THE LATEST SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT: 21ST AUGUST

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 LinkedIn and Facebook, along with a little bit of Pinterest and a couple of other channels too. Let’s dig in!

LinkedIn introduces video creation on mobile

LinkedIn has announced that it's introducing a video creation tool within the mobile app. Apparently, “the feature is only available for frequent contributors at the moment, but will be available to everyone else soon.

LinkedIn introduces Active status

LinkedIn now makes it easier for you to see who's online in your network and available to chat through LinkedIn messaging with a new green active status that appears next to your profile.

If there's a white circle within the dot, that means a connection is only available on mobile. LinkedIn says that we can also change how our status is displayed.

Facebook launches new look for newsfeed and commenting

Facebook has said they're introducing several updates over the next few weeks. They're planning “to make News Feed more conversational and easier to read and navigate”, whilst refreshing the whole look of the site.

Look out for a new comment style that will make it easier to see which comments are direct replies to another person, improved readability, clearer profile pictures and more.

Instagram introduces threaded comments

Instagram has made an effort to streamline conversations by organising comments in threads. They have said this will make conversations on posts "even easier" to track and respond to. You can expect to see this in the coming weeks.

Facebook launches dedicated trending news section on mobile

Facebook has announced a Trending News section within its mobile app and can be found on both iOS and Android devices. 

This will feature the latest stories with a focus on headlines and sources, not just topics. News items will also be ranked based on number of likes, comments and shares.

Facebook Allows Admins to Link Pages to Personal Profiles

If you're a Facebook page admin, there's good news - you can now link the pages you manage to your personal profile.

When you add your page to your profile, you'll automatically be listed as a "team member" on that page.

Pinterest updates zoom feature and visual search tool

When you're on Pinterest, you'll now be able to get “a closer look at every inch” of a pin with the introduction of the new Pinch to Zoom feature, rolling out on all iOS devices. It's coming to Android devices "soon".

Pinterest has also announced an updated look for the visual search tool. They've made the button “clearer… [and] a little easier to reach”. 

This update has also been expanded to the Pinterest Save Button - an extension for Google Chrome that allows you to visual search even if you don't have a Pinterest account.

Google introduces Q&A to Maps and Mobile search

Google has announced the introduction of a new feature to Google Maps and mobile search: Q&A. You now have the option to ask or answer questions about locations, landmarks or even specific businesses within maps or mobile search listings.

You can also scroll through existing conversations and upvote the most useful ones. This is feature is currently available to Android users worldwide.

YouTube tests live view counts on mobile

YouTube is testing a new feature for Android that shows how many viewers are watching a video at a particular time. The counter is displayed underneath the title of the video, next to other metrics such as overall views, likes and dislikes. This will offer deeper insights on the popularity of a video.

Snapchat announces latest user figures

Snapchat has reported that its daily active user base has increased by 7.3 million people from last quarter. This is an increase of 4% and a total of 173 million. It's been reported that this puts Snapchat “a little bit ahead of Twitter and far behind Instagram – or even just Instagram Stories, a feature that copied Snapchat’s main product.”

 

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

Advanced Blogging Tips, Everyday Blogging TipsHolly SuttonComment