Social Media updates and what they mean for you – February 9th

Pretty soon we’re going to have to call these things “Twitter Updates, Oh And Some Other Platforms Did Some Stuff Too”. Anywho! Here are all the social media updates you need to know this week

Twitter
Grab a cuppa and let’s get going. Another week, another u-turn – remember last week when we said Twitter is removing free access to its API? Yeah. Apparently that’s not happening anymore. There’ll now be a light, free version for write-only API for bots providing good content that is free (says Musk).

Thinking about getting that Gold Checkmark? It could cost you $1,000 A MONTH. You’re probably thinking it could be worth it depending on what you could… well currently, we have no idea what you get. So the value here is minimal. We’ll keep you posted on whether or not this happens!

Three potentially interesting UI changes are currently in development – reply filters, timeline controls, and searching Tweet likes.

Expanded access to Twitter Blue has landed, but does anyone care? Apparently, only 300,000 people have signed up, which doesn’t bode well. You can now access Twitter Blue in Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. There are also new incentives for signing up, including revenue share for ads shown in reply threads, the death of legacy Blue Ticks, and being able to post Tweets up to 4,000 characters long. Will it make people more likely to sign up? Perhaps.

What does this mean for me?
The API u-turn is a good thing! It means you don’t need to find a new scheduler or other mechanism for automation.

Reply filters could be a great way to start conversations with highly engaged accounts first and stay up with the most relevant responses and responders, to manage your engagement better. New Timeline controls would give you more control over what you see when you’re in the app. And finally, searching likes could give you more insight into your audience and who the most engaged people are.

Expanded Twitter Blue is good for people in those areas who want it. The new additions to the Blue benefits could make it easier for you to increase engagement. Our advice remains to wait and see.

Instagram
Just the one update from IG this week – all eligible Reels creators in the US can now accept virtual gifts from their fans via a button on their clips. Viewers will purchase Stars and use these to gift money to creators.

What does this mean for me?
If you heavily rely on Reels, this could be an excellent way for you to earn extra money from your profile, but only if you’re in the US. Often they iron out any kinks in the US market before rolling it out to other areas, so watch this space.

Facebook/Meta
*Sigh* Meta is seemingly exploring paid Blue Ticks on their platforms but there’s no official word yet.

What does this mean for me?
Right now, not a whole lot, but if it comes in there will need to be some good reasons to join the programme.

TikTok
Updated “Promote” tools have arrived. You’ll now be able to drive more visits to your TikTok page, get more messages from potential customers, boost other creators’ content, and target your audience by location. This shows that they’re moving in a similar direction to other platforms and increasing the importance of ads.

Breaking the rules? Penalties will now be based on cumulative actions, following analysis that showed almost 90% of offenders violate using the same feature consistently, and over 75% violate the same policy category repeatedly. According to TikTok, “If an account meets the threshold of strikes within either a product feature (i.e. Comments, LIVE) or policy (i.e. Bullying and Harassment), it will be permanently banned”. The thresholds will be based on a violation’s potential to cause harm to community members.

What does this mean for me?
If you’re using Promote, these new optimisations are big news! You can now use them to fit with your overall strategy in a more dynamic way.

Don’t want to get banned? Don’t break the rules! In all seriousness, this is a big step in protecting users by taking firm actions. So if you spot someone doing something they shouldn’t be, report it.

That’s it for this week folks! Remember to sign up for weekly updates direct to your inbox and follow us on LinkedIn for more tips. See you next week!