Written by Jeremy Lim, Ernie Sulastri and Melantha Tan.

Instagram’s removing the IGTV button from your Instagram homepage

Less than a month into 2020 and Instagram’s making changes to how you access IGTV. TechCrunch reported that the IGTV button at the top right-hand corner of users’ home screens in the main Instagram app will be removed – simply because nobody is voluntarily clicking the button. 

Source

This doesn’t mean that IGTV is going away for good or being scaled back in any meaningful way. It’ll still appear in previews on your news feed, a full IGTV page in the Explore tab and on the profile page of anyone who has posted IGTV videos.

You can also check out the standalone app which, according Sensor Tower, has gotten just over a million downloads in the U.S. since it’s launch in the summer of 2018. Just for reference, Tiktok had gotten 80 times the downloads in the same region in the same period of time. Instagram and Facebook aren’t going into the dinosaur age anytime soon but the competition is definitely heating up. 

Instagram brings all the DMs to the yard (web)

Source

Instagram is finally bringing direct messages to the web. The direct messaging experience on the web will be reflected similar to the experience on the mobile. 

For a while, the only thing users can do on Instagram outside the app is to view photos and IG stories. They could receive desktop DM notifications only if they enabling notifications for the entire Instagram site in their browser.

Founder, Mark Zuckerberg did share with The New York Times last spring that “private messaging, groups, and Stories” were the “three fastest-growing areas of online communication.” Thus, they are determined to expand the use of direct messaging and their first step is to integrate DMs into the desktop experience. 

The integration of this feature should prove to be extremely useful for business owners and their representatives, Influencers, and basically anyone else that sends lots of DMs. The rollout is part of a test, the company says, details regarding a broader rollout will come at a later date.

LinkedIn Adds 3 New Features to Pages

LinkedIn pages are gaining three new features designed to facilitate more community engagement and form stronger relationships with followers: 

1. Invite to Follow

2. Stream With LinkedIn Live

3. Post as a Page or Member

The most significant update is the expansion of LinkedIn Live. Company pages now have the ability to broadcast live streams, a feature that was previously reserved for personal profiles. According to LinkedIn, live streams generate 7X more reactions and 24X more comments compared to standard video posts. Page managers will need to apply for access to this feature on the LinkedIn Live website.

LinkedIn has already seen some interesting uses of its streaming tool:

Source

Given the performance of video content on the platform, it makes sense for brands to consider how they might be able to incorporate LinkedIn live-streaming into their approach – maybe for events, product launches.