It turns out that LinkedIn is pulling huge engagement numbers in hot job market, which makes total sense. Employees and employers are being matched. Additionally, Twitter continues to test all the things and is adding a feature called Flocks. Instagram is making some changes to Live scheduling that will allow users to sign up for reminders, and a couple other things. Let’s take a look at this week’s platform news!

1. Twitter is testing a “Close Friends” like feature called Flocks

Yes, it’s essentially Instagram’s Close Friends feature. Twitter is trying to give users more ways to control who sees their Tweets. They’ve tested different iterations of this in the past, but it looks like the current test is called Flocks. So far we don’t know when it will be available to all users, but here are some of the details from The Verge.

Twitter seems to be working on a page that shows more information on Flock, which explains you can add up to 150 members. Only these users can view or reply to tweets sent out to your Flock. And in case you decide you don’t want someone in your Flock anymore, Twitter notes you can remove people from your list at any time, and they won’t get a notification.

2. Instagram is actively limiting posts that they think include bullying or hate speech

They’re already taking a lot of steps to reduce bullying and hate speech on the platform, but it looks like they’re actively lowering prominence of potentially harmful posts in the Feed and Stories. This is on a post-by-post basis and not at the account level, so accounts won’t be penalized. From Instagram:

• In addition to removing content that goes against our Community Guidelines, we’re now taking stronger action against posts that may contain bullying or hate speech, or that may encourage violence, by showing them lower in Feed and Stories.
• We will also show potentially upsetting posts lower in your Feed based on your history of reporting content.
• These changes only impact individual posts, not accounts overall. As always, we only remove posts that break our rules and we tell people if their post has been removed.

3. Scheduled Lives on Instagram will appear on Creator profiles

There’s a new way to display upcoming Lives on Instagram. The ability to schedule Lives has been available for a long time now, but the only means of promotion have been through Feed posts and Stories. Now, though, badges will show up on your profile and allow users to opt in for a reminder.

From Adam Mosseri’s post, it looks like this:

4. LinkedIn is seeing record levels of engagement, revenue

Turns out the current state of the employment market is translating to record LinkedIn usage as employers try to find employees. From Microsoft:

“We are experiencing a “Great Reshuffle” across the labor market, as more people in more places than ever rethink how, where, and why they work. In this new economy, LinkedIn has become mission critical to connect creators with their communities, job seekers with employers, learners with skills, and sellers with buyers.”

5. Twitter Communities finally makes it to Android

Back in September, Twitter launched Communities. Its intent is to take on Facebook’s Groups and allow people to Tweet about shared interests.

Well, it’s January, and they’ve finally made it to Android. Here’s the announcement.