Social media giants, Facebook and Instagram, have announced several changes to their platforms in the past few weeks. These platforms constantly add new features and updates to keep it fresh and interesting for its users. While change is welcomed, it’s not surprising that many businesses are left scratching their heads, wondering how this will impact them.

If you’re finding it hard to keep up, this piece should hopefully give you a helping hand.

Removing likes

Unless you’re living under a rock, you would’ve seen that Facebook has followed Instagram’s lead and hidden the number of likes. The good news? Experts say that this is a positive move, as we continue to shy away from vanity metrics and closer to achieving what social media platforms were created to do: connecting with people. Individuals will be more inclined to engage with content, via the sharing or commenting function, as they remove the competitive nature of likes. This is echoed in Facebook’s official statement which focuses on the shift from metrics to meaning – “We don’t want Facebook to feel like a competition — we hope to learn whether this change can help people focus less on likes and more on telling their story.” This move will also force brands to collaborate with influencers who deliver authentic branded content and promote genuine engagement, whether that’s encouraging people to share, click through to a site or start a conversation.

Facebook Company Pages

Facebook’s latest update will affect the 60 million active business pages that Facebook currently has. As of August 1, 2019, Facebook deleted five fields from its company pages: Company Overview, Biography, Mission, Affiliation, and Personal Interests. This change is also a part of Facebook’s efforts to collect only necessary data. For example, do buyers really need to know a company’s affiliation and personal interests before buying from them? Not really. Facebook determined that these fields were unsafe and unnecessary in the buyer’s journey, based on the implementation of Facebook’s Business General Data Protection (GDPR)

A new Messaging App is coming

Facebook has launched a new messaging app called “Threads”, from Instagram. Direct messaging on Instagram continues to gain popularity, so it’s no surprise that they built a new standalone app. The new camera-first messaging app helps individuals stay connected to their close friends. It focuses on creating more regular conversations between smaller groups of people, with a big emphasis on sharing content. For your smaller circle of friends, you can communicate what you’re doing and how you’re feeling through photos and videos. You can read more about the features here.   

If you’re struggling to keep up with Instagram and Facebook, or would like a helping hand with these accounts, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a line at info@agent99pr.com.

Agent Amelia