Trick or Treat, no more fleets! We are reaching the end of October, and surely you know what that means? Now that you’ve dealt with the pirates, demons, witches, and ghouls, we have the latest batch of not-so-spooky social media updates for you all.
We’re starting the blog with social media updates from Facebook, who have introduced an expansion to its Audio Rooms. All verified Public Figures and Content Creators will be able to host live audio rooms. The new expansion will allow for more people to tune in. It’s worth noting that audio rooms are still only hostable by those verified users – for now.
Facebook is also looking into cross-posting on Instagram and Facebook Feeds. Having already introduced posting Instagram Stories and Reels onto Facebook’s Stories, individual posts will be able to go on both platforms’ feeds simultaneously. We love this update, the downside… we have to wait until it launches!
We’re diving into Instagram now, and starting with some updates regarding Reels!
First of all; Stories are going to be longer. It looks like Instagram are trying to find ways to encourage even more video integration. This could mean that a full Reels clip could be played on our stories soon.
Time’s up for the IGTV brand as Instagram will be abandoning the brand name and combining the IGTV long-form videos with the short-form Instagram Feed videos and creating Instagram Video. This is another push from Instagram to compete with TikTok and YouTube.
Moving away from Reels and Stories and onto live streaming. Instagram has added a live stream scheduling feature. It hopes that through this feature, more users will be aware of when a live stream will take place and that will help get those viewing figures up!
Lastly for Instagram, they have finally introduced desktop uploads. This means you can post a photo or short video to your feed through the computer, instead of needing to grab your phone. It’s worth noting that you can’t post Stories or Reels through Desktop at the moment.
Now for Clubhouse, where they’ve been working on external sharing. Following the beta release of its ‘Clips’ feature, users now have the ability to share short clips from audio rooms. QR codes have also been introduced to help share Audio Rooms and increase engagement.
Moving onto Pinterest, and while it’s been a little quiet the update we have is a goodie!
A lot of social media sites are introducing short videos to rival TikTok –and Pinterest is the latest. Pinterest has introduced the “Watch” tab, this tab contains Idea Pin Content, and highlights specific ones that are tailored to a user’s preferences.
By adding the new Watch tab Pinterest is hoping to increase the number of users who are staying on the platform to view video content like Idea Pins. This is a slight change from their purpose of taking users away from the platform once they’ve found a pin that piques their interest!
Our last batch of updates come from Twitter who, as always, seem to have been considerably busy!
Spaces is now available for all! Originally, users had to have a minimum of 600 followers to host an audio room – but now anyone can host, which is much more inclusive!
Not only that but Ticketed Spaces has finally been launched on Android. While it is available to iOS users since August this feature is still only available in the USA.
Despite that, ticketed spaces will be a good way for hosts to earn money for their audible broadcasts. To help with discoverability, Twitter has also introduced a separate tab for Spaces too.
It isn’t just through Ticketed Spaces that audio creators are being supported. Twitter has recently launched the ‘Sparks’ program. This is an initiative to locate and reward some of the higher end Spaces, such as those who share content frequently. The Sparks Program will help creators financially, technically and with support with marketing.
Twitter has been looking to bolster its “Communities Page” by buying the Chat App ‘Sphere.’
In case you missed it, Communities is Twitter’s answer to Facebook Groups, to build topic-led engagement. Users will be able to use Communities to find content that is relevant and interesting to them.
Twitter is also looking to enhance its subscription service, Twitter Blue. This will be through new features that come with purchasing the service, including getting a 30-second leeway to undo a sent tweet and priority in getting technical support from Twitter.
Our last update for the month comes in the form of another new service! Twitter for Professionals is here and available for Businesses and Creators. We’ll be switching our own account over shortly!
Each of these social platforms are working hard to develop the best site for you. What are your thoughts on this month’s social media updates? Let us know over on Instagram!
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