Welcome back to this week’s TEAM LEWIS Social Round-Up or “what have the platforms done now?”
This week LinkedIn is turning AI into a side-by-side showdown, Instagram has launched yet another Snapchat rival, and X is finally making moves in messaging. Meanwhile Meta is quietly pushing subscriptions everywhere and making it easier than ever to create videos without actually filming anything.
Let’s get into it 👇
Latest News
🤖 LinkedIn lets you “taste test” AI tools
LinkedIn has launched a new feature called Crosscheck, giving Premium users the ability to compare outputs from different AI models side by side. Think of it like a blind taste test, but instead of wine, it’s ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini battling it out for your next LinkedIn post.
It’s a smart move. Not only does it help users understand which tools are actually useful, it also feeds LinkedIn a nice stream of data on how people are using AI in the real world. Slight catch though, Microsoft owns LinkedIn and is heavily invested in OpenAI, so don’t be surprised if ChatGPT keeps winning a few of those “blind” tests. 👉 Read more
📸 Instagram launches Instants to take on Snapchat (again)
Meta is back at it, this time with a standalone app called Instants, which is basically Snapchat with a slightly different font. It’s all about raw, unedited, disappearing photos, with the tagline “real life, real quick”.
We’ve seen this play before. Stories worked, Shots didn’t, and now Instants enters the chat. The strategy is clear, if you can’t buy Snapchat, just keep rebuilding it until something sticks. Again. 👉 Download / learn more
💰 Meta tests WhatsApp Plus subscription
Meta is expanding its paid playbook with WhatsApp Plus, offering custom themes, more pinned chats, premium stickers and basically a nicer looking version of the same app.
It’s another sign that subscriptions are becoming a serious revenue stream across social. People once said they’d never pay for social media features, and now here we are choosing ringtones and chat colours like it’s 2006 again. 👉 Read more
🎬 Instagram leans further into AI video creation
Instagram is making it even easier to generate videos using AI inside Edits. You can now create clips from text prompts, images or existing video, which is great if you’ve always wanted to be a content creator but without the whole “creating content” part.
This is where things get interesting. Either we’re about to see a wave of new creativity, or feeds full of AI-generated chaos. Possibly both. 👉 Learn more
💬 X launches standalone X Chat app
X has officially rolled out its new X Chat app, promising encrypted messaging, no ads and privacy-first conversations. Bold claims, especially given some early questions around how secure it actually is.
Still, it’s a clear step towards Musk’s “everything app” vision. Messaging, payments, social, all bundled together. Or split into multiple apps. Either way, we’ll see. 👉 Read more
✅ LinkedIn prioritises comments from verified users
LinkedIn is now testing a feature that lets users filter comments to only show responses from verified profiles. With over 100 million verified users already, it’s a move to clean up comment sections and prioritise actual humans over bots.
It also quietly nudges more people to get verified. Because if your comments aren’t being seen, do they even exist? 👉 Read more
🔧 Quick Tip of the Week
If you’re using tools like Edits, don’t just jump straight into AI generation. Start with a strong idea or concept first, then use AI to enhance it. Otherwise you’re just creating content for the sake of it, and audiences can spot that a mile off.
✨ Campaigns We Love ✨
🐶 adidas pet World Cup kits
Because supporting your team isn’t enough, now your dog needs a full kit too. Football meets fashion meets “why does my dog look better than me”. 👉 See the campaign
🍏 Apple’s handmade magic behind MacBook Neo
Apple pulls back the curtain to show the real craft behind its latest launch, proving that even in a world of AI, practical effects still hit different.👉 Watch it here
🗓️ Mark Your Calendars
Opportunities to celebrate this week
- Wednesday April 29 – World Stationery Day ✏️
- Thursday April 30 – International Jazz Day 🎷
- Friday May 1 – National Space Day 🚀
- Saturday May 2 – International Harry Potter Day ⚡
- Sunday May 3 – Paranormal Day 👻
- Monday May 4 – International Firefighters Day 🚒
- Tuesday May 5 – International Midwives’ Day 🤱
And next…
- Wednesday May 6 – International No Diet Day 🍩
- Thursday May 7 – Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day 🧠
- Friday May 8 – World Ovarian Cancer Day 💙
- Saturday May 9 – World Fair Trade Day 🌍
- Sunday May 10 – World Lupus Day 🟣
- Monday May 11 – World Ego Awareness Day 😅
- Tuesday May 12 – National Limerick Day ✍️
- Wednesday May 13 – Top Gun Day ✈️
That’s a wrap for this week!
If you want to chat about any of these updates, feel free to get in touch.
I’ll be here trying to work out whether I should be creating content, or just prompting it into existence like everyone else.
See you next week, bye 👋
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