Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of major changes to the company’s heavy-handed, biased moderation policies and practices Tuesday, citing a shifting political and social landscape and a newfound desire to embrace free speech a la Elon Musk’s X. Zuckerberg said that Meta will end its so-called “fact-checking” program with third-party partners and replace it with a community-driven system similar to X’s highly effective Community Notes. Bruna Horvath, Jason Abbruzzese, and Ben Goggin for NBC News: ‎ The changes will affect Facebook and Instagram, two of the largest social media platforms in the world, each boasting billions of users, as well as Threads. “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on…

Instagram today launched a new 2024 year in review feature, allowing Instagram users to create 2024 collages from images they've shared throughout the year. As noted by The Verge, the 2024 collage option comes up in the Instagram story interface. It works after an image has been added to a story and resized, with users able to select more images and rearrange them on the screen. Instagram has also added new year-end themed templates for the "Add Yours" feature, along with New Year and Countdown text effects, holiday chat themes for DMs, and secret phrases like Happy New Year that trigger special effects. Collages and the other temporary features will be available through the first week of January.Tag: InstagramThis article,…

Instagram today gained a new trial reels feature, which is designed to allow content creators to try out new formants and content to see what performs best. Trial reels are shared with people who do not follow a creator, giving insights into what performs well so it can then be shared with followers. Trial Reels let creators experiment with new ideas and post frequency without worrying about losing followers or creating content that followers don't want to see. Instagram says that the feature will "help take the guesswork out of how your content will perform." Content that is performing well in a trial reel can be shared with followers with a tap, or it can be set to be shared…

Instagram today announced several updates for direct messages on its platform, including location sharing, nicknames, new sticker packs, and more. There's now an option to share a live location with a friend for up to one hour on Instagram, which can be used for locating friends when getting together in real life. There's also an option to pin a spot to a map for coordinating meetups. Instagram says that locations can only be shared privately in DMs, either in a chat with just one other person or a group chat. All live locations will expire after an hour, and the feature is turned off by default. Only people in the chat can see your location, and location information cannot be…

Instagram parent company Meta today said that it is testing a new tool that's designed to allow users to reset their content recommendations for "a fresh start." Using the reset tool removes prior data that's used to power Explore, Reels, and Feed recommendations. Recommendations will start to personalize over time, providing content recommendations based on the content and accounts that users interact with. Using the reset option will provide users with an option to review the accounts they're following to unfollow content they no longer want to see, and review ad topics. The tool is designed for teen users, but Instagram is planning to make it available to all users following the test period. The feature will roll out globally…

Instagram has announced support for leaving comments on Stories, the ephemeral posts that have become almost as popular as regular Instagram posts. Previously, the only option was to send a private reply, which appeared as a direct message visible solely to the Story's creator. Now, Instagram has introduced a more public option: Comments. These comments are visible to other users, unlike the private replies. However, the ability to comment comes with restrictions. Only mutual followers (meaning people who follow the Story creator and are followed back by them) can leave comments. Instagram says the new feature aims to offer a more open way to engage with Stories, while still maintaining the original private messaging option for those who prefer one-on-one…