The Social Shift

Instagram Updates

EDITS 📱

Instagram's new video editing app, ‘Edits’, is set to be released on 13th March. The app will allow users to manage multiple video projects via a "Projects" tab and includes tools like "Cutouts" for isolating elements within clips. A "Made with Edits" tag will also be displayed on edited videos shared on Instagram.

Additional features, such as AI-generated background editing, still image animation, and collaboration tools, are in development but won’t all be available at launch.

For those of us who create videos for clients, 'Edits’ looks like it could be a valuable tool, particularly for Instagram specific videos. It may be worth exploring when it becomes available this week.

Posting times 📫

New research analysing over 6 million Instagram posts highlights how posting at the right time significantly boosts engagement and visibility.

Key findings:

Best overall posting time: 3am – 6am (Monday to Sunday)

Best time for reels: 12am (Yes, midnight!), with Monday being the top-performing day

Best time for carousels/static posts: 5am, with Tuesday seeing the highest engagement

Small changes that you could suggest to a client:

Share video content on Mondays to align with peak Reel engagement.

Post carousels/static content on Tuesdays for maximum visibility.

Move posting times to between 3am – 6am.

Testing these insights could refine your approach and enhance overall engagement.

Video length 📷

Adam Mosseri has clarified how Instagram’s algorithm measures watch time for video content.

He confirmed that rather than relying solely on completion rates, Instagram considers both the percentage of a video watched and the total watch time in seconds.

Key takeaways from his update:

Longer videos won’t be penalised. Watch time is measured both in percentage and absolute seconds.

Completion rates likely hold more weight, but total watch time still impacts reach.

Instagram is encouraging longer videos, especially with Reels now allowing up to 3 minutes.

While full video completion is ideal, partial views of longer videos won’t negatively impact reach, aligning with Instagram’s goal of boosting engagement through extended content.

Facebook

Platform insights 👀

Meta has released its latest report on content violations, hacking attempts, and feed engagement, featuring statistics and insights on what users are viewing, reporting, and engaging with on Facebook.

Some key findings:

Declining External Links: 97.9% of Facebook post views in Q4 2024 did not include links to external sites (up from 86.5% in 2021). This makes organic referrals from Facebook increasingly difficult, as Meta deprioritises links and news content.

Trending Content: Not surprisingly, the most viewed posts are largely driven by celebrity and sentimental content (including heartfelt holiday stories).

Engagement Patterns: Facebook’s top shared posts mirror tabloid-like content, with emotional and virtue-signalling posts still resonating. This is where the importance of strong 'hooks' and engaging copy is so important.

Overall, Facebook is becoming more insular, favouring in-app engagement over external referrals, making it harder for publishers to drive website traffic.

TikTok

Insights 💗

The U.S. TikTok situation remains uncertain with only a month left before the 75-day negotiation window closes. No negotiations are currently happening because the U.S. government hasn’t appointed an official to lead discussions.

The delay has hindered potential U.S. buyers, making it harder for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to transfer ownership in compliance with U.S. law. However, the deadline itself may be flexible, as President Trump could extend it further.

Technically, TikTok is already banned, with companies facing fines for facilitating its operation, though Apple and Google have resumed supporting the app after legal reassurances.

Music 🎵

As we all know, TikTok plays a huge role in music discovery, influencing both artist promotions and brand marketing. Record labels are even renaming songs to align with TikTok trends!

I found this interesting study by Adobe, which analyses 65,000 TikTok clips and surveys 1,000 US music fans. It found that 29% of music fans are more likely to buy a product if it's featured alongside a song they like.

Good to know 📰

TikTok has reported significant growth of in-app sales in 2024, with US consumer spending rising by $1.47 billion between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024. Overall, in-app purchases on TikTok reached $6 billion, more than double any other app or game.

User activity 🌟

LinkedIn has reported that they have seen 52 million active ‘logged-in’ monthly users and 142 million ‘logged-out’ visits in the EU in the second half of 2024. This is a small increase from previous reports.

However, only 28% of LinkedIn’s 184 million EU members are active, suggesting its global active user base may be closer to 280 - 300 million, far below its 1 billion total member count.

This report offers a more realistic picture of LinkedIn’s engagement beyond its broad membership numbers. The full report can be read here.

New metrics 📈

LinkedIn has introduced two new metrics for newsletters: "email sends" (the number of subscribers who received an email for a newsletter) and "email open rate" (the estimated percentage of subscribers who opened it). These additions provide deeper insights into audience engagement, helping creators optimize their content strategy.

Additionally, LinkedIn now allows users to promote newsletters or sponsor creator content.

These new data points complement existing analytics like impressions, engagements, and subscriber demographics.

If you have any comments or questions about any of the topics mentioned, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or anyone on the Optix Team. We’d love to chat more about helping you get the most out of your social platforms!

See you next week!

Rikki Cain

(Social Media Manager)