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. EU Commission Says Meta’s Ad-Free Subscription Offering Violates DMA

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clky017yl1jo

The EU Commission has ruled that Meta’s ad-free subscription plan fails to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to give European social media users more control over how their personal data is logged and used by social platforms.

Meta launched its ad-free subscription package in Europe in November last year, which enables EU users to opt out of ads and data tracking entirely, so long as they pay €9.99 per month. Conceptually, that would enable Meta to avoid financial penalties in complying with the new law, by replacing ad revenue loss with direct payments from users, while also providing the required option to avoid data tracking.

2. Facebook Tests ‘Clear Mode’ for Uncluttered Reels Viewing

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2478194/facebook-tries-out-clear-mode-for-better-reel-viewing

Facebook is experimenting with a new option that would enable users to hide the description and UI buttons on Reels clips, for a cleaner viewing experience.

Meta’s “Clear Mode,” which would be activated by long-pressing on the screen, will make it easier to watch Reels in full and could be particularly handy for clips that have elements obscured by the on-screen text and function buttons. Meta’s been experimenting with the same on IG for the last few months, though the functionality hasn’t had a broader release as yet. Presumably, Facebook’s clear mode is trailing behind that, so while it is coming, it’s not going to be available to everyone just yet.

3. Meta Switches AI Labels From ‘Made With AI’ to ‘AI Info’ Tag

https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/01/meta-changes-its-label-from-made-with-ai-to-ai-info-to-indicate-use-of-ai-in-photos

Meta’s making a slight tweak to its “Made with AI” labels, in order to clarify confusion around what, exactly, these indicators mean when displayed in-stream.

Apparently, some Facebook and IG users have been less than pleased that their uploads have been tagged as “Made with AI”, when they’ve only used digital tools for slight re-touching. As such, Meta’s now revised the wording of the tags to a less definitive “AI Info” instead. Now, when Meta’s system detects that AI tools have been used to create an image, or when users indicate that they’ve used AI tools in the composition, the tag will include an “AI Info” note, which, when tapped, will provide an overview of how AI could have been used in creating the image.

4. TikTok Implements Restrictions on Ads Targeted at Teens, New AI Disclosure Requirements

https://searchengineland.com/tiktok-teen-ad-targeting-ai-transparency-443986

TikTok has implemented some new restrictions on ads targeted at teens in the app, while it’s also adding more data controls, and updated disclosure elements, to improve transparency within its ad targeting process.

The biggest change is an update to its ad targeting options for teens, with advertisers now no longer able to reach teens in the U.S. using personalized targeting and campaign selections. That’ll ensure that teen user data is not being exploited by advertisers, who could use this to influence their thinking. Meta implemented the same several years back, in order to ensure teen users are not being targeted, while also limiting the use of personal data from young users.

Now, TikTok’s moving into line, though with around 25% of its audience aged under 20, the impact here could be more significant.

5. Research Finds Snap Campaigns Are Particularly Effective for Movie and TV Promotions

https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/blog/snapchat-drives-viewership

According to new data from Snap and Samba TV, Snapchat is a valuable partner for entertainment promotion, with Snap campaigns increasing audience interest in new TV shows and movies by a significant margin.

Using Samba TV’s “tune in” reporting process, which examines how likely people are to watch a TV show, sporting event or movie after seeing relevant promotions, the data showed that those who saw entertainment ads on Snap had an 84% lift in tune-in intent, on average. That doesn’t mean that all of these people did tune in, necessarily, but based on response to the ads they were shown, these users viewed the shows more favorably and were more likely to try to watch. 

Samba TV also found that Snapchat reaches a unique audience compared to TV promotions, with 79% of Snapchat impressions served to households not reached by TV ads. It also found that 1 in 3 tune-ins driven by Snapchat were from new viewers.

6. X Rejoins GARM To Reassure Ad Partners on Brand Safety

https://www.socialsamosa.com/news-2/x-rejoins-garm-assure-ad-partners-about-brand-safety-4791920

X continues to do all that it can to reassure ad partners of its brand safety efforts, this time by rejoining the World Federation of Advertisers’ ‘Global Alliance for Responsible Media’ (GARM), which is a coalition of online providers and brand partners that are dedicated “to address the challenge of harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.”

X drifted from GARM following Musk’s takeover at the app, which resulted in virtually all of Twitter’s brand safety team moving on from the company. That, among various other cuts, saw X distance itself from its GARM commitments, but now it’s looking to re-establish its commitment to GARM’s mission, which will see X re-committing to its pledge to uphold the parameters set out in the GARM guidelines. It’s the latest in X’s broader push to demonstrate that it’s working to maintain its brand safety credentials, amid ongoing challenges to convince ad partners to come back to the app.

7. X Looks To Further Integrate Grok AI Chatbot

https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/05/x-plans-to-more-deeply-integrate-groks-ai-app-researcher-finds/

According to a series of recent discoveries, X is developing new features like the ability to ask Grok about X accounts, use Grok by highlighting text in the app, and access Grok’s chatbot through a pop-up on the side of the screen while continuing to use other parts of X.

The findings were recently shared by independent app researcher Nima Owji. He often tweets his own ideas about features he’d like to see on X. In this case, however, Owji says he discovered the additions on X’s website on July 5 but confirmed that they are not yet rolled out to the public, as far as he can tell.

8. X Is Considering Downvotes for Post Replies

https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/11/x-is-building-a-dislike-button-for-downvoting-replies/

X is experimenting with a downvote option on post replies, which would give users another way to share their feedback about user comments.

The option was spotted in the back-end code of the app by researcher Aaron Perris, with X engineer Jay Baxter then confirming the internal test. The downvote option for replies would be weighted based on political perspective so that you couldn’t have users of a certain ideology or viewpoint brigading the replies, and downvoting whatever they don’t agree with into oblivion. The ultimate outcome, then, would ideally be a system that downranks replies without political bias, so that when there are junk and spam comments, or clearly misleading and untrue statements, they are the ones that get slid down the list, or potentially even hidden, as opposed to silencing dissenting opinion.

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.