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 Publishes Holiday Planning Guide to Assist with Your Season Campaigns
Meta has published a new Holiday Planning Guide to assist with your seasonal promotions, which can help you maximize the opportunities of the season.
Meta’s publishing regional versions of its holiday planner, with the ANZ version out now, though localized versions will also be available soon. But most of the tips are universal either way, in terms of practical planning and implementation, and as such, the regional variances don’t change the fundamentals of the guidance.
2. Instagram Will Now Let You Add Up to Three Collaborators on Posts and Reels
Instagram has announced that users can now add up to three collaborators on their posts and reels. Instagram first launched Collaborative Posts back in 2021, which gives users the capacity to share credit for a single post with another account.
This will provide more ways for users to engage with each other in-stream – though it’s important to note that paid partnerships need to use the Paid Partnership Label process, as opposed to this type of tagging, which is especially important considering evolving laws around influencer marketing disclosure. But for regular users, it could add more ways to tag and boost their friends in the app, exposing other accounts for their audience to follow.
3. Meta Launches Instagram Threads in a Direct Challenge to Twitter
Meta has officially debuted its Twitter-like messaging app Threads, which the company is pitching as Instagram’s “text-based conversation app.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO and co-founder, announced the debut of Threads on 5th July, marking the official release of the social networking giant’s new text-focused messaging app. Threads represents Meta’s attempt to capture the wave of users who have left Twitter amid the often unpredictable ownership of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The Threads app is now available to download for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play online store in over 100 countries, Meta said in a blog post.
4. Twitter Threatens to Take Legal Action Over Meta’s New Threads App
Twitter’s parent company X Corp has threatened to initiate legal proceedings against Meta over the Twitter clone app, with X Corp accusing Meta of poaching ex-Twitter employees, as well as ‘systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.’
X Corp says that Meta has hired dozens of former Twitter employees to work on the project, many of whom had proprietary knowledge of Twitter’s inner workings. The filing also alludes to Meta crawling and/or scraping Twitter’s platform as another potential growth element.
5. Twitter Adds Media Studio Access to Twitter Blue Features List
Twitter has added another perk for Twitter Blue subscribers, with paying users now also able to access its Media Studio content management and scheduling platform in the app.
Media Studio, which was originally launched for Twitter media partners back in 2016, includes a range of media asset management tools, including a unified media library, where users can access all of their previously uploaded content (including videos, GIFs, and still images), tweet scheduling tools, account access/permissions controls, analytics, advanced production elements (including the option to use external encoding software), and more. Media Studio has thus far been limited to only selected media partners, but now, Twitter Blue subscribers will also be able to access this advanced content management element.
6. Twitter Tests Voice and Video Calls in DMs
Twitter’s working on new voice and video elements within its DM UI, which will provide more utility in the app, and make it easier to stay in touch with friends.
The new Twitter DM interface, which is still in development, would enable easy access to voice and video calls, by tapping the call icon at the top right of your DM feed. That could be another way to expand Twitter’s utility, and with Elon Musk looking to convert the platform into an ‘everything app’, able to facilitate a broad range of functions, it’s another step towards expanded usage, which will ideally help to shift perceptions of what’s possible within your Twitter approach.
7. Twitter Gains Payment Licensing in Three US States
Twitter’s parent company X Corp has secured its first licenses to enable funds transfers in the app in three US states. Twitter has gained money transmitter licenses in Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire. That’s the first step to facilitating direct payments in the app, which is a key element of Elon Musk’s broader plan for an ‘everything app’, which could also, eventually, see Twitter renamed as part of this shift.
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.