Social Media News Round-Up: 11/02/22
THIS WEEK’S SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING NEWS AT A GLANCE:
Scroll down to read the full news stories
🪁 Instagram improves content management tools
🚦 Meta expands ‘Redirect Initiative’
💓 Messenger adds new features for Valentine’s Day
📰 Twitter tests new ‘Articles’ option
👁 YouTube plans to make gaming videos immersive
Instagram improves content management tools
After spending the past few months in testing, Instagram's rolled out a new ‘Your Activity’ display which will improve user’s ability to manage content in the app.
Image Source: Social Media Today
The platform also rolled out an updated ‘Security Checkup’ interface which, according to Instagram:
‘Security Checkup guides people through the steps needed to secure their account including: checking login activity, reviewing profile information, confirming the accounts that share login information and updating account recovery contact information such as a phone number or email address. To complete Security Checkup, go to your Profile and tap the menu in the upper right corner, next tap “Settings”, “Security” then tap “Security Checkup.’
Instagram is adding another security feature in some countries, where some users will now be able to enable two-factor authentication using WhatsApp. As well as testing a new process whereby users who’ve been locked out of their account will be able to ask their friends to verify their identity in-app.
Image Source: Social Media Today
This week the app also announced a Valentine’s Day shopping live-stream event, featuring a range of influencers and brands on the app. Individual product collections from each of its featured influencers will be promoted in the Shop tab and fashion influencer Paige DeSorbo is hosting. It will showcase Instagram’s evolving live shopping options.
‘After the year we had, this Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to treat yourself and your loved ones to your favorite beauty, food, home and accessories brands - join us for a live shopping event, and explore our hand-picked collections of the hottest gifts trending on Instagram.’ - Instagram
Meta expands ‘Redirect Initiative’
Taking its efforts to stop the spread of harmful misinformation and the potential radicalisation of users through its app, the company’s ‘Redirect Initiative’ is being extended to two more regions.
Meta explained in a statement:
‘We’re [expanding] one of our flagship counterspeech initiatives, The Redirect Initiative, into Pakistan and the UK. Now when someone in Pakistan or the UK searches on Facebook using words associated with organized hate or violent extremism, the top search result will be a link to resources and support for how to leave violence and extremism behind.’
This comes as a new algorithm bill, aiming to add friction to content-sharing in order to slow down the spread of harmful content and misinformation, was introduced in US congress Wednesday.
Messenger adds new features for Valentine’s Day
Facebook Messenger is bringing out three new features to coincide with Valentine’s Day next week. The app is going to allow users to preview voice messages before sending and massively increase their duration from 1 minute to 30 minutes - an exciting but terrifying prospect, depending on how users choose to utilise it.
Image Source: Social Media Today
The second feature Messenger’s introducing is in-chat split bill payments for US users. Chat members will be able to request that a total payment amount be split between all participants and Messenger will then allocate the amount to each user, allowing fee-free bill splitting for those who’ve registered their payment details on the app.
Image Source: Social Media Today
Thirdly children with Messenger Kids will be able to join in on the V Day fun, according to Messenger:
‘Kids can share virtual valentines with approved contacts using new AR effects, photo frames and sticker packs. Try shooting arrows as baby cupid, dancing around as the Queen of Hearts, or adding a sweet touch with glowing heart cheeks.’
Image Source: Social Media Today
Twitter tests new ‘Articles’ option
This week Twitter was spotted testing ‘Twitter Articles’, a possibly long-form post format on Twitter, featuring a new ‘Write’ app menu and various text style options. Twitter is potentially aiming to expand on the app's widespread use as a news platform that features various publications. The move would also give users more flexibility in how they share their thoughts, adding more value to outspoken influencers on the platform who currently rely on threads for long-form content.
Twitter was also seen improving its Collabs feature by adding a button in the tweet composer which would allow users to add collaborators.
Alongside this, the app recently introduced a notification feature for US iOS subscribers, allowing users to be notified about exclusive Tweets from those they Super Follow, and was seen testing increased variable playback speeds for audio and video content on the platform.
Image Source: Social Media Today
YouTube details plans to make gaming videos immersive
The platform announced it would start creating Metaverse-like experiences, beginning first with gaming.
YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan, wrote in a blog post:
‘We're thinking big about how to make viewing more immersive. The first area in which you can expect to see an impact is gaming, where we'll work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive. It’s still early days, but we’re excited to see how we can turn these virtual worlds into a reality for viewers’
Detailed also in the blog post were plans to build on the momentum of live-streaming, with features like collaborative live-streams and live-stream shopping (tested last year); alongside more Shorts tools, Shorts monetisation options, potential YouTube NFTs, and more user options when watching YouTube on a connected TV.
