Social Media Buzz Weekly: Roundup of Social Media Updates

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 Publishes New Guide to Using AI in Marketing for Holiday Campaigns

https://www.facebook.com/business/m/holiday-marketing-guide

Meta has published a new guide to its various automation and generative AI ad tools in order to help marketers prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

The 16-page guide covers all of Meta’s evolving AI ad tools, including its Advantage+ suite of products, and its new AI creation elements, which it’s developing in its AI sandbox platform. It’s a handy explainer, which could help to get you thinking about how AI tools can optimize your Facebook and Instagram ads approach. The guide also includes notes on how people are using Meta’s apps to find the best deals, underlining the value and potential of its ad options.

2. Meta Takes Another Step Away From News Content With the Removal of Facebook News in More Regions

https://syspree.com/end-of-facebook-news/

Meta’s taking another step away from news and politics, with the announcement that it’s ending Facebook News in the U.K., France, and Germany from December this year.

Originally launched back in 2019, the Facebook news tab was designed to provide a more trustworthy source of news content in the app, with approved publishers partnering with Meta to populate the separate news feed. However, Facebook users have become less engaged by, and interested in news discussion, which has already seen Meta shift its focus to short-form video, and updates from friends, while cutting down on news, and in particular political content in-stream.

3. TikTok Expands Its ‘Creativity Program’ Funding Initiative to More Regions

https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/unlocking-even-more-opportunities-for-creators-with-the-creativity-program-beta-uk

TikTok has announced an expansion of its Creativity Program, its latest creator funding initiative which aims to get its top stars paid, in order to keep them posting to the app.

After rolling out the program to all U.S.-based creators back in May, TikTok’s now expanding its Creativity Program Beta program to users in Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the U.K. The initial beta Creativity Program was launched with selected U.S. creators back in February, and is essentially the next evolution of TikTok’s Creator Fund, providing more monetization opportunities for the app’s top creators.

4. TikTok Tests New In-Stream Shopping Push in the US

https://socialbarrel.com/tiktok-is-experimenting-with-a-new-in-stream-shopping-tab-in-the-us/142485/

TikTok’s making its next push on in-stream commerce, with some users in the U.S. now seeing a new “Shop” tab appear in the app.

The new Shop tab is being displayed to selected U.S. users between the “For You” and “Following” feeds, giving it premium placement in the UI. The new tab displays a scrollable listing of seemingly random products, largely originating from China, though some do appear to be linked to in-app trends. This also aligns with TikTok’s revamped eCommerce strategy, which has seen the app look to focus on viral products, by providing them through its own supply chain, which is backed by a range of China-based suppliers.

5. TikTok Announces New Programming for Fashion Month

https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2023/09/12/tiktok-celebrates-fashion-month-with-global-creators-trends/

TikTok has announced that it will be hosting a range of initiatives for Fashion Month, which will run through September.

The main element of TikTok’s Fashion Month push is a showcase of its first-ever #TikTokFashion Collective, which is made up of fashion creators from around the world who’ll be sharing their insights in the app. TikTok will have a dedicated team for each of the major Fashion Month shows, providing on-the-ground insights into each event. TikTok will also be hosting its own “Fashion Month Hub” where it’ll highlight all the latest trends, and help to drive fashion discovery in the app, while it’ll also showcase the latest creations from a range of brands and publishers from around the world.

6. Instagram Tests New Option to Hide Your Like Activity in the App

https://www.redmention.com/news/instagram-checks-new-choice-to-cover-your-like-exercise-within-the-app/

Instagram’s testing a new privacy element, with the capacity to hide your like activity from other users, if you choose.

Some Instagram users are now being alerted with a pop-up, notifying them that they can hide their likes from whomever they choose. The new option would enable you to hide your like activity from non-followers, or limit visibility to only close friends. Or you could opt to hide your like activity for everyone, if you really don’t want people to know the stuff that you’re into in the app. This would provide an extra level of reassurance for users, which could help to make them feel more comfortable engaging in the app, while it would also align with the broader push towards more privacy, which has seen WhatsApp gain more traction in Western markets of late.

7. Instagram Tests Out Location Tags in Notes

https://socialbarrel.com/instagram-to-add-location-tags-to-notes-queries/142427/

Instagram’s testing another element within its Notes inbox prompts, with some users now able to add a location tag to their Notes queries.

Users in the test pool can add a location marker to their note, which will then link through to the IG location page for that place. Notes, which Instagram first launched in December last year, provides a simple way for users to spark conversations in the app, by adding 60-character notes that can then be seen by all of their connections at the top of their inbox.

8. Pinterest Adds New Body Type Matching to Improve the Diversity of its Discovery Tools

https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-announces-industry-first-body-type-technology-to-increase-body-representation-on

Pinterest is rolling out a new process that will enable users to find more images and examples that align with their body shape, via an AI-based system that identifies body shape, size, and form within images in order to increase representation across related feeds and search results. With Pinterest’s new body type filters, it will now be able to show users more relevant results with respect to their own body type, while also highlighting a more diverse range of results within Pin searches.

9. X Improves Tagging Process for Videos That Have Received a Community Note

https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/06/x-launches-community-notes-for-videos/

X has added another valuable element to its Community Notes user-led moderation process, with all instances of any video that gets a Community Note now set to display the message, in any re-shares and posts.

Now, when a Community Notes contributor adds a note to a video in the app, they’ll have the option to specify that the note is about the video clip, not the specific post. That’s an efficient and effective way to provide more advisory notes to more users, with X’s system able to now match both re-shared images and videos in the app, and tag them with any corresponding contextual notes.

10. LinkedIn Adds New Branded Content Library, Listing All Influencer Campaigns in the App

https://www.redmention.com/news/linkedin-provides-new-branded-content-material-library-itemizing-all-influencer-campaigns-within-the-app/

LinkedIn has added a new search functionality for branded content partnerships, which will enable users to explore all of the affiliate marketing campaigns that have used the new tags in the app.

Now, when you go to LinkedIn’s Ad Library, you’ll be able to search for branded content partnerships, based on keyword/s and date. That’ll make it easier to find out how brands are using influencer partnerships in the app, giving you more competitive insight, while also facilitating increased transparency over paid promotions in the app.

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.