The Weekly Download – March 26, 2021

Welcome back and Happy Friday! We’re kicking off the weekend with another installment of The Weekly Download.

The Cinnamon Toast Crunch surprise the internet can’t stop talking about, Facebook boosts rule violation enforcement in Groups, Slack backtracks on its “DM anyone” feature, Twitter explores the potential for emoji reactions, and Friday Fun.

The Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shrimp Fiasco: What You Need to Know

If this wasn’t on your radar this week, where have you been?

Jensen Karp, musician-producer-personality, took to Twitter earlier this week to share his shock and outrage at finding a crustacean surprise in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch:

https://twitter.com/JensenKarp/status/1374051365417230336

https://twitter.com/JensenKarp/status/1374108037376483331

Yep, those are shrimp tails, people!

It didn’t take long for the internet to become wholeheartedly invested, especially as Karp continued to update his followers on the unfolding saga. The verdict’s still out on how the shrimp tails got there (and if they’re really shrimp tails at all), but here are some of the internet’s best responses to the drama:

Facebook Boosts Enforcement on Rule Violations in Groups

Facebook’s latest announcement includes changes that will help to keep users in Groups safe.

According to the company, the new actions will curb the spread of harmful content, like hate speech and misinformation, and make it harder for certain groups to operate or be discovered, whether they’re Public or Private. When a group repeatedly breaks Facebook’s rules, it will be taken down entirely.

Check out the full list of updates here.

Slack Backtracks on its “DM Anyone” Feature

After users brought up concerns of potential harassment and abuse, Slack has backtracked on its latest product update.

Slack Connect DMs was touted as a way to “replace email outside your company” by letting users send direct messages to any Slack user, anywhere. But for some users, concerns were raised that the new service included the potential for abuse. 

Mere hours after announcing the new feature, Slack backtracked, partially altering the functionality to partially address concerns by removing the ability to add custom text to emailed Slack Connect invites. However, it doesn’t fully address the broader issue that Slack Connect presents. 

Twitter Explores the Potential for Emoji Reactions

A new test from Twitter suggests the social network could be looking to shake up the way users react to platform content. According to TechCrunch, the company has been surveying users throughout the month to get input on how they feel about a broader set of emoji-style reactions, similar to what you’d see on Facebook.

Specifically, Twitter’s survey proposed a few different sets of reaction emojis, all of which include the heart (like), laughing face with tears (funny), thinking face (interesting) and crying face (sad).

Perhaps more controversially, Twitter is reportedly considering a way for users to signal a general like or dislike for the tweet with either a thumbs up or thumbs down, a “100” in either green or red to indicate “agree” or “disagree,” or a green up arrow icon or red down arrow icon, reminiscent of Reddit’s upvote and downvote mechanisms.

What are your thoughts about the proposed changes?

Friday Fun

Tell us this isn’t the cutest thing you’ve seen all week!

Line drawn peony from Spodek Co Site