Social Media Updates

TikTok virality can be a mystery, but apparently, it’s not all up to chance: A Forbes investigation has revealed that staff at TikTok and ByteDance can select individual videos for broader distribution in a practice known as “heating.”

According to an internal document, “The heating feature refers to boosting videos into the For You feed through operation intervention to achieve a certain number of video views. The total video views of heated videos accounts for a large portion of the daily total video views, around 1-2%, which can have a significant impact on overall core metrics.”

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Big news for Instagram fans: the app is making a major change to its navigation bar in February. Starting next month, the Create shortcut is moving from the top navigation to the center of the bottom bar, a spot currently occupied by the Reels button. The Reels shortcut will shift to the right, replacing the Shop button.

“But wait,” you’re thinking, “What does that mean for the Instagram Shop tab?” Don’t worry — Instagram shopping isn’t going away entirely.

Users will still be able to access all their favorite shops through Discover or other channels on Instagram (like ads, in-feed posts, Reels, and Stories). This means shoppable content will likely be spread throughout all aspects of the Instagram experience instead of in its own tab.

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TikTok is rolling out the TikTok Shop feature in the United States. So far, only a limited number of merchants have been invited to test the social commerce solution.

TikTok Shop is already available in the UK and a handful of Asian countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Phillippines.

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Big news: Instagram now allows users to add up to 90 seconds of music to their in-feed photo posts.

Instagram announced the update on their @creators Instagram feed, saying, “Music is a huge part of expression on Instagram, and we’re excited to provide the ability to add music to Feed photo posts like you can with Reels and Stories.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Instagram’s @Creators (@creators)

(In a somewhat ironic twist, the announcement post doesn’t include music. Unlike TikTok’s photo mode, it looks like Instagram carousel posts don’t support music yet.)

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A securities filing made public on October 31st, 2022 confirmed that Elon Musk had dissolved Twitter’s entire board of directors as part of his takeover of the short-form social media platform.

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Twitter Blue will now be required to have Verified Account status as the price of the optional monthly subscription service quadruples to $20 USD per month.

A major overhaul of Twitter Blue is one of the first major changes Elon Musk is making after acquiring Twitter on October 28th, 2022.

According to The Verge, Musk wants to increase the price of Twitter Blue to $19.99 USD per month.

Twitter Blue will also be required to have the Verified Account checkmark. These changes will reportedly go into effect on November 7th, 2022.

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Early on Friday, October 28th, 2022 Elon Musk finalized his deal to buy Twitter according to a filing by the SEC.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett immediately left the company.

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The reigning champ of short-form video is about to diversify: TikTok’s new in-app gaming experience may be officially announced as soon as November.

Games will reportedly be featured as one of the tabs on TikTok’s home screen. As has now become standard with other mobile games, games will be accompanied by ads. Users will also be able to pay for additional content.

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Instagram is testing an in-app scheduling feature, according to recent reports.

Now you can schedule posts on the Instagram app! ✨

You can schedule posts and reels by going to Advanced settings when creating new content. #Instagram @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com/yJykq108wK

— ㆅ (@WFBrother) October 18, 2022

While users have long been able to schedule Instagram posts using Creator Studio, this test marks the first time they’ve offered scheduling within the Instagram app.

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Facebook unveiled a slew of new upcoming features at the Facebook Communities Summit held on October 20th, 2022. Highlights include Reels for Groups, expanded Group admin features, and additional Instagram integrations.

Engagement continues to be the theme of Facebook’s feature updates, with the spotlight shining on Groups in particular.

Below is an overview of what was announced at the 6th annual Facebook Communities Summit.

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Youtube is rolling out a new user handles feature for all channels. Handles provide new personalized URLs and will make it easier for users to find and connect with creators.

Handles will be visible on channel homepages, search results, YouTube Shorts, and on comments. They will provide all channels with a new custom URL and double as a YouTube verification badge for smaller channels.

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After announcing its creation back in May, it looks like TikTok has finally launched its Pulse program to share ad revenue with top creators.

The program’s rollout hasn’t been officially announced, but reports are now circulating on Twitter that select creators are receiving eligibility notices.

Woah.. TikTok launched their Pulse program!?

Creators with 100,000+ followers will receive a 50% split of ad revenue from TikTok

Brands will put ads on TikToks that are in the top 4% of performers on any given day

Creators get 50% of revenue TikTok brings in from the brands pic.twitter.com/kkdKJnaVGQ

— Muaaz (@mws) October 19, 2022

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