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. Instagram Adds Search Ads Placement into its Marketing API
Meta has announced that ads in Instagram search results will now be integrated into the Instagram Marketing API. Instagram added search ads placement back in March, enabling brands to display their promotions based on keywords used within a search query in the app.
With this new update, third-party social management platforms will be able to facilitate Instagram search ads creation, providing another means to help more marketers tap into new opportunities in the app.
2. Snapchat Reaches 200 Million Users in India
India has solidified its position as Snapchat’s top market, with the company reporting that it now serves over 200 million Indian users every month. This means that some 27% of Snap’s entire user base is now based in the Indian region. Snapchat has 100 million daily active users in North America, and 93 million DAU in Europe, with India making up the majority of its remaining usage.
3. Snapchat Launches Enhanced AR Try-On Tools as it Continues to Build its AR Capabilities
Snapchat’s launching a new and improved variation of AR Try-On Lens, partnering with OPI on a new nail polish test experience in the app. The new Try-On process will enable you to test out the latest shades of OPI nail polish via the Snapchat camera, which utilizes ’Nails Segmentation’, an updated element available within Snapchat’s AR toolkit.
To be clear, Snapchat has offered nail polish try-on experiences before, but through improved systematic processes, this new variation is more responsive, more realistic, and offers new ways to showcase nail products via AR in the app.
4. Pinterest Launches New System to Ensure Greater Representation Within Discovery Elements
Pinterest has provided an overview of its latest work to improve representation within its discovery elements in order to maximize inclusion and facilitate better user experiences for all people in the app. As Pinterest notes, the system utilizes skin tone matching within Pin images to ensure a wider diversity of examples are incorporated into Pinterest’s query matching process.
5. Twitter Withdraws from EU Disinformation Code
Twitter could be setting a course for a future clash with EU regulators, with the company opting to withdraw from the EU’s voluntary Code of Practice on online disinformation, which is part of the Digital Services Act (DSA), just months out from the EU enforcing compliance with the new standards.
The Code aims to implement clearer reporting and enforcement obligations for large online platforms to combat spammers and scammers, as well as the spread of misinformation. All large online platforms are expected to abide by the new rules, with the voluntary commitment counting towards DSA compliance.
6. Twitter Provides Additional API Access Tier to Address Pricing Concerns
Twitter has returned with a new API access tier, which will provide more tweet access for a more reasonable price.
The new ‘Pro’ tweet API offering provides developers with access to a million tweets per month, at the low, low price of $5k per month – or $60k per annum. This, for some, will be an improvement over the existing access points, which have already priced many developers and academics out of their various projects.
7. Twitter Adds Picture-in-Picture Video Playback, Tests New Video Download Options
Twitter’s long-awaited picture-in-picture (PiP) playback window is now active on all platforms, enabling you to keep viewing a video clip as you scroll through the app. That’ll make it easier to multitask in-stream, as opposed to, say, watching on your TV screen while also scrolling through tweets.
Twitter’s also now experimenting with a native video download option on the app. Many users have been requesting this for some time, and again, with Twitter set to put more focus on video content, this could be another valuable addition to its presentation and production pipeline.
8. Twitter Adds Stock Movement Insights to More Cashtags, Powered by eToro
Twitter’s improving its utility for stock watchers, via a new integration with eToro that will feed additional contextual data into Twitter cashtag listings.
Now, when you tap through on most cashtags – a stock-aligned hashtag which uses the $ symbol instead of a # – a real-time display of stock movement will now be displayed, along with other alert info sourced from eToro’s system. The stock movement display has been available for selected companies since December, but now, a lot more will be active for this element.
9. Elon Musk Endorses the Idea of Shutting Down Twitter Circles
Circles could be the next functionality on the Twitter 2.0 chopping block, with Elon Musk and endorsing the suggestion that it should do away with the enclosed group tweeting option entirely.
Circles, which Twitter launched a year ago, was one of Twitter’s various projects that aligned with the broader shift of social interactions to more intimate groups, as opposed to public posting. Given that an increasing amount of users are now interacting this way, Twitter added Circles, Communities and audience control options on tweets in the hopes of sparking more discussion in the app.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next Monday 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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