After recently prioritizing features to support creators and brands throughout COVID-19, social platforms are beginning to test new general-use features that help create richer user experiences across their products.
Just this week, both Instagram and TikTok have started experimenting with two exciting new developments for all creators.
Instagram Photo Stickers
The first feature from Instagram is a new stories sticker that allows users to add additional photos on top of their story posts.
Although it’s already possible to upload camera roll photos that were shot in the past 24 hours, this feature limits users to uploading and resizing only one photo asset.
This new sticker, however, allows users to add multiple photos on top of their story. As with all stickers, these photos can also be resized and moved freely.
Until now, it was previously possible for users to copy images from their camera roll, then past these in the text field.
TikTok Live Videos In The For Your Page
As more creators have utilized live video throughout quarantine, TikTok is now integrating this form of content directly into the For You page.
When users now swipe through their For You feed, they’ll start to see interstitial features of videos that are currently live across the platform. This feature will display the live video in real-time, as well as provide a prompt for users to click-through to the dedicated live video where they can engage with comments from the stream.
As TikTok has slowly introduces its self-serving ad platform for brands, live video content has remained one of the platforms main sources of revenue as users tip their favorite creators throughout streams.
As more brands have also reduced their ad spends throughout COVID-19, prioritizing live videos in the popular For You page could help TikTok drive additional revenue for both creators and the platform.
If you’re a brand looking to drive more engagement across the platform, publishing live content could be a strategy that drives more distribution across the For You page – ultimately helping grow your overall audience.
