In the fast-paced world of social media, things are always changing. From the way businesses reach out to consumers to the way that advertising works, there’s plenty that businesses need to keep up to date with.
That’s why for this article we wanted to highlight some of the updates and developments that have already happened, and those that are currently being discussed in the social sphere.
Facebook gives users the ‘unsend’ feature
It might be the largest social media platform on the planet, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t still developing and rolling out new features.
The latest is the ‘unsend’ feature, which was rolled out on January 5th 2019, means that users are able to unsend a message up to 10 minutes before sending it, for both individual and group chats.
Instagram and WhatsApp, platforms that Facebook already owns, have the option to delete messages after sending them, making them disappear for both the user and the recipient.
This is especially good for businesses that are branching out into more social media platforms, as it gives them the opportunity to correct any typos if they’re reaching out to customers, or are running a social media campaign that requires users to send a private message.
Editing images on desktop for Twitter
Earlier this week, Twitter (finally) rolled out an edit option for desktop users, the ability to edit photos that have been uploaded before the content is published.
These options are already available for mobile users, but this is going to be game changer for social media managers that publish on normal computers.
Users can now edit the uploaded desktop images, including resizing, cropping and the option to zoom into the image to focus on a specific detail.
This update follows on the recent development that saw Twitter restructure and redesign it’s desktop browsing view. We recently wrote an article on that, which you can read here.
Twitter is still considering an edit button
We’ve all been there, we’ve seen that Tweet that contains a missing link or hasn’t been properly spell-checked. For years some users have been calling for an edit button, whilst others have rejected the idea completely.
However, the edit button is still on the cards for Twitter, which was highlighted in a recent podcast interview between Joe Rogan and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Dorsey explained that: “The reason we don’t have edit in the first place is we were built on SMS, we were built on text messaging. Once you send a text, you can’t take it back.
So when you send a tweet it goes to the world instantaneously. You can’t take it back.
You could build it as such so maybe we introduce a 5-second to 30-second delay in the sending.
And within that window, you can edit. The issue with going longer than that is it takes that real-time nature of the conversational flow out of it”.
It’s not a yes, but it’s not a no. Personally, we agree with Dorsey in the fact that it would take out the natural ebb and flow of conversation online, but it would be interesting to see how much an edit button may impact the way the platform users Tweet.
The Instagram/WhatsApp/Messenger Merger
Now there have been some really mixed reactions to this news, especially in our own office.
But there you go, when you run a business as large as Facebook and own two of the largest social media/messaging platforms in the world, you can do what you like.
One of the more recent updates from Mark Zuckerberg is that he’s in the early stages of merging Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The idea is that if one user only uses WhatsApp, then they can communicate directly with someone that uses Facebook Messenger.
In a statement issued to the Guardian, Facebook said that: “We want to build the best messaging experiences we can; and people want messaging to be fast, simple, reliable and private.”
They also added that: “We’re working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks.”
This merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 or early 2020, but we’ll keep you updated as things develop.
Further reading
To help you with your social media planning and to give you the information you need to choose the right social media platform for your business, take a look at some of the articles listed below:
- LinkedIn company pages are becoming more interactive
- Twitter releases sneak peek of new layout
- Apps we use to increase productivity and save time
As you can see, there are plenty of (mostly) exciting updates coming to social media platforms.
Some of them (like the desktop image editing on Twitter) are going to cut the time that businesses and social media managers spend resizing, editing and enhancing their images on mobile accounts, and some (the merger), well let’s just wait and see.
Social media is a changing world, and with algorithm updates impacting the way that businesses operate online, it’s important that you have the right team behind you to increase your brand reach and target audiences across the world.
If you need help or would like to talk to us about any aspect of social media management and online advertising, then don’t be afraid to give our studio a call on 01489 232 312 or email us. We’re always happy to talk.