The 411 on the latest social media updates

Posted by Michelle Tyma on 10th April 2017

In the last month social media companies have introduced a load of new updates, and with so much news it’s hard to keep up. But don’t fear. We’ve put together a run-down of some of the latest changes so you’re up to speed.

New Twitter replies

If you’re like us, you’ll be rejoicing in the fact that @usernames no longer count towards a tweet’s 140 character limit. Hurrah! Twitter reportedly made the change to allow users to “express themselves”. During tests of this new experience they found people engage more with conversations on the platform.

Twitter ditches the egg profile picture

It’s the end of an era for Twitter’s default egg profile picture which has been binned in favour of a placeholder which Twitter hopes will encourage people to upload images that express themselves. In a blog post, Twitter explained its reasons for the new placeholder, including that there was an association between the default egg and negative behavior. It claims this wasn’t fair to people still new to Twitter and who were yet to personalise their photo.

More insights on Periscope

Live video streaming app Periscope, owned by Twitter, has introduced new ways to access audience insights. A dashboard for broadcast analytics now provides insights on video duration, viewers, hearts, and time watched. Plus a new activity tab displays engagement with the broadcaster and with certain pieces of content - such as a new follow or someone watching a replay.

LinkedIn updates to improve feeds

In a bid to improve user’s feeds, LinkedIn has launched ‘improve my feed’ to allow users to discover new companies to follow by tapping the control icon – the three dots on the top right corner of every update. This function is currently only available on mobile. Users can now also hide posts, and unfollow people’s posts while remaining connected to them.

Facebook Messenger reactions and mentions

Appearing in the lower corner of a message, new Messenger Reactions use Messenger emojis and work in both one-to-one and group conversations.

New Mentions also allow users to directly notify someone that they’ve been mentioned in a conversation.

In addition to Messenger, the new features will also be available for Work Chat in Workplace.

Facebook stories

Facebook also launched Facebook Stories to rival Snapchat. The new disappearing content is available for 24 hours and will be visible in circles at the top of the news feed, similar to Instagram. Stories won’t appear in the timeline or news feed.

Geostickers in Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories launched geostickers for users in New York, Jakarta, and Indonesia. Much like Snapchat, the new offering allows users to add location-specific graphics to their photos and videos. We hope it won’t be long until they reach the UK.

Keeping up with the rate of change on social media platforms and shifting best practices can be challenging. At Capital B Media we offer advice on social media strategy, helping you choose the right platforms for your business and creating engaging content to help increase engagement.