There is SO MUCH happening across social media right now! Without delay …
Apple to Enforce Major Privacy Change
The new Apple operating system – 14.5 – is rolling out to phones and includes a major privacy change that worries Facebook. iPhone users will now have the ability to opt out of being tracked by certain apps.
Companies that rely on online advertising – especially Facebook – say this move will reduce their ability to reach targeted audiences. Apple says it will remove apps that don’t comply with its new policy.
Hiding Likes on Instagram Re-emerges
For the past two years, Instagram has been testing the ability for users to hide Like counts. However, Instagram has enabled and disabled this feature at times, and then also pushed the idea to the backburner during the early days of the pandemic.
Now, though, the testing is back. There’s also a new twist for users to choose to not see Likes on others’ posts.
“We’re testing this on Instagram to start, but we’re also exploring a similar experience for Facebook. We will learn from this new small test and have more to share soon,” a Facebook company spokesperson said.
Facebook Unveils Scheduling for Stories
If you’re a social media manager, you’ve probably been wishing for the ability to schedule Stories for a long time. Well, at long last, that feature is here. You can find it in the Business Suite app when composing new content.
Scheduling Stories has been an option on some third-party sites, but with extra steps involving push notifications for users to publish their content.
Clubhouse Copycat?
Facebook is releasing a variety of audio options across its apps in an effort to compete against the growing app Clubhouse. An audio-only feature of Rooms is available in Facebook and Messenger. Users can make their rooms private or public.
Facebook says it will test audio options in Groups, plus launching a tool called “Soundbites” that let’s users create short-form audio clips.
The social media giant also says it’s exploring the launch of podcast listening and discovery tools.
Speaking Of Audio …
“Reddit Talk” has arrived. As Social Media Today explains: it “is essentially Clubhouse within subreddits.”
Twitter Enhancing Fleet Visuals
Fleets – Twitter’s version of Stories – has new visual features to help draw engagement.
This move comes a few weeks after Twitter added stickers and GIFs to Fleets, which debuted near the end of 2020.
Have you missed a recent Social Media in the News? Catch up on headlines from throughout the year now!
