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. EU Commission Launches Investigation Into Meta Over DSA Compliance
EU officials have launched yet another investigation into a social media company under their new Digital Services Act (D.S.A.) powers, with Meta coming under more scrutiny, this time over its efforts to protect younger users.
Under the DSA, large social platforms operating in Europe are required to “take appropriate and proportionate measures to protect minors”, which also includes a provision to address elements “that may stimulate behavioral addictions of recipients of the service”. Both Facebook and Instagram arguably have addictive qualities, as various academic reports have shown, however, there will be some challenges in proving such definitively, and holding Meta to account for the same.
2. Meta Is Shutting Down Its Workplace Enterprise Platform
Meta has confirmed that it’s shutting down its Workplace platform, which is essentially a version of Facebook built for internal communications, and sealed off from the wider web.
Originally announced back in 2015 as “Facebook at Work”, then publicly launched a year later, Workplace provides all of the usual Facebook functions on an internal system, with the idea being that it can reduce the training time for internal collaboration tools, by providing professionals with the Facebook interface that they’re already familiar with.
And it has been relatively popular. Workplace reached seven million paying users in 2021, up 40% year-over-year at the time. But seemingly, that momentum has now slowed, while Meta has also undertaken a significant review of its operations, in order to cut costs. And within that, the Workplace is now getting cut.
3. Instagram Says Posting Longer Reels Can Hurt Your Performance
According to Instagram’s content team, posting Reels longer than 90 seconds can hurt your reach in the app.
This was one of several notes shared by the IG crew at a creator event in New York, at which Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri answered various questions about the platform, the algorithm, what they’re working on, etc. Mosseri and the IG team presented one particular slide that stated that Reels that are longer than 90 seconds can hurt distribution.
4. Instagram Chief Says Post Share Rates Are Now a Key Driver of Reach
According to Mosseri, post-share rates are now a significant factor in determining reach, even more critical than watch time or like and comment counts. The rate of sharing likes and comments per reach is more crucial than the total count. Mosseri suggests that a higher share rate correlates with a broader reach, indicating users connect with content they want to share with friends.
This focus on share rates shifts from the previous emphasis on likes, comments, and watch time. Social platforms have been transitioning towards prioritizing video content and entertainment, primarily through short-form clips. This change has led to a decrease in in-stream interaction and an increase in watch time.
5. Instagram Tests Notes on Feed Posts and Reels
After experimenting with Notes on Reels and Posts over the past few months, Instagram has now launched a live test of expanded Notes options with selected users.
Some users are now being informed that they can add Notes to feed posts and Reels, providing more ways to use its conversation starter prompts to generate engagement. Notes, which Instagram originally launched in December 2022, provide a simple way to leave an engagement trigger for other users in the app, and have proven particularly popular with younger users. That is a demographic that IG really wants to hold onto, amid the rise of TikTok, which is why it’s now looking to add Notes to every element of the app, in order to double down on that initial success.
6. Instagram Launches New Interview Series With Top Creators
Instagram has launched a new informational interview series, which will feature a range of IG creators talking with Instagram development leaders about the platform, their concerns, their challenges, etc.
The first episode in the “Creator POV” series features comedy creator @ezee talking with Instagram chief Adam Mosseri about everything from platform strategy, new features, the performance of videos versus photos, sharing positivity, and more. The interview series is designed to provide more insights, direct from creators, into all aspects of growing on IG, including effective monetization approaches, community engagement, AI advances, and more.
7. Instagram Is Working on a Peek Feature To Encourage Interaction
Instagram is developing a new option called Peek, which would enable users to share a quick, unedited, unfiltered snap of themselves or their lives with friends.
IG’s Peek option would enable you to send a quick, one-take image with friends, that would then be displayed in their inbox. Users would simply tap on the smiling camera icon to capture and send an image in one, leaving no room for editing or refinements. The recipient would be able to view the image then just once before it disappears forever.
The process is similar to BeReal, in that you would send simple, real-time images, designed to capture your day-to-day life, free from the performance pressure of the regular IG feed. As with BeReal, the view is that many social media users have had enough of the curated, edited, artificial portraits that many people post online, depicting an idealistic version of themselves and that there’s a desire for more “realness” and authenticity in communications once again.
8. Snap Launches Program To Measure Carbon Emissions of Digital Ads
Snapchat has announced a new initiative aimed at improving its environmental impact, by helping advertisers understand the carbon footprint of their Snap ads.
Working with sustainability platform Scope3, the new program will see Scope3 provide advertisers with various impact measurements for their campaigns, based on elements like server load to create and host ads, usage of mobile devices to view them, percentage of overall company emissions, etc. Scope3 measures the overall carbon impacts of a business, while it can also break these elements down to individual processes, forming the basis of this new initiative.
9. Snap Announces Partnership With Datahash on CAPI Integration
Snapchat has announced a new partnership with Datahash, which will make it easier for ad partners to implement its Conversions API (CAPI), and get more direct insight from Snap regarding campaign performance.
Snap has been working to update its Conversions API in order to provide advertisers with more data in a privacy-friendly way, in alignment with evolving industry shifts. This has led to more overall campaign success, and now, Snap is looking to make it easier for more partners to integrate and utilize the API in their process. It’s the latest collaboration designed to help ad partners integrate its Conversions API, with Snap announcing a similar partnership with Snowflake last month.
10. X Loses Lawsuit Against Data Scrapers
A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X against Israel’s Bright Data, in a case that involved the scraping of data.
Bright Data gathers publicly accessible information from the web, then uses it in its offering, and recently won a similar case against Meta for taking Facebook and Instagram user info as well. Bright Data maintains that it only scrapes information that’s publicly accessible without a login. But X claimed that the company not only sells user data without permission but that it had also been “using elaborate technical measures to evade X Corp.’s anti-scraping technology.” X claimed that Bright Data was breaching both its own terms of service and copyright, but Federal Court Judge William Alsup dismissed X’s claim, which means that Bright Data is now free to continue using social media user data, within certain limits.
11. Twitter Is Gone, With x.com Now the Primary Domain for the App
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has switched over from the “twitter.com” domain name to “x.com” for all of its primary systems.
The update was also shared by Elon Musk via his post on X, which says, “All core systems are now on X.com.” The interesting part about the post is that Musk has added a new X layout with the new domain which many believe could soon become the official X branding for the public. Currently, the X app and website have a black tone but a white and blue shade could also be part of the old Twitter color style.
12. X’s Grok AI Chatbot Is Now Available to EU Users
X has announced that its Grok AI chatbot will now be made available in Europe, after finalizing an agreement with EU regulators to allow the bot, though the additional Grok news summaries will only be made available in the region after the upcoming E.U general elections.
Grok AI is designed to serve as a personal search assistant, enhancing the user experience by offering contextual insights and timely information. Moreover, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, echoed Musk’s excitement. This rollout marks a significant milestone for xAI, as it expands its innovative technology beyond the U.S. market.
13. LinkedIn Rolls Out Option to Reply To Specific DMs on Mobile
LinkedIn is rolling out the capacity to reply to any specific message, by long pressing on the chosen comment and selecting Reply from your options.
Your response will then be displayed in-stream beneath the specific comment, making it easier for you to conduct longer chats and ensure that recipients understand what exactly you’re replying to with each reply. The option has been available on the desktop for some time (by hovering over a message), but now, there’s a way to do the same in the mobile app as well.
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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