July 2025 Social Platform Updates

Hey Social Navigators 🖖

July gave us some classic LinkedIn chaos. Hope you enjoyed all those two-week-old memes and stale posts. 

If not, good news: they’re reversing the algorithm tweak so your feed will stop time traveling and stay current.

Meanwhile, Instagram’s new carousel insights have social media managers jumping for joy. YouTube’s letting creators A/B test video titles. And X is looking for a new CEO.

Let’s get into everything that dropped this month across social media. 👇

Facebook 👍

✦ Accounts that repeatedly post unoriginal content without meaningful edits or credit will face reduced reach and monetization limits.

✦ Add a song and artist-themed background to your text posts, with in-stream playback for anyone listening with sound on.

✦ Video ads that are 30 seconds or less are set to loop for 90 seconds.

Instagram 📷

✦ Edits app added better Reels insights, advanced audio controls, and flexible export options.

✦ A new carousel insights feature reveals which specific frame got the most likes.

✦ A new Auto Scroll feature lets you passively browse Reels and feed posts without swiping.

✦ Edits now include a royalty-free music tab, new voice effects, and creative tools.

✦ Adam Mosseri confirms using “link in bio” in captions doesn’t hurt reach.

✦ On July 10th, Instagram began expanding Google search indexing for public posts, boosting content discoverability outside the app.

✦ You’ll soon be able to reply to comments with photos.

✦ AI-powered search summaries in comment threads let you tap prompts to see context, Reels, or web results without leaving the app.

✦ New teen safety features added to DMs.

✦ DM scheduling and message translation tools are now available to more users.

✦ Trial Reels feature expanded to more creators for testing new content.

✦ Spotify music sharing in Stories now includes in-app song previews.

✦ Colorful backgrounds and emoji support added to Notes.

LinkedIn 🤝

✦ You can add video covers with clickable thumbnails to newsletters and articles.

✦ The two-week post-resurfacing algorithm has been reversed following user complaints.

✦ Hashtags now play a smaller role.

✦ LinkedIn partnered with Notion to offer six months of Notion Plus with AI for LinkedIn Premium subscribers.

Meta ♾️

✦ Meta releases Oakley smart glasses.

✦ Meta is gifting Meta Verified subscriptions to select creators.

✦ The marketing API update adds AI-powered creator content suggestions, dynamic identity optimization, and expanded publishing tools for Facebook and Instagram ads.

✦ Meta has released a fresh 6-page guide with top tips for creating engaging Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram.

✦ The verification process now includes video selfies to comply with new regional laws enforcing stricter age access restrictions.

Pinterest 📌

✦ Pinterest shares marketing tips for holiday campaigns, including optimizing Pins, leveraging trends, and planning early to maximize seasonal reach.

Reddit 👽

✦ Reddit is playing a bigger role in consumer purchases, with users relying on authentic community insights to guide their decisions.

Snapchat 👻

✦ Better ad attention metrics, thanks to a new partnership with IAS and DoubleVerify.

✦ Snapchat boasts 250 million users in India alone.

✦ Boost e-commerce ads with insights from a new collaboration with Triple Whale.

✦ New ‘Home Safe’ alerts that notify friends once you make it home.

Threads 🧵

✦ DMs rolled out to all users starting July 1st.

✦ You can now share photos directly in DMs.

✦ Expanded analytics now include detailed audience insights and post view sources.

✦ Threads is nearing X in daily active users, reaching 115M.

✦ Sign up for Threads using your Facebook profile instead of Instagram.

✦ Threads recently passed 350M monthly users.

TikTok ♪

✦ TikTok is testing a new feature called “bulletin boards,” which allows creators and brands to share messages with their followers

✦ Beta launch of new songwriter features lets certified writers showcase tracks with a dedicated profile tab and label.

✦ Creator Search Insights, now on desktop, helps creators find trending and underserved topics to create better content.

✦ Schedule posts directly within the app for easier content planning.

✦ TikTok launched TikTok Sans, an open-source variable font supporting 460+ languages.

✦ TikTok users now have the ability to save songs they hear on the app to YouTube Music.

X 🐦

✦ Linda Yaccarino has stepped down as CEO of X (formerly Twitter) after two years in the role.

✦ Ads containing more than one emoji in the copy or creative will have a lower quality score.

✦ AI bots can generate Community Notes, providing additional context and information.

✦ X launched its latest AI model, Grok 4.

✦ Elon Musk says X will bring back Vine but in AI form.

YouTube 🎥

✦ YouTube wants to turn audience loyalty measurements into the hot new metrics. That’s why a “viewer segmentation” option is replacing the “returning viewers” figure on the platform’s analytics dashboard.

✦ YouTube is improving how it identifies “mass-produced and repetitious” content. It’s part of an effort to crack down on people who make money by reuploading other creators’ content.

✦  Ask Studio helps creators brainstorm ideas, analyze content, and grow their channels.

✦ Artists can use new resources to grow their audience, master Shorts, and navigate Analytics.

✦ A/B test video titles (on top of thumbnails) within Studio’s “Test & Compare” tool, automatically identifying the best-performing title before publishing.

✦ YouTube Shorts releases a new feature that turns pictures into video.

Others 📝

✦ Bluesky users will now be able to receive push notifications “when someone likes or reposts posts you’ve reposted.

✦ Roblox pays creators daily Robux for keeping spenders hooked. Creators can also build experiences using popular IPs from top entertainment brands.

✦ VSCO launched Capture, a free standalone iPhone camera app with over 50 live film-style presets and manual controls.

✦ WhatsApp added AI summaries to scan unread messages privately for quicker catch-ups.

✦ Beehiiv's new "Top 4 Recommendations" feature lets creators spotlight four newsletters during sign-up, boosting organic growth through targeted cross-promotion.

✦ Spotify tests "Your Updates" to keep users informed about social activity and notifications.

✦ Substack raised $100 million to build new tools and expand support for creators, boosting the platform's reach and valuation past $1.1 billion.

✦ Twitch launched Subfeeds for clips, making it easier to discover content from your favorite creators.

✦ Twitch has reportedly begun alpha testing vertical video streams.

✦ Substack is launching a slate of new “scheduling, clipping, and sharing” tools designed to make livestreaming more intuitive.

✦ Substack raised $100M in Series C funding.

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