Tag: Social Networking

Twitter has rolled out an update to their Android app that brings support for App Shortcuts.  It makes them just the latest to offer the new feature, something that is coming natively to Android Nougat 7.1 but can be experienced in other devices with launchers that support them.  Specific to Twitter, this updated version gives users the ability to send a new direct message, a new Tweet or to do a search of Twitter for specific content.  Once you select the shortcut you want, the app launches to that particular feature automatically.  This makes it super quick to send a new message or a new Tweet.

Twitter looks set to be changing the way it counts the 140 characters in your Tweets.  In a report by the Verge, it looks like the micro-blogging site is going to stop counting things like your username, images, polls and GIFs which will give users more characters for actual content on their posts.  While a firm date was not formally indicated by Twitter to the Verge, they are referencing two sources that the day all this starts is September 19th.

Beginning September 19th, the company will cut down on exactly which types of content count toward the platform’s 140-character limit. Media attachments (images, GIFs, videos, polls, etc.) and quoted tweets will no longer reduce the count.

If September 19th is the date or not, this is a fundamental change to how Twitter works and it could have big implications.

Instagram has begun rolling out a major update to both their Android and iOS apps today with a focus on content while maintaining the app’s easy navigation.  The revamp of the photo sharing app is the first major redesign in several years and it does away with the darker theme of the app and brings with it a light, white UI with content dominating the screen instead of it being a mix of photos and text.  And yes, even the icon for the app is changed up in this release.

The Google Plus app for Android has yet another update rolling out today, the ninth such update this year.  Version 7.8.0 brings mostly refinements to the community centric app for Android and brings back quick access to other Google apps you may have installed on your phone.  In all, there are 22 bugs fixed in this update according to Google’s Luke Wroblewski as well as Quick access to Google Photos, Hangouts and Search within the app. If this seems like a blast from the past, it should.  Before Google decided to decouple other services and apps from G+, you had quick access to other Google apps before the whole Google Plus is Dead, Long Live Google Plus era we are in now.  This is back now and frankly is a great touch that has needed to come back to the new and improved app.