Social Media Highlights of 2023

Time flies! Before we realise it, yet another year is coming to an end, and it’s time to take stock of the past months. What were the social media highlights of 2023? Let’s have a look at 6 of them below.

1. TikTok continues to grow

The short-form video app TikTok has continued its unstoppable ascent. It was the most downloaded app in the first quarter of 2023. TikTok is not only about creating content, it also has a big influence on retail and shopping activities. So-called TikTok trends, such as the latest makeup hack, have the ability to go viral quickly. Moreover, TikTok also functions as a search engine - even outdoing Google where shopping is concerned. That's definitely something to keep in mind!

2. AI and Social Media

AI has been the buzzword of this year - and more than that. This technology influences every area of our everyday life, including online marketing.

For content curation and personalisation, AI algorithms analyse our data and preferences to feed us relevant and engaging content. And to make us stay on the app for longer.

AI-powered tools also exist for community management, such as chatbots or automated messages. Are you using the business or enterprise version of WhatsApp? Then you can set up pre-written greeting messages when leads or customers reach out to you or use away messages outside your business hours.

In addition, Google is using AI when it comes to creating ads, so online marketing campaigns can be created, executed and evaluated in a more precise manner.

And finally, AI has become an invaluable assistant for content creation - if used correctly. Inputting sensitive data is a big no-no, considering that the people who use the data to train ChatGPT can access it. Furthermore, output that is not or hardly edited is easy to recognise. Over here on LinkedIn, I have come across so many posts and comments that sounded the same: the same sentence structure, the same wording…You get the picture. And, of course, it becomes a vicious cycle. AI-generated data is picked up by AI tools to regurgitate more AI output. Which is why it’s essential to check, fine-tune and polish the output.

3. Social Commerce

This is a topic I tackled in my previous newsletter. Social commerce is the integration of e-commerce into social media platforms and has witnessed significant growth in 2023. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have introduced features to encourage people to shop via their platforms.

4. User-generated content

Today, consumers are increasingly interested in brands and influencers who come across as authentic and natural. This shift has led to an increase in the use of user-generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing. So what is UGC? UGC consists of reviews, testimonials, photos and videos. Have you seen those unboxing videos on YouTube? Or reviews of the latest technical gadgets? This type of content is supposed to connect with viewers in a genuine manner. It boils down to building trust through storytelling strategies and telling stories that people can relate to.

5. WhatsApp brings Channels

WhatsApp has introduced several new features in 2023, from editing your sent messages up to 15 minutes to releasing Channels. Channels is a one-way social media feed: you can post news, and people can react with emojis. The content expires after 30 days. With so many new options around, it's easy to find all this rather overwhelming. Which is why it's always important to ask yourself if your audience will be interested in such new features. Social media is often a matter of trial and experimentation to test the outcome. LinkedIn, for instance, had realised how popular short-form video was becoming, and they had introduced the option of adding a video to one's LinkedIn profile. However, on this particular platform, most people didn't use this option and this summer, LinkedIn decided to withdraw it altogether and remove all profile videos as well.

6. Twitter becomes X

Last, but not least: Twitter turning into X was huge news! What may have remained less obvious is that as a result of Twitter’s rebranding, competitor Bluesky Social has been gaining more attention over the past months, little by little, slowly and steadily. As an early adopter of Bluesky since July 2023, I have been following Bluesky's progress eagerly. Creating a Bluesky account is by invite only, either by signing up on a waiting list or receiving an invite code from a Bluesky user.

In the meantime, I have learnt how to build my own custom feed with the help of a YouTube tutorial and a visual editor called SkyFeed. A custom feed is dedicated to a specific topic and is constructed on criteria that collect specific posts matching the topic. Those posts are then displayed as a feed. So a feed dedicated to birds will gather posts that have #birds or a ?? in their text because those two features are set as criteria. People can follow feeds or join a feed so their posts will appear in it.

If you're eager to see what Bluesky profiles look like, you might get lucky in mid-December. Bluesky's developer is very busy with coding work. The goal is to "unlock" Bluesky so you can see Bluesky accounts without being logged into a Bluesky account. I'll be keeping you updated!

Are you interested in Bluesky, or have you just joined? Then this guide for newbies is a big help.

Closing the highlights

These 6 social media highlights give us a good idea of what to expect in 2024: more AI tools, more short-form video, more growth of Twitter's/X's competitors, more immersion. And some surprises, too!

The next and last newsletter of this year will be on Wednesday, 27th December 2023. Wishing you all a merry festive season, and many thanks for being such great readers!