This week, group chats seem to be all the rage with both Instagram and Bluesky expanding their features, and X continues to push improve Communities. And, if Doecchi’s song Anxiety wasn’t already in your head, it will be after this. Read on for more social media news.
YouTube launches Premium Lite subscription in the U.S.
Image credit: YouTube
YouTube is expanding its ‘‘Premium Lite’ subscription plans to the U.S. This new option, priced at $7.99 per month (compared to the $13.99 charge for regular YouTube Premium), offers “most” videos without ads. However, if you want ad-free music videos, offline downloads and background playback, you will need to upgrade to the full subscription. Essentially, the new option is really just about removing ads.
Instagram is continuing to test “Blend”, a new messaging feature that lets you and a friend view a shared feed of recommended Reels. Some users can now access Blend in their DM feed and invite others to join via message. Instead of sending Reels to each other individually, Blend combines the Reels you and your friend would be shown into a single stream.
Threads is testing a new feature for users to add their interests to their profiles. Rather than just letting profile visitors know what kind of stuff you are into, the new feature will also send users to active conversations on the topic. Meta confirmed it was in testing and will only be on mobile for the time being.
X has added a new feature to Communities, adding tabs that pin popular Communities now to the top of the app’s homepage, next to the For You Feed. Users can organise these timelines by ‘Trending’, ‘New’, or ‘Popular’, or filter them to only show posts and replies from within the Community. These updates will be available on the updated iOS app, with X still working on bringing it to the web and Android.
Remember Digg? “The homepage of the internet” just over 20 years ago? Well, it’s back – with a 2025 revamp. OG Founder, Kevin Rose, has partnered with Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, design and product exec Justin Mezzell, and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams to bring the platform back to life. After lots of brainstorm sessions, the team has revived the site with a big focus on using AI. It’s not live yet but you can sign up here.
