Instagram launches new way to interact with an audience
In an effort to increase engagement on Instagram, the platform is introducing a new way to interact with post replies, by allowing users to share comments from any public post or reel to their IG story.
A user can now share a comment to their story by swiping left on it, and the comment will appear in a new sticker format that allows users to place it anywhere within the frame.
The feature is seen as similar to TikTok’s video comment replies option, which became increasingly popular on the platform and led to many content creators having more of a connection with their audience as they were able to create content based on their replies.
Find out more here.
X launches the first stage of ‘job listings’ feature
Following months of testing, X is officially launching the first stage of its new job listings component in beta- allowing verified businesses on the app to add job listings to their X profile page.
Businesses with a gold tick on X can add roles to their profile that will appear above their main timeline. Users will be able to select ‘view all jobs’ on a business page to view all of the jobs listed by that company.
This is another element in Elon Musk’s “everything app” strategy, where he hopes to make X a facilitator of many more aspects, making it a trillion-dollar company. Initially, Musk wanted to enable payments and banking in the app and once people trust X for money, he hopes to branch out into other areas such as dating and virtually all types of transactions you can imagine.
Find out more here.
YouTube takes new education-based approach to its policy violations
As an alternative to suspending creators’ channels if they violate specific platform policies, YouTube is launching a new approach to policy enforcement. The platform is offering training courses to creators who violate specific policies. As opposed to punishing creators, the new approach hopes to educate them, which could lead to a more collaborative and understanding process with influencers on the platform.
A spokesperson for YouTube reported that “Starting today, creators will have the option of taking an educational training course when they receive a Community Guidelines warning. Completing the course will lift the warning from a creator’s channel – so long as they don’t violate the same policy for 90 days.”
Any video that violated the policy in the past would have been removed and the channel would have been struck. Under this new policy, YouTube will still remove content that violates their guidelines, however, it will give creators more chances to clear their names and records in order to avoid cumulative penalties such as the three strikes and out rule.
Find out more here.
TikTok announces ‘top tracks of the summer’ based on in-app trends
This week, TikTok has published its first ever ‘Songs of the Summer’ listings based on the most used songs on the platform over the summer. The most used song on the platform globally over the summer was Mae Stephen’s, “If we ever broke up”, which has since racked up over 350m streams after its release on TikTok.
The platform has become a critical consideration for most record labels worldwide with its ability to uncover hidden gems in the music industry and make specific songs by artists go viral, growing their presence as a musician.
It’s clear to see the impact of the Barbie movie in the listing, with “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice finishing in second place in the ranking in America, alongside “Barbie Girl” by Aqua finishing in ninth place on the global rankings.
Find out more here.