Scrolling on a smartphone screen in front of laptop on desk
parallax background

March 2025 Social Media Platform Updates

Thursday 3rd April 2025

Blog Author Beth Perrin by Beth Perrin

Share
Button
Button
Button

Plenty of new features and updates were released by all of our favourite social media platforms throughout March, which will help brands improve their marketing strategies while also making it easier for casual users to connect with their friends and family members. Let’s take a look at a selection of them below so you can decide which ones might enhance your online experience as we head into Q2.

 

Ad-Free ‘Premium Lite’ YouTube

YouTube is rolling out a ‘Premium Lite’ feature, providing a new, more affordable way for users to get rid of interruptive ads on the platform. While the full Premium package costs $13.99 per month and ensures subscribers see no ads at all, Premium Lite will be just $7.99 per month and will remove ‘most ads’ from videos. Ads may still appear when watching music content and Shorts, and when you’re searching or browsing.

 

 

User Interests on Threads

Threads is developing another way to encourage users to follow new people in the app, with a new ‘Interests’ section now available on some users’ profiles. Those who are part of the test are seeing a new ‘Add interests’ prompt, which, when tapped, enables them to add topics they’re interested in, and are therefore likely to post about, which will then be displayed to anyone who visits their profile.

 

 
View on Threads

 
 

TikTok Shop Updates

Following feedback from sellers on the platform, TikTok introduced a number of updates to the TikTok Shop that will give shop owners greater flexibility and more control over how they operate their businesses.

• After-sale automation

Sellers can now automate the approval of post-sale requests such as returns and refunds, and customise the rules to fit their needs.

• PO Box exclusion

If a seller is unable to deliver items to a PO Box, they can use the new exclusion feature to prevent customers from entering a PO Box as a delivery address, in order to avoid order cancellations and ‘Delivered Not Received’ (DNR) notices.

• Custom cancellation window

Sellers can now decide how long customers have to submit an order cancellation request.

• Return window

Sellers can now customise how long customers have to initiate to return an item - 14 days (for eligible fashion sellers only), 30 days, 45 days or 90 days after delivery.

• Final sale

Qualified sellers can set specific fashion products in their store as a ‘final sale’, meaning they can’t be returned.

• Custom handling time

Qualified sellers can extend shipping times from three up to seven business days, giving them more time to pack and dispatch orders and providing customers with more transparency around delivery expectations.

 
 

Monetised Stories on Facebook

Facebook has announced that it will be adding Stories into its content monetisation program, giving creators another way to earn money on the platform. Prior to this update, only videos, reels, photos and text posts were available for monetisation, but now, members of the program will be able to earn revenue from their story posts. A spokesperson from Facebook told TechCrunch: “Stories payouts will be driven by the performance of content, and creators can start earning money without having to reach a specific threshold for views first.”


 
 

Longer Videos on Bluesky

Previously, video uploads on Bluesky were limited to one minute in length, but thanks to a recent update, users can now post videos up to three minutes long. Video content has of course become a bigger focus for every social app, so it makes sense for Bluesky to continue upgrading its video sharing abilities, with a dedicated video feed also arriving earlier this year, as well as a video tab on user profiles.

 

📢 App Version 1.99 is rolling out now (1/5) With every update, we’re aiming to make the Internet less toxic, more fun, and more in your control. • 3 minute videos! • A separate request inbox for DMs from unknown users • Mute accounts more quickly

March 2025 Social Media Platform Updates

— Bluesky (@bsky.app) March 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM

 
 

Chat Requests on Bluesky

To help minimise spam messages and busy inboxes, Bluesky has added a new ‘Chat Requests’ folder, where DMs from unknown users will appear. From here, the recipient can then either accept or reject message requests, and can see whether the sender is followed by anyone they’re following.

 

📢 1.99 is rolling out now (3/5) In addition to tooling to reduce DM spam, we’ve also added a new Chat Requests screen for messages from unknown users. You can accept or reject new conversations here.

March 2025 Social Media Platform Updates

— Bluesky (@bsky.app) March 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM

 
 

Sync X Followers to Threads

According to app researchers, Threads is currently working on a new update that could provide an interesting crossover between rivals Meta and X - the ability for Threads users to follow all of the same people that they currently follow on X. Users who are part of the test have seen a new ‘Creators from X’ option within the following tools on Threads, which then guides them through the process of how to download their X follower info and upload it to Threads. So, it’s not an automated process, as you’ll have to download the data from X manually, but could still be a useful tool for any users wanting to migrate seamlessly from one platform to the other.

 

 
 

LinkedIn Campaign Manager Improvements

LinkedIn has announced some new updates to its Campaign Manager platform, which will help provide more insights to improve your marketing performance.

• Media planner

This will allow you to explore different audience targeting, placement and budget variations, and forecast the results of your campaigns before you launch them (including their potential ROI), with a simple overview and graph.

• Duplicate your ads

You can now seamlessly duplicate ads across campaigns and accounts, eliminating redundant work and accelerating campaign setup.

• Dynamic UTMs

You can now automate the UTM link generation process instead of having to generate each parameter manually. Marketing Overview homepage: This dashboard offers a quick and clear snapshot of your account-wide performance so you can make faster, more informed decisions.

• Marketing Overview homepage

This dashboard offers a quick and clear snapshot of your account-wide performance so you can make faster, more informed decisions.


 
 

React With Video on X

X is rolling out a new ‘React with video’ feature, which, as the name suggests, enables users to share a video in response to other users’ posts. When you tap on the repost button, you’ll see the ‘React with video’ option, which will take you through to a camera screen with the original post overlaid in the centre. From here, you can record and upload your response to the post. This update goes hand-in-hand with a new green screen tool, which allows users to add an isolated video of themselves over a piece of content, offering a more engaging way to react to posts compared to regular text responses.

 

 
View on Threads

 
 

Double Speed Playback for Instagram Reels

Instagram has rolled out the ability to watch Reels at 2x speed, which at first may seem like a slightly unnecessary feature considering that most Reels are generally only around 30 seconds long. However, don’t forget that the maximum length of Reels was extended to 3 minutes back in January, which means that longer clips are becoming more prevalent and popular on the platform - so being able to watch them at a faster pace may be beneficial in some cases.

 

 
 

Facebook Friends Feed

Facebook has added a new tab for friend-only content, which could help the platform get back to its roots of connecting friends and family - and will hopefully spark more engagement between users who know each other in real life. The Friends tab will show stories, reels and posts from friends, as well as birthdays and friend requests.

Explaining the update, Facebook said: “Connecting with friends has been a part of Facebook since it launched. Over the years, Facebook has evolved to meet changing needs and created best-in-class experiences across Groups, Video, Marketplace and more, but the magic of friends has fallen away. [The Friends tab] is the first of several experiences coming this year that will bring back the joy of what we first created on Facebook.”

 

 
 

Add Music to WhatsApp Status

WhatsApp has launched a new music option for status updates, which enables users to choose a music clip to accompany their posts. When creating a status, a music note icon will now appear at the top of the screen, which, when tapped, will open a library of millions of songs to pick from. Users can include up to 15 seconds of a song for photo-based updates, and up to 60 seconds for video updates.

 

 
 

Summary

We’d love to hear which of these updates you’ve already tried out and which ones you’ve found useful so far, whether you’re an individual user, influencer or social media manager. Find us on X @3sixfivepro to let us know which new features you’re looking forward to using, and share which tools you’re planning to incorporate into your digital strategy this spring.


 
Back to the blog