Router Configuration Is Behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Massive Downtime

Facebook has experienced a global-scale downtime late last night which also affected its subsidiaries including Instagram and WhatsApp.  Lasted for more than 6 hours, the company has provided some explanation a few hours after it manages to put back all of its services online again.

In a blog post by Facebook’s Vice President of Engineering and Infrastructure, Santosh Janardhan, the root cause behind the massive downtime was apparently due to some configuration changes that were performed on the company’s backbone routers. He pointed out that these routers were responsible for the traffic between Facebook’s data centres.

The changes somehow interrupted the traffic flow which then led to the global-scale downtime. Santosh was quick to point out that the company didn’t find any evidence that user data has been compromised during the incident.

In general, Santosh’s explanation is in line with what Facebook’s CTO, Mike Schroepfer said earlier that the company was experiencing networking issues. Nevertheless, the timing of the massive downtime is rather interesting though as it happened right before Facebook’s former product manager Frances Hauge, who leaked tons of documents to The Wall Street Journal is scheduled to testify in front of the U.S Congress regarding her time with the company.

Instagram To Revamp Search Function To Prioritise On Photo And Video Content

Instagram has announced that it will be revamping its search function, making it easier to look up for images or videos relevant to the keyword used. This is an improvement over the current version, which instead prioritises on matching search terms to account names and hashtags.

In a video posted on the platform and Twitter, Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained that this update, which he coined as “Interest Search”, will help users to discover even more content on the platform beyond relying on hashtags and profile hits. The same video demonstrated the new search function, which now returns a gallery of images and videos relevant to the keyword in the “Top” tab. Account and hashtag related results, as well as those under Audio and Places are still discoverable and can be browsed via their respective tabs in the feature.

The improved search function is a much appreciated update, albeit arriving after more than a decade since Instagram’s debut. For the longest time, users have been mostly relying on the platform’s Discover feature which randomly lists content based on topics related to their recent Instagram activities. While interesting, most recommendations provided by this feature often appear irrelevant and less personalised than hoped. The alternative is using the existing version of the search function by using hashtags which do provide better results, but only displaying those that are actually tagged with the keyword.

Instagram did not reveal when this updated search feature will be rolled out. It also noted that it will enhance Interest Search further by adding more supported languages and other improvements in order to discover even more relevant content for users. 

Instagram Reportedly Testing Image Uploads On Desktop

Instagram has allowed users on desktop to peruse their feed via its official website for a long while now. Activities such as posting images to the platform, however, are still exclusive to its app on mobile devices. But according to a recent discovery by developer and leakster Alessandro Paluzzi, this limitation could change in the near future.

The leakster shared a set of images on Twitter, demonstrating the allegedly upcoming upload-from-desktop ability. Paluzzi explained that he discovered the feature while doing some reverse engineering on Instagram’s website.

Upon selecting “New Post”, users will be prompted to a pop-up where they can either drag-and-drop an image or click the “browse from computer” button to select a specific photo from their computer. After uploading, they’ll be greeted to several familiar Instagram menus such as selecting the desired aspect ratio (square, portrait or landscape) and then the different types of filters they wish to apply, as well as the option to manually edit their photos. Lastly, users will arrive at a screen where they can enter a caption, tag people, add location and so on.

Enabling users to upload their images from PC (or Macs) would greatly benefit photographers who rely on digital or mirrorless cameras, and especially those who edit their work via software such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The discovery of Instagram’s supposedly upcoming feature is somewhat timely as Twitter had also updated its platform to allow high resolution photos to be uploaded and viewed by its users. In that regard, it is not known if images uploaded from desktop on Instagram’s website will retain their original resolution or end up being compressed.

As for when this new feature will be made available, Paluzzi noted that it might take a while as it is still currently being tested internally.

Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia’s Instagram Page Went Online Again For A Short While

Back in January, the scene erupted with the sudden activation of the Facebook and Instagram page for Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. This was among the first major indication that the highly anticipated streaming service may be preparing to launch in our market.

However, the social media pages and postings were taken offline not long after that which baffled many fans. At the same time, Disney’s silence regarding the status of Disney+ for Malaysia is not helping the cause as well.

Fast forward to earlier this month, the discovery of the Malaysian-specific user interface and RM 89.90 annual subscription fee within the Disney+ Hotstar’s Android app once again sparked excitement among local consumers. Fueling the excitement further, Twitter users @muhdraziqq_ and @itzwiin have noticed that the Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia’s Instagram page that was deactivated back in January is now live again.

The “Loading…” post that was published back in January has also appeared again inside the verified Instagram page. Unfortunately, minutes after we captured the screenshot above, both the post and the page were yanked out from existence once again.

Hence, we are still not sure whether Disney is finally opening the gates to its streaming service for Malaysian consumers given the flip-flop that we have seen back in January. Nevertheless, we will continue to monitor the situation and will keep you posted if there are any updates regarding Disney+ rollout in our market.

Instagram Announces Reels And Music For Users In Malaysia

Facebook Malaysia has announced that it is bringing in Reels and Music to Instagram Stories in Malaysia. We’ve previously seen the feature being launched first in Brazil, and then in the US, UK, Japan and Australia.

From the looks of it, Reels is pretty much the same feature as when we saw them in the past two years. It is essentially Instagram’s version of TikTok, letting you make effects-laden 15-second videos. Of course, there’s a rich variety of those to work with. You can either record new 15-second clips, or upload pre-recorded ones and add effects from there. Completed Reels can be found in a special tab in your profile.

It’s much the same for Music, though for some reason you add them via the Music sticker. You can pick whatever is popular at the moment, or search for the exact one you want in the search bar. Once you found the one you want, you can use specific parts of it, and even add lyrics to them when you use it as part of your Instagram Stories. Naturally, you can also choose the way they show up on your Stories.

Both Reels and Music are now already available on the Instagram app for Malaysian users. If you don’t see it, either the app needs an update. Either that, or it’s still in the process of being rolled out in the background.

Facebook Designing A Version Of Instagram For Children Below 13

Facebook is coming up with a version of Instagram that is specifically catered to children below the age of 13, BuzzFeed News and the Associated Press (AP) reported. This notably follows a recent slew of measures taken by Instagram to ensure a safer experience for its younger users.

Instagram’s current rules ban those under 13 from the platform, and US federal privacy regulations prohibit it as well. But parent company Facebook clearly sees a vast monetary potential in the untapped demographic.

“Increasingly kids are asking their parents if they can join apps that help them keep up with their friends,” Facebook said, according to AP. “Right now there aren’t many options for parents, so we’re working on building additional products — like we did with Messenger Kids — that are suitable for kids, managed by parents.”

Likely responding to reports of sexual predation and bullying on the platform, Instagram recently introduced a host of new changes – including blocking adults from messaging teens who don’t follow them.

In Malaysia as in many other countries, Instagram launched a “Parents Guide” to familiarise parents with the platform and get them digitally literate enough to monitor their children’s activities on the app. It even enlisted the help of local celebrities and a local NGO to help spread awareness about the guide.

Still, might all that be a calculated overture to Instagram’s deep dive into its next lucrative demographic? The kiddie version of the app has already attracted strong criticism.

“Increasing safeguards for children online is paramount, but the fact remains that Facebook will be harvesting children’s data and profiting off their detailed profiles,” Rasha Abdul-Rahim, co-director of Amnesty Tech, told AP.

Instagram Will Start Restricting DMs Between Teens And Adults They Don’t Follow

Instagram has announced a number of new policies intended to keep its younger users safe. More specifically, it will be stopping adults from sending messages to teenagers who don’t follow them. It will also be adding safety prompts when teens send messages to adults with “potentially suspicious behaviour”.

For the former, a notification saying that DM’ing them isn’t possible will appear when an adult tries to message a teen who is not following them. As for the latter, Instagram will put up a huge Safety Notice. This tells teens to not feel pressured to respond, as well as letting them choose if they want to block, report, or even restrict the adult. An  adult’s account would be marked as suspicious if it has sent a lot of friend or message requests to others under the age of 18.

The way this works is naturally by using the age that users provide when signing up for the service. But beyond that, Instagram says it also relies on machine learning tech to predict people’s age, probably in the event of dishonesty on that front.

For now, there’s no word on when Instagram will be pushing these features out. The company says that it will be rolling them out in some countries this month, without identifying which countries. For everywhere else, the company says it hopes “to have them available everywhere soon”.

Instagram Introduces “Recently Deleted” Feature For Restoring Lost Content

In an effort to give users more control over their account, Instagram is rolling out a new “Recently Deleted” feature. This aims to help creators protect their content from hackers, especially in cases where attackers would wipe out some or all of their posts on the photo sharing platform.

On top of acting as a safety measure against potential attacks, Recently Deleted is also a handy tool for restoring content that was accidentally deleted, or simply because you had a change of heart. According to the official Instagram blog update, deleted posts will appear in a separate section on your profile for 30 days before they are removed entirely. Additionally, you can also delete the post manually from this section if you so wish.

Recovering an Instagram post won’t be as straightforward as restoring a deleted file via Recycle Bin on Windows, however, you are required to create a separate two-step verification process specifically for the Recently Deleted feature, which will be prompted to verify your identity whenever you wish to restore a deleted post.

The update is currently rolling out to Instagram users across all platforms. Be sure to update the app with the latest version first in order to utilise this new feature.

Instagram Lite Gives A Cleaner User Experience; Removes Reels, Shopping, IGTV

Instagram has added a lot of features in addition to the main reason you use the app. As a result, the user experience can feel really cluttered. For those who want a more stripped back experience, the company has now launched Instagram Lite.

Announced during the Facebook Fuel For India event, Instagram Lite is, as the name suggests, very lightweight. It comes in at less than 2MB in size, and strips itself of its additional features like Reels, Shopping and IGTV. You still get access to Stories from the look of things.

Being so stripped back, this makes Instagram Lite the version of the app to have on phones that have less storage space. Android Go devices come to mind. The reduction of features can also lead to less data usage to an extent.

Being launched in India, Instagram Lite supports multiple regional languages of the country. But at the same time, this version of the app is also currently only available there. No word on when it will become available in other regions as of yet. Though according to XDA, the company had an earlier version of the app, which it shut down earlier in the year. Like this one, it was only available in select markets like Mexico, Kenya and the Philippines.

Instagram To Extend Live Stream Length To Four Hours, Archiving To 30 Days

 

Instagram has announced that it will now allow users to perform longer Instagram Live streams. Now, instead of just being allowed one hour, users are able to stream for up to four hours in a single session, which is a boon for content creators who rely on the platform to promote their work.

There are a couple of checkpoints users will need to tick off the box, before ultimately being allowed to stream for the four hours. To put it simply, the user’s background has to be spotless, with no violation of any of Instagram’s policies or intellectual property.

Moving on, Instagram says that it will also allow users to archive their streams up to 30- days, a feature similar to the option the social platform added to IGTV. Speaking of IGTV, Instagram is also planning on updating the Live Now section that appears on it, as well as at the end of the stream.

At the time of writing, no official rollout date has been given.