I work in digital marketing so I am living and breathing social media news, updates and info! I thought I might start short blog posts with some interesting articles, new releases and information that you might find useful. I can’t keep it all in my brain anymore, it has to go somewhere!

April Social Medial Updates:

Add Captions to Instagram Stories

There’s an app called Clipomatic that can add text to your Instagram stories. I love this app, it’s inclusive of the many deaf people who use social media and might otherwise miss out on content. Not only is it inclusive, it helps everyone watch stories on mute. I definitely watch stories on mute, especially if I’m on the phone with my headphones in or on speaker (don’t tell my boyfriend I’m actually not listening to him, ever).

The app uses speech recognition so the words appear as you’re saying them. This allows the reader to experience your video fully without having to hold down and read text or skip past. 40 languages are available in the app and there’s a few filters too. If you are translated incorrectly, there’s an option to manually edit it too. This app did cost me $7.99 in the Australian App Store, I know not everyone can afford to pay for apps so I hope something like this can be a more accessible in the future!

Read the article on Mashable: Here's how to add captions to your Instagram Stories to make them more accessible

Facebook Tells Us Why That’s on the Newsfeed

We know the algorithm is complex but sometimes it can leave me feeling suspicious about the intent of an ad, post or a video on my feed. Most of the time I’m left wondering how on earth did Facebook think I was interested in that? On Sunday, March 31, Facebook have shared that a tool to give you the answers will be coming soon and it’s called ‘Why Am I Seeing This’.

This comes as the need for transparency movement expected from the social media giants gains momentum. To quote the Digital Trends article below, “Facebook will also list if you’re seeing the post because you’ve interacted with that user’s posts more than others, if you tend to react more often to a certain media type like photos or videos, or if the post is simply more popular than others.”

Read the article on Digital Trends: Facebook tries to demystify your news feed with built-in transparency tool

Facebook to Restrict Who Can Go Live

I think a lot of people will be please to hear that the possibility of this is in the works. There have been a lot of incidents on Live Feeds since they came to fruition, especially the latest horrific incident in New Zealand.

“By its nature, live content cannot be reviewed before broadcast - it's real-time, in-the-moment. Given the way in which live-streaming works, it's impossible for the platforms to maintain a level of control over what's broadcast.”

Read the article on Social Media Today: Facebook's Considering Implementing Restrictions on Who Can Go Live

Checkout in the Instagram App

Instagram has been working on it’s eCommerce tools for a while now and we have big expectations for the future. They are currently introducing a checkout option within the Instagram App, preventing customers from switching to another app, having to enter payment details etc. It’s streamline and convenient. What are your thoughts?

Read the article on Social Media Today: Instagram Launches 'Checkout on Instagram' to Facilitate In-App Shopping

Video Scrubbing on Instagram

The worst thing about Instagram video is not being able to jump from one section to another when you’re watching. I always have to scroll away and then back again to show someone the beginning of a video too. I guess I just do it now without noticing BUT Insta is apparently rolling this out slowly. Pick my account please and thank you.

Read the article on Wersm: Instagram Tests A ‘Video Scrubbing’ Feature

Is Instagram stealing features from Obscura?

Someone spotted that Instagram might be changing the way we film our Instagram Stories. It might mean more scrolling but kind of makes sense? I’m sure it’s a good format if IG is stealing it from someone else, I guess they did something right!

Read this article on Social Media Today: Instagram's Testing a New Format for Stories Options

White Nationalists and Facebook

“Facebook has been meeting with Government officials in New Zealand and Australia to discuss what it can do to stop people using Facebook Live for such purpose, and what Facebook can do, more broadly, to minimize race hate.”

Read the article on Social Media Today: Facebook Announces New Ban on White Nationalist Discussion on its Platforms