04/20/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/20/2021 14:18

Social Media News: The 5 Biggest Stories of the Week

We get it! You're busy scheduling content and engaging with your followers, so it can be difficult to make time to sit down and read about the latest Facebook algorithm update or how brands are leveraging TikTok. But, hey, it's also important to carve out time to learn about new ways to improve your social media strategy. So, put down your phone (we know: it's hard!) and indulge in reading about recent social media updates.

Top Social Media and PR News Stories This Week

If you work in social media marketing, these are the stories you need to read this week!

• Facebook officially announces new audio-focused features...
• ...and so does Reddit
• New creative tools for TikTok business users
• Instagram experiments with allowing users to turn off Like-counts
• Pinterest helps creators control the use of their content

Facebook Launches Audio Experiences

In a week that saw Clubhouse secure funding which values the business at $4 billion, Facebook announced its response to the growing audio-chat trend.

The new features include tools for creating audio content, short-form audio clips for Facebook posts, live audio rooms for Groups and Messenger, plus integrated podcast tools.

Facebook says that all of these new features are designed to work together to give users a seamless experience, and will become part of a 'central listening destination'. There will also be options for creators to monetize the audio content they publish on the platform.

Reddit Confirms New Audio Features

Last week we mentioned that Reddit was rumoured to be launching its own audio-chat feature, and this week the company has confirmed its plan for Reddit Talk. In a post on the site, the company announced a waitlist for access to the new feature, which will allow the moderators of Reddit communities to host live audio chats.

One of Reddit's most successful trends has been AMA (Ask Me Anything) threads, where high profile individuals (or simply people with interesting stories) offer to answer questions from users. This has worked well as a text-based feature, but it's easy to see how audio AMA sessions could become very popular.

New Creative Tools for Brands on TikTok

TikTok this week unveiled its new Business Creative Hub, designed to help brands on the platform come up with creative ideas for their own content.

The hub provides access to trending content, to give you an idea of what's already working well on the platform, as well as tips and guidance on best practices for creating posts that will perform well.

The Hub is available to all TikTok users who have business accounts on the platform.

Instagram Lets Users Turn Off Like Counts

Instagram is testing a new feature that allows users to switch off the Like-counts shown on posts. This is an issue that has been explored by Instagram and other social platforms for a while, whether the relentless pursuit of more likes is harmful to users' mental wellbeing, as well as damaging the overall experience of the service.

Instagram has previously tried switching off Like counts entirely for some users and, following feedback on those earlier experiments, it's now giving users in the test group the option to choose for themselves whether they want to see the counts on their posts.

Pinterest Helps Creators Control Their Content

Pinterest has introduced a new Content Claiming Portal, which enables content creators to protect their IP on the platform, by claiming ownership of their images and deciding how they want to permit those images to be used across the site.

To begin with, the tool is only available to a handful of creators, but Pinterest says it will roll the feature out to a wider range of users in the future.

Catch Up on Social News from Early this Month

1. Facebook & YouTube Dominate US Social

The latest research into US social media usage from Pew shows that 81% of Americans use Facebook, and 69% use YouTube, making them by far the most popular social platforms. Instagram trailed in third place at 40%. Just 23% use Twitter, and 21% use TikTok.

The study also found that most social platforms have not grown much since 2019, with only Reddit and YouTube showing a significant increase in users since then. Unsurprisingly, adults under 30 are more likely to use Instagram, Snapchat at TikTok than older people.

The report, Social Media Use in 2021, is based on a survey of 1,500 Americans carried out earlier this year.

2. Facebook Tests New Live Audio Feature

As Clubhouse continues to generate buzz across the industry, other social media companies are making their own forays into live-audio-focused platforms in a bid to protect their market share. The latest experiment comes from Facebook in the form of Hotline, a new feature that is designed to facilitate Q&A sessions between creators and fans.

Hotline combines audio, text, and video, and was released into public beta last week in the US. The full story is at TechCrunch.

In other news from Facebook, the company announced that it will now label content in users' newsfeeds to help people differentiate between independent news sources, statements from public officials, satire, and other information channels.

3. Reddit Also Dabbles with Audio

Facebook isn't the only social media platform hoping to muscle in on the Clubhouse party. Mashable reports that the massive online community service is trialing a new audio-chat feature of its own, although the story is unconfirmed by Reddit.

According to the report, these voice chats would be run by subreddit moderators (the power-users who admin the site's many niche-interest communities) and might form part of a package of incentives available to users who pay for a premium experience of the site.

4. Twitter to Focus on Performance Ads

This year will see Twitter offering its advertisers a wider range of products and an improved ad-buying experience, according to a report in Campaign. A major new focus for the platform will be performance ads, which drive users to perform specific actions such as viewing a video or downloading an app onto their device.

This is all in contrast to the kind of advertising users currently experience on Twitter, which is largely designed to increase brand awareness rather than creating action. But in this space, as well, the platform is planning to offer new formats and products for advertisers.

As Twitter strives to grow its revenues, the opportunity for brands on the platform looks set to expand significantly.

That's it! Come back next week for another recap of the biggest social media news and PR stories of the week.

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