Millennials are all about documenting their lives on the Internet – that’s why Instagram, Twitter, and Foursquare are all the rage. We want to know what we’re doing, seeing, hearing, eating, and thinking at all hours of the day – and preferably on a service where friends can like and comment on such activities. But once that time passes, do any of those information matter anymore? Facebook wants to remind you of those remedial moments with its new Timehop-esque feature that lets you jump one year back to see exactly what was going on in your life 360-something days ago.
Currently in beta testing, Facebook’s “On This Day” tab allows users to see what happened one year back. The results aren’t limited to just you (unless you’re one to post something every day): The tab curates a list of status updates, check-ins, comments, and photos posted from you and your entire friends list. If various life events happened, such as a new job, new apartment, or an engagement happened, those updates are likely to skyrocket to the top of the news feed. It’s like looking at your Facebook homepage again from a year ago and remembering why you avoided the site during Election Season. Nobody cares what your political views are on Facebook. Hello, it’s Facebook.
On This Day is apparently rolling up in random user’s feeds, with non-chronological results to highlight some of the “best” moments from this day a year back. The feature is also popping up for various accounts accessing the site via the Facebook iOS app, suggesting that the team is taking its users’ love for Throwback Thursdays seriously and will consistently remind you that the Internet never forgets. Hey, remember how [Fake Friend A] didn’t invite you to her housewarming party? Here’s a photo to remind you of that fateful day.
Are you excited about the possible launch of Facebook’s latest nostalgia app, or would you rather stick to your own pasts with Timehop? If you said the former, let’s hope you have some very interesting friends.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?