Social media updates and new features to know this week
Including X, Meta, Facebook and more.
This week, X has created an option to downvote replies. The goal is to personalize feeds but it may also have some negative effects. More on that below. Let’s see how these updates can be most beneficial to you and your social strategy.
X
X users will now able to “thumbs down” replies to posts, similar to Reddit’s downvote system. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, stressed this is for replies only, not every post. The results won’t be displayed publicly, but they will be used to determine how content is ranked or seen behind the scenes with the goal to improve X users’ feeds with more of their preferences.
X is also rolling out a new “Summarize” button for long articles. If users see a link to an article in their timeline, they can tap the summary tool and get an idea of what the story is about in 12 seconds or less, Bier said.
This will act as a quick preview so people can decide if the article is worth reading for them, he said. While convenient, if people can quickly look at an article overview, it may cause a decline in click through rates in-stream. He shows what this looks like here.
Meta
Meta launched an AI helper across Facebook and Instagram that will handle 24/7 customer support. It can assist with fixing account issues, answering questions or helping users change settings without waiting on a human. It’s meant to make support faster and always available, the company says.
The AI helper will also police content behind the scenes to help spot scams, illegal content and other violations with more speed and accuracy. This means less reliance on human reviewers and more trust in AI to keep platforms safe.
Meta is also expanding its Manus AI feature into an AI assistant for businesses and creators. It’ll now sync with Ads Manager and Instagram’s creator marketplace to pull campaign reports and make suggestions, find the right creators to partner with, or organize content workflows automatically, reducing the manual work users have to do.
The company has additionally made a small change regarding how ads are labeled in your feed. Social Media Today reports that Meta will now swap the word “Sponsored” under a paid post to just say “Ad.”
The company said this is meant to make it more obvious what you’re looking at, but at the same time, the label itself is less prominent overall, so it may actually be less noticeable the post is an ad as you scroll.
Facebook is trying to draw creators away from competitors and back to its platform with a new creator incentive. This is called the “Creator Fast Track” program. For users who qualify, Facebook is will as well as more reach.
Essentially, they’re wooing established creators with cash, reach and built-in monetization tools so it’s easier and more appealing.
Instagram just added an AI-powered transition tool for Stories that will turn several photos into a smooth video. Rather than manually editing clips, users can pick a few images, tap the “AI Transition” button and it will generate a video, kind of like a mini slideshow with motion and effects built in.
The platform has also made it possible to pause Reels by tapping anywhere on the screen. This is a small change, but one the app makers say will provide more control. See an example here.
YouTube
YouTube is testing “Discover Videos with Previews” for mobile Android users. This will work by tapping a video card on the homepage, which will then populate between 5 and 10 short previews from videos already recommended based on what the user previously watched.
From there, users can watch the full video or have the option to save it for later.
It’s just a small test for now, but if it works well, more users could see it in the future, YouTube says.
The platform is also testing a new AI tool called “Reimagine” for Shorts. Users pick a single frame from an existing Short and turn it into a brand-new 8-second video.
They can also add up to two photos from their phone and use suggested or custom text prompts to create a new clip complete with audio while linking back to the original Short.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].
