What comes next: Social platform edition - August

The latest developments from all the social platforms, in one place, to help you identify what comes next in social

This month sees a continued drive to develop a greater volume of AI tools across platforms, some useful, most just interesting… Alongside feature development, we see platforms looking at new routes to monetise these AI products, though for most brands, that won’t become something to consider. The big news this month? LinkedIn starts the rollout of collab posts. Finally. 

Meta - Meta attempts to find a more viable monetisation system for its AI models - for most brands, this won’t have a meaningful impact 

• Meta’s AI agent, available on Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, will now cost 4-5 cents per message to use, starting from August 1st, operating on a token-based system. For most brands, this won’t have an impact on day to day operations, unless they're already using Meta bots for customer service

  
  

• At the start of July, Meta’s new AI option rolled out a new feature that allowed users to remix public IG posts. By default this applies to all public Instagram accounts, whether they’re a brand or creator. This caused a backlash and so Meta retracted the feature immediately after two days. This comes amid rising concerns amongst brands regarding their intellectual property on Meta

  
  

Instagram - after a flurry of new (albeit long awaited) features in the previous month, this month was a quieter one on Instagram’s development roadmap, with just a few AI feature tweaks.  

• Instagram has added more AI-power language translation options, including Japanese, French, German and Korean. This feature automatically applies to posts by default, unless toggled off

  
  

• Brands will have to decide whether they want their content to be automatically translated by AI or to manually create content in the target audience’s language, shaping the trust that audiences have in brands

  
  

• Instagram has introduced over 30 new effects in Stories from Meta AI. This is powered by Muse Image, the first AI image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs. Such effects, when applied to user photos, allow for quick alterations. Whilst only available in the US, it could open the door for further in-app editing, however the application for brands is likely to be limited 

  
  

Google - Google continues to update AI Overviews, and creates transparency for creators and advertisers 

• Google has introduced "platform properties" in Search Console: this allows brands to understand how their social posts perform across Google Search and Discover. Brands can now track the search terms leading people to their content on Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube from Search. Determining why social content is ranking in Google Search, can inform content planning and SEO terms, improving content performance

  
  

• As of 17 July 2026, a Top Stories news carousel is now available in AI Overviews for US mobile users. The carousel consists of ‘developing-topic searches’, which applies to timely and substantial coverage while news stories are still developing in real-time. This shows a development in AI search, shifting into “live” stories and posing potential new challenges for press teams 

  
  

YouTube - YouTube tightens its existing guidelines on inauthentic content, and continues the clamp down 

• The updated guidelines break down inauthentic content into three categories: generic/repetitive content, distressing content, and content where AI personas discuss sensitive topics such as health and finance. YouTube channels will not be able to monetise if they do not follow these guidelines. The YouTube Partner Program is pushing for human-led content, as it navigates ongoing competition with TV and other streaming websites for ad monetisation - for brands, this can only be good news, with less low-quality content out there to dilute the platform 

LinkedIn - LinkedIn continues expanding its AI tools for ad campaigns, and introduces collaboration posts 

• Introducing… Collaboration Posts (finally!) - brands can now collaborate with up to 5 other members or Company Pages on posts, helping drive distribution through both networks. These work in the same way as Instagram or TikTok, and for brands, this can only be a win, opening the door to collaboration content with third-parties. It’s rolling out right now, so watch this space 

  
  

• After launching its brand kit option last month for AI optimisation, LinkedIn is also adding a new AI-powered ad copy generation feature. Brands will have the option to draft ads with AI and set campaign goals using these AI tools. This allows brands to test the effectiveness of multiple ads, while ensuring their tone of voice and messaging stays consistent across all ads

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