A recap of social media news that dominated this week

It is never a quiet week in the realm of social media platforms as the tectonic plates keep shifting with new features, products, tests, and other news coming in every day. Here is our weekly roundup of social media news and activity from the industry.

Social Samosa is your gateway to keeping up with the hottest social media news and updates, proceedings and trends from digital marketing industry, brand campaigns and more.

This week, Mark Zuckerberg’s tryst with data leaks and Congressional questions, Snapchat’s exciting new partnership with IPL teams and Instagram’s all new Focus camera and other features made big news.

Q&A – a new addition in the Instagram Stickers Basket

Instagram recently rolled out features like Nametags, @mentions, camera Focus, clickable hashtags in bio and more. Further, the platform is to release a feature to let users download their data considering the upcoming concerns around data breach and privacy violation.

The company now appears to be adding another new sticker to their gamut of Instagram Stickers, the Q&A sticker. Read more about it here.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg unscathed by Congressional grilling, Facebook stock rises

In wake of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before a Congress Committee of over 100 US lawmakers, answering questions for 10 hours over two days.

He emerged largely unscathed from the inquiry avoiding the possibility of a new government regulation and also became considerably richer as the Facebook shares rose. Read more about it here.

Downloading your personal data from Instagram soon to be possible

In the aftermath of Cambridge Analytica scandal, there has been an increased level of awareness among the people about their personal data. While Facebook offers users the ability to download their data, Instagram does not.

This week, an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch, ““We are building a new data portability tool. You’ll soon be able to download a copy of what you’ve shared on Instagram, including your photos, videos, and messages.” Read more about it here.

Instagram introduces new Focus camera format and @mention stickers

Earlier last month, Social Samosa reported that Instagram had been working on a ‘Portrait Shutter mode’ after a dormant APK file was spotted by a user. This week, Instagram officially rolled out the feature, christening it with the name Focus, and also rolled out @mention Stickers for Instagram Stories.

Focus allows users to add creative effects to their selfies such as blurring the background and more. Also, the @mention stickers allow users to easily tag their friends or themselves on their Stories which was slightly more difficult and not polished enough earlier. Read more about it here.

Snapchat announces a partnership with four IPL teams

Breaking ground on a revolutionary new partnership with four teams from the wildly popular and lucrative Indian Premier League, such as Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils, Snapchat will now bring fresh new content from the tournament to its users.

The platform will also be rolling out fresh new creative tools for the fans such as Custom Stickers, Lenses and Face Filters and is Snapchat’s first serious venture into the Indian market. Read more about it here.