts friends have been liking in the Following section if you chose.

The injection of recommended content is a fairly big change for Instagram’s feed – perhaps one of the largest since the switch from the chronological feed to the algorithmic one, or the introduction of ads. It means users scrolling through their home feed will now no longer only see posts from accounts they directly follow alongside the ads. They’ll see things from their wider network, too – not entirely different from Facebook’s new Explore feed, in fact.

The change comes shortly after another update also focused on broadening users’ access to content beyond what’s being posted to those accounts you explicitly follow. Earlier this month, the company introduced a way to allow users to follow hashtags – in other words, you can now follow your interests, not just accounts.

But unlike the hashtags feature, which is opt-in (as you choose if you want to track hashtags and, if so, which ones), you can’t really disable the new recommendations.

As the Help documentation explains, you can only choose to temporarily hide the “Recommended for You” section. This is done by tapping the three-dot menu above the post, then tapping on “Hide.”

The good news is that the “Recommended for You” section is not meant to displace the content you care about in favour of Instagram’s own suggestions. Rather, the section will appear after you’ve viewed all the posts in your feed, an Instagram spokesperson explains while confirming the feature’s public launch to TechCrunch.

But even still, its appearance has irked some users, who prefer the classic experience – including, in many cases, the chronological feed.

No Instagram I don’t want “recommended posts” on my feed. I follow the accounts I follow for a reason. CyA.

— Bella (@bellaabrookss) December 27, 2017

Why does @instagram insist on showing me photos of “recommended” people on my feed? I don’t care. I wanna see pictures from people I actually follow, and chronologically at that!! Get tf outta here with recommended pages.

— georgia (@gamor11) December 27, 2017

@instagram YOU CANNOT JUST SWITCH MY FINSTA HOME FEED TO RECOMMENDED POSTS BY MY PEERS WHILE I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF A RAPID FIRE LIKING SPREE.

— Katy (@katymylaady) December 27, 2017

If I wanted to see recommended, I would go to the recommended page. GET OFF MY TIMELINE. THIS IS WHY I NEVER USE YOU. IM LOOKING AT YOU, @instagram!!! clear up my feed. Go back to a chronological timeline PLEASE. #overit

— LAURA (@ThtLauraPerson) December 26, 2017

Instagram says the feature, which is available on both iOS and Android, is currently rolling out. It didn’t confirm when that rollout would complete and become available to all of Instagram’s user base.

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Source: TechCrunch

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That tool is now live, and you can see for yourself if any of the pages you liked were created by the Internet Research Agency.

You can find the tool in Facebook’s Help Center, and it will show you a list of the various pages that you follow that are linked to the Kremlin-backed group, as well as when you liked and followed it.

You can also log in with your Instagram account. However, the tool won’t tell you if you shared or even saw content from the pages.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially dismissed the notion that his company could have influenced the 2016 presidential election, but the company later admitted that Russian-backed organizations placed ads through the site, and that upwards of 10 million people saw them.

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Source: BBC

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The 22-year-old beauty has bagged the number one spot in the top 10 list of catwalk stars who have the highest amount of followers on the photo-sharing site, as she currently boasts 85 million supporters on her social media account.

And Kendall has more than double the amount of fans on the platform as fellow model Cara Delevingne, who has been pitted in second place on the rankings list, is followed by 40.8 million fans, while Gigi Hadid, 22, came in third place with just under a fan base spanning 37 million.

However, Gigi’s younger sister Bella, 21, has landed in fifth position with 15 million followers, but the ‘Lip Sync Battle USA’ co-host Chrissy Teigen – who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2010 – is close behind with 14.6 million supporters.

Kendall has beat fashion legend Gisele Bundchen off the top spot, as the 37-year-old Brazilian beauty has been pitted in seventh place with a fanbase spanning just over 13 million.

But this is not the first time Kendall has knocked Gisele – who has four-year-old daughter Vivian and seven-year-old son Benjamin with her husband Tom Brady – to the number one position, as she recently topped Forbes’ World’s Highest Paid Models List 2017, which is a title Gisele has held for 15 years since 2002.

Miranda Kerr, as well as Victoria’s Secret Angels Candice Swanepoel and Adriana Lima have just made the top 10 list as they each have a fanbase spanning 11 million.

Not only has ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashian’ star – who has partnered with cosmetic giant Estee Lauder, as well as Chanel, Fendi and Calvin Klein – bagged the Most Followed Model title, as well as the highest earning star, she has also received the most likes for a photograph on the site.

The image, which was shared in June this year, captures Kendall wearing a gingham printed bikini with a cropped t-shirt over the top flaunting her super toned torso, and has received over 4 million likes.

Although Kendall is a popular model on Instagram, she is not the most followed member of the Kardashian/Jenner brood, as her half-sister Kim Kardashian West has tallied up 104 million fans, which puts her in fifth place in the Most Followed Celebrity list on the site, while Kendall is pitted in tenth place.

The Top 10 Most-Followed Models on Instagram are;

1. Kendall Jenner – 85 million followers

2. Cara Delevingne – 40.8 million followers

3. Gigi Hadid – 36.9 million followers

4. Emily Ratajkowski – 15.1 million followers

5. Bella Hadid – 15 million followers

6. Chrissy Teigen – 14.6 million followers

7. Gisele Bündchen – 13.3 million followers

8. Miranda Kerr – 11.5 million followers

9. Candice Swanepoel – 11.3 million followers

10. Adriana Lima – 11.2 million followers

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Source: Capitalfm.co.ke

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Dr. Mensah, while working for American company, Corning Glass Works, was able to help improve and commercialize a fiber optic technology the company had been working on for 15 years without success.

Prior to the invention, copper wires were used as a major channel for data transmission and networking workstations.

Recounting his exploits on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, Dr. Thomas said while working for Corning, he was given a task to improve the fiber optics project which he did tirelessly to birth the technology which he described as “the most important invention in the 21^st century.”

“I didn’t know that the impact was going to be big like this. All I knew was that there were four inventors, three whites and me. And they said, Dr. Mensah, we’ve come all the way with the glass part, but we think you are the only one who can do the part that will move us to the industrial stage. That was the challenge I had, and I worked on it for every day. I was so focused on solving that problem, and what I did was to use the technology I had applied somewhere else whereby when you melt the glass and you are pulling it like toffee to be glass strand, you have to put a coating on it immediately to protect. So the ability to put a coating on it while you are pulling it was their limitation. They couldn’t pull it more than 2 meters per second. So for 15 years it stayed in the lab till I got there and the problem was handed over to me.”

“The question was how do we move this from the laboratory into factories, manufacturing, so that we can move into the global market? That was the problem I solved. It was a global problem. Until then, fiber optics were available in the lab, and they were making it in two meters per second. So the lasers that are transmitted along this fiber is sending the Facebook pictures, Instagram, the entire social media experience is going through this laser base fiber optics. This is really what goes through the world,” he added.

He said when people are “sending Facebook pictures, YouTube videos, your emails, tweets; everything is going down this [fiber optic] glass and it travels at milliseconds. In other words, you can sit here to upload Youtube videos, someone is viewing in the US or China in few seconds because of that technology.”

The inventor said, although he did not envision the huge impact the fiber optic project will make in the technology space and the world at large, he said most of his inventions and ideas he espoused in books he’s authored have been adopted by multi-million dollar technology giants to expand.

“…I have four books on innovation. The first one is fiber optic engineering, it’s used all over the world. So those are sold and you get money out of it. My latest book is called nanotechnology commercialization.”

About Dr. Thomas Mensah

Dr. Thomas had his secondary and tertiary education in Ghana, and managed to secure a scholarship to further his education abroad.

Dr. Mensah’s works relates to the development of fiber optics and nanotechnology.

He has 14 patents, 7 of which were awarded within a period of six years, and he was inducted into the US National Academy of Inventors in 2015.

He served as Editor-in-Chief of the international textbook Nanotechnology Commercialization published by AIChE and John Wiley & Sons. The book is aimed at moving Nanotechnology from the laboratory environment to the global marketplace.

He currently has developed a smart watch which he calls “Hug Watch.” According to him, Hug Watch can change TV stations by serving as a remote control, also makes and receives calls.

Dr. Thomas Mensah granted the interview on the back of a series of lectures he is expected to deliver at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) from November 22 to 25, 2017 dubbed RP Baffour Lectures.

He will also be receiving an Honorary Doctorate, (D.Sc Honoraris Causa) from the university after the lectures.

Click below for the full interview on the Citi Breakfast Show:

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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This weekend TechCrunch spotted that some Instagram videos in the feed were autoplaying with audio. Now Instagram has confirmed to us “this new update rolled out recently” and here’s how it works for all organic videos and ads.

When you open Instagram, videos will still autoplay with the sound off. But if you tap to turn one video’s sound on, indicated with a speaker icon in the bottom left, all other videos will autoplay with sound too for the rest of your Instagram session. You can still tap to toggle a video and all subsequent ones back to silent. And when you close the app, the autoplay audio resets to off for next time you use Instagram.

So basically, Instagram still defaults to audio off when opened, but applies your last toggle on or off for the rest of your session.

This is a smart compromise. If you’re home alone or have headphones on, and you turn on a video’s sound, it’s safe for Instagram to assume it can play more videos with audio without disturbing anyone. But next time you open the app, if you’re in public or somewhere quiet without headphones, it won’t embarrass you.

Instagram admits that previously having to turn on video audio for each video individually could be frustrating.

Instagram Stories videos will still adhere to your device’s settings, only playing with sound if it’s unmuted. But that makes sense since you can assume you’ll see video in these Snapchat clone-style slideshows.

Facebook experienced backlash earlier this year when it announced it would be moving from silent autoplay video to going by you’re device’s current mute status. That roll out has moved slowly, though, signaling that Facebook understands that sound could surprise some users.

Instagram’s move could be a boon to businesses and advertisers, who will see more of their videos play with sound now. That makes Instagram more akin to television or Snapchat where sound always plays, and could boost spend on its video ads.

Video is clearly becoming a larger and larger focus for Instagram. Launched in 2013 as an add-on to the photo sharing network, video has grown in popularity as cameras, screens, and mobile networks improve. While Instagram doesn’t want to annoy it’s users, it can’t be a social network of the future if it stays silent.

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Source: The Verge

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