• TikTok is beginning to allow users to upload videos up to 10 minutes in length. The existing limit is three minutes. The platform launched with a 15-second limit, which it increased to 60 seconds. In July 2021 TikTok extended this limit further, to three minutes. Following months of testing, they confirmed that the new change is an effort to bring value to their community in new ways to enrich the TikTok experience. The expanded video length should give creators greater time and flexibility to film demos, tutorials, and more.
• Instagram is rolling out the ability for all users (not just approved creators) to tag products and brands with a direct link in their feeds post. This is part of the platform’s continued focus to expand its eCommerce listings. The roll-out will start in the US. Users can now tag the products they’ve bought from their favourite small businesses so their friends and followers can explore these brands. It is set to offer a great boost from brands for free while building Instagram’s eCommerce focus. Brands will be notified when someone tags a product and can view all tagged content on their profile.
• Instagram feed videos will have auto-generated captions as a default for creators to make the platform more accessible for hearing-impaired users. Viewers will be able to turn captions off or on. To start, captions will be available in 17 languages, with more planned.
• Twitter now allows users to pin the “Latest Tweets” timeline to their “Home” tab for easy access. Mobile users can tap on the icon in the top right-hand corner to pin or unpin the “Latest” timeline to their “Home” tab. The platform said they are always looking to give users more flexibility and control over what they see in their timeline.
• Instagram introduces “Favourites” and “Following” as ways for users to catch up on recent posts from a list of their favourite users or the people they follow in chronological order. This allows users to quickly catch up on recent posts. The feed options are available on both iOS and Android globally, but not on the web version of Instagram. Users now have three options for viewing their Instagram feed. The main feed is the algorithmic Home feed, the chronological feed shows the latest post of everyone a user follows, and the new favourites feed can be customised by the user selecting which accounts they want to add to this list. You can have up to 50 accounts set as favourites.
• Twitter announces keyword search functionality for DMs to ensure users can easily track down past conversations for people, products, and links shared. The option allows users to filter queries into four segments: all (all results including key term and usernames), people (relevant usernames based on the search term), groups (group chats that use the search term), and messages (any keyword matches in specific DMs).
• Meta announced new voice message features for WhatsApp, including listening to messages outside of the chat, pausing and resuming recording, and draft preview. Out-of-chat playback allows users to listen to the message while they multitask, read, or respond to other messages. Pause/resume recording allows the user to pause a recording if they’re interrupted or need to gather their thoughts before resuming the voice note. Draft preview enables users to listen to the voice note before sending it.
