Summer is here, and so are the new features. The social networks of our daily lives are getting a makeover and developing new features for their users. Let us introduce them to you and keep up to date with the latest social media news.
Instagram, the favorite social network of young people and travelers, is taking on a new visual identity by including more photos and videos taking up your phone’s entire screen. The aim? To inspire users to become even more active on the network than they already are.
In this way, the application highlights “Reals”, and videos in general, to reach even more audiences. Businesses can easily take advantage of this option to showcase their products and services, and promote their image. Your Instagram feed is now filled with content all over your screen. You won’t miss a thing!
If you’re a stickler for details, you’ll have noticed some slight modifications to the platform’s typography and colors. Instagram is getting a slight makeover for the upcoming summer season.
You may also have observed while wandering around on social networks that this new visual identity may well be similar to that of TikTok, the trendy social network that has been reaching more and more downloads and audiences of all ages since the first containment in March 2020.
Opinions divided on the new design, Instagram doesn’t fail to drive up follower usage time, which has been rising steadily and considerably for several years now.
Other new features, this time concerning one of Instagram’s most dynamic formats: Reels. New functionalities will enable you to optimize their creation and finally modify and program your Reals. This will come in handy when managing branded content, for example.
In addition, the length of Reels has been extended to 90 seconds, and you can now use poll stickers, quiz stickers or emojis, import your own audio tracks, or recommend Facebook Reels directly on Instagram to give them greater visibility. Nice, isn’t it? 😊
TIKTOK
Speaking of TikTok, the application is once again the subject of this month’s news. It is now possible to schedule a TikTok on China’s leading social networking platform for over two years. Advertising professionals and community managers are delighted, as TikTok becomes a very useful and strategic tool for content management.
TikTok pre-programming is a time-saver for any company’s content planning. Content scheduling is becoming an indispensable function in digital marketing and communication. They can better target audiences, review their content strategies and plan content more easily using scheduling, as on Instagram and Facebook for example.
To help you, several platform-approved scheduling tools are available, such as Sprout Social and Hootsuite. Don’t hesitate, this feature will help you to see more clearly your digital content and its impact on users.
TikTok is also making headlines on social networks, with the addition of a new feature to the app that will be available worldwide in the coming months. The app is taking a cue from Twitch and launching a new concept for remunerating creators: offering paid subscriptions to attend their Lives.
TikTok is an application that calls for creativity, and therefore aims to value the work of those who express it. The app offers users the chance to pay a monthly subscription fee to take part in exclusive Lives by their favorite creators, and in return obtain benefits such as subscriber badges.
BE REAL
BeReal, a new French app, is breaking new ground among young people, offering a fresh perspective on social networking. Launched in 2019, this new app is currently enjoying huge success in France and abroad. But why?
Unlike its competitors, BeReal advocates authenticity and “off-camera” reality. This new “anti-Instagram” concept is very popular with young people, and downloads of the app are multiplying by the day, making BeReal the fourth most downloaded app in the US this year.
Here’s how it works: users receive a notification at a random time of day, and have to capture a photo with the front and rear cameras at the current moment in less than two minutes and for an average viewing time of 24 hours. The aim? To put an end to Instagram-style staging, much criticized for its lack of authenticity and negative impact on self-esteem. Users share moments of their lives spontaneously, without filters, and without control over their image. What’s more, each user is asked to post their own BeReal so that they can see their friends’ BeReals on the app. Likes don’t exist, but followers can react in the form of emoticons, called “RealMojis”.
BeReal goes against the grain of other social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, with retouched and altered images sparking jealousy and comparisons, particularly of a physical nature. This new concept has been all the rage in France since its inception, and is increasingly expanding internationally, particularly in the United States, where the application is proving a real success. This network offers a different take on other media, and young people are crazy about it. They love this application, which lets them share their moments in life, without artifice or retouching.
Shortly after the launch of new audio functionalities and the publication of podcasts, Facebook finally abandoned these ideas. It was short-lived.
Indeed, after Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, Facebook wanted to offer this audio functionality on its application, as its competitors do. Unfortunately, it was a total failure for Mark Zuckerberg. The same goes for podcasts: the application was a total flop. The hype surrounding these new features unfortunately failed to achieve the success Facebook was looking for, unlike its rivals, who did achieve real success. Given the high level of competition, these features may not have been suitable for the META group, or may have been developed too late.
As a result, these functions will be definitively withdrawn on June 3, 2022.
We told you about the new features for Instagram Reels, and the same goes for Facebook. The major new feature is the ability to create, modify and schedule your Facebook Reels on desktop, from your web browser, which was only possible on mobile until now.
In addition, video trimming tools will be available on the desktop to transform long videos into shorter clips or Facebook Reels. In addition, you’ll be able to add voice-overs to your recordings, and automatically synchronize your clips with your favorite songs.
Finally, new Facebook Reels statistics should (finally) be available to give you better visibility of your Reels’ performance, with the aim of optimizing your digital communications.
Meta/Facebook
WhatsApp is the subject of this month’s article on new features not to be missed. If you’re used to using this platform to chat with your loved ones, whether at home or abroad, you’re going to be delighted with the new functionality the group has introduced in recent weeks.
And yes, it’s now possible to react to WhatsApp messages with emoticons expressing various feelings. So, if you don’t feel like reopening the conversation with your colleague, just react with an emoji and you’re done.
What’s more, if you consider a message to be inappropriate in conversation, you’ll soon be able to delete the offending terms with just a few clicks.
In addition, the META group has implemented a number of new features, notably concerning the number of participants per group. Up to now, we’ve been able to form discussions with up to 256 participants. Gradually, we’ll be able to gather twice that number, i.e. 512 participants in a single conversation. It’s going to be even more complicated to keep track of all the messages! Last but not least, it will also be possible to make group calls with up to 32 participants.
SNAPCHAT
We close this article with the new features of Snapchat, one of the most downloaded apps among young people.
Faced with the dangers of social networking, Snapchat intends to launch a new setting on its app in the next few days to limit the impact. The platform is undergoing a minor update to its settings and functionalities. It is gradually installing a parental control center, called “Family Center”, a feature present exclusively on Snapchat. As mentioned, parents will now be able to access their child’s personal account and activity in just a few clicks, from viewing discussions to total account activity.
However, the child must accept the invitation and give his or her full consent for the parents to have access to his or her personal information, which can lead to new discussions between the two generations in the household.
@Snapchat
Finally, Snapchat launches Shared Stories, a new feature enabling the creation of collaborative Stories. It is now possible to invite friends to join a shared Story, in which each person can add Snaps, see the other members present in the Story, but also propose their own friends to contribute. This is particularly useful for groups such as school, friends and colleagues.
As you’ve noticed, there’s a whole new world out there, surprising us from day to day. It’s important to keep up to date with all this information so as not to get lost, and to always optimize your use of social networks. But don’t worry, we’re here to help.
