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Microsoft is working on bringing ‘Windows Volumetric Apps’ to Meta Quest headsets – in other words, extending Windows apps into 3D space.

 


The company revealed the news at its developer conference, the 2024 Build Event. At Build, Microsoft offers comprehensive sessions for developers as well as professionals that help them build awareness about the company’s tools that support new Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 features. 

 

The new Meta x Windows collaboration implies that, soon, owners of the Meta Quest headsets could view 3D apps and digital objects via their wearable gadgets and physically interact with these apps and objects using their hands.

 

A New Windows and Meta Collab is Bringing Windows Volumetric Apps to Meta Quest Headsets



Meta is bringing a new experience to Threads’ web version with customizable feeds stacked in columns.

 

This new interface is currently in testing, so anyone who’s part of the test will be able to add separate columns for things like their favourite searches, tags, accounts, saved posts, and notifications.

 


This integration may sound very similar to TweetDeck that was originally launched as a third-party app to access Twitter (now X), later acquired by X and some time after, turned into a paid service that is now called ‘X Pro.’

Meta is Testing a New Customizable Feed UI on Threads’ Web Version



Meta’s RayBan smart glasses are getting new updates including support for video calling and Apple Music, a new cat-eye frame style, and an official beta roll out of the multimodal AI assistant.

 


In addition to these, there are some new minor updates for the existing Wayfarer and Headliner models. Besides both the models getting new colors, the Headliner will also have a new low-bridge fit for people who struggle with their glasses slipping down their face.

Meta is Bringing Video Call Support and Other Features to its RayBan Smart Glasses



As its latest major move in the world of AI, tech giant Meta has added its AI chatbot on all of its platforms: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger (minus Threads). The chatbot is available on each of these apps as a dedicated search bar.

 

Meta’s AI chatbot is powered by the company’s Llama 3 model – Meta’s most powerful AI model yet (even better than ChatGPT), and which it claims to be “the most intelligent AI assistant” that can be used for free. This should automatically make Meta’s integrated AI chatbot one of the best AI assistants out there too.

 

Meta’s Advanced AI Assistant Makes its Way to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger



GLAAD, the largest advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ , accuses Meta in its new report of allowing hate against the trans community to a dangerous extent on its platform.

 

In the report, GLAAD provides evidence that shows how Meta’s moderation system has enabled a large number of violent and hateful posts against trans people, that are potentially responsible for propaganda campaigns and offline violence. The evidence cited exhibits posts with anti-trans content posted to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads from June 2023 to March 2024 by anti-trans extremists.

 

The posts appear to consist of hateful language and slur, which GLAAD has reported to Meta via its standard reporting systems. However, the organization asserts that Meta’s systems either failed to recognize the reported content as problematic or refused to take it down, even though it clearly violated the company’s policy against hate speech. This in turn poses real-life harm to the LGBTQ+ community.

LGBTQ+ Advocacy Group GLAAD Expresses Angst against Meta for Enabling Anti-Trans Content



Meta has added a new default control setting to Instagram and Threads, that limits recommendations of political content from accounts that one doesn’t follow. Meta defines “political content” as posts about governments, elections, and social topics.

 

The setting was first introduced in February and started rolling out to more users since last week, but without any notifications informing people about the update.

 

The option is available within “content preferences” in account settings as “Limit political content from people you don’t follow.” Although activated by default, it can be disabled by a user who wishes to see more political content on Meta’s apps. Meta also clarifies that the setting does not change the visibility of political content from accounts that a user follows.

Meta is Reducing Visibility of Political Content from Accounts you Don’t Follow on Instagram and Threads



Meta is making an important change to Instagram and Threads’ policy – limiting recommendation of content related to politics and social issues from accounts that a user does not follow, across the platforms. Meta plans to bring this update to Facebook some time later, too.

 

The changes will be implemented only in places where recommendations are displayed to users, like Explore, Reels, in-feed recommendations, and suggested users. No changes will be made to the way content is displayed from accounts that a user follows. This means that accounts that aren’t eligible to be recommended could still post political content that their followers will be able to view in feed and Stories.

 

While users will be seeing less of political content by default, they would still be allowed to opt into seeing more of such content if they wish to. The option will be available in account settings, specifying content that is “likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large.”

Meta Announces Changes to Content Recommendation on Instagram and Threads, Related to Politics and Social Issues



Meta is updating its Brand Rights Protection Manager tool that helps detect product replicas in product listings, with new measures directed at helping brands to protect their IP. Around the same theme, Meta is also launching a new Intellectual Property Reporting Center that consists of a database of IP reports to ensure more efficient tracking of them. Additionally, a new Protecting Businesses section has been added on the Meta for Business website, where businesses can find helpful notes and guides to assist them in developing a brand protection strategy.

 

Within the Brand Rights Protection Manager, Meta is adding some AI-powered features to the Brand Rights tracking tool that provides product security by detecting duplicates based on reference images uploaded by the business. The updated system, according to Meta, will ensure broader protection of products by finding better, more refined matches based on how a brand has previously made use of the tool. Its search abilities will also be also broader-reaching, hence simplifying the process of discovery. Moreover, Meta has increased the limit of image uploads from 50 to 200 images at once. This will allow Meta’s systems to have a wider range of variations for better cross-checking.

 

Meta Introduces New Brand Protection Tools to Businesses, Including a new Intellectual Property Reporting Center



Meta is planning to remove and consolidate some of its detailed ad targeting options due to their limited usage or being related to topics that may be perceived as sensitive by users. This action, as Meta has announced, will be implemented starting January 15.

 

Meta further explains that “existing ad sets with impacted targeting options will continue to run until March 18”, but users will be required to update their targeting selections. “After this date, we will stop delivering ads to the discontinued detailed targeting options, and impacted ad sets may be paused,” says the social media giant.

 

Other targeting options that will remain available to advertisers include Broad targeting, Custom audiences, Lookalike audiences, Meta Advantage lookalike, and Meta Advantage detailed targeting.

Meta is Making Changes to its Detailed Ad Targeting Options



For the past few months, Meta has been rolling out the option of a Link History archive for both Android and iOS, in select regions. The option is meant to help users easily find links that they have interacted with in the Facebook app.

 

Meta is Rolling out ‘Link History Archive’ that Saves Links Interacted with in Facebook’s App



Meta has been testing a new integration in Threads called ‘topic tags’ for the past few weeks, and is now rolling it out to all users. Topic tags could be compared to hashtags, but according to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, their purpose is to drive conversations in the app around specific topics.

 

Unlike how regular hashtags are used, users will be allowed to add only one tag per post. Moreover, for a tag to be functional, it needs to be composed manually in each post, therefore a post with a tag can not be copied and pasted for it to drive conversations. Another element that makes topic tags different from hashtags is that they can be created consisting of multiple words with spaces, without adding the ‘#’ symbol.

Threads Adds the Option of ‘Topic Tags’ to Posts to Help Drive Conversations on Specific Subjects



Meta is introducing new generative AI features as the holiday season begins. These include in-stream visual creation options, expansion of its virtual characters, and more.

 

Starting off with the ‘Imagine’ text-to-image tool that has been available in Messenger for some time now, Meta is enabling more users to generate a variety of visual images using the technology.

 

More specifically, Meta users will be able to use Imagine outside of Messenger as well, on a separate website. “While our messaging experience is designed for more playful, back-and-forth interactions, you can now create free images on the web, too,” says Meta. Within Messenger, Meta is enhancing the tool’s capacity with the option called ‘Reimagine’ that lets users reprocess the generated images in-stream.





Next, Meta is expanding its chat personas functionality, as a result of which more users can interact with AI versions of popular celebrities and stars. These interactions can be initiated by selecting the ‘Create an AI chat’ option in message on Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp.

Check Out Meta’s Latest AI Integrations, Including AI Message Replies and GAI to Produce Images



Since Meta launched Threads, it has been showing users’ posts from the app in Instagram and Facebook feeds as a way of promoting the app and the conversations that happen there. Meta is now enabling Threads users to opt out of having their posts displayed on Facebook and Instagram in highlight modules.

 


This initiative guarantees better privacy for users who don’t wish their Threads conversations to be seen outside of the app for any reason. The option is currently rolling out to some users in the latest version of the app who are able to access it in their Threads settings within the ‘privacy’ section.

Threads is Rolling Out the Ability to Opt Out of Having Posts Displayed on Instagram and Facebook



Meta’s ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram are now available to users in the EU users aged above 18 years. Meta has begun sending prompts on Facebook and Instagram to encourage users to sign up to the paid subscriptions.



The offerings have been developed in compliance with the latest EU ad policies, which Meta explains in the message within the prompts, and they are priced around $20 for a month. It costs €9.99 a month when a user makes a purchase on the web and €12.99 a month when they purchase through Google’s or Apple’s app stores.

Meta Rolls Out Ad-Free Versions of Instagram and Facebook as Paid Subscriptions



Meta is bringing new features and tools for creators related to insights into content performance, enhancing reach, and getting incentives.

 

One of these is a Reels feature called the A/B testing, which is created to help creators experiment with and decide approaches that suit their content the best. Through this option, creators can test four different versions of their Reels videos, with alternative captions and/or thumbnail images. The A/B system will measure the performance of each version by introducing it to a subset of the creator’s initial audience. Finally, the version that receives the most engagement after 30 minutes will be recommended to the creator as the best approach.


The A/B testing can not only provide creators with specific insights into their Reels performance, but also help them obtain an overall understanding about which content creation dynamics are not as helpful and which work more effectively.

 


Next, there is a new a method of creating Reels, by enabling creators to use their existing video clips as the sources. Creators can trim and edit their existing Reels clips into the Reels format from a new option of ‘your content.’

Meta Introduces New Features for Creators, Including a New Method for Measuring Performance



Meta has announced that it is going to start offering new subscriptions on Facebook and Instagram in November, which will allow users to opt out of all ads on these platforms. Users who wish to continue accessing the free versions of Instagram and Facebook will continue to see ads relevant to them.

 

These subscriptions, or paid versions of the services, according to Meta, have been developed in accordance with “evolving European regulations” that demand social media platforms to provide a data tracking opt-out for their users. Therefore, Meta’s offerings will only be available to users in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

 

The information of users who subscribe to the offering will not be used for ads, as opting out of ads means automatically avoiding related data tracking as well.

Meta Announces New Subscriptions in Alignment with EU’s ‘Opt Out of Ads’ Policy



Meta has rolled out new options to Threads including the ability to edit posts and post voice messages within posts.

 

The new edit tool allows users to edit their posts within five minutes after publishing them. A timer shows a countdown of five minutes so users can keep track of the time and make any necessary changes within that duration. The tool can be accessed from the three dots menu that says ‘more’ at the top right section of a post. 

 


After a post has been edited, an edit icon will appear next to it, indicating that changes were made to the original post. However, there will be no history of the post displayed to the viewer, showing what it looked like before it was edited.

Threads Introduces the Option to Edit Posts after Publishing Them



To create a customized experience for people on Facebook, Meta had been testing a new ‘multi profile’ option for more than a year. The company received positive feedback in return from people who expressed that having a clearer organization of friends, groups, and interests helped them engage with their audiences in improved ways. 

 

The multi profiles option is now officially available to all Facebook users. The option will allow them to create multiple personal profiles on Facebook and use each of them for exploring different types of interests or sharing different content with relevant audiences. As a result, each profile will also have a different feed in alignment with a user’s activity.

 



Meta Launches ‘Multi Profiles’ Functionality to Facebook Users



Meta’s Verified program for creators that was originally launched in February is now being exclusively rolled out to businesses on Meta’s platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

 



By purchasing a verified checkmark, businesses will be able to maintain a more authoritative and legitimate presence on Meta’s platforms. The package costs $US21.99 for a month when purchased on the website and $US27.99 via mobile sign-up. Meta is also planning to offer businesses a combination package priced at $US34.99, via which they can obtain verification of both their Facebook and Instagram pages at once.


For creators, however, the prices for the Verification program are slightly lower, with each checkmark costing at least $US24.98 a month.

Meta is Launching its New Paid Verification Program to Business Accounts



Following the hype of ChatGPT, Meta is reportedly developing its own AI system, built on its existing large language models ‘Llama’. According to the Wall Street Journal, the system, like other AI tools, is designed to produce “sophisticated text, analysis and other output” and would also facilitate other companies in building services that provide the same functions.

 

To excel further in the AI field, Meta is also reported to be acquiring more Nvidia H100 chips to power its AI integrations and initiatives. The company is already testing out several AI tools on its social platforms, such as the Instagram chatbot and AI Sandbox that consists of options for text variation, background generation and image outcropping.

Meta is Reportedly Creating its own LLM System for Generative AI

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