Apr 2023 Social Platform Updates

Author

James Creech
May 01, 2023

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Snapchat launched public stories. Twitter announced stock and crypto trading. And Instagram added a Reels Trends page and support for multiple links in bio (finally).

Here's everything you missed from social platforms last month:

Artifact ✳️

✦ The personalized news aggregator from Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger added a social discussions feature.

Facebook 👍

✦ Introduced a computer vision model called Segment Anything for image segmentation (read more).

✦ Added multiplayer games to video calls on Messenger.

Instagram 📷

✦ Extended access to parts of its creator marketplace via API.

✦ Added a Reels Trends page for trending audio and hashtags.

✦ Expanded gifts on Reels to more countries (Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, New Zealand, and the UK).

✦ Now showing creators which fans sent them gifts.

✦ Introduced notifications for new followers that come directly from Reels.

✦ Rolled out total watch time and average watch time as new Reels metrics.

✦ Added support for multiple links in bio.

LinkedIn 🤝

✦ Added ability to drag and drop or copy/paste image files on desktop.

✦ Incorporated ID verification elements to improve security.

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✦ Expanded its Creator Inclusion Fund to Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France.

Post 📮

✦ The Twitter alternative launched publicly after a 5-month beta program.

Reddit 👽

✦ Testing Discord-like chat channels in subreddits.

Snapchat 👻

✦ Expanded ad revenue sharing to creators with 50K followers and 25M monthly Snap views.

✦ Enabled 18+ users to post public stories, signaling a continued shift to becoming a creator platform.

✦ Integrated Snap lenses into Microsoft Teams.

✦ Announced 3M paying subs for Snapchat+.

✦ Rolled out its AI chatbot to all users, not just Snapchat+ subscribers.

✦ Introduced new "Community" and "After Dark" story modes.

✦ Unveiled My AI recommendations for places on Snap Map and made it possible to add My AI to group chats.

✦ Rolled out new tools including age filters to keep AI responses more age-appropriate.

✦ Released new Snapchat+ features, such as the ability to name your AI and give it a custom Bitmoji.

Substack ✍️

✦ Introduced a short-form Notes feed.

TikTok ♪

✦ Testing a new Explore tab to potentially replace the Friends section.

✦ Received a £12.7 million fine from the UK government for failing to remove underage users from its platform.

✦ Confirmed the launch of animated video stickers, which it quietly began rolling out back in February.

✦ Testing generative AI avatars.

Twitch 🎮

✦ Experimenting with new creator monetization options, including Streamer-Read Ads, Sub Codes, Sponsored Gift Subs, and Sponsored Sub Discounts.

Twitter 🐦

✦ Blocked the ability to retweet, like, or reply to Substack links after the launch of Substack's Notes feature.

✦ Experienced a bug that surfaced Twitter Circle Tweets to non-followers in the For You feed.

✦ Added a feature to trade stocks, crypto, and other assets via eToro.

✦ Relaunched its subscription program as Subscriptions (fka Super Follows) and reduced the requirement from 10k to 500 followers. Twitter will give creators 100% of revenue for the first 12 months.

YouTube 🎥

✦ Announced an Analytics for Artists feature to track viewership across multiple video formats.

✦ Testing a Podcasts tab on channel pages.

✦ Added new features to YouTube Premium, including higher quality video, support for co-watching videos on FaceTime via Apple SharePlay, a continue watching feature, and smart downloads.

✦ Deprecating shoppable links in favor of an affiliate program.

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