It’s Friday! We’re back with another installment of your favourite digital news round up – The Weekly Download. On the docket this week: Facebook removes facial recognition tool, Instagram creates new ‘add yours’ sticker, Twitter reintegrates Instagram post preview cards and “Feminipsum” text generator gives placeholder copy an impactful makeover, plus some Friday Fun.
Let’s dive in!
Facebook Removed Facial Recognition Tool
Facebook is deleting more than a BILLION people’s individual facial recognition templates and users who’ve opted-in will no longer be recognized.
“In the coming weeks, Meta will shut down the Face Recognition system on Facebook as part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in our products. As part of this change, people who have opted into our Face Recognition setting will no longer be automatically recognized in photos and videos, and we will delete the facial recognition template used to identify them.”
The removal of this feature was initiated due to a number of societal and personal privacy concerns, but it comes at the cost of other useful integrations. Facebook users who are blind or are visually impaired will be largely impacted as they benefit from the advanced AI that notifies them when their photo has been shared in an image, etc.
However, there could still be a future for these types of tools.
“Facial recognition can be particularly valuable when the technology operates privately on a person’s own devices… We believe this has the potential to enable positive use cases in the future that maintain privacy, control and transparency, and it’s an approach we’ll continue to explore as we consider how our future computing platforms and devices can best serve people’s needs,” says Facebook.
Instagram Creates New ‘Add Yours’ Sticker
Get ready for your close-up… on other people’s Stories!
This week, Instagram launched a new sticker to the Stories feature in an effort to boost engagement. The new “Add Yours” sticker allows users to start a thread of Stories responses.
Add Yours = a sticker that creates public threads in Stories 🤝
With custom prompts and public responses, you can share the sticker and see who responds to it in their own Stories. pic.twitter.com/C9AXiFEo92
— Instagram (@instagram) November 1, 2021
Users who participate will have their profile bubbles added on the original “Add Yours” sticker which allows all viewers to go through the response thread, expanding profile reach. We expect this will be a popular sticker for PR launches and other trends – much like TikTok’s duet feature.
Twitter Reactivates Instagram Post Preview Cards
Back by popular demand, Twitter has reactivated Instagram’s preview cards to improve the cross-channel sharing experience for users. Now, when you Tweet an Instagram link, a preview of that post will appear.
They said it would never happen… Twitter Card previews start rolling out TODAY. 👀
Now, when you share an Instagram link on Twitter a preview of that post will appear. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/XSZRx9dzd1
— Instagram (@instagram) November 3, 2021
Although you can share Tweets directly to your Instagram Stories, they’re still not clickable. Maybe this recent update on Twitter’s end will encourage the same type of cross-platform interaction on Instagram?
We’ll just have to wait and see!
A New Way to Auto-Generate Text
It’s no secret that the advertising industry is notoriously a boys’ club. If you’ve seen the popular television series, Mad Men, you know what we’re talking about. And although we’re no longer in the ’60s, sexism in advertising, and most industries, still exists.
Working in this industry, and witnessing and experiencing sexism, is what inspired art director Luiza Lopes and creative copywriter Vitória Ferrari – previously co-workers and now friends – to take the popular text place holder, Lorem Ipsum, and give it an impactful makeover. Enter, Feminipsum:
“Sexist jokes, discrimination and sexual harassment. That’s what many women face every day, even in the coolest advertising agencies. To make people in the industry consider and discuss this, Luiza and Vitória created Feminipsum: a Lorem Ipsum website where the text generator addresses sexism in ad agencies.”
Though the text may only hold a temporary placement, its striking commentary is bound to provoke some important conversations.
Learn more about Feminipsum here.
Friday Fun
Here’s a roundup of our favourite celebrity Halloween looks for 2021.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVqI7DSJhjv/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVtJta-vOkK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVolT0vpAJZ/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVtt9FEPGwc/
Plus, the infamous Jimmy Kimmel prank!
