The change of season also means renewal and new strategies. The social media scene is evolving fast, very fast, with its share of surprises, both good and bad, large-scale and small-scale. Whatever the case, social networks continue to evolve, each taking different paths (or not, you might say) to differentiate themselves ever further in terms of user experience. What have been the major evolutions in our favorite networks, and how can they help your digital presence evolve? You’ll get the answer to this big question in a few minutes, but in the meantime, discover your reading moment below.
PS: for those in a hurry, here’s a summary of the big news. Don’t thank us, it’s our pleasure <3
For those who have stayed with us, let’s begin our great reading moment:
The Meta giant is still making waves.
Still performing well overall BUT, for the first time in its history, Facebook suffered a drop in sales in the second quarter of 2022 compared with N-1.
An anecdote, you may say!
However, this kind of finding could have repercussions on digital advertising as a whole (Facebook bids could become more expensive to compensate for this loss), as Facebook is the world’s largest advertising network!
As for the Social Media news to be communicated for the big giant, they are numerous although minimal on their scale, so here is our small selection below to help you see more clearly:
- You can now relay your Facebook events directly from the network’s stories, a pretty good way of multiplying contact points and encouraging audiences to sign up,
- With Advantage +, ads on the Meta group get a facelift and a facelift thanks to the assistance of an AI, designed to help network pros set up campaigns.
Similar to A/B testing, with a comparison of 150 creative combinations at a time. - Finally, the Meta Business Suite’s interface has changed once again.
A gas factory for some, a simplification for others.
The new form makes it easier to navigate between Facebook and Instagram posts.
First, let’s take a quick look back at some of the highlights of the summer 2022 period, which was full of twists and turns!
First of all, Instagram abandoned its TiktTok-style feed ideas, to the happiness of some or the misfortune of others, it’s up to you to decide, a real bombshell that was communicated last August.
Gone are the days of “you still have it, I don’t”, and now it’s time for standardization!
The data speak for themselves on Instagram.
With a lot of videos from unfollowed accounts in the feed, users didn’t necessarily show up for the event.
Apparently, Instagram retains its sentimental attribute as a network rooted in close or inspirational relationships, while leaving, despite itself, a predominant place for photos.
It’s worth pointing out that the “Make Instagram Instagram again” petition, which nonetheless attracted 280,000 people, had no influence on the Meta group’s decision.
But beware!
Insta is maintaining its position on push video, and is pushing the envelope even further with its real format.
With a +30% increase in time spent interacting with the real format over the first half of the year, it’s more than ever a format with the wind in its sails.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, although the form of your News Feed is now unchanged, its content has evolved: more suggestions and new profiles of content creators to whom you don’t necessarily subscribe.
More recently, in October, Instagram (and the Meta group as a whole) was forced to part company with Giphy, the world’s leading host of the famous Gif format.
In a few days or weeks’ time, we’ll see what happens to adding Gif stickers from the network.
Other noteworthy developments on Instagram that could prove very useful in the future include the appearance of 60-second Stories (we’ve been waiting for them :D) and the 3 new pins to be displayed at the top of your feed (pretty cool if you’ve got an original triptych creative that you want to show off to your followers).
Another big announcement at the end of October: Instagram has announced an in-app scheduling tool for the very (very) near future!
What’s good news is good news!
It will then be possible to schedule your publications and your real ones in advance, directly from your phone.
This has been possible via Creator Studio since May 2020, but this new development will provide even greater portability for content creators, and for you too (the desktop version requires you to have a Facebook page for scheduling, or the options are reduced, such as identifying profiles or adding stickers to real publications).
In another Insta announcement, the network recently announced the forthcoming “Creator Portfolio” option.
A new feature accessible between professional dashboards, it will enable creators to propose directly, and with validated access, their Media Kit highlighting their brilliantly completed missions and partnerships.
Apparently, the form of the portfolio was to be similar to that of an Instagram Guide, with text blocks for audience profiles and reposts from the feed.
Finally, let’s mention our Insta focus, the big scare on October 31 (Happy Halloween!), which resulted in quite a few lost followers internationally.
This loss affected the Kardashians as much as our personal profiles and those of our customers.
With Meta, we’re all in the same boat.
To be confirmed, and this time we’re really done: it seems that Instagram is also experimenting with adding autoplay music for users visiting profiles (a nod to Myspace for nostalgic fans).
This option could be available in users’ profiles and could be interesting for giving your profile a mood or echoing a chestnut (Halloween, Christmas, summer song…).
The same goes for the announcement of “Candid Challenges”, supposed to compete directly with French social network BeReal with a live moment, in front and rear camera mode, to be displayed directly in participants’ stories.
So we’re waiting.
TikTok
The network has almost reached the 2 billion user mark!
Far from it, Insta’s great competitor has not finished surprising us!
Moving further and further away from Instagram, the social network wants to do away with the dictates of beauty and class, to make way for spontaneity and the very essence of creativity for a 100% human experience (another niche in which BeReal is positioned, but with a completely different concept).
Here, concept prevails over image, creativity = authenticity.
One of the network’s big news stories is its launch into the gaming world just a few days ago, on November 2, with an event dubbed “TikTok made me play it”.
It’s an interesting and transparent angle from which the network aims to demonstrate its impact as a prescriber, given that most video game publishers now launch their games with guests etc. solely on the platform, which is then the major communication medium for each major launch.
We can feel the dominance of this super network and its very digital identity!
What caught our attention in September was the announcement of “TikTok Now”.
And yes, competition is fierce between our favorite social networks!
With TikTok Now, TikTok intends to put an end to the competition from BeReal over the past few months by promoting “real life”.
TikTok intends to maintain its appeal to Generation Z. The interface offered by this brand-new application (which will be available as a full-fledged TikTok feature in the U.S.) will strongly resemble that of BeReal, although TikTok allows 3 minutes to take a photo (compared with 2 for BeReal) and it is also possible to take a video of up to 10 seconds, unlike the French competitor, which currently only offers the photo format…
On the technical side, in recent weeks we’ve seen a number of improvements in the tools available to creators, enabling them to edit their videos more carefully, just like the real thing, or at least to take advantage of greater creative freedom.
This is also accompanied by the possibility of amplifying one’s identity and commercial message through a more extensive editorial: up to 2,200 characters!
Finally, on the technical front, the addition of the Photo option further broadens the creative palette.
This allows you to work on a photo carousel format, which can then be enhanced with the “Voice Synthesis” tool, which transforms text into voice-over.
An interesting concept for presenting a destination’s most beautiful beaches or top gastronomy, don’t you think?
Let’s conclude this TikTok focus with the announcement of “TikTok Nearby”, aka the experimentation of a new “nearby” feed to offer users a local experience.
This new video feed, which is still undergoing testing, will enable users to discover popular places that match their Gen-Z personality right around them.
It’s a great new feature that the entire tourism industry is looking forward to, and one that could prove useful to destinations, hotels, transport companies and many others!
This news is particularly important when you consider that 40% of 18-24 year-olds use TikTok and Instagram to search for restaurants (See You, good old Google Maps!).
We’ve been hearing about it for months, and now it’s official: Twitter has been bought by Elon Musk!
For the princely sum of $44 billion, Elon Musk has put an end to the suspense by acquiring the little blue bird.
With its desire to liberate expression, we can expect major changes to come to this social network (tweets can be edited once published, and posts can be longer than the very concise 280 characters).
Other recent news includes the new professional dashboard, which will provide a better overview of performance thanks to statistics.
Already available on profiles, these are now qualified and simplified to provide support similar to the KPIs provided by other major social networks.
Our favorite B2B network is not to be outdone when it comes to new features.
We at the agency are delighted that it will soon be possible to integrate beautiful photos within a carousel in publications.
Horizontal scrolling has so far only been available for PDF documents, so this is excellent news for bringing even more dynamism to your content.
Stickers should also make their appearance.
To appeal to a customer, an employee or even another brand, these should also add an extra visual touch to your identity.
In short: we can’t wait!
In September, the social network launched real-time analysis of its account statistics, making it the first social network to provide real-time data worldwide!
It sounds crazy, but it’s true: until now, network information has been considered “cold” because it’s D-1.
From now on, Pinterest will resemble Google Analytics with its famous real-time browsing.
Pin, board and ad performance are available for live analysis.
Interesting tools, then, to give you a new reading of your stats!
Mid-October also saw the arrival of “Pinterest Trends”: the new targeting tool for getting to know your audience better by going pro!
In concrete terms, you can now consult the most popular trends among your audience and prospects over a 90-day period.
This trend analysis is both extensive and precise: seasonal affinities as well as age, location… allowing you to fine-tune your targeting and user characteristics to stand out from the competition: the kind of tool we love at Travel-Insight!
Youtube
A quick look back at Youtube Shorts, the 9:16 format of the 1 minute max platform, which has released a brand-new, useful feature for those who like to recycle their video content.
By activating the “Shorts” option, users can go straight to their previously published 16:9 videos, extract a passage and create a brand new 60-second piece of content for their profile.
Time-saving recovery – we love it!
Just so you know, this short video automatically points to its longer version, and can then be a brand-new relay for your elements already online, the opportunity to benefit from new media and new visibility easily and keeping content alive longer.
Also, like Meta, Youtube is a gigantic advertising network (2 billion active users per month, that’s no mean feat!).
To give advertisers even more power, the platform has announced 4 upcoming tools:
- Moment Blast: for broadcasting advertising on connected screens during major events from the Youtube Select channel (for a fee),
- Audio ads: audio ads that can be played before, during or after a podcast,
- Product promos: advertisers will be able to add a list of products visible on mobile under the video, with title + photo + description + price.
A major advance in social commerce, - Shorts ads: just like interstitial ads on Instagram stories, the concept will be applied to Youtube’s 9:16 mini format.
Snapchat
No, the network hasn’t fallen asleep – quite the contrary!
In just 1 year, Snapchat has acquired 57 million new users, making it the world’s second fastest-growing brand in terms of users.
The network’s hot new feature is undoubtedly the launch of Director mode.
This will enable us (and you) to create native videos directly from the Snapchat interface.
The option is already available to all French users, so let’s get started!
Among other things, it’s now possible to add a background behind you in green screen mode – not bad!
Other tools for cutting, adding sounds and effects are also available, giving us the impression of riding the wave of réels and Tiktok!
Bereal
THE major French network, differentiated by its handmade and authentic approach, enjoyed a meteoric rise in the first half of 2022, particularly in the USA!
With 14.7 million downloads in September, the network is really on a roll, up +20% in just one month on August’s figures.
In terms of novelties, there aren’t really any, as the network itself is already hyper-differentiating in terms of the approach it offers.
It is worth noting, however, that users don’t seem to turn up on a daily basis, even though this is one of the major characteristics of its foundation.
Bereal is said to attract only 9% of its users on a daily basis, and could well suffer from future competition from “Tiktok Now” and Instagram’s “Candid Challenges”.
Let’s stay the course and follow the trends!
This is particularly important if you want to remain unique in the eyes of your audience, while at the same time providing them with a constantly renewed and daring user experience <3.
