Social Media Buzz Weekly: Roundup of Social Media Updates
- ClickInsights
- Apr 25
- 8 min read
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. Publishers Seeing Increases in Referral Traffic From Facebook in March
Meta’s change in approach to political content appears to be driving more referral traffic from the platform once again, with new data showing that total referral traffic from the app is up 74% year-over-year for some of the biggest publisher sites.
Meta’s revised approach to political and news topics has now reopened its referral traffic taps once again, which could bode well for those looking to use Facebook to attract an audience. Overall, Facebook referral traffic has declined significantly from what it had been in 2022 for these big publisher sites. Meta actually began exploring restrictions on “political” content in 2021, in the wake of the Capitol riots, based on both rising political polarization, as well as feedback from users that their feeds were becoming overwhelmed with too much division and angst.
2. Meta Hit With Another Big Fine in Europe Over DMA Breaches
The European Union Commission has hit Meta with yet another big fine of €200m (£171m), for breaches of its data consent regulations, relating to the way in which Meta has sought to offer EU users alternatives to avoid providing their personal info for ad targeting purposes.
The penalty specifically relates to Meta’s alternative subscription offering in Europe. Back in 2023, Meta launched its ad-free subscription option to European users, in response to EU rules which dictate that social platforms must offer users an opt-out from targeted ads. The solution here seemed fairly simple, and in a business operation sense, fair, with Meta announcing that EU users could indeed opt out of having their personal data used for ad targeting by paying €9.99 per month to keep using its apps.
3. Zuckerberg Admits That Time Spent on Facebook and Instagram Has Declined
Mark Zuckerberg has admitted in the FTC antitrust case that Facebook is losing out to other apps in terms of time spent.
This admission is a significant note, on an element that Meta has generally avoided discussing. Back in the day, Meta used to regularly share updates on the amount of time users were spending in its apps, reporting, for example, in 2016 that users were spending more than 50 minutes per day, on average, using Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. But after that update, Meta stopped reporting these figures. This likely suggests that the amount of time spent in its apps hasn’t increased significantly ever since.
4. TikTok Now Displays Reviews for Certain Location-Tagged Posts in the App
TikTok is taking another step towards expanding its in-stream business listings, with the addition of business reviews on selected, location-tagged videos in the app.
Some TikTok comment sections now also have a separate “Reviews” tab, which showcases user reviews for businesses at the tagged location. Some of these are for general locations and tourist attractions, while others are for specific businesses, with viewers able to upvote each review direct in-stream. You can also tap through on any review to be taken to the reviewers’ TikTok profile.
5. TikTok Renews Content Partnership With MLS
TikTok has renewed its media partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS), which will see the U.S.-based soccer league continue to share exclusive content to the app.
TikTok signed its original partnership with MLS back in 2023, which has seen the league build a strong following in the app, which it’s now looking to expand on with this refreshed agreement. That partnership was a big win for the app, and the first time that TikTok had delved into live sports coverage.
6. TikTok Adds Community Notes to Complement Fact-Checking
TikTok is the latest social app to jump on the crowd-sourced fact-checking shift, with the platform launching a live test of what it’s calling “Footnotes”, which are user-submitted contextual notes appended to posts.
Now, users will be able to add fact-checking notes and contextual references to TikTok clips that include questionable claims, which will help to expand its moderation process. TikTok’s Footnotes system will be based on X’s open-sourced Community Notes system, so it will be a virtual replica of X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking, warts and all.
7. Instagram Tests New Sorting Filters for Reels Feed
Instagram appears to be testing two new search filters for the Reels tab, which would enable you to sort your recommended Reels by “Latest” or “Most Viewed.”
Some users are now seeing the new filter options from a dropdown menu in the Reels tab. For most IG users, the filters you currently have available in the Reels tab, accessible by tapping the “Reels” title, are “Following” and “Nearby”. These new options would give you more capacity to filter the Reels that you’re shown, though they’d still presumably be displayed to you based on IG’s algorithmic matching.
8. Instagram Launches Video Editing App
After months of previews, Instagram has now launched its new video editing app, which it’s creatively titled “Edits.”
Essentially, Edits is Instagram’s answer to CapCut, the video editing platform published by TikTok owner ByteDance, with Instagram helpfully offering a replacement for CapCut in case TikTok actually does end up getting banned in the U.S. The initial version of Edits will be made available for free, but IG chief Adam Mosseri recently noted that it may have to charge users for some AI features, in particular, due to the additional cost of compute.
9. Instagram Implements Expanded AI Age Checking, New Parent Prompts
Instagram is expanding its AI age-checking process, in order to ensure more teens are using its various safety measures and systems, while it’s also rolling out new notifications for parents to help ensure their teens are aware of online risks.
Over the past couple of years, Instagram has been gradually advancing its age-checking systems, with new processes that can detect signals which could indicate that a young user has lied about their age. It’s now expanding this, with improved AI systems that can factor in more elements, in order to better assess the age of an account user. On another front, Instagram will also begin prompting parents with new alerts about teen safety features, and how they can discuss online safety with their kids.
10. Instagram Experiments With Collaborative Stories Feature
Instagram is experimenting with a new Stories element called “Storylines”, which are essentially collaborative Stories built by you and your connections in the app.
As per IG’s overview, with Storylines, friends that you follow back would be able to “link a new, related story to your story,” building a larger narrative from an event. It’s another way for IG to encourage more interaction and participation, which IG chief Adam Mosseri noted would be a key focus for the app this year.
11. Instagram Launches ‘Blend’ Reels Sharing Feature
Instagram has launched its new “Blend” option for Reels, which enables you to create a shared feed of recommended Reels with a friend or group chat.
You can now create a Blend feed, which will be sent as an invite via DM. As the description notes, the Blend feed will then present a combined Reels feed, based on each member’s suggested Reels. The Blend feed will show you all of the Reels that you and your friend/s would be shown individually, within a single stream.
12. Pinterest Tests Alerts To Keep Teens off the App During School Hours
Pinterest is testing out new prompts that’ll urge teen users to shut the app down till after school if they open it between 8am and 3pm on weekdays.
However, teens can just press that big “X” at the top left of the main image to shut the prompt down, and go back to what they were doing. But the test aligns with Pinterest’s more positive approach to shifting user behavior, and ideally, it’ll have some impact on reducing disruptive Pinterest usage.
13. X Experiments With Updated Video Playback UI
X is experimenting with an updated video playback UI, which would move the engagement counts up from the bottom of the screen, and the function buttons into the lower black bar along the bottom.
The updated X video player would put more focus on the content, with transparent engagement buttons on the lower playback window, above the playback speed, volume controls, etc. The current video playback UI (on the right) has the performance metrics along the bottom, as opposed to the control buttons.
14. xAI Adds Memory To Grok To Personalize Future Responses
xAI has added new memory capacity to its Grok chatbot, which will enable Grok to recall elements of your previous interactions with the bot, in order to customize future responses.
Using its memory of your past questions and responses, Grok will now be able to tailor its future answers to your personal requirements, like outlining a workout plan that aligns with your preferences. You’ll also be able to tap a new “Referenced chats” button at the bottom of Grok’s answers to see what it’s basing its responses on, and you can remove those references from its memory if they’re not helpful.
15. xAI Launches ‘Grok Studio’ Advanced AI Project Tool
xAI has released its initial version of “Grok Studio,” a new expansion of its Grok chatbot designed to incorporate multiple inputs, and generate reports, code, even browser games, via Grok outputs.
Grok Studio is designed to integrate various files, including Google Drive documents, in order to help you create multimodal content. So you can essentially collaborate on your outputs, as you watch them come to life on another screen.
16. X Launches Updated Post Analytics Display
X has launched a revamped UI for its post analytics pages, providing an easier to understand overview of individual post performance over time.
The updated post analytics display includes a full overview of all your engagement and reach metrics, including re-posts, shares, video views, Premium viewers, and more. There’s also a chart showing relative post activity over time (by metric), giving you an additional measure response and engagement.
17. LinkedIn Gains Expanded MRC Accreditation for Video Ad Metrics
LinkedIn is adding more assurance for video marketers via expanded Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its video metrics, which will mean that more of LinkedIn’s data measurement systems have now been reviewed and approved by the industry body.
The MRC’s accreditation is a voluntary process, which crosschecks measurement and reporting systems to ensure that they adhere to industry standards across several key areas relating to ethical operations, disclosure, and delivery. LinkedIn initially gained MRC accreditation for several of its display ad metrics back in 2023, and now, it’s re-accredited those elements, while also gaining accreditation for four video ad metrics.
18. LinkedIn Launches Qualified Leads Optimization for Custom Ad Targeting
LinkedIn’s looking to help businesses generate more leads in the app, by using each businesses’ own parameters around “qualified” leads to optimize its ad targeting.
LinkedIn’s “Qualified Leads Optimization,” which can now be applied to any campaign using the Lead Generation objective, enables brands to set their own definitions around this element, in order to help LinkedIn’s system find similar opportunities. The process enables advertisers to set a definition of lead quality via their own CRM, which will then define how LinkedIn’s system targets your promotions in the app.
19. LinkedIn Expands ‘Wire’ Video Promotion Option
LinkedIn has announced a new expansion of its Wire video promotion offering, which enables brands to place their video ads alongside premium publisher content in the app.
Through the program, brands can place their video ads at the beginning of a chosen publishers’ video clip (pre-roll), adding a level of association with manually selected professional content that could help to improve branding and resonance. Originally launched with selected partners in June last year, LinkedIn expanded its Wire offering to EU publishers last October. And now, it’s opening up Wire ad placement access to more brands.
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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لكل محبي التقنية، إليكم Sigma4Pcاً
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