1. Live video is becoming more popular from breaking news coverage to ordinary, slice-of-life broadcasts. Try this new Facebook Live map to see real-time videos now playing worldwide.
2. Reddit has launched its first official apps for iOS and Android. Popular subreddit communities like /r/science already drive a fair amount of traffic to news and edu sites; reliable native mobile apps can only increase those numbers. And Reddit may soon be a safer place, too, with its new blocking tool to prevent harassment.
3. Scott Brinker identifies five themes emerging in marketing tech this year. Coming up more quickly than we think is the rise of cognitive computing in marketing through technologies like chat bots, real-time sentiment analysis, and buyer journey visualization.
4. One of the ways bots are entering the mainstream is via virtual assistants like Amy, a conversational bot who schedules your meetings. Amy integrates with gmail to interact with others on your behalf, and can handle even complex, back-and-forth scheduling. Aside: Am I the only one who thinks it odd that the default voice for every virtual assistant is female?
5. New York Magazine’s Instagram account, @nymag, has grown from 190,000 followers to more than 475,000 over the past year. Here’s how they got there.

Weekend fun: Two words: Rogue One.

Every Friday, find five, highly subjective pointers to compelling technologies, emerging trends, and interesting ideas that affect how we live and work digitally. Try out the Friday 5 archive, or sign up for a weekly email.