Happy Lunar New Year! If you were feeling the New Year spirit, you may have seen that Facebook Messenger launched some new features to help with the celebrations! These updates to social media included themed stickers and nifty AR tools! We’re looking forward to playing around with these!
So, what else has been going on in the social media realm this month?
The LinkedIn Lite App is being retired, with the continued evolution of the main app; LinkedIn Lite has become more, and more overshadowed. The app has already been removed from app stores and will be fully deactivated in March. Not to worry though as LinkedIn Lite App users will be transitioned over to the main app automatically.
LinkedIn aren’t just taking things away! They have added a video trimmer tool to their web application. This quite simply means that users will be able to cut their videos from wherever they want. Adding more editing and customisability to posts should help make LinkedIn even more attractive to newer users.
Users have also been given an update on LinkedIn’s investigation of fake accounts and scams! Through their Transparency Report (Covering January – June 2021,) it’s been shared that the platform has stopped a whopping eleven million fake accounts at the registration stage, and the level of spam and scam activity has dropped by over twenty million!
Microsoft Teams has linked up with LinkedIn! (Get it? Linked, LinkedIn, *tumbleweed flies by*) …anyway, Team’s Roadmap is set to insert a LinkedIn tab when in a 1:1 meeting. The tab would serve as a direct link (sorry) to the other person’s profile. This is bound to be a great boon for business owners, as they’ll be able to confirm that they’re talking to the right person, as well as using it to help with interviews by employers being able to cross-check the interviewee’s CV if they choose.
Twitter has introduced the Communities tab to their android apps! Introduced around five months ago, Communities was made for users to find groups of people who share common interests – similar to Facebook Groups or Reddit’s Subreddits!
They will also be introducing a new feature in Flocks. The way flocks will work is akin to an audience control option, much like Instagram’s Close Friends feature, where users can create a group of other users who can view certain tweets. A user’s ‘flock’ can go up to as many as 150 people! Members of the flock will know a tweet is meant for them as it will come with a message stating that they are a part of the author’s flock. This idea was initially conceived last July but was called ‘Trusted Friends’ back then.
This new DM option will be an icon attached to tweets which will provide a quicker method to starting a direct conversation with another user. Funnily enough, this feature was originally tested all the way back in 2016! (Yikes, that was six years ago…)
This next update to social media could have interesting implications for the network’s formula, as Twitter are currently considering launching long-form tweets! Otherwise referred to as the ‘Articles’ feature, this will let users create, well, articles! It’s intriguing, to say the least, what direction Twitter could take with Articles should they decide to go forth with it. On one hand it could function similarly to LinkedIn’s articles which is a tab separated from regular posts, and on the other hand; it could mean Twitter will scrap the character limit on tweets and let users write as much as they want. Although, Twitter without a character limit just sounds weird – don’t you think?
Meta:
Meta isn’t missing out on the roundup this month! They have launched an improvement to their 3D Avatars, the improvements include more refined features and expanded customisability. Meta is also looking to incorporate Avatars onto Instagram soon. What do you think of Meta’s Avatars? Will you be creating one?
Messenger is getting updated with privacy on the mind! With the messaging service set to join WhatsApp in becoming end-to-end encrypted (though this will be an option you have to manually toggle on/off.) And in a similar vein to Snapchat, Messenger will now alert users when a disappearing message has been screenshotted.
Some great updates from TikTok for your Marketing departments! The first in the form of TikTok Tactics, which is a new online course for marketers to gain more insight into better promoting themselves on the app.
The second of these updates is shown through TikTok’s Instant Page Shopping Display, which means that users can view a brand’s products on TikTok’s shopping page – without leaving the app! This will help shoppers save time online and help brands with direct sales conversions!
From updates to resurrections as TikTok are considering bringing back profile views. Meaning, users are able to see who has viewed their profile. Other than creating a bigger connection list, we aren’t entirely certain of what the purpose is. We’ll be sure to inform you if we find out any new information!
The range of content from TikTok looks to be getting broader, with the confirmation that they are experimenting with their own version of Stories, specifically – they’re working on trying to insert Stories into the main ‘For You’ and ‘Following’ feeds. It is still early in the testing period, so this may change by the next round-up!
TikTok is going to enforce banning certain content… The latest patch to the Community Guidelines will look to police a lot of the issues that the video-sharing platform has come under fire for in the past. Such content includes the promotion of eating disorders, misogyny, misgendering/deadnaming, and conversion therapy. It’s good to see TikTok taking a step in the right direction with protecting its users while online.
The last update from TikTok comes in the form of a whole array of new features! These features will include Avatars based on your selfies, Audio-only live streams, and even group chats! We sure don’t see any signs of TikTok slowing down with their updates to social media!
Our final stop in this month’s round-up will be Instagram, and we start with Instagram determined to reduce the spread harmful content. Instagram will be taking an initiative-taking approach by limiting the reach of any posts it deems to contain a violation of its rules. This includes any relating to, bullying, hate, or misinformation.
Increasing engagement must have been on Instagram’s mind with these next two updates to social media! They’re now expanding their video remix option to all videos (rather than being exclusive to Reels,) and they are also increasing the number of options in Stories Polls. Having more ways to get engagement will be an absolute win for social media managers!
There are even more updates for Instagram Stories with the introduction of Stories Likes. This simple feature will aid engagement by adding a small heart-shaped icon! Plus, this won’t send a DM to the Story Poster, so like away!
And finally, Instagram are adding a new display for scheduled live streams. This will be an asset for increasing the discoverability for upcoming streams, as it’ll be useful to both the host and anyone who would want to watch.
Wow, now that was a lot of updates to social media! (Think we’re going to need a lie down after this!) Which of these updates stood out to you the most? Make sure to tell us over on Twitter! We’ll be back next month for the March Round-Up… we’re wondering what kind of updates we’ll see!
Be sure to follow our Instagram for more updates and our Twitter for the latest news.
That’s all for now, ’til next time!
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