Welcome to our March edition of the Social Media Snapshot! Every month we try to catch you up with a brief overview of what's been happening in the social media world as it pertains to businesses. This month, we're taking a look at new features on various social media platforms and why Clubhouse may just be a passing social media fad.
New Social Media Platform Features
Every month, social media platforms roll out new features that better the user experience. Here's a snapshot of the changes that took place in March.
TikTok
TikTok is rolling out a playlists feature so it's easier to find TikTok videos that were created as a series.
Twitter
- Twitter is developing a new groups-like feature called "Communities" which would allow Twitter users to share their tweets within sub-groups of users rather than all users.
- Twitter is working on a feature that allows users to add a custom background to Fleets. (See it in action here)
Instagram
- Instagram is developing and testing their 'Remix' option, where users can create a reaction clip, with the original and your new video playing side-by-side (much like TikTok's 'Duets'). Ironically, so is Snapchat!
- Instagram is prioritizing its young users by developing an Instagram platform for kids under the age of 13, according to BuzzFeed.
- Instagram is testing out a new auto-captioning option in its stories, but it's got some glitches that seem to need to be worked out.
- And a change marketers everywhere have been waiting for- Instagram is going to have an option soon to allow Story drafts that can be saved and posted at a later date!
Facebook
- Facebook is now testing a new 'Green screen' option within the Facebook Stories creative tools, which will enable users to overlay their video over a selected video or still image.
- Facebook is also looking to create live audio-only broadcasts in a Clubhouse-like clone. It seems like a step back in many ways, as it would be like having a Facebook Live event but just the audio from it.
- Facebook is now in the business of supporting independent writers, and in March they announced this support with an explanation of how they are going to make it easier for those content creators to build businesses online.
YouTube
YouTube has released its 'Shorts' as of March 18th, a short-form video experience for anyone who wants to create short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.
Clubhouse May Just Be a Fad
Interestingly, Clubhouse is starting to see its daily downloads slow down, likely due in part to its lack of an Android app. They claim to be developing one as we speak that will be released in a few months- but will that be too late for app users? History has shown that social media apps that can't keep up with the hype of their users in the beginning stages don't tend to make it very far.
Take Vero for example. It had the potential to be a competitor with Facebook, but it couldn't handle the amount of traffic and downloads it received and resulted in glitches that made users shy away from using it.
While Clubhouse isn't glitchy like Vero was, they do attract specific (more outgoing) audiences that may lose interest if things don't pick up, especially if social media giants like Twitter and Facebook come up with similar features. Only time will tell!
