Social media updates from June 2024
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Posted: Fri 5th Jul 2024
The digital landscape is regularly changing and the need to stay ahead of the curve is increasingly important. Join us as we run through the exciting social media platform updates that have shaped the landscape this month.
Welcome to our latest roundup of social media news, where we’re bringing you the freshest updates from across the internet! We hope these insights help you stay ahead of the curve and enhance your digital strategies. Let’s jump in!
We’re starting with LinkedIn which is stepping up its game for B2B marketers by introducing new advertising features. The new features include video ads, AI-powered optimisation and seamless design tools.
Next up, LinkedIn is officially rolling out its new Premium Company Pages. Subscribers can now enjoy new tools and enhancements, which include custom CTA buttons! Other tools include being able to auto-invite users to like your page, testimonial displays and access to an AI writing assistant.
Finally, LinkedIn rolled out new updates for its e-newsletters. The display layout for LinkedIn’s newsletters has been refreshed and comments have been relocated to the right side of the main screen, allowing newsletters to occupy more prominent screen space.
Instagram caused a stir last week by posting a video saying that asking for engagement could reduce your post’s reach. Instagram has since clarified its stance, offering detailed insights about how this might impact post-performance.
Spoiler alert! If you're asking people to comment with a specific word or emoji, your content might not be pushed out!
Next, Instagram is experimenting with new features for its Carousel posts. Users can now add text overlays to individual images and re-format their images within the carousel. This is a fab update and will offer more presentation options, especially for how-to content.
Watch out!
Instagram might soon enable cross-posting to WhatsApp. Being able to cross-post IG Stories to WhatsApp Status is a big development, after all, WhatsApp has 450 million daily active users.
Lastly for Instagram, it's experimenting with chat widgets! This update aims to enhance engagement within DMs, allowing users to integrate additional tools and indicators into their chat interactions.
Over to Facebook now and unless you’ve been on a digital detox, we’re pretty sure you’ve heard about Meta’s AI plans.
Meta planned to use public posts and images from Instagram and Facebook to train its AI tools. Meta has been notifying users in the UK and Europe about public information being used to “develop and improve” AI products. But there is nothing to worry about as the launch of these AI tools in Europe has been delayed!
To stay relevant, Facebook is taking significant steps to revitalise itself by focusing on feeds, reels and creators. To enhance the discoverability of the feed, users will see more reels and posts from people who aren’t their friends. Meaning the algorithm should cater to users’ personal interests more effectively.
This next update is an interesting one!
Facebook is testing a new automated feature designed to optimise the performance of Reels on business pages. As well as experimenting with auto-generated templates for Reels promotions, Meta already introduced caption A/B testing for Reels creators last November, providing another method for refining content strategies manually.
Lastly for Facebook, The Broadcast Channels feature is now available to all Facebook Pages with over 10,000 followers. Initially introduced on IG and then on Facebook and Messenger in October last year, the expansion aims to extend the one-to-many chat option to a larger number of Pages!
Threads
We just have one social media news update for Threads this month, but it’s a pretty exciting one!
Instagram is working on an update for Threads that will enhance how still image posts are shared from Instagram. So, instead of displaying posts as links with small thumbnails, the new format will showcase single images and carousel posts at full size within your Threads feed. Each image will feature the creator’s Instagram handle overlaid, tapping on the picture will take users to the original post over on Instagram!
The first update for Pinterest sees it introduce Ad Labs, a programme designed to test new creative and advertising tools, which includes generative AI features that are informed by personalised insights.
Next, Pinterest has unveiled a variety of cutting-edge features for advertisers. This new addition is the AI-powered automated ad campaign tool called Performance+, this tool will streamline the entire process of creating Promoted Pins, reducing the need for manual intervention.
X
First up, X has announced that “Likes” will now be private to protect users and increase engagement. This update includes removing the “Likes” tab on profile pages, preventing users from tracking the likes of others to determine their interests or political views. Sadly, this is another disappointing update from X.
On to the next one, X is making a significant move by moving live-streaming behind a paywall. The live-streaming feature is set to become an exclusive feature for Premium users and the decision is expected to impact the frequency of live on-the-ground footage shared on the platform, which is a core aspect of its live-streaming appeal.
And finally, it’s another feature being put behind a paywall. X has introduced an enhanced profile analytics feature which is only available to X Premium subscribers. This upgrade provides detailed insights into performance metrics, such as total impressions, engagement rate, profile visits, video performance, link clicks and more. Unfortunately, this means that, without subscribing to premium, you won't be able to view analytic reports.
TikTok
TikTok is advancing its digital marketing capabilities by introducing “Symphony”, a new marketing management platform. Included in the new features is the ability for brands to leverage virtual influencers to promote and sell products directly within the app!
New platform alert!
The maker of TikTok, ByteDance, looks to be testing a new social media app called 'Whee'. The description of Whee says it will focus on capturing and sharing real-life photos which sounds a lot like Instagram!
YouTube
Next, we have another paid-for social media update. YouTube has introduced picture-in-picture viewing for Shorts, which will allow Premium subscribers to minimise the Shorts viewing window while multitasking on their devices. Additionally, YouTube is testing new comment-mention features and considering making Shorts downloadable but it’s behind a paywall!
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