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- Apr 2023 Social Platform Updates
Apr 2023 Social Platform Updates
This is a monthly newsletter about social platform updates and new features. To receive Social Navigator in your inbox each month, subscribe here.
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.
✦ 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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