Matter Social Second: December 2021

By Hannah Osmani

Welcome to another edition of The Matter Social Second — keeping you current about what’s trending in social media. This month, our social team shares the most important and impactful social media stories from December.

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Instagram Reintroduces Chronological Order Feed

Instagram is taking us back to 2014 with the return of chronological order scrolling. When Instagram first launched in 2010, the newsfeed was a frenzy of chronological posts, meaning that the only thing that affected your impressions was your post time. Finally after 5 years, in 2022 there will be an option to toggle between both interfaces, giving users meaningful control over their experience.

Instagram Adds Reel Replies

For a while Instagram has been testing the ability to reply to post comments with reels, and now it is finally live for all users! TikTok released the same feature back in June of 2021 and it has been extremely popular for content creators. Replying to reel comments with another reel is a great way to boost engagement – as Zuckerber says, “reels are the primary driver of engagement growth”.

Pinterest Follows Suit

Shortly after Instagram released their reel reply feature, Pinterest hopped on the trend. You can now reply to pin comments with a video, similar to the ability of other apps. This feature will provide users the ability to take their idea sharing and visual inspiration searching to the next level.

Twitter Adds Auto Captions for All Videos

As video content continues to soar, Twitter is working hard to stay on top of the trends, which isn’t easy for a text-based app. Going forward, all video content on Twitter will automatically upload with closed captioning, providing users with even more ways to consume content. This feature comes with their added inclusivity efforts to ensure accessibility to all users.

Facebook Adds New Features to Live-Stream

In hopes to increase sales and opportunities for creators ahead of the holidays, Facebook is adding the ability to share links during a live-stream. This update comes as the rise of live-stream shopping increases on competitor apps. Facebook is also adding an in-stream poll feature, as well as the ability to add up to 3 guests to co-broadcast with.

Facebook Launches Professional Profiles

In Facebook’s attempt to win back the younger generation(s), they launched a professional profile mode. According to Facebook, professional mode will “open up access to post, audience and profile insights, as well as give easy access to monetization features – all in one place.

LinkedIn Enhances its Creator Mode

The biggest addition to LinkedIn’s creator mode is the ability to use LinkedIn Live. Previously, this feature was only available to accounts that fit a specific criteria. Also, users in creator mode will be able to access newsletters which will help them further connect with their audience.

Need help ironing out more social-media best practices for your brand? Reach out below and our team will be in touch.