Social Media Industry Round-Up #115: TikTok Is Taking The Sell-Off Bill to the Supreme Court, How to Schedule DMs and Threads Hitting Record Highs

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This is the last newsletter of 2024 as we’re taking a break for the Holidays & New Year.?

We’ll be back in 2025 with more exciting content and… a relaunch of our Have You Herd? Podcast, so keep your eyes peeled on January 1st.

Thank you for reading our newsletter this year!

TikTok Ban

The US Supreme Court will hear TikTok’s plea over the law that would ban the platform on January 10th. The hearing will happen 9 days before the law is set to be implemented.?

Both parties will have to argue on: “Whether the Protecting Americans from ForeignAdversary Controlled Applications Act, as applied to petitioners, violates the First Amendment.”

New Usage Record on Threads

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, has announced that Threads has now more than 300M monthly and 100M daily active users.?

The platform has gained momentum this year off the back of X, gaining more than 200M additional users in 2024.?

Threads took 10 months to grow from 100M to 200M, and only 3 months to grow to 300M. At this rate, we could see Threads catching up with X, which currently sits at 570M monthly active users.

Threads Scheduling

Threads has announced that they’ve tested scheduling posts directly in-platform and that they’re ready to roll out the feature for all users.?

In the comments, some users seem to think that allowing post scheduling goes against the ‘last-minute thoughts’ nature of the platform. However, it can be a very beneficial tool for brands and creators.

Credited Re-Shares

Users will be able to use media shared by other users, and it will automatically credit the original user. This is yet another improvement to encourage posting and resharing content, but making sure original sources and creators are credited.?

Adm Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said: “This is a quick, easy way to add your creative takes to trending images and clips without quote posting.”

Screenshot Blocking on Instagram

Instagram is finally rolling out screenshot blocking for all DMs sent on ‘Vanish mode’ or for ‘View once’ content (it's giving Snapchat). However, people using older versions of the app or accessing via desktop, won’t be affected by this update and will be able to screenshot content.?

Still, media can be reported up to 6 hours after viewing, to ensure user safety.

Scheduled DMs

Instagram is currently testing scheduled DMs with a select group of users, so they can share their messages at their preferred times.?

This is yet another step towards improving DMs, as it’s been Instagram’s main focus this 2024.

New Video Display?on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is testing a new look and feel for vertical videos in-feed.?

Vertical videos will now take up more of the screen, especially on mobile, and users will be able to click to expand and access the video feed.