Instagram is introducing hashtags, not in the comments? Twitter is letting users upvote and downvote Tweets? Speaking of Twitter, they have listened to our cries! YouTube kids is getting two new updates! PewDiePie is about to lose his top spot

Instagram is introducing hashtags, not in the comments?

Should you post hashtags in the comments or as part of your caption? A question that is older than time itself. Some prefer to post hashtags along with their captions after leaving a few line breaks hiding them from the viewer, and some prefer to hide them in the comments, but no one has definitive proof of what preference works best. But now Instagram could be putting a stop to this age-old debate.

Jane Manchun Wong came across this potential new feature, which offered a dedicated section for hashtags yesterday. As for the number of hashtags that can be used or added, it currently appears endless, but Wong explained in her tweet that a limit will be established once the feature is rolled out officially

Twitter is letting users upvote and downvote Tweets?

The largest social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have traditionally stayed far away from the upvote/downvote system; it seems that they are moving away from the algorithms after user uproar.

The testing of the upvote system was spotted earlier this week and shared at the Online News Association’s 2018 conference. It looks as though Facebook and Twitter have realised that the algorithm system is not entirely working for their users. It’s an interesting concept that bigger social platforms are possibly following the path of the smaller social media platforms that use the upvote system, such as Reddit, to refresh their users’ experiences.

Speaking of Twitter, they have listened to our cries!

Out of all the possible features that Twitter could have released, this is up there with one of the most asked for.

Twitter is working on an easily accessible way to switch between the chronological timeline and viewing the most relevant posts. This test will start within the next few weeks, during this time the “Show the best Tweets first” setting has been updated to offer users the option to see the tweets by the people they follow in reverse chronological order.

Twitter isn’t making a big deal about this new update, however this feature is making a big difference, not only does it put the power back in its users hands when it comes to what they choose to see on their timeline, it’s also going against the mass trend set up by Facebook.

The announcement came via a thread tweeted out by Twitter Support, with a cryptic message saying “we’re working on new ways to give you more control over your timeline”. Twitter says it has “learned that when showing the best Tweets first, people find Twitter more relevant and useful”. However, it has “also heard feedback from people who, at times, prefer to see the most recent Tweets.”

The problem is, the algorithm boosted engagement for Twitter, so the switch may cause an engagement decrease forcing Twitter to switch back.

YouTube kids is getting two new updates!

In an effort to improve the content that it offers to its community of child viewers, while providing parents the tools to control their kids’ viewing habits, YouTube is launching not one, but two new updates.

The first update follows on from YouTube’s April announcement that they would offer a parent-approved content feature. The highly sought after update will allows parents to customise what their kids watch on YouTube entirely. The feature allows parents to hand-pick the videos and channels that their children can watch on the app. All parents have to do is select the “approved content only” option in the profile settings and then they will be able to start picking the videos and channels that they want their children to watch.

The second new feature follows on from the first one. The second feature is geared towards creating content for specific age ranges, offering popular music and gaming videos. Parents will be able to pick the 8-12 year old version of YouTube kids when setting up a new profile or updating their child’s existing one. If this is not chosen, the settings will be defaulted to the younger version of the app. YouTube is rolling out the new 12+ version in the USA and plans to expand globally.

PewDiePie is about to lose his top spot

As most of you will know, PewDiePie is the top dog of the YouTube world with a channel boasting over 66 million subscribers. The gamer/internet commentator has been the title-holder since 2013, but now he has some competition. T-series, a music production company based in India, is hot on his heels at 62.5 million.

The subscriber battle has been brought to light mostly by PewDiePie sarcastically stressing about being overtaken by the company. The battle has lead to many subscribers checking the numbers regularly and making their own content discussing the battle. We can’t help but feel that the battle would be more interesting, however, if the battle was between two YouTubers.