1: Meta ad-free monthly subscriptions to launch in the UK
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is introducing paid subscriptions for UK users who prefer not to see adverts or sponsored social media updates.
The company said it will begin notifying users in the coming weeks, giving them the option to subscribe if they want to use its platforms without ads.
While users in the EU can already pay from €5.99 (£5) per month to remove ads, UK subscriptions will start at £2.99 per month.
2: Competitor analysis will be limited going forward, for non-paying LinkedIn company pages
Competitor Analytics provides deeper insight into how your company page is performing within the app, offering data on follower growth, recent post performance, engagement rates, and even how competitor company pages handle their social media updates.
You can also identify trending content from competitors, helping you stay aligned with shifts in engagement.
It’s a useful tool, but it’s about to become accessible only to paying members. Until now, Competitor Analytics has been free to use, but soon, non-paying LinkedIn company pages will only be able to compare their performance with a single competitor.
3: Instagram users with professional accounts now have access to competitor insights
Instagram has introduced a new competitive insights feature within its professional dashboard, giving you an additional way to contextualise and measure your account’s performance.
You can select up to 10 accounts to compare against, with side-by-side data on follower growth, posting frequency across Reels, feed posts, ads, and other social media updates.
4: Assistive AI for visual creation is coming to Instagram
More generative AI images and videos are on the way, and Meta is aiming to support this shift with updates to its “Restyle” feature, making it easier to edit, reimagine, or completely transform your content, including your social media updates, within the app.
As shown in this example sequence, Instagram’s updated Restyle options now let you edit your images more intuitively using conversational prompts in-stream.
As explained by Instagram:
“Whether you want to simply remove an unwanted detail from your story, include a playful element, change the vibe using a whimsical effect, or start a trend with your friends with Add Yours stickers, now you can. Restyle your photos and videos in Instagram Stories to make edits, big or small using Meta AI.”
5: Bluesky reaches 40 million social media users
Bluesky says the app has now reached 40 million users, up from the 38 million reported in August.
The platform is still connecting with a segment of users, even though it no longer feels like a frontrunner in the race to replace Twitter. Early on, its similarity to Twitter made it look like the most natural alternative, but since then, Threads has used its Instagram link to accelerate to 400 million monthly active users, while X has remained relatively steady based on its reported figures.
With that in mind, it’s worth asking: is your target audience on Bluesky?
