Scrolling to be scrapped on Instagram? Facebook sets up chats for Groups of up to 250 members at a time, Facebook’s Politics rules apply in the UK too, and it is being sued over video views

Scrolling to be scrapped on Instagram?

Instagram is working to test a whole new way for its users to view their timelines. Scrolling is so last year apparently, Instagram is testing a tap to advance system identical to the way users view stories, completely disregarding the scrolling of the past.

The biggest upside to this possible new change is the size of media that users will see. When scrolling images can be missed and optimal viewing spots can be hard to find, but with the introduction of tap to advance these problems are eliminated. Along with this, the possible new format works perfectly for users to consume content uninterrupted. It will allow its users to switch off and spend hours watching videos or images. This however seems slightly contradictory as Facebook and Instagram are now tracking its user’s time online. Bit of a weird one if you ask us.

According to a spokesperson, Instagram is “always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and bring you closer to the people and things you love.” This feature is still very much in its testing phase and is only currently being tested on a select few accounts; there are no signs of the feature being sent out to the masses any time soon.

Facebook sets up chats for Groups of up to 250 members at a time

Facebook has made the big step forward in bringing more people together; it has always been the leader in bringing people from around the world together but now it’s gone one step further. Facebook is now allowing Group members to start chats with up to 250 members, and also create video and audio calls with up to 50 members.

Facebook wants Groups chatting, so it’s working to make that possible. Soon, all Group members will be able to start chats by clicking “start chat” within the chats tab. After clicking, the user will be redirected to Messenger and will be allowed to give the chat a name and choose their chosen members to add. All group members will be able to join any open chats allowing for a whole new level of interaction within Groups. The only issue is that only group members can participate in these chats, so get joining if you want to be involved.

Now don’t panic, your phone won’t be buzzing all day. The feature will notify group members when they’ve been added to chats, but they can also decide to receive notifications once the chats begin. Another cool feature is that the update will allow all Group members to create these chats, while Group admins can shut down chats or only allow other admins to be able to create them.

Facebook’s Politics rules apply in the UK too

In an ongoing campaign to prove that it is becoming more transparent, Facebook has made its political ad policies apply to the UK as well as in the US and Brazil.

Now, all advertisers who want to run ads in the UK who reference political figures, political parties, elections, legislation before parliament, or past referenda that are subject to national debate, will have to verify their identity and location. Along with this, the ads that are created will have a “paid for by” disclaimer to identify the person and or organisation who is funding the political campaign.

Now, users won’t be able to see who exactly is funding the campaign by clicking on the “paid for by” label, however they will be taken to the UK Ad Library where they can find the ads range, budget and number of people reached,as well as other ads the page is running.

Facebook sued over video views

Facebook is being sued over how it has been measuring its video view metrics. A newly released paper that is part of the US legal action against the king social platform stated that the company was aware of the inaccuracies in how it measured how many people viewed video on its site for more than a year longer than it had admitted previously.

Facebook responded to these claims describing them as “without merit”, it also said that the suggestions it had tried to hide the issue with were “false”. This issue stems from 2016 in September when Facebook admitted that it had overestimated how many video users had watched over the previous two years.

Due to these claims, a small amount of advertisers are suing Facebook on account of unfair business conduct and fraud. The claims state that a Facebook engineering manager followed up on advertisers’ complaints that dated back to early 2015, saying there had been "no progress on the task for a year".

Since these claims Facebook has become much more transparent with its measurements and now has a dedicated metrics team and allows experts and third parties to review its measurements on a regular basis.