Welcome back to the last ICYMI of 2023, giving you the social media updates from December…
- Instagram adds looping 2-second video to Notes as the feature continues to be popular among teen users, and you can now respond to Notes using audio, photo, video, GIFs and stickers
- Instagram has improved its automated detection of spam and bot profiles, saving creators from having to manually sift through spam comments, requests and so on
- Instagram is testing the capacity to add Notes to Feed posts
- Instagram provides new Stories engagement options by allowing users to create their own ‘Add Yours’ templates
- Instagram adds option to stop visitors from expanding your profile image
- Instagram tests new ‘Hype’ option to encourage engagement with Stories, allowing users to post a comment to a Story that other users can then also see in-stream
- Instagram released their 2024 Trend Talk detailing the results of a survey looking at Gen Z trends across the US, UK, Brazil, India, and South Korea
Threads
- Threads finally launches in the EU, which had been delayed due to regulations
- Threads search now supports all languages
- Threads rolls out topic tags to all users globally, to categorise content and help you find content you enjoy
- Threads adds separate link URL to help track referral traffic
- Threads moves to the next stage of testing for its API, which will then allow for third-party scheduling, analytics and more
- Instagram and Facebook’s messaging services will no longer be cross-compatible. Once discontinued, you won’t be able to start new cross-platform chats and existing conversations will go into read-only mode
- Facebook Messenger rolls out end-to-end encryption by default
- Meta adds more generative AI elements, including in-stream visual creation options, AI post prompts and expanded availability of its virtual characters
- Facebook prompts group admins to sign-up for its coming generative AI elements, which will include content recommendations, new topic filters and post prompts
- Facebook continues to work on adding third-party chats to Messenger, allowing you to conduct conversations with users who send you messages from other apps
- LinkedIn have added a number of updates to its newsletter functionality, including new analytics and a duplicate draft template option
- LinkedIn relaunches its creator page with a new name that aims to help users maximise engagement on the platform
- LinkedIn continues to add in more generative AI elements within its education tools, including a new new coaching element that would give you tips on a topic you want to learn about and direct you to relevant courses to help
YouTube
- YouTube creators can now gift 10 subscriptions per month to their audience, free of charge
- YouTube published their annual “A Year on YouTube” wrap-up, which highlights the topics, songs and creators of 2023
X (Twitter)
- X adds incognito mode controls for spaces hosts
- X adds option to embed videos in isolation from posts
- X now lets users broadcast community posts to all followers
- X previews new bookmark search option allowing users to search for Tweets they have previously saved
TikTok
- TikTok owner ByteDance is launching custom Al chatbot creation tools
- TikTok tells agencies and brands to rip up ‘best storytelling practices’
- TikTok tests new desktop-based tools, including more analytics insights and updated discovery tools
- Google Analytics 4 prepares for third-party cookie depreciation
- Google published its Year in Search for 2023 sharing top trends for the year and celebrating 25 years in search
- Google is moving to the next stage of its program to phase out web tracking cookies and will begin testing Tracking Protection with a small percentage of Chrome users from January 4th
Other updates
- BeReal adds video posts, group chats, post tagging and other updates
- Pinterest launches live test of new body type search filters, which it first started testing back in September
- Pinterest published its annual “Pinterest Predicts” trend report, highlighting the rising trends based on search activity
- Decentralised social network and Twitter rival Bluesky is finally letting users look at posts on the platform without logging in
- CapCut adds new features for short-form video editing, including AI fill and relight editing options
- Researchers at Meta conducted an experiment testing both humans and ChatGPT-4 with 466 questions, humans correctly answered 92% while AI scored 15%
That’s all for this month and for 2023! Come back next month for the latest updates.
