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Social Media Buzz Weekly: Roundup of Social Media Updates

Writer's picture: ClickInsightsClickInsights

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 look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.


1. Meta Says Community Notes Will Not Be Displayed on Paid Ads



Meta has said that Community Notes will not be displayed on paid ads.Whether they’ll be allowed to be added to paid endorsements from celebrities and influencers, however, remains to be seen.



Meta’s decision to switch to Community Notes, and get rid of third-party fact-checkers, has sparked widespread backlash, and triggered concern among ad partners, given the impact that the same change has had on X’s ad business. But Meta is looking to assure ad partners by implementing some changes in its approach. Interestingly, that’s in variance to X’s approach, which does allow Community Notes to be added to any post, paid or not.


2. Meta Platforms to Cut Roughly 5 Percent of Staff, Targeting Lowest Performers



Meta Platforms is cutting roughly 5 percent of its staff through performance-based terminations and plans to hire new people to fill their roles this year, according to an internal memo sent to all employees.



In a note posted to an internal message board, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said that he has decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster. As of September, Meta employed about 72,000 people, so a 5 percent reduction could affect roughly 3,600 jobs. Meta’s performance cycle is expected to wrap up in February and affected workers in the US are expected to be notified on February 10, while those based in other countries will be informed at a later date, according to the memo.


3. TikTok Launches Updated Video Editor App



TikTok has launched an updated Video Editor platform, which is now part of its Symphony creative tool set, to enable more editing options and functions within a single management dashboard.



TikTok’s Video Editor offers advanced editing tools, as well as access to newer creative features, such as digital avatars, narration with auto-captions, one-click translations with voiceovers and AI-generated soundtracks. The updated Video Editor UI now makes it easier to access and use these various functions, while also incorporating new guidance on how to create better clips, based on what’s already working in the app.


4. Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Sell-Off Bill in the US



As expected, the Supreme Court has announced that it will uphold the ruling of the Senate-approved Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.



The act rules that TikTok, and other apps owned by Chinese corporations operating in the U.S. (with more than a million U.S. users), need to either be sold into U.S.-ownership, or cease operating in the nation. However, incoming President Donald Trump has granted TikTok a 75-day extension in the U.S.after taking office on 20th January. The extension would give the Trump Administration more time to organize a possible alternative to keep the app available in America.


5. Trump Grants TikTok 75 Day Extension on US Sell-Off



Incoming President Donald Trump has granted TikTok a 75-day extension on the original bill timeline, in order to work out an alternative arrangement to keep it running in the U.S.



However, legal experts have suggested that this is not legally binding, as the law is already in effect. Had Trump enacted this before the January 19th date, that would have been applicable, but because it’s being applied in retrospect, the concern now is that all of the providers are indeed liable for fines, and that TikTok remains banned in the U.S.


Trump has amassed nearly 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. Yet its 170 million U.S. users could not access TikTok for more than 12 hours between the night of 19th January of and 20th morning.


6. Instagram Updates Profile Grid With Vertical-Aligned Thumbnails



Instagram has announced a significant update to its profile grid, introducing vertical-aligned thumbnails instead of the traditional square format.



This change, spearheaded by Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, aims to better accommodate the platform’s increasing prevalence of vertical content. That presentation style, which Instagram has been experimenting with for months, is more aligned with Reels, and incidentally, TikTok, which Instagram is trying to set itself up as a replacement for. Instagram is also looking to move your Highlights into the grid, while also adding them as a separate tab.


7. Instagram Officially Expands Reels Length to 3 Minutes



Instagram has officially announced that users can now create 3-minute Reels in the app, allowing some additional time for your short-form masterpieces.



Instagram has been experimenting with longer Reels for some time, with 10-minute Reels even tested with some users. So it’s not a new concept, while it could also better align Reels with TikTok, which enables users to post longer videos in-stream. YouTube also officially extended the length of Shorts to three minutes earlier this month. Interestingly, Instagram has repeatedly instructed creators that posting longer Reels is a bad idea.


8. Instagram Will Now Show Your Friends Which Reels You’ve Liked



Some Instagram users have noted a new indicator at the top right of the Reels playback window which shows images of profile bubbles representing your friends, with a heart or comment icon overlaid on each.



This is a new way to show you content that your connections have liked or commented on in the app, and if you tap through on that indicator, you’ll be able to view posts that your friends have engaged with. The idea here is to encourage engagement, so Instagram has put the reply bar up front on these posts, so you can easily respond to your friend/s in relation to their interaction with that content. And it does make some sense, in showing you content that both of you may be interested in, and sparking that initial engagement.


9. Instagram Previews ‘Edits’ Mobile Video Editing App



Instagram has launched a new, mobile video editing tool called ‘Edits’, which will serve as an alternative for CapCut, the popular mobile video editing app, which is also owned by TikTok owner ByteDance, and thus, is also caught up in the TikTok ban.



Edits will offer a range of creative tools and inspirational resources, including the ability to capture video up to 10 minutes, and store drafts all in one place for easy project management. Also, it will provide a timeline that enables more control over assembling your videos, including clip-level editing, auto-enhance features, and effects like green screen, overlays and transitions. Edits will also enable you to share drafts with friends and other creators from the app, while you’ll also be able to export your clips without a watermark, for use on other platforms.


10. Snapchat Pledges $5M in Aid for Los Angeles Fires



Snapchat chief Evan Spiegel, along with Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy, has committed $5 million in immediate aid, while also pledging to do more in the recovery process.



Spiegel said that more than 150 Snap team members have been displaced by the disaster, which also burned down his father’s home, where the app was originally founded and launched. So Spiegel obviously has a more personal connection to the region. Yet, even so, Snapchat is a lot smaller than the other tech giants, who instead have been caught up in their own battles around free speech and censorship.


11. Snapchat Looks to Scoop up TikTok Users With New Campaign



Although TikTok has been given a 75-day extension by the incoming President Donald Trump, Snapchat has launched a new campaign to highlight its creators, and how people can find creative, original talent in its app to lure TikTok users.



Snap’s “Find Your Favorites on Snapchat” campaign, which is being launched across digital channels in the U.S., will feature a range of Snap stars talking about the content that they create, and how you can find them in the app. Snap further highlights its recently updated creator monetization program, which now merges its Spotlight and Stories monetization programs into one stream. It also has its Snap Star Collab Studio to facilitate creator/brand partnerships, as well as pathways for specific creators to make money via the app.


12. X Launches Dedicated Video Tab in the US



After testing it out for over a year, X has now launched its new, dedicated video tab in the bottom function bar of the app, with U.S. users now able to quickly access the platform’s full-screen immersive video feed.



U.S. users with the latest version of the app now have an alternative lower function bar display, with a play button icon replacing the “Communities” tab, in order to make it easier for users to access X’s growing range of video content. X’s original video tab was in testing before the Grok button existed, and it is interesting to consider whether adding an extra button to the lower function bar will actually be a positive or negative move for the app.


13. Telegram Boss Faces French Magistrates Over App’s Role in Organised Crime



Telegram founder Pavel Durov has told investigating magistrates in France, where he is charged with multiple infractions linked to enabling organised crime, that he “realised the seriousness of all the allegations”.



Extracts from Durov’s questioning in December after his August arrest show that he initially blamed French authorities for failing to alert Telegram to alleged criminal activity. He claimed that the agent said Paris was satisfied with Telegram’s cooperation, but that other investigating services had used “the wrong email addresses” to report suspected crimes on the platform. The 40-year-old added that he had done his “best” to take “appropriate” action to address such reports.


14. YouTubers Sell Footage to Tech Giants as AI Video Arms Race Heats Up



YouTube creators and digital content producers are finding a new revenue stream by selling their unused video footage to artificial intelligence (AI) companies.



OpenAI, Google's Alphabet, Moonvalley, and other AI firms are offering lucrative deals to content creators for access to their unpublished videos, with payments ranging from $1 to $4 per minute of footage. The unique and exclusive nature of this content makes it valuable for training AI algorithms, especially videos shot in high quality like 4K or captured using drones and 3D animations. AI companies are in a race to gather vast amounts of data to train their systems, with the launch of AI video generators by OpenAI, Meta Platforms, and Adobe in 2024.


15. LinkedIn Adds New AI Tools to Assist Job Seekers and Recruiters



LinkedIn is launching some new, AI-powered tools for job seekers, with a new “Job Match” tool on job listings, that will show you how you can improve your chances of getting a specific role, and a separate recruitment AI agent, which is part of its broader push to incorporate AI agents of all types.



The Job Match AI process will review your profile, and provide advice based on how well your skills match those listed in the ad. LinkedIn’s new recruitment AI agent, meanwhile, has been designed to help smaller businesses deal with the recruitment process.


Wrapping Up

And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next week 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.

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