Happy Women’s History Month!  Along with Women’s History Month, did you know that International Happiness Day is March 20? Learn all about this socially relevant holiday and more in our Socially Relevant Holiday Observance article, and incorporate special days into your social media marketing campaigns.

The most recent social media updates you’ll want to know

Facebook App updates

Facebook App updates:

Facebook Reels makes its debut globally. Everyone is familiar with Instagram Reels, but now Facebook is adding the feature to its platform. Although similar to Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels has 30-second audio clips and allows creators and users to feature engaging content natively.

Facebook adds new features and capabilities for Facebook Group admins. If you’re building an online community through Facebook Groups, you now have more admin features to help foster a safe environment. Those features include muting or suspending group members or auto declining posts from repetitive offenders that attempt to abuse community guidelines.

Twitter updates

Twitter updates:

Twitter launched a Tor service for more secure and private tweeting. Amid the issues of Russian censorship, the platform released a privacy-preserving Tor service to mitigate internet blocks. The Tor network has also been added to Twitter’s supported browsers page.

Twitter is experimenting with a shopping feature. Shopping from Twitter is becoming a thing with Twitter Shops. The feature will allow merchants to create collections of products, and the products will show on their profiles for purchase. Unlike Instagram, all shops will drive to the merchant’s website instead of completing the purchase direction on the platform.

Instagram updates

Instagram updates:

Instagram adds credits to ensure Black Creators receive proper attribution for their content. After many complaints from Black Creators, Instagram introduced a new tag to ensure Black content creators receive credit for their trends that are often misplaced.

Instagram removes Boomerang apps from App stores. If you’re one to use the Boomerang app that’s separate from the Instagram App, you may have noticed its disappearance. It’s no accident. Instagram quietly pulled the apps, especially since many of these apps are now feature options directly within the app.

TikTok update

TikTok update:

TikTok launched SoundOn, making it a music distributor. The ByteDance-owned app recently launched its own music distribution platform that is available in the U.K., U.S., Brazil, and Indonesia. Music artists can now upload music directly to TikTok and RESSO.

Snapchat updates

Snapchat updates:

Snapchat adds advertising to its Stories and shares the money with its creators. Snapchat users will begin noticing ads within the Stories experience during a beta test that is curating another revenue generator for content creators. Since it’s still in the testing phase, the platform’s monitoring the user experience and response to the shift.

Android users can now share YouTube music to Snapchat Stories. Although the feature has been available for iOS users since last year, Android users now can share YouTube music directly to their Snapchat Stories.

LinkedIn update

LinkedIn update:

LinkedIn users can now display career breaks on their profilesPreviously, the platform’s chronological requirements made it difficult to address career pauses adequately, but you can now do this easily. The feature can be used as needed, and professionals can showcase learnings instead of job skillsets.

Pinterest update

Pinterest update:

Pinterest announced its latest cohorts in Pinterest Elevates, honoring women-run businesses. In honor of Women’s History Month, Pinterest unveiled the latest cohorts of their accelerator program, Pinterest Elevates. Participants represent marginalized communities, offering both monetary and strategic support that can be used to leverage platform growth.

YouTube update

YouTube update:

YouTube is incentivizing podcasters to film shows on the platform. If you’re a podcaster, you may have an opportunity to join a bid on YouTube that can pay you upward of $300,000 to fund filmed episodes of your podcasts. There isn’t much around the process yet, but we’ll keep you posted on any updates here in our social media industry report.

Reddit update

Reddit update:

Reddit revamps its navigation tab. Reddit’s Discovery tab recently had a massive overhaul, directly addressing user feedback. The Discovery Tab is now located on the right of the home button, and users can now search over 100K+ communities on the platform with more ease.

Are you looking for industry updates for freelance professionals? Check out some practical tips and insight that will help your business thrive.