Most affiliate marketing on social media is a workaround. Link in bio. Swipe up. ManyChat automations. Meta wants to change that with new shopping and affiliate features across Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook announcedCreator Fast Track, a new program aimed at bringing established creators from Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube onto the platform

Facebook shared updates on its initiative to reward creators who post original content and deprioritize unoriginal content.

Threads, Instagram’s X competitor, is officially beta testing “Dear Algo,” an AI feature that lets users shape their feeds by telling Threads what they want to see more or less of.

The new year is approaching, bringing one of my favorite rituals: reflecting on the past year and forecasting what comes next.

Based on my experience as a creator and marketer, and what I’ve observed across the industry, here are my 10 key trends for 2025.

Instagram is rolling out a “New” label that appears on recently uploaded posts, helping users quickly identify the latest content on creator and brand profiles. The feature will become even more valuable once Instagram enables grid post reordering.

Facebook introduced Content Protection, a mobile tool that helps creators safeguard their original Reels. Creators can enroll to automatically protect new Reels and manually add older ones.

Instagram updated its Reels camera. Creators can now record up to 20 minutes, use an undo button to remove clips, customize touch-ups, and get a smoother green screen, along with refreshed timer and countdown tools.

Instagram is testing skippable ads on Reels again. These ads include a countdown timer in the top-right corner signaling when an ad is about to start. Once it does, viewers can tap “Skip” to return to the Reel.

Instagram has crossed 3 billion monthly active users, joining Facebook and WhatsApp at this major milestone. For all the talk about it “dying,” the platform remains deeply embedded in culture and continues to grow.

At Meta Connect, Meta announced several new smart glasses and metaverse technologies. Along with a second generation of its flagship Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and the Oakley Meta Vanguard designed for athletes, it revealed the Meta Ray-Ban Display, a new category of smart glasses featuring an in-lens display.

Instagram has officially launched a native iPad app, which has long an afterthought for the platform.