Your Instagram advertising strategy – sorted
Luke McCarthy
July 22, 2024
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Welcome to your July 2023 social media updates. It’s been a busy and, at times, chaotic month out there. All the major social media platforms introduced several updates and features to enhance user experiences and content creation.
From TikTok’s new text-based posts to YouTube’s AI-generated video summaries, Instagram’s improved Reels templates, Snapchat’s AR creator rewards program, Twitter’s rebranding to ‘X,’ and its testing of a new ad display, it’s been a struggle to keep up.
Don’t fret though, as always, we’ve summarised them in a concise and easy-to-digest format, cherry picking the updates we feel are most relevant to creators and brands alike.
So, let’s get into it.
Text-Based Posts: TikTok has introduced text-based posts that allow users to share stories, poems, lyrics, and other written content alongside music, stickers, and effects. Text posts can be up to 1,000 characters long, offering a new way for creators to engage with their audience beyond video content.
Music Licensing Agreement: TikTok has struck a significant partnership with Warner Music, gaining access to Warner’s full music library. This move strengthens TikTok’s position as a leading platform for music promotion and allows artists and songwriters to explore new revenue opportunities.
AI-Generated Video Summaries: YouTube is testing AI-generated video summaries to help users quickly understand the content of videos before watching them. These summaries are intended to complement video descriptions and provide a quick overview of the video’s context.
TikTok-Like Features for Shorts: YouTube is making a move to compete directly with TikTok by introducing a ‘Collab’ feature for Shorts, allowing users to record side-by-side videos with other creators. Additionally, YouTube is adding Q&A stickers and vertical live streaming for Shorts, similar to TikTok’s format.
Improved Reels Templates: Instagram is enhancing its Reels template browsing process, making it easier for users to discover and use popular templates for short-form content creation. Users can now find templates organized by ‘Recommended,’ ‘Trending,’ and ‘Saved’ categories.
Launch of Threads: Meta has launched Threads, a text-based social media platform designed for real-time updates and public conversations. Threads offers a separate space for text-based sharing, similar to Twitter’s format.
New Features for Threads: Threads now includes a ‘Following’ feed that displays content only from profiles users have chosen to follow, enhancing the user experience. Additionally, the platform now offers post translations to improve accessibility and reach.
Lens Creator Rewards: Snapchat has initiated a Lens Creator Rewards program to support AR creators. Top-performing AR creators can receive funding based on metrics such as views and engagement, aiming to foster the development of innovative AR experiences.
Limits on Tweet Viewing: Twitter has implemented new rate limits on tweet viewing to address data scraping and system manipulation. Verified accounts can view up to 10,000 tweets per day, while unverified accounts have a limit of 1,000 tweets per day.
Twitter’s Rebranding as X: Twitter has undergone a significant rebranding, now referred to as X. The change aligns with owner Elon Musk’s vision of transforming the platform into an all-encompassing ‘everything app.’
New Ad Display: X has updated its ad display format, replacing the ‘Promoted’ tag with a smaller ‘Ad’ marker at the top right of promoted posts. The new format aims to make ads look more native and less intrusive in the app.
Social media companies continue to innovate and evolve their platforms to offer users new ways to engage with content and each other. From text-based posts to AI-generated summaries, these updates enhance the user experience and open up new possibilities for content creators. As the digital landscape evolves, it will be fascinating to see how these updates impact the way we interact with social media platforms in the future.
