Reels on your computer and Twitter's 'Communities': the social networks' latest time-saving features

How can users be encouraged to create content and enable them to do it as quickly and easily as possible? The battle to maintain users and attract new ones continues to rage on social networks. Meta, Twitter and Pinterest have all announced new options to make their tools even easier to use. We take stock. 

More tools in order to make creation of Reels even easier

Meta is continually refining its latest tool, Reels. While the format was originally designed for use on smartphones, it is now also available on computer. Users can now "can now create, edit and publish Facebook Reels from [their] web browser through Creator Studio," Meta explained. They will even be able to schedule the publication of Reels on Facebook.

The "editing" mode for Reels has also been rolled out for users on a computer. Creators will be able to trim their long-form video into Reels and even create 60-second clips from their live broadcast content. A tool especially geared towards gamers who stream their content live. The Reel that is generated will simultaneously display the gameplay and the player.

Meanwhile options like voice-overs, Sound Sync, which allows videos and songs to be synchronized automatically, and synthesized voices, which transform written texts into audio, have finally arrived on Facebook Reels.

Meta has even added new statistics to improve the user experience of creators and allow them to analyze their content with precision. Coverage, minutes viewed, average view time... These kinds of data are all now available for consideration in the Creator Studio.

On Instagram, Reels also continue to evolve. The length of a video has now been increased to 90 seconds and the"poll," "quiz" and "emoji" stickers can now be used in Reels.

When it comes to options, Meta allows users to import their own audio on your Reel, for a minimum of five seconds. And Instagram has had a bright idea with its "get inspired by Templates" option. No need to spend time looking for the right music sample and choosing the right duration for each photo to display to reproduce the trend of the moment. From now on, a user will be able to press "Use template" to bring in audio and clip sequence from a video and thus reproduce the structure much more easily and quickly, modifying the contents afterwards. A great advantage that could definitely encourage the creation of new content on the social network.

Quickly see Communities on Twitter

The "Communities" option may not be the most popular yet, but Twitter is still working on its functionality. This mode was created to facilitate exchanges on topics corresponding to the users' interests. Users will be able to view the feed of their Twitter communities in two ways. The first one will offer the latest tweets while the second one will offer a feed based on the user's preferences, thanks to the algorithm, through the "For You" feed, which is reminiscent of the TikTok feed, also called the "For You" page. Just like Meta, Twitter is constantly inspired by TikTok to boost its platform.

A strategy that could also help boost content creation and increase the time spent by users on the social network if the algorithm proves useful. But that's not necessarily a done deal considering many Twitter users' critical comments about the relevance of the Twitter algorithm.

Better recommendations on Pinterest

As online shopping booms, Pinterest wants to remain a trendsetter in the matter. In order to do so, the social network has acquired the shopping platform THE YES, which analyzes users' preferences to suggest products that would suit them best.

To create its algorithm, THE YES relies on quizzes that help to better define the tastes and search needs of users by asking them to respond to photos of products of different brands with yes or no. A process that allows the platform to generate more appropriate targeted proposals according to the profile. According to Social Media Today, the deal is expected to close by the end of June.

© Agence France-Presse