Here’s the rundown on what’s been happening on social media over the past 30 days. This month, we’re saying hello to updates from Instagram, Google and TikTok.
- Instagram recently announced that it’s going to roll out the option to pin up to three comments from the threads on your posts. Insta’s VP of Product noted that this new feature is in effort to encourage civil discourse by highlighting positive community discussion rather than negative. Along with this new option, IG users can now bulk delete comments and limit who can tag or mention you in their posts. This update is great for encouraging positive and engaging community discussion. And is also a way for business and brand accounts to showcase common questions and answers. For example, if your account is constantly being asked the same handful of questions, you can now pin the comment and your response. This ensures that anyone who comes across your post will see that first. Or if a top fan leaves a raving review about a product, you can pin that and let it sell for you.
- Keep an eye out for possible changes to your Instagram app’s interface. Since launching Instagram Shops in May of this year, the platform has been testing where the new Shops tab should live within the app. Most users have reported seeing the tab appear on the bottom function bar. While others still have yet to see the icon pop up at all. Regardless of location, expect to see IG’s Shop feature show up somewhere in your app very soon.
- Instagram added a new option for creators to manage how their IGTV content previews. This will let users choose a thumbnail from their video to display when their IGTV is previewed both within feed, and on the discover page. This new tool is part of a larger roll out of new updates specifically revolving around IGTV. Also included is a new ability to share the first 15 seconds of IGTV videos within Stories. These new updates aim to support IG content creators who want to draw more attention to their video content.
- NEW APP ALERT! Well, kind of. Google just launched a new app called Keen that’s inspired by the popular digital platform Pinterest. The inspirational and creative app, Pinterest, is search-based and has been around for over 10 years now. Taking advantage of the platforms’ similar strengths, Google has tapped into the market by creating Keen. A strikingly similar app, which has been described by Google as “a place to grow and share your interests with loved ones and find things that will help in making this precious life count.” Additionally, Google commented that Keen allows users to “curate the content you love, share your collection with others, and find new content based on what you have saved.” Sounds exactly like Pinterest, or is it just us?
- Speaking of striking similarities… Instagram introduced a TikTok inspired function called Reels to some users in India in response to TikTok being banned in the Indian market. Instagram is being completely transparent about its new feature being a clone of the uber popular video sharing social network. The new feature allows users to create short looping in-app video clips that can be set to music and spliced together with other content, exactly likeTikTok. When India decided to ban TikTok, the country had been the app’s largest market outside of China. Both the U.S. and Australia have plans in motion to subject TikTok to a full national security review.
That’s it until next time. See you then!
Katie
