September 2024 Social Platform Updates

Instagram added comments to Stories. LinkedIn is getting rid of the orange Top Voices badges. And YouTube announced a new feature to spotlight emerging creators called Hype.

Here's everything you missed from social platforms last month...

Discord ??

? Opened development for Activities, its in-app ecosystem for apps and games, to all developers.

Facebook ??

? Expanded Meta AI’s Imagine features, which use generative AI to turn text into images, across Facebook and Instagram posts.

? Announced new AI translation tools to enable users to watch reels recorded in different languages.

Instagram ??

? Rolled out comments on Stories, which are only visible to a user's followers. Like Stories themselves, the comments will only be visible for 24 hours.

? Launched new youth privacy and safety features, such as automatically making accounts for users under 16 private by default and muting notifications from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

LinkedIn ????

? Announced plans to sunset?Top Community Voice badges (the gold badges earned from collaborative article contributions).

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Pinterest ??

? Added "remix” and sharing features for collages, its popular digital scrapbooking tool.

Reddit ??

? Rolling out AI-powered translations of posts and comments to 35 new countries, starting with Brazil and Spain.

Snapchat ??

? Introduced ads in its Chat tab.

Substack ??

? Launched a live video feature.

Telegram ??

? Announced it will start sharing the IP addresses and phone numbers of users who violate its terms of service with relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests.

TikTok ?

? Organized a U.S. Elections Integrity Advisory Group and added FAQs about voting from authoritative sources.

? Started requiring two-step verification for U.S. government and politician accounts.

? Expanded its subscription feature to new countries as well as creators who don’t livestream.

? Shutting down its music streaming app TikTok Music in November.

? Partnered with the World Health Organization to provide health information on related videos.

Twitch ??

? Updated its Ad Manager to allow Partner streamers to control how many ads are played during their streams.

? Announced several new features at its annual Twitchcon event, including “enhanced broadcasting” in 1440p resolution and vertical video options coming early next year.

? Unveiled a “shared chat” feature, which allows streamers to link their chats when streaming together.

? Promoted an upcoming Clip Carousel feature, which will highlight the best clips from a creator’s most recent stream and a new monetization option that will allow viewers to react to on-stream moments by purchasing a digital emote.

? Started providing streamers with more clarity on policy violations, such as showing an excerpt of where violations occurred in chats.

X ??

? Got banned in Brazil for failing to meet a court deadline to appoint a new legal representative in the country. X can be reinstated by paying a $1.9M fine.

? Testing a new video app for internet-connected TVs.

? Launching a new video tab a la TikTok’s For You Feed in a push to turn X into a “video-first platform.”

? Elon Musk suggested upcoming change to the platform's rules around blocked users, which would enable a blocked account to still see posts but stop them from engaging with those posts.

YouTube ??

? Expanded safeguards for European teens, such as stopping recommendations for “content that compares physical features and idealizes some types over others."

? Announced new AI detection tools for music and faces, which will be added to Content ID for content protection.

? Enabled creators to change their handle to a different language.

? Rolled out its “Add Yours” feature to all users, which allows viewers to share their responses to a creator’s Short through their own Shorts clips.?

? Announced Hype, a new feature designed to spotlight emerging creators with less than 500K subscribers.

? Unveiled paid digital gifts during livestreams.

? Added organizational tools for creators to curate their content into seasons and episodes for the YouTube TV app.

? Announced a partnership with Shopee in Indonesia, allowing creators to tag and promote products in their videos to make them purchasable through Shopee.

? Releasing its affiliate shopping program, which is currently available in the U.S. and South Korea, to Thailand and Vietnam in the coming weeks.

? Added a 'New' label to recently uploaded Shorts, which could potentially impact content discovery.

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