Editor’s Note: The Social Media RoundUp is a weekly feature of Information Space.

image by mashable.com

image by mashable.com

Facebook introduced App Links at their  F8 Conference which created a ton of buzz online. App Links is an open, cross-platform solution for app-to-app linking that gives you the tools you need to expose deep links in your app or to link out to others. Simply put, when you click on an Instagram picture on Facebook it will now take you directly to Instagram to view the photo instead of opening a new browser window. This will make the mobile browsing experience smoother and easier for users. 

Foursquare made a public split! They announced the biggest change to the app since its launch, and this came in the form of a new app called Swarm that will revamp many of the features of the current Foursquare. Read the full InfoSpace article where Kelly Lux discusses this split in depth at Foursquare Announces Swarm: The Great Un-Bundling.

Snapchat recently released a major update to their disappearing picture app including instant messaging and video calls. Snapchat made a “secret acquisition” to power these updates when they purchased software company AddLive. However, this app has not received positive feedback. Teenagers are saying they don’t understand how to use the new features, and teachers claim the Snapchat Update is the Most Distracting Thing in Classrooms Ever.

snapchat-7

image by iphonehacks.com

Facebook also introduced a new feature called Related Articles. These stories are apparently selected by Facebook based on mathematical calculations that rely on word association and the popularity of an article. This release gives way to Facebook becoming an overall content discovery webpage.

What do you think about this week’s stories? Let me know in the comments below.