Tag: Social media
Facebook welcomes screen time advice from UK’s top doctors
Facebook and Twitter have welcomed new guidance from the UK’s top doctors on managing social media and screen use. Advice issued by the chief medical officers on Thursday suggests that families should ban phones at bedtime and keep them away from the dinner table, among a number of recommendations to help protect children. “We want…
Snapchat reports record revenue but user numbers remain flat
Snapchat has recorded record revenue levels but the company’s active user numbers remain “flat", the firm’s latest financial results have revealed. Parent company Snap Inc reported revenue for the last three months of 390 million dollars (£301 million), up 36% from the 286 million dollars (£220 million) posted this time last year. The company’s net…
Children’s Commissioner urges social media to protect children from ‘disturbing content’
Social media companies must take more responsibility for protecting children from disturbing content on their platforms, the Children’s Commissioner for England has said. In an open letter to the platforms most used by children – YouTube, Facebook (which owns Instagram), Snapchat and Pinterest – Anne Longfield urged the companies to back a statutory duty of…
Social media firms must ‘purge’ harmful content, warns Health Secretary
Social media firms need to “purge” the internet of harmful content that promotes self-harm and suicide, the Health Secretary has said. Matt Hancock delivered the message after the father of a teenager who took her own life said Instagram “helped kill my daughter”. The minister has written to a number of internet giants following the death of…
WhatsApp to restrict message sharing to fight ‘fake news’
WhatsApp is to limit the number of times users can forward any single message to five in an attempt to stop false information spreading on the platform. The Facebook-owned messaging platform first introduced the policy in India last year after a string of mob attacks in the country were blamed on fake reports which were…
Depression linked to social media is TWICE as high among teenage girls – study
Depression linked to social media is almost twice as high among teenage girls compared to boys, according to research by University College London (UCL). Researchers found the greater amount of time girls spend on social media at age 14, as well as exposure to online bullying and lack of sleep, were key factors in their…
Big Ben brought back to life by Snapchat augmented reality
The front-facing camera will also add a virtual hat onto users (Snap/PA) Big Ben is making an early comeback this Christmas thanks to Snapchat’s latest augmented reality feature, which sees the scaffolding around Elizabeth Tower fall away inside a life-size snow globe! Snapchat’s latest AR Lens works when users hold their…
Vine founder Colin Kroll found dead aged 34
Tech executive Colin Kroll has been found dead aged 35. Mr Kroll was a founder of Vine, an app built around six-second videos, and a co-founder of the HQ Trivia app. The New York Police Department said officers went to Mr Kroll’s Manhattan apartment early on Sunday after getting a call asking for a check…
The new Christmas list? Facebook Collections feature can be shared with friends
Facebook is allowing users to share their collections with friends for the first time. It's something which could come in handy ahead of Christmas to give others an idea of what gifts you would like. The social network already allows people to curate everything from posts and pages, to adverts and videos, but the update…
Tumblr pulled from Apple’s App Store over child pornography content
Social network and microblogging site Tumblr was pulled from Apple’s App Store last week because of images depicting child sex abuse, it has emerged. Tumblr initially said it was “working to resolve the issue with the iOS app” when it mysteriously disappeared on November 16. Download.com learned that Tumblr was removed from the store due…
