20 New Social Media Tools for Merchants

Take advantage of new and updated social media tools to enhance your ecommerce business.

Here is a list of recent launches and updates from social media platforms. There are tools for content management, video production, 3D images, content monetization, micro-loan financing, networking your business, and more.

Facebook

Facebook releases Creator Studio app. Facebook has launched a mobile app (iOS and Android) for Creator Studio. Access insights to see how your content is performing. Make adjustments, view notifications, switch between Pages, communicate with your audience in real-time, and more.

Facebook Creator Studio

Facebook’s 3D Photos feature turns 2D photos into 3D. 3D photos on Facebook previously were possible only from smartphones with dual cameras. The system now infers the 3D structure of any image, whether it is a new shot on an Android or iOS device with a standard single camera or a decades-old image recently uploaded to a phone or laptop.

Facebook’s Off-Facebook Activity tool can control ad-targeting data. With the new Off-Facebook Activity tool, users can now manage and delete the ad-targeting data that is shared with third-party websites and apps for advertising purposes.

Facebook’s NPE Team launches Pinterest-like Hobbi app. Built by the NPE Team (“New Product Experimentation”) from Facebook, Hobbi is a photo and video sharing app to help document projects and hobbies. Organize images into visual collections. Create highlight videos to share.

Instagram

Instagram’s Partner Program lets IGTV creators monetize content. Eighteen months after launching the long-form video content hub, Instagram has internally prototyped a partner program to let creators earn money by showing ads along with their videos. Instagram has not specified the revenue split, but the program may work similarly to Facebook Watch, which offers creators a 55 percent cut.

Instagram adds Boomerang effects. Five years after its launch, the Boomerang camera format is getting an update. Users can now add slow motion, “Echo” blurring, and “Duo” rapid rewind to their Boomerangs, as well as trimming their length.

🐢 SlowMo
🗣 Echo
👯‍♀‍ Duo

Boomerang has new creative twists that’ll make you say yaaassssss. Try them all out today. pic.twitter.com/wp0A71RefL

— Instagram (@instagram) January 10, 2020

Instagram launches Create mode. Create mode lets users combine interactive stickers, drawings, and text without needing a photo or video to share. Part of Create is the “On This Day” option that shows a random post you shared previously on the same calendar date. Tap the dice button for a new On This Day post, and once you find one, share it to Stories as an embedded post that people can open.

Twitter

Twitter opens Hide Replies to developers. In November, Twitter released its Hide Replies feature, letting users hide replies to their tweets. Now Twitter has released Hide Replies as a new API endpoint, letting developers create tools that automatically hide disruptive tweets.

Twitter buys Stories template maker Chroma Labs. Twitter has purchased Chroma Labs, creator of the Chroma Stories app that provides templates for posting collages to Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and others.

Others

Vimeo’s new app helps small businesses create professional videos. Social video platform Vimeo has launched a beta of Vimeo Create, a short-form video creation tool. Find the right story for your business using custom video templates, or start from scratch. Trim with the smart-editor, tailor the layout and elements, distribute across the web, and measure the impact in one place.

Vimeo Create

Patreon launches micro-lending feature. Patreon, a platform for membership businesses to acquire and manage subscribers, has launched Patreon Capital to provide micro-loans to Patreon customers. Patreon accesses data on a creator’s earnings history, engagement, and retention to forecast the loan suitability. Patreon Capital has issued about a dozen cash advances so far.

Google Maps adds social feature with Local Guides. Google Maps is testing a social feature that allows users to find and follow Local Guides. Launched in 2015, the Local Guides program allows Maps contributors to earn status as a test maker in exchange for various platform perks. In the pilot program areas, Google is adding a Follow button to Local Guide profile pages and a “For You” tab to list area recommendations — businesses, events, sales, and more.

Dfinity launches open-source platform LinkedUp, aimed at social networking giants. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Dfinity founder Dominic Williams showed its blockchain technology by demonstrating an open-source social network called LinkedUp, a decentralized version of LinkedIn. LinkedUp is built on Dfinity’s platform that aims to decentralize the internet by putting cloud services on independent systems.

GoDaddy buys Over to help sellers create visual content online. GoDaddy has acquired Over, the company behind the Over app, which helps small businesses create impactful visual content. Using customizable templates and layouts, the Over app helps to create content quickly on a mobile phone for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and other platforms, including email marketing platforms and websites.

Subscription social network MeWe launches MeWe Pro for businesses. MeWe, a subscription social network that emphasizes privacy, has launched a premium business-focused platform for team connection and collaboration. Run one-to-one, multi-person, and group chats, along with calendar functions, Microsoft Office and Google Docs integration, and full encryption. Pricing is $3.99 per user per month.

MeWe Pro

HeyMama raises $2 million for working mothers’ network. HeyMama, a social and professional network of working mothers, raised $2 million in seed funding to increase its capacity to support women in the workplace. The application-based membership community connects career-driven mothers across industries.

New social app Friended launches. Friended is a new social network for one-on-one connections. Discover people for meaningful conversations. All interactions are one-on-one, with no public commenting. Anyone can respond to a thread, and comments on threads can be liked by the poster or respondent, but from the moment a response comes through, that conversation is one-on-one and private.

Yubo raises $12.3 million for international growth. Yubo, a social platform for Generation Z consumers (age 13 to 25, roughly), announced a $12.3 million fundraising round led by Iris Capital and Idinvest Partners. The new funding will support Yubo’s international expansion and accelerate the development of the platform. Yubo lets users create live video discussion spaces where both streamers and viewers interact.

Pinterest’s new augmented reality lets users “try on” makeup. Pinterest has launched “Try on” in its mobile app. Users open the Pinterest camera in search, click “Try on” to find makeup shades, and swipe up to shop from brands such as Estée Lauder, Sephora, BareMinerals, Neutrogena, and L’Oréal. A “try on” button will also appear on select products, as well as in search with related terms such as “matte lipstick” or “red lips.” Try on does not use skin smoothing or image-altering effects.

Product Hunt launches YourStack, for people and products. The team behind Product Hunt, a product-discovery site, has launched YourStack, a social network where consumers talk about the products they enjoy, recommend products, and follow product experts. The site will also have pro tips, product hacks, and questions to spark group discussion.

YourStack