New social media features and updates to know this week
Updates from YouTube, X and Instagram.
Welcome to our last social media updates feature of 2024. There’s plenty new this week as we close the page on a tumultuous year of social media that saw the rise and fall of platforms, seismic sea change, major regulatory actions and more.
Here’s what to know this week:
YouTube
YouTube is expanding its autotranslate feature, which can automatically dub audio into another language. Videos in Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese will be dubbed into English, and English videos can be dubbed into those languages. Creators can turn this option off if desired.
YouTube is also making some changes to its YouTube Studios experience. Tabs will be simplified, only being created when a user actually has videos that fall into the various categories rather than housing empty tabs. Users will also be able to see their subscribers from their channel page and be able to see videos of all publication states from their channel page.
Analytics will also be “simplified” and include “data stories” to better help creators understand the numbers behind the views.
The app is also testing multiplayer functionality on some of its Playables, continuing a trend of increasing investment in-app and on-site games on social and content platforms.
Meta
In an interesting development, Meta apps Instagram and Facebook are testing the ability to tag shared images as “no edit.” This marks a fascinating contrast to compulsory labels for AI generated content, allowing users to show the unfiltered reality of the world around them — and brag about it. It also reinforces Meta’s interest in retaining the platforms’ longtime photography- and art-enthusiast user bases, a founding priority for Instagram in particular.
Threads
Threads has unveiled a totally original idea it definitely came up with on its own and didn’t crib from Bluesky in any way. Just kidding— they’re testing a more curated version of Starter Packs, albeit without the catchy name. Currently, the ability to create these lists is limited to a small number of users, but anyone can follow them. Threads’ post seems to indicate that the functionality to create the lists may roll out more broadly in the future. On Bluesky, anyone can create these topically focused lists of users to help jumpstart followings.
Of interest to brands, Threads has added some new features to its API that should make social listening and monitoring easier. The API can now fetch public mentions and search queries. oEmbed technology will also make it easier to embed Threads on a website. Finally, third-party apps will now allow you to reply, quote or repost content directly from Threads.
The Trial Reels capability will allow Instagram users to test the effectiveness of a video before sharing it with their full audience. This new test mode will share Reels first with non-followers. If it performs well, you can choose to manually share the video, kill it or have it automatically send to your followers if it performs according to certain guidelines. This could be a big boon for social media managers: a low-risk way to experiment with story formats without annoying your audience with a flop.
The app is also experimenting with letting users hide their Reel views from public view.
Instagram continues to underscore the importance of DMs by adding new features nearly every week. This week, they’re experimenting with the ability to schedule DMs to be sent later.
X
X is also beefing up its DM capabilities. They’re working on allowing users to send file attachments via DM in addition to photos and video. “Any file transfer should be possible,” owner Elon Musk said, which seems ambitious but fitting with his plans to have X be the “everything platform.”
Snapchat
Snapchat introduced a new, “unified” method of paying creators. In addition to monetizing Stories, creators will be eligible to earn from Spotlight videos at least 1 minute long. To qualify, creators must meet the following criteria, released by Snapchat:
- Have at least 50,000 followers.
- Post at least 25 times per month to Saved Stories or Spotlight.
- Post to either Spotlight or Public Stories on at least 10 of the last 28 days.
- Achieve one of the following in the last 28 days:
- 10 million Snap views
- 1 million Spotlight views
- 12,000 hours of view time
With TikTok’s uncertain future, another platform offering revamped monetization benefits could prove attractive.
Meta-owned WhatsApp is improving its calling capabilities, stating that 2 billion calls are made every day on the platform. The new features unveiled to coincide with the holiday season include group calls where you can pick and choose participants; new video call effects and filters; improved navigation for desktop calling; and improved video call quality.
Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
