Grab a hot drink and settle into what is going to be a long round-up of social media news. Social media platforms have been under more scrutiny than ever and there have been updates after updates. But don’t worry we’ve got your back; we’ve rounded up the top updates from the month and brought them together for easy reading! Here’s a roundup of everything that happened last month!
We’re starting with a platform on everyone’s lips, TikTok and it’s in crisis!
In our December round-up we talked about the possibility of TikTok ceasing operations in the United States, and on the 19th January TikTok went dark for US users. Despite that, it was back online some 12 hours later, following a 75-day extension by Donald Trump.
Don’t worry, the ban in the US isn’t affecting UK users, and our government has said there are no plans of banning the platform. But… it’s worth making sure that you’re repurposing content to other platforms… just in case!
Meta has been a major topic of discussion too, with some big social media news revealed earlier in the month. The biggest and most important of those being the replacement of independent fact-checkers with community notes on all of Meta’s platforms. Although this is currently limited to US platforms, it’s important to stay aware of the potential spread of misinformation beyond America.
We hope that any misinformation will be mitigated when the Online Safety Act comes into force across the UK this year. If you’re unsure what the Online Safety Act will actually do, it’s going to require tech companies to demonstrate that they are removing illegal content… and that includes any Government-backed misinformation.
Let’s get platform-specific now…
Following on from the concerning announcements around fact checking, users are beginning to leave Facebook. While this isn’t quite in the same numbers that left X back in November… it’s still having an impact. Users are increasingly leaving Meta over concerns about its management and direction, particularly following Donald Trump’s election.
Next, Facebook is testing a new feature where you’ll be able to add a no-edit tag. This crucial update lets users indicate when raw images are used—a welcome change, especially as AI-generated images are now being clearly tagged.
There have been some pretty huge changes on Instagram this month. And we’re starting with a biggie!
You may have noticed that the post sizes have changed! IG has moved away from the original square format (a 1:1 ratio) to a vertical format (a 4:5 ratio). Sadly, for all the aesthetic grid lovers out there… your carefully curated layout is about to change!
Going forward the recommended size when uploading a photo is 1080px X 1350px.
We’ve already touched on another big change – the removal of fact-checking , but here are some other smaller, but still impactful, updates:
As we all strive for more views—especially on organic content—Instagram head Adam Mosseri has revealed the top three ranking signals for Reels. These signals are:
So, if you’re looking to forge a connection with your current audience you should be aiming to get more likes. If you want to reach new people, then your content should focus on gaining more shares (sends).
Earlier this month, Meta announced it would be testing ads on Threads. Advertisers will be able to use Meta’s proven ad system and extend existing ads onto other platforms. It’s worth noting that this is only available in the US and Japan right now, but we’re sure it will move to other regions quickly. If you’re struggling with Meta Ads, and the thought of adding another platform is making it even more complicated… we’ve got you covered.
As Threads continues to compete with X and BlueSky, there have been plenty of other pieces of social media news that are worth mentioning.
We did say it was a jam-packed round-up this month!! So, let’s take a small breather with Pinterest, which have a couple of cool updates worth mentioning:
With many more users continuing to leave the platform (including us), a recent report released by X itself confirms the huge drop off in usage throughout 2024.
X also announced that there would be an algorithm change which is focused on pushing entertainment content. This is another unsurprising update, especially after Meta revealed that fun, entertaining content kept people on their platforms for longer… So, why wouldn’t X want that too!
The platform is also said to be considering the removal of time stamps. This doesn’t sound like much, but from a user experience point of view it could make it harder to navigate content on the main feed and spot what’s happening now Vs something that happened a month ago.
Stepping over to BlueSky and the tidal wave of growth is finally slowing down, with website and app visits up by only 9.6% in January.
The app is also becoming the centre of the growing campaign ‘Free our Feeds’ which aims to ensure that digital spaces aren’t in the grasp of individuals like Elon Musk.
Here are a couple of other noteworthy updates:
Onto our penultimate platform now! And in more social media news LinkedIn is facing a lawsuit from US LinkedIn Premium Members. The accusers say LinkedIn used private messages to train their AI last year and hid their tracks through a change in their privacy policy (updated last September).
LinkedIn has also realised a new campaign highlighting its advanced ad targeting tools. This campaign demonstrates its advanced AI audience reach tools, by showcasing how not to target ads!
The platform is also looking at ways to regularly review Top Voices. In case you’d forgotten, Top Voices was all the rage over the summer, with users demonstrating their expertise by commenting on articles. We’ve already noticed to drop-off in users appearing in our feeds with their contributions, so a refresh is needed.
Last but not least is Snapchat! With a potential TikTok ban imminent Snapchat has launched a campaign targeting TikTok users. While the campaign is only in the US (as they’re the only ones affected by the ban), Snapchat is going all in to get users to switch platforms and create content there.
This month’s social media news has been A LOT! And, as platforms continue to rise and fall in popularity, we’ll have more updates to bring you next time!
If any of these updates have given you food for thought on what and how you could be improving… Why not conduct a marketing audit so you can realign your activities with your goals.
We’ll see you next month with another update, until then… Stay Social!
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