5 Social Media News Stories You Need to Read This Week.

2. TikTok shares rising trends report for marketers.

TikTok has come out with insights on key user trends and shifts that can enable marketers to engage better on the platform. It’s a second edition of their “What’s Next” culture drivers report and presents the big picture on users’ behaviors and interests as well as some case studies. 

If you are looking for some inspiration on TikTok for your brand check out the report here.

3. LinkedIn launches new post analytics tools.

LinkedIn is giving marketers a better overview on content performance with new post analytics tools. These will show the members that are reading their LinkedIn updates and how many reactions were generated.

“We know it’s important to understand what content is resonating with your audience and our team has been hard at work building new analytics for our creators. Soon, creators will be able to get analytics on their individual posts and overall performance, across content & audience.”

~ Tomer Cohen, Chief Product Officer at LinkedIn

4. Facebook’s new educational video series.

It’s time to go back to school! Facebook has relaunched their Social Skills series, which bring inspiration and knowledge to social media marketers. The first two episodes are available now so don’t hesitate to check them out here. 

5. Instagram reveals the ranking factors in its algorithms.

Instagram has shared valuable insights into how they rank feed posts, Stories, and Reels. The main factors influencing your Instagram content performance are:

• The popularity of the post
• The interests of the reader
• How much interaction you’ve had with the reader

👓 Transparency 👓

We love to see it — here is what goes on behind the scenes of how your Feed, Stories, Reels and Explore come to life. https://t.co/TyUmduqF9E

— Instagram (@instagram) February 15, 2022

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1. Check out the Super Bowl LVI in Numbers.

Social media plays a big role during the Super Bowl and if you are interested in the numbers behind the 2022 events check out this analysis from Brandwatch.

According to the research, Coinbase is the ad that drove most of the attention on social this year with more than 79,000 mentions during the game.

2. Instagram tests converting Stories to Reels.

Instagram is experimenting with taking your Stories to the next level. It seems that they are looking into giving brands a chance to convert their Stories highlights into Reels.

What a great way to recycle your content!

Now you can convert an Instagram story highlight to reels! ✨

Just open a highlight and tap on the reel icon, next to the share button. This will lead you to the Supersync tab. Then you can post it as a reel! #Instagram pic.twitter.com/lbqDHs3V9d

— ㆅ (@WFBrother) February 2, 2022

3. TikTok reveals insights for the retail business.

TikTok shared a new report on how retail brands can convert their efforts on the social platform.

“By listening to the TikTok community, we meet users where they want to be met, and it’s not in the funnel. Rather, it is an infinite loop with no start or end point, and it empowers brands to establish more meaningful relationships with consumers that result in communities of brand loyalists, repeat purchases, and greater spending.”

~ TikTok

You can find out more insights from the TikTok survey here.

4. Meta launches new metaverse for its Quest 2 VR Headsets.

Welcome to the new world created by Meta! They shared what the next stage of the metaverse journey will be and insights on how we will be interacting in the digital future in an ad.

Game on!

5. Twitter gives tips to brands on what to share in their tweets.

Twitter came out with a #RealTalk about how brands can optimize their presence on the social network. They conducted a research among 2000 brands to find out what works for them on Twitter.

“Now more than ever, it’s important for brands to understand how and when people want them to show up in the public conversation. That’s why the brand strategy experts at Twitter Next conducted first-of-its-kind research about people’s attitudes on Twitter – analyzing thousands of Tweets from the world’s most iconic brands and conducting tests and surveys in eight countries – and what that means for the evolution of brand behavior.”

~ Twitter

You can read Twitter’s full report here.

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1. TikTok creates an online course to enable marketers. 

TikTok launched a free online course on how to utilize the platform in the best way for your brand. 

You can learn a lot of tips and tricks on how to use TikTok for your business in terms of targeting, inspirational ideas, and many more. You can try it here. 

2. YouTube sets the scene for the 2022 Super Bowl Ads.

It’s that time of the year when all marketers are preparing some popcorn and sitting in front of the TV/laptop to get some inspiration. 

The Super Bowl has been the right place to see ad masterpieces for many years and YouTube is setting the stage for the 2022 edition. 

Check out YouTube’s AdBlitz for more inspiration.

3. Instagram finds new ways to monetize the platform for creators.

Good news for all Instagram creators! The platform is testing new ways for you to get subscriptions and monetize your business model. 

“With Instagram Subscriptions, creators can develop deeper connections with their most engaged followers and grow their recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where they interact with them already.”

~ Instagram

4. Meta launches NFT marketplace beyond profile pictures.

Meta is making a move into the NFT scene and is already thinking beyond NFT profile pictures.

“Teams at Facebook and Instagram are readying a feature that will allow users to display their NFTs on their social media profiles, as well as working on a prototype to help users create – or mint – the collectible tokens, according to several people familiar with the matter. Two of the people said that Meta has also discussed launching a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs.”

~ Financial Times

If you want to know more about how brands can use NFTs read this.

5. Meta comes up with 3D avatars to be part of Instagram.

Welcome to Meta’s new ideas! It seems you can get a new avatar for yourself for the Super Bowl LVI. Looking forward to seeing what is going to come up next for brands!

“From now until February 28th, you’ll be able to outfit your Avatar to support either of the two Super Bowl LVI contenders – or if you can’t bring yourself to cheer for either team, there’s also a neutral Super Bowl LVI shirt you can choose instead.”

~ Meta

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1. Instagram shares their 2022 priorities.

Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri revealed the social network’s plans for this year. Among those are an increased focus on:

“We’re going to double-down on our focus on video and consolidate all of our video formats around Reels”

~ Adam Mosseri, Instagram

• Messaging
• Transparency Creators

2. Meta optimizes the advertising process.

Meta announced that they are making changes in Ads Manager to streamline the ad campaign process. They’ve now reduced the number of ad objectives you can choose from 11 to 6.

“In order to effectively guide advertisers to optimal campaign setups, we’re redesigning the objective selection experience when creating new campaigns in Ads Manager. We’re moving to an outcome-driven ad experiences model (ODAX), where advertisers can select their designed business outcomes (e.g. Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion, Sales) and the interface will guide advertisers to the most optimal campaign setup/creation paths to achieve that outcome.”

~ Meta

Learn more about this change here.

3. TikTok tests a repost video feature.

TikTok is looking into a repost option where creators and brands can re-share clips with their followers. The Reposted clip will then be displayed in their connections’ feeds together with your comments.

TikTok is testing a ‘Repost’ button

h/t @adrianokev1 pic.twitter.com/Nwbj07GXsK

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) December 19, 2021

4. LinkedIn starts a campaign for the importance of representation in the workplace.

The social network promoted a video that celebrates and embraces diversity in the workplace. LinkedIn had also enabled a feature a few months ago where users can add pronouns to their personal profiles and ever since, they’ve seen more than 6 million people taking advantage of that.

“Almost 50% of job seekers in the U.S. say they’re more likely to be their authentic self in how they show up in the workplace compared to a year ago. And we’ve seen these conversations happen around the world in our LinkedIn community, as our members reconsider their priorities and relationships with work and life, and reclaim that being professional really means creating inclusive spaces and culture to honor each other as who we are, so that we can bring our unique experiences and perspectives to the table.”

~ LinkedIn

5. Meta grows its Bulletin newsletter platform.

Meta reported that its Bulletin newsletter platform has grown since April 2021 when it was launched. More than half of the creators on there now have around 1000 free email subscribers, with many having more than 5000.

“When we launched Bulletin, we began with a small group of voices to learn how to best support their work. Six months later, we have more than 115 publications on Bulletin, and we’re energized by all the ways this first group has made meaningful connections with their audiences. This is the start of our overall effort to connect people in a more significant way to content from a broader set of sources and experts.”

~ Meta

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1. Instagram publishes 2022 Trend Report.

Instagram released an insightful 2022 Trend Report to help brands and marketers understand emerging shifts and rising movements across various areas like food, wellness, memes, fashion, and beauty.

“In order to create this report*, we tapped into the minds of Gen-Z to learn more about the rising Instagram trends across categories including music, fashion, creators and celebs, beauty, social justice, and so much more. From redefining how they approach education and the idea of a “career,” to maximalist fashion statements, these future-focused audiences are consistently creating the reality they want to live in.”

~ Instagram

Instagram also created a series of video interviews with influencers to provide further insights into the 2022 trends.

All 👀 on 2022. ⬅️

From bold looks to money memes, check out some of the top trends that are about to take over your Feed in the new year. https://t.co/jxD6sG9Dwz pic.twitter.com/gymJCrQ32u

— Instagram (@instagram) December 13, 2021

You can find the 2022 Instagram Trend Report here. 

If you’re looking for more inspiration on what to expect and what to incorporate into your digital marketing strategy next year, check out our 2022 Digital Trends eBook.

2. TikTok plans to open ‘TikTok Kitchen’ chain of delivery-only restaurants.

TikTok is opening a new chain of delivery-only restaurants in the US. The social network will convert the app’s recipe videos into themed menus in partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub.

“The menu at the restaurants will draw upon the most popular viral food posts on TikTok, which people can then have delivered to their door via Grubhub. TikTok plans to launch around 300 locations that will start delivering dishes in March, with plans to open more than 1,000 restaurants by the end of next year.”

~ TechCrunch

TikTok recently highlighted leading 2021 brand campaigns in the app as well as 2021’s top songs and music trends.

3. Twitter shares 2022 planning guide.

Twitter has published a 2022 planning guide to help brands streamline their social media strategies. The 69-page guide includes useful templates and tips and tricks on how to boost your presence on Twitter next year.

“We’ve compiled some of our best Twitter tips and tools into our 2022 Twitter Planner to help you brainstorm and plan your marketing campaigns for 2022. Learn our best practices, how to align your campaigns with your business objectives, and tips for setting campaign targets.”

~ Twitter

You can find the Twitter planning guide here.

If you’re looking to improve your 2022 social media strategy, check out our handy social media holiday calendar and template.

Twitter has also highlighted inspiring examples of top agency ad campaigns and top tweets and trends from 2021.

There was a lot to like this year on Twitter – literally. These were the most Liked Tweets of 2021 from around the world. pic.twitter.com/vOp6yenAKt

— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) December 9, 2021

4. Meta expands Horizon Worlds.

Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR creation and interaction platform is available now to everyone over 18 in the US and Canada. This is an exciting introduction to virtual reality for new Meta VR users – it’s a platform where you can build whatever you like and invite others to join the experience.

“Horizon Worlds is a social VR experience where you can create and explore together. Since launching as an invite-only beta last year, we’ve been amazed by the community that’s begun to form and inspired by the unique experiences they’ve built.”

~ Meta

5. Pinterest publishes 2022 trend predictions.

Pinterest surprised marketers by releasing a 2022 trends prediction report. It contains 35 trends expected in the near future, and it highlights industries like make-up, fashion, home decor, and many more.

The report has a summary overview of each trend, along with related search trends and creators. 

“The trends we’ve predicted for 2022 are meant to feel surprising—Altbashes, anyone?—but what’s even more unexpected are the people behind them.”

~ Pinterest

You can find Pinterest’s 2022 trend predictions here or check out their Pinterest Predicts mini-site.

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1. TikTok reveals the most popular promoted products in a 2021 guide. 

TikTok now makes available a list of 23 products that were most popular on the social network in 2021. They wrapped up the top promoted performers in a 2021 #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt Holiday Gift Guide.

“It’s a whole new kind of commerce that’s emerging on TikTok, with our users at the helm—and it’s transforming the way consumers and brands interact. In fact, 83% of TikTokers said they come here for product reviews, and it’s why 67% said they were inspired by the community to shop, even when they weren’t looking to do so.”

~TikTok

2. Facebook explains how to create and promote podcasts on the social network.

Has your brand started with social audio? Recently, Facebook published a new guide on how to link and promote podcasts on the platform with Facebook’s features. The podcasts are available to selected creators at the moment and help brands create new opportunities and increase reach and engagement on the social network.

3. YouTube announces the 2021 top-performing videos and creators.

YouTube gave a big shout-out to the top videos and creators in 2021 in a special overview. Their listings are segmented by 17 regions across the world and give your brand insights on what was trending across the social network this year.

YouTube also shared the key trends they’ve observed on the platform in order to help brands shape up their strategy for 2022. Shorts clips were one of the successful new features in 2021 and generated more than 15 billion cumulative views per day.

If you want to learn more about what kind of digital trends to expect in 2022, you can read our eBook.

4. Livestream shopping is being tested on Twitter.

Twitter continues investing in eCommerce features by testing a livestream shopping one following the steps of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. They even conducted their first live event on November 28th in collaboration with Walmart.

If you want to learn more about the future of eCommerce on social media, you can read this article.

5. LinkedIn conducts a survey on Gen Z.

LinkedIn pulled the curtains to show brands how Gen Z consumes and engages with content on the platform as well as purchases products. LinkedIn conducted research among 78 million Gen Z members and you can find their findings here.

“Gen Z is the fastest-growing global audience demographic on LinkedIn. At present, there are 78 million global Gen Zers on LinkedIn, representing roughly 10% of LinkedIn’s global member base. Soon, Gen Z will become the largest generation of consumers, currently accounting for $143 billion in direct spending.”

~LinkedIn

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1. The 10 key 2022 digital marketing trends revealed.

2022 is almost here — are you ready to face the new opportunities and challenges it will bring?

We’ve joined forces with Brandwatch and Buzzsumo and monitored over 100 million online sources, 100,000 brands, and 8 billion pieces of content published online to compile 10 trends vital to help your business create a winning 2022 digital marketing strategy.

Get some inspiration for 2022 right here.

2. Instagram announces some much-desired features.

Instagram surprised marketeers with two great features:

• Deletion of individual posts from carousels.

This long-awaited option to remove only some of the photos you have in your published carousels is finally here.

Users can now report an issue in their Instagram app by just shaking their phones. Then, a pop-up will come up and prompt them to explain and report the issue. In this way the users’ feedback will reach the Instagram team to fix and report about it.

3. TikTok enables brands to connect with top creators via a new Creative Exchange platform.

TikTok continues to bring new opportunities to match brands and creators on the social network. They’ve just introduced the new Creative Exchange platform, where businesses can pitch a campaign brief and then creators can respond to it and arrange content deals.

“TikTok Creative Exchange platform gives marketers instant access to a selection of the best TikTok creative partners in the industry, and enables efficient collaboration at scale. Our network of creative experts will help tailor and personalize content to improve ad performance on TikTok and drive business results.”

~TikTok

4. YouTube has started a livestream shopping series.

eCommerce has been big in 2021 and looks like it’s going to be even bigger in 2022. Youtube also joined the trend and started a series of livestream shopping events around the holidays. This will enable influencers and celebrities to engage with their community in real time.

5. Facebook shares Most Viewed Content Report for Q3.

The social network revealed what type of content was mostly viewed in the past quarter. Get some insights from the report for your brand.

“87.1% of views came from posts shared by people’s friends, from Groups people had joined, or Pages they had followed. Of the remaining 12.9% of News Feed content views in the US during Q3 2021, 11.7% came from in feed recommendations which show people content from sources they are not connected to but we think they might be interested in; we refer to this content as ‘unconnected posts’. The last 1.2% came from less common products, such as Events, and logging discrepancies.”

~Facebook

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1. Welcome to the new era of Facebook — Meta.

Facebook’s AR/VR-focused Connect event was full of surprises. Mark Zuckerberg announced that the new corporate name of the parent company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus is Meta. The rebranding also comes with the promise of the company to build the metaverse.

“To reflect who we are and what we hope to build, I am proud to announce that starting today, our company is now Meta. Our mission remains the same — it’s still about bringing people together. Our apps and our brands — they’re not changing either. From now on, we’re going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.”

~ Mark Zuckerberg

During the Connect event, the company also shared some new features like AR tools, advanced VR options, and other hardware projects. Read more about it here.

2. LinkedIn announces new Company Pages tools to enhance brands’ employee advocacy and branding.

LinkedIn announced new features for Company Pages. Now, brands can:

• List whether their employees’ place of work is ‘remote’, ‘hybrid’ or ‘on-site’.
• Use new customizable analytics to benchmark LinkedIn pages against competitors.
• Utilize an updated My Company feature to help communicate with their employees.

“With these [new] updates, you can easily curate content from your Page feed to the My Company Tab with the simple click of a button. We’ll notify employees as soon as new content is curated and drop them right into the re-sharing experience, so they know exactly how they can help amplify your messages. We’ll also show employees how their re-share matters, with a dynamic visualization of the content that others at the organization are sharing.”

~ LinkedIn

If you want to learn more about creating an employee advocacy program read this.

3. TikTok tells the world why people enjoy the app.

Do you want to learn why people use TikTok? The social network released a study in partnership with Nielsen to bring some light on why users appreciate TikTok in comparison to the competition.

“Nielsen’s study shows users around the globe find TikTok content to be authentic, genuine, unfiltered and trendsetting. At the same time, when looking specifically at advertising content, users still associated terms such as authentic and genuine, while adding honest, real, unique and fun.”

~ TikTok

4. Pinterest launches new features at its Creators’ Festival.

Pinterest announced new features during its Creators’ Festival. They will introduce a ‘Watch’ feed for Pin content, which resembles TikTok’s feature quite a lot, as well as ‘Takes’ — a response option for Idea Pins.

“These new experiences empower creators to publish and drive meaningful engagement while getting paid for inspiring content, and provides Pinners with more ways to watch, make and shop creator ideas.”

~ Pinterest

5. Twitter reached 211 million active users and announced Twitter for Professionals.

The Twitter days are looking good! According to their Q3 2021 performance report, the social network has a steady growth in users and revenue. Twitter users rose up to 211 million and there is a 13% year-over-year increase.

Find out more findings from the Twitter report here.

Twitter also announced that starting this week, they offer a new platform for brand identity called Twitter for Professionals.

“In the last year, we have introduced a handful of new ways for professionals to enrich their experiences on Twitter. Whether you’re a creator looking to make money or someone who wants access to exclusive features and perks, we want to give everyone on Twitter – creators, marketers, businesses, and everyday people – reasons to come and stay.”

~ Twitter

✨ Starting this week, we are beginning to introduce Twitter for Professionals: an entirely new platform for brand identity on Twitter. For more on the announcement, check out our blog post!

— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) September 30, 2021

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1. Halloween is knocking on our social media doors.

Trick or treat! Well, the social networks this year only want  to treat you — with some great tips on how your brand can celebrate Halloween with your community on social media. Here are some ideas from:

We couldn’t miss out on this inspirational flow, so we treat you as well with some Halloween ideas. 

2. Facebook launches new AI that can predict and guide future process steps.

If you’ve thought you’ve seen it all – just wait! Facebook is working on a new machine learning process called Anticipate Video Transformer. It will forecast future actions based on visual interpretation and it’s related to their ongoing development of AR wearables.

“AVT could be especially useful for applications such as an AR “action coach” or an AI assistant, by prompting someone that they may be about to make a mistake in completing a task or by reacting ahead of time with a helpful prompt for the next step in a task. For example, AVT could warn someone that the pan they’re about to pick up is hot, based on the person’s previous interactions with the pan.”

~ Facebook

Read this if you want to learn more on the topic.

3. Twitter launches ‘Spark’ program for audio creators on Twitter Spaces.

Twitter is trying to activate new star creators on its Spaces live audio product. They expanded the Spaces tab, took their broadcast discovery to a new level, and have now initiated a support initiative for audio talents.

*unmutes*

today we’re opening the application process for the Twitter Spaces Spark Program

what’s that? it’s an initiative for creators who are excited about the future of social audio 👇 pic.twitter.com/4zay8uvao8

— Spaces (@TwitterSpaces) October 12, 2021

“The Twitter Spaces Spark Program is a three-month accelerator initiative that’s designed to discover and reward great Spaces on Twitter with financial, technical, and marketing support. We’re looking for emerging Creators who are passionate about the live social audio format and interested in creating recurring programming on Spaces.”

~Twitter

4. Facebook explains improved privacy regulations in a video series.

In their attempt to explain how privacy works on the social network, Facebook launched ads which call for more Government regulation of the tech sector as well as show the people behind their products.

“We make a lot of difficult decisions. We work in the spectrum of freedom of expression versus content moderation and constantly trying to figure out where on that spectrum we should land. I don’t know if that is right to have a private corporation like Facebook, dictating what those boundaries are.”

~Jack, Facebook

If you are challenged to find the balance between privacy and personalization, this article might be a good fit for you.

5. YouTube reveals the vision for Shorts. 

TikTok definitely influenced YouTube’s plan and prompted them into the creation of the short-form video feed ‘Shorts’ last September. One year later, the social network reveals the key area of focus of that feature.

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

1. Facebook launches Reels in the USA. 

Reels on Facebook are now available to all US users. The social network has been testing it since March 2021 and now it is bringing it to its 250 million+ US audience. 

“Reels on Facebook can consist of music, audio, effects and more. You can find them in News Feed or in Groups, and when viewing a reel on Facebook, you can easily follow the creator directly from the video, like and comment on it, or share it with friends.” 

~Facebook  

2. Twitter starts their 2021 ‘Best of Tweets’ campaign. 

Is your brand ready to become part of Twitter’s Hall of fame this year? Now, you’ve got this chance by applying for the ‘Twitter’s Best Of Tweets’ campaign.  

There are a couple of categories your brand can choose from and among last year’s winners are Gatorade, Uber, Ben & Jerry’s, and more. 

“Twitter’s Best Of Tweets is our hall of fame, our GOAT, our crowning achievement for the brands that creatively leveraged Twitter this year to launch something new, or to connect to what’s happening like no one else could. And we want to hear from you, does your brand deserve to be crowned a winner?” 

~Twitter 

3. TikTok shares big announcements at TikTok World. 

On September 28, TikTok organized its first TikTok World business event, where they announced a lot of new tools for brands to become successful on the social network. They also explained their plans on how to monetize their constantly growing audience and enable creators to earn money from their presence on the platform. 

Among the announcements were: 

“TikTok Creator Marketplace provides discovery tools to match businesses with a diverse range of creators for every campaign, brand voice and budget. You can filter based on the type of content they post, where they’re located, their average views, and more.” 

~TikTok 

Learn more about the new features that will connect brands and influencers on TikTok here. 

• New self-serve portal called the TikTok Creative Exchange. 

This portal will help match brands with creative service providers thus enabling businesses to create more successful ads. 

“Through this portal, you can manage projects, feedback, approvals, and insights – all in a streamlined process designed to help you create impactful ads.” 

~TikTok 

• New Creative Center to enable advertisers to understand what performs best in real time. 

Brands will be able to explore top-performing ads, latest trends and search through TikTok’s audio library. 

TikTok clearly states that eCommerce will be their main focus and shared a lot of new tools and solutions for brands among which are: 

• New product links in video clips. 
• New Collection Ads to include product cards. 
• Dynamic Showcase Ads. 
• Customized Instant Pages. 
• New stickers to illustrate products in clips. 
• Gesture ads to reward users who engage. 
• ‘Story Selection’ ads to prompt more interaction in clips. 

You can read more on the TikTok announcement here. 

4. Facebook launches features for Messenger, Instagram Direct, and new chat tools. 

Facebook introduced new features for Messeger and Instagram Direct, among which is the option for cross-app group chats in order to enable users to create group chats between the two apps. This feature will eventually include also Whatsapp.  

“Last year, we announced cross-app messaging between Messenger and Instagram. With this update, you’ll be able to start group chats between your Instagram and Messenger contacts.” 

~Facebook 

You can read more about all the new chat tools here. 

5. Facebook is back after a six-hour global outage. 

On October 4th Facebook was facing an outage which took down the social network for six hours as well as Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger, and Oculus VR around the world. The networks started recovering their activities, which are said to be caused by DNS routing problems. 

We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

— Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021

 

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1. Facebook announces new business products for personalized messaging.

Facebook has launched new business tools to help brands connect directly with their leads and customers. This will help brands to focus on personalized messaging and business discovery, which are part of Facebook’s updates around Facebook Shops.

With the new tools, once your brand creates a message ad, Facebook will identify the messaging platform the users use most often and suggest they message you on that service.

“Businesses can already buy ads that encourage people to message them, whether in Messenger, Instagram Direct or WhatsApp. Now, businesses can choose all the messaging platforms where they’re available to chat, and we’ll default the chat app in your ad based on where a conversation is most likely to happen.”

~ Facebook

   

2. LinkedIn introduces new business tools to increase brands’ engagement.

Here are some of the new features LinkedIn announced for this quarter:

Articles for Pages

LinkedIn introduced Articles for Pages, which is a long-form blogging feature that has been available for personal profiles so far.

“While members on LinkedIn have long had the ability to draft and publish long-form articles on the platform, organizations have been limited to character counts for organic posts in the feed. That’s no longer the case with Articles for Pages.”

~LinkedIn

Live Events

LinkedIn put together the reach and engagement of their live-streaming tool with LinkedIn Events’ planning and targeting options.

“You asked, and we heard you. One of your top-requested updates was for our “Scheduled LinkedIn Live” and “LinkedIn Events” products to work better together for maximum reach and engagement. We’re excited to deliver on this with LinkedIn Live Events.”

~LinkedIn

Measure and Optimize Brand Awareness

LinkedIn is offering new ways for your brand to measure your impact on the social network. The three new enhancements are towards:

• Brand Lift Testing.
• Reach Optimization.
• Reach/Frequency Forecasting and Reporting.

Read more about the new features here.

3. Twitter tests topic-based ‘Communities’.

Twitter is testing a new feature called ‘Communities’, which enables the audience to share tweets with selected and topic-based groups of users. “Some conversations aren’t for everyone, just the people who want to talk about the thing you want to talk about. When you join a Community, you can Tweet directly to that group instead of to all your followers. Only members in the same Community are able to reply and join the conversation so it stays intimate and relevant.” ~Twitter

imagine an alternate timeline where everyone just gets you

say hi to Communities—the place to connect with people who Tweet like you. testing now on iOS and web, Android soon! pic.twitter.com/TJdKwUa4D2

— Twitter Communities (@HiCommunities) September 8, 2021

4. Instagram is developing a new feature to convert Stories to Reels.

In their desire to grow Reels, Instagram is testing the ‘Montage’ feature, which helps users convert their Instagram Stories into Reels video clips. You can choose the stories you want to feature, put them together and add relevant audio.

#Instagram is working on “Stories Montage”, a new way to create stunning #Reels from your Stories 👀 pic.twitter.com/7CcP89lZeX

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) September 11, 2021

5. TikTok partners with MTV for New ‘Trending: VMA’ Awards.

TikTok teams up with MTV for an exciting partnership around the VMA Awards. There will be a set of awards voted exclusively by TikTok users, which is an interesting move from the social network. The TikTok ‘Trending: VMA’ awards will “celebrate the creators and artists driving music trends and culture”.

“Beginning today, fans can vote for their favorites in categories like Best Breakthrough Song, Best Audio Mashup, and Best Artist x Creator Collab exclusively on TikTok.”

~TikTok

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

 

1. Instagram reveals how its search algorithms work. 

It’s time to open the curtains and look at how the search algorithms work on Instagram. The social network published a new edition of their How Instagram Works series, where they explain the formula behind the search function and how you can use it to improve your brand’s presence on Instagram. 

The most important signals they consider are: 

• The text you enter in the search bar. 
• Your previous activity with accounts and posts. 
• The popularity of the search results — the more engaging the item, the higher it will appear in the search results.  

For more insights, read the full article here.  

2. LinkedIn is shutting down LinkedIn Stories. 

LinkedIn announced that they are going to remove LinkedIn Stories by the end of September.  

“We introduced Stories last year as a fun and casual way to share quick video updates. We’ve learned a ton. Now, we’re taking those learnings to evolve the Stories format into a reimagined video experience across LinkedIn that’s even richer and more conversational. We want to embrace mixed media and creative tools of Stories in a consistent way across our platform while working to integrate it more tightly with your professional identity.” 

~ Liz Li, Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn 

LinkedIn followed their users’ feedback when making this decision. Here are some of their audience’s insights: 

• People wish to create lasting videos rather than ones that disappear from their profiles after 24 hours. 
• Creative tools are needed that would help people tell their professional stories. 

Therefore, LinkedIn will take this feedback and incorporate it in their next video project. We are looking forward to seeing it!

LinkedIn gives up on Stories https://t.co/I6X3oJrr27 pic.twitter.com/ihnWMg9BgZ

— The Verge (@verge) August 31, 2021

 
3. TikTok opens a quick ‘Promote’ ad option to all business users. 

TikTok has been testing a boost-like ‘Promote’ option with selected profiles for a couple of months and now it is available for all users. The ad feature is similar to Facebook’s Boost button, and it allows brands to quickly and easily put amplify their posts with ads. 

 “Starting this month, Promote is available to help businesses reach more people and grow their community with their TikTok videos. With Promote, you can turn any organic TikTok video into an ad, directly within the app. You can start reaching new audiences, build a following, and drive traffic to your business website.” 

~TikTok 

Give your existing TikTok content a boost with Promote — a new advertising tool that lets *anyone* amplify their TikTok content, without leaving the app. 🚀 https://t.co/CHcUokOEFO

— TikTok Business (@TikTokBusiness) August 26, 2021

Watch out for more news coming during the upcoming TikTok World showcase event on September 28th, 2021. 

4. Twitter commerce is on its way. 

Twitter is testing various shopping tools that can develop the app in the direction of e-commerce. They will eventually allow users to save product listings and make actual purchases directly from the social network.  

The latest experiment spotted a new ‘Purchase’ tab in users’ profiles, which displays subscriptions or digital tickets bought via Twitter.  

Stay tuned to learn more on how this rolls out! 

5. Goodbye, Stories’ Swipe-Up Links on Instagram. 

Starting August 30th, Instagram started deprecating the Stories Swipe-Up links. Instead, they are introducing a ‘Link’ sticker, which will be available to all users already having access to swipe-ups.  

“At the time of the test, Vishal Shah, Instagram’s former head of product, told The Verge the stickers fit more with the way people currently use the platform. He also said the goal was to more widely roll out the stickers. The key difference between the two features, apart from the obvious gesture difference, is viewers can respond to stories that have a link sticker, but cannot respond to swipe up stories.” 

~ The Verge 

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates! 

 

1. Facebook Launches Horizon Workrooms, a VR Collaboration and Meeting Platform.

Facebook is bringing virtual meetings to a whole new level with the new Horizon Workrooms VR collaboration space. Their goal is to provide a new VR opportunity for teams to meet and collaborate virtually, thus improving their productivity.

“Workrooms is a virtual meeting space where you and your colleagues can work better together from anywhere. You can join a meeting in VR as an avatar or dial into the virtual room from your computer by video call. You can use a huge virtual whiteboard to sketch out ideas together, bring your computer and keyboard into VR to work together with others, or just have expressive conversations that feel more like you’re together in person.”

~Facebook

2. TikTok publishes Creative Solutions Guide and partners with Vimeo and Canva.

TikTok launched a special guide to inspire and educate creators on how to build compelling campaigns. It covers the key aspects of successful TikTok videos, gives an overview of utilizing TikTok’s features and optimization solutions, and tools to improve brands’ video productions.

“Creative content on TikTok doesn’t require a big production budget. Our built-in offerings and effects, paired with authentic, sound-on, and immersive full-screen creative is more than enough to wow audiences and win their hearts.

TikTok’s video creation and optimization solutions help reinvent the flow of video productions, allowing for content to be built for TikTok from the ground up. According to our analysis in Q1 of 2021, retail companies that utilized TikTok’s creative tools delivered creative 14x more efficiently.”

~TikTok

TikTok also announced new partnerships with Vimeo and Canva, which will enable marketers to create effective campaigns in each of the applications.

3. Facebook Reels are tested in the US.

Facebook Reels are coming to the US in the attempt of the social network to provide a short-form video option to the audience. Creators will also be able to share their Instagram Reels to the Facebook app, displayed under their Instagram profile name.

“Facebook Reels will give Facebook users the ability to create and share short-form video content directly within the News Feed or within Facebook Groups. Initially, you’ll be able to tap a “Create” button from the Reels section that appears as you scroll the News Feed, while you’re watching Reels or by tapping on “Reels” at the top of your News Feed. From here, users will gain access to a standard set of creation tools, including those for video capture, music selection, camera roll import, timed text and more.”

~Techcrunch

 

4. LinkedIn Presents a Guide to Effective Brand Building.

LinkedIn published a 33-page guide on how to build your brand on the social network effectively. It helps businesses understand how to activate their brand on LinkedIn, measure their share of voice and the value of emotional messaging.

“With more than 774M+ active LinkedIn members, and 58M registered companies, your brand campaigns have a sizable reach. This unique environment, coupled with our reach optimization product, makes LinkedIn a great place to efficiently reach everyone in a B2B category.”

~LinkedIn

The guide is the latest from LinkedIn’s series of marketing tips and strategy lessons from the platform.

5. Facebook Publishes the Widely Viewed Content Report.

Facebook introduced the Widely Viewed Content Report to provide transparency and explain what content users consume in News Feed. The report reveals what kind of posts and pages are mostly viewed and the fact that 57% of posts that people see are from their family and friends.

“Fewer than 13% of content views were on posts with links, and the top-viewed news domains account for only 0.31% of all content views in News Feed. Of those outlets, mainstream media dominate by views.”

~Facebook

Facebook also stressed that content that most people see isn’t necessarily the most engaging one on News Feed. Check out the report for more details.

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

1. TikTok is testing TikTok Stories.

It looks like TikTok is going to add a Stories-like feature for creators to express themselves. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Snapchat have such features already, even though Twitter just got rid of their version of it.

The TikTok stories will be available for 24 hours and displayed in a collapsible left-hand side panel in the app’s main feed. There will be a dedicated camera and creation flow to make it for users to either find or create.

 

2. Instagram reveals how the Reels algorithm works.

Instagram Reels are so much fun, but do you know how to make them efficient for your social ROI? Instagram just pulled back the curtains to show us how a brand can enable Instagram Reels for their business.

These are the main signals Instagram is looking for:

• Reels followers are likely to be interested in, depending on how they have engaged with previous content.
• Their history with the brand.
• The quality of the content when it comes to audio and video.
• Information about your brand and how others interacted with it.

Also, recently Instagram Reels expanded to 60 seconds, which gives your brand great opportunities.

3. Twitter is growing into eCommerce by testing a Shop Module.

Twitter is testing a new feature in the eCommerce area, which allows shoppers to go all the way from discovering new products to purchasing them.

“The Shop Module is a dedicated space at the top of a profile where businesses can showcase their products. When people visit a profile with the Shop Module enabled, they can scroll through the carousel of products and tap through on a single product to learn more and purchase – seamlessly in an in-app browser, without having to leave Twitter.”

~Twitter

 

4. LinkedIn Acquires Tutorial Video App Jumprope.

Jumprope is a platform to share skills and ideas by creating step-by-step video tutorials and then export those videos to every social platform. You can use video, still images, preset formats and overlays.

LinkedIn is expanding in the area of video by acquiring the how-to video app Jumprope. The social network will now provide more on-platform tools for creators and grow LinkedIn Learning for professional skills development.

“We started Jumprope to empower anyone to share their knowledge and passion in an engaging video-based format. But, while 2 million people per month watch Jumpropes on our platform, we realized we could build something so much bigger if we joined LinkedIn. This truly is an opportunity to fulfill the Jumprope vision of reaching a global community.”

~ Jake Poses, Jumprope CEO

5. Facebook Launches Campaign Ideas Generator.

Facebook is trying to inspire small businesses by providing them with a campaign ideas tool. The new Campaign Ideas Generator helps brands to develop content for new campaigns by providing them with inspiration, pre-made assets, and other resources.

All you need to do is select your business type and the tool will suggest you campaign ideas and insights customized for your business needs. You can also look into content ideas related to your vertical or a specific upcoming holiday.

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

1. Clubhouse is now open to all users.

Good news — Clubhouse is out of closed beta and open to everyone to tune in to audio chats. The exclusive app created a lot of buzz around marketeers during the past year, and now it’s available for all users.

“Twelve never-boring months later, we’re thrilled to share that Clubhouse is now out of beta, open to everyone, and ready to begin its next chapter. This means we have removed our waitlist system so that anyone can join. If you have a club, you can post your link far and wide. If you are a creator with an audience, you can bring them all on. If you’re hosting a public event, anyone can attend. You can bring close friends, classmates, family members, coworkers, and anyone else you like — on iOS or Android.”

~ Paul, Rohan and the Clubhouse team

Clubhouse also got a brand-new logo and website. Check them out!

 

 

If you want to learn more about social audio and how your brand can be heard on social, read this.

2. Instagram Insights is now available for up to 60 Days.

Instagram Insights has extended the tracking period from 30 to 60 days! This will come in handy for all marketeers to track their results better and make the most out of them.

There is also a new calendar tool that lets you tap into the specific dates you are interested in. The existing date range preset is still available if you’d prefer to stick to it.

 

3. The new TikTok ‘Spark’ ads enable brands to boost relevant trending content.

Here’s a new type of ad coming from TikTok. It’s called Spark, and it enables brands to sponsor trending organic content related to their product or services.

Spark helps you identify existing organic TikTok videos that relate to or showcase your brand and then you can reach out to the creator and repurpose their content for an ad campaign.

If you want to learn more about repurposing your content on social media, check out this blog post.

 

4. Facebook Launches ‘Soundmojis’ to Messenger.

Facebook had a surprise for World Emoji Day! They launched ‘Soundmojis’, which are emojis that play a short audio clip. They can be a great interactive and engaging element to your chat threads.

“[Soundmojis are] a next-level emoji that lets you send short sound clips in a Messenger chat, ranging from clapping, crickets, drumroll, and evil laughter, to audio clips from your favorite artists like Rebecca Black and your favorite TV shows and movies like Universal Pictures’ F9, NBC and Universal Television’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Netflix and Shondaland’s Bridgerton. “Ah, the drama of it all.”

~ Facebook

 

5. LinkedIn adds new free courses for digital marketing skills.

Do you want to build or upgrade your digital marketing skills? LinkedIn has two new certification courses that help you learn more about LinkedIn’s ad tools and features. You will also be a proud owner of an official certification that can be attached to your LinkedIn profile.

There are two courses to choose from: Fundamentals Certification (Basic) and Marketing Strategy Certification (Intermediate).

It’s time to up your game!

 

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

 

1. Facebook announced the next era of personalized experiences.

Facebook’s Business and Ad Chief Dan Levy revealed the next steps in the social network evolution and how it will affect brands and users. Facebook will be focusing on creating personalized experiences by product innovations in four areas:

• Privacy-enhancing technologies
• Product and business discovery
• Commerce
• Business tools beyond marketing

“Businesses are confronting a permanent shift in people’s behavior: a migration to ecommerce that might have taken a decade exploded within a year. This, combined with growing technologies to meet people’s privacy expectations, is a generational opportunity for our industry to innovate once again. We must develop new ways for businesses to reach customers and to give people more control over how their personal information is used in advertising.”

~ Dan Levy, Vice President, Ads & Business Products at Facebook

Learn more about how these innovations on Facebook will help your business here.

 

2. Instagram will focus mainly on video instead of photos.

Exciting news about the future of Instagram! Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, shared that the social network won’t just be a photo-sharing app anymore and that it will focus more on videos to create better entertainment experience.

“We’re also going to be experimenting with how do we embrace video more broadly — full screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video. You’ll see us do a number of things, or experiment with a number of things in this space over the coming months.”

~ Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram

So don’t be surprised if you see a lot more videos on Instagram in the following months! The four main key areas Instagram will be working in the near future are: Creators, Video, Shopping, and Messaging.

 

3. TikTok announces Resumes to connect job candidates with recruiters.

TikTok shared their ambition to become the new channel for recruitment and job discovery with TikTok Resumes. You can also find it in the app through #TikTokResumes and create job-related content or submit videos for posted jobs.

“TikTok Resumes is officially open and accepting TikTok video resumes. We’re humbled to be able to partner with some of the world’s most admired and emerging brands as we pilot a new way for job seekers to showcase their experiences and skillsets in creative and authentic ways. #CareerTok is already a thriving subculture on the platform and we can’t wait to see how the community embraces TikTok Resumes and helps to reimagine recruiting and job discovery.”

~ Nick Tran, Global Head of Marketing at TikTok

4. Facebook launches Bulletin, a newsletter platform.

Great news for creators! Facebook has launched a new platform to share long-form articles and audio content, all from one place. Bulletin is a set of publishing and subscription tools to support content creation, monetization, and audience growth for writers.

Bulletin is hosted on a separate site, but its content will appear in the Facebook News Feed and Facebook News sections. Creators will have their brand website in Bulletin, can customize their publication’s name, logo, and color palette, and use multi-media embeds and other styling options.

5. Instagram tests sticker links in Stories for all users.

Has your brand been using the swipe-up links in Stories? They are one of the best ways to drive traffic from Instagram to your website or other preferable assets. So far, this privilege was only granted to verified users or ones with at least 10,000 followers.

The social network is now testing a similar feature in a sticker format which you can tap and visit a dedicated link. Instagram is considering opening it to all users, where everyone can add such stickers or reply to a Story with stickers.

Instagram will use this test to monitor what types of links people mostly post and keep an eye on avoiding any misinformation and spam.

 

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

 

1. Social audio comes to Facebook with Live Audio Rooms and podcast playback in-stream.

Social audio is officially launching on Facebook with Live Audio Rooms and podcasts. The social network started releasing these new features for public figures and select Facebook Groups in the US.

Live Audio Rooms will enable you to discover and connect during live conversations with public figures, experts, and other like-minded fellows on topics you’re interested in. Public figures can invite up to 50 people to be speakers in the events, and unlimited listeners can join.

In Groups, admins will manage who can create a Live Audio Room. In public Groups, everyone would be able to listen in, while in private ones, only members will be able to join the conversations.

 

Read more on how social audio can activate your brand on social media.

2. Instagram launches Reels Ads.

Reel Ads are here! Instagram Reels have become very popular for many brands, and now Instagram is creating the opportunity to boost your Reel reach and engagement even further with ads. This enhanced format will loop and be up to 30 seconds, and the audience can comment, like, view, save and share Reels ads.

“After testing in select countries, today we’re launching Reels ads to the world. Reels is the best place on Instagram to reach people who don’t follow you and a growing global stage where brands and creators can be discovered by anyone. These ads will help businesses reach greater audiences, allowing people to discover inspiring new content from brands and creators.”

~Instagram

 

3. Facebook takes social eCommerce to the next level.

Facebook just took eCommerce on social media to the next stage by announcing that Shops are expanding to WhatsApp and Marketplace
. They are also working on adding ratings and reviews to products in Shops on Instagram.

“One in three shoppers globally say they plan to spend less time in-store even after the pandemic is over, and almost three-quarters say they get shopping ideas from Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp.”

~ Facebook

Your brand can now also personalize the users’ shopping experience with ads based on their shopping preferences. Facebook is also shaping the future of shopping by investing in new visual AR tools on Instagram, which helps users find new products and experience them virtually before purchasing.

 

Dive in deeper with the new Facebook report on the evolution of eCommerce.

“This desire to have control in all aspects of their shopping journey is shifting the consumer–brand relationship. The future of customer experience will be driven not by the brand, but by empowered consumers. This is challenging businesses to adapt and innovate faster than ever.”

~Facebook

4. Twitter shares key live events this summer.

With summer taking over in the northern hemisphere and vaccination taking place, live events are similarly starting back up. And Twitter is reminding us to tap into the conversations around those. They’ve shared a list of cultural, sports, and entertaining events that brands should consider engaging with.

~ Twitter

5. Instagram tests new content recommendations in the main feed.

Instagram had very positive feedback on their ‘suggested posts’ feature, so they decided to launch a new test related to those. This time suggested posts will be mixed with the user’s primary feed and will sometimes come ahead of the content of brands and people you follow.

Instagram is also considering giving users the control to add specific topics of interest for their suggested posts and letting them snooze recommendations for 30 days.

 

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

1. Instagram shares insights on how their algorithms work. 

Instagram is determined to do a better job explaining how their app actually works and clear up possible misconceptions.  

“Instagram doesn’t have one algorithm that oversees what people do and don’t see on the app. We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose. We want to make the most of your time, and we believe that using technology to personalize your experience is the best way to do that.” 

~ Instagram 

Instagram is using a number of parameters to form their algorithms. Here are the main ones across the Feed and Stories: 

• The post’s popularity and information 

  Instagram is looking into the post engagement, the time it was posted, its format, and location. 

• The profile’s activity and relevance 

  This helps identify how interesting this profile is for the audience. It includes signals like how many times people have interacted with that profile in the past few weeks. 

• The user’s behavior 

  Instagram is trying to understand what the user’s interests are and match those with the relevant content. 

• The history of interacting with other users. 

  The social network wants to determine how much the user cares in general in seeing posts from a particular person/brand. One of the main signals is how often you comment on each other’s posts. 

“In Feed, the five interactions we look at most closely are how likely you are to spend a few seconds on a post, comment on it, like it, save it, and tap on the profile photo. The more likely you are to take an action, and the more heavily we weigh that action, the higher up you’ll see the post.” 

~Instagram 

 

2. New report for AR and VR on Facebook.  

 Facebook published a report on their vision to integrate AR and VR on the social network. According to the publication, 75% of all businesses are expected to utilize those technologies in the next two years, while global spending is set to rise 6x. 

User adoption is also on the rise since people turn more to eCommerce and online shopping. AR and VR technology can enable immersive user experiences and close the online and in-store shopping gap. 

“AR and VR could revolutionize how people engage with brands- and how brands engage with people. Imagine being able to meet one-on-one with famous clothing designers, seeing how lipstick bonds to lips by becoming part of the chemical makeup of the product or having a home reimagined by a brilliant creative director.” 

~ Facebook 

 

3. Twitter launches new tools on a paid subscription model. 

 Do you want to upgrade your Twitter game? Twitter introduces Twitter Blue – a paid subscription to offer you a range of additional tweet features and tools.  
 Here’s a sneak peek on the new opportunities your brand would have: 

• Undo tweets within the first 30 seconds of posting. 

• Categorize saved tweets and bookmark them in folders. 

• Reader Mode to help you view a content thread in a single stream. 

• Color themes to brighten your UX display. 

• Custom app icon on your device.  

• Dedicated customer support.  

Are you ready to try the new Twitter Blue? 

 

4. TikTok keeps the top position on the monthly app download chart.

 Despite all the safety challenges and the rise of alternative tools, TikTok remains the most downloaded app with more than 80 million installs by May 2021.  

 “TikTok was the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide for May 2021 with more than 80 million installs. The countries with the largest number of TikTok installs were from Brazil at 16%, followed by Douyin in China at 12%.” 

~Sensor Tower 

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are the next ones in the list of most downloadable non-gaming apps. 

 

5. Let’s prepare for the holiday shopping with Snapchat’s new resource hub.  

 Snapchat wants to inspire you to start preparing for the holiday shopping rush already now. They’ve created a great holiday resource hub to boost your brand campaigns and help you prepare.  

Grab a coffee and start your holiday planning now! 

Are you looking for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

 

1. Instagram Adds New Engagement Insights for Reels and Instagram Live Broadcasts.

We’ve been waiting for this one, right? Finally, we can see our business insights from Instagram Reels and Live Broadcasts. Thank you, Instagram!

Total Plays, Accounts Reached, Likes, Comments, Saves, and Shares will be available to monitor on Reels. And for Live Broadcasts, users will have access to data on Accounts Reached, Peak Concurrent Viewers, Comments, and Shares. There are also some upgrades when it comes to Reach in Account Insights.

Game on for your social media strategy!

 

2. LinkedIn enables businesses with new ads and event tools.

It’s time to boost your LinkedIn presence! The social network makes it easy to advertise your day-to-day posts and reach a wider audience with just one click. This new feature is quite similar to the Facebook one, which helps you boost top-performing posts. On top of this, now you can promote your events better with Event Ads and Analytics.

 

3. Instagram Introduces ‘Drops’ Product To Help Boost eCommerce.

Shop ‘till you drop, they say! Well, Instagram will start teasing us all with great eCommerce opportunities with their new product showcase option called ‘Drops’.

It will be on the top of the Shop tab and help brands create a buzz about their upcoming products. It promises exclusivity and increased demand since most items will be in limited supplies for a short period of time.

It’s time to discover, browse and shop. Will your brand try this new feature?

 

4. Pinterest shows new ways to match people’s interests with brands’ offerings.

It’s time to surprise your community with creative ideas matching their interests. And Pinterest will inspire you to do this!

As Pinterest CMO Andrea Mallard explains:

“We all know time is our most precious resource and yet we give it up so freely to things that give us nothing in return. Pinterest is the invitation to reclaim some of that time. To explore with it, experiment with it and put purpose to how we spend it. As we think about how the next generation is manifesting every facet of their lives, this campaign emboldens them to do things that actually bring them joy.”

5. Live shopping is the next eCommerce surprise from Facebook.

It’s time for shopping again! Now, live on Facebook with the launch of live-stream shopping events. They will showcase the latest trends and items in real-time and let users ask how they fit, select their size and buy.

Every Friday until July 16, we can enjoy Live Shopping Fridays, where beauty and fashion brands will showcase products, tips, demos and more.

Users will be able to tune in to Facebook’s Live Shopping streams on each brand’s Facebook Page or by visiting the Shop tab.

So grab the popcorn and your credit card out and let’s tune in!

 

1. New caption opportunities for your Instagram stories. 

Welcome the new caption stickers on Instagram stories! After months of testing, Instagram now provides auto-captions for videos on stories. Social media friends, stay alert as auto-captions won’t be 100% accurate, so you need to check those. The good news is that you can edit the text, color, position, and font to suit your brand.  Instagram has released this new feature in many countries, but if yours is not among those yet – keep calm; it’s coming soon. Oh, and did we mention that the sound-off feature will also be available in Reels soon!   

 

2. TikTok advances with eCommerce testing. 

TikTok is preparing some surprises for you! They’ve been testing eCommerce features that will create a win-win experience to monetize your business. Among the in-stream shopping tools are:  Combining product catalog listings and branded videos in ‘Collection Ads’.  Retargeting users with relevant products via ‘Dynamic Product Ads’.  Customizing sales and promo alerts in the feed ads via “Promo Tiles’.  Enabling creators to promote products in their videos thanks to ‘Showcase Tiles’, etc.  Would you try those cool features? Stay tuned… 

 

3. LinkedIn inspires brands on Effective Ad Targeting.   

Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, you need to check out these stats from LinkedIn. They’ve created an infographic to guide you through the targeting opportunities on the social platform. You can choose criteria like Company and Industry, Job Function and Seniority, Work Experience and Interests, etc. LinkedIn also shares that the ideal audience size for your ad campaigns is between 60,000 and 400,000. Let’s try it out! 

 

4. Clubhouse Finally Launches Android Version.

It’s finally here! Clubhouse has launched an Android version. Be patient, it’s still in beta, but it’s knocking on your door. As explained by Clubhouse:  “We will begin gradually, with the U.S. today, followed by other English-speaking countries and then the rest of the world. Our plan over the next few weeks is to collect feedback from the community, fix any issues we see, and work to add a few final features like payments and club creation before rolling it out more broadly.”  There will be some limitations during the launch, such as the lack of options to follow topics, inability to create or manage clubs, or updating username in-app.   Grab the popcorn! It’s an exciting time to watch what is coming up next with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all adding Clubhouse-like audio social options. 

 

5. Facebook Adds New Messaging Features.   

It’s time for new Messenger candies! Now, you can add a special theme and background to your Facebook chats and freshen up your experience.   On Instagram Direct, you have read receipts that show you whether the person has seen the message. You can also reply to DMs with photos or videos. How cool is that?  To keep your chats organized, Messenger is now giving you the option to swipe to archive.   Finally, there is a new tap-to-record audio feature to give you a hands-free experience. It is also coming up soon in Instagram DMs. 

 

Hungry for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

1. Twitters tests new ‘Super Follow’ and tipping options in the app.

Some of us might be familiar with Super Like (from Tinder, lol, but what does this new ‘Super follow’ button on Twitter mean? Well, my young padawan, Super Follow is how creators on the platform will monetize their presence by providing exclusive content to users who Super follow their profile. The ‘Super Followers’ will then receive a list of perks like supporter badge, access to exclusive content, deals and discounts, among other things, after signing up to tip their creators at $4.99/ month. Why is Twitter introducing these features, you ask? Well, to me, it sounds like an innovative way for Twitter to get their top creators to tweet more often and build reliance on the app by providing these monitory toolkits and incentives. Genius move, Twitter!

 

2. Twitter tests ‘Professional Profiles’ for brands and creators.

Yes, more Twitter news! It looks like brand and creator profiles on the bird app are about to get a makeover with new business features and tools. In Twitter’s own words, “Professional Profiles are a new tool that will allow businesses, non-profits, publishers, and creators – anyone who uses Twitter for work – to display specific information about their business directly on their profile. We’re starting with a small pool of businesses in the U.S. and will give more accounts access to Professional Profiles in the coming months.” The new profile display will include the business category, an about section, and a new business badge type, among other things. Can’t wait to try the new look on our own Twitter handle! 😍

 

3. LinkedIn adds new tools to help users create inclusive and expressive profiles.

LinkedIn just dropped a whole lot of features that every professional should love experimenting with. First on the list is a ‘Cover Story’ feature that enables users to record a short introductory video of themselves. Or, in the case of businesses, an introductory video about their product or service. Profiles with these Cover Stories will now be highlighted in an orange ring that people can click to watch the video. LinkedIn also released a ‘Creator Mode’ feature “to help creators give their take on what’s happening in the news or share insights into a specific industry.” As explained by LinkedIn, “With creator mode, you can add hashtags to indicate what topics you post about the most — for example, #design or #mentorship. It will move your Featured and Activity sections to the top of your Profile to more prominently display your content, and change the “Connect” button to “Follow,” to help you engage your community and build a following.” We can’t wait to try these out! 💘

 

4. New insights from TikTok on how users are engaging around Mother’s Day conversations.

Guess what? According to TikTok, one in four TikTok users is a mother! Now, that’s not what I expected the TikTok demographic to look like these days. Then again, in the earlier news segment, we talked about how more and more older users are engaging on TikTok. Plus, there are more female users than male ones who use the app, so it all kind of makes sense? With Mother’s Day just around the corner, marketers could make use of these TikTok insights. According to those, most moms want a vacation as a gift for Mother’s Day. We hear you, moms! Marketers should also take note that TikTok moms are “more likely to see your content through a phone screen, and they often discover brands through social media.” For more insights, click here to read the report.

 

5. Instagram announces news tools to protect users from abusive DMs.

Instagram once again takes extra measures to provide a safe and positive environment to their users. This week, they announced new features to protect users from abusive DMs and hate speech. As explained by Instagram, “We’ve worked with leading anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations to develop a predefined list of offensive terms that will be filtered from DM requests when the feature is turned on. All DM requests that contain these offensive words, phrases, or emojis will be automatically filtered into a separate hidden requests folder.” We’re so looking forward to this one!

 

Hungry for more social media updates? Scroll on to read the latest industry updates!

1. New insights from TikTok on how older users engage on the platform.

The last place you’d expect your grandparents or aunts and uncles to share videos of them lip-synching to uptown funk would be on TikTok, right? Well, that’s where we are wrong. According to TikTok’s recent findings, an increasing number of older users come to TikTok every single day to share their videos. In the words of TikTok, “Every day, millions of parents, teens, grandparents and in-betweens come to TikTok to share snippets of their day-to-day life. Here’s what’s unique: often, the whole family participates together – even teens don’t shy away. It used to be a challenge getting everyone to sit still for a photo; now we see perfectly choreographed dance routines from the whole family, including grandma.” I wonder what it would take to get my grandma on TikTok…oh wait; TikTok is banned in India! 😊

 

2. LinkedIn adds new job title options to help professionals explain career gaps.

Well, not all of us can use ‘vibing’ as an excuse to explain our career gaps to job recruiters, can we? Some of us would have had family responsibilities or kids along the way to take a break from our career lives. Previously, there was no means to explain such situations on LinkedIn. But thanks to the platform’s latest development, there are now ways to explain your career gaps. As explained by LinkedIn, “To make it easier for moms, and all parents, we’re making some important changes to the Profile. We introduced new job titles, including “stay-at-home mom,” “stay-at-home dad” and “stay-at-home parent” to allow full-time parents and caretakers to more accurately display their roles.” Love this!

 

3. Facebook’s latest project is a video speed dating app called ‘Sparked’.

Well, well, well. Would you look at that? Facebook’s NPE (New Product Experimentation) team is working on a new video speed dating app that doesn’t involve any swiping to find your potential matches. What you would get to do instead is to go on a series of 4-minute video dates to assess the quality of your dates and check for suitability before proceeding further. If all goes well, you can follow that up with a 10-minute video date and then proceed to exchange contact information. Interesting. Considering that I haven’t had any luck with Tinder or Bumble, I really hope this app sparks my dating life. 🙃

 

4. LinkedIn launches a new ads guide.

As marketers, we could always use some additional help from social media platforms to help plan and launch successful campaigns. And with social media ads, it’s always best to use the right tools and resources before going head-on. That’s why LinkedIn has launched a new Ads guide to help marketers find the right ad format and specifications that fit their needs. As explained by LinkedIn, “Our new LinkedIn Ads Guide is a one-stop resource for LinkedIn ad specs, formatting recommendations, and general information. You’ll find all the pertinent details around four different categories of LinkedIn Ads: Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Lead Gen Forms, and Text and Dynamic Ads, as well as the various ad formats available within each.” Click here to get your own copy of the new LinkedIn ads guide.

 

5. Pinterest announces the launch of their new content policy and funding program.

To keep Pinterest a positive and inspiring place, the platform released a new content policy called ‘Creator Code’ that enforces creators to accept the new guidelines before posting content. In addition to that, Pinterest is also launching its first-ever ‘Creator Fund’ to elevate creators from underrepresented communities through financial and educational support. As explained by Pinterest, “The program, currently only available in the United States, was started because we saw a need to uplift Creators and communities that have been disproportionately underrepresented on the platform. For the first cohort, we partnered with Creators from diverse backgrounds, from the worlds of fashion, photography, food, and travel. They went through training, creative strategy consulting, and received a budget for content creation and ad credits.” Way to go, Pinterest!

 

Scroll on to read more social media news from this month!

1. Twitter looks to release their own take on Social Commerce features.

Well, well, well. Looks like another social media network succumbed to making things shoppable on their feed! News around the block is that Twitter is experimenting with social commerce features to allows users to shop in-app without leaving the platform. While Twitter might be late to the party of bringing shoppable features to their platform, it still presents great opportunities for brands looking to boost their sales on Twitter. Watch out for a ‘Shop Now’ CTA on Twitter real soon, people!

 

2. Instagram tests ‘Remix’ option on Reels.

Get ready to spice up your Reels with the new ‘Remix’ option on Instagram! The Remix tool will enable users to create reaction clips to popular Reels, with the original and the reaction video playing side by side. And the best part? Creators can now take some time off from creating their own original content and just participate in viral trends and memes by making these reaction clips. Currently, this feature is being tested on only a small percentage of users. No word on the broader rollout of the feature yet. We’re waiting Instagram!

 

3. Twitter works on an ‘Undo’ option for sent tweets.

While you may never get that pesky edit button to correct those annoying typos on your Tweets, Twitter has confirmed that they are working on an ‘undo’ option for sent Tweets. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s answer to the contentious edit button on the platform has always been the same — treat Tweets the same way you would treat text messages. Once they’re out, you can’t take them back. An ‘undo’ option with just a five-second window to undo your tweets might not precisely be what users wanted, but hey, at least it’s something, right?

 

4. Make way for Instagram Story drafts!

Aaaaah, I love what Instagram has been up to these days! How many times have we found ourselves wanting to finish what we started? BTW, I’m only referring to Stories 👀. For social media managers and anyone who uses the Stories functionality on Instagram, you can now save your Stories as drafts and post them when the time fits. How cool is that?

 

5. Snapchat shares insights on how Snapchatters plan to celebrate the upcoming holidays.

With festivities like Easter, Ramadan, and Passover around the corner, marketers could use all the help they could get to engage their users ahead of these festivities. Besides, the pandemic is still very much present, and that means marketers need to be prepared with the knowledge of how consumers are looking to observe the holidays this year. That’s why Snapchat shared some new insights on how Snapchatters plan to celebrate the upcoming holiday. In the words of Snapchat, “Most Snapchatters plan to spend the same amount of money or more on holiday purchases this year. Specialty foods and drinks are a top purchase for Snapchatters, along with new outfits and gifts for friends or family.” Read the full insights here.

 

Scroll down to read the top social media news from March!

1. Instagram is testing new auto-caption feature in Stories.

THIS. This is what the future looks like! Instagram is testing a new option where users can auto caption their Stories as they speak. This means that you don’t have to stop to type in a caption after recording a video but instead add the “Captions Sticker” to your video clip and let the text type itself out as you speak. What a time-saver, amirite?

 

2. Twitter to host a ‘Best of Tweets’ brand battle.

Over the past few months, Twitter has identified the best brands for their scroll-stopping tweets, and now they will all go head-to-head in Twitter’s ‘Brand Bracket’ aka, the epic battle to crown the best brand on Twitter. As explained by Twitter: “We know the conversational nature of Twitter makes it a place where brands can be their most human-sounding selves. Brands can have two-way conversations with their audience that are real and unfiltered and can’t be replicated anywhere else. With this bracket, we aim to celebrate those that do this the best – as selected by the people of Twitter.” Let the games begin!

 

3. Instagram takes new measures to protect their young members.

In their continuous efforts to protect the youngest members of the Instagram community, Instagram has released a bunch of new features to safeguard teenagers from ill-intentioned adults. One such feature is set to prevent adults from sending messages to people under 18 who don’t follow them back. In the words of Instagram, “When an adult tries to message a teen who doesn’t follow them, they’ll receive a notification that DM’ing them isn’t an option. This feature relies on our work to predict peoples’ ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up.” Moreover, Instagram is also supporting parents with new resources to help their teens have a safe and positive experience on Instagram. Amen to these new features and resources!

 

4. LinkedIn launches a new campaign planning guide.

As things have started to move beyond the pandemic gradually, the time has come for marketers and businesses to explore new opportunities and connect with a wider range of users. This week, LinkedIn released a new campaign planning guide to help marketers map out effective marketing campaigns on the platform. In their 38-page guide, LinkedIn has provided a range of worksheets and templates to help businesses build ad campaigns around clear central objectives. The guide also comes with recommended ad specs along with links to resources with best practices and specialized tips for each product. Nice! Oh, and speaking of ad specs and image sizes, we got a handy guide on that topic too. And it comes with free PSD templates and cheat sheets, just saying.

 

5. Twitter is testing full-image display in tweet timelines.

Looks like things are about to get bigger and better, well, at least, for Twitter images. Twitter is testing a new look to give users a full-image display when users tweet a single image. As explained by Twitter, “People in the test will see that most Tweets with a single image in standard aspect ratio will appear uncropped when posted. People will see exactly what the image will look like in the composer tool before it’s posted. Very wide or tall images will be center cropped.” I hope this doesn’t make my TL look like an Instagram feed.

 

Scroll on to read more social media news from this month!

1. Twitter releases new visual elements for Fleets.

I’ve always felt Twitter Fleets lacked visual elements like stickers and emojis to jazz up the Fleets content. But guess what? Twitter has finally decided to do something about it. Say hello to Twitter stickers and ‘Twemojis’ which you can now add to your Fleets. Currently, this feature is available only for iOS users in Japan. No word on the broader roll-out of the feature yet. What a bummer for non-Japanese Twitter users!

 

2. Facebook releases new features for International Women’s Day.

My favorite month of the year is here, and along comes some new features from Facebook to celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. One of the biggest and much-awaited features released by Facebook is the expansion of participants in Instagram Live. Users can now go live on Instagram with up to three other people using Live Rooms’ launch. Apart from the IG live feature, Facebook has also released a new, custom sticker so you can celebrate the women in your life. Love this! 

 

3. Facebook launches a new rap music tool called BARS.

Facebook’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team has launched a new rap music tool focused on empowering rappers to create and share their art. In the words of Facebook, “Audio production tools can be complicated, expensive and difficult to use. With BARS, you can select one of our professionally created beats, write lyrics and record yourself dropping bars. BARS auto-suggests rhymes as you’re writing to keep your flow going. You can also jump into Challenge mode and freestyle with auto-suggested word cues. Choose from a variety of audio and visual filters to take your creations to the next level.” Facebook also added that BARS makes it easy to create and share raps, so rappers can focus on and experiment with the content rather than investing heavily in equipment and production.

 

4. LinkedIn announces new Company Page updates for Businesses.

LinkedIn is adding new tools for Company Pages to strengthen professional communities and foster communication with employees and customers. Some features include Lead Gen Forms to Product Pages, “Swipe Up” feature for LinkedIn Stories, a new ‘My Company’ tab on LinkedIn company pages, and much more. As explained by LinkedIn, “Page admins can now curate organic content through a new “Recommend” tool and suggest trending articles for employees to reshare through “Content Suggestions”. We’ve also added a new Analytics feature that allows you to measure the reach and impact of your employee advocacy program.” Nice!

 

5. TikTok launches their self-serve ad platform in Canada.

The TikTok self-serve ad platform is now available to all businesses in Canada. The platform saw its first global launch in July last year but was made available only to a few Canadian businesses. Today, the expansion of the feature to all businesses in Canada will facilitate new avenues for promotions across the rising network. As TikTok says, “Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of TikTok For Business in Canada. We’re launching new advertising solutions for SMBs making it seamless, easy, and efficient for brands to meaningfully connect with the TikTok community. In Canada, with the introduction of self-serve advertising tools and the availability of TikTok’s new Shopify channel, we’re continuing our support to advertisers at each step of the campaign creation process.”

 

Scroll down to read the top social media news from February!

1. Facebook blocks Australia from sharing and viewing local and international news content.

In a dramatic turn of events, Facebook has blocked Australia from sharing and viewing local and international news in response to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law. Facebook Pages of major news outlets are facing blockage from sharing and posting any content on Facebook. As explained by Facebook, “The [Australian Government’s] proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content. It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.” This is HUGE!

 

2. TikTok launches a new education portal for sellers.

TikTok is once again making innovative moves in the e-commerce space by launching an ‘education portal’ for sellers called TikTok Shop: Seller University. TikTok describes the new education platform as “a training hub to help you do business on TikTok. We offer a full suite of lessons on seller tools, policies and the latest updates to the shop. Start to learn and sell big!”. Moreover, TikTok also has an Affiliate program that will enable sellers to collaborate with TikTok creators to promote their products. In the words of TikTok, “If you choose to sell through Affiliate, you can upload your products to the Seller Center, set your promotion plans, and collaborate with TikTok influencers to promote your products.”

 

3. Shopify expands their offerings to Facebook and Instagram.

Now, this is some good news for Shopify users! Shopify’s Shop Pay, a fast and secure payment system, now integrates with Facebook and Instagram to allow users to make payments when buying within Facebook and Instagram Shops. As explained by Shopify, “We’re expanding Shop Pay – the fastest and most secure way to shop online – to all Shopify merchants selling on Facebook and Instagram. With Shop Pay now available as a fast and secure payment option on Facebook, people also get access to industry-leading order tracking and carbon offsets from their deliveries.” Seriously, this is a significant advancement for not only Facebook’s, but Shopify’s e-commerce growth too!

 

4. LinkedIn shares tips on how to create engaging B2B content.

How to create thumb-stopping content on LinkedIn, you ask? Well, who better to give you an answer than LinkedIn themselves? LinkedIn have released a handy guide that tells you everything you need to know about creating disruptive, interactive, and inspiring content. According to LinkedIn, there’s more competition for eyeballs now than ever before, and for brands to truly succeed, you should take creative risks to get noticed. Take a look at the complete guide here; it’s definitely worth a glance.

 

5. Google Photos gets new video editing features.

This news is for anyone who loves to enhance their videos but hates After Effects…Google photos is now complete with cutting-edge video editing features! As per Google, “There are now more than 30 controls, but a good place to start is with cropping and straightening the frame to focus more on the subject. And if the scene is poorly exposed, you can adjust the brightness to make your video shine.” Some of the features include new cropping options, filters, and enhanced video elements like brightness and contrast.

 

Scroll on to read more social media news from this month!

1. Instagram is experimenting with removing the option to add feed posts to stories.

In what seems like an effort to improve the Stories experience and maximize engagement, Instagram is testing a new option that might stop people from resharing feed posts to their Stories. In the words of Instagram, “We’ve seen from research that people prefer to see original photos and videos in Stories from the people they care about. The goal of our test is to better understand how people feel about this type of content and ultimately improve the Stories experience.” I guess what Instagram is ultimately trying to do is nudge people into creating specific content for each functionality. Then again, this is just a test that’s being carried out in select regions and Instagram hasn’t said anything about a larger rollout of this test yet.

 

2. Facebook launches ‘Facebook News’ in the UK.

If you, like me, is someone who gets their daily dose of world news via social media, then this should be of great interest to you. After their successful launch in the US last year, Facebook has now officially launched Facebook News in the UK too. Users in the UK can now see the top headlines of the day along with a curated and personalized feed of news from Facebook-approved sources. Users also have the option to control what they see on their feed by taking the action to remove any stories or sources they don’t wish to see again. Hey Facebook? When can we have Facebook news in India? Asking for a friend.

 

3. Instagram launches a ‘Professional Dashboard’ for creators.

Good news for Instagram creators who are looking for guidance on performance insights and ways to monetize their platform presence. Instagram released a ‘Professional Dashboard’ for just that, and more! As explained by the ‘gram, “As part of our ongoing effort to give creators and businesses the tools they need, we are launching Professional Dashboard, a central destination to track performance, access and discover professional tools, and explore educational information curated by Instagram.” With this new dashboard, you can track your performance, get quick access to tools and features to help grow your business, and stay informed of the latest developments via educational resources. Love this!

 

4. Snapchat is testing dark mode with select users.

Ah, been a while since we came across the news of yet another SoMe app trying the dark mode look, haven’t we? Snapchat might be late to the party, but the app has finally confirmed that they are testing the dark mode look with a small percentage of users. There’s no news of the broader rollout yet as it is still in the live test phase, but it won’t be long before everyone gets a taste of Snapchat’s dark mode look.

 

5. TikTok rolls out a new education platform for creators.

Almost every social media platform is keen on educating their creators to help them make the most out of their in-app presence. And the latest app to jump in on that is the popular video-sharing social network TikTok. In the words of TikTok, “With the different tools, analytics, effects, and creative ideas to balance on a TikTok account, making a strategy for creating content can be daunting. That’s why we’re excited to launch the TikTok Creator Portal, an online hub on TikTok.com filled with educational resources for creators to learn the basics of getting started on TikTok, connecting with their audience, and cultivating best practices to bring their videos to the next level.” Some key elements of the education platform include a getting started guide to TikTok, content creation strategy, camera tricks and tips, and more.

 

Scroll down to read the top social media news from January!

1. WhatsApp delays their new privacy policy update.

After many users raised concerns over WhatsApp’s new terms and privacy policy, the company has decided to delay the update to address their users’ concerns. From the time when WhatsApp’s in-app alert stating their new privacy terms popped up, concerns were raised over WhatsApp’s decision to “partner with Facebook to offer integrations across the Facebook Company products”. This led to many people thinking that Facebook would now have access to their private WhatsApp conversations and chats, which isn’t really the case. The new update applies only when users are messaging with businesses on WhatsApp, not personal conversations. To clarify the new data-sharing update, Facebook has announced a three-month delay in enforcing WhatsApp’s terms and privacy policy.

 

2. Twitter shares their 2021 Twitter Planner.

Wondering how to ace your Twitter game in 2021? Twitter has got you covered. Last week, Twitter shared their 2021 Twitter planning guide to help marketers make 2021 their best year yet on Twitter. In the words of Twitter, “We’ve compiled some of our best Twitter tips and tools into our 2021 Twitter Planner to help you get ready for the year ahead. Use this planner as a tool to brainstorm and plan your marketing campaigns for 2021.” This handy guide also includes a month of Tweet themes to inspire new content.

 

3. YouTube announces their first #YouTubeBlack Voices participants.

The #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund is the company’s global, multi-year commitment to center and grow Black creators and artists on their platform. This initiative was launched back in June 2020 in the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Last week, YouTube shared some interesting updates on their new initiative. As per YouTube, “After many months of collaboration, we’re shining a spotlight on the #YouTubeBlack Voices Class of 2021 – a group of 132 creators and artists whose talents are as diverse as their hometowns. Hailing from the United States, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, and Nigeria, this incredible group includes musicians, beauty entrepreneurs, comedians, activists, poets, personal trainers, teachers, parents, photographers, and more.” This initiative will also equip and amplify the Black creators and artists with the resources to succeed on YouTube. We’re so in love with this!

 

4. Facebook to remove the “Our Story” section from Pages.

To the social media managers reading this, look forward to making some tweaks to your company’s Facebook Page. Facebook has announced the removal of the “Our Story” section from Pages for better Page presentation. The “Our Story” section was added back in 2017 to help businesses give some background on why they do what they do. Going forward, this information can only be viewed by users through an “Additional Information” prompt that appears on the page.

 

5. LinkedIn launches a new education platform for marketers.

Ding, ding, ding! We got some interesting news from LinkedIn. The professional social network has announced a new education platform by the name of LinkedIn Marketing Labs. This education platform will focus on helping marketers with LinkedIn marketing tools, courses, and guides to using LinkedIn’s ad targeting, and more. As explained by LinkedIn, “With LinkedIn Marketing Labs, you can access a host of curated courses to learn about how to best utilize the LinkedIn marketing tools available to reach and engage with professionals. If you want to learn more about strategies to drive business where business is done, LinkedIn Marketing Labs is the place for you.” Visit the LinkedIn Marketing Labs hub for more details.

 

Scroll on to read more social media news from this month!

1. Twitter is testing their new audio-only virtual room feature.

New year, new feature! Say hello to Spaces, Twitter’s new feature that allows users to create audio-only virtual meeting rooms. As explained by Twitter, “The human voice can bring a layer of connectivity to Twitter through emotion, nuance, and empathy often lost in text. We see this with voice tweets and voice DMs. Sometimes 280 isn’t enough, and voice gives people another way to join the conversation.” Spaces lets users create meeting rooms and allow their followers to listen and participate in the user’s audio meetups. A purple icon will also appear in a user’s Fleets bubble to highlight when audio meetups are in progress. It’s interesting. What do you think of this new feature? Yay or nay?

 

2. Pinterest shares marketing guides on ‘Pin marketing’ for restaurants and streaming services.

For restaurants and streaming services that are looking to ace their Pinterest game this year, here’s a little something for you from Pinterest to help kickstart your Pin marketing efforts. Pinterest has launched two new guides on Pinterest marketing with a special focus on restaurants and streaming services. The two guides are packed with insights on audience trends and usage data to help business with campaign planning and overall pin marketing goals in 2021.

 

3. TikTok launches resource center for small business marketers.

Here’s a piece of TikTok-related news that doesn’t start with the word “ban”. TikTok released a new resource center that contains a gold mine of insights and resources for small businesses that want to grow on this short-form video app. In TikTok’s own words, “From success stories to creative tools and free webinars, it has everything you need to grow your small business on our platform.” So, if you’re a small business looking for some creative tools, webinars, and case studies on how to drive the best results for your business, check out the resource center here.

 

4. Google adds short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram to search results.

Now, this is interesting news and could even potentially nudge more businesses to create short-form video content in 2021. Google is testing what seems to be a more profound way of delivering answers for selected queries. Users from a select region can now see a carousel of related short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram for selected search queries on Google. Once you click on the video link you will be directed to the web version of the app and not the native mobile app, even if the app is installed on your device. This is massive!

 

5. Snapchat takes a stab at the “next normal”.

Please can we just stick to a normal “normal”? We all recognize the new normal of the past year. Now, as we head into a new year with high hopes for recovery (and vaccines), it’s time to look into what the next normal is going to be like for businesses. At least, that’s what Snapchat thinks we should all do. As per Snapchat, “From vertical video to AR Lenses, the trends being driven now by the Snapchat Generation will define the “next normal” in digital and e-commerce. We share the key insights from the UK that Snapchat has spotted into these generations’ habits in 2020, as well as predictions for what the future holds.” You can check out the full report here.

 

Scroll down to read the top social media news from the last year!

1. TikTok’s looking to extend their video length to 3 minutes.

Do you think 15 seconds is too little to show off your talents on TikTok? Worry no more as TikTok is rolling out the ability to upload videos of up to 3 minutes, a huge increase from their current time limit of 60 seconds (stringing four 15-second segments together). This rollout is yet to come for most of us as the app has currently given early access to only a few users. While short 15-second clips are super quick and easy to consume, the longer videos can also get great results in the form of tutorials, how-to-guides, and expanded promos, among other things.

 

2. LinkedIn’s ‘Sales Insights’ is set to show more market data.

What better way to make use of a vast professional database than to help businesses understand trends, key business opportunities, potential contacts, market data, and so much more? This is where LinkedIn’s ‘Sales Insights‘ tool comes in. According to LinkedIn; “Sales Insights gives you clear visibility into the size and fast-growing nature of specific departments, functions, and accounts so that you can accurately plan your sales strategy in order to point your sales teams to the right accounts and drive more revenue.” Sales Insights will also provide a real-time overview of business data to identify opportunities and boost your efforts.

 

3. Instagram to allow up to three guests on Instagram Live for Indian users.

Good news for those of you that want to invite more than one guest to their Instagram Live, because Instagram now lets users go live with three people at a time! Instagram Live views have grown by over 60% in India throughout 2020, so it makes sense why Instagram made the push in India first. By inviting more people to IG live, creators get a big opportunity here to expand their reach and engagement. We can’t wait for the broader rollout of this feature!

 

4. Twitter shares top twitter campaigns from 2020.

As we’re inching towards the end of 2020 (thank God!) now is the time to look back on some of the top Twitter campaigns from this year. Navigating social media in 2020 was no easy feat, but a lot of brands managed to tweak their strategies and deliverer innovative (and COVID-19 driven) campaigns. Brands like Uber, Airbnb, and Ben & Jerry’s made it to the list of top 10 Twitter campaigns this year. See the full list here.

 

5. Facebook is all set to combat COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

With the news of COVID-19 vaccines coming out soon, Facebook announced new measures to eliminate vaccine misinformation to keep people safe and informed about COVID-19. As explained by Facebook; “Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health.” The false claims include but are not limited to the safety, efficacy, ingredients, or side effects of the vaccines.

 

What were the top social media news in November? Scroll to find more of the latest updates.

1. Snapchat launches a TikTok-like function called Spotlight.

Surprise, surprise. Another TikTok-like functionality enters the social media realm — this time, by the name of Spotlight. Snapchat has introduced a new option in the app to create short video clips that lets users (both public and private accounts) create and submit their videos directly to the ‘Spotlight feed’. Snapchat also added that the best video clips stand a chance to earn a share of more than $1 million that they’re distributing to creators every day! And if you’re not too keen on creating short video clips, you can always just sit back and watch the ones that appear on the Spotlight feed.

 

2. Facebook announces new fundraising tools as part of their ‘Season of Giving’ initiative.

‘Tis the season of giving back and Facebook has introduced some new fundraising and community tools to kick off their ‘season of giving’ initiative. As explained by Facebook; “The holiday season is a time when many of us think about how we can give something back. Today, we’re kicking off our Season of Giving campaign to encourage people to give however they can. Next week on GivingTuesday — a day when people all over the world come together to support great causes — we will match up to $7 million in eligible donations to US nonprofits made on Facebook.” Facebook also added that 100% of what’s being raised for nonprofits on Facebook and Instagram will go directly to the organizations and that all donations will be securely processed via Facebook Pay.

 

3. TikTok launches a holiday tool kit for SMBs.

TikTok shares holiday hacks and webinars to help SMBs tap into the growth potential of the platform this holiday season. According to TikTok, 47% of users made a purchase decision based on what they saw in TikTok content. And a whopping 80% of Gen Z TikTokers have influenced their parents’ purchases. Keeping this in mind, TikTok encourages SMBs to consider using the platform to connect with the 75% of consumers planning to support small businesses this year. The webinars will focus on how to set up campaigns and other best practices for SMBs from TikTok’s top strategists and executives.

 

4.YouTube introduces audio ads.

To reach new users tuning into an audio-only platform like YouTube Music, YouTube has introduced audio ads to connect brands with audiences engaged in non-video consumption. In YouTube’s own words, “To help you tailor your media and creative approach to the different ways consumers are engaging with YouTube, we’re introducing audio ads, our first ad format designed to connect your brand with audiences in engaged and ambient listening on YouTube. Audio ads, currently in beta, help you efficiently expand reach and grow brand awareness with audio-based creative and the same measurement, audience, and brand safety features as your video campaigns.” Another brilliant opportunity for brands to advertise to their target audience!

 

5. Twitter slows down the rollout of Fleets to fix some performance and stability problems.

It looks like Twitter underestimated the surge in users after expanding the rollout of Fleets to all users. As more and more people started using the latest Story-like function, users took to Twitter to report the lag in using the function leading to a clumsy user experience. That’s why Twitter announced that they would slow down the rollout of Fleets to fix performance and stability problems. Since ephemeral content has become a full-fledged engagement powerhouse across multiple platforms, it’s a good thing that Twitter is taking some time out to fix their problems before expanding the feature to all users.

 

Scroll on to read more social media news from this month!

1.Twitter’s November events calendar is here.

As much as we would all like to be done with 2020, we’ve still got a few seasonal celebrations and holidays ahead of us before we move into (what will hopefully be) a more promising new year. So, for those who are scrambling for ideas to tweet about this month, Twitter comes to your aid. There’s still a good chunk of November left before December rolls in, so Twitter released an overview filled with fun seasonal celebrations that brands can tweet about. Twitter also shared some techniques for how brands can craft the perfect Tweets around these holidays. If you need more, you should download the 2020 Twitter marketing calendar.

 

2. Facebook shares ad copy tips for creating strong brand awareness.

Writing ad copy descriptions that are just under 70 characters is (as you know) not as easy as it sounds. That’s why Facebook shared five tips to help you up your game. Facebook says that brands should look to personifying their brand and give it a unique voice to stand out. Facebook also suggests adding value propositions to ads that feature your products, explaining why consumers should use them, what makes them unique from others, and what benefit they’ll get. Read the full list of tips here.

 

3. WhatsApp just made storage management a lot easier.

Are all those GIFs and forwards that get dumped on your family WhatsApp group taking up too much in-app space? Worry no more as WhatsApp has rolled out an improved version of itstheir storage management functionality. This new update gives you a visual overview of how much of your in-app space has been used and what you must delete to make more room. You can also see the files that have been forwarded many times and the ones that are larger than 5 MB, making it easier to spot the files that are eating up all the space.

 

4. Snapchat introduces ‘Snap Connect’ learning modules for marketers.

To help marketers build more impactful campaigns and drive better results with mobile gaming, apps, and e-commerce, Snapchat launches a video-based certification program called ‘Snap Connect’. As explained by Snapchat, “For the first time, our very own subject-matter experts bring you inside the world of Snapchat to show you how to take your direct-response advertising to the next level. Each specialized Snap Connect certification offers fresh insights, product solutions, creative best practices, and client success stories—all tailored to your industry and region.” No time like the present for a specialized learning experience!

 

5. New ‘disappearing messages’ functionality arrives in WhatsApp.

Looks like it’s not just stories that have the disappearing functionality anymore. In what appears to be a move to help people have more private conversations and not allow all messages to be everlasting, WhatsApp has rolled out a ‘disappearing messages’ feature which will see messages self-erase after seven days. In WhatsApp’s own words: “When disappearing messages is turned on, new messages sent to a chat will disappear after 7 days, helping the conversation feel lighter and more private. In a one-to-one chat, either person can turn disappearing messages on or off. In groups, admins will have the control.” Guess I don’t have to worry about sending risky texts anymore!

 

What were the top social media news in October? Scroll to find more of the latest updates

1.Facebook Dating arrives in Europe.