Social media is forever changing which makes it easy to miss an update from time to time. Twice a month, we look into three of the latest key updates from the past few weeks from the various social media giants. Here’s what’s been happening recently…

TikTok Aims to Combat Online Bullying With New #CreateKindness Campaign

TikTok has launched a new campaign to encourage positivity and inclusion in the app, while also combating online bullying in an effort to foster a more open, encouraging community atmosphere.

As explained by TikTok “At TikTok, we value the trust of our community and work hard to maintain it by cultivating an inclusive atmosphere. Bullying behaviour damages the trust-based nature of the app by harming people’s confidence in themselves. We’re mindful that although in-app interactions may seem harmless to some, the impact of people’s online experiences don’t always disappear when they close the app. This is why we greatly value the stories from our community about their experiences and why we invest in measures to help TikTok remain a place where kindness and compassion thrive.”

TikTok is in a unique position in this regard, given the app’s popularity among younger audiences and the open, public nature of TikTok clips.

The design of TikTok is focused on broadcasting to a wide audience, and participating in the latest trends, as opposed to sharing among closer friend groups (though you can post privately if you choose). Add to this the fact that around a third of TikTok users are reportedly under the age of 14, and you can see why the app needs to focus on such concerns more so than other social apps.

The #CreateKindness campaign will include an animated video series, produced by a range of TikTok creators, that aims to tell their real and personal stories via the app.

“By using their distinctive animation styles and voices, and revealing themselves at the end of the videos, these creators drive home an important message: behind every account is a real human being who deserves to be treated with kindness and respect.”

TikTok will showcase the videos on its Discover page throughout the month, while it’s also launched #CreateKindness hashtag challenge, which will encourage users to “share the heart-warming moments and comments that inspire you to spread kindness”.

Twitter is Adding a New ‘Subscribe’ Button to Newsletter Creator Profiles

As its suite of creator monetisation tools continues to expand, Twitter is now adding another element to help newsletter creators, with a new, prominent ‘Subscribe’ button on their profiles, linked back to its recently acquired Revue platform.

As you can see above, the new ‘Subscribe’ button, which will also showcase newsletter info, will appear below the main profile information panel, and will enable users to easily sign-up for a newsletter direct from the app. When tapped, users will also have an option to read a sample issue, or tap through to the next stage, which will then see a confirmation email sent to the account linked to your Twitter profile.

As explained by Revue: “We want to give writers tools to turn their growing, engaged Twitter audience into newsletter subscribers. This will be available for Revue newsletters soon, so stay tuned.”

Though it will also depend on how many people actually click through to your Twitter profile, as opposed to simply viewing your tweets in the main feed. You can see for yourself how many profile visits you get in your Tweet analytics (via your Twitter Ads dashboard), and you’ll likely find that, by comparison to your follow count, and definitely your overall tweet impressions, it’s not very many.

Which could spark a new flood of tweets asking people to check out their profile, similar to the ‘link in bio’ prompt on Instagram – though Twitter will also likely add a similar ‘Subscribe’ buttons for newsletters into your tweet options as well.

But either way, this will be a welcome addition for Revue creators, and you can expect to see more profile info additions like this on the platform in the near future.

Facebook Begin First Live Test of New Facebook Audio Rooms Feature in the US

Facebook’s audio rooms are almost here – and they look very familiar in their design.

This week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hosted a test of the platform’s new audio rooms feature, with a range of Facebook executives in attendance.

As Facebook’s VP of reality Labs Andrew Bosworth notes, the room was only available in the US, and only ran for a short time, but it did provide some new insights into how Facebook’s in-development audio rooms will function – and for anyone who’s already used Twitter Spaces or Clubhouse, it’s an almost identical format.

As you can see in these images, which were shared by TechCrunch, the audio room was available via a Facebook event, from which users could mark their interest and register for reminders when the event was about to go live. The room itself displayed the speakers in round profile bubbles at the top of the screen, then a listing of those in attendance that are ‘Followed by the speakers’, then all other listeners below that. The active speaker at any given time was signified by a glowing ring around their profile bubble.

You can also see the Facebook Live Reactions flowing up the screen, just as they do for regular Facebook Live streams.

Facebook announced its coming audio rooms option back in April, before launching an initial test among users in Taiwan last month. This is the first time the option has been made available in the US, and while Zuck and Co. didn’t provide a definitive date for a full US launch, they did say that the option would be coming to more people ‘very soon’.

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