TWITTER MAKE MORE ROOM FOR REPLIES

Twitter is giving its users a little more space.

The social network said Thursday that when people reply back to fellow users, usernames will no longer cut into the 140-character limit in tweets.

Usernames, such as @thecleanmachine, the Twitter handle for Sasank Reddy, a product manager at the social network, will now appear above the tweet's text, rather than within it.

"So you have more characters to have conversations," Reddy said in a blog post Thursday.

Users will now be able to tap on "Replying to..." to see and manage who's in their conversation, instead of seeing a bunch of usernames at the beginning of a tweet, Reddy added.

For example, when a user is replying to say, tweets from public figures like President Muhammadu Buhari‏ –
@MBuhari or the American president Donald Trump at either @realDonaldTrump or @POTUS, neither of Trump's Twitter handles will figure into the 140 characters. However, if you want to add or tag other people, you'll still have to type in their @username and that will factor into the character count.

Some Twitter users have pointed out the new reply feature lets you tag a seemingly unlimited number of people, raising concerns that it could be use to spam a large number users with a single tweet.

So, don't be that dude who tags 30 people in every tweet -- just don't.

The reply update comes after Twitter tweeted in September it will no longer count photos, videos, polls, quotes and GIFs toward its 140-character limit. The social network also told users and developers last spring changes were coming.

Thursday's new feature is the second Twitter-related update in as many days. On Wednesday, the social network said videos from Periscope can now play directly in Moments, Twitter's up-to-the-minute curated collection of tweets, videos and discussions.

Facebook Messenger now lets you share Live Location for an hour

Facebook Messenger wants to be an offline social gathering tool, not just an online chat app. Today it’s adding a new Live Location feature that lets you share your real-time location on a map for an hour within a private direct or group message thread. The recipients can then see an estimate of how long it would take you to reach them by car

“Live Location is super helpful when trying to coordinate with friends, telling people how close you are when you’re on your way to an appointment or even sharing where you are with your roommate when you’re on your way home at night” writes the feature’s product manager Selena Wang. It’s rolling out for all iOS and Android Messenger users today. Messenger could now challenge location apps like Foursquare Swarm and meetup apps like Down To Lunch.

Live Location is Facebook’s second big attempt at maps in Messenger after its first one blew up into a privacy scandal and was scrapped in 2015. Many users were sharing their momentary exact location with each message, which a Harvard student found could be scraped into a Marauder’s Map through a Chrome extension he built showing exactly where a friend had been. Facebook rescinded the student’s internship offer, made him take the extension down, and switched to only letting users send their one time current or future location.

That static location feature is still available, but now there’s Live Location too. This time, though, you can’t leave it on by default. Head of Messenger David Marcus posted that “Many of us make plans on Messenger that involve finding each other, or letting friends and loved ones know we’re on the way. Sharing your location will also help some of you feel safer on the way home.”

To use Live Location:

Inside a message thread, tap the Location button or find it in the More menu
On the map, tap the blue bar to start sharing your Live Location. The recipients will see your exact current location on a map for 60 minutes, and an ETA by car for you to reach them

A clock in the corner of the map counts down until your location sharing expires, and you can hit Stop Sharing at any time Of course, battery life is a big issue with location features since GPS can drain your device’s energy quickly. But Facebook seys it feels confident that Live Location uses a standard amount of battery, and Marcus writes “We put a lot of time and effort into . . . minimizing battery consumption to the point you wouldn’t even have to think about it.” Though it’s still worth keeping an eye on it.

Alongside the Active Now status indicators and Messenger Day’s “Who’s up for?” filters, Messenger is becoming a much more full-featured utility for getting together with friends. That could give it an advantage over strict chat products and dedicated visual communication apps.

Offline gathering is a still a largely unsolved problem. It’s tough to know who’s available to hang out and close enough for that to be convenient. To win in this space, a product needs social graph ubiquity, location sharing, to be a place users already check frequently, and to have a messaging component for planning. Swarm, Down To Lunch, and a graveyard of other apps have always missed a critical piece.

Messenger could succeed since it piggybacks on Facebook identity and is already where people are organizing meetups. For all our fancy apps, we still need a way to fight the loneliness and get face to face in person. Remember, though. Now if you say “on my way”, you better not be lying while still home in your pajamas.

HOW YOU CAN SHARE OR POST MULTIPLE PHOTO AND VIDEOS ON INSTAGRAM

The drudgery of uploading one photo at a time to Instagram has ended! Now you can add up to 10 photos and videos at once.

Don't worry about overwhelming your followers with a slew of photos, though. It's kind of like a Story. A bulk upload is consolidated into one post. The first image is displayed in your feed and blue dots at the bottom of the photo lets your followers know that they can swipe to see more images.

Adding multiple images and videos is super easy:

From the home screen, hit the + icon at the bottom of the screen.

1. Tap the first image you want to add.
2. Tap the Select multiple icon on the bottom right of the image.
3. Tap on the additional images you want to add and tap an image again to deselect it. If you don't like the order of your images, tap and hold on the image you want to move, then drag it to the right spot.
4. Tap Next at the top of the screen as usual to edit your photos. You have the option of editing each photo individually, or adding the same filter to all your images at once. If you want the same filter on all the images, just tap on your chosen filter without selecting a photo. If you want to edit photos individually, just tap on one, edit and tap Done. Rinse and repeat. When you're done editing, tap Next and add a caption. Unfortunately, all of your photos will just have one caption.
5. Tap Share when you're done. On your profile grid, your followers will see an icon in the upper right side of a photo to let them know it is a post with multiple images. They just need to tap and swipe on the photo to see more.

Does it work with Stories?
Uploading multiple images at once would be awesome for creating a Story, right? Unfortunately, this new trick doesn't work with the Story function, yet.