Welcome to Social Media Buzz Weekly, your weekly bulletin of the latest social media updates. With the social media landscape evolving with each passing day, it can be challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments. Well, not anymore, as we have taken it upon ourselves to keep you abreast of every happening in the social media space.
So, without any further ado, let’s look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. Meta Rolls Out Updated Ad Options for the Holidays
With Christmas fast approaching, Meta has announced some new ad updates for the end-of-year push, including easier-to-apply discount codes, updated reminder ads, in-store shopping promotions, and more.
Firstly, Meta is updating its discount code promo options, with a more prominent code notification, which automatically adds the code at the checkout. This means that now advertisers will be able to highlight their discount code on an overlay ad, and users will be able to action the code more easily.
Meta is also updating its site links option, which enables brands to add multiple landing pages to a single image or video ad in the Facebook Feed. There’s also a new way to drive in-store purchase activity, with a new promotion type that will enable advertisers to show ads to people most likely to shop in-store, based on past engagement and location.
2. Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok Team Up To Address Self-Harm-Related Content
Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok are teaming up on a new initiative that’s designed to help detect and remove suicide and self-harm-related content, in order to reduce exposure among at-risk users.
The new initiative, called “Thrive”, will be overseen by the Mental Health Coalition, with the three platforms sharing data on concerning content, which will then enable broader cross-platform action. To be clear, all three apps allow users to discuss mental health concerns, and share their thoughts on such. But there are definitive rules around the distribution of graphic imagery, and/ or material that could encourage suicide or self-harm, which is the focus of the Thrive program.
3. Meta Bans Russian State Media in the Wake of Covert Influence Program
Meta has announced an expanded ban on Russian state media accounts, after recent investigations uncovered that Russia-based groups have been seeking to sway the opinions of U.S. voters.
Meta came under intense scrutiny in the wake of the 2016 U.S. election, after it was revealed that Russian groups had used Facebook ads and groups to provoke American voters. Some have speculated that such efforts helped to get Donald Trump elected, though it’s not clear that these initiatives actually favored one candidate or the other, but more that they sought to shift global opinion on issues relevant to Russian interests. Chinese influence groups utilize similar approaches, in raising subtle questions about U.S. aggression, or interference in Chinese operations.
4. TikTok Begins Legal Defense Against US Sell-off Bill
TikTok has begun its legal defense against the U.S. sell-off bill, with representatives from the company appearing in the federal court to argue that the bill violates the rights of the app’s 150 million American users.
To recap, back in April, the U.S. Senate approved a bill to force TikTok into U.S. ownership, due to concerns that the app’s Chinese linkage could expose U.S. users to various security risks. One of the most discussed issues has been the suggestion that the Chinese government could gather info on U.S. users through the app, and then use that for nefarious purposes. But another point of contention is the suggestion that TikTok seeds pro-China content, at the request of the CCP, in order to sway international opinions in China’s favor.
5. Meta Expands Instagram Reminder Ads Placed via Its API
Meta has announced an update to its Marketing API which will ensure that those creating Instagram Reminder Ads in third-party apps will have all the same functionality available in Meta Ads Manager.
These features include the ability to reach people on Instagram Reels placement with reminder ads, reminding people over the right time period, and adding events to ads optimizing for thruplay or reach. Reminder Ads can be a valuable re-engagement option, and these new features will ensure that more businesses can make better use of the format.
6. Snapchat Tests New Sharing Options for Older Teens
Snapchat is experimenting with a new process that’ll enable teens aged 16 and 17 to share their posts with a broader audience in the app.
Snapchat already has various protections in place to limit exposure for young users, which include public posting restrictions in the app. And now, Snap’s trying out a new way to give teens a way to further share their content, in a safer, more privacy-focused way. Teen content will only be distributed to a limited audience of mutual and expanded connections, while teens will also be limited in how they can engage with non-connections via this process.
7. New Studies Show That Snapchat Facilitates Positive User Experiences
Snapchat has highlighted two studies claiming that Snapchat is a positive platform for teen engagement.
The first study comes from The University of Amsterdam, which found that among adolescent users of large social media platforms, Snapchat is the only platform that positively impacts well-being. Interestingly, the report also found that WhatsApp has a more positive impact than other messaging apps.
Snapchat has also highlighted a second report, conducted by three Australian mental health organizations, which found that Snapchat use was not associated with the common mental health concerns related to social apps.
8. X Is Working on Decoupling Its DM Functionality
X is currently working on separating out DMs from other in-app experiences which will seemingly enable X users to initiate separate functionality in DMs versus other elements.
So you’d be able to block messages from someone but still see their posts in-stream. The idea is that this will provide another way to use X as a separate tool for your daily interactive process, i.e. you won’t have to log onto X and check the latest posts in order to still use it as your DM platform.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next week with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!
If you want to read more on the latest developments taking place in the social media space, take a look at ClickInsights’ Social Media Buzz, wherein we bring to you monthly reports on everything going on in social media, ranging from platform updates to policy changes that influence the way we market.
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