Social media updates and new features to know this week
Including X, Instagram and more.
Good day, social creatives! This week, app makers are zeroing in on your location and schedule with some new features that may help prioritize safety — or may be a bit Big Brother-esque, depending on your viewpoint. Let’s get into it.
X
We recently wrote about X’s new Imagine feature, the AI tool that brings photos to life through image-to-video generation via Grok. Previously available only to X Premium and Grok AI subscribers, Imagine has now been made available to U.S.-based users for free for a limited time, Elon Musk announced this week.
We’ll see how this plays into X feeds once users begin adopting the tool and sharing their videos.
Musk is also pushing for improved ad targeting on the app, with the latest announcement that X has updated its system with more insights from Grok through AI-powered targeting that makes ads “less random” than before (though exactly how this is accomplished was not defined in the announcement).
As Musk explained in this recording: “What Grok AI allows us to do is to really understand how to match a product of service with the consumer, with some who would find that interesting.”
IG has a few new updates.
The app-makers are finally allowing reposts for content after resisting for years. The new repost tool lets users reshare content they find most interesting with all their own followers, though the original poster will still be credited.
Instagram says, “Reposts will be recommended to your friends’ and followers’ feeds, and they’ll also be in a separate tab on your profile, so you can always go back to revisit your reposts.”
Additionally, Instagram is now allowing users to view their friends’ locations via a Friends Map (only if a person chooses to opt in) shown via Notes. This is IG’s answer to the Snap Map. IYKYK.
Per IG: “You can opt into sharing your last active location with friends you pick, and you can turn it off anytime.”
With this feature, you can see who is doing what around you at any given time, as long as that user has chosen to share their location, which will update automatically as long as your sharing option is turned on in the background. Not everyone is on board with this update and it has caused some concerns from users and government leaders. Read about that here.
Further, IG now has a Friends tab that lets users see what content their friends or people they follow have interacted with, liked or shared. This could be useful in generating a greater reach in different lanes of content, like fitness, beauty or travel.
Snapchat
Snapchat recently acquired Saturn, a scheduling app for students looking to add more organization to their lives. Snapchat has integrated this feature into their app.
Users who choose to connect their Saturn accounts to Snapchat will be able to share their schedules with their followers.
As Snapchat says, “Saturn lets you share your schedule with friends so they can see what you’re up to in real time in the Snapchat app.”
This is a bit too in-my-business for me, but I suppose this could be helpful to family and friends that want to be respectful of your scheduled school classes or work hours.
LinkedIn is trialing alternate feed options for select users, per social media expert Lindsey Gamble, who shared screenshots of what this looks like.
The new feed options include a “For You” feed, based on your interests, likes and content you’ve engaged with the most, a “News” feed, which shows relevant news to users based on their interests, and a “Following” feed, so users can see and engage with content shared by people they follow.
LinkedIn says, “This experience is currently a test and is limited to a select group of U.S. members only. It’ll not impact feed preferences you made in settings. If you no longer see the pills at the top of your feed, it’s because the feature was part of a limited test that has now ended.”
The “pills” it’s referring to here are the pill-shaped options that appear at the top of your page when you visit the LinkedIn homepage. Perhaps this can help organize or streamline your feed depending on what you’re using the app for, whether it be professionally or personally.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].
