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Instagram, the popular social media app owned by Meta Platforms, is set to launch its NFT integration pilot for the platform on Monday. According to the report from CoinDesk, Instagram is planning non-fungible token (NFT) integrations for Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow. A small group of NFT enthusiasts from the United States will participate in the pilot. It's unclear whether Instagram will support NFTs from all four chains when it launches. Unlike Twitter, Instagram will not charge its users a fee for displaying NFTs according to CoinDesk. Instagram will support widely used crypto wallets like MetaMask. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/05/08/metas-instagram-to-support-nfts-from-ethereum-polygon-solana-flow/

Facebook said it stored millions of Instagram passwords without the proper security measures.

You thought ordering that colon cleansing tea off Instagram was easy before? You’re in for a real treat now. Instagram is adding a checkout feature that’ll let users buy products from brands and retailers on their feed directly inside the app, meaning they won’t have to leave Instagram to finish the transaction. Advantage retailers: When it takes fewer steps to complete a purchase, shoppers are far more likely to smash that “place order” button. Advantage Instagram: First, it’ll keep a small cut of each sale. Plus, it makes sense for IG parent Facebook. For now, only Instagram will store shoppers’ payment and shipping info, but remember...Facebook has said that payments and commerce is a revenue stream it’ll be leaning into going forward. The checkout feature is starting with just 20 brands. The WSJ calls it a “cautious step” toward taking on Amazon, but you can call it a quick way to blow your bonus. Via Morning Brew

There must be a great behind the scenes story to this stunt....

You might not think to pick up a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from your local library. But the New York Public Library is willing to bet that if you can access it with the tap of your finger—on an app you probably already have open—you just might find yourself falling deep into the alternate universe dreamed up by Lewis Carroll in his beloved novel. That’s part of the thinking behind Insta Novels, NYPL’s latest program to bring literary classics to the digital masses. As the name suggests, the library is taking advantage of the popularity and wide reach of Instagram by uploading literary classics in their entirety into the app’s Stories feature—essentially turning the library’s accountinto a digital bookshelf. The stories live on in the “Highlights” section on NYPL’s Instagram page, so they don’t disappear after 24 hours. The program launched Wednesday with part one of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Two other literary classics are queued up to be added over the next few weeks: the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and the novella The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. If the titles aren’t enough to get you thumbing through the stories, the library also teamed up with the ad agency Mother to find illustrators to bring the stories, and even the words themselves, to life. On one page of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, stars twinkle at the bottom; on another, the words of the Dormouse character scroll up in whimsical fashion, mimicking the tail of a mouse. The selection of stories was chosen for diversity in subjects and formats, said Richert Schnorr, the director of digital media at NYPL. But they also followed a theme: “There’s a theme that started with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland about transformation, about not knowing what reality is, and turning things upside down,” he said. That theme can also describe how libraries have had to adapt to the digital age, and how their roles have changed at a time when literary reading is declining and when social media has become a major disseminator of information—accurate or otherwise. Libraries are now offering more than just books; they’re increasingly connecting communities to the web, and transforming into incubators for startups and refuges for the homeless. They’re dipping their toes into the digital space; before teaming up with Instagram, for example, NYPL launched an e-book app to make their books more accessible, as well as two podcasts. The cover art for Charlotte Perkins Giman’s feminist short story was designed by Buck Design. (New York Public Library) In a way, it makes sense for NYPL to pivot more toward mobile engagement. The latest research from the Pew Research Center shows that 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone. Zoom into urban areas like New York City, and that number jumps to 83 percent. Meanwhile, Instagram recently hit 1 billion users, giving NYPL the potential to reach people way beyond the city’s borders. (Though, there is a valid argument that such digitizing of the library fails to reach some underserved communities, as Michael D. D. White of Citizens Defending Libraries told the Wall Street Journal.) At the end of the day, Schnorr said this latest project is to use an element of surprise and whimsy to inspire people to pick up a book, to get them to excited about reading, and to visit their own libraries—if not New York City’s. The project doesn’t go as far as “reinventing the wheel,” he said, but it does turn the idea of social media being a fast-paced medium on its head. The theme of the selections “dovetails so nicely into the concept of transforming this kind of fast, twitching medium into something that’s a little more contemplative and long form,” he told CityLab. “It asks for a little bit more attention from the users.” https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/08/new-york-public-library-instagram-literature-stories/568144/?utm_source=feed

Zuckerberg Is Instagram Straight Flexin’ The numbers are in...and? Instagram has officially passed 1 billion monthly active users (MAU). So be hard on the Zuck all you want, but just remember he now owns: Facebook: 2.19 billion monthly active users WhatsApp: 1.5 billion Messenger: 1.3 billion And of course, Instagram So it's no wonder Facebook shares jumped to a record-high $203 yesterday. As outspoken NYU professor Scott Galloway puts it: "Zuckerberg oversees the content and influence and mood of a community greater than Christianity, the southern hemisphere, plus India." And Insta didn't stop at 1 billion. It also announced the rollout of IGTV—a YouTube competitor. + Is Zuckerberg bound to pass Buffett in wealth? He's getting close.

SOCIAL NETWORKS WALK a fine line between being a useful tool and a crippling addiction. Whether you want your free time back or don’t like your information scattered about on the internet, you may be considering deactivating some accounts. Wanting to delete your account is one thing, but actually being able to hit the delete button is another story. Social media outlets make money off of you and your information, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they don’t want to let you go. Because of this, the biggest networks have made it overly complicated to delete your account. But if you are set on getting rid of them, here’s what you’ll have to do. Facebook You’ve had your Facebook account for about a decade, and in that time you’ve posted a little too much personal information. Maybe you’re just sick of all the baby pictures and slightly offensive status updates your friends are sharing. You’ve had enough. If you’ve ever deactivated your account, you may have noticed that everything goes back to normal the next time you log in, as if nothing has happened. That’s because deactivating your Facebook account is not the same as deleting it. When you deactivate your account, you are just hiding your information from searches and your Facebook friends. Although nothing is visible on the site, your account information remains intact on Facebook’s servers, eagerly awaiting your return. Even so, deactivating your account is still a complex process. Go into your settings and click General. At the bottom, you'll find Manage your Account. From there, click on "Deactivate your account" and type in your password. Before you're completely off the hook, Facebook shows you photos of all the "friends" you'll miss ("Callie will miss you", "Phoebe will miss you", "Ben will miss you") followed by a survey asking you to detail your reasons for leaving. Get through that, click Deactivate, and you're good to go. Now, to permanently delete your account, you'll need to learn where the delete option resides. The easiest way to find it is by clicking the "Quick Help" icon in the top-right corner, then the "Search" icon. When you see the search field, type “delete account.” You'll see a list of search results. Click on "How do I permanently delete my account?" and Facebook will give you the obscure instructions to “log into your account and let us know.” In this case, “let us know” is code for “delete my account,” so click on that link. From here, the final steps are clear: Enter your password and solve the security captcha, and your request to permanently delete your account is underway. Yes, you read that right—it's just a request. Facebook delays the deletion process for a few days after you submit your request, and will cancel your request if you log into your account during that time period. You know, just in case you change your mind. It's crucial that you don't visit Facebook during this waiting period. Delete the app from your phone. If you want to delete your account but don't want to lose all your account information, download all your crucial data first. The information you can download includes everything from the photos and statuses you post, to the ads you’ve clicked and the IP addresses you’ve used. The list of what’s included is extensive, but you can view it in its entirety here. Also, due to the nature of this data, you’ll want to keep it in a safe place. To download your account, go into Settings> General Account Settings > Download a copy of your Facebook dataand then click “Start My Archive.” When your download is ready, Facebook will send you an email with a link to download. For added security, this link will expire after a few days, so download it quickly. Instagram Even though it’s such a mobile-first service, Instagram doesn’t let you delete your account through the app. Instead, you’ll have to log into your Instagram account via the web in order to delete it. Like Facebook, navigating through Instagram’s settings will only give you the option to temporarily disable your account. Disabling your account will hide your profile, photos, likes, and comments from the platform. Find the disable option by clicking the person icon in the top right corner and selecting Edit Profile. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see the option to temporarily disable your account. If you want to get rid of it for good, you’ll have to enter “https://instagram.com/accounts/remove/request/permanent/” into your browser's address bar. Once you’re on that page, enter in your password and click “Permanently delete my account.” In the past, Instagram users have reported that they are prompted to enter their phone number when deleting their account. Luckily, it seems like this is no longer necessary. Twitter It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a well-curated Twitter account, but the good news is that deleting your account doesn’t require as much work. Before you delete your Twitter account, you may want to download your archive. This will include all your tweets in a chronological order, which is great if you want to relive your first tweet, or see all those unanswered tweets you sent to celebrities. To download your archive, click your profile icon, go to Settings, then click on “Request your archive.” It’ll take some time for Twitter to get your archive ready, but when it is, you’ll be sent an email with a download link that will give you a .zip file. Once you have your downloaded copy, you can proceed with deleting your account. Log in to your Twitter, go into your account settings, then scroll to the bottom and click “Deactivate my account.” After that, you’ll be prompted to enter your password, and once you do so your account will be deactivated. Keep in mind that your data isn’t actually deleted for another 30 days. This window gives you the opportunity to revive your account if you choose. Once the 30 day period is up, Twitter will begin deleting your account. According to the company's Privacy Policy, this could take a few weeks. Snapchat Maybe you’re sick of seeing who’s besties with who according to the app’s Friend Emoji guide. Maybe you’re one of many Snapchat users converting to Instagram, despite Snapchat’s radically different function. In any case, if you decide to delete your Snapchat account, here’s how. Open the app and click on your profile icon in the top left corner. From there, go to Settings in the top-right corner. Go down to Support, which is found under More Information, and you’ll be lead to a search engine. Enter “Delete my account” and you'll see the instructions as a search result. It’s pretty straightforward from there. Like Twitter, Snapchat allows you 30 days to reactivate your account before it’s deleted forever. The Rest While there are a lot of social media sites out there, few are as sticky as the ones mentioned above. If you are looking to delete any of your numerous accounts, the best places to start are in your user settings, or on the company’s support/FAQ page. From there you’ll be able to find the necessary path to deleting your account. Shortcuts for these web forms can be found here for LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-delete-your-facebook-instagram-twitter-snapchat/

YouTube and Instagram face being blocked by Russian internet service providers as a result of a standoff between one of the country's richest businessmen and an opposition leader. Russia's internet censor blacklisted material on both services after a court ruled that it violated billionaire Oleg Deripaska's privacy rights. However, Alexei Navalny has refused to remove the videos and photos, which he claims are evidence of corruption. A Wednesday deadline has been set. If neither Mr Navalny nor the US tech firms involved delete or otherwise block local access to the imagery by the end of the day, then Russia's ISPs will be required to take action themselves. A group representing the industry has indicated that this could result in all local access to the social networks being curtailed since ISPs lack the facility to censor specific posts. "It's impossible for internet providers to block certain pages on Instagram and YouTube," a spokeswoman for the Russian Association for Electronic Communications told the BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43058399

25 million businesses now use Instagram...that’s up from 15 million in July

Instagram is showing no signs of slowing down; the company today announced it has reached 700 million monthly active users. For reference, the company hit 600 million users just this past December, and has now added 100 million users in the span of less than five months. Instagram says that’s the fastest growth it’s ever seen. Since June 2016, the company has added an impressive 200 million users. Continue reading