New social media features and updates to know this week
Including updates from Reddit, YouTube, Meta and more.
Many of the bigger players in social media have announced updates related to improving user experience and safety.
Reddit has introduced new posting tools and insights, while YouTube is expanding teen safety measures and testing a “Lite” version of its ad-free service in the United States.
Instagram, on the other hand, is using AI to make suggestions on Reels to share with friends parent company Meta is re-launching facial recognition technology for account recovery.
We also have feature updates from Bluesky, Pinterest and X that should make it easier for users to use those apps.
Reddit has added a range of new tools and displays to help users better understand the rules of the communities they engage with. These tools include:
- Post recovery: If a post is removed due to community rules, a prompt will appear that offers an easy way to repost the content to an alternative subreddit.
- Clear community info: Community-specific posting requirements, such as account age and Karma, are now made prominently available before a person posts.
- Community suggestions: When creating a post, Reddit will suggest relevant communities based on the content, making it easier to find the right audience.
The online forum has also added new post insights to let Redditors see the number of views, upvotes and shares their post gets.
All of these tools are currently available on Reddit’s desktop site and app.
Reddit has also started testing for a pre-post “check” that provides feedbackers to users if appears the post their penning appears to violate community rules and may get flagged or deleted. Testing is currently on iOS and Android devices.
YouTube
YouTube has introduced new safety measures for teen users.
Based on advice from its Youth and Family Advisory Committee, YouTube has:
- Expanded content restrictions for teens to include bad financial advice, delinquency-related content and cruel prank videos.
- Strengthened “Take a Break” reminders for anyone under the age of 18, making them full-screen and defaulting to every 60 minutes, along with a bedtime reminder set for 10 p.m.
- Introduced parental advisory emails in the Family Center, providing insights into a child’s viewing history and resources for discussions on responsible content consumption.
YouTube has expanded its Premium Lite pilot to the United States. Premium Lite allows users to watch most videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids content ad-free for $7.99 per month.
Premium Lite users won’t see ads on videos about gaming, fashion, beauty, news and other content types. However, they’ll still appear on music content and Shorts, and users may get non-interruptive ads when they “search or browse” content.
Instagram appears to be moving ahead with tests of “Blend,” a messaging feature that will provide a combined feed of recommended Reels for multiple people based on their IG activity. It will be accessible through DM thread.
A Threads user who appears to be part of the test showed a screen grab that says Blend will let users see who each reel is suggested for based on each person’s activity on Instagram, including the reels they watch and interact with. It’ll also recommend new reels based on the chat.
The tool requires an opt-in and users can leave any time.IG head Adam Mosseri described it as “a fun way to opt-in to sharing your interests with a friend and get to know them better.”
Meta
Many international users of Facebook and Instagram will soon be able to recover access to their accounts using facial recognition technology.
Soon, people in the United Kingdom, EU and South Korea who need to recover access to Facebook or Instagram accounts will have a new option to verify their identity with a video selfie.
The uploaded video selfie will never be publicly visible. Meta noted that it immediately deletes any facial data generated regardless of whether there’s a match or not.
Video selfie verification is optional, but Meta said it’s a faster, easier recovery process.
The facial recognition option is part of a broader Meta announcement about the roll out of the tech to help detect and prevent scams in the UK, EU and South Korea.
Public figures in the UK and EU will soon start receiving in-app notifications that prompt them to opt-in to what Meta calls “celeb bait protection with facial recognition technology.” In countries where this is already available, Meta is extending the protection to a larger number of public figures.
Bluesky
Bluesky users now have a new way to browse their feeds with Surf, Flipboard’s app for exploring the open social web.
Surf’s latest beta update, Blue Wave, allows Bluesky users to log in with their credentials and access their following, discover and pinned custom feeds directly, according to TechCrunch.
The integration also lets users build custom feeds using Bluesky’s Starter Packs, Lists and Custom Feeds. Surf now serves as an alternative interface for Bluesky, enabling users to interact with posts – liking, replying, reposting, etc. – while keeping engagement synced across both platforms.
Pinterest has officially started labeling content generated by artificial intelligence.
Futurism reported earlier this month that the app was working to implement the tool in response to user anger about a surge of AI-created images in search results for categories like home decor, fashion, beauty and food.
In response, Pinterest has started labeling of “AI-generated or modified” to provide “relevant context about the content people see on Pinterest.” It may show a label on the close-up of an image Pin when the app detects the use of AI to generate or alter an image. The company uses the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard to analyze the image’s metadata.
If Pinterest detects AI in an ad, it discloses that only in the “Why am I seeing this ad?” section.
“We’re working on ways to expand capabilities to better identify GenAI content in the future through additional technologies,” Pinterest wrote on its website.
X
X has created new Communities timeline tabs for iOS. Communities are moderated discussion groups on specific topics.
Now, users can view and sort posts by “Trending, “New,” “Popularity” (Likes), “My posts” and “My replies” inside specific communities. It’s available in the timeline options settings.
If you’re interested in learning about the latest digital trends, plan to attend Ragan’s Social Media Conference at Walt Disney World from March 19-21. You can find more details on the event website.
Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.
