Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
August 5th
I received a message via facebook messenger in my johnwilhelmisaphotoholic-fb-page inbox. A man introducing himself as Adam Torres told me he would like to buy my fb page. I clearly remember how I was laughing about it with my wife (who is actually my girlfriend but it confuses people all the time to have 4 kids with a girlfriend so I call her my wife) and how I wrote him back that I was not interested in money.
Instagram has just launched Threads, a new standalone messaging app. Just like sharing Stories and messages only with the people on your Close Friends list, it allows you to focus only on those you really care about. But it’s made to help you communicate with your friends more throughout the day. Perhaps a bit too much.
Earlier this month, Reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong discovered that Facebook was about to start hiding like counts. And now it’s happening: the social media giant is testing hiding like counts in Australia, and the experiment could expand to more countries soon.
As you may know, Instagram is testing hiding like counts in seven countries. But according to recent reports, Facebook may soon follow. Reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong discovered the prototype of hidden like counts in Facebook Android app. Just like Instagram’s tested feature, it shows a few people who liked your post but hides the total number of likes.
I guess we all know that most of the stuff on Instagram is fake: likes and followers, travels, faces and bodies, even pancakes! So it’s probably not a surprise that a young woman recently posted a fake hiking photo which was taken in her own backyard. But what makes it funny is that she got busted for it by her own sister.
Instagram has banned one of its major ad partners for scraping large amounts of user data. Francisco-based startup Hyp3r reportedly scraped public data such as users’ locations, profile information, photos, and even stories (which are supposed to vanish after 24 hours). The exact volume of scraped data isn’t known, but reports say that it could cover hundreds of millions of users.
Earlier this year, a leaked design prototype showed us that Instagram could start hiding like counts from your followers. The feature is now being tested and it hides the total number of likes and video views for some people in seven countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, and Japan.
As an attempt to make Instagram a friendlier place, the company has introduced a new policy regarding account disabling. From now on, Instagram will detect if you violate its policies, and warn you before disabling your account. This means that more accounts will be subject to deletion. But on the other hand, you’ll be notified if you’re in the risk of being banned, so you can make your future posts appropriate.
People of Instagram would do anything for likes, no matter how dangerous, disrespectful or stupid it is. The latest trend on Instagram is taking photos near or in “Novosibirsk Maldives,” a gorgeous azure lake in Siberia. The problem is that a nearby coal plant uses this artificial lake to dump ash, so it’s heavily polluted. But it seems that the Insta-craze has gone so far, that the company running the plant had to issue an official warning against swimming in it.
With two new AI-powered features, Instagram is continuing its fight against online bullying. From now on, the platform will guilt-trip everyone who tries to post a nasty comment. At the same time, you will be able to shadowban everyone who bullies you in the comments.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
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