3 of the Latest Key Social Media Updates

Social media is forever changing which makes it easy to miss an update from time to time. Twice a month, we look into three of the latest key updates from the past few weeks from the various social media giants. Here’s what’s been happening recently…

X Launches New Experiment That Will See New Users Charged $1

So it seems like Elon Musk really is planning to charge all users of X after all! Last month, in an?interview?Musk alluded to the possibility of charging “a small monthly payment” for all users, in order to combat bot armies, as bot peddlers would then be priced out of the market, because they’d have to pay for every profile that they create.

Now, X is actually?moving to a live test of this model, with a scheme that could eventually see all new users charged $1 to create an account in the app.

Here’s what X had to say: “Starting today, we’re testing a new program in New Zealand and the Philippines, where new, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post, and interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.”

The program, which X has titled “Not a Bot”, will?enable the X team to “evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers” in the app.

“This new test was developed to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. It is not a profit driver. And so far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale.”

What do you think of this step by Musk and co? On one hand, it would help filter out the bots, but on the other – it’s highly unlikely that X will grow their users by very much, if at all! A shot in the foot or a positive step? Let us know your thoughts!…

TikTok Adds New ‘Spooky’ Voice Effects for Halloween

TikTok’s looking to help users get into the Halloween spirit, with a new set of?spooky voice modifiers?to use in your clips.

The new?Text-to-Speech and Voice Filter?options will enable users to add some Halloween spirit to their uploads, via a werewolf, zombie, ghost, and a witch voice.

Which will no doubt see a heap of use, and it’ll be interesting to see if the new voice filter options lead to new content trends, based around the alternate audio tools.

And as for brands, they could also be handy in your promotions, with a ghost voice announcing your latest deal, or a zombie detailing your new packages.

?

TikTok’s new Halloween voices will be available in select markets worldwide, and you can use TikTok’s voice tools in the composer, by either highlighting entered text, and selecting “Text-to-speech”, or choosing from the Halloween filters in “Audio Editing”. Enjoy!

Threads Rolls Out Multiple Updates With DMs to Follow

Meta’s ‘Twitter clone’ Threads are said to be rolling out multiple updates this week including an ‘edit option’ where you can edit your posts up to 5 minutes after posting, and a voice note option (called Voice Threads).

But more crucially, the Threads team are also apparently developing an in-stream DM option, which would bring it more in line with X, and other social apps.

As per a Thread from data privacy researcher Jorge Caballero, the Threads app recently added some new data strings that seemingly relate to DMs.

Caballero notes that Threads DMs will likely be encrypted, while users will also be able to send self-destructing messages, if they choose.

Would this be enough to reignite early interest in Threads though? If we already have DMs on Instagram, then why would we need them on Threads too?

Meta’s been working to integrate all of its messaging tools since 2019, which, eventually, will see all of your DMs, from Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp, merged into a single, interoperable inbox, accessible in any app. So you could message somebody on WhatsApp from IG, send a Messenger DM to a person on WhatsApp, etc.

With this in mind, Meta initially seemed to want to keep its DMs within its existing systems, as adding another inbox into the mix likely complicates things a fair bit. But as it works to become a bigger rival for Twitter/X, DMs remain a much-requested addition, which could mean that Threads has to add DMs, in order to tick all the boxes. Let’s see how this one pans out!

Want to be the first to the latest news in social media??Subscribe to our email newsletter?and we’ll send the latest updates straight to your inbox every other week.