Friday Fix: 5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media This Week 15.10.21

Shorter scroll time, engaging content!

We’ve got you covered with this week’s hot social media tips, tricks, and trends.

Instagram’s Testing Likes on Stories 👍

That’s right, there may be an even easier and quicker way to engage with a Story post. At the moment, you can respond to a Story with a quick emoji response or type out a direct message -which does clog up the creator’s inbox. The new Stories Like button, at least for now, will appear alongside the message field at the bottom of the Stories display. This does raise the question, how meaningful are Likes and what value will this update bring?

Facebook is Expanding Access to Live Audio Rooms 🗣️

Seems like audio may be the new video if Facebook has anything to say about it. In an attempt to present new engagement opportunities (and potentially jump on the Clubhouse bandwagon), users will now be able to discover all the audio formats Facebook hosts in one place, ranging from podcasts to Live Audio Rooms and short-form audio. Right now, only verified public figures and creators will have the ability to host live audio rooms, but down the line, who knows, maybe you can finally create that decorative thimble and collectible teaspoon ASMR channel you’ve been dreaming of. Don’t let your dreams be dreams.

Goodbye IGTV and Feed Videos and Hello Instagram Video 🎥

Oh IGTV, we barely knew ye. Instagram has recently announced that they are combining IGTV long-form video and Feed Videos into one extremely originally named video format: ‘Instagram Video.’ These videos will be found in the ‘Video’ tab on a user’s profile and will be kept separate from Reels.

Snapchat Introduces New Creator Monetisation Program 👻💸

Yup, cash rewards that could be earned without having to leave the couch. Snapchat is looking to increase engagement on the app and keep up with TikTok’s growing popularity among younger audiences. To do so, they have revamped their Spotlight feed and launched new ‘Spotlight Challenges’ which will offer cash prizes for users who post the best videos on a specific topic. They are currently keeping mum as to the specifics beyond stating it would dispense ‘millions’ of dollars monthly through ‘Spotlight’.

Instagram Adds New In-App Alerts on Technical Issues and Policy Violations 🔓

As we’re sure you (and the rest of the planet), are all well aware, Instagram had two pretty hefty outages last week. These global blips sent the world into a disastrous spiral of chaos and anarchy and… Ok, breathe… *Ahem* These outages disrupted lives and cut off customers from business, but all is well; Insta’s back and we can all say we survived the darkness. In response to these outages, Instagram will start to provide notifications directly in-app if there appears to be ongoing disruptions and issues to keep users informed (And stop them going to Twitter to check). In addition, Insta is also launching ‘Account Status’, a new tool to provide insight into potential content violations that don’t align with their Community Guidelines. Huzzah for Instagram finally adding more transparency.