Now you see it, now you don’t

Delete may still be the default, but Snapchat made it much easier to hang on to snaps with the launch of its new Memories feature. Memories is basically an in-app photo roll, backed up on Snapchat’s servers. Users can later access things saved in their memories and remix them into new snaps and stories.

The change is a big deal for Snapchat, since the vanishing images was part of the appeal of the app, at least in the eyes of many users. Technically, that wasn’t always the case. In 2014, the company settled with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that pictures could be recovered in some cases. Plus, it was always easy to download or screen capture a snap and save it to your phone. The app is becoming the main way to share big moments for many of its 150 million users, and Memories will make it easier to search and retrieve pictures from those events.

The new feature was announced just a month after a major overhaul of Stories into the new Discover section. Snapchat has also been dealing with an influx of the olds (you know, anyone over 23.)

Facebook Live Charts New Territory
Facebook is still figuring out the role it plays in reporting news. Although it recently seemed to be backing away from news coverage after the scrutiny on trending topics, the role it plays in spreading news is hard ignore when the week’s most-watched video shows the aftermath of a police shooting. It’s a far cry from an Ice Bucket Challenge.

The company is still defining community standards for streams showing violent events. For now, it doesn’t plan to take down newsworthy video, even when it deals with sensitive or violent topics. This particular video was briefly unavailable, which Facebook says was a glitch and not the result of moderation.

Instagram Automates
In a more traditional development, Instagram will be launching automated comment moderation tools for business pages. The new tool will automatically filter out words and phrases that are reported as offensive. Based on the screenshots, it looks like an all-or-nothing filter, but it still looks easier than the manual moderation happening now.

About the author:
Tara Saylor is a communications manager by day, grad student by night and curious all the time. She is also a web nerd and recovering copywriter. Tara focuses on the channels that enable communication and using metrics to improve communication effectiveness. She tweets about communication and combines as @AnokheeTara.