Oculus is rolling out two new features for the Samsung Gear VR headset, each if which is designed to encourage users to interact with each other in virtual hangouts. “The first is called Parties, and it’s a simple chat system … that lets you jump into a voice call and talk with others while wearing the headset,” The Verge reports. “The second feature is called Rooms, and it’s an entirely new way of interacting with others in VR.”

Twitter reportedly spent over a year developing an instant messaging app for emerging markets, but ultimately scrapped the project. “Built at Twitter’s Indian engineering center in Bengaluru, the stand-alone messaging app -- which blended tweets and instant messages in a single interface -- was conceived as a sort of new user on-ramp to Twitter proper,” BuzzFeed reports. “But the company killed it in September when it shut down its India engineering center.”

Expanding bigger than videogames, Twitch just launched a new streaming category called IRL. “IRL is meant to be a place for users to share their, erm, real life experiences,” The Verge writes. “IRL is the most recent attempt by Twitch to expand streaming (and viewing) options for users,” it adds. “This summer, Twitch launched a ‘Social Eating’ category, where users could stream themselves eating or drinking.”

Virtual reality game studio Survios says it raised a total of $50 million, this year. “One of the new investors is entertainment company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,” Venture Beat reports. “The funding will be strategically valuable to Survios, as it will have a much larger war chest to survive longer than other VR startups who may have a tough time raising additional money in the current funding climate.”

Facebook is making its Events app available to users of Android devices. “The social media giant is making good on its promise to bring its planning app to [Google’s] Play Store, and it looks to be a near-carbon copy of the iOS version,” said PC World. “Developed as a way to keep all of your meet-ups in one place, the Events app is sort of a Facebook calendar that lets you see what you’re doing and find things that might be fun.”

Facebook is reaching out to TV studios and other media companies about licensing its own shows. “The talks are being led by Ricky Van Veen, the College Humor co-founder who joined the company earlier this year,” Recode reports. “The talks seem similar to Facebook’s attempt to boost live video earlier this year, when it struck deals with various publishers, including Vox Media, to produce live content exclusively for the content.”

Facebook is giving Moments a bigger role in its desktop Web experience. “The company had already rolled out limited web support for Moments earlier this fall, when it introduced a way to send a Moments link to a friend,” TechCrunch notes. “Now, Facebook is making it easier for Moments users to view photos when they’re not on their phones.”

Amazon-owned video platform Twitch just added a tool to make it easier for broadcasters to take control of what kind of content is permitted in their chats. “Twitch is launching AutoMod, which is an automated program that will use special algorithms to better understand the intent of a chat message so that it can more accurately block hateful or inappropriate content,” Venture Beat reports.

Twitter just reinstated (and re-verified) the account belonging to Richard Spencer -- a white supremacist who actually popularized the term “alt-right.” As Vox writes: “On the surface, it would seem that Twitter’s move to reinstate and re-verify Spencer represents a backward step in the site’s longstanding struggle to fight harassment and hateful behavior on the website.” But, Twitter obviously feels otherwise.

Once again relinquishing the title of CEO, Tinder founder Sean Rad is assuming the role of chairman. In turn, Greg Blatt, the company’s current chairman, will now serve as CEO. “Blatt is also the CEO and chairman of Tinder’s parent company, Match Group, which is owned by Barry Diller’s IAC,” Recode notes. “He will keep both jobs.” Additionally, “As part of the switch, Rad will run a new investment vehicle inside the Match Group called Swipe Ventures.”