Category Archive

 Facebook can’t build everything. For a decade, its strategy has been to provide the canvas, then let developers paint it however they want. That’s because there’ll always be another game. Another app. Another… selfie filter? Read More

 The Google Play Store will not require you to have a Google+ account to write reviews anymore.
In an email to TechCrunch, Google confirmed the news that “a G+ profile is no longer needed to post a review.” Rumors that the change was happening were first reported by Android Police, which quoted several tips from its readers.
As of today, the roll out appears to be continuing. Read More

 What happens when you mix sound bites from French artists and politicians with eclectic music ranging from electro swing, nu-disco, remixes of classical French hits, lounge music and more? You get more than ten million plays on SoundCloud, play your music on a yacht near the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy and become a popular music brand in France. Read More

 Adblock Plus launched a workaround to Facebook’s ad block bypass today that ham-handedly removes posts from friends and Pages, not just ads, according to a statement provided by Facebook to TechCrunch. “We’re disappointed that ad blocking companies are punishing people on Facebook as these new attempts don’t just block ads but also posts from friends and Pages.… Read More

 Facebook has to train people how to make great video if it wants it “at the heart” of its services like Mark Zuckerberg promised, so today it launched a slew of new video analytics. Creators can now see the audience demographics of their video viewers, what moments were most engaging in their live broadcasts, and how shares and cross-posts boosted their view counts.   But… Read More

 Sending a letter to the White House is getting a digital upgrade today. In addition to accepting hand-written missives by postal mail and emails, the public can now send a note to President Obama via Facebook. On the the White House’s Facebook page, you can use Messenger to “speak” to the administration by way of the newly launched White House Messenger bot. To use the… Read More

 This is the strategy behind Instagram Stories.
Snapchat invented a brilliant format for sharing day-to-day life: photo and video slideshows jazzed up with commentary that disappear after 24 hours so you’ll share an unpolished window into what you see. It quickly eclipsed the popularity of Snapchat’s 10-second exploding private messages, and made the app grow to 150 million daily… Read More

If your Instagrams are works of art that take more than a few moments to finesse, you’ll appreciate a new feature that may soon be coming to Instagram: “Save Draft.” The option is something many Instagram users have wanted for quite a while, but has not yet rolled out to the entire Instagram user base. If you have it, however, you’ll see the option to save your work… Read More

 Facebook is making the HTML of its web ads indistinguishable from organic content so it can slip by adblockers. But in exchange for taking away this option for controlling ads from people, its allowing them to opt-out of ad targeting categories and Custom Audience customer lists uploaded by advertisers. Today all desktop users will see an announcement atop the News Feed explaining that while… Read More

 Come to TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF conference to hear how your company can win at and adapt to the Facebook News Feed. We’ll have Facebook’s VP of Product Management for News Feed Adam Mosseri about what gets seen and what doesn’t, and how to take capitalize on its frequent algorithm changes. Mosseri has been working on News Feed since 2008 and now he runs it. When… Read More