The week in social: Crowd Surf Story, LinkedIn video, and Instagram threads

Some LinkedIn users will now get to create video

One of the most popular format of content across all other major social networks, LinkedIn is now rolling out a video creation tools for a subset of its frequent users. The feature is available to these users through the mobile app only at present, with it becoming available to everyone else in the near future. Prior to this, users had the ability to upload videos on the mobile app from their local video library, but no way to create videos natively on the platform.

Read more on Mashable.

Facebook now allows brands to promote partnership-based influencer posts

Facebook has been one of the leaders in recognizing how influencers are using social networks to promote brands through partnerships. Starting with the branded content tool which allowed a direct way to disclose a sponsored partnership, now a new feature allows brands to directly promote influencer content associated to their brand within Facebook. An example of how this works would be where an influencer creates a post talking about the brands products used the Branded Content Tool, and then the brand boosts the post with paid media budget. The target audience that is chosen will still see the post as it originates from the influencer.

More information on Facebook Business.

Instagram introduces threaded comments

Instagram has taken a cue from parent Facebook and the ways conversations are organized on the platform, and introduced threaded commenting. An official blog post announcing the feature highlighted that the threaded comments will work as expected where if someone replies to a comment, it will appear immediately beneath the original comment with an indent to show the relation. The feature is presently available on iOS and Android, and will be rolled out globally over the next few weeks according to the post.

Read more on Instagram Blog.

Facebook doubles down on trending news with a dedicated section

In an effort to become even more of a go-to destination for the latest news, Facebook has added a specific ‘Trending News’ section to the main menu of its mobile application. The addition of this section comes along with an earlier announced redesign of the Trending News section overall that more effectively organizes how organizations and contacts are talking about a particular subject. The redesign is available across Android and iOS, but the menu items with a direct link will be rolled out on iOS first over the coming weeks.

More information on TechCrunch.

Snapchat lets users digitally crowd surf a performance

A new machine learning algorithm built by Snapchat’s internal research team, the new Crowd Surf Story allows users to see an almost seamless version of a performance stitched together from Snaps of friends using Our Story when they are all at the same event. The feature was tested the week prior during a live Lorde performance. A button on the screen also lets viewers watch from multiple different angles. In order for the feature to work effectively and for the algorithm to piece the performance together, many users have to be taking Snaps within short time and proximity of each other.

More information on Business Insider.