Social Media Updates You Might Have Missed: January 2018
Cheers to a whole new year of innovative technology and cutting-edge ways to improve your online presence!
What better way to ring in 2018 than by educating yourself on the latest social media updates? Elevate your accounts with these new features that are now available on some of our favorite platforms.
Promoting Personal Content
In an attempt to bring back their original mission, Facebook is now changing their News Feed algorithm to promote more relative and personal posts at the expense of public content and advertisements.
The pros? Less time spent scrolling through meaningless ads and random videos.
The cons? Ads will become less important to the website, meaning the days of heavily promoting on Facebook may come to an end.
“Today In” Feature
In the past couple of weeks, Facebook has been testing a brand new feature which will highlight local news and events. Calling the new feature “Today In”, the update is set to launch city-specific content and will give users access to real-time events relative to their own location.
Stories Become Desktop Accessible
Instead of shying away from it’s newly introduced “Facebook Stories”, the network is now promoting the posting and viewing of stories from a desktop, which is overwhelmingly the most popular medium of users.
Schedule Posts
One of the biggest updates from this past month is Instagram’s new feature that allows businesses to schedule their posts in advance! The post scheduling feature doesn’t extend to ads, and it isn’t available with the app itself. Instead, it’s been added to Instagram’s API – meaning that social media software applications like Hootsuite, Sprout Social or SocialFlow now have access to the feature, which they can then add to their own products.
For now, this update is only available to target organizations as many smaller businesses don’t use third-party software programs when managing their Instagram.
Text-based Stories
Want more options to take your Instagram Stories to the next level? So do we. Instagram is now testing out a new Story feature titled, “Type”.
This update will add the option of creating solely text-based stories instead of just videos or photos. This addition will not only add a more simplified option for promoting links and writing descriptions, but will also have more font and alignment options when it comes to the actual text design.
Instagram Story Design Boosts
Instagram users are now able to place transparent GIFs over their videos and images when posting Stories. This feature provides its users with a way to see trending GIFs or search through thousands of background-less GIFs to find a perfect match for their content.
Also, word on the street is that Instagram will soon allow the posting of square or horizontal composition photos in Stories. The feature will automatically fill in the empty space with a customizable border.
YouTube
In-app Messaging Expands to Youtube TV
Loving Youtube’s in-app messaging option? Well now you don’t have to miss out on this crucial community aspect while using the Youtube TV app. There’s also talk of bringing the same feature to the newest app, Youtube Music.
Monetization Rules
Youtube is doubling down on their security by adding human moderation to discourage the site from promoting any questionable content. As a result, this change is making it harder for YouTubers to make money off of their videos. Users will now have to be fully screened and meet certain requirements before joining their partner program.
Thread Reader Bot
Tired of struggling through complicated tweets when attempting to skim through the latest threads? A new bot called, “Thread Reader App” (@threadreaderapp), converts complicated threads and Twitter “rants” into an accessible, organized blog-like format.
Introducing Sponsored ‘Moments’
Twitter is now allowing advertising companies sponsor ‘Moments’, which is the Twitter version of Stories. Sponsored ‘Moments’ allow brands to add their cover image and some of their company’s own tweets to the content bundle. This feature allows for a more personalized connection between the advertiser and the public.
Threading Feature
There’s now a way to create your own personal thread and tell your story on Twitter! By adding a new “+” button to the composer page, the site is now allowing users to share multiple thoughts in the format of one tweet. Twitter is also including a “Show This Thread” button to go along with the new feature to eliminate scrolling through these lengthy posts.
Snapchat
External Link Sharing
Snapchat is now allowing users to share links to videos that have been posted publicly in the app. The shared link will then be opened on Snapchat.com to view the selected video. This feature is great for sharing content with those who don’t have a Snapchat account or the app downloaded!
Audience Insights Tool
At the start of the New Year, Pinterest announced an exciting new tool for business accounts only. This tool, Audience Insights, will allow brands to dig deeper into their data and engagement levels on the site. Get early access to the feature here to start optimizing your Pinterest account!
That brings our January updates to a close! Comment below with some of your new favorite add-ons, or tell us about the features you’ve mastered this month!
