AnalogFolk’s weekly social news roundup issue #41
Deepfake hidden in TikTok, Reddit tackling impersonation and more…
Welcome to the AnalogFolk weekly social news roundup, a weekly collection of the best social news of the week, compiled by our Junior Editor, Rachael Bennett.
Twitter introduces Spotlight
Twitter has introduced a new ad format that enables brands in the US, UK and Japan to take over the Explore Tab with branded content in the form of six-second videos, GIFs and static images.
Promoted Trend Spotlight ads will only appear for each user’s first two visits of the day, and brands will be given the option to switch any creative throughout the day, too. After the user’s two visits, the Spotlight placement will revert back to Twitter’s standard content, and the ad will receive normal Promoted Trend placement.
New Boomerang features
Instagram has added some new features to its Boomerang camera mode for Stories, including, ‘SloMo’, ’Echo’ and ‘Duo’, and the ability to ‘trim and tweak’ your Boomerang loop.
The new options add more ways in which you can use the Boomerang mode to liven up your Stories. Boomerang has proven to be pretty popular with Stories creators, so it’s an easy way to enhance visual presentation and make Stories more fun.
Reddit tackles impersonation
Following in Facebook and TikTok’s footsteps, Reddit has also updated its policies about impersonation, meaning users are no longer allowed to impersonate an individual or entity in a misleading way.
The changes will also cover misleadingly altered videos, as well as lies or deceptive information made by people impersonating others online. However, the platform has stated that content intended as satire and parody will still be allowed, but the platform will make its own judgment calls around it.
Deepfake hidden in TikTok
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has secretly built an unreleased feature, discovered in the app’s code, called Face Swap. Using life-like deepfake technology, it lets you insert your face into videos starring someone else.
The tech they use is very similar to the iPhone’s face scanner, which is incredibly detailed. The news comes in the midst of a deepfake epidemic, with a lot of controversy surrounding the subject. Should TikTok’s Face Swap be a cause for concern?
