Rooms, Facebook’s topic-based discussions app for iOS, is getting an “Explore” button, which helps users discover new and potentially interesting discussions. “The Rooms team says on its blog that it has ‘been wonderfully surprised by the breadth of topics that are connecting people,’” The New Web reports. “Still, some people may have tried the app and never come back … so this is a good way of showing off some of what Facebook considers is the best content on offer.” 

Taking inspiration from Facebook, Twitter is reportedly considering adding autoplay to video. The move could “not only could disrupt the traditional order of things at the social network, but also may well be the key to keeping up with Facebook and YouTube,” Adweek reports. At the moment, “Twitter is divided over whether to allow videos to simply start playing when users scroll over them.” 

Monthly active users and other popular metrics are overrated, says John Battelle. All that really matter to a news publication’s long term is, “Is it a must read?” according to the author and tech entrepreneur. “If a publication is going to succeed, it must be required reading for a core of influential people in a given market.” Put another way, Battelle suggests: “The true test of a publication’s endurance is its convening power -- does it bring together the most important people in a given community?” 

Social intelligence startup Brandwatch just acquired analytics firm PeerIndex for an undisclosed sum. “New York-based Brandwatch wants to merge both companies’ technical capabilities for measuring social influencers … and the content that makes the biggest splash on social media,” VentureBeat reports. “This deal means that marketers will be able to identify the most influential people on the Internet, as well as the most impactful content.”≈

Despite the relative complexity of the task, it’s becoming more common for users to bypass Twitter’s 140-character limit by tweeting text-filled pictures. M.G. Siegler, therefore, thinks Twitter should at least explore a feature that lets users do just that, or even consider dropping its text limitations. “I’m still not 100% sold it’s a good idea, but this is a hack they’re not going to be able to stop unless they try to put the inline images genie back in the bottle,” the tech writes reasons on Medium. “So [Twitter] might as well embrace it.” 

Taking a stand in the name of user privacy, Facebook is reportedly asking a New York appeals court to block the largest set of search warrants it has ever received. “Lawyers for the company will appear today before a panel of five appellate judges in Manhattan to argue that the warrants, issued last year as part of a disability-fraud investigation, violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure,” Bloomberg reports.   

Facebook users have been asking for a “dislike” button for as long as we can remember. But, if Mark Zuckerberg gets his way -- and we’re guessing he will -- the “like” button with never get its negative counterpart. “We’re not going to build that,” Facebook’s founder and CEO said during a Q&A session, this week. “I don’t think there needs to be a voting mechanism on Facebook whether posts are good or bad. I don’t think that’s socially very valuable or good for the community.” 

Connect an app that doubles as a social address book and friend finder just raised $10.3 million. The Series A funding round included Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Fosun International, which is known as the “Berkshire Hathaway” of China, according TechCrunch. Connect “launched in February as an address book of sorts that lets users connect their Google address books, as well as other social networks, like LinkedIn, Instagram, Foursquare and Twitter.” 

Google Hangouts is getting smarter. For instance, as part of a broader update, "When somebody now asks you where you are, Hangouts will automatically prompt you to share your location," TechCrunch reports.

Despite the perception that Google+ is a lost cause, Google’s social network continues to tweak its service. Taking a page from Pinterest and other social platforms, Google+ users can now pin posts. “You can now choose to pin one of your posts to the top of your profile or page,” VentureBeat report. “As you’d expect, a pinned post is shown above all your other posts when someone visits your profile or page.”