Five Social CEOs Take on Congress

On Wednesday, CEOs from Meta, TikTok, Snachat, X, and Discord appeared before Congress to defend their companies against mounting criticism that they have done too little to protect kids and teens online.

Tech companies have been in a lot of spotlights recently, but this particular hearing is in regard to a push to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, which would force tech platforms to take additional measures to shield children from harmful content online.

Universal Music Won’t Be Universal Anymore

Universal announced it will remove all of its music content from TikTok as of February 1st. Universal and TikTok have been in negotiations and failed to reach a new agreement. This means sounds from some of the biggest artists in the world such as Taylor Swift, Adele, Drake, and Billie Eilish will no longer be offered on the app.

I know, you’re all very disappointed by this…

Most Popular Platforms Among Adults?

Pew Research surveyed over 5,000 U.S. social media users and found that most adults use YouTube and Facebook regularly, and half use Instagram. A third of U.S. adults say they use TikTok, which is up from 21% two years ago. This is likely what you’d expect if you pay any attention to audiences and their platforms.

Tons of Instagram Updates

We always say it’s hard to keep up with all the social platforms and their constant updates, but Instagram is taking it to another level. Instagram is testing new features for Stories, including allowing users to create Stories for their friends, sharing profiles with tappable links in Stories, and letting you stop a Story from uploading mid-process.

Instagram is also now allowing users to create Cutout stickers from any user’s publicly posted photos, similar to the sticker feature in iPhones. Instagram has hinted at future features in the works such as public collections, feed post polls, private sides to public profiles, and note prompts.

Phew… that’s a lot.

Threads Listens to its Users

Threads continues to see a rise in users, now up to 130 million. Somewhat against its will, Threads is working on new features to the app such as trending topics, lists, an edit button, a following feed, hashtags, and more. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri says they’ll continue to build features like this that users ask for, but he doesn’t necessarily see the benefit from them. He would prefer to stand out from the crowd more compared to other Twitter clones.

But let’s be real. All the platforms are turning into the same thing anyways.

Our Best Moments from 2023 and a Look Ahead at 2024

From the local business boom for a chiropractic office courtesy of social media to the finesse of blending meteorology with social content, we traverse the peaks and valleys of online trends from 2023 in the latest Digital Wrap-Up podcast from Harden Digital & Design. We also take a look at what’s ahead in 2024 and lay out some personal predictions for the year.