April 29-2023: 10 Things That Happened in The Digital Space This Week

Hello there,

What happened in the social media and digital space this week?

Welcome to my weekly newsletter, where I curate and aggregate social media features updates, tech news, digital trends, and weekly insights to keep you updated and informed!

There are a lot of social media updates that happened this week. First off, ChatGPT returned to Italy after being banned over data privacy concerns about a month ago. Meta posted strong numbers in Q1, 2023 earning reports, and Instagram reels are growing.

Also, Twitter restored blue checkmarks for some popular accounts even without them paying. At this point, it's not clear the criteria Twitter is using to give out blue checkmarks because accounts like that of Ryan Reynolds, with over 21 million followers, has no checkmark.

Anyway, let's head straight to some of the social media updates that happened this week.

NB: Click on the links to read more about the story from the main sources

Top Story: How is digital media usage in 2023??Meta,?Pinterest,?Snap Inc.?and?Spotify?released their Q1, 2023 results this week.

• Facebook daily active users were 2.04 Billion on average for March 2023, an increase of 4%year-over-year.
• Facebook monthly active users were 2.99 billion as of March 31, 2023, an increase of 2% year-over-year.
• Pinterest now has 463 million monthly active users, an increase of 7% year over year, according to their Q1 2023 report
• Snapchat is now at 383 Million daily active users and 350 Million Monthly Active Users, as shared in their Q1 2023 report
• Spotify Monthly Active Users are now at 515 million, a 22% growth year-over-year. Premium Subscribers grew 15% year-over-year to 210 million with outperformance across all regions, led by Europe.

1.????Meta says time spent on Instagram grew 24% thanks to TikTok-style AI Reel recommendations. Also, the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri says the parts of #Instagram that are growing the fastest are:

??DMs

??Sharing Stories

??Watching Reels

Also, Reels that do the best are videos that people want to share with their friends in DMs or as a story. Hence important to think beyond Feed

2.????Meta is testing out new Instagram features where people can share a song in a Note and also add a song to their photo carousels. Mark Zuckerberg says it's currently available in a few countries

3.????More than 1 billion avatars have been created across Meta apps -Mark Zuckerberg

4.????Meta is working on a decentralized text platform called Barcelona that could be a Twitter alternative. On the other hand, Bluesky, a decentralized platform backed by Twitter Co-founder, is out to Android users.

5.????You now log into the same WhatsApp account on up to four phones. This multi-device feature is a plus for business owners using WhatsApp for business since an employ

6.????TikTok is working on a feature that will create AI-generated profile pictures.

7.????TikTok now allows users to add a link in the bio if their business account is registered.

8. Do You remember Twitter Stories called Fleets? Elon Musk hints it may be coming back, but not the way it was done last time. Did you make use of fleets?

9.????Twitter implemented a Prioritized Display of Tweets from Twitter Blue Subscribed Accounts. That means an account that has a checkmark will get a small boost in ranking and be prioritized in reply sections. Also, their notification will appear on Verified Tab.

10.?LinkedIn adds new custom CTA Buttons on LinkedIn premium member profiles which will then direct profile visitors to a specified URL from your LinkedIn presence.

Additional Reads:

1. Netflix Confirms Plans To Spend $2.5BN On Korean Content Over Four Years?
2. OpenAI now gives you the option to switch off your chat history when using its ChatGPT chatbot

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