Rearrange Your Insta Grid, LinkedIn Audio Rooms, & Video Replies on Twitter

A weekly round-up of social media updates.

Things are forever changing in the social mediascape! The race to keep up with TikTok continues, and updates from Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all indicators that the video editing app has social giants sweating. Get the scoop on customizable Instagram grids, LinkedIn audio rooms (is Clubhouse still a thing?), and video replies on Twitter.

Instagram is Testing Customizable Grids

Instagram announced this week that it will be beta-testing the option for users to customize their profile grids by rearranging posts in any order they like. This marks a departure from the platform’s longstanding tradition of ordering posts by date posted. So what does this mean and how will this change how we engage with content on the app?

While this may seem like a small change, the reality is that for creators, it could be a game-changer. You can now choose to rank posts by engagement and performance or pin important announcements about your brand or business so that it’s the first thing followers or curious members of the ‘gram see when they visit your profile. Should this feature be greenlit and become the new normal for Instagram, I predict pinning posts related to brand partnerships will become commonplace in contracts between creators and their sponsors.

I know I say it every week, but this beta-testing is no doubt a response to TikTok’s pinned videos feature. In my experience, pinned posts on TikTok help users to continue to drive traffic to a viral post without forcing interested viewers to scroll through their profile until they find it. Perhaps this testing on Instagram’s part marks an acknowledgment that videos (specifically Reels) are on track to become the greatest drivers of engagement on the app.

LinkedIn Tests Audio Rooms

LinkedIn has officially recognized its potential as a solution to the continued disruption of live events by the pandemic. The platform announced this week that it is testing the launch of audio rooms for in-app discussions, not unlike Clubhouse’s live audio chats. Just like Clubhouse, users will be able to raise their hands to join in on conversations, as well as comment, like, and share the audios they’ve tuned into.

Lately, LinkedIn has been all about establishing itself as a must-use platform for content creators. These live chat rooms will surely promote engagement and foster follower growth for those who use them – just another reason creators should jump on the platform now.

Video Replies on Twitter

That’s right! Twitter is testing the ability to allow users to respond to tweets with short-form videos, much like TikTok (sorry, here I go again) and their reply feature. When you respond to a tweet with a video reply, the tweet you are responding to will appear embedded in the video, so there’s no confusion as to what you’re referring to when people view your response.

You might be thinking, why would Twitter do this? It seems a little bit out of place for the platform, and the launch and fail of Twitter Fleets is still fresh in everyone’s memories – if Fleets failed, why wouldn’t this?

The short answer, I think, is why not try. The way we consume media across all social platforms is changing rapidly, with TikTok leading the charge. Instagram, Facebook (or Meta), Twitter, and even LinkedIn are racing to keep up with these new ways to engage users, and also hoping to keep the users they have engaged on their respective platforms. Will it be enough? Time will tell.

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