You know those changes that companies try to make sound like a Really Big Deal while users generally just shrug? Add the new slideshows on Instagram to the list. The coverage is pretty enthusiastic. Wired calls it another reason to never leave the ‘gram, and Refinery 29 went so far as to say it’s the “biggest and most controversial change yet.”

It’s just that doesn’t exactly feel new. After all, brands have been able to post carousel for about a year. I did see some dang delightful pictures of armadillos in my feed because of it, though.

Now on to Snapchat, since it seems like we can’t mention Instagram without it these days (although it does still seem ok to talk about Snapchat without bringing up Insta… you can see why Zuckerberg keeps their logo on his dartboard.) Contently has a good round up on the nuances of stories on each platform to help you tell the difference.

As you know, the Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, went public recently. CNN Money is reporting that it’s already trading below the IPO. It seems like investors are losing patience for cool platforms without a solid business plan behind them….and operating at a $515 million loss for the year doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

And finally, because a blog post on social media trends wouldn’t be complete without a mention of SXSW, I must confess that I fell for this Onion article when it came up in my feed this morning. In retrospect, I’m not sure how. 650,000 mentions of the word “innovate” seems way too low. I haven’t heard any good tech buzz this year, though. Have you?

About the author:
Tara Saylor is a communications manager by day, grad student by night and curious all the time. She is also a web nerd and recovering copywriter. Tara focuses on the channels that enable communication and using metrics to improve communication effectiveness.

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