News and Insights

BOOM SCROLL: SEPTEMBER 2024

September 5, 2024

Too busy to speed-read your social feed? Here’s the social intel from last month you definitely need to know.

tl;dr

Instagram doubled the size of carousels, LinkedIn has (finally) got vertical video, YouTube brings long and short form video together, and McDonald’s Instagram got hacked

#1 Instagram take 1: Carousels Just Got Supersized

The beta test is over and it’s official – Instagram users can now upload up to 20 photos and/or videos in carousels.

💥 The Boom

– Even more chances to pop up in the feed

– Better collaborations with extra room for telling your story

Our take

With fewer limits on content, your content collaborations just got a serious upgrade. Your muilti-photo posts will also appear more than once in the feed, which means higher engagement opportunity. 

#2 LinkedIn: Vertical Video Enters the Chat 

LinkedIn video is (finally) going vertical, with a spotlight on the best of the best videos right in your news feed.

💥 The Boom

– If you haven’t jumped on the LinkedIn vertical video train, do it now

– “Edu-tainment” style content will perform the best, guaranteed

Our take

People have been posting vertical videos on LinkedIn all year – it’s about time the platform caught up. Already making videos for other channels? Give them a professional spin and repurpose them for your more buttoned-up LI audience.

#3 YouTube: Shorts and Long-Form?  

YouTube is testing the waters by mixing longer videos into their “dedicated” Shorts feed. Confusing? Sure. More reason to mix it up with shorter and longer videos? Absolutely.

💥 The Boom

– Shorts are wildly popular (70 billion daily views), and YouTube is aiming to give long-form video a boost

– While it’s just a test, don’t be surprised if it becomes the norm (just like those 2X bigger Instagram carousels) 

Our take

The user base on YouTube might find this change weird, but don’t let that stop you. Serve up both short and long videos – YouTube has plenty of viewers who enjoy both.

#4 Instagram take 2: McDonald’s Gets McHacked

McDonald’s Instagram account got hacked by crypto scammers who swiped $700k from followers before the company regained control. 

💥 The Boom

– Lock down your account access tighter than Fort Knox

– Password Managers should be part of your app arsenal

Our take

How did this happen? An employee email was compromised and scammers swooped in with a post about a fake crypto coin. 

“Welcome123”? NOT a password. Have your team change their passwords regularly and keep them strong. Also enable two-factor authentication, Single Sign-On, and use third-party tools to limit who can post on your channels.