Meta

Like with X (formerly Twitter), you can pin a post to the top of your profile. But you can also pin a reply to one of your posts, which I think could be a really useful tool.

Meta started testing the feature last month, and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced that pinned posts were live on Tuesday.

Threads DMs seemed like a possibility after Jorge Caballero, who posts a lot about Threads features and updates as @datadrivenmd, shared a screenshot that seemed to show that some sort of DM setting was added to the app. But Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said Caballero is “likely” seeing that setting because of the way Threads is built on top of Instagram. “We’re not building DMs into Threads,” Mosseri said.

While disappointing, this isn’t exactly a new position; when Threads launched in July, Mosseri told my colleague Alex Heath that “to start, we don’t want to do any DMs.”

They’re apparently in the works, as shown in this screenshot on X shared by app feature-finder Alessandro Paluzzi. In the screenshot, it appears that the word “Threads” is hyperlinked, so maybe you’ll link to individual words or phrases instead of dropping a #hashtag in your post.

Paluzzi also shared a screenshot that indicates Meta is prepping to release Threads in Europe. On Threads itself, there’s some chatter that DMs may be added soon.

We’ve asked Meta about if or when these potential features may be released.

Instagram is working on... something. Alessandro Paluzzi, a Threads / X / Instagram sleuth, found a reference to a feature called My WonderWall. It’s behind a clipboard icon.

That’s it. That’s all we know.

Correction November 13th, 2023, 8:52AM ET: I originally called this a Threads feature, but It’s an Instagram feature. I regret the error.

There’s plenty to criticize about the company, but tell that to 7-year-old me, climbing up into that hamburger cop’s head.

Anyway, here are some behind-the-scenes pictures from the Loki McDonald’s episode. While we’re at it, here’s the McDonald’s scene from Mac and Me. And an AI-upscaled Mac Tonight commercial.

The Wall Street Journal reports that it will be sold in China and “other markets” as well, and will use cheaper lenses than the Quest 3, but features a more powerful GPU than the older Quest 2. Despite leaving China 14 years ago, Meta’s return will be made possible through a preliminary deal with gaming giant Tencent. The news comes amid weakening demand for VR hardware.

The new documents, show, among other things, CEO Mark Zuckerberg choosing to keep filters that simulate plastic surgery on its platforms — despite support from top executives to remove them and recommendations from independent experts that said the filters might be harmful to younger users.

The documents surfaced from a Massachusetts lawsuit that’s part of broader litigation alleging the company misled users about the safety of its products. You can read the unredacted documents here, and you can see the redacted version on Massachusetts’ website.

Reuters has the story. Seems like a wise idea ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Meta revealed the tools in October.

Beta updates from over the weekend reveal that the Meta-owned messaging app may be working on a new feature that will allow users to create and share polls within channels. Votes in such polls will remain anonymous, according to Android Police.

Meta’s CEO posted this picture to Instagram Friday night, saying, “Tore my ACL sparring and just got out of surgery.”

He was apparently training for his next competitive MMA match. Recovery from this type of injury takes up to a year for professional athletes, so an executive closing in on 40 could be out of action for a while. On the plus side, maybe this will keep Elon Musk from randomly threatening to show up at Zuckerberg’s house for a brawl.

Now, you can publish them without a Facebook review. Facebook won’t organically surface those games, which will be available as part of the app’s “Play Lab” tier, but the reduced friction could make it easier to get early feedback on a game that may not be ready for a full launch just yet.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri shared some nice smaller features you can take advantage of on Threads on the web, including the ability to tweak alt text on photos and videos. Still waiting on ActivityPub integration, but I’ll take these nice improvements in the meantime.

A good content publishing API might make it a lot easier to convince publishers to post things on Threads. And maybe we’ll get some fun bots?

If you have ideas, send them to the team on Threads.

WhatsApp lets you limit who can see your profile picture, but everyone else will see a blank icon in its place. That could change in a future update, WABetaInfo reports, with the option to set an “alternate photo and name.” So you might have the logo of your business to show non-contacts, while keeping a selfie as your profile picture for friends.

Meta is making it easier to chat with your Quest friends while you’re in Horizon Worlds as part of the v134 update to the app. It’s the company’s latest way to make Horizon Worlds more social; Meta rolled out “world chat,” an in-experience text chat, to all users earlier this month.