What happened in Social Media in 2020?
It’s time to look back at what happened on social media this year. 2020 has been a long year, so there has been a lot of ups and downs to go through. But, we picked out some key moments for social media platforms. Let’s have a look.
Another Story: Fleets
To start, Twitter launched its “Fleets” feature to its platform. This is Twitter’s approach at stories which, as you might know, is on other competing social media platforms like, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and even LinkedIn now.
“Fleets are for sharing fleeting thoughts that you want to disappear” (Agarwal, 2020)
Just like Stories on other social media platforms, Fleets disappear after 24 hours. With stickers, overlaying text and tagging, it is the standard for stories these days. But the significant difference is the ability to add a clickable link to your Fleet. Unlike Instagram, you don't need to be verified or have 10,000 followers to add a link to your story.
Social Media Overload: Instagram Reels
As attention spans lower, the content duration will too. Instagram revealed Reels in August, and the feature seems to be going alright. The idea seems smart, but when looking further into it, it doesn't work. Instagram has so many content types that users can upload; it might be overwhelming to view different kinds of content.
With photos, videos, stories, IGTV, Instagram Shops and now Reels, that’s a lot of variety. Reels is still relatively new, so we will have to see how it turns out in 2021.
This tweet is disputed.
During the 2020 US Election, Donald Trump has been posting several tweets that have been disputed by Twitter themselves. Now, we know that the 45th President of the United States tweets some unusual comments on social media.
But at the end of the election, he shared his thoughts about the votes and Twitter wasn’t going to let it slide, claiming that a large number of ballots were secretly dumped and that the election was rigged. Trump’s tweets are being deleted or flagged with these disputed labels.
Currently, Twitter is showing users that like a disputed or misleading tweet a “warning telling them that there is disputed information in the post” (Buagh, 2020). This is probably to stop the spread of misleading information.
Instagram & Messenger
Facebook decided to integrate Messenger chat into Instagram to connect the direct messaging on both social media platforms. They were making it easier for Instagram users to chat with Facebook users without having to download or change apps.
Since the merge, Messenger also got a rebrand to match Instagram’s logo.
The Power Of Social Media: BLM
As you should know, Black Lives Matter was an immense movement in 2020. All starting from social media post. Sparking hashtags, fundraisers, protests and marches, citizens took it into their own hands to show support to the Black Community.
What will 2021 have for social media?
Just as unpredictable as 2020 was, it will be very difficult to tell what 2021 will have for us. We will just have to wait and see. Hopefully, a more positive year to remember.