Menu
close
Menu
close
It’s time for this week’s social media updates you need to know, and this week it’s all about Twitter and Meta.
TikTok
Let’s start small with TikTok – they’re pushing in-stream shopping. Yep, they really want it to be a thing and are inviting certain US sellers to join the push by offering big subsidies on shipping and sales to help maximize interest.
What does this mean for me?
If you’re selling a thing, we highly recommend taking advantage of this promotion and start doing some in-stream selling!
Instagram
Have you seen the new info page on using DMs?
What does this mean for me?
The page includes helpful explainers, case studies, and general best practice on using DMs as a business. With more people using the message function of the app it makes sense for businesses to do the same.
LinkedIn
New security measures are incoming. LinkedIn is partnering with CLEAR to allow users to add a confirmation note to their profile by providing their Government-issued ID (US only). Users across the world can also verify where you work, but only for certain companies. They’ll also allow organisations to issue digital workplace IDs via Microsoft Entra. All three aim to help people prove that they are who they claim to be and that they work for the company they say they do.
What does this mean for me?
As with most updates, once this has proved successful or otherwise in the US, it’ll be rolled out to the rest of the world. If you work for one of the global companies able to verify you as an employee, get onto them to get this set up!
Facebook/Meta
Now they’re out the way, let’s get into the meaty bits. First up, Facebook. They’re testing AI-generated Stories based on previously shared images to get more people posting to Stories.
Sellers can now add videos to their Marketplace listings and buyers able to request one if there isn’t already one included.
Meta’s sorting out that annoying audio issue where some videos are super quiet and others are really loud. If you’re interested in the technical side of it, Social Media Today have a great article on how it works.
Pretty soon you could be able to share WhatsApp status updates to Facebook without needing to do it manually.
What does this mean for me?
This could be a handy tool to help you batch content or highlight specific products or themes in reminder posts.
We suspect (although haven’t had it confirmed) that Facebook will be prioritising listings with videos. So, whether you’re using Marketplace to sell your business’ products or as a way to get rid of whatever old crap has piled up in the garage, adding a video to the listing is likely to increase your chances of securing a deal.
Uploading videos is likely to be a bit glitchy for a while until teething issues with the audio encoding are sorted. But this update does mean fewer headaches caused by trying to get all your audio to sound the same.
If you use WhatsApp messaging for your business page, this integration means you’ll be able to seamlessly share updates across the platforms in one step.
Twitter
We officially have a ‘Twitter blue tick disappearance’ date – April 20th. Which is Musk’s hilarious way of referencing 4/20 yet again. Our sides are splitting *rolls eyes*. Although we were told April 15th before, so who knows if this one is the truth?
Generative AI is on the way to Twitter. Musk is developing a Large Language Model to create AI-generated text, buying up GPUs and hiring former DeepMind engineers.
Twitter Inc. has officially been merged with X Corp. It’s all part of his vision for one app that does everything, potentially with some PayPal-esque features and some that are closer to WeChat.
Twitter has restricted Substack access, stopping users from sharing Substack links in Tweets, and stopping Substack users from embedding tweets. Yep, Musk is throwing his toys out of his pram about Substack’s ‘notes’ element.
They’re promoting their visual branding offerings, to try and drive ads (even though Musk has said he doesn’t like ads) despite the fact most of them are just refreshed versions of things that already exist. Branded Hashtags are now called ‘Hashmojis’. Hashfetti is still a thing (thanks for sharing). Branded Likes are now ‘Custom Likes’.
Twitter Blue subscribers will now see around 50% fewer ads, which seems like a weird move given Twitter heavily relies on ad revenue to survive. It’s also not *actually* 50% fewer ads, because according to Twitter it doesn’t apply to “promoted content elsewhere on Twitter, including but not limited to ads on profiles, ads in Tweet replies, promoted events in Explore, promoted trends, and promoted accounts to follow.”
What does this mean for me?
As we said last week, if you want that blue tick, it’ll cost you. While we remain unconvinced as to whether it’s worth it if you ARE interested, you can read all the Twitter Blue features here.
We speculate that AI-generated Tweets could be on the platform soon and from there the possibilities are endless – customer service tools in DMs, visual prompts that respond to tweet prompts… we shall see.
Right now, Twitter becoming X Corp doesn’t mean anything. But we’re sure it will.
Basically, it’s all about controlling the message. If you use Substack and rely on Twitter to drive subscribers, you might want to find a new platform.
If Twitter ads are your thing, take a look at the ‘updated’ offerings here.
If you’re a Twitter Blue subscriber this will likely be a welcome addition as it was a big selling point for many people when the scheme was first rolled out. If you’re an advertiser worried about revenue, given the fact it’s not really 50% fewer ads, we’d say you can rest easy for now.
Sign up for weekly updates direct to your inbox every Thursday and follow Jordan on LinkedIn for daily tips and tricks. See you next week!