Social media updates and new features to know this week
Updates from Threads, X, Pinterest and more.
This week, we’ve got lots of updates from Advertising Week 2026. Yes, that means lots of new AI-powered advertising tools. Let’s get into it!
Meta
Meta released a ton of new AI ad tools for its network of apps. These include:
- A wider rollout of the new Ads Creative Studio. Meta says this will help advertisers spot their best-performing content more easily.
- Updates to the Meta AI business assistant. This includes insights from the Ads Creative Studio, more persistent memory and agentic options.
- AI-enabled audience discovery allows users to describe their audience in regular language rather than selecting from dropdowns. The AI will then choose the relevant categories, and managers can confirm or deny the selections. Managers can now also choose to run campaigns purely for new customer acquisition.
- New AI tools to turn still images, catalogs and more into videos for use in ads.
- New agentic shopping experiences with Meta’s Muse agent, allowing people to purchase directly within Messenger.
The app that started as a photographic showcase may soon become video first.
Instagram is testing a new option to allow users to opt in and see Reels directly in their Home feed. They can still swipe over to a traditional feed or disable the feature altogether. Sound plays by default.
This is still a test, but it shows just how important video has become to the camera app.
Meanwhile, the Edits app can now be used to design Carousel posts.
Threads
Threads is introducing Gems, a digital badge designed to recognize perspective, discussion and originality. The little digital badge doesn’t actually do anything, save elevate posts that create conversation. They’re chosen by automated systems, according to Threads.
Don’t want the badge appearing? It can be removed.
X
Back over to Advertising Week news, X has also — shocker — revealed a new AI ad tool. This one is called X Lift, and it reads your website and generates ad campaigns based on what it finds.
In the unending battle against bot users, X is also introducing “liveness checks.” These are triggered by suspected bot activity and can happen either during sign-up or based on account activity. There are three ways to prove you’re a real person: Using your phone’s biometrics, taking a short selfie video or performing a hand gesture on camera (this one is still in development). If you pass, the account is restored, usually immediately. If not, it’ll stay locked.
Finally, X’s Grok can now read the site’s posts and analyze their content in a cool social monitoring tool.
Pinterest is offering a new collaboration method for brands and influencers. Brands can now boost existing posts from users, allowing them to jump onto organic interest. Users can opt out, but those who want to encourage promotion are encouraged to mention brands, highlight items that can be purchased and be brand-safe.
As Reddit expands beyond B2C marketing and into B2B, it’s also expanding its connection with CRM tools as well as new optimization options to strengthen those connections and pull in more business leads.
Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
