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 Adds New Insight and Targeting Options for Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

https://www.360om.agency/news-insights/meta-advantage-shopping-campaigns-everything-you-need-to-know

Meta has added a new audience insight and targeting option within its Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns which will enable you to target people that have shown an interest in your products or services, but have not yet made a purchase.

Now, you can separate out engaged customers within your targeting, which will provide another option for optimizing your ad approach. Meta defines engaged customers as “people who are aware of your business or interacted with your products or services, but have not made a purchase”. With this new setting, you’ll now be able to create a custom audience of these people, which will provide more opportunity to re-engage those who’ve shown at least some level of explicit interest. You’ll also be able to segment these audiences in your Advantage+ campaign reporting, so that you can see how each group is responding to your ads.

2. Facebook Launches an Updated Vertical Video Display and Recommendations Algorithm

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/03/facebook-takes-on-tiktok-with-a-new-vertical-first-video-player/

Facebook has rolled out a new, consistent full-screen video player, which will see all videos posted to the app expand to the TikTok-like vertical format.

So all video clips posted to the app will now be available in a TikTok-like vertical feed. You’ll also be able to flip your phone on “most videos” to watch in landscape view. That could help to optimize your copy for different groups, by understanding how each is engaging with your promotions.

3. Meta Updates AI Labeling Policy To Expose Generated Content in Its Apps

https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/meta-to-start-labeling-ai-generated-content-in-may/109081568

Meta is updating its AI content labels to ensure that a broader range of synthetic content is being tagged, in response to a growing flood of generative AI posts in the app.

Over the past few months, more and more AI engagement bait has been showing up on Facebook and has also been generating a heap of engagement. As such, Meta’s updating its AI labeling policies to ensure that more AI-generated content is tagged and disclosed accordingly. Meta says that it will also leave more AI generative content up in its apps, as opposed to removing it, with the labels serving both an informational and educational purpose.

4. Instagram Adds Notify Sticker To Help Creators Maximize Fan Connections

https://www.netinfluencer.com/adam-mosseri-instagram-notify-sticker/

Instagram has added a new Notify sticker for creators, which will provide another way to help keep their audience informed of when they post in the app.

Using the new Notify sticker, creators will be able to prompt their audience to set a reminder to ensure that they see their upcoming posts in the app. Once a viewer taps on the Notify sticker, they’ll then be able to choose which elements they get notifications about, which could be a good way to subvert common frustrations with the algorithm failing to feed your updates through to your audience.

5. Instagram Chief Says Follower Counts Are Not a Good Indicator of Account Value

https://lightscamerasocial.com/blog/instagram-followers-are-not-important/

Instagram Chief, Adam Mosseri has said that Instagram Followers are not a good indicator of the account value.

In a recent statement, Mosseri highlighted that although Instagram follower counts draw attention because of their visibility and ease of access, they are not the most reliable indicator of the importance of an account. To figure out actual engagement and impact, he advises changing the focus to metrics such as likes per post and views each reel. The social media platform user behavior patterns serve as a basis for Mosseri's theory.

According to him, it is nearly hard for every follower to view every post because of the huge quantity of content competing for users' attention. Posts from accounts they follow may get lost in the flow because users are frequently flooded with updates when they open the app. This fact shows how difficult it is to calculate reach by counting followers alone.

6. Snap Announces 2024 Partner Summit and Lens Fest

https://www.businesswire.com/news/beverlyhillschamber/20240402980576/en

Snapchat has announced the date for its annual Partner Summit, where it traditionally announces a range of new updates, both for the app and its expanded projects. The 2024 Snap Partner Summit will be held on September 17th at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA. In addition to this, Snap has also announced that it will hold its 2024 “Lens Fest” event on September 18th and 19th, immediately following the Partner Summit.

7. Snapchat Launches Advanced Partner Program To Help Build on Opportunities

https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/blog/introducing-the-snap-advanced-partner-program

Snapchat is launching a new “Advanced Partner Program” which will provide a new way for agencies to work with Snapchat to both create and facilitate new ad solutions, in order to improve results for their clients.

The expansion builds upon Snap’s existing Snap Partner program, which aims to connect brands with approved Snap ads experts to maximize their ad campaigns. Agencies participating in the program will be given an exclusive badge (like the example above), as well as access to a curated package of educational and business opportunities that will help them advance their expertise on Snapchat.

8. Snapchat Demotes Controversial Solar System Feature

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/05/snapchat-turns-off-controversial-solar-system-feature-by-default-after-bad-press/

Snapchat is making a change to its subscriber-only friendship Solar System feature after reports suggested that it’s having a negative impact on younger users.

Snapchat’s Solar System display, which is only available to Snapchat+ subscribers, shows the friends that you communicate with the most in the app with a planetary visualization. The Solar System displays the users who are within your orbit, based on engagement, with a different planet that corresponds with the actual planet’s proximity to the sun. So your best friend, for example, would be represented as Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

9. X Faces a Ban in Brazil as Elon Defies Government Order To Censor Users

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/08/elon-musk-brazil-x-jair-bolsonaro

It seems like X (formerly Twitter) could be facing a ban in Brazil, after Elon Musk’s latest decision to defy a court order to block certain popular accounts in Brazil.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had issued a court order forcing the site formerly known as Twitter to block several users as part of his investigation into the former president Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat. The order also barred the social network from publishing details of which accounts were blocked, and came with fines of about £16,000 a day for failure to comply. Now, Musk says, the company will reverse those blocks. The multibillionaire also called on Moraes to resign or be impeached.

10. X’s Bot Purge Sees Big Accounts Lose Thousands of Followers

https://socialbarrel.com/xs-latest-bot-purge-sees-musk-ronaldo-and-others-lose-followers/144808/

The top 10 most-followed accounts on the platform, including Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Justin Bieber, saw a decrease in followers after the bot purge, as announced by the platform, was implemented.

However, some accounts, such as Kim Kardashian and the official X account, actually gained followers during this time. While the impact of this latest purge may not have been major overall, it is indicative of the ongoing challenges X faces with bots. Bots have long been a problem for the platform, with Elon Musk criticizing past Twitter management for not adequately addressing the issue. Musk has been vocal about the prevalence of bots on the platform and has accused Twitter of falsely reporting its usage statistics to cover up the problem.

11. X Expands Community Notes to India Ahead of Upcoming General Election

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/elon-musks-x-starts-allowing-indian-contributors-to-community-notes-ahead-of-lok-sabha-elections-12573341.html

X has announced another expansion of its Community Notes crowd-sourced fact-checking program, with users in India now able to sign-up to contribute notes in the app.

India is X’s third biggest region by users, with over 26 million people in the nation regularly turning to the app for news updates. The platform has also long been a critical connector for more controversial discussion, which has led the Indian Government to call on the company to ban certain users and conversations, in order to maintain order, and quell dissent.

12. X Announces New Head of Safety as It Looks To Improve Its Moderation Processes

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-elon-musk-safety-leader-months.html

X (formerly Twitter) has announced the appointment of Kylie McRoberts as the new Head of Safety. McRoberts, a seasoned Twitter/X employee, will be tasked with maintaining civility on the platform.

This role, previously known as “Trust and Safety,” underwent a name change after Elon Musk expressed concerns about the term “Trust” being associated with censorship. Despite the shift in title, the responsibilities remain focused on moderating content and adhering to Musk’s guidelines regarding censorship, restrictions, and the definition of acceptable behavior on the platform.

13. LinkedIn Launches Connected TV and Live Event Ads for B2B Marketers

https://www.hulkapps.com/blogs/ecommerce-hub/linkedin-introduces-ctv-ads-to-enhance-b2b-marketing-campaigns

LinkedIn has launched its own connected TV (CTV) adverts and Live Event ads to help companies reach decision-makers and build their brands.

The move also helps marketers capitalise on the rise of video consumption both on and off the social media platform. As a result, advertisers can add CTV to their LinkedIn campaigns through a network of partners including Paramount, Roku and Samsung Ads. Meanwhile, LinkedIn Live Event Ads will enable businesses to target and promote their live events before, during, and after it takes place. This comes as according to data by the social media giant, the number of professionals viewing events on LinkedIn has grown by 34% year-over-year.

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.