Media Perception Of Social Workers

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Taking an unconventional route to a conventional business Kat Norton is a Microsoft Excel influencer. She has over a million followers on TikTok and Instagram, where she goes by the name Miss Excel, and she’s leveraged that into a software training business that is now generating up to six figures of revenue a day. That’s six figures a day. And she’s only been doing this since June 2020. Kat is a one-woman operation, with no staff or management layer. She uses her iPhone and consumer software to make her videos, and I’ve got to say, she has one of the healthiest relationships with the social platforms of maybe any creator I’ve ever talked to: she thinks of them purely as marketing channels for the video courses she sells elsewhere. That’s a big flip from the traditional creator business model, which is usually aimed at monetizing the platforms directly. Kat’s just not doing that. But where this conversatio...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A group of state attorneys general has announced an investigation into “the techniques utilized by Meta to increase the frequency and duration of engagement” of children and teens on Instagram and the negative effects that may cause ( via The Wall Street Journal ). The group, which includes officials from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and Vermont, accuses the company of doing this despite reports that its own research showed its platform could have a negative effect on young people. The research in question was exposed in a report from the Wall Street Journal , which said the company’s own documents show “Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls.” It was later discussed in a Senate hearing , where Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said that the company is unlikely to change its habit of putting profits above people’s well-being . The investigation will be looking ...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’ve made the decision to delete Instagram, whether because you’ve outgrown the need for a certain finsta or because its parent company Meta is courting controversy again , doing so isn’t as quick or easy as it should be. It can’t even be done from within the Instagram app. Go ahead and take a moment to make an obligatory “I’m deleting Instagram” post if you'd like, and then follow these steps to ditch your account — they can be followed using either a computer or phone, as long as you’re using a browser. First, you’ll have to go to Instagram’s special account removal request page, which can be found here , or by following the link in Instagram’s account deletion help article . If you’re not logged into Instagram for the web (most people won’t be), you’ll have to enter your credentials. In fact, it’s very likely you’ll have to put in your password twice throughout the deletion process, so now’s probably a good ...

Rage shake your phone to tell Instagram about a problem | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram head Adam Mosseri said Wednesday that the company has added two new features to improve user experience, including a “rage shake” that will let users report a problem more quickly. If you’re using the app and it isn’t working as it’s supposed to, shake the phone while the app is open, and a pop-up screen will ask, “Did something go wrong?” with space for you to report the issue. This feature will give Instagram feedback that will help it prioritize bug fixes, Mosseri said. “You can explain exactly what happened, how you ended up in that place, and all of the emotions and feels that you’ve got going on, and we’ll have someone take a look at it,” he said. Covering ✌️ this week: - Carousel Deletion (finally!) - Rage Shake Did you know about these s? Any other features you’d like me to cover? Let me know pic.twitter.com/Yx0q4UGFfb — Adam Mosseri (@mo...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram’s standalone messaging service Threads will cease to exist by the end of 2021, Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch . The app will display a notice prompting users to return to Instagram starting November 23rd. Threads was a similar idea to Facebook Messenger — it allowed users to send and receive Instagram DMs in a dedicated messaging interface outside of the main app. It had a collection of quirky features, including automatic statuses that the app could set for you based on what your phone was doing. All of those tools will be available in Instagram itself by the time Threads shuts down, the company said in a statement to TechCrunch . “We’re bringing the fun and unique features we had on Threads to the main Instagram app.” Meta is also in the process of consolidating its many messaging platforms. Messenger and Instagram now both support cross-platform messaging , and the company has said it intends to incorpor...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is asking some users to provide a video selfie showing multiple angles of their face to verify that they’re a real person, according to screenshots posted to Twitter by social media consultant Matt Navarra. The social network has long struggled with bot accounts, which can leave spam messages, harass people, or be used to artificially inflate like or follower counts. A followup tweet from Meta-owned Instagram says it’s asking suspicious accounts to verify they’re human, not bots. According to XDA Developers , the company started testing the feature last year but ran into technical issues. Multiple users have recently reported being asked to take a video selfie to verify their existing accounts. Instagram is now using video selfies to confirm users identity Meta promises not to collect biometric data. pic.twitter.com/FNT2AdW8H2 — Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 15, 2021 Another writer on Twitter...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is asking some users to provide a video selfie showing multiple angles of their face to verify that they’re a real person, according to screenshots posted to Twitter by social media consultant Matt Navarra. The social network has long struggled with bot accounts, which can leave spam messages, harass people, or be used to artificially inflate like or follower counts, and it’s possible that Meta (formerly Facebook, Instagram’s parent company) is looking to this feature to help curb the prevalence of bots on the platform. According to XDA Developers , the company started testing the feature last year but ran into technical issues. Multiple users have reported being asked to take a video selfie to verify their existing accounts. Instagram is now using video selfies to confirm users identity Meta promises not to collect biometric data. pic.twitter.com/FNT2AdW8H2 — Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 15, 20...

Viewers can buy badges, and they’ll appear next to their names in the comments. | Image: Meta Today, Instagram is officially launching its Badges feature, which gives viewers a way to pay and support creators on Instagram Live. Although the feature has been in testing for around a year and a half on an invite-only basis, starting today Instagram will allow any eligible creators on the platform to apply for the feature. Once accepted, viewers will be able to purchase “Badges” during a creator’s livestream to support them financially. Badges are available in three different levels, costing $0.99, $1.99, or $4.99, and show up as one, two, or three hearts next to a commenter’s name during a livestream. Any questions or comments posted by a badge owner will be shown more prominently to a creator, and their Instagram name will appear on a list visible to a creator for up to 90 days. Instagram says it won’t take a cut of any revenue paid to creators until 2023 , al...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram has added text-to-speech and voice effects to its TikTok competitor Reels, two features TikTok has had for some time. The robotic voice-overs used as narration for videos grew so ubiquitous on TikTok in fact, that voice actor Bev Standing sued the company in May , saying it didn’t have permission to use her voice. In September, TikTok reached a settlement with Standing that included a licensing agreement. While it’s popular among TikTok creators, more importantly, text-to-speech is a widely used accessibility feature that allows blind people and those with low vision to hear spoken versions of written text. To use text-to-speech in Reels, open the Instagram app and go to the Reels camera, record or upload a video, and add text to the video using its text tool. Tap the text bubble to get to the three-dot menu, and select “text-to-speech,” then choose which voice option you want. Then post the Reel as usual. I...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is offering massive sums of money to creators to post videos on its TikTok competitor Reels, as highlighted in a pair of reports from TechCrunch and Business Insider . Instagram announced its bonus program for Reels in July when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would be paying $1 billion to creators through 2022 . These reports shed new light on exactly how much individual creators are being offered for their Reels, and how many views they need to get in order to receive the maximum bonus payout. On the high end, TechCrunch points to one Reddit post where someone has been offered as much as $35,000 if their Reels get 58.31 million views in a month. That’s in line with what Business Insider reports was offered to Sam and Cori Werrell make Reels content for their 283,000 Instagram followers. Screenshot: Instagram Users are shown a screen outlining the bonus scheme. Mea...

Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images Republican Congressman Paul Gosar (AZ) ignited national fury this week after tweeting a video portraying himself as an anime character killing other prominent lawmakers. But while Democrats are now calling for his expulsion from Congress and his accounts to be banned, the incident has drawn new attention to Gosar’s long association with far-right meme culture. Gosar first posted the problematic video parodying the opening credits of the popular anime series “Attack on Titan” on Sunday. The video — captioned “Any anime fans out there?” — depicts Gosar as one of the show’s main characters killing Democratic politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden by superimposing their faces onto those belonging to other characters. Responding to the video on Monday, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that “a creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me,” likel...

Instagram is testing a Take a Break feature to get you off the app | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said Wednesday that the platform is testing the long-awaited Take a Break feature to give users reminders when they’ve spent a long time on the platform. “It does what you think it does,” Mosseri said in a video posted to Twitter. “If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app; 10, 20, or 30 minutes,” he said. Testing “Take a Break” ‍ We started testing a new feature called “Take a Break” this week. This opt-in control enables you to receive break reminders in-app after a duration of your choosing. I’m excited to dig into the results & hopefully launch this sometime in December. ✌ pic.twitter.com/WdSTjL6ZdH — Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) November 10, 2021 The feature is “part of a broader effort to try and give people more control over their ex...