Social Media News June 2021

• #Influencer
• #Social Media
• #Trending

With these innovations, Instagram & Co. offer completely new possibilities for companies and creators

Instagram keeps surprising us with valuable news. Stories can now be scheduled, captions can be created automatically and Instagram accounts can be placed on the homescreen. What these changes offer and which change TikTok also has in store for us, you can read in this blog post.

Story planning with Facebook Business Suite

It is the update that many have probably been longing for: the scheduling of Instagram Stories.

Previously, it was only possible to publish the stories in real time. Thanks to the Business Suite tool, it is now possible to produce the stories and schedule them in the tool for a specific time.
Especially for the influencer and social media industry, this tool facilitates the planning of the social media strategy. Stories can now be created and scheduled in this app so they can go live on Instagram (or even Facebook) at a specific time. Accordingly, the planned stories (and posts) are listed in a content calendar and companies thus keep track of them. However, this feature is not yet available to all users.

Caption Sticker for Instagram Story

Video content in the social media industry is becoming increasingly relevant. Many users watch this content without sound, so captions are often added to Instagram Stories. Anyone who has done this knows how laborious captions are and how much time they take. With the new Caption Sticker, this step is made easier.
The feature allows you to have automatic captions created in stories. The function can be found in the general sticker selection on Instagram. Once this is selected, the transcription process starts and the captions appear directly on the screen. After the captions are created, the creator can select different design options and style the story.

It is not yet clear when this sticker will be available to all Instagram users. But one thing is for sure: This function speeds up and facilitates the creation of stories enormously.

Shortcuts for different accounts

Previously, it was possible to switch between two accounts in the main menu or by clicking on the profile picture. Now Instagram enables a third way to select the accounts directly. Interested users can now create individual shortcuts on the smartphone’s home screen to log in directly to the right account. This works by clicking on the selected account for a long time. Here, you can now select which account is to be displayed as a shortcut on the home screen.

This feature is also not yet available in all updates, but will probably be possible for all users over time.

The exclusivity of the stories

The own content on Instagram is distributed in different ways. Reels, IGTVs and posts are often shared in the Story to draw the attention of followers. Many users often only look at the Story content and neglect the feed. The timeliness of the feed is thus lost and the authenticity of the Story function is neglected. Instagram wants to emphasize the exclusivity of Stories and already prevents some users from sharing feed posts in the Story.

It is still unclear to what extent this function will become established and how it will be received by users. However, many users see the sharing of feed posts in the story as a way to discover new content and become aware of new accounts.

Instagram Likes

This function was already tested with certain users some time ago. But now it’s official: All users have the option to decide for themselves whether the “likes” should be displayed or not. The users can differentiate here whether they only waive the Likes in the feed or whether the Likes of their own profile are displayed to his followers. The second option can be set again for each post to be published.

It remains exciting to see to what extent this function will be accepted by creators and companies.

TikTok Topics Feed

TikTok is working on a new topic feed for users. The new feed will be divided into categories and adapted to the interests of the users. These categories range from sports to comedy to gaming. This new feed offers users the opportunity to consume even more individual short clips and filter them according to their own interests. Users no longer have just one main feed, but can switch between different channels.