Changes and updates to Facebook and Instagram from the past 30 days. 

• It’s always unsettling when you realize your favorite social platform has completely changed its layout. It happened when Facebook transitioned to timeline, and now we are facing it with Instagram’s latest update which has totally shaken up the display of it’s homescreen. The bottom menu now features a Reels and Shop tab, which have replaced the camera and activity shortcut. These features have moved to the top of the homescreen. The story shortcut is gone all together and is instead included in the New Post tab at the top of the screen. From here you can create and publish a post, story, reels and live. Like anything new, the update will be met with resistance. Ultimately though, the new display is in an effort to get creators content more visible.
• As a part of Instagram’s effort to make content more accessible, the app added the option to search by keyword inside the Discover tab. Previously, results populated from a search were limited to names, usernames, hashtags and location, IG’s new feature allows results based on keyword matches. It’ll work by showing you all the posts that include your exact search term and the algorithm will consider relevance, type of content, captions, posting time and more to determine how results are populated. This is an exciting update for users wanting to find a wider range of content and accounts no longer need to stress about the 30 most perfect hashtags to get visibility. Now, your copy could be enough to hone in on your organic following and overall IG performance. Don’t ditch your hashtag strategy altogether though because keyword search will have limitations to general interest topics. Even with keyword limits, this is yet another new channel between your brand, and a potential customer. 
• Some major updates for partnership and influencer marketers. After a recent report by BBC announced that about 75% of influencer ads are not clearly labelled, Instagram has decided to crackdown on enforcing branded influencer content. Before publishing, creator accounts will be asked if their content is tied to a brand for incentives. If this isn’t a good enough reminder, IG has updated their algorithm to penalize content and ads that are not clearly marked as endorsed and report them. In further influencer marketing news, the app recently added branded content tags to Reels in an effort to try and rival against TikTok. Branded tags mean that creators can make brand deals and generate revenue from Reels content. More opportunity for monetization and brand partnerships is one of the best ways Instagram can compete with the beloved video app. 
• Facebook adds new options for creators to track and monetize their content. Facebook is offering more opportunities for creators to claim monetization rights when their content is shared. The main change with this update is that creators can now claim ownership of their content if it is being associated with revenue from another account. This will benefit creators by allowing more control to manage their content and also more opportunity to maximize revenue potential. To do this, creators can look within Rights Manager and set up rules for detecting duplicate shared content and claim it’s revenue. Along with this, the platform is also granting access to its content claim tools to more creators. This will give creators of all sizes and followings more control over their content. 

That’s it for now. 

In your corner,

The KW Content team