Social space: A roundup of all the social media news from across the GCC

Politics was the most discussed topic last month, with a spike around the #Forijat debt relief initiative launched by Saudi Arabia’s ministry of Interior.

The initiative used crowdfunding and e-donations to pay for and release over 300 people imprisoned for debt.

Education was widely discussed with people looking for courses to take over the summer – particularly in the fields of English and Human Resources.

The other most discussed pillar was healthcare with many of the discussions focused around “World Blood Donor Day”.

Other hot topics included Game of Thrones’ final episode (under the entertainment category), the UAE launch of Amazon Prime (under the technology category), and Cricket World Cup (under the sports category).

Methodology: Netizency conducted a social listening across all social and online media from the GCC between June 10 and July 10, 2019 to gather the information on popular trends.

The latest updates to social media platforms

LinkedIn

* Acquires Drawbridge to enhance its targeting capabilities

* Launches new call to action buttons (Contact us, Learn more, Sign up, Visit website)

* Rolls out new tools to help users prep for their next job interview

Facebook

* Adds new options to its video creation kit including resizing, editing, and saving Allows page admins to preview their post before it goes live

* Makes two new ranking updates to de- mote posts promoting health miracles Launches capability to organically target posts just for top fans

* Expands access of political transparency tools to all regions

* Tests the ability to turn off the red in-app notification dots on its homescreen

Twitter

* Rolls out warning labels that will appear on controversial tweets from influencers

* Announces “go live with guests” allowing users to add audio-only guests in their live videos

* Removes precise location tags due to low usage

* Updates search results to include more contextual information about the topic Simplifies the account switching proves on its web version

YouTube

* Partners with AXS allowing users to purchase concert tickets from YT videos Tests hiding comments and compiling them under a “comments” button

* Announces recommendation tools to give people control of their homepage and up-next videos

Instagram

* Announces new ad unit in the ‘explore’ section of the app

* Rolls out a ‘join chat’ sticker to start a group chat from IG stories

* Adds a music sticker to display song lyrics on IG stories

* Announces “branded content ads” allowing advertisers to promote organic branded ads from influencers as feed ads

* Will now save content in the stories camera for seven days allowing users to share later

Snapchat

* Tests a group chat sticker similar to that of Instagram

* Launches bitmoji tennis allowing people to play with friends on the platform