Coming and going
Features on their way out, and a few new ones you might actually like
Facebook and Instagram advertisers: You’ve been warned. Starting in 2024, if you plan to create political, election or social issues ads, you’ll be required to disclose the use of artificial intelligence when used to alter or create people or events, according to a Threads post by Meta’s Nick Clegg. Learn more. It will be interesting to see how other social media platforms plan to deal with this in 2024.
In today’s newsletter:
Coming and Going: Features on Their Way Out, and a Few New Ones (You Might Actually Like)
Social Snack: Your Word Of the Day is Algospeak
Six Degrees of Joy: Kevin Bacon Gets “Footloose” and Fancy Free
Coming and going
We’ve had to say goodbye to a lot in 2023 (and yes, I still miss the Twitter bird). Here are a few more things we’ll say goodbye to this year, and a few new features (we didn’t know we asked for).
Coming (or already here)
Two New Instagram Features You Might Actually Love
Instagram now allows you to share comments to your IG Stories. Simply go into the comment section of a post, swipe on the right-hand side of the comment, and you should see an option to share to your Story. Learn more.
Instagram is also testing a feature that lets you turn read receipts off in your DMs, as confirmed by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri’s Broadcast Channel.
Canva Adds Popular Music to Its Library: Canva Pro users — rejoice! 🥳 You no longer have to rely on stock music to create your content masterpieces. Instead, you now have up to half a million soundtracks to choose from, according to a recent Canva blog. *Note: This feature is also available to Canva for Education users.
X Rolls Out an Audio and Calling Feature: I popped into X this week, and was immediately alerted to the fact that “Audio and Video Calls are here!”
”Go to Settings to review who is able to call you or make changes,” the message continued. When it comes to this feature, I kind of agree this Engadget article that describes this as a “feature nobody asked for.”
Going
Inactive Gmail Accounts to Disappear: As of Dec. 1st, Google will start deleting accounts that have been inactive for two years, according to PC Mag. So, if you want to keep that old account, just make sure to log in before the deadline!
LinkedIn Removes Carousel Posts: Starting on Dec. 14, 2023, LinkedIn will remove all carousels. What are these? Carousels allowed creators to essentially create a slideshow of posts that users could swipe through. LinkedIn is also reportedly getting rid of profile videos and its in-image linking option, according to Social Media Today. *Note: If you were part of the beta for any of these features and want your files, email contentsupport@linkedin.com by Dec. 11th to request your files. Learn more.
TikTok Kills Its $1B Creator Fund: As of Dec. 16th, TikTok is discontinuing its Creator Fund, and instead focusing on its Creativity Program, which will reward creators who make videos over one minute. Eligibility requirements: Must have a U.S.-based account, be over 18, with at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.
🍉 SOCIAL SNACK 🌽
Your Word Of the Day is Algospeak
Algospeak, also known as algorithm speak, involves using symbols, code words and expressions that users believe will help avoid strict content moderation systems.
For example, if you’re seeing the watermelon emoji 🍉 a lot lately, it’s likely related to support for Palestine and Gaza, according to TechCrunch.
Other examples:
Corn emoji 🌽 instead of the word “porn”
S.A. instead of sexual assault
Graped instead of raped
Unalive instead of kill/murder
Seggs for sex
And while many of these tend to originate on TikTok, they also spread to the other platforms. It’s also important to know these code words so that you don’t misuse them, like Julia Fox did.
ICYMI
Instagram and Facebook enhances subscriptions & gives creators more ways to earn money [Meta Blog]
Snapchat Report: Uncovering the Value of Augmented Reality in Travel [Snapchat Blog]
Meta announces updates for lead gen campaigns ahead of holiday push [Social Media Today]
YouTube: How (and why) to add captions to your YouTube videos [YouTube blog]
🕺 Six Degrees of Joy
Actor Kevin Bacon recently celebrated the end of the writers’ strike in a way that only he could — by recreating an iconic scene from the 1984 version of the movie “Footloose” and dancing to the theme song by Kenny Loggins.
“Strike over!” he posted on Instagram. One of my favourite replies is from @grapeape1980 - “🔥🔥Bacon still sizzles 🔥🔥” Indeed!
