Stay up-to-date on the top tech news and trends each week with our Weekly Top 10 Tech. See something we missed? Tag @swebdevelopment on Facebook and Twitter! Here’s our top 10 for this week:
1. Facebook Reactions A Year On – How Are Reactions Being Used And What Does That Tell Us?
Facebook Reactions have been used 300 billion times since launching. Likes still reign, however, with over 4 million clicked each minute. Despite their low usage, Reactions are a stronger indication of someone’s interest in a post and weigh heavier in the newsfeed algorithms.
2. Medium’s New Snapchat-Like Story Format Is Called Series
Publishing platform Medium has undergone some big internal changes recently, laying off employees and closing offices in New York and D.C. Now it has launched a new feature in an effort to generate more interest. Earlier this week it introduced Series, a story format resembling Snapchat and Instagram Stories.
3. WordPress.com Lets You Ditch Medium With New Import Tool
As a result of the uncertain future of Medium, WordPress has created a new tool which lets users easily import their Medium posts to a WordPress.com site.
4. Prisma Will Let You Create Your Own Artistic Filters In The Future
The image app Prisma is now letting users create their own filters, although the feature is only available on desktop to the most active users for the time being. They eventually plan on opening it up to more people in the future as well as bringing it to mobile, too.
5. Amazon Says One Engineer’s Simple Mistake Brought The Internet Down
If you had issues with the internet this past Tuesday, it’s likely Amazon’s fault. Click through to find out how one engineer’s typo took 1/3 of the world’s internet services down for about four hours.
6. Instagram Stories Ads Are Now Available To All Businesses
Instagram launched Stories ads back in January to 30 partners, but now the option is available to all brands.
7. As Messenger’s Bots Lose Steam, Facebook Pushes Menus Over Chat
Facebook was touting its Messenger bots not too long ago, but users have expressed confusion over interacting with them. To make it more user-friendly, Facebook is now giving developers the option to create persistent menus so users can navigate easily through all the options a particular bot offers.
8. Giphy Is Getting Into The Sticker Business With 12 Artist-Created iMessage Sticker Packs
Just like emojis were once used sparingly, messaging stickers are in a similar position. Only Giphy is betting on their future by launching artist animated sticker packs. They’re also developing software that will make it easier for anyone to create their own animated stickers with the belief that GIFs and animated stickers are the future of messaging.
9. Ever Launches Image Recognition Tool To Make Photo-Sharing With Friends Easier
A new app called Friends helps you share your photos automatically with your friends. The app tags friends you’ve previously identified within the app and then shares it with them without you having to do it manually.
10. Snapchat Stock Finishes Up 44% On First Day
Parent company Snap went public earlier this week. The IPO price jumped nearly 50% by the end of the trading day.
