Apr 2024 Social Platform Updates

Congress passed the TikTok ban. Airchat burst on to the scene. And Triller was acquired for $3.2B.

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

Airchat 🗣️

✦ The buzzy new social audio platform launched on an invite-only basis.

BeReal. ⚠️

✦ Launched a RealEvents feature to let users share moments from real-world experiences, starting with Coachella.

Facebook 👍

✦Introduced a fullscreen video mode and now defaults to vertical viewing for livestreams and longform video.

✦ Plans to label more content as “Made with AI”.

Instagram 📷

✦ Testing a “Spring Bonus” that pays creators based on their post engagement.

✦ Rolled out a Notify sticker for creators to alert their fans about new posts.

✦ Enabled followers to select which content, such as Stories, Reels, and posts they’d like to get notifications for.

✦ Released new tools to protect against unwanted nude images and sextortion.

✦ Launched a new Stories feature called Frames that turns a photo into a digital polaroid.

✦ Announced that there are now 2M+ active subscriptions to IG creators.

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Post 📮

✦ The text-based Twitter competitor is shutting down after failing to gain sufficient traction.

Snap Inc. 👻

✦ Turning off its paid friend-ranking feature Solar System by default, citing concerns about users' wellbeing.

✦ Added a watermark to AI-generated images.

Substack ✍️

✦ Announced new themes and layouts as well as an improved search function for archived posts.

✦ Introduced video within Notes, its feed-based browsing feature.

✦ Enabled Substack Notes to be embedded on other webpages.

Threads 🧵

✦ Offering a "positivity" challenge to pay creators up to $500 for posting.

✦ Surpassed 150M MAUs.

TikTok ♪

✦ Pres. Biden signed the so-called TikTok ban into law, giving ByteDance 9 months to divest the popular social media app.

✦ Released its TikTok Notes app in Australia and Canada.

✦ Paused the rewards program on its TikTok Lite app in the midst of a new investigation by European regulators.

Triller 🎵

✦ Acquired by AGBA Group, a Hong Kong financial services firm, for a $3.2B valuation.

Twitch 🎮

✦ Changed its policies to allow users to discuss or react to content from suspended users.

✦ Rolled out its scrollable discovery feed to all users.

X 🐦

✦ Building a smart TV app named X TV.

YouTube 🎥

✦ Released an auto-generated “key moments” feature for connected TV viewers.

✦ Announced a Podcasts for You shelf.

✦ Launched an “Affiliate Hub,” which lists e-commerce partners offering commission rates and promo codes.

✦ Unveiled a new Collections feature, which lets creators set up virtual stores to curate product collections.

✦ Disabled video playback for viewers using ad blockers.

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