Including YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp and more.
Hey there, PR pros! This week in social media includes new insights tools, some pretty neat video editing updates and a feature to help advertisers track their carbon footprint. Let’s dig in and see how you can leverage these tools for your social strategy.
YouTube
Educational creators can enjoy a new revenue stream with YouTube’s “Player for Education” feature. If your content is embedded into a school or institution’s learning material, the creator now has a chance to earn income based on a schools initiative.
YouTube said:
“If you create educational videos or Shorts, our educational partners, like schools and teachers, may choose to embed your content in their learning materials. When educational partners choose to embed your content, or watch your already embedded content, they may be using Player for Education. Player for Education is an embedded player that improves the way YouTube shows videos in educational tools.”
YouTube’s licensed and paid-for “Player for Education” content does not include ads and is directly paid for by the licensor.
Finally, YouTube rolled out updates to its thumbnail images for content shown in different regions, according to Social Media Today.
Images can now be more customized and geared for audiences in specific regions, giving the content creator the option to differentiate images based on audience location.
Snapchat
Snapchat’s subscription service, Snapchat+, has recently launched Lens+, a subscriber-only feature that lets creators access different AR backgrounds and features to share with followers for $8.99 per month.
Snapchat said they’ll be rolling out new AR features weekly through its Lens+ tool that users can leverage for monetization of their content.
Further, Snapchat has launched new ways to turn photos from your Memories into a highlight video and includes the option to add audio tracks over the video.
The social app has also launched new video editing tools a la CapCut or Edits, with layered editing tracks for a multi-view of editing options, including filters, audio and speed.
Instagram is now giving users new ways to organize their profile through its IG grid reorganization tool. Users can highlight more than just pinned posts. They can curate content and organize their profile based on what they want their followers to see first.
Its Notes inbox tool has also updated features for music sharing. Users can share songs from Spotify directly to Notes.
Edits is also rolling out a number of new tools. One notable and helpful tool is a teleprompter. This feature helps creators stay on script in a natural way, with your words scrolling on pace right in front of you. This launch comes with the addition of video insights, an that allows users to see their most popular videos ranked in order.
Edits has also created new user performance stats with “Recap” and “Celebrations.” Recap shows users a review of how their content performed over weekly and monthly periods. Celebrations highlights users who’ve hit a new milestone. This could be for engagement, follower growth or other points of, well, celebration.
TikTok
TikTok is focusing its efforts on sustainability with a new tool in partnership with Scope3 that lets advertisers see the impact of the carbon emissions from their advertisements. They’ll be able to optimize campaigns to lower impact, TikTok said.
Threads
Threads is testing out its own DM service for more in-app functionality.
“Threads is testing the option out in with users in Hong Kong, Thailand and Argentina, with a view to a worldwide expansion in the near future,” Social Media Today reports.
Users in those regions may now start seeing a little envelope embedded into their tools menu, giving them a chance to trial the messaging feature.
LinkedIn videos are getting some editing updates with the social app’s recent integration ofAdobe Express.
Per LinkedIn:
“Whether you’re running a campaign to raise brand awareness, launch a product, or promote an event, you can now go from designing assets in Adobe Express to exporting them to LinkedIn in a matter of minutes.”
This addition is a quick and easy way to push more ad campaigns in various ready-to-publish formats.
Meta is bringing ads to WhatsApp at last. The app’s creators had expressed aversion to advertising, but that was before Meta purchased the platform in 2014.
Meta said it will run status ads, prompting users to engage “with the advertisers via the app’s messaging features,” according to CNBC.
The ads can be in picture, text or video format and will run under the “Updates” subsection “Status” for 24 hours before disappearing, according to the article.
Meta
Additionally, Meta has launched a “Restyling” AI feature for videos that allows users on Meta AI and Instagram’s Edits apps to give content an AI refresh. This means users can now organize their content with AI filters that can alter their location, outfits or style.
Currently, this feature has more than 50 editing prompts for 10-second videos.
According to Meta:
“Once you’ve chosen a preset prompt, Meta AI will edit your video to match the selected scenario. You can turn your video into a graphic novel, and see yourself reimagined as a vintage comic book illustration. Or change the lighting of a video you captured on a rainy Seattle day to create a dreamy mood with shimmery sparkles, pearlescent blur and soft focus.”
Further, Meta has moved to amplify its VR experiences through a new Avatar Quest tab under its Facebook and IG profile settings. It is just a trial at this point, so only some users will see this option under their profile.
Clicking on the tab will bring up achievements in VR games.
Reddit has made updates to how users are engaging with comments. It is now possible to turn comments into posts.
As the app-makers explain:
“The comment section is where you find some of the best stuff on Reddit, but sometimes your (objectively great) comments can get buried. Now there’s a new way to spotlight and re-engage with past conversations.”
By taking a comment and turning it into a post, it creates an opportunity for more engagement, but also to amplify a specific and interesting point.
Additionally, Reddit has added insights for comment performance. Select the “Insights” tab on the comment section and track engagement, shares, views, replies and upvote activity.
Pinterest recently launched a new AI-powered collage generation tool that can sort products into applicable collections based on relevance.
This feature can help create more “shoppable” pins, rooted in what a user is looking for. Marketers can leverage this feature by learning what’s trending and who is searching for specific topics, products or services.
In addition, Pinterest has developed some new insights tools for Pinterest Trends. These include “Trends in the Spotlight,” which highlights content with a high number of saves and engagement, “Shopping Trends,” which helps advertisers see what demographics of people are engaging with content in their market, and “Editor’s Picks” or curated data from Pinterest editors based on cultural trends or movements.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
The post New social media features and updates to know this week appeared first on PR Daily.
