Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023! Here are some top highlights from what went down in 2022 with your favorite social media platforms:
January
- TikTok made it to TV on a streaming platform utilized by the televisions of about 19,000 businesses globally, including Taco Bell and Burger King.
- As 2021 came to a close, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri laid out the app’s top priorities in 2022. As we’ll see in this review… Instagram lived up to their promises!
- A new study showed that Americans spend nearly the same amount of time watching user-generated videos on social media as they do watching traditional TV. Teens are leading the way as they report spending 56% of their media time with user-generated content compared with just 22% of consumers 55 and older.
February
- Meta continued their exploration into the metaverse with improved 3D avatars and expanded avatar use in Instagram.
- With a continued focus on shopping, Pinterest launched a new augmented reality tool that let users virtually place furniture in their home.
- YouTube brought back its AdBlitz showcase.
March
- The IGTV app – the spot to watch longer form Instagram videos – was shut down. Opting to group all videos together under the one umbrella of ‘Instagram Video’.
- TikTok more than tripled the maximum length of videos that users could upload. Allowing creators to post 10-minute videos. The previous maximum was 3 minutes, which was established in July 2021 (up from 60 seconds).
- Meta went all in on Reels, expanding the short-form video concept to all Facebook users.
April
- Elon Musk, creator of SpaceX and co-founder of Tesla (among other attributes), becomes a 9.2% shareholder of Twitter. He also joined the board. Among his first activities with this ownership share was asking users if they wanted an edit button.
- Shortly after that tweet, Twitter announced that it was, in fact, working on an editing feature.
- A new study showed about 30% of Facebook’s Interest target is wrong. “The key finding here is that Facebook takes an aggressive approach to interest inference.”
- Ever watch something on TikTok, but then “lose” it? The app started testing a watch history feature to help you track down those clips.
May
- Twitter announced that they entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Tesla mogul, Elon Musk, in an epic bid of roughly $44 billion.
- Meta’s first retail store opened on May 9, 2022, at Meta’s Burlingame campus in California. The goal: allowing people to experience the possibilities of the “Metaverse” for themselves and to try out Meta’s array of hardware products.
- The Instagram algorithm updated…AGAIN. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, shared an update that the platform added enhanced tagging features and was prioritizing original content.
June
- Social audio had its moment and seemingly as quickly as it arrived, Facebook pulled the plug on support for Podcasts less than a year after launch.
- Sneaky, sneaky… Did you notice Instagram changed their logo? While seemingly small, the change was a part of a larger “visual refresh” to the platform.
- YouTube Shorts hit 1.5 billion monthly video viewers.
July
- Major changes were in the works for Facebook as the company passed along a strategic directive for employees to work towards making the platform more like TikTok. What did that mean? Incorporating more AI-recommended content into your feed that is based on overall engagement and popularity, not just your personal connections or pages you follow.
- A new study released by Hello Alice spotlit the platform’s rising value as a promotional tool for Small Businesses. Out of 7,000 small business owners, 67% said TikTok was the platform that was most-effective in helping them tell their story in a creative way.
- Instagram FINALLY opened up its Reels API to third-party platforms and also announces that all videos will now become REELs.
August
- By this point in the year, we had all heard that Elon Musk was looking for a way to exit his infamous $44 million Twitter deal. However, Twitter wasn’t having it as the platform slapped Musk with a lawsuit to force him to complete the halted acquisition of the platform.
- Facebook officially started rolling out their new feed format. The update split into a “home” feed that focuses on recommended content to keep you entertained, and added a new “feeds” tab to view the latest from different categories like “favorites,” “friends,” “Groups,” and more.
- Users campaigned for Instagram to, “stop trying to be TikTok.” Following extensive backlash after chief Adam Mosseri announced the app’s latest algorithm and feed changes. The response was so great, Mosseri then later backtracked on some of his statements. Then claiming, “we need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward.”
September
- Tweet editing FINALLY arrives! Live testing is a go.
- Snapchat launches their BeReal copycat dual-camera feature.
- Newly released report by Pew Research firmly establishes TikTok as the top app for US teens.
October
- Meta releases Facebook REELs API to third parties. This allows creators to post REELs via external video editing apps or social media scheduling tools just like with Instagram Stories and REELs.
- Instagram introduces longer Stories! The platform announced that videos up to 60 seconds long wouldl no longer be broken up into segments. (Previously, 15 seconds was the max).
- TikTok’s very own BeReal copycat, TikTok Now, launches world-wide in the app.
November
- The latest update for iOS 16.1 is released. Apple quietly rolled out some new app developer requirements that would allow them to collect a 30% commission on all transactions from apps that allow users to pay to increase the reach or visibility of their content.
- Elon Musk officially takes control of Twitter, swiftly cutting several execs, and removing the company from the Stock Exchange on Day 1.
- Youtube Shorts launches for TV.
December
- In an effort to help creators bring their content to life, Instagram adds new in-feed music to your photo posts without turning them into videos!
- Instagram officially launches their new in-app scheduling tool! Business account users should start to see this feature rolling out shortly to Android and iOS.
- Pinterest collage app, Shuffles, becomes available to the general public. We can’t wait to see how this starts being utilized by creators and brands in 2023!
What do you think 2023 has in store for social media?
Let us know!
