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week in social: Instagram's 2 cents, Facebook Live, and WhatsApp Status

07 Jan 2018 Cassandra Megraw

Instagram launches “Recommended for You” section

If you’d like a little more media with your social media, Instagram is now serving it up with the quietly launched ‘Recommended for You’ section. In what is said to be one of the biggest Instagram feed changes since the algorithm feed switch (though definitely not as apocalyptic-seeming), the feature will suggest posts for users based on ones that have been liked by the accounts they follow. Similar to Facebook’s new Explore feed, users will not will see posts from their wider network as well as those they already follow. Once again, users are up in arms and missing the more ‘classic’ Instagram experience… and they’ve taken to Twitter to say so. Our fave comment comes from @katymylaady:

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

New Year’s Eve went off on Facebook Live

It might feel like a lifetime ago by now, but Facebook has said that New Year’s Eve was the most lively Live event to date, with over 10 million people around the world going live. They’ve also released some pretty cool stats to back it up if you care to reminisce on the NYE that was…

These glasses let you livestream to Facebook and Youtube

Electric Skateboard Company, Acton is branching out a little with the launch of ACE Eyewear – slightly weird lookin’ sunglasses that double as a covert camera. While the button on the side of the frames will allow the wearer to take 8-megapixel photos and up to 40 minutes of HD video, the accompanying app will help the user sort through the images as well as livestream to Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. The glasses will be on display at CES 2018 this week.

Instagram tests letting users post Stories directly to WhatsApp

WhatsApp is on in on the Stories craze with the WhatsApp Status feature, and now Instagram are testing letting users post directly into the feature from the Instagram platform. As of November there were more than 300 million daily active users of Instagram Stories, and this seems like parent company Facebook’s attempt to generate even more traffic, especially in countries where WhatsApp is king.