Facebook users reported seeing changes to their news feeds on Saturday, per Business Insider, days after the social media giant announced it would start prioritizing friends and family over public content.
Why it matters: Business Insider spoke to Facebook users on Saturday; Kelly Snider of San Jose said it "is unusual to [her] eyes" that her news feed consists primarily all friends. Axios' Sara Fischer reported earlier this week that almost half of Americans rely on Facebook for news: "These changes will significantly impact the way people around the world receive and distribute information."
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey won't seek re-election to Disney's board of directors due to mounting potential conflicts of interest, the company said on Friday.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook expressing concern over reports that Apple slows the processing speeds of older iPhones to avoid battery shutdowns.
Why it matters: Though Apple has admitted to throttling processing speeds and is offering reduced prices on battery replacements, the company is still facing lawsuits from angry consumers. And now the tech giant must answer additional questions from congressional investigators about how exactly this all came to be.
Facebook shares plunged 5% this morning after Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to his platform's newsfeed that will prioritize engagement over time spent.
Why this matters: Wall Street analysts have grown accustomed to measuring success of tech platforms by how much time users spend on them. Facebook's user base is becoming more and more saturated and now that it expects people to spend less time, it has made investors nervous.
But, but, but: If anyone can manage this challenge, it's Facebook, which defined the concept of a "monthly active user" as a metric for success early on — which has since been adopted by Wall Street and other platforms.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has donated $33 million to TheDream.US, the nation’s largest scholarship program for Dreamers.
Why it matters: The donation is the single biggest in the history of the organization, and will fund 1,000 college scholarships for immigrants with DACA status.
Facebook announced Thursday that it will begin to prioritize posts in the News Feed from friends and family over public content and posts from publishers. It will also move away from using "time spent" on the platform as a metric of success and will instead focus on "engagement" with content, such as comments.
Why it matters: Facebook is the most widely-used news and information platform in the world; almost half of Americans rely on it for news. These changes will significantly impact the way people around the world receive and distribute information, possibly limiting the spread of fake news.
Cruise, General Motors' autonomous vehicle unit, plans to mass produce a self-driving car without a steering wheel or pedals by 2019, the company said on Thursday. It says it has submitted a safety report as well as an application to regulators to approve the design, its fourth-generation model.
Caveat: Though 2019 is a year away, only seven states currently allow for driverless cars, and Cruise's home state of California is in the process of passing a bill to allow for this. It has also applied for needed exemptions to federal regulations.
Facebook is "making a major change" on what users see on their news feeds, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday night, by focusing more heavily on helping users "have more meaningful social interactions."
"As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard -- it should encourage meaningful interactions between people....By focusing on bringing people closer together -- whether it's with family and friends, or around important moments in the world -- we can help make sure that Facebook is time well spent."
— Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Why it matters: Facebook is such an important tool in today's society that these changes could impact the information Americans get, possibly limiting the spread of fake news while potentially crushing publishers that rely on Facebook traffic.
