This month social media was having a bit of a moment, from being included in the National Archive to having phrases included in the dictionary. It seems social media’s buzz is getting louder!
1. Social media joins the National Archive
The National Archive will now contain content from social media as part of their new online social media archive. They have already added thousands of posts from events such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, along with over 65,000 individual tweets from the UK central government departments.
Conveniently, the Archive will present tweets with a code that can tell future researchers the context including the date and time it was posted. It has never been so important to think before you tweet; now it could hold a place in history!
2. Facebook removes their Poke app
Facebook might be one of the top social media platforms but not all their creations are a success. During May the network removed their app, Poke, from the iOS store.
The Poke app was released a year after Snapchat in 2012 and offered a comparable service; an app that could send photo messages to friends which would then disappear after 10 seconds. Although Facebook have not released any stats for their app the decision to remove it proves that originality is key in app success.
3. iOS and Android could work in harmony
Postgraduate researchers at Columbia University have created a prototype for software which enables Android and iOS apps to work together on phone and tablet devices.
The software, called Cider, currently has no plans to be turned into a commercial product, but could become an exciting future prospect. The team explained that they created Cider in response to their frustrations at the current limitations within iOS and Android. Therefore Cider ensures that all apps would be available on one device.
4. Twitter introduces the ability to ‘mute’ followers
A new feature from Twitter promises to give us even more control over what we see on our feeds. In the same way that we can turn on notifications from our favourite followers, ‘muting’ allows us to remove a particular users content from our feed.
In essence, it is a way to avoid someone on social media without hurting their feelings. The secret to the mute button is that the person will have no idea you have muted them, plus you can always change your mind when you become best friends again.
5. Every little helps with Tesco’s smartphone
It looks like Tesco wants to delve further into the technology market! Their tablet, Hudl was relatively successful selling half a million units since its release, so now Tesco are creating a smartphone.
Chief executive Philip Clarke told the BBC that they would release a device which was pre-installed with Tesco services and would be very competitively priced. The phone will run on Android and be comparable with the Samsung Galaxy S5.
We wonder how quickly it will take for the other supermarkets to follow in Tesco’s footsteps?
Heard about any other cool developments in tech this month? Let us know over on Twitter using @spindogs