Let's keep this professional
Congrats on making it to the last week of September. And thanks to this latest ruling, it looks like TikTok U.S. might get to make it to October.
In this week's newsletter — LinkedIn jumps on the vertical-video trend, Instagram rolls out fresh Reels updates, Facebook is changing its <20% text rule for ads, and Twitter just wants to double check that you're paying attention. Keep reading ⬇️
Professional Storyteller
LinkedIn launches Stories
It might be time to add "Professional Storyteller" to your resumé. Microsoft-owned LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Stories in Canada and the U.S. last week following months of testing. When you open the LinkedIn app on your phone, you'll see Stories at the top (similar to the layout on Instagram). You should also see a video introducing the new feature. It's actually pretty straightforward: Create a photo or video in the app, or upload a video of up to 20 seconds. Add any related @Mentions + text and stickers, and then post.
LinkedIn has been very careful to brand these as "Professional Stories" — but this type of post generally tends to lean more towards the informal. So, obviously, we can't wait to see your dog videos in the near future 🐶. But seriously, some of the ways you might want to consider using LinkedIn Stories is to share tips, advice, and successes. And like any new feature that doesn't immediately have a lot of early adopters, your Stories will likely get pushed to more people than a regular post, which equals more engagement.
A new LinkedIn look
LinkedIn Stories is just one part of an overall redesign that the company says aims "to make your LinkedIn experience easy, inclusive, enjoyable, and most importantly to put the community front and center." It includes:
An "Open to Work" photo frame to let recruiters know you're interested
The ability to start a video call for Microsoft Teams, Zoom and BlueJeans from a message thread
In the future, watch for dark mode and additional accessibility features.
Vertical posts are P"in" Back to Stories, LinkedIn isn't the only social media company to recently jump on the vertical-video trend. Pinterest also announced Story Pins, which the company says "is an all new type of Pin and publishing option that gives creators a way to tell dynamic and visual stories with videos, voiceover and image and text overlay." (Sounds familiar 😏). It's currently being tested in the U.S. While LinkedIn and Pinterest are jumping on this trend, the OG of Stories is Snapchat. Its vertical posting style has already been copied by Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Twitter is also testing its own Stories-like feature called Fleets. And unless we start holding our phones on the horizontal, it looks like vertical posts are here to stay.
Managing social media is hard enough — staying up-to-date shouldn't be. Level up your social media knowledge in minutes a week. Sign up for our newsletter today!
ICYMI
For Reels?
Well, that didn't take long. Instagram launched TikTok copycat Reels about two months ago, and is already rolling out updates. According to a tweet from Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, these include:
Allowing you to create clips of up to 30 seconds in length (double the original 15 seconds)
Extending the countdown timer to 10 seconds
Editing tools that allow you to trim and delete any clip
The updates come as some reports suggest that Reels is struggling to gain traction. But if Instagram Stories (a Snapchat copycat) is any indication, Reels could also become a top feature. And with TikTok continuing to face an uncertain future in one of its largest markets, we honestly may not have any choice but to use Reels.
Attention FB advertisers...
Getting ads approved on Facebook may be about to get a bit easier. Social media expert Matt Navarra reported last week that Facebook will be removing its requirement that ad images include less than 20% of text. In the past, ads including images with more than 20% of text were rejected, with Facebook saying: "We've found that images with less than 20% text perform better." Many news outlets are trying to confirm more details. But in the meantime, even if you can get that text-heavy ad image approved, may we suggest that less is more?
Just double checking
Have you ever retweeted an article without reading it? Yeah, us too. And it looks like we're not the only ones because Twitter is now testing a new prompt on Android that asks you to open an article on Twitter before retweeting it. And we agree with the Twitter Comms account that they shouldn't have to do this, but hey, what can we say, social media has only been around for about 15 years and society clearly hasn't caught up yet.
NEWS-LIKE
🔴 Throne Speech Promise to Force Big Tech to Pay for Canadian Content Could Make a Huge Difference to Struggling Media Companies, Advocates Say [Toronto Star]
🔴 Sir David Attenborough Gets 1M Instagram Followers in Hours, Breaking World Record [NPR]
🔴 Facebook Takes Down Networks Linked to Russian Disinformation [New York Times]
🔴 YouTube is About to Age Restrict Way More Videos [The Verge]
🔴 Woman Falls Out of Car Window and Onto Highway While Filming Snapchat Video [CNN]
HAPPY-LIKE
This Instagram post from Lizzo is giving us all the feels. And while we didn't need a Vogue cover to know that this woman was fierce, this just proves everyone else knows as well. 🔥
I am the first big black woman on the cover of @voguemagazine. The first black anything feels overdue. But our time has come. To all my black girls, if someone like you hasn’t done it yet— BE THE FIRST. Shot by: @hypewilliams Story by: Claudia Rankine. Thank you Anna Wintour & @sergiokletnoy.
Hey, congrats — you made it to the bottom of the e-newsletter!
If you really liked it, why not forward it to a friend. 💌