May 2024 Social Platform Updates

LinkedIn and YouTube launched games. TikTok is testing hour-long uploads. And Instagram expanded its creator marketplace to 10 new countries.

Here's everything you missed from social platforms last month...

Bluesky Social 🦋

✦ Launched DMs.

✦ Announced it's working on custom gifs, OAuth, and more anti-harassment features.

Clapper 👏

✦ The TikTok lookalike shot up to the #12 highest grossing social app across Apple and Android app stores and has been averaging 200K new downloads per week.

Discord 👾

✦ Announced an app redesign that will return to its roots as a place for users to “deepen their friendships around games and shared interests.”

Facebook 👍

✦ Launched new advertiser tools to create marketing materials using gen AI prompts.

✦ Shutting down Workplace, its B2B messaging app that was meant to compete with Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Instagram 📷

✦ Testing the ability to cross-post images to Threads.

✦ Expanded its creator marketplace to 10 new countries, including South Korea, Germany, Spain, Indonesia, and France.

✦ Testing a feature called Peek that would allow users to post photos that can only be viewed once, a la Snapchat.

✦ Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses can now share photos directly to a user’s IG Story without using your phone.

✦ Added new features to Notes, including likes and mentions.

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LinkedIn 🤝

✦ Launched games as a new way to engage with your professional network.

✦ Adding AI tags called “Content Credentials."

✦ Made it easier to search and find saved posts.

Substack ✍️

✦ Launched Substack Creator Studio, a fellowship program for emerging video creators to create Substack shows.

Threads 🧵

✦ Introducing a post view count.

✦ Testing a new multi-column layout for desktop users a la TweetDeck (now "X Pro").

TikTok ♪

✦ Signed a new licensing deal with UMG to bring its music catalogue back to the platform.

✦ Added labels to AI-generated content uploaded from other platforms.

✦ Testing hour-long uploads.

✦ Launched a $1 million “Change Makers” program.

✦ Unveiled a new analytics dashboard called TikTok Studio.

Tumblr 📝

✦ Launched an open beta for “communities,” which allow users to connect around a shared interest.

Twitch 🎮

✦ Released content filters to allow viewers to exclude certain types of streams from recommendations, search, and browsing.

✦ Gave users the option to blur thumbnails for sexually themed content.

YouTube 🎥

✦ Testing a new YouTube Premium feature that lets users jump to the most popular part of a video.

✦ Rolled out a simple ad campaign creation tool within YouTube Studio.

✦ Enabled advertisers to buy 100% of ad inventory on the top 1% of creator channels.

✦ Announced Playables, a collection of 75+ free games that users can play directly on the platform.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on LinkedIn for the latest insights into social media and the creator economy.

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