Image used with permission by copyright holderFacebook has been heavily promoting its Live Videos feature since making it available to general users alongside celebrities in December.
Now that the live streaming functionality is available on both iOS and Android, the social network is updating its news feed (the timeline of status updates you see when you log in) to display Live Videos above older clips.
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Facebook will be hoping this encourages more people to use the feature, which already faces stiff competition from the Twitter-owned app Periscope. The viewing numbers for Live Videos, on the other hand, are already promising.
Earlier this week, when Facebook introduced the feature for Android, it stated that on average people watch a video three times longer when it is live compared to when it is not live. The higher engagement rate was likely the catalyst for the update. As Facebook puts it, live streams are “more interesting in the moment than after the fact.”
This isn’t the first time Facebook has rejigged its News Feed algorithm around video clips. In 2014, Facebook made an update that moved videos that had higher viewership figures to the top of timelines. The social network also takes into account the likes, shares, and comments on a clip in order to ascertain its placement on the News Feed. Additionally, last year, its algorithm began showing users similar videos based on clips they had watched in the past. It also monitors a viewer’s interaction with a clip, including the muting of sound, whether HD capability has been turned on, and if the video is watched in full screen in order to suggest more content.
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.
Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.
Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.
Instagram is amazing, and many of us use it as a record of our lives — uploading the best bits of our trips, adventures, and notable moments. But sometimes you can lose the original files of those moments, leaving the Instagram copy as the only available one . While you may be happy to leave it up there, it's a lot more convenient to have another version of it downloaded onto your phone or computer. While downloading directly from Instagram can be tricky, there are ways around it. Here are a few easy ways to download Instagram photos.
