Social Media Platform News and Updates for AUGUST 2023
We're glad you're here for our monthly Social Media Industry news update, where we offer you the most important and recent news from the ever-changing world of social media. Keep up with the constantly changing environment, including platform updates, algorithm modifications, and hot features. Join us as we examine the marketing tactics of leading companies, look at the newest trends, and analyze the effects of social media on culture and commerce. We have all the buzz and information you need to successfully traverse the digital space, from Facebook to TikTok, Twitter to LinkedIn. Let's explore the fascinating world of social media and discover all of its potential together!
Social media updates for Meta
Meta's new Twitter rival Threads app is finally here, and these are some things to keep in mind concerning the app:
1. Posts in Threads may contain up to 500 characters, links, images, and videos for at most five minutes.
2. You can like, re-post, and comment on updates, and Threads are presented in the main Feed (with many recommended stuff to start with).
3. All users will soon have a threads.net username that users can find in other apps thanks to ActivityPub.
4. By tapping the Threads icon at the top of the screen, Threads makes it possible to switch between light and dark modes.
5. They also hope to increase engagement by emphasizing suggestions from accounts you need to follow in your Feed.
The Threads team of Meta has published a 'Threads Dictionary' to assist you in staying current with the most recent jargon. In these early days of the new Twitter-like app, everything is floating around the sky right now.
The same editing tools from Reels are now available in Meta to let users create dynamic videos for Facebook Feed. All Facebook videos, including Reels, long-form videos, and Lives, may now be found under the Video tab. They've made locating clips on subjects of interest and fads simpler and interacting with suggested Instagram Reels on Facebook easier.
Social media updates for LinkedIn
LinkedIn recently modified its algorithm in response to customer concerns that their newsfeeds were overrun with irrelevant, unprofessional content.
These are the main changes introduced that you need to understand:
1. Unprofessional content will be honored differently now, on top of which are posts that trick the system. Before now, LinkedIn would highlight the most engaging post, but it wants to change that.
2. Content from first-degree contacts will now be given priority on LinkedIn.
3. LinkedIn also aims to highlight professional insight and counsel.
4. LinkedIn's technology is attempting to identify opinions and recommendations based on shared insights as opposed to mere reposts.
Through a new collaborative posting option that would allow companies and influencers to share information on ad campaigns, LinkedIn offers options for users of Creator Mode to monetize their accounts directly. This will open up a new channel for targeted business marketing and provide LinkedIn influencers with a new way to make money off of their online presence.
Social media updates for Instagram
As a result of a recent Instagram upgrade, some brands now get product tags added to their Stories during the post process, which they can later remove, amend, or update. This method might be simpler to ensure users employ their in-app product tools. It serves as a reminder to ensure social media managers highlight pertinent tools in each frame.
Collaborative Posts, a feature that Instagram initially introduced in 2021 and allows users to share credit for a single post with another account, had only been available for one collaborative account up to this point. However, Instagram has just added users' ability to add up to three collaborators to any feed post or Reel.
Instagram is opening up access to the subscription feature to more creators worldwide after realizing the benefits that this has provided to those in the US. Eligible creators in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom will have access to subscriptions in the coming weeks and be able to begin making money from fan support. In the upcoming months, they intend to keep expanding access globally.
Social media updates for Pinterest
With user permission, Pinterest is working on a system that will search through an email account that a user has linked to their account on the social media site to find potential interests. Following the model's conclusions, Pinterest will present personalized content by automatically creating boards and displaying content relevant to your identified preferences.
With deeplinking from Pins, which will send users back to a specific page in a subscribing retailer's mobile app, Pinterest is giving brands another opportunity to drive traffic from the app. This move aims to leverage the interest of Pinners who visit the platform to make purchases by guiding them down the road to doing so. That’ll make it easier to capitalize on the attention of Pinners, who come to the platform in a shopping mindset by directing them along the path to making a purchase.
Social media updates for Twitter
As part of Elon Musk's long-held goal of someday creating an "everything app" that serves as a platform for banking, payments, multimedia content, and more, Twitter has changed its name to X. Although the change is unmistakably intended to reignite interest in Twitter, it is just another disturbance for a platform that has had trouble establishing itself under Musk.
Elon Musk claims that the X moniker was developed by a fan as a temporary branding strategy. The emblem is now visible throughout the app in numerous locations. For instance, on the desktop, the Twitter bird icon is now the new X in the top left corner. The X logo has now also been added to the sign-up page, which is still using Twitter's colors.
All creators worldwide can now participate in X's creator ad revenue share scheme, which allows users who have high app engagement to profit from their X posts based on the advertising that appears in the replies.
Social media updates for TikTok
In addition to introducing TikTok's Youth Council, the company is integrating its content screening feature into Family Pairing to give parents more control over how likely their teen would watch stuff they may find particularly upsetting. To modify this feature for Family Pairing, they consulted experts, such as the Family Online Safety Institute, on how to strike a balance between letting families select the experience that best suits their needs and ensuring they respect children's rights to participate in the online world. Teens can view the terms their caregiver has included, and this transparency can encourage discussions about appropriate online behavior and safety.
The 'Save to device' option, which saves a copy of your video clip with TikTok branding, has always been available to TikTok users. However, with the recent update on Tiktok, you may save your clip with all of the improvements and edits made without having the TikTok marking on your upload. Given that Instagram, for example, aggressively reduces a video's reach when it detects watermarks or logos to discourage the re-sharing of TikTok clips, you can now reuse your videos.
TikTok has added a new LIVE Subscription benefit, Subscriber-Only Videos, as part of its continued efforts to offer diverse creator monetization alternatives to help creators. The only people who can watch these unique videos are subscribers. With the ability for subscribers to like, comment, and reply to one another, the new perk promotes interactions outside of the LIVE room. It also aids creators in developing even deeper relationships with their audience.
Social media updates for Reddit
Reddit has now announced that it is ending its popular Reddit Gold offering, which allows users to show their appreciation for each other with a form of in-app currency. This announcement comes as some subreddit mods continue their strike action in protest of Reddit raising the price of its API access (pushing popular third-party apps out of the market).
With a recent API update, redditors may have noticed a few profiles with the designation "Official" next to usernames, much like how Flair appears throughout a subreddit. With this new label, Redditors, moderators, and communities will be able to identify organizations more efficiently and confidently. To decrease impersonation and promote transparency across the platform, they wish to learn how to support organizations and users in increasing authentic interaction.
Fredrick "Flee" Lee has been named the new Chief Information Security Officer of Reddit. Flee will be in charge of Reddit's Privacy and Security teams, which are in charge of finding and resolving risks and issues related to compliance, information security, and privacy.
Social media updates for Snapchat
Snapchat just unveiled a new avatar design that significantly improves their Bitmoji in 3D. Over the upcoming weeks, it will gradually go global. The new avatar style improves characteristics, including hair texture, face shading, and body proportions. Your Bitmoji can now express even the most subtle and nuanced emotions. They can now have a bolder smile and a more surprised expression when stunned.
Starting this week, the worldwide Snapchat community will have several compelling opportunities to express their love and support for women's soccer. With groundbreaking AR experiences featuring the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT), fresh AR Lenses created by female Lens producers, and innovative, creative tools, they invite the Snapchat community to recognize the contributions made by the women helping make this World Cup a memorable occasion.
Social media updates for WhatsApp
The final release of WhatsApp for Wear OS has been announced, allowing users of Google-powered smartwatches to initiate new chats, respond to messages, and take calls directly through WhatsApp. Now, you may use WhatsApp to its fullest extent right from your wrist.
WhatsApp has introduced a new instant video communication. You may now record and share brief, private videos right in the chat. It is a real-time method of responding to discussions with whatever you want to say and displaying in 60 seconds. Similar to sending a voice message, sending a video message is straightforward. All you need do is tap to enter video mode, then hold to start recording.
Social media updates for YouTube
YouTube is experimenting with AI-generated quizzes on the YouTube mobile app Home Feed to make it simpler for users to learn about topics they are interested in. The quizzes will evaluate how well you comprehend a topic addressed in a recent video you viewed. A small portion of iOS and Android users who recently watched a few chosen instructional and EN-language films are participating in this global experiment.
In an ongoing experiment, YouTube lets mobile users make Shorts that feature comments on the videos they're watching. Even though creators can already respond to comments (posted on their own content) with a Short, they wish to investigate the possibility of allowing viewers to also produce content from comments. The Short will show up on the channel page and in the Shorts feed for the viewer. Unless comments on their video(s) are disabled, creators cannot prevent their comments from appearing in a Short. Only a few visitors can currently access this experiment on Android and iOS mobile devices worldwide.
To simplify implementing essential upgrades and changes for your YouTube presence, YouTube is currently rolling out an upgraded YouTube Studio user experience. This upgrade includes shortcuts to frequently used items and updated classification in-stream. Direct links from various surfaces in the Studio app are now being added, along with channel editing, to make updating your data and visuals more accessible.
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