Twitter is going to let you ask for those little blue check marks again. The company said it will start reviewing applications in 2021 under newly released guidelines. The blue check, which means Twitter has verified a user’s identity, is seen as a status symbol on the platform but the process by which the checks were issued has long been murky and inconsistent.  Twitter expects to automatically take away more of the blue check marks from users who are inactive or repeatedly break Twitter’s rules, an enforcement action aimed at minimizing a user’s visibility.

The reason Twitter stopped giving out check marks was in 2017, the company halted its verification program amid a public backlash when Twitter gave a blue check to Jason Kessler, a white nationalist who was the lead organizer of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Twitter says it is now reformulating its policy, and it is asking for the public’s help under the Twitter hashtag #VerificationFeedback.  They will review public input until December 8 and then issue its final policy for blue checks the following week, according to the company.  To receive the blue check, a user must be “notable and active” and work in government, politics, entertainment, sports, news and other industries.

Twitter has also released their version of “stories” calling them fleets.  Feedback has been mixed.

Instagram is very busy adding many tools for those who are content creators.

They are developing a new product, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), that will allow people to start conversations with businesses or creators’ accounts by tapping on a commonly asked question within a chat. Those who already have the feature available report they’re able to create up to four questions that can optionally be displayed at the beginning of a conversation with other users.

The feature could be useful for businesses that are often responding to customer inquiries about their products or services, or for creators who receive a number of inbound requests from fans or brands interested in collaborations. They also have released a new tool called “Guides.”

Guides is to give Instagram users a way to post longer-form content that’s not just a photo or video. Currently, Guides can include photos, galleries and videos sourced from either the creator’s own profile, which is more common, or from other creators. In addition, the Guides include commentary or tips alongside the media.

If you choose “Guide” from the list, you’re then presented with a menu that asks you to choose a Guide type. This can be a Places Guide, for recommending favorite places; a Products Guide, for recommending favorite products; or a Posts Guide, which is a more general-purpose format for recommending a series of your favorite Instagram posts.

This feature would allow Guides to easily fit into Instagram influencers’ workflows, as they often make recommendations to followers about where to go, what to purchase and more. Creators could even increase their affiliate network revenue or direct more users to their sponsored posts through the use of Guides, if they chose.

Facebook announced that between February and the summer months in 2021, there will be new ad limits that determine how many ads can actively be running at a single time:

  • 250 ads per Page for small to medium Pages

these are pages with less than 100k in ad spend in their highest spending month over the past twelve months

  • 1,000 ads per Page for medium and large Pages

these are pages with ads costs ranging from $100k to $1M in their highest spending month in the past twelve months

  • 5,000 ads per Page for larger pages

these are pages with $1M to $10M in their highest spending month over the past twelve months

  • 20,000 ads for “largest” Pages

these are pages with over $10M in ad spend in their highest month over the last 12 months.

It is true that machine learning, improved algorithms, and options like dynamic ads make it possible for businesses to run fewer campaigns overall, and maybe restrictions on ad volume will make it easier for ads to be approved faster or more reliably (no promises though, of course, we all know how unreliable that system can be).

Overall, it’s not exciting to have limits, especially if you’re looking to scale, though adjusted ad spend would assumable increase volume potential overtime.

One thing to note now, though; if you’re on the verge of the next tier and want those extra ads, pay attention to that now. You’ve got until at least February.