After last month’s Facebook F8 conference, which featured a number of announcements from the social network, other big players followed suit to announce further updates:

Facebook

– Trending topics update: users will now see more stories related to what their friends are discussing i.e. if your friends are talking about sports, you are more likely to see trending stories related to sports.

– For normal posts: Facebook explains that “If a Page posts about a trending topic or if a post sees a high velocity of engagement early on that then drops off, that post may begin to see increased distribution early on and less distribution over time.”

– Facebook started implementing close captioning on FB live video to increase accessibility. These can be added to live videos by publishers.

– Business pages can now add videos as cover images.

Instagram

– Hashtag stickers: Users can now not only tag their posts with the popular #hashtag but can include a sticker with it on the post to ensure it is noticed.

– Sponsored label on influencer posts. Influencers engaged by brands can now opt to include a “Paid partnership with:” label on their sponsored posts.

Twitter

– Twitter’s had a visual overhaul
– Businesses can now add buttons to drive actions in Direct Messages. The actions will work with cards launched last month to create a sales funnel.

LinkedIn launched Matched Audiences, in addition to job title or seniority level, campaigns can now target:

– Website Retargeting to re-engage with visitors to your website
– Contact Targeting by securely upload a CSV list of email addresses to directly target existing contacts on the platform.
– Account Targeting by uploading a CSV list of company names to reach decision-makers at your target companies.

Snapchat launched Ad Manager, a self-serve manager that allows users to buy, pay for, manage assets, optimize and view reporting on running campaigns. The platform features no minimum spend and no markup for media buying.

Apple iOS 11 will include Business Chat. iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users will be able to look for and engage with brands to receive customer support, book appointments, purchase with Apple pay and perform other functions similar to Facebook’s chatbots by using Safari, Maps, Spotlight, and Siri.