The Week in Digital 27.01.17

In this week's digital notes, we've got the latest in Facebook videos, the new Vine app and how scientists have been using Twitter.

FACEBOOK TO FAVOUR LONGER VIDEOS

Facebook is planning on updating its News Feed algorithm, benefiting longer videos. Soon, if a longer video has a high percentage completion rate, it will appear more frequently on users' timelines than a shorter video with a similar rate of completion. Facebook expects only a slight increase in the visibility of longer videos overall, unlikely to be noticeable to the average user. The change is rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

'ROGUE' TWITTER ACCOUNTS ATTACK TRUMP

Following the removal of any climate change information on the White House's website, scientists and activists have beensetting up 'rogue' accounts to post facts about climate change. Rebel doppelg?ngers are mirroring companies such as NASA, as well as federal science agencies. Many of the bios described the pages as the 'Unofficial 'Resistance' Team' of their respective agencies. The unofficial resistance of the US National Park Service (@AltNatParkSer) gathered over 14,000 followers before being handed over to 'scientists and journalists'.

TWITTER SETS UP OFFICIAL INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

This week Twitter has finally decided to set up their own Instagram account, using the channel to promote themselves as a breaking news and conversations platform. They used Instagram stories to post tweets about the Oscars on Monday. This comes after past feuds resulting in Twitter blocking Instagram from using its 'Find your friends on Twitter' API and Instagram preventing images from displaying in Twitter feeds. Despite this, Instagram has always used Twitter as a marketing platform. Twitter collected over 50k Instagram followers in just one week.

IT'S NOT OVER FOR VINE

Although Twitter decided in October to shut the service down, 'Vine camera' has now launched, allowing users to shoot the 6.5 second videos. In the same way, these videos can be saved to a camera roll or uploaded to Twitter. The only noticeable difference is the removal of the community; users can only directly upload videos to Twitter and cannot repost any of the old Vines taken before the shut down date (Jan 17th 2017). Old posts have been stored in a kind of time capsule on Vine.co.

THE BEST IN DRONE PHOTOGRAPHY

To finish with some eye-candy, take a look at The Guardian's roundup of the best drone photography in 2016. The photos were all entries into SkyPixel's competition last year.

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