🌍 Bringing Subscriptions to More Creators on Instagram (Instagram Blog, 7/24/23): Instagram announced the expansion of their subscriptions program to 10 more countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Why it matters: With the expansion of the program, additional creators around the world now have an opportunity to connect with their audience on a more exclusive level. This can further extend the connection between brands and followers, giving a more personalized experience to audiences.
🔓 Reddit takes control of popular subreddit that protested API Changes (engadget, 7/21/23):
Reddit continue to enforce the moderator Code of Conduct on subreddit accounts due to protest on the new API changes. Formerly free, Reddit has started to charging for usage of API, forcing developers to abandon their projects. Many subreddit moderators have made their groups private or read-only, causing Reddit to remove privileges and replace them.
Why it matters: In the midst of changes in API guidelines, this continues the momentum of Reddit seeking to take back control of the platform. With tension building, users are continuing to demonstrate a lack of trust toward the platform. This opens up discussions by other platforms to consider regulations of the usage of the app between user and platform creators.
💸 Twitter Limiting your direct messages unless you pay (ZDNET, 7/24/23): In addition to Twitter becoming ‘X’, a new restriction has been announced that unverified users will have a daily limit on the amount of direct messages they can send. As a result, this has urged users to subscribe to enable increased accessibility to send more direct messages.
Why it matters: This new restriction allows the platform to reduce the amount of spam being seen currently in direct messages. This also now gives users the ability to customize their allowance of direct messages to their accounts.