July 2025
Q2 Social Media Recap: LinkedIn Video Updates, Threads Ads, X Drops Hashtags
Just when you finally stopped writing “2024” by accident…Q2 wrapped. We're back with another punchy round-up of social media shifts, trends, and tactics that mattered over the past few months.
- Video-Only Embeds: You can now embed videos on LinkedIn without showing the original post — ideal for clean, on-site placement
- Video Covers for Articles & Newsletters: More dynamic first impressions for long-form content
- Hashtags Removed from Ads: X claims its improved recommendation engine renders hashtags obsolete in ad targeting
- Expanded DM Features in Testing: Encrypted messages and file sharing are now in beta
- AI-Driven Insights via Grok: X’s chatbot turns datasets into visual summaries
- Pew Study: Left-leaning influencers remain active on X, even as they explore platforms like Bluesky
- Threads Monetization: Brands can now run ads on the platform
- Community Notes Clone: Meta apps now surface community notes fact-checks
- Threads Platform Updates:
- Multiple links now allowed in bios
- Topic interests and cross-posting prompts
- Spoiler tags for media discussion
- Separate profile creation from Instagram
- Initial rollout of DMs
- Surpassed 350M active users
- Testing AI-based search recommendations
- Q1 growth in users and revenue
- Comment-to-post conversions and comment analytics
- Simplified business profile setup with enhanced analytics