What happened on social media in September 2020?
Big changes have been made to some of our favourite social platforms this month, including Facebook expanding the rights to detect images that have been copyrighted across its channels, Instagram evolving its Reels function and LinkedIn’s new makeover. Read on for all the updates regarding the social channels this month.
Facebook Updates September 2020
In September, Facebook took the plunge to expand its Rights Manager tool, which will now automatically detect image copyright violations for claimed content across both Facebook and Instagram.
As explained by Facebook:
“We’re introducing Rights Manager for Images, a new version of Rights Manager that uses image-matching technology to help creators and publishers protect and manage their image content at scale. Page admins can submit an application for content they’ve created and want to protect, and Rights Manager will then find matching content on Facebook and Instagram.”
Facebook Expands Rights Manager Tool To Detect Copyrighted Image Use
Rights manager is a protection tool, which users can enable by filling out a form. It works by visually cross-referencing content and detecting potential copyright violations. It has already been in place for the detection of video copyright violations, but now is available for images too. This may encourage a creator to invest more time into producing their own photography to avoid having a post removed. This will potentially make Instagram and Facebook a place where everything is original, but this will be particularly interesting to watch with memes. How will this affect them and how will humorous content go viral now? We are yet to see…
Alongside this in September, Facebook expanded its testing of new hashtag use metrics within its post composer. It makes sense that Facebook is increasing its emphasis on hashtag usage on the platform. It seems to be that they’re testing the recommendation of hashtags, similar to the way they’re recommended on Instagram. This is a positive step to encourage users to use them more.
New! Facebook shows hashtag usage metrics in-line as you type when you create a new post pic.twitter.com/3bEonhXjBQ
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) September 21, 2020
Instagram Updates September 2020
In September, Instagram made various updates to the channel, including an automated closed caption option for IGTV videos. While automated captions have been an option for Facebook video uploads for a while, Instagram has now rolled them out too.
As explained by Instagram:
“While there is no shortage of information, not everyone can access it. It needs to be available to the hundreds of millions of people in the world who are deaf or hard of hearing. According to the World Health Organization, over 5% of the world’s population – or 466 million people – have disabling hearing loss, and that is projected to increase to over 900 million by 2050.”
Instagram Launched Reels Updates
Alongside this, Instagram also launched their new Reels updates which included long clips and improved trimming. It has not been long since Instagram launched Reels, but due to demand and popularity the platform has already taken it upon itself to make changes. Reels can now be up to 30 seconds long (previously you were limited to 15 seconds), whereas Reels’ biggest competitor TikTok lets users record videos up to a minute long. Reels has had to step up its game.
Twitter Updates September 2020
Twitter Begins Testing Audio Clip DM’s
After launching audio clip tweets in June, Twitter has begun testing audio clips in DM’s in Brazil. As you can see below, social media expert Matt Narvana announced this via Twitter this month. With the ongoing demand of voice-based search, it seems right to roll out audio clips within DM’s, particularly when audio clip tweets are already a thing too.
LinkedIn Updates September 2020
LinkedIn Launches Stories
This month LinkedIn has given its platform a makeover. The update as a whole is mostly aesthetic, with many visual changes being made to the platform, but also within this update is the rollout of LinkedIn stories – in the US, Canada, France, Australia, Brazil, Netherlands, and the UAE.
As explained by LinkedIn:
“Two years ago, our brand evolved to better reflect LinkedIn’s community of members and organizations that come together to help, support, and inspire one another. Now, we’re bringing the next chapter of this brand evolution to life across our platform with an entirely new look and feel that embodies our diverse, inclusive, warm and welcoming community.”
Like other social platforms, LinkedIn’s story feature allows users to post updates which are only live for 24 hours. In a blog post about the update, LinkedIn said the tool should be used to share “lightweight conversations related to your work-life.” LinkedIn has stated the feature will roll out to all of its members globally, soon.
We look forward to seeing what the last few months of 2020 has in store for the social channels. Stay tuned for our guide to future updates in the world of social media.
