Flipboard’s new community features make it feel more like a social network

After more than a decade, Flipboard is adding a new layer of social features to its platform. The service is adding new commenting and creation tools to its magazines as part of a broader “shift in emphasis towards community and conversations.”

Flipboard has had commenting features for years, but it’s been fairly basic, and hasn’t been a prominent part of the service, which until now has mostly been known as a place to read and share articles rather than a destination to talk about them. But with its latest update, the company is hoping to turn its signature magazines into the types of communities you might find on Reddit or Twitter.

To start, Flipboard is introducing “notes,” which allow users to add original content — whether it’s photos, video embeds, links or commentary — and add it to shared magazines. Other members of the magazine can then jump in with their own comments and add to the conversation. The idea, according to Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, is for these notes to become lively areas of discussion for people interested in the same “micro-communities.”

The company is also adding a new “communities” section to its app, which will highlight magazines and specific curators (Flipboard’s term for the people who manage topic-based magazines) to follow. All the new features are out now on the web, and are launching on its iOS and Android apps in January.

The company has been quietly testing the updates since July. It says there’s already been a noticeable uptick in engagement in magazines where the new interactivity is enabled.The changes also help make Flipboard into more of an alternative to Twitter for those who primarily use the Elon Musk-run service for consuming news. McCue says that Flipboard’s new social features predate Musk’s takeover of the company, and that he’s still a “Twitter believer.” But he acknowledges Flipboard’s shift is well-timed as some people are increasingly looking for different spaces to interact.

“It’s not like you’re in a giant open town square, and everyone’s just shouting at the top of their lungs,” McCue tells Engadget. “It’s more like we’re the little restaurants around the town square and people are at different dinner tables talking. There’s a different tone when you have these smaller groups.”

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Former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison

Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Theranos’ former chief operating officer, has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison. Balwani was found guilty of all charges in a trial earlier this year that charged him with defrauding the blood testing startup’s patients and investors.

Of note, his sentence is slightly longer than the 11 years and three months given to Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of Theranos. Ahead of his sentencing, Balwani’s legal team had asked for probation or house arrest, The Wall Street Journal reported. A probation officer had recommended a nine-year sentence, while prosecutors wanted 15 years in prison.

Balwani will also have to pay restitution, though the amount hasn’t yet been set. He is due to surrender March 15th.

Unlike Holmes, who was not convicted on seven out of 11 total fraud charges in her trial, Balwani was convicted of defrauding Theranos patients in addition to the company’s wealthy investors. As COO, Balwani oversaw the operations of the company’s troubled laboratory, and prosecutors argued that he had detailed knowledge of problems with its blood tests, and the risk they posed to patients.

Though Balwani never rose to the same level of fame as his former partner during his time at Theranos, his relationship with Holmes has played heavily into the intrigue surrounding the company’s downfall. Holmes and Balwani’s relationship featured prominently in The Dropout, a Hulu miniseries about Theranos, and text messages between the two were read aloud in both trials. 

Balwani was also a major part of Holmes’ defense. During her trial, she testified that Balwani had been abusive during their romantic relationship, and that had misled her about issues in the company’s lab. Balwani didn’t testify at his trial or speak during his sentencing hearing. 

Instagram is telling creators when and why their posts are ‘shadowbanned’

Instagram’s latest update aims to help creators better understand one of the most frustrating aspects of the app: the dreaded “shadowban.” The app is updating its account status feature to help creators “understand if their account’s content is eligible to be recommended to non-followers.”

With the change, Instagram will allow anyone using a “professional” account to see if their posts are currently blocked from recommendations. The notice will appear in the app’s “account status feature,” and show users “a selection” of offending posts, offering the chance to edit or delete them, or appeal any decision they think was a mistake.

For now, the feature only covers posts that have been blocked from recommendations in Explore, Feed and Reels. But the company says it’s working on expanding the feature so creators will know if they are blocked from suggestions at the account level as well, such as in search or “suggested accounts.”

Though Instagram avoids using the word “shadowban,” the change is clearly meant to address long-running complaints from creators about why their posts aren’t being distributed in the way they expect. To diffuse these concerns, the company has tried in recent years to better explain how its algorithm works, and pointed to its recommendation guidelines to help creators understand the inner workings of the app.

“We know reach can be volatile,” Instagram Head Adam Mosseri said in a video about the update. “We know it’s important for creators to understand how Instagram works if they’re going to use it over the long run.” 

By now showing users exactly why their content is being removed from recommendations, the company is hoping creators will be able to take steps to “fix” their mistakes. At the very least, it could give creators some satisfaction to see an acknowledgement that their content has indeed been reduced in visibility, and provide the opportunity to ask for a second look. An Instagram spokesperson said review teams will work “as quickly as possible,” but didn’t say how long the step could take.

Correction: An earlier version of this story cited an older video Mosseri posted about account status. This post has been updated to reflect Mosseri’s most recent comments about the feature.