From X making likes private to TikTok launching ANOTHER photo-sharing app, ‘Whee’, we’ve got all the juicy details. Feeling overwhelmed by all the social media updates? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! This blog post is your one-stop shop for everything new happening across the biggest platforms this week. Jump in and see what’s hot (and not) in the social media world this week!

What’s new with Meta?

Dynamic Creative Not Quite Dead Yet: Facebook Ads Manager Update

Facebook Ads Manager is changing things up a bit with Dynamic Creative. It’s not going away completely, but you won’t be able to use it for sales or app promotion campaigns anymore. You’ll need to use a similar feature called Flexible Ad Formats for those goals. It’s a bit confusing, but hopefully this clears things up!

Our tips/key features:

• Partially Available: Dynamic Creative is still available for some objectives but not others, it’s still available for some ad objectives like brand awareness but not for sales or app promotion campaigns
• Flexible Ads: If the difference is too confusing for you, we suggest using the Flexible Ads Format for the time being as Facebook continues to roll out of removing Dynamic Creative.

Our thoughts: Personally, we feel as though Facebook should make up their mind and either keep or remove Dynamic Creative altogether, as the Flexible Ad format is an almost perfect substitute and these updates are getting confusing!

👀 Tests Spotted on Meta

• Meta is Developing Tool to Fight Fake Audio with Watermarking! It’s early days for Meta’s audio watermarking tool, but it has the potential to be useful to help fight misinformation and scams, potentially leading to a more trusted online environment.
• Meta Tests New AI-powered Chat Tools for Facebook Messenger. Use AI-powered chatbots to answer common customer questions in Messenger and send targeted promotional messages to people who have opted-in to receive them from your business on Messenger.

Want some help running your Paid Ads? Book a free 20-minute chat here and never worry Meta updates again.

What’s new with Instagram?

Go Live with just your “Close Friends” List

You now have the option to go live on Instagram with only the users that have been selected for your “Close Friends” list!

Key features:

• Notifications: Only the accounts in your “Close Friends” list will be notified about your broadcast.
• Visibility: Your live broadcast will only be visible on your account to those who are on your “Close Friends” list.
• Co-Hosts: You can have up to 3 co-hosts on your broadcast, however, they will need to be a part of your “Close Friends” List.

Recommendation for Business Owners: Consider including your most engaged audience to your “Close Friends” list and establish a more personal relationship.

Invite collaborators to your Reel After it’s been posted!

Instagram has updated its collaboration feature to allow us to invite collaborators to the reel after it has already been posted! Previously, collaborators had to be invited and accept the invitation before the post went live.

How do you do it?:

• Select the Reel: Go to the Reel you want to invite a collaborator to and click the three dots.
• Edit the Reel: Tap “Manage” and then “Edit.”
• Invite Collaborator: Tap “Tag People” and “Invite Collaborator.” Search for the account you want to invite, choose “Invite to Collaborate,” and you’re done.
• Your Collaborator Needs to Accept: The collaborating account will receive an invitation, and if they accept, the Reel will then be displayed on their profile.

Recommendation for Business Owners: This is an even easier way to use collaboration and can be used to promote your Biz on your personal or partnered accounts!

👀 Tests spotted on Instagram this week:

• Instagram is testing a new feature to help creators connect with brands! This “Creator Insights” display shows key metrics like follower growth and engagement over the last 30 days, giving brands a quick snapshot of a creator’s performance.
• Instagram is seen working on in-chat widgets. Instagram is testing out ways to make DMs more interactive and engaging with upcoming chat widgets.
• Instagram tests Levelling Up Carousels. Add music to your Carousels even if there are Videos in your Carousel.
• Instagram tests an easier way to change the order of your carousel items, using thumbnails of your photos to rearrange the order!

Want to take Instagram off your hands? Book a free 20-minute chat here and have a months worth of content scheduled at all times, your comments replied to and NEVER have to struggle with content ideas again!

What’s new with YouTube?

👀 Tests spotted on YouTube this week:

• YouTube Tests its own Community Notes Feature: Viewers Can Now Add Info to Videos. This will allow viewers to add info and context to videos. Similar to how it works on other platforms, you will be able to rate the helpfulness of the notes, with the best ones being shown publicly. YouTube is hoping this will help tackle misinformation but, for now, it’s just a trial on mobiles in the US.

What’s new with X?

X Makes Likes Private: Can You Like Anything Now?

X has made a big change – likes are now private! This means you can freely like posts without anyone else seeing them. They say this will encourage people to engage with more content, especially those who might be worried about judgment for liking something a little out there. Business owners can still see how many likes their posts get overall, so you can track engagement levels that way. This update has the potential to lead X users to engage with more divisive and controversial content if they feel that they can do so without being judged, so this could be something to keep an eye on!

Our tip / key features:

• Your likes are private to you: You’ll still be able to see posts you have liked (but others cannot)
• You can see who has liked your own posts: A post’s author can see who liked its posts and like count and other metrics for your own posts will still show under notifications.

Implications for Business Owners: As the total number of likes is still visible you can still measure engagement levels overall. However, taking public likes away may put emphasis on the content you are posting and building relationships with your audience. This update might change how people interact with content on X so focus on creating valuable content and keep an eye on how engagement changes.

What’s new with TikTok?

TikTok launches ANOTHER photo sharing app

TikTok is giving Instagram a run for its money with a brand-new app called Whee! It lets you share photos with close friends, so it’s a more private way to connect. This is actually the second photo-sharing app TikTok has launched this year, alongside Notes which is more for public sharing. It’s all a bit confusing, but it seems like TikTok is trying to find new ways for people to share photos and maybe even shop through the app.

Key features:

• What is it?: Whee presents an Instagram-like feed of images, designed to only be shared with friends
• TikTok’s 2nd Photo-Sharing App This Year: The main difference between Whee and TikTok’s first photo-sharing app released in April, Notes, is that Whee is focused on friend sharing only, while Notes is a more broad audience type app

Recommendations for Business Owners: With new social platforms being launched seemingly all the time, it can be hard to know which ones are relevant for your biz’s marketing. Make sure to focus your attention on the platforms that are working for you and not spread yourself too thin across all of these new socials!

👀 Tests spotted on TikTok this week:

• TikTok unveils Virtual Influencers: Your Brand New Salesperson Could Be an AI. You can customise these avatars to look like real people, or you can choose from a range of pre-made options. These custom avatars will work as brand spokespeople who can translate into different languages to reach global audiences.
• TikTok begins Ads on Billboards! They’re letting select brands use their TikTok videos in real-life campaigns, like on billboards and in cinemas. This means you could see your TikTok on the big screen and brands can reach new audiences. They’ve already partnered with companies like Lionsgate (The Hunger Games) to create super cool campaigns that blend the online and offline world.

Struggling to get results with TikTok? Book a free 20-minute chat here and we’ll prepare a strategic content calendar, along with direction for filming, editing all of your TikTok’s, posting and community management. And we provide a monthly report so you can see exactly how it’s contributing to the bigger picture.

What’s new with Pinterest?

👀 Tests spotted on Pinterest this week:

• Pinterest Unveils New AI Ad Tools and Brand Safety Updates. Pinterest is giving advertisers a bunch of new tools to play with! They’re using AI to create personalised backgrounds for products and letting you test out shoppable collages in your ads. They’re also working hard to make sure your ads appear in safe spaces.

That’s this week’s digital update rundown introducing TikTok’s brand new photo-sharing app ‘Whee’ and the updates to X’s private likes and SO many Instagram and Facebook tests in the works! Feel free to sign up for our weekly summary here so you never miss the best updates. AND don’t forget, if you do miss out you can always go back to last week’s blog posts here.

XOXO

OMD SQUAD