This Week in Social and Digital (Week of March 29)
This Week in Social is a weekly digest of some of the biggest stories in social media marketing news. These stories are the show notes for the Brave Ad World Podcast. Each story is discussed at a deeper level on the podcast.
TikTok Duets Gets Duplicated on Instagram and Snapchat
Instagram and Snap are working to duplicate TikTok's duets feature that allows one user to build on another user's TikTok with a side-by-side video.
Instagram's feature is called "Remix this Reel." The ability to Remix will be added to all public accounts by default, but users can choose to disallow remixes should they so choose. When a user's Reel is Remixed, that user will receive a notification.
Snapchat is working on a feature of its own. "Remix Snap" is Snap's version. It's currently in testing.
It all comes down to one thing. Whether or not you're on TikTok, TikTok is on what you're on. The collaboration of content pioneered by TikTok is an engaging feature, so it's no surprise to see it being copied. After all, platforms copying each other has become the name of the social platform game as of late. For brands, this is particularly exciting as brands should consider not just what content they're putting out there but also how that content can be used by users for collaborations.
Facebook Opens Up News Feed Customization
Facebook is giving users more tools to control what they see in their News Feeds and what they don't, which includes de-prioritizing the role of the algorithm.
The algorithm has been under particularly heightened scrutiny as news has come forward that Facebook's efforts to prioritize engagement led the algorithm to surface content that is polarizing, inflammatory and even flat out untrue. It's also been used by political officials to make claims of censorship. On a lighter note, it's frustrated some users who said they would prefer to see content in chronological order.
Now users will have easier access to tools that let them favorite certain friends and Pages to make sure they see all their updates. They'll also be able to select "Most Recent" to see content in chronological order.
It's interesting to see Facebook's moves here as it's another way for Facebook to take a hands-off approach to the content users see. Now, it can argue, it's in the hands of users, and it is less likely charges of censorship will hold up.
Clubhouse Plans Monetization Options
Clubhouse launched Payments, a new feature designed to help creators monetize their content on the platform. It's a tipping feature with 100% of user contributions going directly to the creators. This effort is on top of an accelerator program designed to help a handful of creators jumpstart their presence on the platform.
The move comes when every tech company out there has their sights on duplicating much of Clubhouse's functionality on their own platforms, but Payments offers a way for Clubhouse to incentivize content creators and get them to stick with the platform. Creators are soon going to have a slew of options for live audio with existing live streaming options like Instagram and Twitch but also new audio-only features coming to Spotify, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Twitter was so interested in Clubhouse that it actively looked to acquire it for around $4 billion. Those discussions have since ceased, and it's not clear why. It underscores just how interested Twitter is in being in this space with its competitive feature Spaces.
Then there's Facebook, which just launched an experimental app called Hotline that does a lot of what Clubhouse is doing. Hotline has video components with the ability to host presentations and have Q&A with the audience. It's not a copy-and-paste of what Clubhouse is doing, but apparently, that is a separate project from Hotline.
The space is getting very competitive very quickly with very big players jumping in. Clubhouse is working to shore up its creators with Payments now, but one could easily see paid events and subscriptions coming down the line. Features are easy to copy, but creators are difficult to duplicate. Clubhouse is hoping it can hold onto what it has and maybe even bring others onboard.
Screenshop Coming to Snapchat
Investors have been welcoming Snap's latest investments in ecommerce, and a new feature is on its way called Screenshop.
Screenshop can detect clothing and furniture in screenshots shared by users, and then it links users to websites to purchase the products in the screenshot. The feature is built on technology Snap obtained when it acquired Craze and Fit Analytics. Craze boasted the ability to detect 10 million products from 400 different brands. Once implemented, Snap will be able to generate commission revenue.
Snaps' been making a lot of investments in the e-commerce space with things like Bitmoji outfits and AR shopping. It's viewing the camera as a gateway to the commerce experience, and it's coming at a good time. More users than ever have gotten used to shopping online, but one of the biggest things missing from online shopping is being able to tangibly experience the product. Snap sees its role as helping users get a tangible product experience before purchase on their mobile devices.
News Quick Hits
Colorado may be joining Virginia and California in approving a consumer privacy law. It's in early stages of approval, but it represents yet another potential law in a state-by-state patchwork system of privacy legislation. New York and Florida are considering similar measures, and Congress is evaluating options for federal law.
LinkedIn is placing an even greater emphasis on influencer content with a new "creator mode" feature that allows users to follow creator profiles to see their content, without needing to connect with them. The goal is to incentivize more users to become so-called creators on the platform.
The race to compete with Clubhouse is on. Spotify has acquired the Betty Labs, the owner of Locker Room, a social audio app focused on sports. The acquisition could allow Spotify to expand its non-music audio content like podcasts to include live social audio as well. LinkedIn is working on a competitive social audio feature as well. While Spotify's offering may focus primarily on sports at first, LinkedIn's would likely be more focused on professional development.
Twitter has rolled out 26 different video topics that have been deemed "lighthearted" and, in turn, are determined to be very brand safe. The topics will be part of Twitter's video ad program Amplify, and advertisers will be able to place their ads next to so-called brand safe content.
Twitter has added GIFs and emoji sticker support to Fleets. Fleets are Twitter's Stories-like feature with content that disappears after 24 hours. Customization options were fairly light, but it looks like Twitter is working to give users more options.
Facebook Analytics will cease to operate on June 30. Facebook is telling brands to look at Ads Manager, Events Manager and the Facebook Business Suite to measure performance.
It's no longer big news when big data leaks occur, but Facebook had a particularly noteworthy leak. 500 million Facebook users' hacked information was posted for free to a database with information including phone numbers, locations, email addresses and biographical information. The information could be used to commit fraud and even impersonate individuals. The leak occurred in 2019 and the vulnerability has since been patched. It's been on the market for some time for scammers, but now it's free to any scammer who wants access.
As part of an accessibility push, TikTok is allowing creators to automatically generate captions for their videos on the platform. It will first be made available in English and Japanese with more language support coming. Automatic captions can be edited by creators.
Houseparty is getting a bit of Twitch action with a new integration with Fortnite that lets users stream their gameplay from within the Houseparty app. Houseparty is meant for connecting with friends, so its use case is pretty different than that of Twitch is for broadcasting to the many.
YouTube has introduced new video ad experiments that allow brands to show different versions of ads to the same audience with the goal of seeing what drives the most engagement. The feature is useful for advertisers looking to drive conversions but also for brand advertising with the ability to measure KPIs like brand lift.
Twitch announced that it will start banning users who harass others on or off of Twitch thanks to an expansion of its off-service misconduct policy. This means Twitch will be evaluating misbehavior across social platforms. Twitch, along with many other platforms, has been actively reevaluating its harassment policies.
Twitter's made some updates to improve its commerce offering including a new "About" section for brand profiles that can house information like location, hours and contact info. More brands now have access to "Branded Likes," enabling them to change the heart icon into a custom animated icon. It's also giving brands expanded placements for Timeline Takeovers.
Soon iOS users will have the option to opt out of IDFA tracking thanks to iOS 14.5's update, and ad tracking companies have been concerned about losing access to this valuable piece of data. However, a new study from AppsFlyer (a mobile attribution platform) estimated that opt-in rates could be as high as 45%, much higher than the previously estimated 2% to 20%. Regardless, companies are figuring out their approach should users opt out, including P&G which has worked to develop a device fingerprinting technique in testing in China that would allow it to gather data for ad targeting. The technique called CAID is being developed by the China Advertising Association. Apple will need to figure out how to address such practices or it risks rolling out an ineffectual update.