Welcome, friends, to a new edition of the best social media news you need to know about.

Each Monday I’ll be giving you the most important social media and blogging news you need to know about, from new features to the latest trends.

Today, we’re looking at Facebook and YouTube, along with a little bit of Instagram and a couple of other channels too. Let’s dig in!

Facebook launches new watch tab

Facebook has introduced a new watch tab. They say that this is “a place where you can discover shows your friends are watching and follow your favourite shows and creators so you don’t miss any episodes.” This will be personalised to each user and just like with Facebook Live, you'll be able to see other people's reactions and comments. Apparently they want to bring it more people very soon.

Youtube improves mobile app with chat and sharing features

Last week, YouTube announced that users can share videos and chat within their mobile app. They stated that there is a new shared tab in the app where the shared videos can be found "making it easier than ever to catch up on videos your friends have shared or to show them a few of your own favourites." Watch out for it coming to a mobile app near you soon.

YouTube adds clarification to video monetization guidelines

Some YouTubers have seen a decrease in their ad revenues due to their videos being “classified as not suitable for all advertisers.” This is due to stricter guidelines being implemented by YouTube. They're planning to reveal new icons that give a more detailed understanding of how each video on their channels is monetizing.

Facebook tests go live ability

More testing is happening at Facebook HQ. This time, in terms of the ability to start a live broadcast through the Facebook camera, Facebook Stories and live audio. They're testing it with a small group of people at the moment and haven't made any plans to roll it out just yet.

Instagram tests ability to share live video with others

Testing is also happening at Instagram (surprise surprise!). They've said they're testing “a fun way to go live with a friend” with the tap of a button. This means when you're doing a live video, you can now invite anyone who's currently watching that live video to join you in a split screen. It'll be coming to every user over the next few months.

Pinterest introduces mobile video ads

Pinterest has introduced a new feature to all advertisers. Video ads will play automatically without sound and appear in feeds, search results and the Related Pins galleries beneath individual pins on the mobile app. It began testing video ads with different brands a year ago, but they're now available to all advertisers.

Google removes URLs from search results on mobile

Next time you're browsing Google on your Android phone take a closer look. A recent report states that the search results no longer include URLs. All you'll see is“the page’s title, a thumbnail of a featured image from the site, and a blurb.”

Twitter tests night mode on desktop

Twitter has the night mode on its mobile app, but it's now testing this functionality on desktop too. We don't know yet when it'll be available to all users.

Anchor introduces videos

Anchor, the audio podcasting app that I'm loving right now, has launched a new feature called Anchor Videos. With this feature, broadcasters can “quickly turn audio segments into beautiful, shareable videos, featuring word-by-word transcription that syncs perfectly with [their] audio” and share the videos on social media. I can't wait to try this out!

Facebook implements an anti-clickbait newsfeed algorithm

Facebook is all about reducing clickbait headlines right now and this new algorithm is another step in that direction. The platform has said that this update will "withhold exaggerated, distorted, or inaccurate stories and rank the stories that users want to see higher up in their feeds." Most of us probably won't see a difference - only those pages that rely on clickbait headlines, who'll see a drop in their sharing.

Wordpress.com allows access to third-party plugins and themes

Wordpress.com announced that business users can now access and add third-party plugins and themes built by the WordPress community. They said that this new functionality allows users “to connect their sites to great email and social media tools, e-commerce solutions, publishing and subscription services, and more”.

What do you think of the latest social media news? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!