This week, Meta announces it will use AI interactions to improve personalised ads, OpenAI’s Sora tops the app charts and Instagram tests reconfiguring the main feed to focus on Reels.
Meanwhile, TikTok goes all in for the launch of Taylor Swift’s new album and YouTube expands creator access to its livestream Gift Goals. Read on for more social media news.
Meta uses AI interactions to improve personalisation
Image credit: Meta
Meta has announced it will use interactions with Meta AI to improve content and ad targeting to users across its platforms. Users will soon see personalised content and ads based on their interactions with Meta’s AI on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp. The update will take effect from 16 December 2025.
OpenAI’s AI video app Sora has soared to the top of Apple’s app store, despite being invite-only for now and limited to users in the U.S. and Canada at launch. On its first day, Sora saw 56,000 downloads, and is now ranked as the No. 3 Top Overall app on Apple’s U.S. App Store. On Friday, 3 October, it became the No. 1 app on the U.S. App Store.
Instagram is testing a new approach to its UI, with users in India now able to open the app directly to the Reels feed, as opposed to the traditional feed post display. The tests come after Meta reported that Reels now make up 50% of all time spent in the app. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri confirmed that with Reels and DMs driving most of the growth on the platform over the last few years, tests are being conducted to make these the first two tabs.
TikTok turned the launch of Taylor Swift’s new album “The Life of a Showgirl” into a major event in the app. The platform announced a range of new activations including an IRL event in Los Angeles. In the app, there is a dedicated experience hub, which is designed to immerse fans in the album and drive fan engagement. There are also videos celebrating the new album, and other Swift-related features.
YouTube is expanding its livestream Gift Goals to all creators in the U.S. Gift Goals enables creators to incentivise donations during a livestream by offering a reward at a certain donation threshold. The platform first announced that it was testing this with selected livestream creators last month before rolling it out to all eligible creators. The platform is also expanding access to its generative AI transformation and drawing tools to all creators with access to its Effects Maker platform. Effects Maker enables creators to create, publish, and manage effects for YouTube Shorts.
💁♀️@katfromfinance is taking the work-mirror selfie to a new level, with a series of high fashion poses in a corporate bathroom gaining her almost 50k followers in six months.
