Media Perception Of Social Workers

Meta is bringing its “pay or consent” ad model to the UK after months of wrangling with regulators over the controversial policy. The update will force Instagram and Facebook users to pick between being served up personalized ads or shelling out for monthly subscriptions to ad-free versions.  Subscriptions start at £2.99 a month, around $4, for users logging in over the web, Meta said. Android and iOS users face steeper charges of £3.99 a month, around $5.33. Meta blames this on “the fees that Apple and Google charge.”  It’s an all or nothing approach, with users forced to either subscribe on all accounts or none. Each additional account garners another fee of either £2 or £3 a month. Meta was forced to walk back a similar model in Europe after regulators there slammed the “binary choice” it offered users. Meta warned users they faced a “materially worse” experience as a result. The fees were significantly more expensive there than in the UK, starting at €...

Facebook and WhatsApp also surpassed 3 billion monthly users this year, according to Zuckerberg. Instagram now has 3 billion monthly active users , according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This milestone comes almost four years after Instagram reportedly hit 2 billion monthly users in December 2021, catching up to other Meta platforms. Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had surpassed 3 billion users in January , followed by WhatsApp in April . We’ve asked Meta if the new Instagram milestone includes users for its X rival Threads, which launched in July 2023 and requires users to sign up using an Instagram or Facebook account. Bloomberg reports that private messaging and Reels short-form video features are Instagram’s biggest growth drivers, and are what the platform is now focusing on for upcoming updates. Instagram head Adam Mosseri told the publication that upcoming changes include making DMs and Reels easier to find on the platform’s home screen navigation bar, and an ...

Google’s Discover feed will soon include more than just articles from around the web. In the coming weeks, Google plans on incorporating YouTube Shorts alongside posts from platforms like Instagram and X. The Discover feed lives on your homescreen in the Google app, serving up personalized content — and some AI-generated summaries — based on your activity on the web. Though Google plans to incorporate posts from just a few social platforms to start, it plans on adding more in the future. “In our research, people told us they enjoyed seeing a mix of content in Discover, including videos and social posts, in addition to articles,” Google writes in its announcement. In addition, Google will now let you customize your Discover feed, similar to the way it recently started allowing users to choose their preferred news sources on Search . Now, when you see content you like, you can follow its creator or publisher to see more content from them. You can also tap the creator’s n...

Meta’s annual Connect conference is happening on September 17th and 18th, and it seems like there’s going to be a lot of focus on smart glasses. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Wednesday evening keynote will discuss “the latest on AI glasses,” the company says . Rumors and a video leak from Meta already indicate that we might see Meta launch glasses that have a display on one lens and that are controlled with a neural wristband, as well as wraparound Oakley smart glasses with a camera on the nose bridge. The company also says that Zuckerberg will lay out “Meta’s vision for artificial intelligence and the metaverse,” so there should be some non-smart glasses news to look forward to, too. Zuckerberg’s keynote begins at 8PM ET / 5PM PT , and we’ll be covering the keynote and major announcements from the show live. You can keep up with all of our coverage from the event right here. Meta Connect 2025: the 6 big...

After years of requests from users, Instagram will finally have a dedicated app for iPad. Beginning Wednesday, September 3rd, users are able to download the new app built specifically for Apple’s tablet. But it will be slightly different than the mobile app users are accustomed to. Most significantly, the iPad app will open directly to a feed of Reels, the company’s TikTok competitor — perhaps a sign of the short-form-video times. Back in April, reporting indicated that Meta was working on an iPad app for Instagram after years of dragging its feet, in part prompted by the legally and politically iffy spot TikTok found itself in. For years, Instagram for iPad was something to tackle “at some point” — until its biggest competitor was facing what would effectively be a ban in the US. From this perspective, opening the app straight to Reels makes perfect sense. Other features will be available on iPad: Stories will still line the top of the homepage, and users will be abl...