Messenger has added some new features to help users celebrate Black History Month, including new stickers for both Messenger and Messenger Kids, and a new initiative to help boost Black creators, and share the stories of influential people in the Black community. The main project is a new video series which aims to amplify conversation around Black History, and the impact of the Black community on modern culture. As explained by Messenger: “In the coming weeks, we’ll celebrate the stories of Black voices, artists, and small businesses that make an impact and inspire us all – with the goal of sparking conversation. Not just this February but everyday, we hope to encourage people to talk about stories that inspire them.” The key emphasis here is that Messenger wants to inspire greater conversation around the influence of Black culture more broadly, as opposed to an isolated celebration for Black History Month. These new video stories aim to better highlight these creators, and showcase their stories, helping to provide more understanding and insight. In addition to this, Messenger’s also adding some new stickers, designed in collaboration with artist Jon Key.

LinkedIn tests new option to switch off political posts in your feed

What if you could switch off political content entirely on each social platform? Would that improve your personal experience? For many it would, and while not all platforms are looking to offer this as an option (possibly because it’s one of their biggest drivers of engagement), LinkedIn is, with a new test underway that will provide a way to simply switch off all politics-related posts and updates. As LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky explained to The Wall Street Journal, the new option, which is now available to some US users, utilises keywords and signals from users, as well as input from LinkedIn’s editorial team, to identify political posts, and eliminate them from your feed. Users will also soon be able to block posts on certain topics from appearing in their stream. LinkedIn has launched the new option with some users – if you have access, the option to turn off political posts will be available in your settings, via ‘Account preferences’, then ‘Feed preferences’.