Social Media News Round-Up: 03/09/21

Sep 3

Twitter launches new ‘safety mode’ to help alleviate mental stress

Twitter is launching a new ‘Safety Mode’ which will limit unwelcome interactions and help to alleviate mental stress for users on the platform. ‘Safety Mode’ is currently in beta testing, but when launched will allow users to automatically block spammy or abusive replies, temporarily blocking accounts that use harmful language or send repetitive or uninvited replies and mentions for 7 days.

Introducing Safety Mode. A new way to limit unwelcome interactions on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/xa5Ot2TVhF
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 1, 2021

Twitter launches ‘super follows’ monetisation option in the US

Twitter has officially launched its new ‘Super Follows’ feature after a few months in testing. Selected creators in the US and Canada are now able to use Super Follows to charge a monthly fee for exclusive, extra tweet content for their top fans.

introducing Super Follows—a paid monthly subscription that supports your favorite people on Twitter AND gets you access to ::puts sunglasses on:: super Tweets

rolling out in US and Canada on iOS only … 😏 for now pic.twitter.com/Mb9sgxbw5F
— Super Follows (@SuperFollows) September 1, 2021

Instagram launches ‘10 days of live shopping’ event to showcase ecommerce tools

Instagram is launching a new ‘10 Days of Live Shopping’ event which will showcase its ecommerce potential to creators, brands and users. Featuring some of the platform’s top celebrities, including Selena Gomez (who has 249M followers), the event will detail new releases, offers and exclusive merchandise from brands including Rare Beauty, Peleton, My Kitsch, and more.

LinkedIn is shutting down LinkedIn Stories

It’s officially the end of LinkedIn Stories. Following Twitter’s decision to abandon its own Stories feature Fleets, LinkedIn is now following suit, shutting down its own Stories at the end of September. Following the removal of LinkedIn Stories, the platform says it will be “working on a new format that better supports the needs of our unique professional users.”

Instagram will now require users to enter their birth date

In a step towards better protecting younger users on the platform, Instagram is now asking all users to enter their birth date to verify the legitimacy of their account. Users will now see prompts when entering the app to add their birthday which, if they’re ignored, would eventually see users blocked from the app.