Just one short month since the last social media updates, and Luan Wise and Andy Lambert are back again. As usual, they share all of the trends and data that you should be aware of.

But, before we unpack everything they said, we thought that we would share a great opportunity with you. If you’re a UK-based marketer and would like to be involved with Luan’s research, which will be featured in the second version of her book, Relax! It’s Only Social Media, visit this website page.

Now, let’s get into the updates. Below is the summary of everything discussed:

Trends and Data

  • Social Media Usage
  • Creator Monetisation
  • Generational Usage of Social Media
  • TikTok Usage Changes

Feature Updates

  • Instagram updates
  • Meta updates
  • Twitter updates
  • LinkedIn updates
  • TikTok updates
  • YouTube updates
  • Snapchat updates

Trends and Data

Social Media Usage

An interesting platform has been mentioned in the past few social media update sessions, which seems to be increasing in popularity as the months go on. This is, of course, BeReal. In January 2022, there were 756k app installs for BeReal, which has increased to 7.7m in June, and 14.7m in September. It is currently the fastest-growing social media app, but this does not give us the greatest insight. Only 9% of users open the app daily, compared to 39% of Instagram users, or 29% of TikTok users. So, comparatively their social media success is still quite low, despite it being very popular. As Andy says, “this does not constitute success and the jury is still out”.

Do you think that BeReal is a niche platform, and the hype will eventually simmer down?

Creator Monetisation

The creator economy is idolised by a lot of people and self-employment is becoming more and more desirable. This, in turn, fuels how social platforms help their creators to build their communities online. In the UK, 51% of their ‘creators’ are monetisers- they earn money from their content creations. This percentage is increasing and is therefore shaping the direction of social media.

Generation Alpha: Social Media Usage

Generation Alpha (born after 2012) are currently having a big influence on social media. Global Web Index studied children aged 13-15 and their social media usage. Since 2021, the platform that has gained a lot of popularity with young teens is TikTok (+18%), which was not too surprising. Twitter has diminished in usage (-12%), along with Facebook (-6%) and Facebook Messenger (-8%).

However, what is quite interesting to point out is the growth of Discord (+21%) and Reddit (+17%). The younger generation tends to focus more on these platforms, likely for their micro-community aspects.

Teens: Social Media Usage

Looking at slightly older teenagers and their preference for social media platforms: Older teens were asked what their favourite social media platform is. TikTok (38%) increased the most since 2021, with Snapchat as a close second (30%). Instagram continues to lead in monthly usage (87%), followed by Snapchat and TikTok at 83%. The average teen from that study spends around 4.4 hours per day on social media.

UK: Time spent on platform

Ofcom analysed the average time spent per day across the various social media platforms, by age. TikTok takes the lead across all demographics, again which is not surprising. This is important to know as the most time someone spends on the platform, the more likely they are to be able to consume your content. However, it is important to consider the likes of Snapchat, which has a stronger foothold in the younger generation. Snapchat users spend a lot of their time on the app, which is highly significant depending on your target demographic.

Luan emphasised the importance of this data as it is crucial to understand our audience and be aware of what is changing. Also, even though people are spending more time on a specific platform, does not mean they are only spending time on that platform. People split their time across various social media apps, which is always key to acknowledge.

TikTok usage changes

Baby boomers (those born between 1946-1964) have grown 92% in the last year on TikTok. They are the fastest-growing demographic currently on TikTok. Although there is no ‘one-platform-fits-all’, TikTok is something that creators should be considering if you haven’t already. With the time spent on the platform, the downloads, and the balance in demographics, TikTok has the opportunity for a wide range of success. Consider how TikTok (and other platforms) could work for you, but be prepared to evaluate it over time as it is ever-changing.

Feature Updates

As always, Luan and Andy conclude their social media updates by discussing some of the latest feature updates on the social media platforms, and what this may mean for those of us in the marketing world.

Instagram updates

  • Instagram is continuing to change, as we know. Currently, they have added multiple links to bios. This will be highly useful for many of us, so we can now include it natively rather than using third-party sites such as LinkTr.ee.
  • The creator portfolio is developing and now they can showcase their work. In essence, it is a portfolio that advertises what they can do.
  • Co-authored Reels are in development. Collaborator features have been growing a lot recently, and this certainly helps when working with influencers and other creators.
  • Instagram has announced Reels guidance. They have confirmed that Reels consume 20% of the time spent on the platform. They advise us to consider the presence of people and speak directly to the audience. Further, 80% of Reels are viewed with sound, so the addition of music is highly recommended.

Meta updates

  • Meta has simplified cross-app switching from Facebook to Instagram. As a social media manager, this will be much more user-friendly in being able to switch between apps.
  • Reels now have branded content tags. There are of course guidelines that need to be considered when working with branded content, which can be found here.
  • For those of us managing small businesses, a new page experience has been released.
  • Facebook Groups now support Reels and ‘Facebook Event chats’ make planning events so much easier.
  • Live, real-time audio translations are coming. This accessibility feature will now be in-built and is going to be extremely beneficial to many. It will be very interesting to see what opportunities this provides and how people will utilise it in the future.

Twitter updates

  • Twitter has now taken inspiration from TikTok. Video content seems to be the future for many of the platforms and Twitter is following suit.
  • Twitter editing is coming. It is currently only available for Twitter Blue subscribers, and it still comes with certain restrictions.
  • ‘Professional Profiles’ has been around for a while, but now new features and new analytics have been added. There is nothing too significant at the moment, but this could all change.

LinkedIn updates

  • LinkedIn has rolled out ‘Post Templates’ for company profiles, including large graphics.
  • ‘Link Stickers’ have evolved, similarly to Instagram stories. This is a feature that we are sure will be loved by many as it’s a way to make your profile more decorative. However, it is a mobile-only feature.
  • Comments can now be pinned on company pages, which can be useful for adding links to comments.
  • Auto captions are now on LinkedIn, which will be great for accessibility and makes creating videos much more user-friendly.
  • Document Ads have been released.
  • Some interesting stats from Social Insider:
    • Native documents generate 3x more clicks than any other type of content
    • Videos generate the highest engagement per impression rate for small to middle sized accounts
    • In 2022, LinkedIn’s video views rate stands at an average of 15.61%
    • The average LinkedIn page reach rate is 3.49%

TikTok updates

  • TikTok has launched ‘photo mode’. This is similar to an Instagram carousel so it now means those who are not comfortable with being on camera could test out TikTok.
  • Video editing is continuing to be improved so that people can easily edit their TikTok videos in the app.
  • TikTok has partnered with LinkTr.ee so that creators can have a native integration with LinkTr.ee.
  • StemDrop has been announced. You can take music and remix them into your own sounds. This allows for creative collaboration for a different niche- which is very exciting!
  • Pulse ads can now be run. This gives qualifying creators the chance to earn 50% of the ad revenue. This is a huge opportunity for creators and will likely incentivise creators moving to TikTok.

YouTube updates

  • YouTube has now added voiceovers to YouTube shorts.
  • Now you can claim your YouTube handle, which increased YouTube’s persona as a social media platform rather than just a video streaming platform.
  • YouTube is opening up livestream e-commerce. Livestream shopping is a massive market in the Eastern world, but it will be interesting to see how it is utilised here in the West.

Snapchat updates

  • Snapchat ads now show 16m active monthly users. Their feature ‘Spotlight’ in which creators can post shortform video is becoming more and more popular.

Pinterest updates

  • Pinterest Trends has had an update. This is a great place to see what is currently trending and popular.
  • Audio can now be added to Idea Pins.

Summary

Now you can sit back and take a big deep breath. As always, there was lots of information and data shared with us, which can be quite overwhelming. So, here are the five takeaways from this session.

  1. Short-form video continues to rise
  2. BeReal continues to grow, but how ‘real’ this might be is in question
  3. Younger demographics continue to gravitate towards smaller communities
  4. TikTok continues to look like a very valuable platform
  5. Creator monetisation is driving social media direction
  6. Accessibility on social is finally getting the focus it deserves

Watch the recording, here:

If you would like to register for our November 2022 social media updates, click here.

Tinisha Osu is a Marketing Executive with two degrees in Psychology. She is the first-author of a published psychology paper and is beginning her career in marketing through blog-writing, creating social media content and running marketing campaigns.