Social Media updates and what they mean for you – October 28th

It’s been a bumper week, so grab a cuppa and get reading.

Instagram
The social media giant officially announced its Creator Portfolio option, which is essentially an in-app media kit for influencers.

They also added new safety features such as enhanced blocking, expanded hidden words, pop-ups designed to make people think before posting mean things.

In other exciting news, they’re officially Live testing post scheduling within the app, finally!

Also in testing is the ability to add a song to your profile (but that’s literally all the info we have).

What does this mean for you?
We’ve previously covered the Creator Portfolio, so are going to go over it pretty quick here. This will mean you can quickly see whether an influencer is the right fit for your brand, making decisions within the app where all the info will be available.

New and improved safety features are ALWAYS welcome. Here’s hoping they make the platform an even more supportive place. Provided you’re posting nice things, it will have no impact on your content. Plus it will mean you can send those awful trolls back under the bridge where they belong.

We’re not *exactly* sure what the song situation will look like, so will update when we have more info.

Facebook/Meta
At its sixth annual Communities Summit, Meta announced new tools for Facebook groups such as new Stories sharing tools, view-only chats, custom member profile displays, and last but not least REELS IN GROUPS! Finally, a semi-connected experience across channels. Yes!

They also have a real-time speech translator in progress, which is excellent news for global businesses.

What does this mean for you?
Loads of businesses utilise Facebook groups so enhanced tools is a welcome thing. If your business has an associated group, play around with the tools to find out whether they can help increase engagement and bring new people in.

Real-time speech translator shows just how brilliant AI is getting. If you work across multiple countries (or plan to) this will give you a good way to reach new people without having to learn a new language.

TikTok
The video platform launched it’s StemDrop initiative, giving you the opportunity to remix songs, creating your own version.

In a move that feels overdue, TikTok is raising the age limit for live-streaming, adding an “adults-only” category, and keyword filtering options for live comments.

What does this mean for you?
Personalising sounds could be a fun way to put your own spin on trending sounds, or give you the opportunity to create your own trending sound! Basically, you can get creative.

Increased age limits for Lives is a big move to protect TikTok’s younger users from seeing innapropriate content. It’s a good thing for businesses because it lessens the likelihood of content being reported. Plus filtered keywords mean the trolls stay hidden.

LinkedIn
The professional platform has entered the chat. And boy, have they been busy! First up, more tools to help with internal moves, great news for businesses struggling to find the right people.

They’ve also been working on features to help combat fraudulant accounts, including information on when the account was created and better machine learning to detect photos created by AI.

This one is less of an update and more of a need-to-know – record engagement in it’s latest performance update. Great news for anyone using the platform to develop relationships.

In a bid to continue increasing engagement LinkedIn has added two new stickers – Person and Page – aimed at driving traffic.

Hello accessibility features! This move feels overdue and is definitely welcome. Features include auto-captions on videos, high contrast, and alt-text functionality in campaign manager.

What does this mean for you?
The enhanced tools for LinkedIn Recruiter give you as a business owner the ability to see any existing talent you may be able to move to open positions. In the current climate, this could be a big benefit.

The MIT Technology Review estimates there are millions of fraudulant accounts on the platform, so taking steps to remove them is only going to be a good thing. This means better engagement with people who actually exist, AND a reduced risk of issues further down the line.

New stickers to drive engagement and traffic can be a huge help to getting your customers to go where they need to go! Trying to get them to buy? Use a sticker. Trying to increase your followers? Use a sticker.

Increased accessibility is only ever a good thing. For you it means the ability to reach even more people with your awesome stuff.

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