Because there’s a never-ending stream of news coming from the world of pop culture, it can be hard to keep up. So here’s your weekly pop culture round-up: the biggest things you missed this week.
Jack Dorsey is named as the permanent CEO of Twitter. Since July, Dorsey has been serving as interim CEO of Twitter after former CEO Dick Costolo resigned. He also cofounded the company. Dorsey will no longer serve as chairman of the board but will remain on the board.
Facebook’s “dislike” button has turned into a panel of emojis. A couple of weeks ago, Facebook announced it would be creating a “dislike” button to express sympathy, something users have been long awaiting. However, Facebook announced in a blog post that it has turned into emojis called “Reactions” that users can select instead of just the standard “like” button. It is currently being rolled out to Spain and Ireland.
Stephenie Meyer gender-swaps her Twilight characters in her new book, Life and Death. The — new — main characters will be Edythe (Edward), Julie (Jacob) and Beau (Bella). The announcement comes just in time for Twilight’s 10th anniversary. Meyer said she hopes the new book will inspire a new generation of fans. After all, why take the time and creative effort to write a completely new novel when you can just republish your original with a couple of changes?
Twitter comes out with new “Moments” tab. The tab is essentially a “trending” tab, where users can see all the big news happening in just a few key tweets or pictures. However, it goes beyond just what’s trending, as it has people whose sole job is to curate it to choose what’s most worthy of reading. It’s a pretty handy thing to have, especially when you consider that most people use Twitter to get the news when under a time crunch.
Snapchat announces that it will have even more new filters, but they’ll be “Sponsored” filters. Snapchat just unveiled a new feature that allows the user to put on a “mask” after holding down on their face. Now, brands can start paying to create their own mask. So while it’s a bit irritating to have a ton of ads on every platform, this is a better, more creative way of allowing advertisers to interact with consumers. And by the way, this is what I’m talking about when I say “masks”: