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 take a look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. Meta Shuts Down Cameo-Like ‘Super’ App
Meta has announced that it’s shutting down its Cameo-like ‘Super’ app, through which fans were able to pay for celebrity shout-outs within video chats.
Very much like Cameo, though more focused on streamers and online influencers, Super hosted meet-and-greets, with users able to pay for one-on-one chats and other add-ons to enhance the experience. It was another element in Meta’s broader push to provide more monetization opportunities for creators.
But now, Super’s time has passed, as it’s moved onto the great digital shelf in the cloud, as Meta looks to cut costs and rationalize its investment in areas not related to its metaverse project.
2. Instagram Adds New Measures to Help Users Regain Access to Locked Accounts
https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/15/23510803/instagram-hacked-account-support-regain-access-security
Instagram has added some new tools to help users regain access to their accounts if they find themselves locked out. To that end, Instagram has set up a new recovery center that will guide you through the process of logging back into your profile.
Now, if you find yourself locked out of IG, you can go to Instagram.com/hacked, which will then take you through the process to get your login info. Instagram also notes that people with multiple accounts will be able to choose which specific account needs support. It has also expanded access to its friend confirmation process, which enables users to refer to their friends to confirm their identity if they end up locked out.
3. YouTube Tests New Emoji Reactions Within Live Streams
YouTube’s adding another response option within live-streams, with a new test of emoji reactions during a broadcast.
Now, like the live-streaming options in other apps, you’ll also be able to respond, in real-time, with an emoji, with the current response set including a heart, the ‘laughing till you cry’ face, the surprised reaction, and more. Timed Reactions enables users to add an emoji reaction to a specific frame in the video playback, which other viewers can then see. YouTube also recently added Emotes, another way to show your response in the chat stream.
4. TikTok Tests New Horizontal, Full-Width Display for Videos
TikTok has introduced a YouTube-style horizontal full-screen display option, providing a whole new way to view TikTok clips.
As a result, some users are now seeing a new ‘Full Screen’ button displayed on screen in some clips, which prompts them to turn their device to the side to see the full-width display. This could provide a whole new set of considerations for creators, and when you combine this with 10 minute uploads, there’s a heap of ways in which this could be used within your TikTok content strategy to boost engagement and interest.
5. US Lawmakers Call for Full Ban of TikTok Due to Data Tracking Concerns
TikTok is facing yet another legal challenge in the US, with Republican Senator Marco Rubio introducing bipartisan legislation to ban the app from operating in the US, primarily due to concerns around data collection, and TikTok’s linkage to the Chinese Government.
The bill calls for TikTok to be cut off entirely in the US, in order to avoid sharing data with ’America’s foremost adversary’, with TikTok potentially acting as a surveillance device for Chinese spies. It’s the latest in a long-running series of legal challenges for the app, which, at one time, was almost banned in the US entirely under the direction of former President Donald Trump.
6. Meta Looks to Advance Industry Collaboration to Tackle Terrorist Content Online
Meta’s looking to help expand broader industry efforts in the detection and removal of terrorism-related content, with the release of its Hasher-Matcher-Actioner (HMA) tool, which identifies copies of images or videos online, enabling better detection without making copies of the source material itself.
The goal of Meta’s HMA system is to help identify offensive content without re-distributing it for this purpose, effectively limiting instances of such material while still enabling detection. The announcement of the broader launch of HMA comes as Meta also prepares to take on the chair role for the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT)’s Operating Board, which is a collection of tech companies that have banded together to tackle terrorist content online, through research, technical collaboration and knowledge sharing.
7. Instagram Adds ‘Candid’ BeReal Clone, Other New Engagement Elements for the Holidays
Meta has announced some new connection tools on Instagram, which are designed to lean into engagement trends, and get people sharing more of their personal interactions in the app.
Firstly, Notes, a new conversation-prompting option, will sit just above your messages in your inbox, and highlight chat prompts from your connections. Notes appear like Stories in your inbox, with your connections able to pose a question to spark a chat.
Meta’s also looking to update its group chat function, with new group profiles, which will only be visible to group members, and Collaborative Collections.
8. Twitter Shuts Down Revue Newsletter Platform Following ‘Twitter Files’ Response from Former CEO
Twitter has sent an email to all Revue users informing them that the platform is shutting down next month. The move came less than 24 hours after Jack Dorsey offered a defense of his former colleagues amid questions over their activity on the newsletter platform Revue.
Twitter acquired Revue last year, with a view to facilitating new forms of revenue generation for creators, as part of its broader push to build in more monetization tools.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next Monday 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.