Social Media Daily News Roundup 12.08.19
Today’s social media news, rounded up in one place so you don’t have to go anywhere else.
⭐ Social media firms owe their young users a duty of care
⭐ Google Is Making It Easier To Find And Listen To Podcasts On Search
⭐ Twitter's Testing a New DM Search Option Among Various Other Tweaks
⭐ Israel Folau's social media accounts deleted before Rugby Australia court hearing
Social media firms owe their young users a duty of care - The Telegraph
Gradually, if slowly, the screw is being tightened on the giant social media companies that are failing to take seriously their duties to protect the children who use their platforms.
Under new Government measures, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube will face heavy penalties for showing harmful videos. As we report today, ministers are to give the watchdog Ofcom extra powers to police, investigate and fine video-sharing and live-streaming networks that allow violence, child abuse and pornography to be broadcast. Firms will be expected to establish robust age verification checks and parental controls to ensure children are not exposed to videos that “impair their physical, mental or moral development”.
Google Is Making It Easier To Find And Listen To Podcasts On Search - We are SM
Google announced last week that it will start surfacing podcasts alongside videos, images, news, and web pages related to a user’s search.
In response to our every search, Google brings up a wealth of related information in various formats – videos, news, tweets, recipes, and more. Now, Google is adding podcasts to the mix, making it easier to find and listen to them on Search.
As Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Product Manager for Google Podcasts explains in an announcement last week, “when you’re searching for a podcast about a topic on Google, such as ‘podcasts about Awkwafina’ or ‘Instant Pot recipe podcasts,'” Google will surface “playable episodes in Search results alongside web pages, news, images and videos.”
Twitter's Testing a New DM Search Option Among Various Other Tweaks - Social Media Today
If you get a heap of direct messages on Twitter, this will come as welcome news - as reported by reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong, Twitter is currently testing out a new option which would enable users to search through their DMs.
The functionality is not amazing at this stage - as you can see here, you would be able to search via profile name, and likely by Twitter handle. Which is better than nothing, but a lot of the time when you do want to go searching through your DMs, its because you're looking for something that someone has sent to you, so it would be more helpful to be able to search by message content.
Twitter's also now testing an option which would enable you to subscribe to a tweet discussion in order to get notified of any replies, while it's also been refining smaller elements within its redesign - including its text sizing options, which have been a key pain point for many.
Israel Folau's social media accounts deleted before Rugby Australia court hearing - The Guardian
Israel Folau’s social media accounts appear to have been deleted on the eve of a court hearing into his sacking by Rugby Australia.
The former Wallaby’s Twitter and Instagram accounts disappeared on Monday, 24 hours before he is due to appear at in Melbourne’s Federal Circuit Court for a directions hearing.
Folau is contesting the termination of his employment by Rugby Australia after a message posted on his Instagram page in April was deemed to have constituted a high level breach of his contract.
The 73-cap Australia international posted a Bible passage that said all homosexuals, among other people, are destined for hell.
Folau lost his $4m, four-year contract and several sponsorship deals as a result.
