Ultimate List: 98 Important Social Media Updates Of 2018

 

We have collated the important social media updates from 2018. Hopefully, you will find this list helpful.

1. Facebook updates its News Feed to help users have more "meaningful interactions." This is from Mark Zuckerberg's announcement

As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard -- it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.

2. Snapchat lets users share Stories outside the mobile app. Read more here

3. Instagram supports GIFs in stories. Read more here

4. Facebook releases 7 privacy principles that help the users know how their data is used. Read more here

Principle 1: We give you control of your privacy
You should be able to make the privacy choices that are right for you. We want to make sure you know where your privacy controls are and how to adjust them. For example, our audience selector tool lets you decide who you share with for every post. We develop controls based on feedback from around the world.
Principle 2: We help people understand how their data is used
While our Data Policy describes our practices in detail, we go beyond this to give you even more information. For example, we include education and tools in people’s day-to-day use of Facebook – like ad controls in the top right corner of every ad.
Principle 3: We design privacy into our products from the outset
We design privacy into Facebook products with guidance from experts in areas like data protection and privacy law, security, interface design, engineering, product management, and public policy. Our privacy team works to build these diverse perspectives into every stage of product development.
Principle 4: We work hard to keep your information secure
We work around the clock to help protect people’s accounts, and we build security into every Facebook product. Our security systems run millions of times per second to help catch threats automatically and remove them before they ever reach you. You can also use our security tools like two-factor authentication to help keep your account even more secure.
Principle 5: You own and can delete your information
You own the information you share on Facebook. This means you decide what you share and who you share it with on Facebook, and you can change your mind. That’s why we give you tools for deleting anything you’ve posted. We remove it from your timeline and from our servers. You can also delete your account whenever you want.
Principle 6: Improvement is constant
We’re constantly working to develop new controls and design them in ways that explain things to people clearly. We invest in research and work with experts beyond Facebook including designers, developers, privacy professionals and regulators.
Principle 7: We are accountable
In addition to comprehensive privacy reviews, we put products through rigorous data security testing. We also meet with regulators, legislators and privacy experts around the world to get input on our data practices and policies.

5. WhatsApp launches WhatsApp Business. The announcement read

  • Business Profiles: Help customers with useful information such as a business description, email or store addresses, and website.
  • Messaging Tools: Save time with smart messaging tools — quick replies that provide fast answers to frequently asked questions, greeting messages that introduce customers to your business, and away messages that let them know you're busy.
  • Messaging Statistics: Review simple metrics like the number of messages read to see what's working.
  • WhatsApp Web: Send and receive messages with WhatsApp Business on your desktop.
  • Account Type: People will know that they're talking to a business because you will be listed as a Business Account. Over time, some businesses will have Confirmed Accounts once it’s been confirmed that the account phone number matches the business phone number.

6. Instagram tests a new feature that lets users send 'Stories' directly to WhatsApp. Read more here

7. Instagram lets businesses schedule their posts. Read more here

8. Facebook rolls out support for richer 3D posts. Read more here

9. Facebook launches Lists. The new feature lets users create lists as their status message. The update is seen as another move by Facebook to encourage users to share more personal content. Read more here

10. Twitter's new Bookmark lets users save tweets without liking them.

11. Instagram adds copyright scanning tool for video owners. Read more here

12. Facebook updates Messenger with more business chat features. Businesses can now customize greeting text and the color of the Messenger icon on a website.

13. Snapchat launches creators analytics. The new analytics will include -

Total Story Views in the past week, month and year to date
Time Spent Viewing Stories in minutes in the past week, month, and year to date
Daily unique story viewers, average time unique viewers spent watching, and completion rates
Audience demographics like gender breakdown, top age bracket, and top geographic regions
Audience interests like which lifestyle categories like film and TV, food, fashion , and sports their audiences care about

14. Pinterest launches new tools for organizing Pins, boards, and sections. Read more here

15. Snapchat’s Snap Map is on web. Read more here

16. Instagram expands shoppable organic posts to 8 countries - the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Spain. Read more here

17. Instagram to show more recent posts first after tweaking its algorithm. The announcement read

So today we’re testing a “New Posts” button that lets you choose when you want to refresh, rather than it happening automatically. Tap the button and you’ll be taken to new posts at the top of feed — don’t tap, and you’ll stay where you are. We hope this makes browsing Instagram much more enjoyable. Based on your feedback, we’re also making changes to ensure that newer posts are more likely to appear first in feed. With these changes, your feed will feel more fresh, and you won’t miss the moments you care about. So if your best friend shares a selfie from her vacation in Australia, it will be waiting for you when you wake up.

18. Twitter to expand blue tick verification to more users.

19. Instagram adds Hashtag and Profile links in bio. Read More

20. Facebook introduces admin privileges and joinable links to Messenger. Read More

21. Twitter introduces “Timestamps" to make it easier for users to share a key moment from a live video.

22. Facebook for the very first time publishes its community standards playbook. It is a part of the company's renewed effort to be more transparent with its users. Read the full announcement here

23. Facebook makes it easy for users to check whether their data was shared with Cambridge Analytica. Read this information here

24. Facebook launches the Data Abuse Bounty to reward people who report any misuse of data by app developers. The announcement read

This program will reward people with first-hand knowledge and proof of cases where a Facebook platform app collects and transfers people’s data to another party to be sold, stolen or used for scams or political influence. Just like the bug bounty program, we will reward based on the impact of each report. While there is no maximum, high impact bug reports have garnered as much as $40,000 for people who bring them to our attention.

25. Instagram rolls out Focus portrait mode for photos and videos. It's also testing a Snapchat QR code-style feature called Instagram Nametags. Read more here

26. LinkedIn introduces GIFs to messaging platform.

27. Facebook posts best practices to create content that encourages meaningful interactions between people and videos that people seek out and return to regularly. It also announced new video monetization opportunities. Read more here

28. Snapchat introduces new features for Lens Studio, including seven brand new templates for the creation of face lenses.

29. Pinterest introduces updates for Pinners with disabilities. Now, all new UI components of Pinterest are more inclusive for Pinners who are blind and visually impaired. Read more here

30. Instagram enables multiple uploads of photos and videos to story all at once. Read more here

31. Facebook is testing a new search engine for influencers. According to a report in TechCrunch,

"Facebook wants to help businesses find creators who can reach their target audience in an authentic way, while allowing creators a path to monetizing their Facebook content and fan base."

32. Instagram introduces mute in feed. The announcement read

The new feature lets you hide posts in feed from certain accounts, without unfollowing them. With this change, you can make your feed even more personalized to what matters to you.

33. Facebook introduces new tools to support Group Admins and to keep communities safe. One of the updates is a dedicated place for admins to report an issue or ask a question and get a response from Facebook. The announcement read

To help admins learn how to keep their communities safe and engaged, we’ve created an online learning destination. It includes tutorials, product demos, and case studies – all drawn from the experience and expertise of other admins – that can be found on facebook.com/community.

34. YouTube tests an algorithm that changed the order videos appeared in users' subscription feeds. The update was made unannounced and came into light only when some users started complaining about the update. Here's how YouTube responded

35. Facebook makes reporting easier in Messenger. Users can now access the reporting tool directly from any Messenger conversation on iOS or Android by:

1) Tapping the name of the person or group with whom you’re having a conversation.
2) Scroll to Something’s Wrong
3) Select from several categories such as harassment, hate speech, or pretending to be someone else.

Read the full announcement here

36. Facebook rolls out Voice Posts, Stories archive, and new cloud storage features to India first. To encourage participation from non-native speakers or the users who don't want to type, Facebook Stories will allow audio posts combining a voice message with a colored background or photo. Stories will also get an Archive similar to Instagram. It will also will let the users privately save their clips from the Facebook Camera directly to the social network. Read more about the updates here

37. YouTube launches YouTube Music. The announcement said

So what is YouTube Music exactly?
A new music streaming service from YouTube
A reimagined mobile app and brand new desktop player that are designed for music.
YouTube Music has thousands of playlists, the official versions of millions of songs, albums, artist radio and more, in addition to all the music videos people expect from YouTube.
Find more of the music you’re looking for
Remixes, covers, live versions as well as deep cuts you can’t find anywhere else – from the biggest artists in the world to freshest voices breaking through.
New and iconic videos from "God’s Plan" and "Havana" to "Thriller," "Sledgehammer," and more.
YouTube Music search works even if fans don’t know exactly what they’re looking for … we’ll find it if they describe it (try “that hipster song with the whistling”) or give us some lyrics (try “I make money moves”).

38. YouTube Red becomes $12 per month YouTube Premium. Read the full announcement here

39. Users can follow hashtags on LinkedIn.

40. YouTube introduces new tools for your digital wellbeing. The announcement read

We’re launching a series of updates to the YouTube mobile app that can begin to help everyone develop their own sense of digital wellbeing.

Time watched profile (coming soon!): To give you a better understanding of the time you spend on YouTube, we’re building a time watched profile that you’ll soon find in your Account menu. This usage profile includes your daily average watch time and how long you’ve watched YouTube videos today, yesterday and over the past 7 days, along with a full suite of tools for users who want to manage their watching habits.

Take a break reminder: This feature lets you set a reminder to (you guessed it!) take a break while watching videos. Just set the reminder to appear every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes, and your video will pause at that interval until you dismiss it or resume playing the video. This feature is “off” by default and can be enabled/disabled and adjusted in your Settings. See these instructions.

Scheduled notification digest: This feature allows you to combine all of the daily push notifications you receive from the YouTube app into a single combined notification. Just set a specific time to receive your scheduled digest and from then on you’ll only receive one notification per day. The scheduled digest is “off” by default and can be turned off/on in Settings with these steps.

Note: With the scheduled digest, you’ll still receive all of your notifications. It combines all push notifications including live streams, upload and comment notifications. By enabling this feature, you may not see a live stream until after it has ended.

Disable notification sounds and vibrations: This feature ensures that notifications from the YouTube app are sent silently to your phone during a specified time period each day. By default, all sounds and vibrations will be disabled between 10pm and 8am, but you can enable/disable the feature and customize the start and end times from your Settings.

41. Snapchat now lets users send their real-time location to a friend, or request theirs, which show up on the Snap Map and within their message thread. Read more about the location feature here

42. Snapchat rolls out its first Lens that reacts to sound. Read the full update here

43. Facebook enters the local services sector with home service professional listings from Handy, HomeAdvisor Porch. Read the announcement here

44. Twitter shuts down its TV apps on Roku, Android TV and Xbox.

45. Facebook releases its first ever Transparency Report.

46. Facebook gives Page admins more data into how their videos are performing. The announcement read

In the coming weeks, Page admins will be able to access the following new metrics in their video retention graph:
Followers vs Non-Followers: Breakdown of audience retention by people who follow your Page and people who don't follow your Page.
Audience Demographics: Breakdown of audience retention by gender.
Zoom Chart: Zoom into the chart to get a closer look at the data, so you can better visualize the engagement throughout the video to see how key moments affected viewership.

47. Snapchat has started rolling out design changes for iOS devices. Snaps and Chats to be in chronological order again, with friends’ Stories back on the right side of the app.

48. Instagram expands its booking and payments feature. It also launched updates that make it easier to do business on the platform. As per the announcement

From today, businesses will have a better way to manage their messages. Now you'll see important new customer messages in your main Direct inbox, instead of in the pending folder. You can also star and filter your conversations to come back to messages you want to follow up on. Additionally, over the next few weeks, we'll begin testing quick replies so that you can easily respond to common questions.

As more people continue to interact with businesses on Instagram and take action when inspiration strikes, we're making it easier to turn that discovery into action. Through our action buttons, people can now Reserve, Get Tickets, Start Order or Book through popular, third-party partners without having to leave Instagram.3 Take HomeState (@homestate) for example, a popular Texan restaurant, has partnered with ChowNow to use the 'Start Order' button – letting their customers order their signature tacos from their Instagram business profile.

49. Facebook rolls out several new features that are focused on making it easier for publishers to go live on Facebook. The announcement read

we've rolled out the ability to use a persistent stream key with an encoder when going live on Facebook. This means if you're a publisher or creator that goes live regularly, you now only need to send one stream key to production teams, and because a Page's stream key is permanent, it can be sent in advance of a shoot — making it easier to collaborate across teams and locations for live productions. Broadcasters can also save time by using the same stream key every time they start a new Live video.

We've heard from many of our partners that crossposting helps amplify the reach of pre-recorded videos to audiences across all of their Pages, and now this is possible for live video too. With Live Crossposting, all Pages globally can seamlessly publish a single broadcast across multiple Pages as an original post. We've added this functionality to both our Publisher Tools on Pages and the Live API.

50. Instagram introduces @Mention Stories. Read the full announcement here

Starting today, when someone mentions you in their story, you’ll be able to share that photo or video into your own story, Instagram said.

51. Snapchat rolls out 'Clear Chats' feature that lets users delete messages after they've been sent.

52. Your Facebook Memories are now in one place. Your Memories page can include several sections:

On This Day: The content that you know and love will still be available within this section, showing your past posts and major life events from this date.
Friends Made On This Day: This section will include a list of friends you made on this date in the past, including special videos or collages that celebrate your friendversaries.
Recaps of Memories: This section will feature seasonal or monthly recaps of memories that have been bundled into a message or short video.
Memories You May Have Missed: If you haven’t checked your memories lately, this section will show you the posts that you might have missed from the past week.

Read the full announcement here

53. Twitter introduces Personalized News Features. Other updates include

We’re also launching updates to search to make it simpler to find what you’re looking for. Starting today, at the top of search results, you’ll see related news, events, or stories and be able to tap in to get a recap and see the latest discussion, videos or scores.

We’re rolling out multiple timelines in some US Moments to help you see all the best Tweets surrounding a story: a recap timeline showing Tweets you may have missed, another showing the latest, as well as top commentary when it’s available. If there’s a live video, you’ll see it there, too. You may have already noticed these changes for some sports games, but now you’ll start to see them for more news and events as well.

Read the full announcement here

54. Snapchat introduces a platform for third-party app developers, called Snap Kit. It will let other apps use Snapchat features, including stickers and Bitmoji.

55. Instagram begins to expand shopping beyond Feed to Instagram Stories. Read the full story here

56. Facebook launches a slew of updates to help creators connect with their fans through video

[New today] Making Video More Interactive: We believe that watching video doesn’t have to be passive, and that many types of traditional entertainment formats — from game shows to reality TV to scripted content — can be reinvented to be community-centric. Today we’re sharing the next step for interactive video on Facebook. We’re announcing a set of new tools — polling for Live and on-demand video and gamification for Live — that will give creators the power to create fun, unique, and interactive content for their fans. Read more in our Media Blog post.
[New today] Bringing More Videos to Facebook Watch: When we launched Watch, we started with shows, and while they will continue to have a prominent place in Watch, we are now bringing videos from Pages into Watch as well. In our testing, we’ve found that people enjoy discovering and watching a combination of shows and videos in Watch — and for creators, this means their videos may be eligible to show up in Watch to be discovered by a broader audience.
Rolling Out Top Fans to More Creators: In March, we started a test that highlights a creator’s top fans by displaying a badge next to their names, enabling creators to easily identify and interact with their most loyal fans. Creators and fans loved the feature, so we are rolling it out more broadly.

Read the full story here

57. Instagram launches IGTV, a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators.

IGTV is different in a few ways. First, it’s built for how you actually use your phone, so videos are full screen and vertical. Also, unlike on Instagram, videos aren’t limited to one minute. Instead, each video can be up to an hour long.

Read the full announcement here

58. Instagram Rolls Out Video Chat in Instagram Direct, Topic Channels on Explore, and New Camera Effects. Read about the updates here

59. Facebook Stories adds Group Chat Reactions.

60. Facebook designs Keyword Snooze that helps you control your News Feed.

61. Instagram users to see “You’re all caught up” message once they consume all the new posts from the last two days. Read the full story here

62. Twitter removes locked accounts from follower counts to improve the platform health.

63. YouTube announces the new Copyright Match tool, which is designed to find re-uploads of a creator's content on other channels. Read the full announcement here

64. Twitter says it doesn't shadow ban; shares how it ranks search results. Read more here

65. Twitter in a bid to improve the health of the platform tightens access to API platform restricts number of daily actions an app can perform.

66. Facebook’s ‘Watch Party’ rolls out to all, letting Groups watch videos simultaneously. The announcement read

Based on community feedback from the test, we’re launching with two new features today:

First, we’re adding Co-hosting, which lets the host of a Watch Party designate other co-hosts who can add videos and keep the party going.
We’re also adding Crowdsourcing, which lets anyone in a Watch Party suggest videos for the host to add to the Watch Party.

67. Snapchat to close Snapcash.

68. YouTube on desktop plays vertical videos without black bars. Here's what the announcement said

We launched an update to the YouTube video player on desktop – the player now automatically adapts to provide the best viewing experience based on the video’s size (aspect ratio) and your computer’s screen/browser size.

Highlighting the changes below and sharing more about the reasons behind the change:
Historically, for non wide-screen videos (not 16:9) like vertical and square videos, we would show black bars alongside the video, making the video really small. This update moves away from the need for black bars. We launched this update on mobile awhile back (both Android and iOS) so this change also aligns the desktop and mobile viewing experiences.

69. With YouTube’s new ‘Explore’ tab users can discover videos based on viewing activity. Here's what the announcement said

One thing we’ll be testing on iOS over the new few weeks is a new “Explore” tab, which will help you discover more videos, topics and channels that you might not otherwise see. We also hope Explore will be a space where creators of all sizes, including emerging creators, can have their content discovered.

This is an experimental feature, so only a small group of people using the YouTube app on iPhones will see the Explore tab in the bottom navigation. If you’re part of the test group, you’ll see that all content from Trending now exists in a section of Explore (so Trending isn’t going away!).

70. Facebook rolls out new tools to manage your time on Facebook and Instagram. Read the announcement here

71. Facebook updates Pages and expands Events and Jobs to make connections simpler and more valuable. The announcement read

That's why we’re making it easier for people to recommend your business by bringing Recommendations to your Page. People will now be able to post a Recommendation for your business... People will now be able to tap on a simplified and prominently featured suite of action buttons to do things like book an appointment for a haircut, order a pizza, send a message or write a Recommendation, all on mobile.

72. Facebook introduces Page publishing authorization starting with people that manage a Page with a large audience in the US. Read the announcement here

73. Facebook assigns you a fake-news-flagging trustworthiness score.

74. Facebook Watch goes global.

75. Facebook expands fact-checking to photos and videos. Read more here

76. Twitter brings back the reverse chronological timeline.

77. Facebook Adds Page and Business Recommendations to Groups. Read more here

78. Facebook rolls out Messenger 4 with new features. The announcement read

Your conversations — both one-to-one and groups — are front and center in the Chats tab. For hundreds of millions of people every day who share pictures and videos, Messenger 4 will have visual communication features like Camera at the top so you can easily capture and share your selfies. Once you tap into Messenger 4’s People tab, you can find friends, catch up on people’s Stories, and see everyone who is active right now. Then you have the Discover tab, where you can connect with businesses to get the latest deals, play Instant Games, book your next vacation, follow the news and more.

79. Facebook launches Premieres to all Pages. The announcement read

Today, we're announcing the global launch of Premieres, a new interactive video format that lets publishers and creators release a prerecorded video as a live moment. Interactive video polls are also gradually being rolled out and we're making our Top Fans product available to all eligible Pages globally.

80. Twitter Rolls Out Test of New Button to Switch Between Chronological and Algorithmic Timeline.

81. Facebook To Begin Rolling Out Analytics For Instagram Accounts Expanded Page Analytics.

To view Instagram and Facebook Page analytics, simply use the tools you already use in Facebook Analytics—like funnels, segments, and omni-channel groups--to:

Discover whether people who comment on or like Instagram posts have higher retention rates.
Compare the lifetime value of people who interact with your Instagram account to those who don't.
Create segments: e.g., all the people who commented on one of your posts—and analyze the value they bring to your business.
Understand your Instagram audience overlaps with the people downloading your app, or visiting your website, or even engaging with your Facebook Page.

You can read the full announcement here

82. Users can now add IGTV video ‘previews’ to Stories.

83. The New LinkedIn Pages Are Rolled Out. Read the full announcement here

84. Facebook Starts Rolling Out 'Unsend' Option in Messenger.

85. Facebook Rolls Out An Update On News Feed Algorithm To Disincentivize Provocative Content. Read the full letter by Mark Zuckerberg here

86. Instagram Rolls Out Dashboard That Shows How Much Time You Spend On It.

87. Instagram To Crack Down On Fake Likes, Follows and Comments From Third-Party Apps. Read more here

88. Facebook rolls out Its ‘How Long Do I Spend On Facebook’ Dashboard.

89. YouTube Stories Feature Available For Creators With 10K Subscribers. Read more here

90. Instagram Adds Automatic Image Descriptions That Will Help In Assisting Visually Impaired Users. Read more here

91. LinkedIn Users Can Now Share Their Location Through The Messaging Functionality. Read more here

92. LinkedIn Introduces New Privacy Setting That Lets Users Prohibit Connections From Exporting Their Email Address.

93. Facebook says searches performed outside Facebook don't affect what you see on Facebook.

94. Instagram Adds A New Option That Allows Users To Make A Close Friends List On Stories Share With Just The People They've Added.

95. Facebook Rolls Out Collaborative Group Stories Globally. The announcement read

Both admins and group members can create a story by:

Tapping 'Create Story' under your group story section at the top of your group
Group members can also add to a group story by:

Tapping the group story in the story tray at the top of News Feed on their mobile app and selecting 'add' button
To manage stories in your groups:

Visit your group settings for story posting permissions and approvals
Select 'admin tools' on your mobile device or 'moderate group' on desktop to manage pending and reported stories
Upon viewing a story select settings to mute or block members from contributing

96. Snapchat To Curate Indian Media Content On Its Discover Feed.

97. YouTube Adds Autoplay Videos On The Home Tab For Both Android And iOS Apps.

98. Facebook Rolls Out New Additions to Messenger Lite, File Sharing And Customization Options. The announcement read

Starting now, people can express themselves more in chats with family and friends by sending and playing animated GIFs.

You can also customize your conversations with different people and groups. With various color choices and emojis, you can now make your chat more personal.

If you’d like to share a file, picture, a video, or an audio file with friends and family, you can now do so in Messenger Lite. To share a file, tap the “+” sign, select file or video from the popup, and hit send.

Category
Digital Marketing