top of page
Writer's pictureClickInsights

Social Media Buzz Weekly: Roundup of Social Media Updates

Updated: Oct 19, 2022

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. Meta Launches New Avatar Fashion Items as Questions Are Raised Over Its ‘Faked’ VR Avatar Legs




Meta has rolled out a new set of Liverpool FC fan outfits for Meta avatars, providing another option to customize your digital doppelganger across its apps. However, these new outfits are not being made available in VR. That could be because Meta’s VR avatars have been a focus of major criticism for the company’s metaverse push, following a post from Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg.


2. Data Suggests Twitter Blue Take-Up Hasn’t Significantly Increased Since the Addition of Tweet Editing



According to the latest insights from Sensor Tower, Twitter hasn’t seen a major spike in revenue intake ever since the introduction of tweet editing, at least based on the overall app ranking data. Following the launch of tweet editing in Twitter Blue to users in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand on October 4th, there was a bit of a jump, with Twitter rising up the app revenue ranks slightly in each region.



The biggest increase, however, came on Sunday, October 9th, when Twitter went up several ranking spots in the US, which does point to a fairly significant shift in users paying money in the app. But since then, it’s largely regressed to the mean once again, suggesting that the initial interest in tweet editing hasn’t driven any major uptick in Twitter Blue adoption.


3. Facebook Announces the Retirement of ‘Instant Articles’ - The Latest Step in the Reformation of the App



Facebook has announced that it will retire its Instant Articles offering in April next year. Initially launched in 2015, Instant Articles were designed to provide publishers with a more engaging, fast-loading way to present their articles on Facebook, helping to maximize reader engagement within the app.



But now, building publisher relationships has seemingly become a lesser priority. As reported by Axios, Meta’s ending support for Instant Articles as it works to better align with user preferences, which, increasingly, see video being its most engaging content format.


4. Twitter’s Testing a New Option to Restrict Who Can Mention You in the App



Twitter’s developing yet another audience control option for your tweets, with a new toggle that would enable you to either stop people from mentioning your @handle completely or limit mentions to only those who you follow in the app. This would give you more control over how people can interact with your tweets.



At the top, there’s an ‘Allow Others to Mention you’ toggle, which would stop people from referencing your @handle entirely. That, presumably, would just deactivate any mention of your handle, much like Twitter’s recently launched ‘Unmention’ option, which lets you leave Twitter chats that you no longer want to be a part of.


5. Snap Launches New AR Guide to Administering CPR for World Restart a Heart Day



Snapchat continues to expand the potential and practical value of AR, this time via a collaboration with The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on a new AR CPR overview, which will help guide people through key lessons in life-saving CPR techniques.



The new AR experience provides an overview of how to administer CPR, along with quiz elements and other details to help educate people on the process.


6. Facebook’s Developing a New Option to Invite a Co-Author for Your Reels Clips




Facebook is working on a new collaborative Reels option, which would provide a way for users to invite another user to co-author a Reels clip. The ‘Invite Collaborator;’ option in the Reels creation flow, would enable you to add another profile as a co-creator to be listed on your clip.


7. TikTok Announces New Partnership with Linktree to Facilitate More Referral Traffic Options



TikTok has announced a new partnership with Linktree which will provide TikTok creators with more referral link options, directly integrated into their TikTok profile, helping to drive more referral traffic from the app.



The partnership will be built into TikTok’s ’Profile Kit’ element of the TikTok for Developers Program, which enables developers to build tools on top of TikTok’s platform to facilitate better integration and functionality.


8. Twitter Launches New ‘Link Spotlight’ CTA Button for Professional Accounts




Twitter has officially launched its new ‘Link Spotlight’ feature for US-based Professional Accounts, which enables brands to add a URL, with a variable CTA button, to their profile in the app. If you’re in the US, ‘Link Spotlight’ is now available in your professional profile settings, as another feature element to include on your Twitter profile display.


9. Twitter Launches Initial Test of Audio Chats Within Communities




Twitter’s looking to further enhance smaller community engagement in the app, with the launch of a new test that will enable Communities admins to create dedicated audio Spaces within their groups. Some Community admins on Twitter will be able to launch audio chats, which will only be visible within the group.


10. TikTok Launches New Mental Health Support Resources for World Mental Health Day



TikTok has launched a new ‘Mental Well-Being Comes First’ campaign, which is designed to help raise awareness of the importance of mental health, through dedicated in-app programming and tools.



The initiative also includes links to TikTok’s mental health guides and tools, providing more ways for people to get immediate assistance and advice when dealing with such concerns in the app.


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!


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.


Comments


bottom of page