New Features on Social Media | March 2021

Updated: Apr 30, 2021

It’s a jam-packed edition of our monthly recap of new features on social media!

March 2021 was a busy month for Clubhouse, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube (whew.. did we get them all 😅?)

Clubhouse 👋 | New Features | March 2021

Announced its Creator First accelerator to help 20 emerging creators build their audience, connect with brands, and monetize their rooms.

Updated its video monetization eligibility criteria to the following:
(i) 10K+ followers
(ii) 5+ active videos (a new requirement)
(iii) 600K+ minutes viewed in the last 60 days.
Previously only videos that were at least three minutes long were counted, but now all video content is considered toward the 600K watch time criterion.
Reduced the video length requirement for monetization from 3 mins to 1 min.
Will begin testing ads in Facebook Stories.
Started giving away free Stars in certain live streams to make users more familiar with the tipping feature. It also began testing Stars for video on demand.
Rolled out its paid online events feature to 24 more countries.
Quietly shared that Facebook Analytics will be deprecated after June 30, 2021.

Launched Live Rooms, allowing up to 4 creators to broadcast together.
Rolled out new teen safety features, preventing adults from sending DMs to users under 18 that don’t already follow them, monitoring suspicious user behavior, and sending safety prompts to underage users.
Testing a new Remix feature that allows users to record their own video to play alongside an original a la TikTok Duets.
Confirmed it’s building a version of Instagram for kids (ages 13 and under). What could go wrong?

Introduced a new Creator Mode that allows users to highlight their posts and articles at the top of their profile and add 5 hashtags to improve their profile discovery. There are also rumors of monetization options in the works.
Announced it’s working on a live audio Clubhouse competitor.

Released Lens Studio 3.4 with more AR features, including 24-point hand tracking, full-body segmentation, and 3D multi-body tracking.
Like Instagram, Snap is also testing a new Remix feature to compete with TikTok Duets.