Mar 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.

TikTok added a paywall content feature. Instagram is testing Collaborative Collections. And Twitter announced that soon only verified accounts will appear in the For You timeline and be eligible to vote in polls.

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

Facebook 👍

✦ Meta is working on a decentralized, text-based social network, internally codenamed P92.

✦ Announced it will stop supporting NFTs amidst additional layoffs and restructuring.

✦ Paused its Reels Play Bonus Program as it develops an ad revenue share program.

✦ Expanded its Meta Verified subscription test to the U.S.

Instagram 📷

✦ Also deprecating support for NFTs.

✦ Testing a new group post sharing option called Collaborative Collections.

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LinkedIn 🤝

✦ Testing collaborative articles, featuring contributions from multiple authors.

Reddit 👽

✦ Introduced a TikTok-like "Watch feed" to separate videos from a "Read feed" of text posts.

Snapchat 👻

✦ Introduced AR Enterprise Services (ARES) to help businesses integrate Snap's AR technology suite into their own apps and websites.

Substack ✍️

✦ Launched a community fundraising round to raise $2M.

TikTok ♪

✦ Set a 60-minute daily screen time limit for users under 18.

✦ Introduced new parental controls, including a screen time dashboard and the ability to mute app notifications.

✦ Unveiled updates to its Community Guidelines, including new rules for AI-created "synthetic media."

✦ Launched new paywall feature called “Series.”

✦ Enabled users to erase their viewing history and refresh the For You feed.

Twitter 🐦

✦ Planning to add ID verification to its Twitter Blue sign up process.

✦ Notified users that it would phase out legacy verified checkmarks on April 1st.

✦ Rolled out Twitter Blue globally.

✦ Had elements of its source code leaked online.

✦ Announced that only Twitter Blue accounts will appear in the For You timeline and that only verified users will be able to vote in polls starting April 15th.

✦ Allegations emerged of Twitter secretly boosting certain user accounts (similar to "heating" on TikTok).

YouTube 🎥

✦ Announced it's shutting down Indian social commerce app Simsim, which acquired in 2021 for $70M.

✦ Redesigned in-app icons with a focus on accessibility and consistency.

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