Social Media Updates - August 2025

For comms and marketing professionals in the public sector, the social media landscape continues to move at lightning speed, but don’t worry, Orlo Partner and Social Media Consultant, Luan Wise has done the work for you.

This month, three themes stand out as particularly important: direct messaging enhancements, donation and fundraising capabilities, and tools aimed at connecting college students.

When it comes to DMs, nearly every major platform rolled out enhancements – Instagram introduced more granular DM management features, X expanded its messaging system, TikTok now allows voice notes and images in DMs, and YouTube added new engagement tools through comments and community interaction. 

For donations, the landscape is equally exciting. YouTube, with its expanded gift goals and live-stream donation tools, is offering new ways to raise funds. TikTok also introduced performance-linked fundraising options via livestream actions.

Lastly, in the run-up to the new academic term, both Instagram and TikTok launched new features to connect college students on campus. 

Here’s what else you need to know…

Meta is focused on simplifying and enriching Creators’ performance data. It’s introducing more meaningful insights while consolidating metrics into the ‘views’ stat for clarity. Meanwhile, AI-powered audio translations for video are being rolled out, making content more accessible across different languages and broadening audience reach.

Instagram has been particularly busy this month. Live streaming is now restricted to Creators with at least 1,000 followers. Performance metrics have been enhanced to include audience growth indicators.

Several new usability features have arrived: Reposts to share favourite public reels and posts, a map feature that lets you responsibly share your location with selected friends, and a Friends tab in Reels that surfaces what your friends have liked, created, reposted or commented on, making it easier to spark conversations. 

Creators can also now link multiple reels into a series and access retention insights to see how audiences engage over time.

Threads has implemented a straightforward yet useful post-counter feature for linked updates, making it easier to follow and engage with lengthy threads.

LinkedIn continues its expansion of newsletter access, allowing more professionals and organisations to share regular content with their networks.

There’s also talk of a premium tier aimed at SMBs. Post-level analytics have been enhanced to offer clearer insights into content performance, and, importantly, LinkedIn is taking steps to combat fake engagement by clamping down on artificial likes, comments, and follows to preserve credibility and trust.

X (formerly Twitter) has been ramping up its push into text-to-video tools, encouraging more dynamic and visual storytelling formats.

TikTok updated its Community Guidelines to address the rising issue of AI misinformation. 

Posts are now limited to five hashtags to prevent keyword overuse.

YouTube introduced several new tools and enhancements. Creators can add more call-to-action options and include additional images in community posts. The new Shorts Effects Maker launched this month, accompanied by improved comment controls to better manage interactions. 

And the Hype feature, designed to boost smaller creators, has now been launched globally, opening up new visibility opportunities for emerging voices.

Finally, Bluesky rolled out a significant revamp of its policies and Community Guidelines, aiming to establish clearer standards and expectations as the platform continues to grow.