At Formative, we know how fast-paced the world of social is. If you’re looking for the latest news to help improve your social media strategy, you’ve come to the right place. 💡

Join us as we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of B2B marketing, with some bonus content thrown in for good measure. Let’s dive straight in 🏊‍♀️

28th February

LinkedIn expands newsletter analytics

It’s hard to believe these updates are only just being introduced, but LinkedIn has announced two new analytics metrics for newsletter creators.

You are now able to track:

📧 Email Sends – The number of subscribers who received an email notification for an article.

📨 Email Open Rate – The percentage of subscribers who opened the email for an article.

These new data points will provide a clearer picture of how newsletters are performing, allowing creators and marketers alike to refine and optimise their newsletter strategies.

With LinkedIn newsletters seeing a 47% increase in engagement year over year and more than 184,000 newsletters now live on the platform, the potential for brand visibility and thought leadership continues to grow.

As Lindsey Gamble points out in the link above, you’re still not able to access subscriber email addresses, which for many clients is a total missed outreach opportunity. But with LinkedIn’s privacy and API settings, We’re not holding our breath for this update.

Dislikes are coming to Insta

Meta is seriously trying to make the dislike button happen. These ‘downvotes’ for the comment section are being trialled again (for the third time) in the name of making the app a "friendlier" place.

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri explains:

“This gives people a private way to signal that they don’t feel good about that particular comment. There is no dislike count, nor will anyone know if you tap the button.”

So, no, this isn’t a Reddit-style upvote/downvote system. It’s not for flagging misinformation or bad takes (although it kind of is). Instead, it’s designed to help the Instagram algorithm bury mean, negative, or harmful comments further down the thread. I like it in concept, but now Meta is existing without fact-checking services, the responsibility this puts on users to self-moderate is interesting…

But will it work? History says… maybe not.

2018 – Facebook tried downvotes on comments. Didn’t stick.

2020 – Facebook tried it again, this time in Groups… and you guessed it, it didn’t stick.

2025 – Instagram gives it another go. Is the third time the charm?

Meta insists this feature is creator-driven, helping influencers and businesses keep the trolls at bay. But let’s be real, any tool that lets users “downvote” content could easily be misused… But, maybe we’re just being pessimists here?

What are comment impressions?

LinkedIn is rolling out comment impressions, giving users insight into how many times their comments have been viewed.

This new metric (visible only to the commenter) counts each view, including repeat views from the same person… your own view even counts (an impression hack??)

While the data isn’t de-duplicated, it could still encourage more engagement, as comments play a key role in boosting visibility on the platform. LinkedIn has also confirmed that company page admins will see impressions for comments made on their page.

This update could motivate users to comment more, though fluctuations in impression counts may lead to mixed results.

Still, it’s another tool to measure your impact and refine your LinkedIn strategy.

13th December

Instagram has launched ‘trial reels’

Instagram is experimenting with a new feature designed to help Reels creators refine their content strategy. This latest feature enables users to put their reels before a sample audience who don’t follow them.

This feels like a nice, safe way to experiment with your content, get an idea of how an audience responds to it and tweak accordingly.

It’s essentially a little focus group within Instagram itself. A nice idea.

Instagram has said:

“We often hear from creators that they feel nervous about posting too much to their audience or trying out new content that’s outside of their niche on Instagram, for fear of it not resonating with their followers. Trial reels will be shown to non-followers first. Now, if you want to try out a new genre, storytelling format or topic, you can easily get a gut check on how your content might perform.”

It works like this:

When posting a Reel, select the Trial mode to share it with a small pool of users who don't already follow you.
Trial Reels stay hidden from your profile grid and Reels tab, and only you can see that they’re in Trial mode.
After 24 hours, you’ll get engagement metrics like views, likes, comments and shares—plus insights compared to previous trials.

From gauging user interest to refining messaging, this could be an interesting way to experiment with content on Instagram!

Is it officially the time of the B2B influencer?

Once the domain of flashy consumer campaigns, influencer marketing has found its way into the B2B world.

From the rise of EGC (employee-generated content) to the fully-fledged B2B influencer, LinkedIn is now a hub for industry thought leaders to get their voices out there in ways we’ve not seen before. Well at least in B2B…

If you’re anything like me, your consumer purchases are heavily influenced by people, they’re often quick and impulsive, and if a brand does anything well on social, I’m sucked in. But, as we know, B2B buyer decisions are long, complex and often with bigger budgets. However, LinkedIn’s new survey shows that – maybe – the mentality is the same:

87% of B2B buyers prefer content from trusted influencers over branded sales messages.

The right influencer, be it an industry analyst, academic, or even your employee, adds what they call a "halo of credibility". But really, it’s about humanising a brand with the same all-too-successful B2C principles.

What are the key takeaways from the survey?

Go beyond big names with massive followings. Micro-influencers with niche expertise often deliver better engagement and trust on B2B platforms.
Your team can be powerful advocates. LinkedIn data shows employees’ networks are, on average, 12x larger than a company’s followers.
Influencers shine during the consideration phase, providing trusted insights that shape buyer decisions.
Combine videos, posts and live events to engage diverse audience segments.
On LinkedIn, Thought Leader Ads outperform traditional formats, delivering double the engagement and significant cost savings in lead generation.

It’s an exciting time and for B2B, why not give these developments a go!

Instagram could be hiding Reel views

In a move that seems at odds with their latest algorithm decision, placing views as the key metric on all of Meta’s platforms, Instagram is testing the ability to hide the Reels view count on your profile.

The new option would enable creators to hide the view count display in their Reels tab. Now, why would they want to do that, I hear you ask?

According to Instagram, this could get more people checking out more of your Reels, rather than just jumping to the best-performing clips. Interesting in concept, but would eliminate the ability for users to get a sense of best-performing content.

The industry keeps giving users the option to move away from the so-called vanity metrics, but have we become too reliant on engagement metrics for this to catch on? How would you measure success without these numbers on social?

It is only in its test stage and, if successful, would still be a case of opting in or opting out. I don’t see many people opting in, do you?

Instagram broadcasts are no longer unidirectional

Until recently, followers of a broadcast channel could only engage by liking and reacting to messages, much like WhatsApp channels.

However, that is no more. Users can now reply to messages and engage with one another in the channel. While the account owner can monitor and delete these comments, it does entirely shift the premise on which these channels were built. You can, however, opt-in or out, so it will be interesting to see how many accounts choose to embrace this new feature.

Accounts can also use prompts to “kickstart conversations in your channel with Q&As and daily check-ins”. This feels like a nice engagement hack, particularly for smaller businesses with really niche and engaged followers.

They’ve also given accounts new metrics to monitor success within these broadcasts. Users can now track total number of interactions, story shares and poll votes to measure content performance.

It will be interesting to see the impact these updates have on engagement!

22nd November

Data-backed tips for better-paid ads on LinkedIn

With LinkedIn’s 2024 B2B marketing benchmark report discovering that marketers are now allocating almost a quarter (23%) of their budgets to paid ads, they’ve released 6.5 creative tips to becoming a paid expert on the platform.

And what are these creative tips I hear you ask??

Create for the context your ad lives in.
Design for divided attention.
Don't just be different, be distinctive.
Your brand DNA should unify the expression of your brand.
Content resonates deepest when it triggers human emotion.
Give, then take.
(6.5) Experiment

Now, while this is nothing wildly out of the ordinary, here are some useful stats and key takeaways:

Vertical formatting drives 31% higher engagement than horizontal formats on mobile.

81% of ad campaigns either fail to grab attention or drive brand recall…
Only 19% of an audience both notices your ad AND correctly connects it to your brand.
Consistent brand messaging can increase profitability by more than 20%.
Funny content drives 65% higher engagement on LinkedIn.
85% of business leaders say they respect brands that aren’t afraid to have a disruptive position on the industry…

More than any recent year, success in 2025 will be determined by those who take risks, experiment and cut through the noise.

Instagram is shifting away from hashtags

Social media guru Matt Navarra revealed on Threads that Instagram will remove the option to follow hashtags on Instagram from Friday 13th December (unlucky for some).

What does this mean?

Instagram has long given users the option to follow hashtags they’re interested in on the platform. But this has allowed trolls to spam popular hashtags with irrelevant content to boost reach on the feed.

However, instead of trying to fix the issue, Instagram is removing the option entirely.

Instagram told Social Media Today that:

“We’re removing the ability to follow a hashtag on Instagram. You will still be able to use hashtags in your posts and search with a hashtag to discover related posts. We’ll continue to show you posts that are relevant to your interests via recommendations in Feed, Explore, and Reels.”

As platform algorithms are becoming more sophisticated at understanding user interest, hashtags are no longer the necessary tools they once were. It’ll be interesting to see if other platforms make similar decisions to scale back the power of hashtags…

Facebook has just changed its primary metric

Earlier this year, Instagram was switching to “Views” as its primary focus metric… Parent company, Meta has now announced that Facebook will follow suit:

“Creators will now have a single distribution metric for all content types that’s calculated the same way across Facebook and Instagram. The new metric – called Views – tells you the number of times a reel or video was played or the number of times photo or text posts were on screen, and aligns with Instagram’s recently updated metrics.”

Given the rise of video content across both apps, this shift in primary metric makes sense. This is just something to consider when creating content or wrapping up end-of-campaign analytics – expect to see some variances in data and metrics while this change happens.

Are the Bluesky rumours true?

There’s a gentle rustling, winds are changing, is a new platform emerging?

Following the results of the US election and differing sentiments around Elon Musk, there has been a mass exodus of users from X. Alongside this, Meta’s strong stance against political content has left people looking for a safer, yet freer, space to engage in political content.

And it seems as though people are landing on Bluesky…

Data shows that Bluesky usage has surged an estimated 500% in the US, while it’s also seen a 350% jump in daily active users in the UK.

It is interesting to keep an eye on, and we’re hearing of more people using and enjoying the platform. Watch this space…

1st November

Want to know how your Reel is performing on Instagram?

Well, Instagram is now actively telling you.

The platform is currently experimenting with new notes on Reels in-stream which explain why and how a clip is performing well.

The tips could highlight the key aspects that drive reach in the app, but also help to understand what the algorithm considers when ranking Reels.

However, it’s not exactly earth-shattering information. We all know that a strong hook, dynamic video footage and view time, for example, make for a more successful video. But, this contextual information could help many brands and creators find what works best for their audience.

Reels are Meta’s fastest-growing content type, now driving over 200 billion cumulative views per day. They’re also massively boosted by Meta’s shift to AI, with more than 50% of the posts you see in your IG feed now being funnelled to you by the algorithm.

Threads: Insights, tips and tricks

Threads has just hit 275 million monthly active users, this is up from 200 million in August!

As a result, Meta has launched a new Threads tips mini-site which provides notes and pointers on how to maximise your Threads approach, based on “data-backed best practices”. It’s worth taking a spin through just to understand what makes content tick on the platform.

But, honestly, there’s not much practical insight into how to boost reach on Threads. However, here are some key bullet points on what works:

Replies account for almost half of the views on Threads, so Meta recommends joining in relevant conversations.
- Posts that drive conversations are more likely to get recommended.
Higher post frequency is linked to higher impressions per post – posting at least 2-5 times per week will help to build your audience.
Funny content receives a higher number of views on Threads.
Video, photo and carousel posts with text average more views than those without.
Posting more frequently on weekends can drive higher engagement

Analytics on the move

Threads has released analytics for mobile.

Threads launched analytics on desktop back in August, but as brands are putting more emphasis on the platform, this update could be helpful for many.

Threads’ mobile analytics will provide insight into post views (by both followers and non-followers), likes, replies, re-posts and quotes of your Threads posts, audience demographics (location, age and gender), and more. You can select a date range between 7 and 90 days for analysis.

Ever wondered about the key factors driving the TikTok algorithm?

Well, the kind folks at Giraffe Media have pulled together a lovely infographic for us to know more. You can find the full infographic here, but below are our key takeaways:

TikTok has a 150% higher engagement rate than Instagram.
70% of users say TikTok content helps them discover new brands/products.
Trending sounds can boost your video views by up to 30% and 67% of viral videos use trending audio.
Hashtags improve visibility – #foryoupage is used in 75% of top-performing videos.
Videos with high engagement in the first two hours get boosted significantly by the algorithm.
Maintain a posting schedule of a minimum 1-4 times per week.
6pm-10pm is the sweet-spot posting time, and unlike most other platforms, the weekends see the highest engagement – 30% higher during these times.

Looking for an easy way to increase your Instagram reach?

CAROUSELS.

In his monthly Q&A, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained why carousels are valuable for increasing reach. Here are two solid points:

“Multiple pieces of media are going to mean more interactions with your carousel posts, and more interactions is going to mean more reach on average.”
“If someone sees your carousel post but they don’t swipe, we’ll often give that carousel a second chance and automatically move to that second piece of media for the viewer.”

As well as this, carousels can now include up to 20 frames (which sounded odd when announced, but now it’s hard to imagine an Instagram where we were only limited to 10 slides), and feature music. Adding music to a carousel enables access to the Reels tab, further boosting its reach and engagement potential.

11th October

The enigma: how X can still have record high usage despite a consistent decline in users…

Despite Musk’s claims that X is reaching record usage highs, the latest data shows users are losing interest across the board.

Specifically, there has been a significant decline in users in both the US and UK in recent months. This is largely because Musk has just firmly doubled down on his political stances…

The FT cites Musk’s response to the riots with his comment – “civil war is inevitable” – responsible for a large drop-off of users in the country:

“Data from Similarweb shows active daily users in the UK have dropped from 8 million a year ago to only around 5.6 million now, with more than a third of that fall coming since the summer riots.”

We’ll be watching closely to see how this affects user engagement on the platform.

We say goodbye to ‘Top Voices’ on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has said it’s canning “Top Voice” badges for contributing to collaborative articles.

This is a bit rogue… collaborative articles have been a huge engagement boost on the platform – they’ve seen a 4x increase in weekly member contributions quarter-over-quarter and these badges have been pinned as a key motivator for users to engage.

However, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.

Many users rely on the AI prompts to add content to the articles, which doesn’t exactly scream authentic expertise…

… and while only the invite-only, top voices badge will remain. It’s time for many keyboard warriors to wave goodbye to their shiny badges and, in turn, LinkedIn may also say goodbye to the record-breaking interest in collaborative articles.

Instagram says no to a ‘following’ feed

In a recent Q&A session, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained why it’s a no-go for a following feed and why 50% of the content that Instagram users now see in the app comes from its AI-based algorithm:

“Of course we’ve thought about it, and we’ve tested it and tried it a number of times. Every time we have, there’s a sub-group of people who are happy, there’s a bunch of people who forget that they’re in it, and then overall, everybody who’s in it uses Instagram less and less over time, and when we ask them questions like ”how satisfied are you with Instagram?”, they actually report being less happy with Instagram more and more over time, on average. And then there’s these second-order effects where their friends start using Instagram less [and] because they use it less, they send less likes and comments, messages, and then there’s all of this other stuff, and it just gets worse and worse, and quickly.”

Despite users asking for a following-only feed, data shows that Instagram sees less engagement overall, and less user satisfaction when it implements this kind of feed.

Would you want a following feed on the platform?

30th August

Content insights from Instagram’s chief

In a live Q&A on the platform recently, Adam Mosseri shared two small but significant insights to improve performance on the platform:

Reposting your Reels to Stories will expand your reach.
Users see better performance on collaborative posts when the account with a bigger following sends the collab request.

These are hardly strategy-changing but could be some handy recommendations to have up your sleeve.

X: Insights

X has rolled out a new update to its analytics features for Verified Organizations users only (the big spenders), which allows you to dive into keyword and topic-related trends in the app.

This might actually be the best update since Elon took over the reins of Twitter-come-X.

The updated X analytics features include keyword analytics – this essentially allows you to track conversation volume over time, listing all the mentioned posts alongside the data.

You can also break down mentions by time – so you can see in real-time when your target words are gaining/losing traction.

This is massively beneficial for those looking to measure trends, best posting times and industry shifts… A total game-changer for many big organisations looking to adapt their strategies based on the flow of keywords and conversations.

And the catch is, of course, that these advanced insights are only available to Verified Organizations subscribers.

The subscription costs $200 per month for basic access and $1,000 per month for full access – but if you are paying these premiums, harnessing the power of this data could be invaluable.

LinkedIn launches video carousels

LinkedIn’s new in-feed video carousels offer users on the platform a side-scrolling display, promoting video clips from their video page.

The videos shown are algorithmically matched to you, based on your in-app activity and noted profile details. Tapping on any of the displayed clips will take you through to LinkedIn’s TikTok-like full-screen, vertical video feed.

This is a nice little update for those with access to the video feed – as younger generations join the professional network, they’ll increasingly expect video as a pivotal feature.

16th August

Instagram is making ‘Views’ the primary performance metric across all formats

Instagram has announced it’s reforming its analytics to make Views the primary focus over likes and followers.

Instagram has said that “these changes ensure creators have the same metrics across Instagram to help them better understand how their content is performing regardless of format and develop better strategies to help achieve their goals.”

What do these changes look like?

‘Plays’ will be relabelled to Views on Reels
Views will become the primary metric on photo posts, Carousels and Stories. As part of this change, repeat views of content will be counted – similar to how plays and replays are counted for Reels.
Instagram is adding a Views icon instead of Plays and other metrics in Insights. This is set to replace “Accounts reached,” “Accounts engaged,” “Interactions,” and “Watch time.”

More than 50% of the posts you see in your IG feed come from Meta’s AI recommendations instead of people you follow – this adds fuel to Mosseri’s fire when he’s begging creators to stop putting so much weight on their follower count.

What matters most on the app now is how many people are viewing your content over time, as opposed to a solid wealth of committed, engaged followers.

While the views metric provides a standardised baseline across multiple formats to assess how your content is performing, it also means that IG’s algorithm now has more control over your content performance and will likely give an unfair advantage to larger accounts that simply reach more people.

You can now sponsor ANY newsletter on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is expanding its sponsored newsletter output to include content created by other users in the app.

This could be a really interesting update for both brands and creators in the newsletter space.

As a sponsor, businesses can put their branding on popular newsletters created by thought leaders in their niche – but the creators can also benefit by riding the coattails of the extra reach and following of the brand.

LinkedIn has said: “We’re introducing sponsored newsletters as a way to extend the reach of your existing long-form newsletter content. You can now sponsor any member’s newsletter content (upon receiving approval) or any newsletter published on your Company Page as a single image ad through Campaign Manager.”

Latest data shows that over 184,000 newsletters are now being hosted in the app, alongside a rise in newsletter engagement of 47% in the last year.

This is an exciting little update, particularly when it comes to niche targeting on the platform.

Instagram expands carousels to 20 frames

You can now add 20 frames of mixed video and still images to a carousel on the platform.

While this could open up new opportunities for in-depth storytelling on the platform, this kinda feels like overkill. Something would have to SERIOUSLY arrest the scroll for me to swipe through 20 slides of the same post.

Having said that, I tried it out when one of my favourite accounts on the platform tested the new function by posting 20 different images of Harry Styles … with nearly 40K likes on the post, perhaps this is something to consider…

Community notes are coming to YouTube

We’ve seen these on X for years. In essence, these notes are a community-led project set up to dispel misinformation on social platforms.

YouTube is the latest app to join the community-moderated party, now letting users correct the information, via notes, on confusing or inaccurate videos.

This is a nice little update as we enter into a heated election cycle in the US, and anything being done on social to challenge misinformation ought to be celebrated.

2nd August

WhatsApp reaches 100 million US users

As our personal data becomes more readily available online, people are increasingly prioritising privacy in their own private conversations.

This is where WhatsApp steps in and the popularity of the encrypted conversation app is on the rise.

This is reflective of social trends more broadly – with individuals opting to having conversations and sharing content in their DMs as opposed to loudly and proudly on social. Instagram chief, Adam Mosseri, has talked about this at length and how the shift is redirecting developments on the app.

Unidirectional channels like WhatsApp channels and Instagram Broadcasts are primed for engagement. This direct and personal way to communicate with your audience allows for real-time interactions, actively encouraging users to react with content in the moment.

With conversations across social increasingly happening in private, it will be no surprise if user behaviour continues to shift into this personalised/DM sphere.

AI comment summaries come to Facebook

Meta is introducing AI summaries in post comment streams on Facebook. These do what they say on the tin to be honest, and sum up the general consensus of what people are saying about that post.

It remains to be seen just how useful this actually is.

Summaries will likely discourage people from actually commenting – if their needs/questions are met from the summary, how does this facilitate driving users to comment? And as comments are responsible for a significant portion of engagement on the platform, it feels like a rogue choice for Meta.

YouTube is testing out the same, with AI comment summaries that separate the discussion into topics. This feels more platform-appropriate, with the YouTube comment sections being more conversational and driven by knowledge-sharing.

Whether it’s good for engagement or not, this shift towards AI summaries, both on social and the online space, is something to take note of.

B2B brands and Generative AI

A recent survey, conducted by Bain and Company, has found that many B2B organisations are still hesitant to deploy gen AI tools at scale.

The responses from over 1,000 B2B professionals focused on how their organisations are utilising AI in their workflow.

The issues? They included not finding efficiencies from the tools, current processes being too embedded and also a reluctance to shift from the status quo.

Kamala has joined TikTok

The KHive (the name for Kamala’s supporters on social) has truly worked a miracle – having led Kamala Harris to set up her own TikTok account.

“I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page, so I thought I would get on here myself,” she says in the clip. More evidence of the power of the social campaign.

The US is currently in a legal battle with ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, to protect the privacy of their data. And thus far, leading politicians have stayed off the platform.

“We need to deal with the owner and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok,” said Harris in March.

However, she also said (back in March) that TikTok has “very important” benefits, like serving as an income generator and “allowing people to share information in a free way”.

How about also winning you the presidency, Madam Vice President?

If you want to know more about the TikTok’s impact on Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, take a look at our latest article on the topic.

19th July

LinkedIn is now allowing sponsored newsletters

After launching sponsored articles back in January, which allows brands to both promote and gate their posted content in the app, LinkedIn has now extended this offer to newsletters.

Essentially, company pages will be able to boost their newsletters on the platform to attract more sign-ups and sky-rocket reach 🚀

Given that LinkedIn has seen a 47% increase in engagement with newsletters in the app over the past year, it could well be time to launch that newsletter you’ve been thinking about!

Instagram says SEND IT

This isn’t the first time we’ve covered this, but Instagram’s chief has taken to his Reels tab to tell us again how important sends/shares are now as a key driver of the algorithm.

As more and more people live out their engagements within DMs compared to feed posts, Instagram is now actively seeking to amplify content that prompts more sharing behaviour, i.e., posts that inspire more users to tap on the Send icon and forward it to their friends.

Instagram allows you to track these metrics in the backend. When developing your latest strategy for the app, it’s worth considering that traditional metrics such as likes and comments may not have the weight they once did on the platform. 🤷

Happy 1st birthday Threads

To celebrate one year of being active, Threads has released new insights into how people are using the app, which now boasts over 175 million monthly active users.

Here are the key takeaways relevant to B2B:

60% of those surveyed indicated that connecting with others is the most important part of social media.
67% of Gen Z users are keen to keep up with entertainment-related news on Threads – pointing to how Meta is trying to angle the app, shifting away from news and politics… worth bearing in mind for client advice.
63% of Threads posts are text-only, an interesting stand out from the sea of other platforms dominated by images and video.
More than 60% of both Gen Z and Millennial users love voice notes… a new format to play around with?

Less relevant to B2B, but equally important… Taylor Swift's album hashtag #TTPD is one of the most used on the app, with Swifties responsible for large and increasing Threads communities!

Putting the AI in pAId campaigns

LinkedIn is expanding its automated ‘accelerate’ campaigns. But what are they? It’s essentially an AI-recommended end-to-end paid campaign, built in as little as 5 minutes.

Originally launched in limited testing last October, Accelerate campaigns scan the URL listed in your campaign set-up, along with your company’s LinkedIn presence, to build a recommended overview of your optimal LinkedIn campaign.

It’s also expanding the capabilities of its AI marketing assistant, so you can pose more questions within the creation process. So we can ask the assistant how to improve our campaigns – from which accounts to target, to how to tweak the creative elements. This is, in theory, super useful!

Interestingly, LinkedIn has said that Accelerate campaigns have – so far – increased campaign creation efficiency by 15%, while also driving 52% lower cost per action, versus Classic campaigns… one to test out for sure!

5th July

Threads has launched an API…

In what is music to our well-worn scheduling ears, Threads has finally launched its API.

The API will enable creators, publishers (and social scheduling aficionados) to schedule posts, manage replies and more through third-party apps.

Not only this, but it will also include access to selected Threads metrics such as post views, likes, replies, reposts and quotes.

Have they stopped there? Oh no. It will also include follower count data, as well as follower demographics for your account (which are all arguably updates that have been requested and expected from the very start).

This may see a rise in the number of accounts on Threads as marketers across the globe will be able to track tangible metrics from the platform.

An X-cellent analytics tool (sorry)

We just can’t resist an awful pun.

It’s been a hot minute since we talked about X on social, and even longer since it’s been something positive.

However, X is developing its account analytics tools and working to provide insight into when your account’s audience is active in the app.

This is a genuinely useful tool. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to posting times, so the ability to harness your own optimal approach for posting could see engagement sky-rocket 🚀

However, as Andrew Hutchinson makes a wonderful case for, it could all be too late. X is no longer an attractive platform for organisations, with many prioritising other, less controversial, ones. Brand retention on the app is at an all-time low, with the biggest names either scaling back or leaving the site completely.

Users have been requesting analytics tools like this for such a long time and while this update is what the people want, perhaps there are just not enough people left to care 🤷

Everyone hates Perplexity

Affectionately coined a “bullshit machine” by Wireless, Perplexity has been under fire recently – with journalists saying that it rips off content, doesn’t respect robots.txt files, and even plagiarises articles.

It sure is a good validation that marketers are not yet replaceable – and a strong reminder to fact-check everything!

5 charts for video marketing strategies

The world of mar-comms is all abuzz with video and longer-form content ideas – and these charts from EMarketer provide some really useful insights into how to navigate the world of video for ROI.

The share of time US social users spend watching videos is set to reach 58.2% this year, but growth is slowing. At the same time, US social network video ad spend is predicted to grow by 24.6%.

“The rapid growth in ad spend combined with the slower growth in watch time will incentivise platforms to push longer videos because they are easier to monetise,” says Sara Lebow from EMarketer.

This is super interesting and further solidifies the idea that people are shifting towards longer content. Even traditionally short-form platforms like TikTok are incentivising creators to make longer videos.

The platform has been steadily increasing its video length limits over time, going from 15 seconds per clip at launch, to 60 seconds, then 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, to testing 30-minute-long videos last October.

Not to mention the fact that creators are only able to monetise content that is over a minute long as per the creator-fund rules!

7th June

LinkedIn L-AI-bels generated content

LinkedIn is the latest social platform to add labels to AI-generated content in-stream…

In partnership with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) – which uses data tagging to identify AI images – LinkedIn will now include a small C2PA tag in the top right of any AI-generated image on the app.

Simply tapping the tag will allow you to see more info about the image. See below ⬇️

When is the best time to post on social?

Sprout Social is the leading voice on organic social publication timings – with their colour maps illuminating the times sure to increase your engagement.

However, we all know that there is no “one time fits all” when it comes to social – every brand and channel has a unique audience and time is the best provider of insights to each target audience. Having said that, they are really useful guides.

Please dive into the link if you wish to see the timings in more detail, but here’s a handy summary:

Peak engagement times are generally from Tuesdays through Thursdays between 9am and 2pm, varying slightly by platform.
Facebook remains the most used platform for marketers with peak engagement times primarily during mid-mornings on weekdays.
Instagram’s peak engagement times are on weekdays between 10am and 2pm.
LinkedIn sees high engagement during midday on weekdays, especially on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10am and 12pm.

TikTok shows peak engagement on weekdays, particularly Tuesdays and Fridays from 4pm to 6pm.

Instagram shares the reach

In a recent Q&A, the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri revealed the latest way the algorithm is driving reach. The answer? Share rates.

In essence, the more your post is shared on the platform, the further it will push up the algorithm. This mirrors what Mosseri has been saying for years now that the majority of conversations and engagement happens within the DM space. So the more your content makes it to the inbox of fellow Instagrammers, the better (in theory) it will perform.

Are cigarettes recommended for pregnant women? How many rocks should I eat in a day? Will glue make cheese stick to my pizza??

Google’s AI-generated search results cause the latest memes/viral content as some of its output is ever so slightly off-base.

From suggesting glue as a means of adhering cheese to pizza to saying it’s possible to train eight days a week, Google has had to do some damage limitation.

Its Head of Search, Liz Reid, blamed “data voids” for the inaccurate results, along with people making up odd questions…

While Google says the issue is now sorted, it’s yet more fuel in the fire that the company is lagging in the AI space. It will be interesting to see how Google navigates its way forward.

If you want to see more of its best blunders, dive in here.

Bonus content 🔥

RIP Twitter.com.

X has now switched over from the twitter.com domain name to x.com for all of its primary systems…The end of an era ✌️

Which celebrity do you think earns the most from Instagram?

I wouldn’t have guessed it either… Kevin Hart. He earns over $28M a year on the platform, with Kylie Jenner, Chloe Kardashian and Mark Wahlberg trailing behind at around $15-16M.

We wouldn’t say no tbh.

24th May

Would you watch a 60-minute video on TikTok?

We aren’t convinced. If a video on TikTok is playing for longer than 2 minutes our social media manager is long gone 👋 This also comes at a time when Instagram Head has revealed that 90-second Reels are disadvantaged by the algorithm…

It seems as though TikTok is trying to pull the long-form video crowd from YouTube – perhaps it’s a smart move from Instagram to stand firm with short-form videos. It’s an interesting battlefield out there!

Tag! You’re it!

As goes the circle of life in social media updates, it’s TikTok’s turn to follow Instagram’s lead.

The platform is now testing a collaborative feature – enabling the user to tag collaborators on a post, which will then link their profiles to your post details (exactly like you’ve been able to do on IG for years…)

That being said, this is a handy update to boost your reach, increase your visibility and pick you up a few followers along the way.

Half a million fact-checks

X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking Community Notes feature has hit a milestone. Now over 500,000 contributors feed notes into the system.

According to X:

Users repost content 61% less often after a post gets a Community Note
Posts are deleted at much higher rates once a Community Note has been attached
Community Notes are perceived as “significantly more trustworthy” than traditional misinformation flags

We’ve seen Threads also begin to test out community fact-checking, aptly introduced ahead of the US presidential election…

Is AI hard at work or is work hard with AI?

Microsoft and LinkedIn have produced a handy overview of the impact of AI tools on the working landscape.

The results are in:

75% of global knowledge workers now use AI tools in their regular processes (this figure has doubled in the last 6 months)
53% of people who use AI at work also worry that using it on important work tasks could make them look replaceable.
66% of leaders wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills
Younger users are more actively adopting the new wave of AI apps.
LinkedIn have seen 142x increase in members adding AI skills like ChatGPT and Copilot to their profiles.

We’ve seen a huge uptick in the way we use AI, the way clients are asking questions about it and the way it’s integrating into daily processes. It will be interesting to see what the numbers will show in 6 months…

Bonus content 🔥

Is your company still using Workplace? It may be time to jump to pastures new as Meta has announced it's shutting down its enterprise business tool, Workplace.

Do you think YouTubers should be able to win an Emmy? Well the CEO of YouTube certainly thinks so… A really interesting piece here on the creator economy and the new era of entertainment. All the data shows that younger generations watch more YouTube than TV, so maybe this will become a new normal?

LinkedIn is the social platform that most marketers worldwide (70%) are confident will deliver a positive ROI.

9th May

What do Americans think about social media governance?

Amidst the TikTok vs American government saga, this latest study from Pew Research Centre reveals some interesting takeaways:

A majority of Americans, albeit a slim majority, believe social platforms should be regulated by the government.

51% of Americans (we meant it when we said a slim majority) believe that social platforms should be regulated by an official, government-appointed body.

Debates around social media regulation are complex.

Some platforms, like Meta, want more government involvement to take the pressure off their in-house teams making decisions around freedom of speech.

There is no doubt that the amount of unregulated influence these platforms wield can have negative effects on society... and with the buzz all around ethical AI guidelines at the moment, it wouldn’t be a surprise if these same frameworks were applied to our favourite apps.

Threads has just surpassed X for daily active users in the US 📈

Having gained over 20 million monthly active users since February, Threads now has more than 150 million users logging in each month, TechCrunch reports.

This translates to around 28 million daily active users (DAUs) on Meta’s note-sharing platform – a 55% increase since the end of 2023. X, however, averaged 22 million DAUs.

Threads may not be a replacement X, but it’s carving itself a well-deserved position in the platform league tables. We at Formative are using it more and more and love seeing how B2B brands are utilising the app in its nascence.

What does the global digital landscape look like in 2024?

Despite only releasing the first report a few months ago, Meltwater and We are Social have released their latest digital global snapshot – the world of social really does spin ever faster.

It’s a 450-page report so, to save you time, here are some of DataReportal’s top stats. Admittedly, not all of it is overwhelmingly relevant for B2B right now, but where B2C goes, B2B will often try and follow…

More than a quarter of a billion new unique users started using social media platforms over the past 12 months.
Over 62% of the world’s total population uses at least one social media platform.
The average amount of time the world spends using social media has fallen, with the global daily average down by 4 minutes year-on-year, to the current figure of 2 hours and 20 mins. (We can't relate to this at Formative 😭).
WhatsApp is the only social platform to see more than two-thirds of its active user base open the app each day (could this be good evidence for trialling WhatsApp broadcasts?).
The typical user of TikTok’s Android app spends 31 hours and 47 minutes using the app each month… That's more than 4 hours per month more than the current average for YouTube.
X users increased their activity by an average of 40 minutes per month in Q4 2024, with 5 hours 19 minutes usage per month (interesting, given the statistics of X’s decline).
The average duration of a single YouTube user session is 7 minutes 37 seconds. For TikTok, it's 5m 52 secs, and for Instagram, 2 mins 51 secs.
Instagram is still the most loved social media app, with 1-in-6 working-age internet users around the world now saying it’s their “favourite” social platform.
- That’s more than twice as many as the number who chose TikTok.

The sound is back on at TikTok HQ

After three months on mute, United Music Group’s catalogue is coming back to TikTok. The two organisations have sealed what they call a “multi-dimensional” agreement that’ll bring UMG’s music back to TikTok’s 1 billion+ users.

TikTok and UMG say they’re working “expeditiously” to restore previously muted catalogues on TikTok, so you can expect to see old videos unmuted and new vids with trendy UMG songs popping up soon … conveniently timed with the release of Taylor Swift's latest 31-track album…

A nice win for TikTok after a string of big battles and more to come!

12th April

What’s working on LinkedIn in 2024?

In what is a gift to social strategists everywhere, SocialInsider has shared a deep dive into the latest LinkedIn benchmarks. From what works on the platform to shaking up some norms, the study provides a wealth of insights for your social strategies in 2024:

Opt for multi-image posts for maximum engagement.
- Native documents (pdf carousels) and single-image posts are also highly engaging.
However, video content is the most shared on LinkedIn and therefore still really important for reach.
Interact with your audience via polls – they continue to be impression hacks. The average overall impression rate for LinkedIn is now 9.50%, this is boosted heavily by the use of polls on the platform.
Keep your captions short and pair them with multiple images for the highest engagement rates on the platform.
Empower employees to create and manage their profiles to enhance your company's message on LinkedIn.
- Posts published on personal profiles receive up to 561% more interaction than company page posts.
Brands have also started posting more frequently – averaging up to 18 posts per month.

Empower employees to create and manage their profiles to enhance your company's message on LinkedIn.
- Posts published on personal profiles receive up to 561% more interaction than company page posts.
Brands have also started posting more frequently - averaging up to 18 posts per month.

The key takeaways we’re most interested in

Video, while important, is not the biggest driver of engagement!
Short captions are the key to high engagement – so far LinkedIn has historically been a space for longer-form posts. As our attention spans get shorter, social strategies need to evolve to keep users engaged.
Corporate comms isn’t enough anymore, your C-suite/board/senior team and employees also need to be posting content regularly alongside your brand page.

Think TikTok but for professionals

Video content on LinkedIn may not be the biggest source of engagement, but it’s still the king of social 👑

With short-form videos dominating the social landscape, LinkedIn is the latest platform to get on board. It is currently testing a short-form video experience, with a dedicated tab for all things moving.

It will be really interesting to see if this takes off – whether the videos are made for the platform and are slightly more serious (or a lot more) than on TikTok/Instagram Reels.

Bonus Content

Joe Biden is the first-ever US president to post in the fediverse, all thanks to Threads joining the open network.

Threads is paying creators to make engaging content on the platform, a sign Meta HQ is seriously trying to push the note-sharing app.

Elon Musk's plan to apply free Premium memberships to X accounts with at least 2,500 followers who pay for Premium has backfired, with people desperately trying to rid themselves of the blue tick.

That’s all for this week, folks. Check back next week for the latest from the Formative Social. 📝

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