July 2024 Social Media Trends: Essential Insights For Marketers
August is here, and while we’re gearing up for the spooky season, there’s nothing scary about the latest social media updates. Here’s what’s new across major platforms this month.
Meta
Meta continues to innovate, particularly with AI enhancements and ad capabilities:
- Legal Scrutiny: The EU Commission claims Meta’s ad-free subscription violates the DMA.
- AI Labeling Change: Meta switches AI labels from ‘Made With AI’ to ‘AI Info’ tags.
- Ad-Free Subscription Challenges: Meta faces new legal hurdles over its ad-free subscription model.
- Ad Integration: A new feature for incorporating offers into ads.
- AI Chatbots Expansion: Meta’s AI chatbots now support more regions and multilingual functionality.
- Custom AI Creation: Meta introduces AI Studio for creating custom AI experiences.
- Retirement of Celebrity AI Bots: Meta discontinues its celebrity-styled AI bots.
Facebook enhances user engagement and content creation tools:
- AI Comment Summaries: Testing summaries at the top of comment sections to convey overall sentiment.
- Reels Overlay Ads Expansion: More brands now have access to overlay ads, with Reels driving 200 billion views daily on Facebook and Instagram.
- Benchmark Data for Q2: Provides insights into platform performance.
Instagram shifts focus to enhance user interaction and content sharing:
- Algorithm Update: Sends are now a critical metric for algorithmic performance, encouraging shareable content.
- Retrospective Collaborative Posts: Working on enabling tags for collaborative posts after publishing.
- Super Likes for Stories: Testing a feature similar to Tinder’s and YouTube’s live streaming reactions.
- Notes Expansion: Users can now add notes to Reels and feed posts for a more private commenting experience.
- Messaging Icon Focus: Testing a redesign that emphasizes the messaging feature.
X (formerly Twitter)
Twitter, now X, focuses on privacy and user feedback mechanisms:
- Brand Safety: Rejoins GARM to reassure advertisers.
- Comment Downvotes: Expanding the testing phase for downvoting comments.
- Haptic Design Updates: Previews new post and video controls requiring user gestures.
- Community Notes Requests: Users can now request notes on specific posts.
- Blocking Links in Replies: Testing an option to block links in post replies to curb self-promotion.
- Grok AI Chatbot: New features for X Premium subscribers, including profile analysis and term highlighting.
LinkedIn rolls out new tools for advertisers and marketers:
- Sponsored Newsletters: Now available for brand awareness and engagement campaigns.
- Automated ‘Accelerate’ Campaigns: AI-powered automated campaigns will soon be accessible to all brands globally.
TikTok
TikTok continues to push the envelope with AI and content distribution:
- AI Chatbot ‘Genie’: Developing a new AI assistant to enhance user interaction.
- No Watermark Downloads: Creators can now download clips without the TikTok watermark.
- Ad Restrictions for Teens: New rules limit how advertisers can target teens.
- Custom Thumbnails: Adds an option for creators to customize video thumbnails.
- Legal Challenges: Ongoing case details shared by the Justice Department.
Threads
Threads celebrates milestones and introduces new features:
- User Growth: Reaches 175 million users on its first anniversary.
- Usage Insights: Detailed data on popular topics and user engagement trends.
- Media Re-Share Testing: New options to credit original creators while sharing media.
Snapchat
Snapchat enhances tracking and brand safety:
- Campaign Tracking Partnership: Teams up with VideoAmp for better campaign analytics.
YouTube
YouTube focuses on improving Shorts and community engagement:
- Add Yours Sticker for Shorts: Testing new interactive sticker options.
- Creative Tools for Shorts: Introducing auto layout, text-to-speech, and new captioning options.
- Community Spaces: Testing new spaces for fan engagement via text posts.
Reddit improves ad safety and user discovery tools:
- Lead Generation Ads: Launches new ad formats.
- Search Engine Scraper Block: Limits data access to search engines like Bing.
Pinterest leverages AI to boost ad performance:
- AI Background Generation: Testing new tools for product shots.
Stay updated with these latest developments to optimize your social media strategies and enhance engagement. For more insights on effective social media management, compliance, and creative content, explore LiveWorld’s extensive resources and expertise in the pharma sector.
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Reagan Castleman is the Social Media Manager for LiveWorld’s social profiles. She enhances audience engagement through effective strategies that leverage both paid and organic channels. She can talk about social for literally hours and when she is not talking about it, she is researching all the little intricacies of each platform to make sure the social strategy for LiveWorld is current.