Another month, another list of updates from our favourite social media platforms. Let’s catch up on what’s new and what’s coming…
LinkedIn are removing Creator Mode (kind of)
LinkedIn are rolling-out “Creator Mode” to all users and removing the need to toggle it on and off.
Along with this, they will also be removing the “Talks About” hashtags and moving the “About” Section back to the top of the profile.
Other “Creator Mode” features, such as the info section and follow button, will remain active by default, as will access to advanced tools and stats.
Instagram were testing hashtag limit changes?
According to some users, Instagram was limiting the number of hashtags that can be added to their posts to no more than 5.
But Instagram came out to say that this was a glitch and reducing the allowed number hashtags is not something they are actively exploring.
These two updates from LinkedIn and Instagram, has even further fuelled my suspicions that hashtags will no longer be relevant in 2024.
Save and schedule Threads
You can now save other people’s posts on Threads, by clicking the 3 dots at the top of the Thread. Handy if you want to save something to reference later!
And in other news, you can now schedule Threads on Hootsuite. Here’s hoping that other social media management tools will implement this soon!
What’s trending on Threads
Threads are testing a new trending feature to a small number of users in the US. This will allow you to see what topics are currently being talked about on the platform, which will be determined by their AI systems.
No more scheduling for Facebook Groups
Facebook has been the go-to for community building over the years.
But that could be coming to an end, as Meta have now announced that they are deprecating the Facebook Groups API.
This means there will likely be limits placed on third-party platforms when it comes to scheduling, community engagement and other features.
Preview post feature coming to Instagram
Instagram is testing a new option that will let you preview how your images, videos and carousels will look on your profile grid. This new addition doesn’t seem to be available to preview Reels as of yet.
While not a major feature, it is a long overdue one. I’m sure a lot of users will be happy about as it will make it easier to maintain visual consistency.
Meta to stop recommending political content
Meta is no longer going to proactively recommend political content on their platforms, according to a recent blog post.
The reason being that they want the platform to be a “great experience for everyone”… though we know that there are many important elections coming up across the world this year so perhaps that’s the real reason?!
If you follow accounts that share political content (that is content related to laws, elections or social topics), you will continue to see this content.
But it won’t appear as content on the explore page, Reels feed, in-feed recommendations or as suggested users.
If you decide to follow accounts that post political content, we don’t want to get between you and their posts, but we also don’t want to proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow
This applies initially to both Instagram and Threads, but there are plans to extend this to Facebook at a later date.
Other social media updates
- Threads is growing as it reportedly hits 130M users
- Good news, transcripts are coming to Apple Podcasts
- Despite TikTok having the most substantial growth this year, YouTube and Facebook remain the most popular social media platforms
- Instagram seems to be working on new posting options, including the ability to post multi-slide carousels within Reels
- Meta continues to develop its Fediverse connection with Threads
- Meta will start labelling AI-generated photos uploaded to Facebook, Instagram and Threads over the coming months
- YouTube now has 100 million Music and Premium subscribers
- YouTube has announced new analytics for Playlists, Content Gap insights in the “Research” tab on desktop, and is rolling out scheduled members-only videos to help creators build hype around their launches
- Google rolls out image creation within its Bard Chatbot
- Instagram’ is testing a new AI “Backdrop” sticker, allowing you to replace the background of any image
- Meta is passing on the Apple tax for boosted posts to advertisers
That’s it for another month! See you back here at the end of March for the latest algorithm updates, feature launches and social media news…