Week of February 15, 2023

Elon Musk’s Twitter era continues with some major and controversial changes. Twitter Blue subscribers in the US are now able to write tweets up to 4,000 characters long.

Twitter outlined the changes this way: “Longer Tweets allow Blue subscribers to Tweet up to 4,000 characters. You can also compose longer Tweets in a Quote Tweet or reply. Standard functionality like posting media, creating polls, and using hashtags still apply. Everyone will be able to read longer Tweets, but only Blue subscribers can create them.”

Next, Meta, Instagram and Facebook’s parent company, announced new safety measures for teen users as part of Safer Internet Day. The tools include supervision tools, messaging restrictions, even artificial intelligence to verify users’ age. 

A deeper overview can be found at Meta’s Family Center and Safety Center.

Next, Instagram is ending its live shopping feature that was implemented in 2020. The activity is much more popular in China as opposed to the US, so the app is shifting to a more ad-focused strategy to encourage shopping for Americans. 

Last but not least, TikTok is revamping some features and bringing in new ones — namely, the option of a paywall to encourage views, and a revamp of the Creator Fund, according to a new report. Creators on the app have criticized the fund for its limits, but it remains to be seen if the changes in the works will be enough to incentivize greater use. 

That’s all for now. See you next week!