Facebook announced a variety of music product updates pertaining to both Facebook and Instagram in November 2019.
Expansion to new countries
Users on Facebook and Instagram are now able to express themselves through music in more countries in eastern Europe and Africa. From music stickers in Stories to creative tools such Lyrics in Instagram, Lip Sync, Music in Facebook Profiles, including enabling user generated content.
With the roll-out of music products in these new countries, people can add music to their Facebook and Instagram experiences, whether that's the newest releases, regional hits, or classic songs. Facebook has been working hard to enable music products to more people around the world, expanding into the following territories:
New Countries (Audio and UGC)
- Albania
- Armenia
- Georgia
- Latvia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Guinea
- Mali
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Seychelles
Expansion of Audio Library features (UGC and IG Music stickers previously available)
- Algeria
- Egypt
- Kenya
- Morocco
- Tunisia
The evolution of likes on Instagram
As you've likely heard, Instagram has been testing making like counts private in a few countries for the past six months. The aim is for Instagram to be a place where people feel comfortable expressing themselves, and this includes helping people focus on the photos and videos they share, not how many likes they get. While the feedback from early testing has been positive, this is a fundamental change to Instagram, so they are continuing the test to learn more from their global community.
Starting the week of November 18, 2019, Instagram expanded their test of private like counts to a portion of people on Instagram from the rest of the world beyond Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand. Those people included in the test will no longer see the total number of likes and views on photos and videos posted to Feed except for their own posts. Please be assured that the people in the test will be able to see their own like counts on their likers list as well as in their Instagram Insights. In addition, Ads Manager & Instagram API-based tools are not impacted by this test, and users will still be able to access data as usual with these tools.
Instagram understands that like counts are important for many creators, and they are actively thinking through new ways for creators to communicate value to their partners beyond those shared above.
Cenas (Reels) testing in Brazil
Instagram is a place of expression for people all around the world and wants to help them do it in a fun and creative way. On Tuesday, November 19, 2019, Instagram started testing a new Stories feature (only in Brazil) called Cenas (Reels) for creating entertaining, short-form videos incorporating a variety of creative tools. People in Brazil are able to use music, speed, countdown, and ghost tools to be creative with their Cenas!
Instagram wants to help people creatively express themselves and get even closer to the people and things they love, and is excited to test new features that enable them to do so. Currently, only people in Brazil are able to create Stories using the feature; however, people outside of Brazil will be able to see these Stories. The feature is still very early, and they are looking forward to evolving it as they learn from the Brazil test.
0 Comments