Pinterest, the social network that decided it doesn’t want to be classified as a social network anymore, given its evolving focus on eCommerce, has now also decided that it’s not going to call its Stories clone ‘Stories’ any longer.

Instead, today Pinterest is introducing ‘Idea Pins’. Which are the Story Pins that it’s been testing for the last seven months, but with a more Pinterest-like framing. Idea Pin format look very similar to the Stories options you’ll find in other apps, and are accessible via profile bubbles at the top of user feeds highlighting Idea Pins from users that you follow and those that Pinterest thinks you may like.

 

Instagram has announced a new ‘Creator Week’ initiative, running from June 8th to June 10th, which will see the platform host a range of professional development programs for aspiring and emerging creators, in order to help them build their careers via Instagram and Facebook tools.

The three-day event will include sessions like ‘How to Supercharge Your Community’, ‘Media Training 101’, ‘How to Break Into Entertainment’, ‘How to Start a Podcast’, ‘How to Get Discovered on Instagram’, and ‘Fund My Merch Line’, in which creators will be able to pitch their dream product idea to a panel of judges – and the winners will get their ideas funded. Sessions will also address burnout and algorithm myth-busting. In addition to all of this, there will also be surprise special guest appearances and product news announced during the week.

As you may recall, back in November, Twitter announced that it would be looking to re-open applications for verification some time in 2021, after pausing public requests in 2017 due to confusion over what, exactly, the blue tick signified in the app. Twitter then provided more details on its revised verification guidelines, and when they would go into effect, in January, while further noting that public applications would be re-opening “in the next couple of months”.