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. Facebook Tests Generative AI Prompts for Better Post Captions
Facebook is experimenting with the AI prompts feature, which enables you to create a post caption via generative AI, to help you come up with better content.
Facebook users are now seeing a new “Write with AI” prompt in the post composer. Upon tapping on it, Meta’s system generates a caption based on your existing post text and/or image. You can then prompt the tool to provide more options, including shorter text, a funnier description, one that’s more “heartfelt” etc.
2. TikTok Prompts Users To Download a New, Dedicated Search Shortcut
TikTok is looking to get more people searching for more stuff in the app, with new prompts that look to get users to download a dedicated TikTok Search shortcut that can then be added to their device Home Screen.
The new TikTok Search shortcut makes it easier to discover TikTok content without having to tap through to the relevant area in the app. This could also help TikTok to become more of a shopping destination, by highlighting relevant product matches in the app, which will then lead to more discovery behavior being routed through this new process.
3. Tiktok is Testing a New Way To Facilitate Engagement Between Creators and Paying Subscribers
TikTok is testing a new live engagement element called “Sub Space”, which is a subscriber-only, chat-like addition that’ll ideally help to incentivize more sign-ups, by giving paying subscribers dedicated focus in live chats.
Sub Space is a new option within TikTok’s Live subscription tools, which enables creators to set up what’s essentially a private chat room for paying members only. Once the Sub Space is established, creators will then be able to either respond to these chats on camera during a live video stream, giving subscribers a dedicated space to engage in real time, or creators will be able to participate in the text chat.
4. Instagram Adds a Video Cutout Option to Create Animated Stickers
Instagram has expanded its new Cutout sticker option to also include videos, enabling you to create animated stickers from any video clip posted in the app.
Now in addition to being able to cut entities from still images, you can also isolate essentially GIFs from videos as well. This provides you with a heap more creative options, through the creation of individual stickers of various post elements, that you can then share over and over again in your own Stories and Reels.
However, there are certain limitations. Like still image stickers, to create a sticker from a post, the creator has to have posted publicly, while they also need to have enabled permissions for other users to create cutouts from their content. This is opt-in by default, but users can switch this off if they choose, to stop people from reusing their images. Also, if you create a cutout sticker from someone else’s posts, and that user then deletes the post, you’ll lose your sticker.
5. Snapchat Announces New Round of Layoffs, Affecting 500 Roles
Snap Inc. has announced a new round of layoffs, with the company set to cull 10% of its global workforce as it continues to rationalize costs, and re-focus the business. Snap will cut around 500 roles as part of its latest cost and strategic review.
It’s been a rough 12 months for the company, with Snap also culling 20% of its workforce, or 1,200 employees, back in August, as it works to offset its ad revenue losses and streamline its operations. Snap also shut down its ARES external AR project in September, resulting in more job reductions.
6. Snapchat Is Now up to 800M Monthly Active Users
Snap has revealed that its monthly active user count is now up to 800 million, rising from the 750 million MAU that it reported in February last year.
Snap is now pushing this “antidote to social media” line in a new ad campaign, in which it seeks to differentiate itself from other social apps. And with broader online sharing trends leaning more into private messaging, Snap is seemingly in a good position to capitalize on new opportunities, though its actual growth hasn’t been as beneficial as Snap would have hoped.
7. X Starts Displaying Sports Gambling Odds In-Stream, Powered by BetMGM
After announcing its new partnership with BetMGM late last month, X has now released its new display of sports betting odds in-stream, just in time for the Super Bowl this weekend.
X’s new sports betting odds graphics will be displayed to users who search for sports event-related topics. The odds will also include a direct link to the BetMGM website, where users can place bets on that event. It’s a smart integration for BetMGM, given broader engagement around sports in the app, and the direct attention among sports gamblers specifically, who already use the platform to keep up with real-time updates around live events.
8. X Announces Exclusive Content Deal With the WWE
X has announced a new, exclusive content deal with the WWE, adding more video programming to its growing slate of shows.
As per the announcement, WWE will air a new, weekly show on X which will feature timed matches between popular WWE stars. That could bring a lot of WWE fans to the app, depending on which stars are included in this program. X has also noted that in 2023, conversations about wrestling increased 11% year-over-year.
9. LinkedIn is Removing Its Creator Mode Option
LinkedIn is getting rid of its “Creator Mode” option as part of its broader shift away from hashtags as a connective tool, though it’s still keeping most of its Creator Mode elements as optional tools for all users, even if you haven’t switched Creator Mode on in your settings.
Originally launched in 2021, LinkedIn’s Creator Mode provides dedicated tools to help users to establish their presence in the app, which includes associating topical hashtags with your profile, adding a “Featured” section to showcase your content, and a “Follow” button, as opposed to “Connect”, on your profile. But now, LinkedIn is moving away from the optional setting by removing profile hashtags to highlight topics that creators share content about, while from next month, the ability to switch on Creator Mode will be removed from your profile settings.
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.