Social Media Platform Updates for July
(and What It Means For Your Brand)
Another month, another round of updates across the platforms. Some are small tweaks, others hint at bigger shifts in where these platforms are heading. Here’s what happened in June and, more importantly, what it actually means for you in July
Instagram now lets you add a unique caption to each carousel slide. It’s a “you can, but should you” update. Not every carousel needs paragraphs of text on every slide; the strength of a carousel has always been the visual storytelling. But for some accounts, this is genuinely useful. One of my Padel clients loves it as they can describe the shot and why it works. Another property client takes advantage of it with a short description of which houses she has seen that week. If your brand isn’t about having text overlays on visuals, then it’s worth thinking about. Remember, think about how it fits with your content and style, rather than using it because it’s there.
Carousels with music are back in the Reels tab. This is almost certainly Instagram responding to how dominant carousels have become on TikTok, where they sit directly in the main feed alongside video. If music helps carousels surface in more discovery spaces, it’s worth testing again.
There’s a new Linktree-style link feature for Meta Verified subscribers, a new voice message sticker for Stories and Picture-in-Picture appears to be rolling out more widely for Reels. The voice sticker in particular is a nice shortcut to a more human, personal feel without filming a full talking head video, good for founder updates, FAQs, or behind-the-scenes moments. I don’t currently have it, but can’t wait to play with it.
Instagram is also testing a redesigned effects editor and has introduced visible milestones for new accounts, showing when features like Trial Reels and Channels unlock. Useful if you manage newer brand accounts and want clearer expectations.
Meta now lets you link your WhatsApp Business number directly inside Meta Business Suite, useful if you’re handling enquiries, leads or sales conversations across both of them.
Smaller updates include Facebook suggesting music for Stories, a new Story composer interface in testing, and a new alt text feature for Stories in testing, too, good news for accessibility.
LinkedIn is testing collaborative posts, its own version of Instagram’s Collab Posts. I love the idea of this. If this rolls out, it could be a genuinely strong feature for partnerships, case studies and employee advocacy, letting content appear across multiple networks while sharing engagement.
LinkedIn also now lets some users set core brand rules for AI-generated content, covering tone, terminology and phrases to avoid. There’s a new feature showing how you interact with apps and tools, part of LinkedIn’s wider push to highlight skills beyond job titles. Worth thinking about how this contributes to your personal brand, particularly if you’re using AI tools that position you as ahead of the curve.
Smaller updates include GIF comments, topic-based suggested feeds in testing, and a simplified navigation menu in testing.
If you want to understand more about how AI is using your Linkedin Content head to my new LinkedIn blog where I explain more.
Threads
Communities and Live Chat have officially left beta and are coming to you! Together, they suggest Meta wants Threads to become a genuine destination for real-time conversation and niche communities, not just an Instagram sidekick. Whether that lands remains to be seen, but it’s worth keeping an eye on if you have a passionate or niche audience.
Threads has also launched stronger control over its algorithm, letting users temporarily adjust what they see for one, three or seven days. A smart move given how much interests shift around holidays or major events, and a good reminder that content people actively choose to engage with will always outperform relying on the algorithm alone.
TikTok
TikTok has landed its biggest content partnership yet, becoming the exclusive home of Tinder’s new series Double Date Island. A clear sign TikTok wants to be a destination for longer-form entertainment, not just short clips.
On the AI side, TikTok has launched agentic AI tools that can build entire ad campaigns from a single text prompt, concepts, video assets, product recommendations and campaign optimisation included. Ads only for now, but worth watching closely as a sign of where content creation tools are heading more broadly. TikTok has also introduced Tako, an AI assistant users can tag in comments to ask questions about a video, keeping people in the app rather than searching elsewhere.
An upgraded Inbox now separates personal, creator and business messages, and TikTok is testing an “AI Pick for Me” feature that automatically selects your strongest camera roll content, handy for quickly building behind-the-scenes or recap content.
Elsewhere
Bluesky now lets you reply to specific messages in DMs and group chats, and Mastodon has launched its own version of Bluesky’s Starter Packs, curated account lists that help newcomers build a relevant feed quickly.
The Bigger Picture
A lot of this month’s updates point the same way: platforms leaning further into AI-assisted content creation, and a continued blurring of lines between formats, carousels behaving more like video, Stories behaving more like voice notes, ads behaving more like fully automated campaigns.
This is all great and definitely worth noting and investigating but please remember that none of this means you need to chase every feature. It means staying aware of what’s available, testing the ones that genuinely fit your audience, and not feeling like you have to do all of it at once.
If you want help working out what’s actually worth your time why not get in touch about a Power Hour with me.