New social media features and updates to know this week
Updates to X, Meta, TikTok and more.
Happy Tuesday, PR and comms pros! You know the drill, we have the latest social media updates to get you going on your work week. Now let’s get to it.
X
X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on the platform that all Premium users in the United States can now post jobs to their personal X accounts. Previously, only verified organizations could post job opportunities.
Social Media Today reported that X used MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, to boost its Amplify video program, though things got off to a bad start when the platform misrepresented how Donaldson earned money on the platform. Donaldson reposted an older video on X and earned $260,000 from pre-roll ads in a week through the program, which he later disclosed after uproar. The Amplify program is made up of a small, handpicked group of creators, which Donaldson joined.
Keen content creators said X gave his post preferential treatment, as they have never earned that much in similarly engaging posts. X made it seem like Donaldson was posting as a typical X creator when he wasn’t. Donaldson is actually a partner in X’s Amplify program expansion efforts, though X only shared that later. Amplify will expand to other users soon, according to X’s Evan Jones.
Even when Amplify becomes more widely available, will others make nearly as much as Donaldson? Unlikely, given his superstar status, but they could rake in a pretty penny, according to Social Media Today. “So while not everyone will be seeing the types of payouts that Donaldson does, even a portion of that would be significant, and that could be enough to drive more video content through the app.”
Furthering their play for the video space, X will soon debut a new Video tab on mobile, X News Daily reported. The Video tab would be located between the search and notification buttons.
In other news, X plans to create an Austin-based Trust and Safety center of excellence to enforce platform safety and content rules and combat child sexual exploitation-related material, Bloomberg reported. However, the move comes more than a year after Musk cut trust and safety operations to the bone, likely contributing to the surge in CSAM. The platform plans to hire 100 content moderators, though a launch date has not been announced.
An X Safety post announced that the social media platform launched Passkeys as a more secure login option for iOS users in the United States.
Meta
Meta has updated its Brand Rights Protection tool and debuted its Intellectual Property Reporting Center, according to a Meta announcement.
Brand Rights Protection gives rights holders the ability “to monitor for misuse of their brand and report intellectual property infringement and business impersonation,” according to Meta. Updates include:
Saved Search
- Save your most searched-for terms and filters.
Cross-Surface Search
- Searches will be performed for Commerce, Posts, Ads and Accounts and you won’t have to put in the same search request for every login.
Reference Library expansion
- The reference library limit used to be 50 images and is now 200 images. Allowing for easier monitoring of a wider range of assets.
Apply for the tools here.
Meta’s new Intellectual Property Reporting Center lets rights holders better protect their intellectual property. The Intellectual Property Reporting Center also keeps IP Reporting Forms and important account info in one place.
The platform improved its Advantage targeting product to help advertisers with advanced automation and machine learning technology, according to a Meta announcement. Advantage can improve a campaign’s performance by letting Meta’s system tap a “broader group of people than are defined in an advertiser’s initial detailed targeting selections, if our system predicts it’s likely to improve performance.”
The updates include:
- Campaigns that are optimized for engagement, video views, reach, impressions or ad recall lift can choose to use Advantage detailed targeting.
- Campaigns optimized for leads, landing page views or link clicks automatically have detailed targeting automatically added, with the capability to opt-out.
Social media strategist Matt Navarra posted on Threads that a user recently saw Instagram’s new Flipside feature. The new option lets users make a private profile version and post photos for certain groups of friends. “The feature essentially productizes ‘finstas,’” Navarra posted.
Also, users can now turn off Instagram DM read receipts, according to an official Instagram channel post on X. Users can go to the Privacy & Safety section and under “Read receipts,” press the off button to keep others guessing if you read their message or not.
TikTok
Social media expert Jonah Manzano posted on Threads that TikTok users can now cut out a foreground video subject and add a background to the clip. This option can be done during edit mode and one photo is allowed for the background, Manzano wrote. A photo can also be removed.
Navarra posted on Threads that TikTok is also testing out 30-minute-long video uploads. Stay tuned for that interesting update.
LinkedIn announced recently that it’s doing away with its lookalike audience option by Feb. 29. Active campaigns with lookalike audiences will still operate, albeit with a static audience.
With lookalike audiences going away, LinkedIn recommends using predictive audiences for Lead Gen Form data sources, contact lists or conversion. LinkedIn also recommends using audience expansion for “Matched Audiences and LinkedIn attribute targeting, such as by skill or interest.”
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.
