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November Social Media Updates

Nishaa Sharma

The weather outside is frightful, but November’s social media updates have been delightful- especially if you’re a business looking to grow your audience and reach new customers. Our favourite social media platforms have seen some major changes this month that you need to know about, plus we have the scoop on updates that may have flown under the radar, so let’s get things started!

Facebook

It’s been a quiet month over at Facebook, but we have seen the app starting to test out new features they could roll out in 2021. The first change we can expect to see next year is a dedicated News tab on our home pages, which will have top news articles as well as pieces that the algorithm has determined we may be interested in, and Facebook is gearing up by starting to make licensing deals with major publications here in the UK.

If you’re a business that runs a Facebook group, you may have also noticed that up and down votes are being tested out. The app is hoping this boosts engagement and involvement in group discussions, and encourages users to interact with each other more.

 

Instagram

Instagram on the other hand has had a crazy November, starting with an all-new layout in the app! The new design means that Reels and Shop tabs are now at the bottom of your home screen, and your notifications and new post buttons have moved to the upper right-hand corner. This has taken some getting used to here at Naturally Social HQ, but we’re also super excited about the fact Instagram is making shopping in the app a priority as this is a great opportunity for businesses.

As of this month, creators and businesses in the UK can directly tag products to be shopped within the app in their posts, and brands have been seeing a major increase in traffic because of it. Another new shoppable feature introduced in November was Instagram Guides, which allow users to curate and recommend products for their followers to view and shop.

The final spot you’ll find updates this month is in your DM’s section: Facebook Messenger has been fully integrated, and you can now send a message to someone on Facebook from your Instagram account, and vice versa. Similarly to Messenger, you can also now set chat colours, forward messages, and send stickers in your Instagram messages.

And the most exciting update of all? You will also soon be able to set up FAQ’s for when your followers send you a message on Instagram, making it easier than ever to start a conversation.

 

Twitter

In November, Twitter decided to join in on the Stories feature format with Fleets, content you can create and share that lasts for 24 hours. Fleets can be made up of images, texts, or existing Tweets, and are shared with your followers or anybody who visits your profile while the Fleet is live.

Twitter is also continuing its push against fake news and false information by labelling potentially misleading Tweets, and is now showing a warning when you try to like a Tweet that has been labelled. The app introduced warnings earlier this year, and they have proven to been successful so far- with a 29 percent decrease in quote tweets of misleading information. Here’s to hoping the like warning feature does the same!

The final update for November is one we will definitely be keeping an eye out for- a Twitter product lead has revealed a dislike button may be coming in the future.

The weather outside is frightful, but November’s social media updates have been delightful

Snapchat

Snapchat’s updates this month start off with Spotlight, a new part of the app containing content created by users all over the world as the app’s response to Reels and TikTok. Spotlight works similarly to TikTok’s For You Page or Instagram’s Explore page in the sense that it features top posts for the public to view and like- and until the end of the year, videos that end up on Spotlight will be paid a portion of Snapchat’s $1 million daily budget depending on the number of likes and views it gets.

Another update this month to encourage creativity on Snapchat was the integration of Soundcloud, allowing artists to easily share and promote their SoundCloud tracks in the app, hopefully attracting a new audience and fans.

The final update from Snapchat this month is great news for businesses: the app has released ads certification courses called Snap Connect with focus on e-commerce, mobile gaming, and apps, as well as a more in-depth Snapchat Ads Manager certification. Plus, they’re all free! We are so excited about this, and a few of our team members here will definitely be signing up.

 

TikTok

As a rapidly growing platform, TikTok is constantly making updates and changes. This month, that included signing a deal with Sony Music, meaning we can now create content with more songs than ever.

They have also rolled out a new feature to let users skip all videos with flashing lights, in a move to protect those with epilepsy from potentially triggering a seizure while scrolling through the app, and new parental control settings through the Family Pairing feature, letting parents set their children’s accounts to private and disable comments.

Finally, just in time for the season of giving, TikTok is launching a way for users to fundraise for charity through a link on their profile. We love the use of social media for social good, and are happy to see that we’ll be able to raise money for a good cause through another outlet online.

 

In other news

Our final update this month comes from Pinterest, which is collaborating with Zoom to put together online community classes for users! Organisers will be able to put together Pinterest boards for the class, as well as lists of materials, notes, and slides. We cannot wait to see this feature rolled out next year, and are buzzing about the opportunities it could bring businesses in building a new audience and a bigger reach.

 

We hope you’re just as excited as we are about the new updates and learning opportunities ahead for the end of the year and going into 2021, and would love to hear which changes you are most excited about! Be sure to follow us on Twitter and use the hashtag #UpgradeYourSocial, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for our top tips about all of these platforms.

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