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This month, Google Trends has celebrated their 15th birthday and Pinterest has added the option for creator’s to earn from shoppable pins. YouTube has given their Studio a dark mode makeover, and Olympians took to TikTok to give mere mortals like us a view behind the scenes of Tokyo 2020.
Enough of all that, here are our top stories from the world of social media from August 2021…
This month, Facebook have announced that they will be trialling Reels on their main Facebook app in the US. For those of you who are behind, Reels is Zuckerberg’s answer to TikTok, with Instagram initially hosting Reels. The short-form videos went on to litter user’s Discovery feeds, soon earning their own tab on creator profiles. The news that the company are testing ‘Facebook Reels’ is no surprise to those who have followed the evolution of the video feature, with Facebook claiming that ‘most’ of the Instagram Reels features will be also available in the Facebook app, with some being added over time as the test scales to more users.
An audio tab has been added to Instagram. The new search option is aimed to boost engagement on Reels, making it easier for users to tap into audio trends based on music clips. From now, when you search on Instagram you’ll be able to switch to the ‘Audio’ tab, the place to find various songs for use within the app. Simply tap on a track to see a display of Reels featuring that tune to view any trends associated with the track.
As an additional element to LinkedIn’s Service listings, clients and customers who have used your services previously will be able to leave reviews of your work. These reviews will be displayed within Services listings on your page. As part of the launch of the reviews feature, users that enable Services on their LinkedIn profile will be given 20 free credits which they can use to request reviews. As per LinkedIn, “To see reviews you’ve received from past clients or to manage your reviews, simply go to your Service Page. If you haven’t received any reviews on your Service Page, be sure to start growing reviews by sending out review invites.”
In August, Twitter changed its font. No that’s not all…
The 280 character social media profile also tested a new option enabling the removal of specific followers from your audience this month. The new feature comes after calls to remove followers without totally blocking them from returning to your profile again, why? To avoid the drama. The option to remove followers will be available in the main Twitter feed and direct from a person’s profile.
This month, YouTube has tested new insights into ‘Evergreen’ videos in Studio Analytics. The new element will provide performance data on older videos posted to your channel, enabling you to determine how they are contributing to your channel’s growth, even years after they are published. YouTube have explained that the additional insights are designed to act as additional drivers to help channels understand overall performance and how key factors – such as views – are changing over time. This will enable creator’s to plan content more effectively, with the aim to boost the performance of the channel.
Snap have taken the time to outline their approach to preventing the spread of false information on the platform. Whilst both Facebook and Twitter continue to work to contain the spread of misinformation on their platforms, Snapchat has implemented an alternative approach which is focussed in the app’s design. Rather than being designed to broadcast to the general public, Snapchat was designed to maintain close connections. As per Snap, “Across our app, we don’t allow unvetted content the opportunity to ‘go viral.’ Snapchat does not offer an unmoderated open newsfeed where unvetted individuals or publishers can broadcast false information.” Essentially, Snapchat has avoided misinformation from spreading and the associated controversy by its continued imposition of limits on the size of group chats. As Snapchat explain “Our approach to enforcing against content that includes false information is straightforward – we don’t label it, we completely remove it.”
