Social Media Buzz Weekly: 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 take a look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.

1. Twitter Adds 9 Million Users, Posts Lower Revenue Result Amid Musk Takeover Fiasco

https://www.specser.com/twitter-adds-9-million-users-posts-lower-revenue-result-amid-musk-takeover-fiasco/

Amid ongoing uncertainty around the Elon Musk acquisition, Twitter has shared its latest performance update, posting an increase in active users, but a year-on-year decrease in revenue, which it’s attributed to challenging market conditions.

Most of the new growth has come from international markets, with Twitter only adding 2 million new users in the US. But even so, Twitter’s added 5 million more US users over the past three quarters, after growth amongst American users stagnated, and even declined at one stage, for almost two years.

2. TikTok Adds New Captioning and Translation Tools to Help Maximize Video Reach

https://cleverread.in/tiktok-adds-new-captioning-and-translation-tools-to-help-maximize-video-reach/

TikTok has introduced a range of new translation and captioning tools to help more users engage with the latest trending clips in the app. TikTok’s auto-captions would provide another way to add text descriptions to your clips. This will make TikTok’s auto-captions appear on the lower left-hand side of the screen, adding important context to the viewing experience, especially in sound-off environments.

TikTok’s also adding new translations for captions and descriptions, which could help users around the world engage with more clips. Thus, you’ll now be able to provide translated caption text within your clips, which will give you more options to maximize your performance.

3. Snapchat Reaches 347 Million Daily Active Users, Sees Slower Revenue Growth in Q2

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/21/snap-misses-q2-revenue-declines-to-share-future-guidance/

Snap Inc. posted its Q2 2022 numbers last week, which show a steady increase in usage, but slower growth on the revenue side. It added 15 million more users in Q2, taking it up to 347 million daily active users.

A concerning element on this front is that Snapchat saw virtually no growth in the North American market, which is by far its biggest revenue driver.

Also, the average revenue per user remains relatively low in other markets, especially in the ‘Rest of the World’ category, where Snap added the majority of its new users.

4. Instagram Will Now Feed All Video Uploads into Reels

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/21/instagram-video-posts-shorter-than-15-minutes-now-shared-reels/

Meta announced last week that virtually all video uploads will now become Reels, whether you want them to or not, while it’s also added a range of new creative tools for Reels as it doubles, and triples down on the short video format.

Instagram is also adding a range of new creative tools for Reels clips. It’s adding some new Remix options for photos, layouts, and clips to provide more ways to collaborate within Reels clips.

5. Google Will Begin Public Testing of its AR Glasses Next Month

https://blog.google/products/google-ar-vr/building-and-testing-helpful-ar-experiences/

Google too is looking to advance its AR efforts, with public testing of its AR glasses getting underway soon. As explained by Google, it plans to test AR prototypes in the real world starting next month to better understand how these devices can help people in their everyday lives.

Google hasn’t shared any new images of its AR device but it did provide this video of its in-development ‘Proto-29’ AR glasses at its I/O conference earlier this year.

6. Delaware’s Court of Chancery Expedites Trial in the Musk Acquisition Case

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/19/twitter-wins-bid-for-expedited-trial-to-force-musk-to-close-deal.html

Delaware’s Court of Chancery ruled in Twitter’s favor last week for an expedited trial in the Musk acquisition case, with Musk and Co. given just five days to present their argument as to why Musk should be allowed to pull out of the deal. The case has been scheduled for October.

The Chancellor reportedly only needed 10 minutes to come to a decision. Musk’s legal team had sought to extend the length of the trial, arguing that it needs more time to review the data required and that Twitter is seeking to obfuscate its figures on fake and spam accounts by expediting the timeline, which Musk’s team says is the key reason for pulling out of the deal.

However, Twitter’s lawyers argued that a quick trial is necessary to stop the ongoing harm Twitter has experienced from the uncertainty of the deal’s closure and alleged disparagement by Musk.

7. LinkedIn Launches New Business Manager Platform to Streamline Multi-Account Management

https://forum69.info/linkedin-launches-new-business-manager-platform-to-streamline-multi-account-management/

LinkedIn has launched its new Business Manager platform, which enables you to feed in multiple accounts and manage them all in one dashboard. The platform enables users to manage permissions and access, with a centralized listing of all connected profiles and users.

LinkedIn first announced the platform last month, in limited testing, but now, all businesses can access the new platform. However, LinkedIn says that it’s still essentially in beta mode for now. It could be a handy option for big brands and agencies, providing more management capacity and oversight in a simple dashboard, though, functionally, it’s not a major change. The new platform is more designed to bring everything together, and make it easier to manage your LinkedIn process.

8. Meta Commits $150 Million to Support the Ongoing Operation of its Oversight Board

https://www.pcmag.com/news/meta-commits-another-150m-to-its-oversight-board

Meta has announced that it will contribute $150 million to the Oversight Board Trust, enabling it to continue hearing cases, and helping to shape Meta’s policy approach.

Founded in 2019, the Oversight Board is an independent group of experts to whom Meta and its users can refer appeals over platform and content decisions, providing another avenue for more complex concerns. The Board can then rule on each case, and make recommendations to Meta as to how it might update its policies in step, which Meta doesn’t necessarily have to implement. But it provides at least some type of double-checking measure, even if it is essentially funded by Meta itself.

Meta has long called for more regulation on more difficult decisions around freedom of speech. The most high-profile case in this respect was Meta’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump from its platforms over Trump’s incendiary remarks around the results of the 2020 Election.

Wrapping Up

And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next Monday with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!