Social media round-up – YouTube mobile live video, Facebook Pronunciation, Twitter safety and WhatsApp live tracking

Hello and happy Friday everyone! Rhodri here with some awesome new social media updates for you, enjoy!

YouTube add live video streaming features

This has been mentioned before on our social blogs; with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all offering live streaming capabilities it was only a matter of time before YouTube had to offer the same. You can now stream live footage from your mobiles via YouTube, however at the moment this feature is only available to those with over 10,000 subscribers. When users have finished broadcasting their videos they will be automatically added to their playlist and privacy settings can be adjusted accordingly. Although at the moment you need 10k subscribers to use this feature, it should soon be available to all users.

Facebook is helping people get your name right

This story is short and sweet, Facebook is introducing “Name Pronunciation”. This is a tool that lets people know how to pronounce your name properly. You can set this up by sifting through a number of automatic suggestions provided by Facebook and edit it if necessary until it sounds like how to say your name correctly. Click here for further instructions.

Twitter bring out some new features to help combat abuse

Abuse on Twitter is an ongoing, often discussed issue. Twitter claims it wants to be an open platform where anyone can express themselves but antisocial activity and abuse is rife. The platform has come up with some new features to continue helping to tackle the problem. The CEO, Jack Dorsey has promised to continue to make improvements quickly and efficiently.

They have now introduced:

• Stopping abusive users create new accounts – Previously, abusive users could just set up another account after whatever one they were using got shut down. Now Twitter are taking steps to identify these people and stop them from creating new accounts, making them permanently suspended. (Twitter are not revealing how they are going to this to prevent problem users getting round the obstacle).
• Safer search results – Twitter are introducing an option that allows users to perform a ‘safe search’. This means that Twitter will remove all Tweets that contain potentially offensive content and Tweets from accounts that have been blocked or muted.
• Censoring abusive or low quality tweets – You will still be able to see the abusive or low quality tweets, but they will be blurred out and then visible if you select a ‘show less relevant replies’ prompt. The idea here is that less people will see the abusive comments, effecting less people and dissuading those responsible from carrying out these tweets.

These features will obviously not eliminate the problem, but they are a step in the right direction. Only time will tell how Twitter fare in the ongoing battle.

WhatsApp Live location tracking

This last update is a little creepy depending on how close you are with your friends. WhatsApp is testing ‘live location tracking’, which allows users to track their friends’ location in real time if they are in a group with them.

Users have the option to turn on live location tracking for a one, two or five minutes, or alternatively they can leave it on permanently. This way, users’ friends can see exactly where they are. The reasoning here is that it will make those wanting to meet up as a group coming from different areas much easier. Right now the feature is only available to a small number of people but could soon be available to everyone.