Welcome back to the place where we break down everything happening in social media over the past few weeks! In this September 2023 edition of The Lighthouse Social’s Social Media Updates, we have lots to discuss with the latest data trends and platform changes. With Luan Wise and Andy Lambert as your guides, you’ll gain specialist insights into all-things social media.
Watch it here:
Data Insights
TikTok is Unstoppable
In 2022, TikTok achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing Instagram in terms of daily minutes spent on the platform. The big news, though, is the projection that TikTok will outstrip Facebook in daily usage by 2025. TikTok’s rise shows no signs of slowing down, making it a powerhouse for engagement and content creation.
Threads vs. X
The story of Threads has been tumultuous. Threads is struggling to maintain momentum, with its estimated daily active users on Android declining rapidly. Meanwhile, Twitter’s rebranded platform, X, experienced initial growth but has since plateaued, settling back to its original estimated daily active users.
Adam Mosseri, during a weekly Q&A on Instagram Stories, acknowledged that Threads’ engagement isn’t where they’d like it to be.
“Overall [Threads is doing] good, a lot of people use it, but they don’t use it as frequently as we would like. There are some people who use it a ton, and some people who use it in a very, very lightweight way, so lots of work to improve.”
According to Business Insider, Threads’ usage has plummeted from a promising 21 minutes per day at launch to a mere 6 minutes. The challenges are clear, and the team is working hard to improve user engagement. It will certainly be an interesting one to watch.
To put that into perspective, X, previously known as Twitter, reported that X users now spend an average of 31 minutes per day on the platform.
New Features
Following Feed for Reels: Instagram introduces a dedicated feed for Reels, designed to help content creators reach a broader audience for their short-form videos.
Reels Trends Tools: To keep creators inspired, Instagram adds Reels Trends Tools, offering insights into what’s currently trending.
Welcome Video for Broadcast Channels: To enhance the community experience, Instagram allows the addition of a welcoming video for new members joining broadcast channels.
Q&A Feature for Broadcast Channels: Facilitate engagement and interaction within your community with the new Q&A feature for broadcast channels.
IG Lives in Feed: Take advantage of the increased discoverability by taking advantage of the ability to showcase IG Live broadcasts directly in users’ feeds.
Selective Content Sharing: Fine-tune your content sharing by selecting the audience for specific posts.
Comment Reply Stickers for Stories: Boost engagement and interaction on your Stories with the new Comment Reply stickers.
Multiple Personal Profiles: Facebook now enables easy switching between different personal profiles, making managing multiple accounts more convenient.
Meta Verified for Business: Gain the extra trust of your audience with a verified badge, coming soon with Meta Verified for Business.
Share as Reel: Extend your reach by sharing Facebook Stories as Reels, tapping into new audiences whilst also enjoying the reachability of Reels.
Twitter/X
Link Preview Enhancements: Link previews on X receive an upgrade, providing more detailed information similar to Facebook and LinkedIn.
X Subscription Model Updates: Elon Musk announces upcoming lower-priced tiers for X Premium, aimed at increasing adoption among users.
Success Guide to Thrive on X:
- Replies over reposts: 1 reply is worth 13.5 retweets and 27 likes.
- Images over text. Images get boosted over text-only posts.
- Videos are favoured
- Text still matters. Long-form content > Threads
Growth and Revenue: LinkedIn continues to flourish, with revenues soaring to an impressive $15.1 billion in 2023, with the platform’s membership surging to 950 million users in 2023.
Algorithm Update:
- LinkedIn is showing you more content from the people and pages you engage with most
- Putting more focus on hashtag engagement to highlight relevant topics to users
- LinkedIns reduced notifications for certain actions
- Posts are now seeing more reach over time, as opposed to gaining the most traction on the first day.
Post Reach Over Time: A notable shift is occurring, with posts gaining more traction over an extended period, rather than experiencing a peak on the first day.
Follower Count Changes: LinkedIn is cleaning house by removing inactive accounts, therefore follower counts on LinkedIn pages are dropping.
Host Multiple Newsletters: LinkedIn introduces the ability to host and manage multiple newsletters on the platform.
Brand Partnership Labeling: Easily signal brand partnerships in your organic posts to foster transparency. You can label when your organic posts contain brand partnerships to signal you have a relationship with a brand.
TikTok
Google Partnership: TikTok teams up with Google, allowing users to access Google search results directly within the TikTok app. This was a result of TikTok putting increasing pressure on the search engine, with more and more users heading to TikTok and other social media platforms for the likes of news and brand discovery.
Ad Placement: You can now purchase ad placement in TikTok searches, providing new advertising opportunities.
Auto Translation: A user-friendly auto-translation feature has been added to TikTok, making content accessible to a global audience.
Other Platform Updates
Threads on Desktop: Threads, the messaging app, has expanded its reach by becoming available on desktop platforms.
Recommended Threads: Instagram is actively promoting Threads within user feeds to encourage increased usage.
Quote Posts on Threads: Users can now share quotes within Threads on the desktop version, enhancing the user experience.
Vertical YouTube Livestreams: YouTube has embraced vertical format livestreams, catering to changing user preferences.
Shorts Clips in YouTube Studio: YouTube Studio now provides tools to manage clips created from YouTube Shorts content.
Let’s Summarise
1. TikTok’s relentless growth continues, especially concerning time spent on the platform.
2. The social media landscape is undergoing significant shifts that impact social strategies, search, and SEO.
3. Brands may need to allocate more resources toward paid advertising on social platforms.
4. Threads faces an uphill battle against X in terms of market share.
5. Stay vigilant regarding the latest algorithm updates on X and LinkedIn, and prioritise engagement to ensure your success.
As a social media manager, being well-informed about these developments is essential for crafting effective strategies and maintaining a competitive edge. Keep an eye out for next month’s edition of Social Media Trends and Updates to stay ahead.
So, how do you feel about the partnership between Google and TikTok? Did it take you by surprise or was it an inevitable development?
Tinisha Osu
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.