Mockingbird writer Chelsea Cain harassed by trolls, deletes Twitter account
Mockingbird writer Chelsea Cain, the bestselling author of Heartsick and other thrillers, deleted her Twitter account today after receiving abusive tweets yesterday.
In a now vanished series of tweets […] Cain noted that she was getting harassing tweets, presumably over the above Mockingbird cover and her work there in general. It’s possible that she was targeted from 4chan or Reddit as well.
It’s crap like this that makes reading comics in 2016 almost embarrassing to admit to. These people should be ashamed of themselves.
What’s even more frustrating is that this is yet another case of Twitter’s complete lack of control on abuse. While other social networks have begun rolling out tools for their users to help prevent this sort of thing from happening, Twitter seems content in releasing updates to remove links and usernames from message character limits.
Perfect, give people even more characters to harass comic book creators with.
Twitter's night mode coming soon to iOS
Last month, Twitter added a night mode for Android users, hoping that it would drive people to use the app and boost its flagging user-base. The update wasn’t extended to iOS users, who were left it in the dark (no pun intended). Now, it looks like Twitter might finally be adding night mode to its iOS app soon: it’s included in the latest beta build for iOS.
I can’t wait for this. Twitter’s dark mode, available right now on Mac and Android, is a great feature. Fingers crossed we see it in the next major update to the iOS app.
Instagram tackling abuse while Twitter sits on the sidelines
Jacob Kastrenakes for The Verge:
Online harassment is a serious issue that any network needs to deal with, period. And flexible tools like a custom banned word list can let individual users take matters into their own hands to clear up their comments section, should someone begin posting hateful or otherwise offensive or tasteless remarks.
In my experience as a single white male, the harassment on Instagram is far less frequent than on other social networks. That said, it’s a smart move by the company to get these sorts of things in place before issues get completely out of control.
Twitter's Android app gets Material Design inspired update
Twitter has announced its native app has been overhauled with a “revamped look and feel” in order to move its aesthetic in line with Android’s Material Design guidelines.
The earlier version of the Android Twitter app, in my opinion, suffered from a number of issues revolving around general usability, buttons were placed in awkward locations, buried in other sections, were tough to reach with one hand, etc. With this new update, thanks in large part to the Google design spec, it seems many of those issues have been alleviated.
The new design looks great, it’s much simpler to use, and will give users a much more consistent experience alongside the other apps on their devices.
Twitter's Moments feature now live in Canada
Rory Capern took over leadership at Twitter Canada and stated the country is a top ten market with “tremendous growth potential.” Canadians flock to the platform to keep updated on the latest news, sports and entertainment and today it has officially launched Moments in Canada.
Moments reminds me of the old Discover tab that Twitter had a year or so ago but rather than a chaotic mess of information, it’s presented in a nice, digestible card view. Interesting feature, it’ll be neat to see where they take it in future updates.