Updates to your favorite social media platforms are nothing new and often don’t have much of an impact on their users. But as a small business owner who relies on social platforms to connect with your customers, they might be a bigger deal to you than most.

To keep you up-to-date and informed on changes that could require a little bit of triage to your current social media strategy, we’ve put together a list of some recent social media updates that you need to be aware of.

Recent Social Media Updates

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X/Twitter, Threads and LinkedIn have all implemented some noteworthy changes lately. We’ll break them down for you in this list:

Instagram

• Where “likes” and “comments” had been the main metric that Instagram used for user engagement in the past, the platform has recently switched to put their focus on “Views” instead. This helps you compare performance across different posts.
• You can now add 20 frames to a carousel.
• The ‘Gram is testing and partially rolling out a new portrait shaped grid layout as opposed to the current square one. If you use a Canva template for your posts, you’ll want to give it an update!
• You’ll be able to add a song to your profile.

TikTok

• Look for a new Explore page to be added to the platform.
• TikTok Shop has announced a new integration with Amazon. This will enable users to make an Amazon purchase in-stream instead of having to navigate through to the Amazon app or website.

YouTube

• With the popularity of YouTube shorts, the platform will be promoting longer video clips within the Shorts feed.
• Has announced longer ad breaks to CTV.

X/Twitter

• X is wanting to incorporate a payment option, signifying that it’s aiming to become an “everything” app.
• The platform is testing the removal of engagement buttons from replies.

Threads

• Threads has hinted that ads could be arriving to the platform soon.
• The platform has rolled out in-app analytics and native scheduling.

LinkedIn

• Brands now have the ability to sponsor user-generated newsletters.
• Verified company pages on LinkedIn will be indicated by a shield badge.
• LinkedIn is testing in-feed video carousels.
• You’ll now be able to edit scheduled posts.

Final Thoughts

Keeping up with platform updates like these is part of managing your social media marketing strategy. You don’t want to keep working toward improving parts of your social presence when they’re no longer meaningful to the platform.

We know updates like these can be frustrating and can take some time and manpower to adapt. That’s why we want to help you stay as up-to-date as possible in this ever-changing digital landscape!

Looking for a little help keeping up with changes like these and your social strategy as a whole? RevLocal is here for you. Reach out to us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.