This Week in Social and Digital (Week of February 15)
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.
YouTube's Shorts Coming to the United States
YouTube is getting ready to launch Shorts, a feature similar to TikTok in the United States in March. It's been in testing in India, where it has reported the number of channels using Shorts tripling and receiving 3.5 billion daily views globally.
Shorts would follow up Instagram's Reels in trying to duplicate TikTok success, as YouTube looks to try to keep some of the engagement shifting to TikTok on its own platform. The introduction of Shorts will come with new monetization features and a new way for fans to pay creators directly through a feature called Applause. Fans can buy a clapping animation and share that with influencers. YouTube's also rolling out a shopping experience that will allow viewers to purchase items discussed on creator channels. Creators will be able to tag products and receive a cut of revenue when a product is purchased.
It's important to note that Shorts is one pillar of the announcements coming from YouTube. Yes, Shorts will be a new content feature that creators will be able to play with, but it's also giving creators more monetization options. Really, it's a similar play to Snapchat's Spotlight feature, which sets aside $1 million per day to entice creators to share entertaining TikTok-like content for a chance at a cut of that money. It's the tool--Shorts--and the carrot--monetization tools.
Facebook and Google Test Different Paths to News
This week Facebook stopped allowing Australians to view and share news on its platforms after Australia introduced a new law that would require tech platforms to pay for news content on their platforms. Facebook is now using AI to stop any news content from being shared in Australia, arguing that news publishers benefit from sharing on Facebook more than Facebook benefits from their content being shared on its platform.
Facebook's trying to inflict pain, while Google is taking an alternate approach but one that's potentially just as problematic. Google signed a deal with News Corps. where it will pay News Corps to distribute articles across Google's platforms.
There are a few things going on here that are troublesome. First, Facebook's going to stop sharing the very content it needs most on its platform--factual information to help counter the misinformation that's rampant on its platform. Facebook is hoping the harm it induces in Australia will scare any other countries out of making similar moves
Second, publishers still need Facebook, and Facebook users arguably need trustworthy publishers. A majority of users get news directly from Facebook. Now, Facebook has been paying news publishes more through its Facebook News program. The New York Times has even cited Facebook revenue in its earnings reports. This law forces Facebook to implement a program it's not willing to embrace, and I would argue it doesn't really fix anything even if Facebook were to pay publishers. There's still an antagonistic element between Facebook and publishers that needs to be resolved.
Third, on the Google front. Google's dominance means whoever it has struck a deal with will receive priority treatment on its platform. But the revenue to these publishers, as pointed out by Jeff Jarvis, won't be going to make journalism better. It will go to increase the margins of publishers.
The problem here isn't publishers getting paid for content. The problem is the ad revenue model that has siphoned ad dollars away from publishers to Facebook and Google. Now, legislation is being introduced to redirect some money to publishers when really the model needs to be fixed. The focus should be on Facebook and Google collaborating with publishers to better share and distribute ad revenue. Give publishers a chance to recoup the lost ad dollars over the last few years. Everything else is trying, ineffectually, to fix symptoms, not the underlying disease.
News Quick Hits
Epic Games is continuing its legal fight with Apple, filing a complaint with the EU over App Store policies. This suit is in addition to ones it has in Australia and the United States. It argues that Apple's policies of requiring developers to use its own payment systems and charge a commission as high as 30% deserves antitrust regulation. Apple argues that it is protecting customers.
LinkedIn is working to develop a program that offers advertising and promotional opportunities for influencers on its platform. This program will be designed to give influencers more incentive to post and create content within the LinkedIn platform. It may lead to the creation of a creator marketplace allowing brands to more easily tap into these influencers more.
Roku may be following up its acquisition of Quibi content with some original content of its own. A LinkedIn job listing referred to a role in "building an expanding slate of original content." Roku has not confirmed the move but given its emphasis on advertising revenue, the move wouldn't be too much of a surprise, especially after the Quibi content purchase.
Facebook has launched a live test of its Cameo-like offering Super. Super works like Cameo. Users pay celebrities for video chats and personalized messages. It's also highlighting events featuring celebs that users can pay to join.