Facebook reigns on as the single largest social media platform to ever exist, and they’re constantly implementing new updates to improve the user interface, offer new advertising opportunities to businesses, and change the way users see and interact with content.

The most recent Facebook updates include:

• A discount feature was just introduced in Facebook Shops, allowing businesses to offer deals to shoppers while they peruse your Facebook Shop and its products.
• The Facebook Messenger API now allows you to integrate Instagram messaging, allowing you to access and respond to all Facebook, Facebook Shops, and Instagram messages in one place.
• The Brand Collabs Manager is expanding to include Public Groups, thereby helping connect businesses to the communities they may be interested in, and vice versa.
• Modeled after Snapchat’s disappearing messages model, Vanish Mode now allows you to make Messenger messages disappear in much the same way.

Instagram has steadily grown from a simple image-sharing platform to a full-scale social network that encompasses Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and even Instagram TV. Here are the most notable updates from recent times.

• User Interface changes now put the Reels and Shop tabs where the camera and activity icons used to be on the user’s home screen. Meanwhile, the re-designed Reels tab now emulates the layout of the Tik Tok app.
• You can already use product tags within your Instagram posts, but the most recent update now allows you to include product tags within your Instagram ads. You can either promote your existing “shoppable” posts or use them when creating a new ad in the Ads Manager.
• Sponsored content will now have stronger reinforcements, with creators soon receiving prompts that ask them to confirm whether or not their post is related to a brand sponsorship. This comes after investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom, and it’s unclear if this will be a global update or focused on users in the UK.
• Next time you go live on Instagram, you can expect a longer time limit, allowing you to broadcast a video up to 4 hours long. Users now also have up to 30 days to save their recordings. They also expanded Badges, which viewers can purchase during live streams to support creators.

Twitter continues to be a major player in the social media game, with these updates continuing to transform the way users Tweet and interact with each other and brands.

• After Twitter’s automated image cropping tool received backlash for accusations of “racial bias,” Twitter says they’re working on improving the algorithm.
• In an attempt to further conversations, the recent updates also prompt users to Quote Tweets when retweeting, bringing them to the Quote Tweek composer, with Twitter saying they hope this encourages users to add their own thoughts and opinions.
• Twitter announced that “liked by” and “followed by” recommendations will no longer show in a user’s feed for anyone they aren’t already following. I.e., if a user isn’t following John Doe, they’ll never see recommendations for content “liked by John Doe” or “followed by John Doe.”
• iOS users now see prompts that encourage them to read content beyond the headlines, showing a pop-up question if a user tries to re-tweet an article or story before clicking the link to read it.

Tik Tok has grown to a place of wild popularity, with a boom in users throughout 2020 thanks to many celebrities signing up and some changes to the platform, like these.

• New effects continue to be added, along with a variety of Trending stickers to help creators effortlessly add visual effects to their content.
• Users can now record videos up to 60 seconds in length, up from the original 6 seconds. Up until recently, users could record videos up to 15 seconds in length and then stitch four of them together. This update allows you to record 60 seconds without interruption!
• Finding and tagging friends on TikTok has never been easier, with updates that have helped strengthen the community feel of the platform and encourage user interaction.