2022 brought welcome change in the form of what many call a “post-pandemic” world, though the last several years will have a lingering effect on how we do everything from work to shop to meet with friends.

Throughout the past three years, social media has evolved to keep up with the world’s ever-changing needs, giving us new apps and experiences—and plenty to talk about.

Here are some of 2022’s biggest social media moments as covered here—from the newest platforms catching younger generations’ attention to the ones that seemed to have a pretty rough go of it.

Checking Instagram’s Pulse

Some said Instagram was dying, but is it simply evolving? The platform churned out a large number of updates in 2022, many of which centered on its push to focus on video. If you haven’t noticed already, Instagram really, really wants you to use Reels. Like really, really.

While the platform was forced to walk back some of its controversial changes on its journey to compete with TikTok—demands to “Make Instagram Instagram again” rang loud—it stayed focused on helping small businesses (SMBs) make the most use of its offerings through several updates and tools, including new options for advertisers. And in the meantime, it dabbled in borrowing some of the most popular app’s biggest features.

The New Kids on the Block

Speaking of popular new apps, 2022 saw many of them. A few survived as standouts, though—and might even make it to 2023.

Among them, BeReal is the standout. (I mean, if Instagram is testing your main feature, you’ve made it, right?) This new entrant speaks to users’ latest desires to be more authentic and transparent in their daily lives.

In the same vein, Gas, an app currently just for teens, asks users to deliver compliments to their classmates by voting for friends in a round of polls that refreshes every hour. Time will tell if the app evolves to include other age groups, but could it perhaps spur a kinder, more supportive moment in social media?

Another one for the teens—tweens, even—Roblox is anything but real, but the kids seem to really love it: With more than 50 million active users daily, 54% of the virtual world’s users are under the age of 13.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

Even non-Twitter users have become aware of the headlines the platform has been making, thanks to one Elon Musk. It seems everyone has an opinion on the app and its current goings on, and whether they should even be on it. And as the headlines rage on, some of Twitter’s current users are looking for alternatives to the app.

The Fall of Facebook?

While it’s hard to imagine an OG like Facebook ceasing to exist, it’s failing to impress the up-and-coming crowd, with younger social media users reportedly abandoning the site. And while Meta may be behind e-commerce across its platforms, it announced over the summer that it had shut down its live shopping feature on Facebook. And to come full circle, guess what Meta suggests its users experiment with instead? Its video feature, Reels.

Photo: Getty Images Plus/pressureUA

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