Social News for September 2022

There’s always something new in the digital world, and keeping up with the latest trends is crucial for any business. In this blog post, we’ll outline some of the most recent buzzworthy topics in September 2022 from the digital space.

Meta Buzz

Meta Abandons ‘Responsible Innovation’ Team as Metaverse Development Continues to Ramp Up

This was a big update that said they were going to abandon this altogether. Still, recently, this has been the update from Meta: Meta has informed SMT that it’s looking to expand its work on responsible innovation, not reduce it, with this change.

″This work is more of a priority than ever, not less. We are scaling it by deploying dedicated teams of experts into priority product areas and have more people working on responsible innovation within product teams than two years ago. That’s why the overwhelming majority of former members of this team are continuing with this kind of work elsewhere at Meta.”

Meta Adds ‘Community Chats’ on Messenger as it Searches for New Ways to Prop Up Falling Engagement

• With engagement in Meta’s apps seemingly in decline, based on various reports, it’s increasingly keen to capitalize on its wins where it can, which is why it’s rolling out a new way to encourage more engagement stemming from Facebook Groups via a new Community Chat option that’ll facilitate topic-based discussion groups within Messenger.
• Community Chats, launched today in testing with a limited number of users, will enable people to create a Facebook Group, start chats and audio channels, and invite others to join their new group, all from within Messenger.
• So it’s Facebook Groups, but in Messenger instead, which could encourage more immediate interaction and discussion around your key topics of interest.

Meta Announces Facebook Reels API to Enable Reels Sharing via Third-Party Apps

Meta’s looking to help more creators and brands lean into Reels with the launch of the Facebook Reels API, which will enable the posting of Reels clips via third-party video creation apps and social media management tools.

Instagram Buzz

Instagram Tests new “Add Topics” Option In the Reels Upload Process

Instagram is trying out another way to refine its Reels recommendations, with some users now able to add topics to their Reels uploads to better categorize their clips.

Instagram Confirms That it is Testing a ‘Re-Post’ Feature for the Main Feed

According to a new finding by social media expert Matt Navarra, Instagram is now testing a new ‘Repost’ option, which would enable users to amplify any post by re-sharing it to their followers in the app.

Instagram Confirms that Videos Under 60 Seconds in Stories will No Longer Be Split into Segments

Instagram continues its gradual process of merging its video products into one, with the announcement that videos in Stories that are under 60 seconds in length will no longer be split into 15-second segments in the app.

Instagram’s Testing a New Way to Use DMs as an Alert Option for New Posts

As it continues to search for new ways to maintain relevance in the lives of its users, Instagram is experimenting with a new option that would seemingly enable people to share their latest posts with connections via DM, adding another way to boost awareness and engagement in the app.

TikTok Buzz

TikTok Copies BeReal with New ‘TikTok Now’ Feature

TikTok has announced a new feature called ‘TikTok Now,’ which will prompt users to share a selfie, using the front and back camera, at a random time each day.

New Report Highlights the Decline of Facebook and IG, as TikTok Becomes the New Home of Entertainment

And it seems many other users agree – according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Instagram engagement is declining, with Reels, in particular, seeing a significant drop-off in user engagement of late. As reported by WSJ, TikTok users spend over 10x as many hours consuming content in that app as Instagram users spend viewing Reels. According to a leaked internal report, Reels engagement is also in decline, dropping 13.6% in recent months – while ‘most Reel users have no engagement whatsoever.’ 

Twitter Buzz

Twitter Announces an Expansion of its ‘Birdwatch’ Crowd-Sourced Fact-Checking Program

Weeks out from the US midterms, Twitter has announced that it will expand its experimental Birdwatch crowd-sourced fact-checking program, as a means to combat misinformation throughout the app.

That’s all for now! Remember, digital without purpose only adds to the noise.