Expect the latest on social media news, features and updates across all platforms, with insight from our in-house social team to help you stay up to date and on trend.

Snapchat Launches Snapchat For Web

Snapchat has introduced a desktop version of the app called Snapchat for Web, enabling users to start video calls or continue conversations from mobile on their desktop. Snapchat for Web includes messaging features such as Chat Reactions and Chat Reply, with Lenses rolling out soon. Snapchat for Web will be available for Snapchat+ subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, and to users in Australia and New Zealand, with a view to roll it out globally soon.

Read more here.

Reddit Publishes 2022 Holiday marketing Guide

Reddit has published a new holiday marketing guide to help marketers in advertising on the platform this holiday season. Reddit has outlined that 90% of their users trust the platform as a place to learn about new products and brands. The guide features a range of holiday insights including how users use the platform for research, a list of top holiday gift categories on the platform, plus more.

Read more here.

Youtube Announces Partnership With Shopify and New Shopping Tools

YouTube has announced a new partnership with Shopify, along with adding new shopping tools. The new partnership with Shopify will enable eligible creators to link their Shopify store to their YouTube channel. This will allow creators and merchants to feature their products across their YouTube channel and content as well as being able to utilise Shopify's real-time inventory syncing. YouTube is also adding new tools within YouTube Studio's 'Shopping' tab to allow creators to easily manage how their products are tagged and appear across their channel. Eligible creators will also be able to access live shopping features, such as the ability to tag products to a live stream directly from the Live Control Room.

Read more here.

The Demise of Instagram?

Martha Lynn, Eleven Miles Social Media Manager

Instagram has been testing new features to keep up with its biggest competitor, Tik Tok. This includes showing more suggested posts and ads, causing frustration for users who visit the app to stay up to date with their friends and family.

The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri tweeted:

The tweet received over 2,000 replies and created an important conversation about what everyday Instagram users really want from the app. @wongmjane suggested that Instagram could inject highlights of stories into the feed, but Mosseri contested that this could “break” Stories.

Others argued that growth is taking place outside the feed because users feed content has been deprioritised, @mattdwille asks “Why would I post to my grid if no one’s going to see it?“. Mosseri took the opportunity to remind users that they can add their friends to their ‘Favorites’ and Instagram will show their feed posts at the top of the feed.

In June, Mashable wrote a related article claiming ‘Instagram seems to have completely stopped caring about its users’. The article goes into further detail about the platforms increase in ads, “I had to scroll past six ads before I got to a post by someone I actually follow. I’m not sure when Instagram became this aggressive when it comes to ads, but I don’t remember it being this bad earlier this year.”

With the current Instagram algorithm causing controversy, it’s never been more important for brands to create an advertising strategy that aligns with their objectives, while also being mindful of their audience. By using selective audience targeting, engaging creative and frequency controls on Meta advertising, businesses can still get results whilst avoiding “bombarding” users Instagram feeds.

TikTok Adds Accessibility and Translation Tools

TikTok has introduced new accessibility and translation tools, helping to reduce language barriers and make content more accessible. The update will support an initial batch of languages including English, Portuguese, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish and Turkish. The updates will include Auto-Generated Captions, where, in addition to creators, users will now have the option to turn on closed captions for videos, translations for captions and video descriptions, and translations for text stickers in videos. 

Read more here.

Youtube Enables Creators To Import Youtube Videos Into Shorts

YouTube is adding the capability for creators to convert up to 60-seconds of their own long-form YouTube video content into Shorts. The process will include the usual Shorts editing tools such as text, timeline editor, filters etc. If part of the video selected is less than 60-seconds long, users can shoot additional content with the Shorts camera, or upload more content, if they choose to make 60-second Shorts. Shorts created from a long-form video will be linked back to the video so viewers can watch the original long-form content. Creating Shorts from long-form content will be a process which is only available on the user's own content, meaning this will not be available for other creators to use on other user's content. 

Read more here.

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