Saturday, February 6, 2016

Instagram might soon let you switch between multiple accounts



For Instagram users with more than one account, life is about to get a lot easier.
Instagram confirmed that it has been testing a feature to allow switching between multiple accounts on its iOS app, according to TechCrunch. Instagram users first noticed this account-switching feature on Thursday. Back in November, Instagram tested this feature for Android users, but the company did not reveal how many iOS users were able to switch accounts or when account-switching would be made official to all users.
instagram app login
Instagram users who have this new account-switching feature enabled will find a “Add Account” option in the app’s settings. Once you add a second account, you’ll be able to switch to it quickly by selecting it from a new menu at the top of your profile page. Whenever you get a push notification, you’ll also be able to see from which Instagram account.
Right now, you can’t store more than one Instagram account login at the same time. If you want to switch between accounts, you have to log out of the current account and log back in under the different credentials. It seems that Instagram really wanted people to maintain only one Instagram identity, but as the photo-sharing app became more prevalent, the need for multiple accounts also grew. People who already had a personal Instagram account perhaps wanted to start another one for their small business, or they were tasked with maintaining an Instagram profile for their company or brand. 
Why this matters: TechCrunch notes that Instagram was probably also influenced to create this feature by how younger people use the app. According to the New York Times, kids these days like to compartmentalize their social presence with multiple Instagram accounts. One is a “fake” private account, or a “finstagram,” where they share unflattering selfies, drunk pictures, and funny memes. Then they have a “real” public account, or a “rinstagram,” that they consider their official grownup profile in case their parents, teachers or employers look them up. By making it easier for these young users switch between accounts, Instagram might increase how long they remain engaged in the app, and thus boost ad revenue.

Here's how Twitter's new algorithmic timeline is going to work

Twitter went into an uproar Friday after a BuzzFeed report that the social network was on the brink introducing an algorithmic, more Facebook-style feed. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tried to calm fears this morning in a series of tweets, but he did not deny the substance of the report. High-profile users have threatened to abandon the service, and the changes reportedly could arrive as soon as this week. The Verge has now seen the redesigned timeline and can share new details about how it's going to work.
So, how will your new Twitter timeline look? With the caveat that some things could change in the final shipping version: a lot like the old timeline. Here are a couple of screenshots from a tipster who has been in the test group for several months:




You have to look close to see that the tweets are out of order: in this case, a few tweets from nine or ten hours ago show up before one that was posted two hours ago. But screenshots like these have been floating around for a few months now. What's really important is how the new timeline works in practice.
Yes, you can opt out
The algorithm that will re-order your timeline is based on the one that ranks tweets for the "while you were away" feature that Twitter introduced a year ago. The best way to think of the new timeline is as an expanded version of this feature. Spend an entire day away from Twitter, and when you open the app again, you'll see highlights from the day. If you open it up a few times a day, you'll see a handful of "while you were away"-style sections breaking up the chronological tweets. And whenever you pull down to refresh your stream, it's back to the regular, reverse-chronological timeline.
Here's one way to think of it: scroll down through the timeline, and it's like the Reddit homepage, showing the most popular things first. Scroll back up, and the feed turns into regular reverse-chronology Twitter. One tester told me that the new timeline will also show you related posts for popular tweets if you want to dive deeper. In any case, this will be the new Twitter by default — but you will be allowed to opt out of the new timeline, The Verge has confirmed.
Former Twitter employee Paul Rosania, who was the product manager for the timeline before leaving recently for Slack, mounted an impassioned defense of the re-ordered timeline this afternoon. "In a purely chronological feed, tweet quality is distributed *randomly,*" he wrote. "If you miss any tweets, *any at all,* there will be just as much good stuff in there as there is in what you actually see. Delivering some of that, by pushing down something else, is *guaranteed* to give you a better experience. Not by principle, just by math." Rosania concluded: "Someday soon, the tweets you see will be a little more interesting, and the tweets you miss won't be as important. And guess what: You won't even notice. You won't! You think you will, but you won't."


Oil falls in volatile trade ahead of key oil producer meeting



Oil prices ended the week lower in choppy trading on Friday, snapping two weeks of gains, as a frenzy of speculation about a possible deal between top oil producers clashed with concerns about a growing supply glut.
After a volatile week's trading, much is riding on Sunday's meeting between Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino and his Saudi counterpart Ali al-Naimi in Riyadh, after Del Pino's discussions with the Qatari and Omani ministers this week.
As cash-strapped Venezuela tries to rally support for concerted action between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost prices, Sunday's meeting is seen "make or break" for a possible deal, said Tim Evans, energy futures specialist at Citi Futures.
Adding to this week's rollercoaster ride in prices was the sudden liquidation of a $600 million leveraged fund bet on falling prices.
Investors were also weighing a string of conflicting indicators on Friday as the dollar .DXY recovered some of the ground lost over the past two days while investors continued to fret about growing oversupply, with U.S. inventories hitting record highs last week amid concerns about a slowing global economy.
The pickup in the market earlier this week was not really warranted, Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy said, referring to the market seemingly brushing aside extremely bearish inventory data earlier this week. [EIA/S]
"Today when the dollar tried to push up, which I attribute mostly to a little weekend covering, you started to see some sellers come back in the oil markets," he said.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled down 40 cents, or 1.2 percent at $34.06 a barrel, after trading between $35.14 and $33.81.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 closed 83 cents, or 2.6 percent lower, at $30.89 a barrel, after touching a high of $32.45. The contract fell slightly lower to $30.63 in post-settlement trading.
Prices briefly turned positive after data showed U.S. energy firms this week deepened their oil rig cuts in the seventh week of declines, to the lowest levels in nearly six years.
Both contracts were stuck in a narrow $1.50 range through the session but ended lower as hopes of an OPEC-led production cut that boosted prices in January have faded and concerns about a global supply glut have returned.
In a sign that low prices are having a limited impact on production, only around 100,000 barrels per day of oil production has been shut in globally to date - about 0.1 percent of global output, industry research group Wood Mackenzie said on Friday.
Morgan Stanley warned on Friday that a rebalancing in the oil market may not occur until mid-2017.
As markets try to balance themselves, it will likely lead to further volatility as investors close excessive positions, ABN Amro said in a note.
In a sign that optimism had not fully returned to the market, money managers cut their bullish wagers on U.S. crude oil in the week to Feb. 2, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.