Once again, the world of social media has been keeping us on our toes with plenty of updates, announcements and new features to each platform. Here are some of the changes we’ve spotted throughout the month…
NEW REEL COMPOSER FOR FACEBOOK
At Social Progress, we are avid Creator Studio users, and recommend the tool to anyone scheduling content on Facebook and Instagram. This month, we saw a couple of updates within Creator Studio, including a brand new Reels Composer for Facebook.
This is a brand new space within the scheduling tool to specifically create Facebook Reels, including features to trim, caption, and schedule your video.
We’ve been longing for a Reel scheduler for quite some time now, so we’re very happy about this latest feature and just hope they expand it to Instagram Reels soon too!
INTRODUCING COLLABORATIVE FACEBOOK POSTS
Another update we’ve noticed within Creator Studio this month, is the introduction of Collaborative Posts on Facebook.
We saw Instagram launch Collaborative posts last year, allowing users to add additional Instagram accounts as collaborators, meaning should they accept, this post will appear on both your and their profiles.
Facebook’s new feature looks to work in exactly the same way, in that when you go to publish a Reel, you will now have the option to invite a collaborator. This will then send them an invite, and should they accept, the Reel will appear on both yours and their feeds, and both your pages will appear as the ‘author’ of the post.
So far, it looks like Collaborative Facebook Posts are only available for Reels created within Creator Studio, but hopefully this will expand to include other types of Facebook post soon too.
HOO’S THAT OWL?
Are there any Hootsuite users reading?? If so, you may have noticed their signature owl has a whole new look!
We’re not sure of the reason for this slight rebrand, and everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but we can’t help feeling the new owl is a little… scary?
LINKTR.EE GOES MOBILE
If you want to send your Instagram followers to several different links from your Instagram account, then you’re probably using Linktr.ee to do that.
Linktr.ee is a simple solution to managing links, and creates a mini landing page to take your followers to different webpages. This month, Linktr.ee just got even easier to manage, with the launch of their own mobile app.
This is super handy if you’re posting an Instagram post from your mobile and need to quickly update your Linktr.ee on the go.
ADD MULTIPLE FACEBOOK PROFILES
Now this one, we are REALLY excited about! We’ve heard that Facebook is experimenting with new account features, including allowing up to 5 profiles per person.
If this goes ahead, this could be an absolute game-changer for those using Facebook for their business. Multiple profiles would potentially allow users to have one personal profile which they use for interacting and sharing with friends and family, and another which is used purely for work and managing their business page.
We believe this is really important for those currently managing their business pages from their personal profiles, as it could create a better work/life balance and stop you receiving a load of work related messages and notifications to your personal profile.
This update cannot come soon enough!
LINKEDIN FRAMES VIDEOS
As we all have, LinkedIn has seen an increase in the number of portrait videos posted on their platform. This is inevitable with more social media being accessed via mobile devices, and portrait videos taking up more of the screen.
As a result of this, LinkedIn have started adding blurred frames around portrait videos, so they appear a little neater when viewed on desktop.
Now, when posting a portrait video, you don’t need to do anything differently, but LinkedIn will automatically add a blurred out version of your video in the background – how neat is that?!
SNAPCHAT GOES DESKTOP
This month, Snapchat announced the launch of a desktop version of their app. The app which is primarily used to send photographs which expire after a limited time, has said the new desktop version is a result of more people working from home and finding new ways to communicate online.
Snapchat’s web version will currently only be available to ‘Snapchat+’ subscribers in certain regions, and will include new features such as chat reactions and replies.
INSTAGRAM REELS TAKE OVER
If you’re a bit behind the times with Instagram Reels, you may need to start researching up, as Instagram have just announced that Reels will soon be replacing all video posts.
This is still in testing and we’re not sure when it will officially roll out, but the aim is to improve and simplify the video experience in the long run.
In a way, we completely get this, and it does make sense for there to be just one type of video. However, we’re also a little concerned that animated graphics, and square/landscape videos will no longer have a place on Instagram.
PROFILE SPOTLIGHT ON TWITTER
You may remember from our 2021 social media round-up, that Twitter launched ‘Twitter for Professionals’, late last year. But other than the ability to display a category on your profile, there hasn’t been much news on this or further sign of professional features to be added. UNTIL…
A new Twitter feature specifically for Professional profiles, is the ability to display a ‘Spotlight’ section on your profile. So far, this only enables you to spotlight your physical location, opening hours and website address, but it looks like these options will expand soon.
Head over to our Twitter profile to see how our Spotlight looks, and create your own by heading to the ‘Twitter for Professionals’ tab.
THAT’S ALL FOR THIS MONTH!
We hope you enjoyed this month’s round-up and we can’t wait to see what August has in store! Be sure to keep an eye out for next month’s update to see what’s changed!
Don’t forget, you can also get our monthly updates straight through to your inbox when you subscribe to our newsletter here.
Is there something we’ve missed? We’d love to hear any other changes you’ve spotted in the last month, so be sure to share them with us on social media.