New social media features and updates to know this week
Updates to X, Meta, TikTok and more.
It’s another beautiful Tuesday, PR and comms pros, despite what the weather might look like in your neck of the woods. Why? Because we have the latest social media news. While this info won’t keep you warm, it will keep you at the top of your game today. Now let’s get to the good stuff.
X
Last fall, X debuted video and audio calling options to iOS users. Now, Android users with an X Premium account get to join in, X Senior Software Engineer Enrique Barragan posted. Barragan noted that only X Premium members can make calls, but all X users can receive calls.
Meta
Meta recently debuted its Creator Management Tools in Meta Business Suite to better assist agencies and creators, according to a company announcement. “This centralized tool is designed to help agencies and creators manage their relationships on Facebook by connecting their accounts and granting access to assets and information,” the announcement noted. Agencies that oversee content creators can use Meta’s Creator Management Tools to assist them with things like:
- Creator management. Agencies can operate creator accounts on Facebook by requesting permission to manage creator pages.
- Send contractually agreed-upon payments to an agency account.
- Allows agencies and creators to link accounts, eliminating the need for credential sharing.
Threads
Social media strategist Matt Navarra posted on Threads that the platform now lets users hide the share count on their posts. “Previously, you could hide the Like count only,” Navarra wrote. To hide the share and like counts on a Threads post from your computer:
- Tap your profile picture located in the bottom right corner.
- Select the three dots (…) next to the post you plan to edit.
- Hit “Hide like and share counts.”
Find out more here on how to hide post like and share counts from an Android and iPhone.
Instagram’s Help Center posted that users can now use Cutouts to add some flair to their posts. Cutouts can assist users in making more creative Stories and Reels from custom stickers from their camera roll photos or eligible IG images. You can also create Cutouts from another user’s images, if they have the option turned on.
If you made a sticker with Cutouts from another person’s post and they deleted their post, any content you made with the sticker will be removed, too.
Social Media Today posted that users can cancel a Stories upload when it is is “mid-process.” This option is for someone who wants to fix a mistake before it’s seen publicly. That’s great news for social media managers!
The official WhatsApp page posted on Threads updates to Channels:
- Channel administrators can send polls out to their audience to learn people’s take on various topics.
- Voice notes are available in Channels.
- Users can share Channel updates on their status. To do so:
- Long-press the update you would like to share and select forward and my status.
TikTok
TikTok is getting ready for upcoming worldwide elections by sharing its plans to ensure that its platform “continues to be a creative, safe, and civil place for our community in a historic elections year,” Head of USDS Trust and Safety Suzy Loftus posted in TikTok Newsroom.
“With more than 2 billion people in over 50 countries expected to go to the polls this year, we are deeply invested in protecting the integrity of elections on TikTok,” Loftus noted.
Some plans the platform has include partnering with electoral commissions and fact-checking orgs to create Election Centers that offer trustworthy voting information to users. The platform is also building out features that give more context to TikTok accounts and content, including clarifying that (unlike on X), blue checkmarks mean that people are who they say they are and that in the U.S., accounts from politicians, governmental agencies and political parties must be verified. In the AI space, the platform does not allow “manipulated content that could be misleading, including (AI generated content) of public figures if it depicts them endorsing a political view,” Loftus noted. TikTok is making creators label realistic AI-generated content. As the platform continues to evolve in this arena, find updates and more information here.
Social media expert Jonah Manzano posted on Threads that TikTok added an AI Song feature, which allows users to enter a prompt to generate a song. In the example, some suggested prompts could be tunes about jealousy, seeing the Northern Lights or gardening. We’ll soon be listening to something about puppies!
Sponsored articles are now available on LinkedIn for some, Baptiste Beauvisage, lead client solutions manager at LinkedIn, said. Currently, only company-authored articles can be sponsored.
Applicable, existing content on a LinkedIn page can be turned into sponsored content.
In other news, LinkedIn announced that job seekers can now search for jobs through Job Collections, which thematically groups jobs by industry, passion or expertise. Some collections include remote work, good parental leave or IT. To get started:
- Select the LinkedIn Jobs tab.
- Find “Explore with Job Collections.”
- Then click on the various collections and see which one fits your needs.
Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.
