It may be Friday the 13th, but it’s still your lucky day – we’ve got another digital news roundup ready for you! Here’s what’s on our radar in this week’s instalment of The Weekly Download: saving tweets for later, a beauty brand under fire, Twitter’s latest high-profile suspension, how people really feel about tech giants, and some girl-powered Friday Fun.
Soon you’ll be able to bookmark tweets to come back to later
Ever get a sense of information overload when scrolling through your Twitter feed? A fix for that might be just around the corner.
Announced by several key Twitter employees, the feature has been a “top request” by users and could be called “save for later”.
While there are a number of roundabout ways to bookmark tweets to read later (including DMing to yourself, liking, or RTing), a designated button would allow you to queue up posts to come back to when time permits.
For Hack Week @Twitter we started developing #SaveForLater. Here’s the early prototype that we put together in a week, which is likely to change. pic.twitter.com/c5LekvVF3l
— jesar 💭 (@jesarshah) October 9, 2017
Is this feature on your personal Twitter wishlist?
Dove Facebook ad ‘misses the mark’ when it comes to diversity
Dove made headlines across the web this week, but for all the wrong reasons.
A Facebook ad that depicted a black woman who was shown pulling off her brown T-shirt to reveal a white woman wearing an ivory T-shirt sparked outrage. The ad, originally meant to promote their bodywash line, admittedly “missed the mark” in representing women of colour, according to Dove, and was promptly removed.
An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.
— Dove (@Dove) October 7, 2017
Unfortunately, the apology did little to quell the anger brewing online – after all, it’s not the first time the brand has been called out for racially-insensitive advertising.
Okay, Dove…
One racist ad makes you suspect.
Two racist ads makes you kinda guilty. pic.twitter.com/hAwNCN84h2— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 8, 2017
Twitter suspends Weinstein victim Rose McGowan for speaking out
If you’ve been online this week, you’ve seen the scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein. On Wednesday, actress Rose McGowan spoke out on Twitter against the Weinstein Company, and it didn’t take long for the social network to suspend her account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaImG1Mle7b/
The temporary suspension came after McGowan used the platform to urge supporters to sign a petition for the board of the company to be dissolved. McGown claimed they were aware of the accusations against the movie producer despite their claims to the contrary. Over the past week, McGowan has used the platform to call out those she says knew about Weinstein’s harassment and remained silent.
While Twitter did not specify which tweets led to McGowan’s suspension, they maintain she violated its terms of service.
Tech companies still poll favourably despite age of ‘backlash’
In the era of fake news, misleading political ads, and accusations about skewed search results, tech companies are under scrutiny more than ever. While one would think the public opinion of digital giants like Facebook and Google would shift in light of current events, polls say different.
Amazon, Facebook, and Google have all held steady in daily favorability polls conducted by research firm Morning Consult over the past year. Although the ratings fluctuate on a weekly basis, the companies haven’t seen any decline.
Surveys conducted by other research firms tell much of the same story. Are you surprised by their findings in light of recent events?
Friday Fun
International Day of the Girl
Beyonce’s track “Freedom” is the anthem to a new from Project Everyone on behalf of the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development, set to celebrate the International Day of the Girl.
