So long square photos? Instagram adds portrait and landscape options
‘It turns out that nearly one in five photos or videos people post aren’t in the square format,’ admits Facebook subsidiary, with eye on video ads
Facebook and Twitter users complain over Virginia shooting videos autoplay
Users call for autoplay to be opt-in only, after being forced to unwittingly watch gunman’s video of murder due to social media companies’ default settings
Facebook M virtual assistant will compete with Siri and Google Now
From restaurant bookings to dog-friendly beach recommendations, social network’s new technology blends AI with human helpers
Digital surveillance ‘worse than Orwell’, says new UN privacy chief
Joseph Cannataci describes British oversight as ‘a joke’ and says a Geneva convention for the internet is needed
Do Netflix, Spotify and Facebook know me as well as they think?
Websites try to suggest everything from your next best friend to your next best shirt. But are these recommendations a help or a hindrance? Four writers look at how algorithms shape their online lives
Why the workplace of 2016 could echo Orwell’s 1984
Last week’s revelations of the lengths Amazon goes to monitor staff come amid growing evidence that thousands of other companies are using technology to check on workers
Don’t be creepy: five rules for turning internet followers into friends
Online dating has gone mainstream, but what about expanding your social circle? Here’s how to make virtual friendships work IRL
Russell Brand halts The Trews and takes Facebook and Twitter break
Comedian turned political activist says he has ‘gone as far as we can’ with his YouTube show and wants to spend some time ‘learning’
Message read. But what kind of weirdo keeps read receipts on?
Read receipts – those signifiers that a message has been opened and read – fill me with terror, but plenty of people keep them on. Why?
‘We want to help fellow humans’: how grassroots groups are supporting Calais refugees
Individuals and groups across the UK are getting together to support the humanitarian relief effort in Calais
Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo claim MPAA is trying to resurrect Sopa
Technology companies file brief with New York court urging judges to strike down film studios’ injunction in MovieTube piracy case
No more LOLs: 50% of Facebook users prefer ‘haha’
Social network study finds just 1.9% use ‘LOL’ to signal amusement, as emoji use is on the rise
Facebook urged to tighten privacy settings after harvest of user data
Software developer exploits loophole to obtain thousands of names, pictures and locations of users who link their mobile phone number with account
Gifs are the new emojis as they take smartphone chat by storm
Millions of users exchange short video clips as 1980s file format changes online conversation
Privacy pressure group EFF announces stronger Do Not Track standard
Disconnect and Adblock joins Electronic Frontier Foundation in coalition hoping to pressure advertisers to obey user preferences on tracking