The new year seemed to usher in a season of change across social media platforms, and this past week, we have seen some pretty huge social media upheavals that will probably affect your brand. We have the down-low on all the changes that you need to know about to stay ahead of the game with these easy-to-scan updates.
Now more than ever, brands are looking to experts in their field to support them through the fickle and ever-evolving landscape of social media. At Little Leaf PR, our social media pros have got your back with any assistance you might need.
Instagram…
- Grid post sizing changed from square to rectangle (1080 px x 1350 pix).
- Doubled the length of Reels by up to 3 minutes.
- Moved profile name to above Following metrics.
- Filter feed to see reels that people you follow have engaged with. A heart with your friend’s face will appear, and if you tap on it, you will be served a feed of all their liked reels, similar to the old ‘Follower Activity’ column in the old school Instagram layout.
- Posts display a ‘views’ metric for static artwork as it does for Reels.
META policy changes…
- META will be implementing ‘Community Notes’ similar to the system that X uses instead of third-party fact-checkers.
- Under this Community Notes system, anyone will be able to add their own commentary to posts and rate notes in a similar way to Reddit, in an attempt made by META “to help combat potential bias.”
- In the video posted last Tuesday, Zuckerberg said Meta is looking to welcome political discourse back on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
- Loosening rules around anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and ending META’s diversity programs: Meta notified its employees that it would be ending many of its programs aimed at hiring diverse candidates. This includes disbanding its diversity, equity and inclusion team and getting rid of its “Diverse Slate Approach” in its hiring process.
- Meta updated its “Hateful Conduct” policy, which now allows for posts that call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill.
- “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird’”
Tiktok, the US, and RedNote takeover
- Chinese app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, became the #1 download in the US app store.
- TikTok app owner ByteDance voluntarily shut down service in the US just hours before a Sunday deadline, cutting off access to tens of millions of users after the Supreme Court this week upheld a law that effectively banned it over concerns about its ties to China.
- The law passed by Congress last year gave TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, until Jan. 19 to divest from TikTok or be cut off from US app stores and hosting services.
- Google and Apple removed the app from their digital stores to comply with the law, which required them to do so if TikTok parent company ByteDance didn’t sell its US operation by Sunday, Jan 19th.
- Users were then served these alerts
Photocredit: Tiktok
Will the TikTok ban ever end?
After it began restoring service to users in the United States, TikTok issued a statement on its social media accounts.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties for providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
On Sunday morning, President-elect Donald Trump effectively ended the blackout with a single post on his Truth Social platform. He announced plans to pause the law and extend a liability shield to tech companies supporting TikTok as his incoming administration resolves the app’s future.
However, Apple and Google, which control the dominant app stores for mobile devices, have not agreed to reinstate TikTok. Without their support, new users cannot download TikTok, crucial software updates to fix bugs are unavailable, and in-app purchases have come to a standstill, preventing users from buying “coins” during live streams or purchasing subscriptions.
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