Social Media News You Can Use In August

Welcome back to another installment of the social media and influencer marketing news that you need to know in August. This week, we cover the latest news around Instagram’s push for long-form video, how Threads is faring after two months, and how Meta adds a new way to see branded content featuring influencers. Let’s dig in:

Instagram's Testing 10-minute Reels Uploads  

Instagram is now internally testing 10-minute Reels uploads to accommodate long-form content such as cooking demos, beauty lessons, educational sessions, and more. This modification would remove the requirement for creators to break a single video into many parts, making it difficult for visitors to discover the next corresponding video when visiting a creator's profile. Instagram is marketing its short-form videos like TikTok by expanding the time limit on Reels, as TikTok expanded video length to 10-minutes in February 2022.

Can Threads Still Capitalize on The Early Excitement?

We talked a little more about Threads improvements last week, and now folks wonder if Threads is still growing. The new Meta app had 100 million members in its first week, which has since dropped significantly. After eight weeks of use, the app had approximately 128 million users. It has climbed by an average of 4 million users every week, a significant decrease from the first boom.

Not all of the 128 million members have active profiles. This figure covers everyone who has created a profile, even if they aren't actively opening and using the app. In comparison, X presently has roughly 250 million daily active users (DAU), with a 25-minute average session length.

The debut of the Thread website, which we discussed last week, has increased activity, but analysts wonder if it's enough to keep the app actively rising. The social team will continue to evaluate Threads' performance and its potential influence on our clients. 

Meta Adds Branded Content Campaign to Ads Library

Meta has added a new tool to its Ads Library that allows users to track branded content by influencers. The tool can be used to search for campaigns by influencer or brand, and it shows the date range, platform, and creatives used in each campaign. This information can be helpful for brands and marketers who want to see how their competitors are partnering with influencers, and it can also be used to identify potential new partners. 

The new tool is currently limited to the past seven days, but Meta says it plans to expand the coverage in the future. The tool is available in the Ads Library on both Facebook and Instagram.

 If you’re looking for more social media related news, be sure to check out some favorite blogs on my site. Like the one covering my favorite social media tools, like GoCharlie.ai. Or keys to gaining success with influencer marketing and more deep dives on other social media or influencer marketing topics.