Wow….We have kicked the year off with lots of changes and updates in social media.  I have highlighted a few that I think will be helpful for business owners.

Facebook

News Feed Changes

Facebook is making News Feed changes that will show more content that inspires discussion from friends and/or community and less “public content” from publishers / Pages.  This is a good thing for the user since they will see more of what they desire from friends and family and fewer ads and sales stuff.   But a negative for page owners since page reach will probably decrease.  Especially if the content is of the sales nature.  Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an effect.  So make sure your posts are engaging and get people talking.

Stories

Now you can create Facebook Stories from desktop and add collaborations.  Stories will be seen in a  much more prominent placement for viewing atop the News Feed instead of in the sidebar.  You can learn more about Facebook Stories here.

Snooze Button

Seeing too many political posts from a friend, how about too many selfies from someone who is losing weight.  If you are tired of seeing someone’s posts but want to remain friends, you can now take a break from seeing their posts with the new Facebook Snooze Button.    It allows you to temporarily unfollow a person, page or group for 30 days.   By selecting Snooze in the top-right drop-down menu of a post, you won’t see content from those people, Pages or groups in your News Feed for that time period.

YouTube

 Monetization Requirements

Thinking of using YouTube for ads for your business?  You might want to think again.  YouTube has raised their requirements for monetization.  Now you have to have a minimum of 1K subscribers and 4K hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

Reels

YouTube has announced Reels, their version of something similar to Instagram stories.  It is supposed to increase reach and improve discoverability.  It will be another way to get the word out about your business.   You can learn more about Reels here.

Instagram

Hashtag Follows

You can now follow hashtags on Instagram.  It will be great to follow a topic instead of just people.  Which hashtag will you follow?

Archiving Stories

You can now archive Instagram stories and highlight them for your viewers.  You can learn more about Instagram Archiving here .

Twitter

Threads

We now have Threads on Twitter.  Just look for the plus button.  You can connect your thoughts and publish your threaded Tweets all at the same time. You can continue adding more Tweets to your published thread at any time with the new “Add another Tweet” button. With expanded character counts and the option of using threads, Twitter is hoping to fulfill user’s needs. Learn more here.

Lite

Twitter recently rolled out its new Lite version in 24 countries.   It minimized data usage and the app is able to load faster on a slow connection.  Twitter execs are hoping this increases usage internationally.

So there you have it….the latest social media happenings that will affect business owners.