Social Media updates and what they mean for you – July 13th

It’s all about Meta and Twitter again this week, with new kid on the block Threads stealing the show. Let’s dive into all the social media updates you need to know this week.

Meta
Meta’s expanding the Metaverse with added Avatar options including video calls on IG and Messenger as your character. They’re also adding avatar tagging in stickers, which is very similar to Snapchat, so thanks for that.

What does this mean for me?
The aim here is to get more people to move from Facebook and Instagram to the Metaverse. More representative Avatars with better functionality could be useful for conducting meetings in the Metaverse itself.

Threads
Are you on the fastest-growing new platform? Well, we have some news about which areas are going to be developed: a following feed so you no longer have to scroll through updates the algorithm thinks you’ll like based on your IG data), an edit button which is pretty self-explanatory, the ability to search for posts, a fully-functional desktop app, and maaaayyybe EU access.

Branded content tools, including in-stream partner tags, are incoming. It’s likely these will look very similar to those available on IG.

What does this mean for me?
There’s a lot of data to come as people settle into using the app, but there could be a good business use case here. Think of it as Twitter’s less political younger brother with an Instagram twist.

Branded tools will help you carry out marketing campaigns without falling foul of advertising rules. So when they come, us them.

Twitter
A rare win for Twitter this week – licenses to transfer funds in three US states. Which didn’t really work for Meta so we’re sure it’ll work for Twitter.

The engagement thresholds for Twitter’s ad revenue share scheme have been announced, and they’re pretty darn high. Think over five million Tweet impressions in each month for the last three months, plus a Twitter Blue subscription or Verification for Organisations (ofc).

Job listings are slowly being rolled out, which will mean you’ll be able to post openings directly to your profile if you’re a Verified Organisation. According to Musk it’ll be a LinkedIn competitor. Sure.

More functionality is being moved over to Twitter Blue – they can now access Media Studio, which was previously limited to selected media partners. There’s also been heavy hinting that new features are coming to Media Studio.

Say hello to better video functionality in an attempt to keep users.

What does this mean for me?
Right now, not much. But it signals that in-app payments are potentially on the way. That could be good news for online shops.

There are very few accounts that’ll meet this threshold so unless you’re getting an insane amount of reach, you can kiss goodbye to any potential earnings from the scheme. As ever with Twitter though, there may (read almost definitely) will be some changes.

Verified Organisations will be able to link interested users back to an application page on their website, or via a third-party provider.

More features could help you create better content for the app.

And that’s it for this week folks! 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!