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 Ends its Portal Smart Speaker Device Project
Meta has been forced to cut development of its Portal smart display device entirely, as it looks to rationalize its projects. Launched in 2018, Meta’s Portal video calling device has seen a level of success in some regions, particularly amid the pandemic, with Meta pushing the devices as means to stay in touch with loved ones during the lockdown period.
2. YouTube Announces Holiday Shopping Showcase as it Works to Maximize its Commerce Opportunities
YouTube’s looking to give live-stream shopping another push, with a new series of shopping streams, and other in-app shopping activations, hosted by some of the most popular creators in the app, in the lead-up to Thanksgiving.
The activation will see some of the top stars in the app, including MrBeast, Bethany Mota and iJustine, broadcasting over 10 days, showcasing various products and offerings, while YouTube will also be running Shorts Challenges to tie into the shopping event.
3. Twitter Pauses New $8 Checkmark Offering as Musk Warns of Possible Bankruptcy at the App
Elon Musk’s plan to sell blue checkmarks has led to a raft of people impersonating prominent identities and brands in the app. The impersonation issue has gotten so bad, so fast, that Twitter has now paused the new $8 Twitter Blue offering, in order to re-assess the process.
Twitter’s also now finally decided to go ahead with its new, extra gray tick for ‘official’ profiles that Twitter thinks need some sort of indicator that they are the actual, legit profile of this specific entity.
4. Instagram Provides the Capacity to Add Music to Still Image Posts
Instagram has added the capacity to add music to still image posts, providing another way to integrate music into the IG experience.
Thus, you’ll now see a new ‘Add Music’ option in the post composer flow, where you can search for a track to add to your photo post. You can choose a segment of between 5 and 90 seconds of the song to use, providing additional context and/or atmospheric elements to your post.
5. Pinterest Announces Wider Launch of its ‘Shuffles’ Visual Collage App
After initially launching its new ‘Shuffles’ visual collage app to selected users back in August, Pinterest is now making the app generally available, so that anybody can create their own artistic collages from Pinterest-originated images.
Shuffles enables users to layer various photos of objects over each other in an artistic display, which can then be animated and/or set to music. Users can then share their creations in other apps, with the product images linked back to Pinterest to encourage more discovery activity.
6. TikTok Launches New Climate Awareness Initiative, in Line with COP27 Summit
TikTok’s looking to lean into the increasing discussion around climate change, with the introduction of a new #ClimateAction global campaign, which is designed to encourage communities all over the world to join the climate conversation and take action that has a positive impact on the planet.
A range of TikTok creators will be sharing climate tips over the next two weeks, as part of a broader, collaborative push to increase awareness and engagement.
7. YouTube Expands Comment Translations and Smart Replies to More Users
YouTube has announced an expansion of its comment translation tools, along with broader access to Smart Replies, its streamlined, template response option, which makes it easier to quickly engage with viewers in the app.
Last September, YouTube launched the ability to translate comments within the app, via Google Translate integration, making it easier to understand more types of comments in-stream. YouTube says that this has been a very popular addition, and based on this, it’s now adding comment translations to Studio Mobile as well, providing another way to engage with comments that are posted in another language.
YouTube’s also expanding its ‘Smart Replies’ experiment, which provides comment suggestions when replying to viewers in-stream. It’s also moving playlists into the ‘Content tab’, while you’ll also now use now the ’Create’ button in the top-right corner to build playlists.
8. LinkedIn Launches New Code Training Integration with GitHub, Enhanced LinkedIn Learning Options
LinkedIn has announced a new educational partnership with GitHub, which will provide more training resources for software developers within the LinkedIn Learning platform. The new LinkedIn Learning with GitHub Codespaces integration will enable developers to get real workplace-like practice to boost their coding skills.
9. Singapore Passes Law Requiring Social Media Sites to Block Harmful Content 'within Hours'
Social media sites will be required to block access to harmful content within hours, after a law to strengthen online safety was passed by Parliament on November 9. If an online platform refuses to take down harmful content, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) can issue a direction to Internet access service providers to block access by users in Singapore.
Currently, Singapore's Broadcasting Act does not cover entities that operate outside of the country.
10. Meta Cuts 11,000 Jobs as It Sinks More Money Into The Metaverse
Meta is laying off 13% of its staff, or more than 11,000 employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees. The layoffs come amid a tough time for Facebook parent company Meta, which provided lukewarm guidance in late October for its upcoming fourth-quarter earnings that spooked investors and caused its shares to sink nearly 20%.
Investors have been concerned about Meta’s rising costs and expenses, which jumped 19% year over year in the third quarter to $22.1 billion. The company’s overall sales declined 4% to $27.71 billion in the quarter while its operating income dropped 46% from the previous year to $5.66 billion.
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.