Social Media News: September 2021
Each month I recap the biggest changes in social media so you can stay informed and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly. Here are the highlights of what you should know as we head into September 2021:
Instagram Retires Swipe-Up: Swipe-up, which allowed users to visit external websites by swiping up on a story, is being retired. Instead, users will be able to link to external websites via link stickers. This change allows users to respond to all stories. Previously, users were not able to respond to stories with the swipe-up feature. Read more about it here.
Snapchat Now Includes Scan: Snapchat’s camera will now include a feature called Scan, which can identify items in the real world such as clothes or dog breeds. This visual search feature shows Snapchat’s evolution from social media to a visual search engine. Learn more about Scan in this video from The Verge.
Facebook adds Messenger Features: Messenger is now 10 years old, and to celebrate, Facebook has added several new Messenger features. From Poll Games (an interactive polling option) to Contact sharing (an ability to share contacts via Messenger) these new features range from fun to functional. Read more about the new features here.
Instagram Adds Promoted Products in Shop Tabs: All merchants in Instagram will soon be able to promote their products in the Shop tab. These listings will be labeled with a Sponsored disclaimer. Read more in Instagram’s announcement here.
TikTok rolls out Quick “Promote” Feature: All business users will soon have access to TikTok’s “Promote” feature, allowing businesses to promote specific videos by launching ad campaigns. This Promote feature allows users to choose from three objectives: more video views, more website visits, or more followers. Promote is limited to public clips that do not use copyrighted music, so choose a post wisely and get promoting! Read more here.
Twitter makes Direct Messaging Improvements: Improvements are coming to Twitter DMs! Soon, users will be able to share a tweet across multiple direct messaging chats, making it easier to share relevant tweets to a wide audience. This can be useful to update customers on new products, answer questions, or make announcements. Additionally, there are other quality improvements, including: a quick-scroll option, message grouping by date, and long-presses to attach emoji reactions. Learn more at the Twitter announcement here.
Leave us a comment below with your favorite social media update coming this month!