Social – TechCrunch

Twitter’s sales team is taking a hit in big upcoming layoffs

Matthew Lynley — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 01:29:52 +0000

Well, now we know why Twitter decided to move its earnings report to before the market opens (when the West Coast will conveniently, largely be asleep). Bloomberg is reporting that the company may cut up to 8% of its staff, or around 300 people, and that the cuts could be announced as soon as this week. As usual these situations are very dynamic, so all of the above could shake out to be… Read More

Twitter decides to release earnings while most of us are sleeping because reasons

Matthew Lynley — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 21:36:45 +0000

A lot of the industry watchers that follow Twitter are out here on the West Coast, where the company is based. And for good reason! The Twitter diaspora exists in a large force out here and are great to keep in touch with in order to keep context, and it’s important to be in general geographic proximity of the company’s headquarters. Which is part of the reason we’re… Read More

Facebook Messenger now supports PayPal payments in bots, will track your PayPal receipts

Sarah Perez — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 17:30:13 +0000

PayPal is deepening its relationship with Facebook, and will now become one of the payment options within Messenger, among other integrations. That means customers who shop via the growing number of chatbots from online merchants will be able to transact on Messenger using PayPal’s payment service. In addition, as part of this deal, PayPal says it will make it easier to link your… Read More

Facebook expands Safety Center to 50 languages, doubles down on bullies with 60 partners

Ingrid Lunden — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 13:17:38 +0000

As Facebook, the social network with 1.7 billion users, has come under fire for how it has handled its editorial role as a “media” company, it is also trying to launch more ways for people to control their experience on the platform. Today the company unveiled a redesigned Safety Center, now localised into 50 languages, aimed at helping people set their privacy controls on… Read More

Facebook Live broadcasting up 4X since May, gets TV and outdoor promo

Josh Constine — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 17:00:00 +0000

Facebook wants you to know Live broadcasting isn’t just for celebrities. Facebook has bought a new series of US and UK TV, web, billboard, bus, and baggage claim ads that suggest you go Live when you see something cool, want to show off a talent, or just have something important to say. The campaign could further accelerate the growth of Live, which has seen the number of people… Read More

Facebook’s News Feed just got better on slower connections

Sarah Perez — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 15:21:34 +0000

Facebook’s News Feed has now been made even better for users with slow network connections – a project the social network has been working on for some time by revamping its underlying architecture to improve the way stories are ranked and displayed in the Facebook mobile application. With the latest series of improvements, Facebook will select which stories to show you based on… Read More

360 photos and videos are coming to Facebook’s Instant Articles

Sarah Perez,Josh Constine — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 21:09:16 +0000

Facebook’s Instant Articles — the format that displays publishers’ content in a faster-loading, distraction-free view when accessed by Facebook users on mobile devices — are about to get more interactive. The social network announced today that these articles will now support 360 videos and photos — meaning, publishers can include 360 content in-line, which… Read More

Slack’s rapid growth slows as it hits 1.25M paying work chatters

Josh Constine — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 18:02:05 +0000

Slack is still growing fast, about 33% in daily users and paid seats in the last 5 months. But not as fast as before, when it saw 50% DAU growth and 63% paid seat growth in the 5.5 months from December 15th to May 25th. This aligns with rumors TechCrunch has heard about a slight dip in customer retention at Slack, as the casual, GIF-filled workplace chat app can get noisy and distracting… Read More

Bumpers raises $1M seed to let anyone make podcasts from their phone

Jordan Crook — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 15:00:18 +0000

These days, you can’t wander around the internet without running into a podcast. And yet, it takes a lot of time, energy, and equipment to make those podcasts. Enter Bumpers.fm. Bumpers is an app that lets anyone make a podcast straight from their phone, using the phone’s built-in microphone. The company just raised $1 million in seed, led by Spark Capital, with participation… Read More

Social payments app Circle adds two more European markets

Natasha Lomas — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 20:00:09 +0000

Circle has lit up two more European markets as it works to rapidly build out its presence in the region. Users of the P2P payments app in Spain and Ireland can now connect any Spanish or Irish bank account to the app to send and receive money within their own countries and across borders. Read More

Instagram tackles self-harm and suicide with new reporting tools, support options

Sarah Perez — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 20:00:06 +0000

While Twitter continues to struggle with rampant bullying and abuse, Instagram is instead stepping up its game when it comes to keeping users safe from harm. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing network this week began rolling out a new reporting tool that lets its users anonymously flag friends’ posts about self-harm. This, in turn, will prompt a message from Instagram to the user in… Read More

Facebook embraces utility with food ordering and ticketing

Josh Constine — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 13:06:52 +0000

Facebook wants you to participate in your community, not just talk about it, with a slew of new features launching today. From Facebook Pages, you’ll now be able to order food through Delivery.com and Slice, request an appointment through MyTime, get a professional services quote, or buy movie and event tickets through Ticketmaster and EventBrite without leaving Facebook. This is the… Read More

Pepe’s creator teams with the Anti-Defamation League to reclaim his chilled-out frog

Brian Heater — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:42:04 +0000

It’s been a weird few years for Pepe the Frog. A wild ride that ought to be reserved for the likes of Mr. Toad – or maybe if anyone tries to deep fry Kermit’s legs again. Anyone who knows Pepe and his creator Matt Furie knows that the pair are candidates for two of the least likely people/amphibians to show of up on a list of hate symbols. But here we are. Last last month,… Read More

Tinder Boost, letting you pay to skip the line, goes live worldwide

Jordan Crook — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 22:45:14 +0000

Tinder Boost, the feature that lets users pay to have their profile shown first in the feed, has gone live worldwide as of today. The company started testing the feature in late September in Australia, and has finally decided to let it loose across Tinder’s global community. Tinder Boost lets users pay to have their profile bumped to the front of the feed for 30 minutes. While Tinder… Read More

Call A Deplorable / Elitist breaks you out of your echo chamber

Josh Constine — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 22:44:54 +0000

Put in your phone number, talk to someone with the opposite political views. That’s the idea behind two new sister sites, CallADeplorable.com for use by Hillary supporters and CallAnElitist.com for use by Trump supporters. “We hope that every voter can take the time to share their story and listen to what others have to say before election day,” write the… Read More

Social media display company Tagboard acquires Capture

Anthony Ha — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 21:58:06 +0000

Tagboard announced today that it has acquired Capture, another startup in the social media and user-generated-content business. Tagboard helps marketers find and create displays for social media conversation around a brand or topic. (When I covered the company a couple of years ago, I described it as a “cross-platform hashtag aggregator,” which is both accurate and… Read More

You can endorse your preferred presidential candidate on Facebook now

Kate Conger — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 21:50:12 +0000

Facebook rolled out a new feature today that lets users endorse presidential candidates, a move that will probably bring even more acrimonious comments about this election cycle into your News Feed. Yay. Here’s how it works: You can go onto any candidate’s Facebook page — yes, this includes third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson; no one is getting left… Read More

Facebook gives app developers a new way to target users with push notifications

Sarah Perez — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 17:00:30 +0000

Today, it’s not enough to get users to download an app, you have to keep them coming back, or the app will soon be abandoned and forgotten. To address developers’ needs on this front, Facebook is today is taking a tool for creating customizable push campaigns out of beta, which will allow any developer to narrowly target specific audiences via their app. The tool is a part of… Read More

Facebook Live unlocks scheduling and pre-stream lobby, first for verified Pages

Josh Constine — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 17:00:07 +0000

Facebook is helping broadcasters plan and promote their Live streams ahead of time, and assemble their audiences in a waiting room so they have viewers the second the camera starts rolling. Today Facebook is rolling out Live video scheduling, scheduled broadcast sharing, and pre-broadcast lobbies to verified Pages. The plan is to roll out Live scheduling to all Pages in the coming weeks, and… Read More

Facebook is now testing its Snapchat Stories clone in Australia

Natasha Lomas — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 11:49:06 +0000

Facebook has expanded a test of a Snapchat Stories clone feature, called Messenger Day, to users of its app in Australia. The casual sharing feature lets people send illustrated, filter-enhanced photos and videos to friends which disappear in 24 hours — a la Snapchat. Read More