It’s been a busy week filled with social media updates. Although, when is it not? Long story short, LinkedIn (and Twitter) are ditching their story functions. LinkedIn Stories is set to be replaced with longer-form video content, while Twitter Fleets seems to be gone for good. Speaking of stories, Instagram is trying something new—and what now Twitter lacks in a storying capability, it will soon make up for with the launch of a new function—Twitter Communities.
Good Night and Good Luck, LinkedIn Stories
Say good-bye to LinkedIn Stories. The networking platform announced this week it would be doing away with LinkedIn Stories by the end of the month. The platform’s story experiment is a little over a year old and was initially launched as a presumed response to other platforms launching their own version of Snapchat or Instagram stories, including Twitter’s “Fleets” (which we said goodbye to earlier this summer).
So, what does this mean for creators? Was anyone using LinkedIn Stories anyway?
Turns out, yes—some LinkedIn users liked the ability to showcase their work and skills in a clickable, more engaging way. But, the 24hour cycle of Stories was a major complaint among even these users; why spend time and resources creating something eye-catching, only to have it disappear in the morning?
LinkedIn heard this feedback and is moving full-steam ahead to accommodate interested users with updates to the platform that will allow them to create Story-like content. These updates will allow user-created content to live beyond the 24hr cycle and remain available on LinkedIn profiles. Additionally, LinkedIn also teased that they’re contemplating more creative tools for users to build engaging video content within the platform.
So it’s not really goodbye Stories…it’s see you in a more useful, permanent way?
Speaking of Stories…Instagram is Trying Something New
Swiping up on Stories will soon be a thing of the past.
Instagram is doing away with the “swipe up” function we’ve come to know as a staple of social media marketing. Instead, Instagram is replacing this function with new link stickers, which will essentially serve as hyperlinks to whatever webpage you’re trying to direct traffic to. The platform shared that this move stems from an understanding that ‘Grammers are using the platform differently than they used to… and there’s talk of opening these link stickers up to all Instagram users.
Previously, Instagram’s “swipe up” function was only available to users with 10,000 followers or with that coveted blue check, but the platform has proven itself over the last two years as an excellent place to share information about personal projects, events, small businesses to support, educational resources, causes to donate to, and more. Most IG users who utilize their pages in this way already use a link-in-bio or a link tree to share these links with their following (regardless of size). It seems to me that opening up a linking function to all users is a natural next step for Instagram.
Another Twitter Soft-Launch: Meet Twitter “Communities”
Twitter announced that it’s actively testing a new, “Communities” feature for certain users.
Communities will allow Twitter users to select a group of their followers to share certain Tweets with; tweets you share to a community will not be visible to all of your followers, just members of the community that you share that tweet with. For instance, you could create a community of fellow content creators or small business owners, and share work-related content or questions to that community only, rather than tweeting to all of your followers.
It’s more than likely that the launch of Communities is Twitter’s response to Instagram’s Close Friends lists, where users can select a group of their followers to share certain stories with. It’s the same deal, essentially—followers who are not on your Close Friends list will not be able to see your Close Friends list content. Where Communities goes above and beyond, however, is that you can have more than one Community on your Twitter account. So while you can have one Twitter community for work-related stuff, you could set up separate communities for social media updates, free events, memes, or whatever else you might like to use your Twitter for.
Social Survey Says…
App Annie released their “Evolution of Social Apps” report early this month, detailing how and why our social media use has evolved over the last decade. Major takeaways include the rise of live-streaming, TikTok, the Snapchat renaissance, and e-commerce’s growing role across nearly every platform in the last five years or so. A super interesting read for anyone looking to learn more about where the next wave of social platform growth will take us!
The original version of this article was originally published on Blogher by Sophie Pelosi.
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