Instagram rolls out auto-captions for videos
This week in Hard Refresh: Social we review Facebook Campus, Twitter podcast tab, SOTU, & more!
Published in
2 min readMar 4, 2022
FACEBOOK & META
- Facebook is shutting down Campus, its college student-only, replica of its original site that lived within Facebook (very meta, no pun intended), and was only accessible if a user had a .edu email address. Not shocking, since most kids these days are not going anywhere near Facebook.
- Morgan Stanley is making the call that revenue growth will slow for Meta, despite their ability to fend off TikTok so far.
- We love an accessibility win. Instagram is rolling out auto-generated captions for videos in feed!
- Instagram announced its shutting down its standalone IGTV app, and I’m genuinely shocked to hear that app even still exists.
SNAPCHAT
- Snap joins the ranks and pauses ads in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
- Some U.S. Twitter users will start seeing crowd-sourced fact checking on the platform, courtesy of the platform’s initiative, Birdwatch.
- Twitter has began marking tweets that contain links to Russian state-backed media and has put a limit on their reach.
- The platform also has a podcast tab in the works, that will aim to facilitate more discovery and engagement amongst users.
AR, VR, & AI
- Meta has recently made advances in automated object identification, a key part of its augmented reality push.
- The tech giants are going to battle in the metaverse, as they all begin on a level playing field for the first time.
NOTEWORTHY
- YouTube announced geoblocks on Kremlin-affiliated media outlets, after receiving pressure to help combat Russian propaganda.
- In honor of Women’s History Month, Pinterest announced a new support program for women-owned businesses. Nice!
- TikTok is taking a deeper dive into the effects the platform has on teens and kids’ mental health.
VIRAL CONTENT
- Here’s a recap from the State of the Union address this week.
