Social Media Platform News and Updates for MARCH 2024
Welcome to our comprehensive monthly social media news roundup for March, 2024, where we bring you the latest updates from your favorite platforms. In this edition, Meta takes center stage with developments in response to Apple's policies, safety measures, and protection updates. Meanwhile, LinkedIn refines its user experience, Instagram introduces new safety features, and TikTok experiments with in-app discovery and subscriber engagement tools. Additionally, YouTube unveils creative tools for content creation, while Reddit strikes exclusive data deals with Google and an unnamed AI company. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our curated insights into the ever-evolving landscape of social media.
Social media updates for Meta
Meta continues its dispute with Apple over in-app payments, announcing new ways for small businesses to avoid Apple's fees on ad campaigns in its apps. Apple will start charging a 30% service fee on boosted posts purchased in the app, which Meta is now pushing onto buyers instead of absorbing the cost. Meta's response includes guiding advertisers to boost their content on desktop sites to bypass Apple's fees despite dissatisfaction with the new arrangement.
Facebook users noticed annoying chirp sounds after a recent update, which Meta spokesperson Andy Stone clarified as a glitch being fixed by Meta. Users can manually turn off the sound via Settings>Preferences>In app sounds or wait for the fix to roll out.
Meta announces new protection updates for Safer Internet Day, expanding its "Take it Down" program to help stop the spread of intimate images online, partnering with Thorn to guide teens to avoid "sextortion," and adding safety notices and alerts in its apps. "Take it Down" enables users to create digital signatures of their images to search for copies online and remove them. Meta's efforts aim to mitigate risks for users, especially vulnerable teens, and provide resources to combat online exploitation.
Social media updates for LinkedIn
LinkedIn discontinues its "Creator Mode" option, shifting away from hashtag-based connections, though most Creator Mode elements will remain available as optional tools for all users. The move aims to streamline profile features and improve user experience, with hashtags being removed to highlight topics within posts, aligning with LinkedIn's broader shift towards AI-driven content discovery.
LinkedIn introduces updates to its "Network" tab, splitting it into dedicated "Grow" and "Catch-Up" feeds to enhance professional interactions within the app. The "Grow" feed focuses on new connection opportunities, while the "Catch-Up" tab highlights prompts for initiating conversations, including work anniversaries and birthdays.
LinkedIn launches its first brand campaign for LinkedIn Premium, aiming to showcase the benefits of the subscription product in advancing users' careers. The campaign includes three short videos highlighting real-life career experiences and emphasizes LinkedIn Premium as a valuable tool for job seekers and professionals navigating career transitions.
Social media updates for Instagram
Instagram introduces new safety measures to protect users from suspicious activity, including warnings for potential scam profiles and alerts for tagged or mentioned content from unfamiliar accounts. These prompts aim to increase awareness of potential risks and encourage users to review and update their privacy settings. By integrating these alerts directly into the user experience, Instagram seeks to address concerns about user safety and privacy.
Instagram confirms the development of a "Friend Map" feature, similar to Snap Map, allowing users to share their location and view friends' locations on a map within the app. This opt-in functionality aims to enhance real-life connections and could provide marketing opportunities for businesses with physical locations. While still in early internal testing, the feature could offer another way for brands to engage with their audience and drive in-person interactions.
Instagram tests new sticker options for feed posts and Stories, including an AI "Backdrop" sticker for background replacement and a "Get Orders" sticker for direct product orders. The Backdrop sticker allows users to replace image backgrounds easily, offering potential benefits for marketers seeking to create engaging content. Similarly, the Get Orders sticker simplifies product tagging, allowing brands to drive sales directly from their Instagram content.
Social media updates for Pinterest
Pinterest experiences continued user growth in Q4, adding 16 million new monthly active users, totaling 498 million MAU, marking seven consecutive quarters of positive audience expansion. Despite its overall growth, Pinterest's key revenue market, North America, saw minimal user increase, while its European audience demonstrated fluctuating growth. While revenue figures fell below expectations, a new ad partnership with Google aims to enhance monetization opportunities.
Pinterest expands its original content initiatives with the launch of a new streaming show, "Deliciously Entertaining," in collaboration with Tastemade, offering lifestyle and cooking-themed episodes with shoppable elements. Viewers can access shoppable Pins related to the show's content via on-screen QR codes, aligning with Pinterest's focus on product discovery. This initiative builds upon Pinterest's investment in original programming, aiming to attract a broader audience and increase engagement with shoppable content.
Pinterest rolls out a global advertising campaign, "The P is for Performance," utilizing humorous mini-movies to showcase the effectiveness of Pin promotions in driving results for brands. With 450 million users, primarily driven by shopping intent, Pinterest aims to attract more advertisers and diversify its revenue streams across regions. The campaign targets paid social, programmatic, and trade publication channels initially in the US, UK, and Australia, with plans for global expansion.
Social media updates for X (Twitter)
X is expanding its audio and video calling features to all non-premium subscribers, allowing users to make calls without being paying members. Despite Elon Musk's enthusiasm, the move is seen as less significant given the availability of similar features on other platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger. While it may offer value for brands using X for customer service, its impact on the broader user base is uncertain.
X introduces a new "Monetization" tab for X Premium subscribers, simplifying access to income-related features and providing insights into pending payouts. This addition aims to address issues creators face with monetization rules and enhance transparency around earnings. While X's creator revenue share programs are still evolving, the new tracking option offers a practical solution to monitor and maximize payouts.
X announces a change in the platform's algorithm to ensure that all followers see pinned posts, providing increased visibility for important messages. However, this boost is limited to one post every 48 hours per account to prevent system manipulation. While the move may benefit active users seeking to maximize their reach, it raises concerns about potential overcrowding in the main feed and reduced algorithmic control.
Social media updates for TikTok
TikTok introduces a new feature to enhance in-app discovery by offering users a shortcut for direct access to TikTok Search, potentially transforming TikTok into a more prominent shopping destination by facilitating product discovery within the app. Expanding this feature could lead to increased engagement and utility for TikTok's billion-plus users.
TikTok experiments with "Sub Space," a subscriber-only chat feature within live streams, aiming to incentivize more subscriptions by providing paying members with dedicated engagement opportunities. As TikTok seeks to elevate live-streaming and in-stream shopping, features like Sub Space could contribute to revenue growth and user engagement on the platform.
TikTok expands its AI-powered Creative Assistant tool to Adobe Express, allowing users to access TikTok's creative insights and ideas directly within the Adobe Express app. This integration enables Adobe Express users to seamlessly generate content ideas, scripts, and insights based on TikTok trends.
Social media updates for Reddit
Google secures an exclusive deal with Reddit to access its data for use in Search and generative AI projects, aiming to enhance search results with real user insights. This partnership enables Google to leverage Reddit's vast repository of user-generated content to provide more relevant and insightful search results. The deal highlights Reddit's evolving business direction and strategic value ahead of its planned IPO.
An unnamed AI development company reportedly signs a $60 million per year deal with Reddit for exclusive access to its data, aiming to incorporate Reddit user responses into its language models for enhanced search capabilities. The deal underscores the value of Reddit's authentic user insights in refining AI-generated responses and improving search relevance. This move could potentially reshape the landscape of online search and drive competition among AI companies for exclusive data sources.
Social media updates for Snapchat
Snap partners with Fospha, a digital measurement platform, to offer marketers enhanced tracking capabilities for Snapchat campaigns, focusing on cross-marketing Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Through Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and Media Mix Modeling (MMM), Fospha provides advanced tracking tools to measure campaign impact and effectiveness, aiding marketers in making data-informed decisions.
Snap recalls its Pixy drone due to safety concerns related to the device's rechargeable battery, which may pose a fire hazard. The recall, issued in response to reports of battery overheating and minor fires, urges consumers to stop using the Pixy Flying Camera and follow instructions for battery disposal and refund.
Snap announces a growth in monthly active users (MAU) to 800 million, up from 750 million reported a year ago, emphasizing its commitment to fostering genuine connections and prioritizing user satisfaction. Despite overall user growth, Snap's expansion is primarily driven by markets outside its core revenue regions, prompting a strategic shift towards investing in North America and Europe.
Social media updates for WhatsApp
WhatsApp officially rolls out new text formatting options, including numbered lists, block quotes, bold, and italics, enhancing communication in chats. These features aim to add context and clarity to messages, addressing challenges like missed sarcasm or misinterpretation in basic text form. With conversations shifting to private messaging platforms like WhatsApp, these formatting tools could also benefit businesses in their outreach efforts.
WhatsApp is reportedly developing a feature to automatically generate monthly reports for accounts and channels on Android, providing insights into activity. Once enabled, this feature will streamline the process of tracking account performance and engagement. This development aligns with Meta's efforts to enhance user experience and analytics within WhatsApp.
Meta introduces a solution allowing WhatsApp users to manage two accounts on a single phone seamlessly, addressing a common challenge, particularly in regions like India, where dual SIM phones are prevalent. Users can set up and switch between two WhatsApp accounts with ease by following simple steps. Additionally, WhatsApp's Companion mode enables users to link multiple devices to a single WhatsApp account for synchronized messaging. These updates offer greater flexibility and convenience for users managing multiple accounts across devices.
Social media updates for YouTube
YouTube expands access to its "Create" video editing app for Shorts creation to several countries, offering features like audio clean-up, auto-captions, filters, and direct publishing. The tool aims to enhance video customization and creativity, potentially attracting more users to create engaging Shorts content on the platform. While currently available only on Android, YouTube plans to roll out this feature to more regions over time.
YouTube introduces updates to display revenue earnings for videos in its Studio app, enabling creators to easily identify top-earning videos across different categories such as Shorts, VODs, and Live uploads. This change provides creators with valuable insights to inform content strategies and revenue optimization efforts. Additionally, YouTube is experimenting with variable layouts in the web version of its app to improve user experience and engagement.
YouTube unveils new music remix options for Shorts, allowing users to create unique renditions of music video clips within the Shorts composer. These remix options include Sound, Collab, Green Screen, and Cut, offering users more creative flexibility in expressing themselves through short-form videos. The launch coincides with TikTok's loss of access to tracks from Universal Music, presenting YouTube with an opportunity to attract creators with enhanced music-sharing features.