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. US Appeal Court to Hear Challenges To Potential TikTok Ban on September 16
A US appeal court on Monday said it will hold oral arguments on September 16 on legal challenges to a new law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US assets by January 19 or face a ban.
The hearing before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will put the fate of TikTok in the middle of the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election. On May 14, a group of TikTok creators filed suit to block the law that could ban the app used by 170 million Americans, saying it has had “a profound effect on American life” after TikTok and parent company ByteDance filed a similar lawsuit. A third legal challenge was filed on June 6 by the Liberty Justice Center, representing Based Politics Inc., a conservative group that posts videos on TikTok.
2. Instagram Tests New Ads Overlaid on User Stories
Instagram seems intent on trying out more annoying and intrusive ad formats, with the platform now testing new promoted prompts that are displayed within your friends’ Stories, driving viewers towards promoted apps.
However, users have been less than impressed by the new test, with many complaining about the fact that Instagram’s looking to insert ads into their friends’ content, disrupting the direct engagement experience. And it’s not the only invasive ad format that Instagram’s working on, with the platform also trying out unskippable ads in the main feed, which stop you from scrolling till the video ad has played.
3. Instagram Tests Creator Insights Profile Performance Overview for Brands
Instagram is adding another way to help creators establish partnerships with brands, this time via a new “Creator Insights” display on their profile, which provides a snapshot of their account performance over the last 30 days.
The quick “Creator Insights' ' option is seemingly only viewable by brand accounts, and again, is only available to selected profiles at this time, but it could be a valuable way to facilitate more connections between brands and influencers on potential ad partnerships. Similar to how creators share information on the Instagram Creator Marketplace, they have complete control over whether or not to display "Creator Insights'' on their profiles. This ensures control over the data shared publicly and fosters transparency in potential brand partnerships.
4. Instagram Will Soon Enable Creators To Build AI Versions of Themselves
Instagram is developing the next stage of its AI bot creation platform, which would be built into the app, and enable users to: “Create an AI version of yourself.” Though the focus is likely creators, with Instagram previewing the coming option back in April, as an extension of its celebrity-influenced AI chatbots. Meta says that its main aim is to assist popular creators in dealing with admin tasks, like responding to fan comments.
5. Snapchat Adds AR Lenses to Skype Chats
Snapchat is looking to broaden access to its AR features once again, this time via a new extension for Skype that’ll enable you to apply Snap Lenses within Skype chats.
This integration is powered by Snap’s AR tools, specifically the Lens Studio and Camera Kit SDK. Lens Studio is Snap’s AR authoring tool, which allows creators to design and publish Lenses. Camera Kit SDK enables partners to integrate these Lenses into their own platforms. This collaboration with Skype follows similar integrations with Microsoft Teams, SwiftKey, and Microsoft Flip, expanding Snap’s AR reach across multiple applications.
6. Pinterest Announces Expanded AI Ad Tools to Enhance Performance
Pinterest has announced some new features for advertisers, including improved campaign automation, customized background generation (powered by AI) and Promoted Pin collages to showcase related products.
First off, Pinterest is testing new AI-based automated ad campaigns called “Performance+,” which will provide more ways to optimize all elements of Promoted Pin creation through systematic process. So rather than relying on your own Pin knowledge, the system will essentially enable you to put your trust in Pinterest’s ad creation and audience matching process to drive results, which Pinterest says is indeed doing just that.
Pinterest is also adding AI background generation for product images, which will enable personalization of your creative based on the preferred styles and trends of interest to each user. It is also looking to integrate the popularity of its separate “Shuffles” app into Pinterest, by enabling collages for ads, with product listings attached to each image.
7. Likes Are Now Private on X
After announcing the coming change last month, X has now rolled out an update to make all Likes private in the app.
You will still be able to see the posts that you’ve Liked in the app, but nobody else will, which X believes will give people more freedom to engage with more content in the app. So if you’re into “edgy” content, you can now like it on X, without any worry about people looking up your activity at a later stage. And that’ll also help to signal to the algorithm as to what you’re interested in, which will see more of that content displayed in your feed.
8. X Launches Advanced Analytics for Premium Subscribers
X’s new and improved profile analytics element is here, with X Premium subscribers now able to access more specific insight into their performance, with data on total impressions, engagement rate, profile visits, video performance, link clicks and more.
The updated X analytics is built around a large new bar chart display that you can change to highlight different elements, making it easier to view performance over time. You can also switch the date ranges along the top of the chart.
Most of the actual insights here have been available to X/Twitter users for a long time, but the presentation has been updated to make it easier to dig into the details in the app. X has also added some more specific data points, which will be helpful for analyzing your platform performance over time.
9. LinkedIn Launches Premium Company Pages
LinkedIn is officially rolling out its new Premium Company Pages offering, as it looks to get more SMBs signing up to its expanded business profile offering.
LinkedIn has been developing its Premium Company Pages over the past few months, with a view to expanding its subscription revenue by offering enticements to help brands maximize their in-app presence. LinkedIn Premium Company Pages include custom CTA buttons to help generate leads, the capacity to auto-invite people who engage with your company Page or content, insights into Page visitors, testimonial display, access to AI writing assistant tools for posts and more.
LinkedIn’s also developing more features for Premium Company Pages, including the capacity to showcase rich media and reviews directly on your business profile, in a new section called “Services Showcase.” It’s also rolling out a “Request Services” custom button to help generate leads, linked back to your business page.
10. LinkedIn Adds New Elements to Its Newsletter Creation Platform
LinkedIn has announced some new updates for its newsletter creation platform, including an updated reader UI and new tools.
Firstly, LinkedIn’s newsletter display has been updated, with the comments now shifted to the right of the main display. Now, your newsletter will get main screen real estate at the left, with the comments appearing in a separate panel alongside, which LinkedIn believes will help to encourage more comment engagement by having the discussion and context on one screen. Readers can choose to sort the comments by “Most Relevant” or “Most Recent” in the comment filters.
LinkedIn’s also adding some new newsletter creation elements, including the ability to embed LinkedIn profiles in your text. It’s also adding new “staging links” for newsletters, which will enable you to view an article’s URL before it’s been published. That’ll help you get a better idea of what you’re sending before you actually publish, which could help to catch errors and glitches in actual presentation.
11. LinkedIn Adds New AI Assistance Tools for Job Seekers
LinkedIn has outlined its latest collection of AI enhancements, including conversational job search, enhanced job application assistance, new LinkedIn Learning tools and more.
LinkedIn Premium subscribers are getting access to a range of new job discovery and application tools, including AI-based job application feedback, enhanced cover letter assistance and conversational queries to find open roles. Some of these will be very useful, and will enhance the job discovery and application process.
LinkedIn’s also adding new AI assistance tools for Premium subscribers, including personalized career coaching powered by AI.
12. Elon Musk Warns That He Will Ban Apple Devices if OpenAI Is Integrated at Operating System Level
Billionaire Elon Musk has said that he would ban Apple devices at his companies if the iPhone maker integrates OpenAI at the operating system level.
Apple earlier announced a slew of AI features across its apps and operating platforms and a partnership with OpenAI to bring the ChatGPT technology to its devices. Apple said it had built AI with privacy "at the core" and it would use a combination of on-device processing and cloud computing to power those features.
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.
Some interesting things here, especially the AI stuff on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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