Social media updates and new features to know this week
Including TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn and more.
Hello social friends! This week we’re seeing some shifts for improved collaboration across social platforms, including TikTok’s shared feed feature and Instagram’s re-sharable public stories. There are some holiday-inspired tools as well, like custom greeting cards and shoppable grocery pins through Pinterest to help make your holiday menu complete. Let’s dive in and see where these tools can be most useful.
TikTok
TikTok just added a new feature called Shared Collections, which lets users and their friends or family members save and organize favorite videos together, like a shared playlist or vision board.
They’re also rolling out Shared Feed, a private joint stream of 15 videos recommended daily based on two users’ sharing history.
And since the holidays are coming, TikTok has also added in-chat animated greeting cards users can send inside DMs without leaving the app.
TikTok has additionally launched a new tab called Nearby Feed, designed to help users see videos from people and places nearby, so users can discover local restaurants, events, trending spots or small businesses.
The app makers say this is “rolling out in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom to start,” with no known U.S. launch dates yet.
Instagram now lets users reshare any public Story to their own Story, even if they weren’t tagged originally.
That means if users see a Story from someone with a public account, they can share it to their own followers and Instagram will automatically credit the original creator, per Social Media Today.
Instagram is also testing a feature called Early Access Reels. With it, some creators can post a Reel so only their current followers can see it at first, according to social media expert Lindsey Gamble.
Non-followers get a blurred cover with a clock or star icon and a prompt to follow if they want to watch before it goes public.
The idea is to help creators build hype, reward their followers with first access and encourage more people to follow.
Users of the Instagram’s API, especially developers and marketers, can also now get more data and control. The update adds new metrics, like how often viewers skip a Reel in the first three seconds and how often posts are reshared, and lets third-party tools track profile visits after ads.
On top of that, there’s more flexibility. Developers can now delete posts, Stories or Reels via the API, support Trial Reels and manage collaborations.
LinkedIn just rolled out a few new tools to help with ad creation. These include:
- Reserved Ads so advertisers can secure the first ad slot in the LinkedIn feed, giving their message more visibility and reliable reach.
- Ad Personalization with ads that pull in a user’s name, job title, company, industry, etc., to make the message feel more tailored.
- AI Ad Variants which will help marketers automatically generate multiple versions of ad copy from a single headline or intro making it easier to test different messaging and scale production with less manual work.
- Flexible Ad Creation will let advertisers upload several images, videos and copy variations at once, and LinkedIn’s system will automatically mix and match them to optimize performance based on what works best.
Threads
Threads is testing a new AI tool that lets users shape their feed just by starting a post with “Dear Algo.”
When someone does that, it signals to the algorithm what they want to see more or less of for the next three days. For example, someone might post, “Dear Algo, show me more basketball updates,” according to Threads Chief Connor Hayes.
If the account is public, others can see the request and choose to comment or repost it.
Threads is also testing a new feature where AI will generate “interaction summaries” on user profiles.
When someone visits a profile, they’ll see a short summary of past interactions or a general overview of that user, highlighting shared history, common interests, posting patterns, and potentially what that person tends to post about.
Pinterest is teaming up with Walmart so that users can now turn recipe Pins into groceries. When a recipe Pin is marked “eligible,” users will see a “Shop Ingredients” button. Tapping it adds all or some of the recipe’s ingredients to a Walmart cart, letting users check out, swap items, view real‑time prices and pick delivery or store pickup options.
Pinterest says this will help close the gap between inspiration like a recipe pin, and action or buying groceries. It’s now rolling out in the U.S. for eligible recipe Pins just in time for the holidays.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].
