Latest Social Media and Google Changes

The month of May saw an absolute flurry of changes across many different advertising platforms, including Google and social media. While many still felt the growing pains of the iOS 14 update, Facebook started testing new user prompts. These prompts encouraged users to read before sharing articles. In addition to Facebook changes:

  • Google updated algorithms not once but twice!
  • Twitter started talking about paid subscription plans
  • Clubhouse launched an Android version of its app
  • Instagram started testing desktop upload options
  • And LinkedIn rolled out new profile options

google_socialmedia_updatesWith all the changes, it can be hard for everyone to keep up and be able to best show their brand, company, and voice. Here is a quick recap of changes taking place on each platform.

Facebook

While Facebook is notorious for constantly changing its platform the most recent changes have proved to be some of the most controversial. We had the fact-checking update, the new privacy updates around the iOS changes, and now we have new prompts.

These new prompts will go at the bottom of articles and encourage users to read the entire article and not just the headline before sharing. This most recent effort to stop the spread of “fake news” should not affect how users interact with the interface but any advertisers promoting news articles with misleading headlines should be aware.

Google

On the Google front, they began rolling out a new core update at the beginning of June. This update is designed to improve the user experience. Google typically rolls out core updates every few months so this update is long overdue since the release of the last update in December.

The June release, however, won’t be it. Google is also slated for another core update in July. The reason behind this is that the full June update was not quite ready. New changes revolve mainly around user experience when interacting with a page.

You may notice your rankings move up or down, but this isn’t an absolute tell on how your site is performing. If you notice a rankings drop Google has provided a list of criteria for page experience.

Twitter

Last July, Twitter sent out a survey to users that posed the question, “What extra services would you be willing to pay for?” Well, the votes are in and now we are seeing the second stage of these results.

Twitter is looking to launch its new “Twitter Blue”. The new subscription price will start at $2.99 per month and will feature such tools as bookmark folders, an undo tweet option and reader mode that will make reading long threads more manageable.

Rolling out now in Canada and Australia, Twitter is looking to users to provide feedback and add even more tools, in the future.

Clubhouse

Clubhouse, a popular audio-based platform is designed for people to meet up, talk, and share ideas. Up until recently, this app was not offered to Android users. With Facebook, Instagram, and the like beginning to offer more voice-based applications on their platforms Clubhouse had to expand to keep pace in this growing market.

Some speculate that they may have been too late to the party, however, they have now released a beta version of their platform for Android and are looking at a wider, more comprehensive release at a later date.

Instagram

Instagram, one of the original social platforms, was built for mobile picture sharing. You can log on to their site via desktop but there are no options to upload photos. Instagram is now testing a news feed upload option for desktop.

This is great news for those in advertising and who like to manage all of their social media platforms from one location. With this option, posting becomes more streamlined and all of the regular news feed options (image formatting, tools, filters) will be available.

LinkedIn

With the world making the shift to work from home, LinkedIn has been working on making its platform more relevant to its users. No longer is LinkedIn just a place to log in and update during a job search but added features will make it a profile of your professional experience.

LinkedIn is one of the rare platforms that remain 50/50 for desktop and mobile usage. If you’re a desktop user you may not have noticed the introduction of stories yet. Much like Instagram, it also has the swipe-up option allowing you to share links.

Other features include post visibility and comment control, and personalized video messaging that can be added to your profile.

Social Media Presence

In today’s world, it is of the utmost importance that you maintain your social media presence. Your social media presence can affect your image, your brand, and how others view you and your business.

Maintaining a strong presence can help boost confidence and trust between you and not only your customers but also your peers and partners you may need to network with.

At SteerPoint, we are experts in social media posting, building brands, and using each platform to get you the most exposure.

If you need help managing your online presence, send us a message. Let’s start today!