This week’s FWD continues to cover the latest from Twitter, following Elon Musk’s takeover. The first major change to the social networking app is ‘Twitter Blue’, a $7.99 monthly plan which gives users access to a range of new features. These include; access to a blue verification tick, reduced ads, longer video posts, and priority ranking, which gives priority to users’ content in mentions, replies, and search.

News:

• Meta is now opening up ‘Professional Mode’ to all creators globally, after a successful launch with selected creators in December last year.
• Mastodon, the decentralized social app being positioned as Twitter’s alternative, has seen rapid growth with nearly half a million users joining since October 2022.

Start-up:

• Charisma AI is leading the way in interactive storytelling, bringing audiences and characters together, with the latest natural language processing technology.

Insights:

• Meta‘s most recent performance update shares a new overview of how to utilize WhatsApp for business.
• YouTube has announced an expanded roll-out of its live stream guest feature, ‘Go Live Together’.
• Instagram introduces a new feature for professional accounts, giving in-app users access to post-scheduling tools.
• Pinterest has pitched itself as the ultimate Christmas gift-discover platform in a new campaign.