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. TikTok Announces New Programming and Creative Effects for Fashion Month
TikTok has announced a new series of activations for Fashion Month 2022, including a creator showcase, live stream programming, new digital effects, and more. Over the next month, running till October 14th, TikTok will showcase a range of fashion influencers and designers via the #FashionMonth hashtag.
TikTok will also host live sessions with various well-known fashion identities and publications, including Julia Fox, Paper Magazine, and WhoWhatWear. Moreover, TikTok’s also working with Vogue Magazine to showcase emerging fashion designers.
2. Twitter Adds WhatsApp and LinkedIn Sharing Buttons to Facilitate Broader Tweet Engagement
As WhatsApp is by far the most used messaging app in India (487+ million users), Twitter’s looking to lean into that embedded usage, by testing out a new, dedicated WhatsApp share button in the lower tweet function display. As a result, some Indian Twitter users are now seeing a WhatsApp icon in their tweet engagement options, which enables users to quickly share a tweet with their WhatsApp contacts.
Twitter has also enabled tweet sharing to Snapchat and IG Stories on Android (previously only available on iOS), along with a new option to share a tweet to LinkedIn. That’ll provide more ways to share relevant tweets across all of your favorite platforms, while also helping to ensure that Twitter can keep tabs on such activity - as opposed to people sharing screenshots of tweets instead, which are still very common, and can’t be attributed back to the app itself.
3. Snapchat Provides New Voter Registration and Awareness Tools Ahead of US Midterms
Snapchat has detailed some new steps that it’s taking to encourage its users to vote, or register to vote, in preparation for upcoming polls. Snapchat has proven itself to be a key connector on this front, with the app’s reach to young audiences helping to raise awareness around civic participation, and improve political engagement among younger groups.
Snap’s latest efforts will seek to encourage more youngsters to register to share their voice, while it’s also launching a new ‘Voting 101 hub’ in the app, which will provide instructional videos on how to participate.
4. YouTube Provides New, Ad-Free Player for Classrooms, New In-Stream Courses for Educational Creators
YouTube has announced a new, dedicated YouTube Player for Education, which will enable educators to display YouTube content without ads via certain third-party platforms, while YouTube’s also giving qualified creators the option to offer free or paid courses directly in-app.
This will make it easier for teachers to use YouTube content within their curriculum, and to share relevant links with students without additional disruptions. YouTube says that it’s partnering with established edtech companies like EDpuzzle, Purdue University and Purdue Global on the initial stages of the initiative, with further expansion planned in the near future.
5. Pinterest Outlines Latest Efforts to Combat Political Misinformation Ahead of the US Midterms
Pinterest has outlined its latest measures to combat political misinformation via Pins. It is rolling out a new search advisory message for query terms that could be related to elections or voting. Pinterest will show a pop-up notifier on related searches which will refer users to Vote.org for more information.
These types of prompts are only small steps in the broader scheme, but even minimal nudges like this can be effective in guiding users towards more reputable, official sources.
6. Reddit Launches Updated Feed Switching Process as Part of Broader UI Reassessment
Reddit has announced a slight tweak in its UI, which will see the removal of separate feed tabs along the top of the main display in favor of a new drop-down menu to access your ‘Home’, ‘Popular’ and ‘News’ feeds. Therefore, you’ll now have a separate menu to switch to each feed type.
So, given that most Redditors already swipe across to switch feeds, which is still available as an option, this, functionally, won’t change much, but it does make the app a little cleaner, with fewer options competing for attention on the main screen.
7. LinkedIn Announces ‘Talent Connect’ 2022 Conference
After a two-year, COVID-induced hiatus, LinkedIn will hold its Talent Connect event again this October, where it will showcase a range of expert insights on the state of recruitment, along with LinkedIn-specific trends, updates, and more.
With a roster of 50 speakers to present over the two days, Talent Connect will be a must-attend for those in the HR sector, while those not directly working in HR may also benefit from tuning into insights from LinkedIn’s team, which will include updates to its job listing and search tools, and other elements.
8. Twitter Announces New Business Marketing Workshop Series to Help Improve Your Tweet Strategy
Twitter has announced a new series of free ‘Twitter Flight School’ workshops, which will provide in-depth, expert insights into how to set up your business for success in the app. These sessions will be run by Twitter Product Marketing Manager Morgan Cornelius, who will go over all the core basics of how to maximize your Twitter business presence with these new tools and tips.
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.