Major Social Media Updates – June Edition

Hi! With the new month and its shower of relief from last month’s heat, the digital world has also tuned to provide relief to netizens.

So, why waste time? Let’s quickly dive into the reliefs that this month’s social media updates will offer us!

1. LinkedIn Strengthening Marketing With New Features

LinkedIn has come up with various new features to help your brand strengthen its presence.

The first one is Product Listing.

While editing the profile, users can scroll down and add the products they have contributed to while working in an organization.

Of course, it is a prerequisite that the product is listed on the company’s page!

This new feature is an extension of the “Add Product” element that was launched back in 2020 to highlight the brands’ key features.

Taking a step ahead on that, LinkedIn is offering newer ways for users to proclaim their expertise. Meanwhile, it will also help LinkedIn gather information on people, companies and products – all in one app!

When used correctly, it could also act as a direct promotion of a product page linked to a company.

This in turn will facilitate LinkedIn to gain insights into various products linked to various job titles.

If you don’t already know, LinkedIn’s current algorithm is matching job titles with users’ research to help them find relevant job openings. The new feature will increase the capacity of this algorithm and help users find better career paths.

In a nutshell, it will put more onus on brands to list their products, which will benefit both users as well as LinkedIn itself.

Another update by LinkedIn is its enhanced Newsletter Product.

LinkedIn is providing the option to include both @mentions and #hashtags in newsletters and articles to maximize engagement.

In an official statement by LinkedIn, it stated,

“In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out the ability to @mention members and Pages within the copy of an Article or Newsletter, enabling collaborators to help further distribute your content. You can also include #hashtags in your Articles to enrich your content and help readers discover like-minded communities on LinkedIn.”

While the role of hashtags is yet to pan out its benefit, it is sure that mentioning people who will interact with your post and show gratitude for mentioning will improve your reach.

The Newsletter functionality, which was added last year, has so far been signed by 28 million members. While this is only a fraction of its current user base, LinkedIn claims a lot more people are willing to establish a direct connection which is exactly what the feature offers.

The final update from this platform is enabling Company Page admins to respond to any post in the app.

As it can be seen, admins will now be able to switch their accounts before responding to a post.

The feature will only boost brand connection and engagement to help build a community.

“We know that a brand’s content is only part of how its voice comes to life on LinkedIn, so we are introducing the ability for Pages to respond as the brand to any post in the feed, regardless of whether they are @mentioned or following the hashtags used in the post. By joining these conversations, brands can share their unique perspective, reach new audiences, and grow their followers.”

-LinkedIn Official Statement

2. WhatsApp Now More Flexible and Secure!

The above update by Meta CEO has given a long-awaited relief to all its users.

WhatsApp users will now be able to switch between Android and iPhone without losing encryption on their messages. 📲

The feature will add more flexibility for users switching to a new device, without compromising their security.

Last year, when Whatsapp introduced transferring of data from iPhone to android, it resulted in losing your chat history mainly because there was no way to maintain security in transition. But, Meta has confirmed that the new feature has been rolled out only after working collaboratively with OS developers.

3. Is Twitter Takeover Deal Moving Forward?

These days, social media updates without Musk making an appearance is incomplete.

Check out our last month’s social media updates to see what chaos Twitter’s interim CEO has caused.

A new report from Bloomberg has stated that Musk is all set to meet Twitter employees this Thursday (16 June 2022). This sure will empower Twitter’s staff to question Musk’s plan for the app.

The meeting which was previously scheduled to happen in April had gone south after Musk’s disagreement with Twitter’s executives. Musk claimed he had “no faith in the company’s management” and thus, opted to not meet with staff.

Back in May, after a trail of criticism of Twitter’s flawed verification process, Musk had stated that the app was infested with bots. Making this a key point of contention he claimed his Twitter takeover deal has been put on hold till the app provides more evidence against the domination of active user counts by bot accounts.

As a response to this, Twitter has now given Musk’s team full access to its database. It has essentially put the responsibility on his team to analyze fake profiles in the app. But, with the news that Musk is set to meet Twitter staff, can we speculate that the deal is moving again?

What do you think, is Musk any closer to becoming King of Tweets any time soon? 👑

Let us know in the comments below!

4. Instagram’s New Option – Pin Posts On Your Profile

As can be seen in the image, Instagram will now allow its users to Pin Posts on their profile, with another option to Control IG Profile Display.

In an official statement, Instagram stated,

“ You can now pin up to three posts (photos or Reels) to remain at the top of your profile grid, giving creators more flexibility to express themselves on their profiles. Starting today, the feature will be available globally to all users.”

Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri has announced that Instagram will release more such features to give creators control over their profile display.

Features like being able to pin posts or Reels will provide a range of creative considerations. It can maximize the appeal of your Instagram profile display and eventually add more traction to your profile!

The option, which was being tested since April, is the first of many launches.

Instagram is looking forward to exploring other display customization options like rearranging the post display on your profile grid.

While we might have a long wait before this feature gets launched, you can start pinning posts from today onwards.

5. TikTok’s Fight Against Negative Impacts of Online Interaction

It’s no secret that social media platforms take most of the steps to increase user engagement.

But, TikTok’s new features are to curb users’ interaction with their app to help minimize the negative impacts of online interactions.

TikTok has added new tools to help users track and manage time spent in the app. The new feature, Schedule Breaks will prompt users to implement break reminders.

On the other hand, the Screen time summary will provide a recap of the user’s time spent flipping through the clips.

“We’ll also be introducing weekly digital well-being prompts for younger members of our community. When someone aged between 13 and 17 has used the app for more than 100 minutes in a single day, we will remind them of our screen time limit tool the next time they open the app.”

Needless to say, for these tools to be effective, people actually have to use them.

Thus, for its younger users aged between 13 and 17, TikTok is introducing weekly digital well-being prompts.

While we don’t know if TikTok will succeed in its fight, it sure is a relief to see social media apps caring for its young users.

6. TikTok Rising Value as a Promotional Option For SMBs

Surveys have recently claimed that approximately 58% of TikTok users have experienced a positive impact on their business. And, 78% are planning to increase their TikTok marketing investment plan.

These stats indicate exactly why SMB promotions are gaining an interest in the short-form video content platform.

There’s no doubt that Facebook still tops the chart among social media platforms that are preferred by SMB promotions. But, TikTok users have claimed it to be the best app for storytelling which has made it popular among rising brands to share their stories.

Recently, the SMB support service Hello Alice surveyed over 7000 small businesses to understand how they approach social platforms for their marketing strategies. The survey concluded that the top positions were occupied by Facebook and Instagram, followed by TikTok and Snapchat. However, the absence of Twitter became a much more discussed highlight of this survey.

The report also pointed out that despite Instagram’s high reach and engagement potential, SMBs have now been considering TikTok, due to positive experiences that other brands have had with it.

Moreover, TikTok’s new creative drives have been altering marketing approaches. It has made it the most rapidly rising social platform.

As a result, the app is expected to surpass 1.5 billion users this year.

What do you think? Will SMB promotions focus on TikTok avail them better results? Let us know in the comments section!

7. Instagram To Launch AR Stickers

Can you believe that? 😮

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we came across the news as well!

But it is true. Instagram has been testing new AR stickers and TEXT! The feature will be added within stories which would enable you to place 3D objects into real-world scenes.

The above example, shared by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi,  shows the new range that the app is developing for Instagram stories. It will essentially add animated, digital objects that you can overlay on your physical space.

But the fun doesn’t stop with AR stickers.

Instagram’s also looking for ways to incorporate another AR element. Its new NFT display option will soon include a ‘See in AR’ feature.

As explained by Meta,

“For the first time, you’ll be able to display 2D NFTs you own anywhere you want using mobile AR. And when you do, you’ll experience an entirely new pride of ownership in those digital items because you’ll be able to see them and share them in the physical places you’re in every day.”

Meta has also claimed this is only a preliminary stage before they enable fully AR and 3D-native immersive NFTs in the future.

Although, this isn’t an original idea. Snapchat has already experimented with AR in the past and enjoyed its benefits.

8. WhatsApp to Allow Viewing Status Updates From Chat List

WhatsApp is reportedly working on a feature that will allow users to view the status updates right within the chat list.

Now, when a user will click on a profile picture with the green status ring around it, later’s status update will show up. This will save your time and you will no longer be required to visit the  ‘Status’ tab to view others’ status updates.

The feature that is being developed to increase users’ engagement with story updates is not an entirely new concept. Instagram Stories already allows this.

For now, there is no fixed date for the release of the feature. The news has gained popularity due to the WABetaInfo screenshot which showed how a status update published by a contact can be seen from the chats list.

9. Google to Shut Down Hangouts by November 2022

Google has revealed that the Hangouts app, which was earlier replaced for Workspace will be taken down in November 2022. Users on desktop and mobile will be asked to migrate to Google chat.

The seeds of this step had been sewn back in February when Google introduced its plan to replace the Hangouts app with the new ‘Google Chat’. Google has ensured that data from Hangouts will automatically be available on Google chat and users will have the option to download all their Hangout data before the platform is shut down.

Google said in a post,

“Starting today, people using Hangouts on mobile will see an in-app screen asking them to move to Chat in Gmail or the Chat app. Similarly, people who use the Hangouts Chrome extension will be asked to move to Chat on the web or install the Chat web app. In July, people who use Hangouts in Gmail on the web will be upgraded to Chat in Gmail”.

10. Reddit’s Attempt to Boost Reddit Talks Discovery

In the May Social Media Update, we informed you about Reddit Talk.

In an attempt to make the feature’s discovery easier, the app has come up with several ways.

Firstly, the live bar on users’ Reddit home feed will surface talks that the users might be interested in. The analysis of the same will depend on the topics that the creator of the Reddit Talks session chooses. It will then present the links to users in similar communities.

“For example, if u/Reddit_IRL wants to talk about house plants, then they can select that as their topic, and Redditors who are subscribed to plant-related communities will be able to see u/Reddit_IRL talk in the live bar.”

The below image shows that the app will showcase in-progress sessions across the top of the main screen. It will then present rooms from both subreddits – the ones that users follow and those that they may be interceded in.

Secondly, Reddit is trying to make it possible for new users to also be a part of this.

“Hosting a Talk on your profile is simple! You’ll go into the post creator and click Start Talk, from there you’ll be prompted to select a topic (or topics) that are relevant to your Talk topic.”

To make things even more interesting, Reddit is also adding a Soundboard feature in Reddit Talks chats.

“The soundboard will be available on desktop first starting next month and will have eight available sounds: air horn, tada, drumroll, sad trombone, applause, boing, cha-ching, and ba-dum-tss. Use the sounds to liven up the room, play games, or add extra emphasis to the conversation.”

While you ponder on this, we bid farewell to you for now.

Worry not! We will be quick with our next issue of social media updates in July!