Tag Archives: Singapore social media

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 04 JULY 2022

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Facebook Launches New ‘Creator Collaborations’ Option to Help Boost Creator Exposure in the App

Creator Collaborations will enable multiple creators to be listed on a single Facebook post, providing both additional brand awareness, through the tag, and expanded reach to the combined audience of both collaborators.

It’s much like Facebook’s existing Branded Content Tags, which enable brands to tag collaborating businesses in a single post to boost their promotional efforts.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-launches-new-creator-collaborations-option-to-help-boost-creator/626344/

Coke Celebrated Summer With Ar Music Experience on Snapchat

Coca-Cola uses an augmented reality (AR) experience on Snapchat to advertise its Coke Summer Music events. The Kid Laroi performs a brand-new song titled “Thousand Miles” in the AR content.

The Lens Carousel on Snapchat is where American and Canadian users can access Coke’s augmented reality content. To display a live selfie surrounded by Coke’s red dots while Kid Laroi’s song is playing in the background, the front-facing camera is opened. After a countdown of five seconds, the camera switches to the rear-facing position and displays Kid Laroi performing in augmented reality against a digital backdrop. Fans can find hidden Easter eggs in the AR experience while viewing the video on their devices.

With their augmented reality (AR) experience promoting Coke Summer Music events, Coca-Cola is attempting to attract a target group of younger consumers. Coke has been active with ads geared at younger consumers, introducing its “pixel-flavoured” drink that capitalises on the adolescent and preteen population’s love of video games. This company’s limited-edition Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte was created to taste like pixels. Coke collaborated with gaming company PWR on a Pixel Point Island in Fortnite where visitors may search for buried riches, play minigames, and engage in other activities as part of its marketing for the soft drink.

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/coke-ar-music-snapchat/626350/

Instagram Opens Reels API Access to Developers

This makes it simpler to manage all of your social media posts and schedules in one location and enables developers from third-party systems like Hootsuite to offer cross-platform publishing and analytics capability. Additionally, developers will be able to reply to comments, delete them, cover them up or make them visible, and enable or disable comments on Reels.

The whole deployment will be complete by July 6th, and it has been available since June 28th.

Link: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2022/06/27/introducing-reels-apis-to-instagram-platform/

Meta introduces Instagram Reels APIs for developers

Twitter Rolls Out ‘Branded Likes’ to Advertisers in the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and Japan

Branded likes, which are personalised animations of the Like button for specific tweets, can increase engagement and exposure by adding a small interactive touch. Branded Likes, which guarantee a brand’s ad is the first ad to see when someone enters Twitter for the first time that day, are being incorporated into Twitter’s Timeline Takeover ad offering.

It’s a fun, responsive option right now to assist in maximising awareness and reach, but given the possible expense and size involved, it’s more suitable for promoting big launches and releases than future sales promotions.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/twitter-rolls-out-branded-likes-to-advertisers-in-the-us-uk-saudi-arabi/626434/

Twitter Provides Tips on How to Maximise Carousel Ads and Posts

This article claims that one of the more effective Twitter ad solutions has always been carousel advertising. Twitter improved its Carousel Ad offering last October by adding a number of features to provide the developer with more options for creating responsive posts for various audiences within a single campaign.

Twitter lists some of the main applications for carousel advertisements and says they’re perfect for:

  • Showcasing multiple features or products
  • Promoting multiple offers
  • Illustrating various benefits of an app, product, or service
  • Highlighting multiple reviews and customer quotes or testimonials
  • Breaking up a single image across multiple frames
  • Telling a multi-faceted story

Users are more inclined to scroll through your post’s carousels if you can make them aesthetically beautiful and interesting. This is one of the Twitter forms we haven’t looked into for clients like NUS Med. They can be routed to the homepage at whichever frame the audience stopped at, which can be helpful as we frequently have articles or large amounts of material that we need to break down into manageable chunks of information.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/twitter-provides-tips-on-how-to-maximize-carousel-ads-and-posts/626155/

Will NFTs Integrate Into Social Media or Will Social Media Integrate With NFT Marketplaces?

The context: We’ve long debated about how NFTs will integrate into more mainstream digital platforms, such as the social media ecosystems, and the integrations available thus far are few and far between (the most successful being PFPs/ NFT profile pictures)

The update: Coinbase NFT (a recently-launched marketplace) is trying to boost user engagement and interaction on the platform with a social commerce approach, combining the best of social media (eg: the following feed, adding a “liked” tab) with the best of a marketplace (rarity filters, time-delayed listings and the ability for users to connect up to 10 crypto wallets to a single Coinbase NFT account).

Current status: Coinbase NFT has seen about 8,202 unique buyers and sellers on its platform since it launched two months ago. There have been 20,765 transactions at the time of writing, which adds up to a total volume traded of roughly $2.9 million, or 1,468 ETH. This is rather poor, as for context – OpenSea traded $15.6 million on 30 June alone and has roughly 2 million registered users that have performed at least one transaction.

Evaluating success: The response to Coinbase’s new features thread on Twitter was mixed, and on-chain metrics are still poor (as above), however, Coinbase maintains that the focus is to engage the community with the new features reminiscent of social media. Watch this space!

Link: https://decrypt.co/104301/coinbase-nft-releases-new-features-as-it-struggles-to-attract-traders

Meta Launches New NFT Display Options on Facebook

Users may now make bespoke NFT posts with a “Digital Collectible” tag and have a separate NFT section to display their non-fungible artworks on Facebook, according to Meta’s product manager Navdeep Singh.

Users will be able to see who owns the artwork, who made it, and a brief description of the object when browsing NFT photographs, much like Instagram, which began the first stage of its NFT support campaign in May.

Facebook is planning to support Ethereum, Polygon, and all of the major exchanges, and NFT owners will be able to connect their Rainbow, Trust Wallet, and MetaMask accounts to authenticate NFT ownership. The information is sourced from the NFT details displayed on the public blockchain.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-launches-new-nft-display-options-on-facebook/626428/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 27 JUNE 2022

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Instagram Adds New Age Verification Features to Better Detect and Protect Younger Users

In order to deliver age-appropriate experiences, such as setting kids into private accounts, preventing unwelcome interaction from adults they don’t know, and limiting the options advertisers have to reach children with ads, Instagram is exploring additional ways for users to verify their age on Instagram.

They can verify their age using one of three options: upload their ID, record a video selfie or ask mutual friends to verify their age. The main enhancement is a new video selfie process, which can provide AI-based estimates of a person’s age.

Instagram and other social media platforms can be damaging to young users in a number of ways, and underage usage can expose children to predators and improper information.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-adds-new-age-verification-features-to-better-detect-and-protect-y/625994/

Twitter Launches ‘Notes’ Long-Form Blogging Option, Attached to Tweets

Users can now add lengthy content to their tweets thanks to this new functionality. The user interface (UI) is akin to a standard blog post composer, with header pictures and the ability to put images and links inside of lengthy tweets. Once posted, it will become a Twitter card that links users to the complete article.

With an updated label placed at the top, the author can still amend uploaded Notes, unlike tweets. Twitter, however, stated that this won’t receive a priority over standard tweets and won’t receive an algorithmic boost. To find out how Twitter would or is optimising this functionality for users when it officially launches, we likely need to see usage data from Twitter.

However, at the present, only a few users have access to this feature. However, companies like NUS Med who frequently tweet summaries of their articles with links to the complete articles on their page may find this functionality handy.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/twitter-launches-notes-long-form-blogging-option-attached-to-tweets/625917/

Gucci’s Experimental Concept Space – Vault

Gucci has launched a cryptoart exhibition and auction entitled “The Next 100 Years of Gucci”. Otherwise known as the Vault, is an experimental concept store that hosts both physical products that are exclusively available on the Vault and NFTs from 29 artists that depict what the next 100 years of Gucci could look like.

Gucci aims to push beyond luxury retail and into creating a community – through the metaverse and vault.

With the Vault, it seems that Gucci is building their brand towards connecting with the audience — building a community — catering to Gen Zs who look for in a hybrid shopping experience. This means making Gucci available physically and in the digital world through social media platforms, metaverse, NFTs, discord etc.

Link: https://vault.gucci.com/en/story/enter-vault

Meta is Developing a New ‘Basic Ads’ Product for Facebook to Counter Losses Due to Data Privacy Concerns

According to reports, Meta is working on a new, privacy-friendly Facebook ad product that would use much fewer user data for targeting.

The emphasis would be on increasing general brand awareness through exposure to a large audience, so if you’re not wanting to target any particular audience or group, you might run a simple ad that was more broadly targeted to Facebook users.

The solution was created in reaction to Apple’s ATT update, which saw a large number of Facebook users choose not to have their personal data tracked by the programme.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-is-developing-a-new-basic-ads-product-for-facebook-to-counter-losses/624893/

Twitter Expands E-Commerce Features With Shopify Partnership

According to a press release, Twitter and Shopify this week launched a partnership to assist retailers in driving customers to their websites to complete transactions.

Users of Shopify’s e-commerce platform will be able to display up to 50 goods for sale on their Twitter profiles in automatically updated listings. A Twitter sales channel app is now available through Shopify’s administrator portal as well as its App Store. Businesses can link their Twitter accounts to the Shopping Manager on the social networking site, which offers a number of e-commerce software capabilities.

Due to the integration between Twitter and Shopify, retailers can now display their products on Twitter Shops or in the Shop Spotlight on their Twitter profile, both of which are now open to all retailers in the United States. The Shopify merchants’ catalogues and Twitter’s sales channel app are automatically synchronised, so there is no need for manual updates to the product information.

One way social networks may provide marketers with extra services and give users another incentive to visit more often is by supporting e-commerce. It offers the opportunity for social media sites to collect transaction fees and receive commissions on sales, but some of these costs have been temporarily waived by platforms like Facebook as they work to increase the number of merchants they work with.

As much as social media companies now compete with retailers for digital advertising dollars, they also are finding ways to collaborate in their e-commerce efforts.

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/twitter-expands-e-commerce-features-with-shopify-partnership/625930/

Facebook Reportedly Plans a Major Overhaul to Compete With TikTok

The Verge published an internal memo sent by Tom Alison, head of FB explaining very clearly the social media platform’s plans to revamp its feed and other major changes to keep up with TikTok and it’s not just about promoting reels.

Some changes we can expect include:

  1. Facebook’s Feed is expected to “balance both connected content and unconnected content” in Feed. It means that Facebook is going to start recommending more content in your feed from sources you’re not connected with. You’ll still be able to see posts from your connections (friends and family), but you’ll also see more content from entities you’re not connected with.
  2. Reuniting FB and messenger apps to support what they refer to as the “message-based sharing” of content.
  3. Facebook is still prioritising Reels and is now planning on “integrating Reels in Home, Watch, IFR and Groups.”

Link: https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/leaked-memo-shows-facebook-plans-big-changes-to-compete-with-tiktok/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 20 JUNE 2022

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YouTube Reports that 1.5 Billion Users Now Engage with YouTube Shorts Content Each Month

It’s remarkable to consider TikTok’s impact on the social media landscape and media consumption patterns in general – not just on TikTok, but also through the myriad short form video offers now available in other apps.

For example, YouTube today released new data on the growing popularity of YouTube Shorts, its own TikTok clone, which was created to blur the line between the two apps and prevent YouTube viewers from flocking to the trending site.

As per YouTube: “YouTube Shorts are now being watched by over 1.5 billion logged-in users every month.”

That is a huge amount, especially when you also consider that YouTube’s total monthly ‘logged in’ audience is 2 billion total users.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-reports-that-15-billion-users-now-engage-with-youtube-shorts-conte/625587/#:~:text=As%20per%20YouTube%3A,is%202%20billion%20total%20users

Instagram Tests Updated, TikTok-Like Full-Screen Format for its Main Feed

Instagram has updated its full-screen main feed test, which transforms Instagram posts — whether static photographs, videos, or Reels – into a full-height, TikTok-style swipeable flow of all types of IG content.

The navigation bar, description, and Instagram logo are placed on the content, making Instagram Reels and video clips full-screen. This new method would also hide the Stories bar, albeit, in the long run, Stories would most likely be integrated into this new presenting type.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-tests-updated-tiktok-like-full-screen-format-for-its-main-feed/625682/

YouTube Brings Shopping to Shorts With Glossier Challenge

Glossier was the first company to sell its products via YouTube Shorts. Glossier’s newest eyeliner, the No. 1 Pencil, is featured in YouTube’s first Shoppable Shorts Challenge.

Glossier is also collaborating with over 100 influencers to create short videos displaying the eyeliner on their own social media platforms. Each video will include the hashtag #WrittenInGlossier, which will direct viewers to Glossier.com to purchase the new product. The challenge kicked off on June 8 and will end on June 23. Because of the current blend of content and business, Glossier’s relationship with YouTube Shorts is noteworthy. More brands will be able to produce shoppable films that are optimised for mobile viewing as YouTube rolls out this functionality. They can also employ influencers and artists to promote their products, such as Glossier’s Shoppable Shorts Challenge, which gives viewers first access to the brand’s newest product.

YouTube is expanding into the short-form video arena, which is TikTok’s main strength, in order to regain growth.

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/youtube-glossier-beauty-festival-makeup/625173/

A Cookieless Future Demands Contextual Commerce

Third-party cookies will be phased out by Google by the end of 2023, but contextual commerce does not require consumer data.

Contextual commerce simplifies the purchasing process and makes ordering simple, allowing customers to shop whenever and wherever they want. (It’s a case of buying in context.)

Contextual commerce should be simple to combine with content marketing initiatives, such as making videos or live broadcasts that link to items and services, allowing users to purchase while watching. For example, social media postings link to the products featured in them, allowing customers to shop while scrolling, and we tag products on Instagram posts wherever possible because IG doesn’t allow link clicks in the caption.

Anywhere that potential purchasers can view your goods should be linked to a purchase option, so they don’t have to go elsewhere to finish their buying. This is where our well-defined call to action urges customers to complete the checkout process.

In order to make ad measurement easier and comparable, Gartner recommends utilising structured content descriptions for advertising, which is the same fundamental piece of material that can be used to populate a section of a web page, in-product help, social media posts, and even chat interactions.

Links: 

Instagram Will Start Nudging Teens Away From the Content They Continuously Browse Through Notifications

After announcing a new project last year to “nudge” teen users away from hazardous content, Instagram has announced that the feature is now available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

If a teen’s spending too long on Instagram’s Explore page looking at posts with a particular theme, the platform will display a notification suggesting that they look at other types of posts instead.

Additionally, Instagram’s existing parental controls are also getting some changes. Parents will now be able to send invites to their children requesting access to parental supervision tools, which previously could only be done by teens. Parents can also get more control over how much time their kid spends on Instagram by seeing what types of posts or accounts their teen reports.

Link: https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/14/23167233/instagram-nudge-teens-harmful-content

CapitaLand Launches Its First 24-Hour Experiential Party in Decentraland, Presented by Dbs

CapitaLand is the first mall operator in Singapore to host a 24-hour immersive party in Decentraland from June 19 at 6 p.m. to June 20 at 5 p.m. (VIP session begins at 5 p.m.). Live music performances, brand exploration docks, the Capitaverse-exclusive Aura Wearable NFT, and virtual hunts for real-world rewards are all part of CapitaVerse’s four levels of interactive and immersive discovery stations.

Members of the DBS Attendees are invited to log in at 6 p.m. and build their avatars in order to receive exclusive complimentary Aura wearables (limited to 1,500) and quadruple their chances of winning a $50 eCapitaVoucher when they share their trendy avatars on Instagram.

Attendees can get their Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) NFT from the POAP dispenser in The Checkered Board Lab on Level 2. The POAP is a digital record of your experiences that will be kept in your MetaMask wallet. The POAP is stored in MetaMask, a free digital wallet that allows guests to flash their POAP at participating stores to receive special discounts for a month until July 20th.

Link: https://www.capitaland.com/international/en/about-capitaland/newsroom/news-releases/in[…]itaLand_launches_first_metaverse_party_in_Decentraland.html

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 30 MAY 2022

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Social Media Managers Can Now Post to TikTok from Their Favorite Social Media Management Tools

TikTok has now integrated a new set of social media management tools to its Marketing Partners Program, allowing you to organise, schedule, and publish content to TikTok from your preferred platform.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/social-media-managers-can-now-post-to-tiktok-from-their-favorite-social-med/624505/

International Burger Day Posts From McDonald’s in Asia – Great Way to Increase Engagements

McDonald’s Singapore initiated the conversation by posting their favourite burgers and tagging McDonald’s Korea to contribute their favourites as well.

McDonald’s Korea then tagged McDonald’s HK in order for them to share theirs.

According to social proof, a post from McDonald’s SG received over 2.5k likes, much beyond their usual 200-500 likes. At the same time, it piques consumers’ interest in the burgers available in other Asian countries, encouraging them to click on each of the marked McDonald’s locations to learn more.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeFfxF1Dnwp/?igshid=NWRhNmQxMjQ=

Chevrolet’s WhatsApp Game Drives Awareness of Texting and Driving Dangers

Chevrolet Brazil created a WhatsApp mobile game to raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving. The campaign will be promoted by promotions on Instagram Stories and Twitter during Yellow May, the international awareness month for decreasing road accidents.

By typing “hello” to Chevrolet, mobile users can access the Zap Racing game on the messaging app. Messages fill the screen with emoji depicting a car approaching obstacles such as trees, bikers, and other vehicles, while players can drive their vehicle by responding with commands in the chat. With each stage, the game becomes tougher, and all players will inevitably crash in the end. The last message informs viewers of the dangers of texting and driving.

The game builds on Chevrolet’s increased focus on social media marketing and shows that it is targeting younger consumers who are heavy app users.

Instagram’s Working on a Video Reaction Option for Reels

Instagram is presently testing a new feature that prompts users to ‘make a reaction video’ directly from the Reels share sheet. The user can film a reaction video by clicking on the settings menu found on the reel they want to react to.

Instagram has previously added a handful of TikTok-inspired features, and this is another move in TikTok’s direction, as Instagram explores ways to more closely coincide with TikTok’s core, and enormously popular product, in order to neutralise TikTok’s growth and keep users linked with its apps.

Link: https://thenextweb.com/news/instagram-remix-feature-reels-tiktok-duets

NFTs Are Coming to Instagram

Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that Meta will begin testing NFTs on Instagram very soon, most likely right now.

This experiment is intended to allow creators and collectors to display their NFTs on their accounts. This would also be available on Facebook in the future, although no timetable was provided. There are no expenses associated with showing NFTs on your profile.

Augmented reality NFTs are also being created for Instagram, and one area to use them is in IG stories, where you can project digital art into 3D and physical places utilising Spark AR (software AR platform).

This is being tested in the United States and would allow testers to share their NFTs, whether they created them or have them in their collection, on their Instagram feed, stories, or in messages.

The community has expressed concern about the massive quantity of carbon footprint this would cause as power is consumed when transactions that employ that power occur. While this may encourage more people to participate in NFT creation and purchasing, it is unclear how much carbon footprint will be freed as a result.

Link: https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/nfts-are-coming-to-instagram-with-testing-starting-this-week/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 23 MAY 2022

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Instagram’s Testing a New Stories UI

Instagram has been testing a new Stories UI that essentially hides Stories posts beyond a specific frame count for the past few weeks. Some Stories now only show the first three frames, with a little ‘Show all’ prompt in the top left corner of the screen. That would be simple to overlook, which could mean that if you publish more than three frames to your Story, the latter ones are far less likely to be viewed. This will be automatically played.

Stories would be displayed with the frame count at the bottom of the screen, indicating that users can swipe left to see more — and perhaps Instagram believes that displaying too many frames will be off-putting, taking users out of the vertical swiping experience. This could be related to Instagram’s Reels-first strategy as it competes with TikTok. Instagram is also testing a new full-screen main feed with feed articles, stories, and video content for a more immersive experience.

This significant change will have an immediate influence on how social media content makers create material for the network.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagrams-testing-a-new-stories-ui-which-could-have-big-implications-for/624034/

What Can N.F.T.s Do for Dead Artists?

Museums and artist families are experimenting with putting artists’ works on the blockchain after their deaths. The British Museum has already engaged with an NFT trading platform to sell digital art by artists housed there. Because making new work by a late artist is normally frowned upon in the art world, the British Museum devised methods to generate “ultra-rare” NFTs such as artwork that was created but never printed. NFTs are also being considered by the families of great painters as a means of preserving the artist’s archive.

Link: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/what-can-nfts-do-for-dead-artists

YouTube Launches Separate Data Tabs for Videos, Shorts, Live Streams and Posts

Shorts and live streams are becoming increasingly popular among content creators and producing enormous returns, with shorts driving (30 billion views per day!). Channel managers wanted to know what kind of traffic their content creates and how it contributes to overall growth using such figures. As a result, YouTube Studio now has superior metrics for each type of material you submit.

The reach and engagement pages will be replaced by a new content tab that displays the data for videos, shorts, live streams, and posts. When you click into any of these tabs, you can simply track the specific performance of various content kinds posted, which was something that the community asked when shorts was launched. You can still see aggregated data from the ‘all’ page and should be able to access previously available metrics, albeit they may have been reorganised. Please keep in mind that if you haven’t uploaded for a specific sort of video format, you won’t see the tab. If you have never done live-streaming before, for example, the tab will not display.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-rolls-out-new-separate-data-tabs-for-videos-shorts-live-streams/624113/

TikTok Rolls Out a New ‘Friends’ Tab to More Users, Replacing the Current ‘Discover’ Tab

The Discover option on TikTok has been replaced by the Friends tab, where you are urged to connect with your friends in order to access their content on the website. It will also recommend accounts from individuals you know, with a follow button next to each name. TikTok’s decision to remove the Discover tab, which showed users a variety of content, including trending hashtags and videos, as well as a search bar, is interesting because the FYP already has a ‘Following’ tab that displays all the content from people you follow on the app, which includes your friends. While TikTok has yet to clarify its reasoning for this modification, it could be that they are attempting to transition from a viral and popular video app to an interpersonal app.

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/09/tiktok-friends-tab-replacing-discover-tab/amp/?guc[…]odsi3BpTk55sCG1xd9dWqyP7se_WZKsHooUg3nTyeNqeoWnh&guccounter=2

LinkedIn Updates Professional Community Policies to Better Reflect What’s Not Allowed in the App

Summary of salient points below:

  • More people than ever are coming to LinkedIn to find opportunities, be more productive, and learn new skills.
  • Allow users to safely participate on the platform.
  • Empowering members to engage in professional discussions about topics they care about.
  • While harassment, hate speech, and other abusive content have never been allowed on LinkedIn, they’ve added what types of comments and behaviours go against  Professional Community Policies.

LinkedIn does have a specific policy against ‘sexual innuendos and unwanted advances’, which now also includes more examples of what’s not allowed.

Link: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/137370

TikTok Is Launching In-App Mini Games to Boost User Engagement.

The games would be simple HTML5-based apps created by third-party game developers and studios such as Zynga Inc. Gaming is a significant part of online culture, and it will allow TikTok to increase its appeal among younger viewers. Tiktok has made a greater push toward gaming in order to diversify its revenue streams.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-tests-new-mini-games-with-users-in-vietnam/624104/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 09 MAY 2022

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Facebook’s Removing a Range of Location Tracking Tools as Data Regulations Continue to Evolve

According to Meta, these services will be discontinued after May 31st, 2022, at which point Meta will cease collecting the data necessary to power these elements, even if you had previously enabled them. According to Meta, all previously logged information pertaining to these functions will be destroyed on August 1st.

“While we’re deprecating some location-based features on Facebook due to low usage, people can still use Location Services to manage how their location information is collected and used.”

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebooks-removing-a-range-of-location-tracking-tools-as-data-regulations/623365/

TikTok Has A New Way For Advertisers to Reach Users

TikTok Pulse is a new advertising alternative for marketers unveiled by TikTok. This new ad option exposes brands to the top 4% of videos. More specifically, your advertising may appear alongside content in a user’s For You stream.

Additional benefits of TikTok Pulse include:

  • Drive engagement and action
  • Confidence in brand suitability measurements

Currently, TikTok will offer 12 categories of Pulse for brands to choose where to show their content. Some of the categories included are:

  • Beauty
  • Fashion
  • Cooking
  • Gaming

By allowing you to select the category in which your advertising appears, you may engage with the groups that are most relevant to you. TikTok will apply an in-house designed inventory filter to ensure that your advertising appears next to top content. They simply ensure that the information published on the site is validated and has the highest level of brand compatibility.

Individual producers and media publishers with at least 100,000 followers are currently eligible for the programme.

Link: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/tiktok-pulse/448948/#close

LinkedIn Updates Feed Algorithm to Downrank Engagement-Baiting Posts and Polls

LinkedIn users dislike engagement baiting posts. These posts specifically request or encourage the community to interact with the material through likes or reactions. This type of content can be deceptive and frustrating for LinkedIn users, who are mostly professionals.

LinkedIn also recognises that polls are frequently utilised by social media marketers since they are straightforward and easy for the audience to engage with. To combat this, their algorithm will only display polls that are useful and relevant.

LinkedIn also published a paper titled “5 Key Ingredients for a Unified Brand,” which contained a table format outlining how marketers may assist in finding the correct story for each audience (page 15). Download the PDF here: https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/marketing-solutions/case-studies/images/pdfs/5-key-ingredients-for-a-unified-brand.pdf

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-updates-feed-algorithm-to-downrank-engagement-baiting-posts-and-po/623313/

LinkedIn Feed Algorithm Updates

LinkedIn users can now opt out of political content within the app. While it does not influence everyone, persons in political and advocacy roles may become involved, affecting platform reach and performance for select users and brands.

LinkedIn is attempting to reduce notification volume, so you will receive fewer updates from your network. Instead, it will display more targeted activity from your network, where you are more likely to participate in the conversation or interact with the post. (For example, if you don’t know that other person, you may not get much value from reading a connection’s comment on someone else’s post about a job move, thus they will show fewer such posts.)

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-updates-feed-algorithm-to-downrank-engagement-baiting-posts-and-po/623313/

Millennium Hotels & Resorts Launches M Social Decentraland

Millennium Hotels & Resorts, which debuted on May 5, 2022, is the world’s first hospitality group to run a hotel in the metaverse. M Social Decentraland is the hospitality group’s newest hotel and is positioned as a destination for those who want to learn new things and interact with like-minded people.

Guests can engage with the avatar that greets them in the foyer and will be led on a discovery tour within the hotel. Those that make it to the summit of Decentraland will be rewarded with real-world hotel delights. Millennium Hotels and Resorts is searching for like-minded partners for future partnerships, as well as adding treasures and surprises to their virtual world visits as an incentive for more visitors to explore their new hotel. 

Link: https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/m-social-decentraland/

Whatsapp launches New Communities feature

This is the first stage of the community feature announced last month:

  • Able to send files over 100MB which was the limit but now increased to 2GB
  • New admin tools, sub-groups
  • Whatsapp calls can hold up to 32 people using audio only
  • Reactions are avail in group chats and possible to add up to 512 people in a group chat! The current limit is 256 people

On the brand marketing front, this opens up new opportunities in which brands may create a loyalty group within Whatsapp itself and offer unique deals and sneak peeks to their chosen clientele.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/whatsapps-doubling-the-size-of-group-chats-in-the-app/623363/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 25 April 2022

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Facebook’s New Feature Lets You Use Music in Post Replies and Comments

You may now include music samples in your post replies, encouraging people to listen to your favourite music and providing another opportunity for marketers to connect with their audiences.

It works similarly to the music sticker in Facebook stories, where you may search for tracks by touching on the music note icon on the right of the comment box, alongside other icons such as emojis, gifs, and so on.

You can then choose a segment of the track to share a sample of the track in order to offer context to your thoughts, link people to new tracks, or make amusing allusions. This is new, and it remains to be seen how popular it will be, but it might be another avenue for a company to communicate with its followers.

Link: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2022/04/facebooks-new-feature-lets-you-use.html

BeReal is Gen Z’s new favourite social media app. Here’s how it works.

BeReal is a social networking app that seeks to provide users with an authentic platform to share their stories. Rather than utilising filters and manipulated photographs, BeReal users publish a picture, known as a ‘BeReal,’ inside a random 2-minute window each day to share with friends wherever they are or whatever they are doing at the time. The app alerts you at the start of the 2-minute posting window, but this window changes daily, so you can plan ahead of time what you’ll be doing. During that time, you’ll take a picture with both your front and rear cameras, and the two photographs will be posted to the app at the same time.

BeReal, which was founded in late 2019, is said to be the next big social networking app, with 7.67 million downloads year to date. The app is capturing the attention of Gen Zs, particularly in France and the United States, where they account for 20.5% and 19.7% of downloads, respectively. In 2022, it had 65% of its lifetime downloads, and its monthly users had increased 315% year so far.

This is definitely an alternative if you want to try this out, giving your friends an unfiltered look into your life and it’s like a breath of fresh air from seeing curated content on Instagram.  You’d be less likely to spend too much time on the app if you could only publish once a day. Despite its growing popularity, we need to wait and see how this app evolves and if it expands outside France and the United States.

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/22/bereal-hype-or-hit-what-to-know-about-the-gen-z-photo-sharing-app-climbing-the-charts/amp/ 

Bitcoin Mining Is Naturally Gravitating to Green Energy

Earth Day 2022 (April 22) is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how crypto mining businesses have begun to organically gravitate toward less expensive and greener energy sources.

Clean energy is preferred due to a combination of environmental concerns, political pressures, and a focus on the bottom line. It’s causing a sea change that might have far-reaching consequences beyond Bitcoin mining, affecting electricity grid systems all across the world.

Hydropower is currently one of the most dependable renewable energy sources available; however, other renewables such as wind energy, solar power, and nuclear energy can also be employed. Prioritizing renewable energy to power the majority of operations is a long-term sustainable plan.

Link: https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-earth-day-analysts-say-bitcoin-mining-is-naturally-gravitating-to-green-energy?utm_source=Telegram&utm_medium=social

Everything You Need to Know About Moonbirds NFTs, the Hottest NFT Trend of the Past Week

What are they?

Moonbirds are a collection of 10,000 NFTs issued on Ethereum’s network on April 16th, 2022.

Why are they a big deal?

Moonbirds NFTs represent “utility-enabled PFPs that feature a richly diverse and unique pool of rarity-powered traits.”. AKA: They have properties that can be rare, and they’re more than just a picture.

  1. When you hold a Moonbird, you have access to an NFT-gated Discord server. Once inside, users will have access to exclusive Moonbirds channels where they can learn about upcoming drops, community activities, nesting, and so on. This is the first well-publicised example of NFT-gating, but it will not be the last.
  2. Moonbirds are designed to be locked and nested without leaving the user’s wallet. As soon as the Moonbird is nested, it begins to accrue additional benefits, and as the total nested time accumulates, customers will notice their NFTs achieving new tier levels – so upgrading their nest.

Link: https://dknation.draftkings.com/playbook/23025569/nft-news-moonbirds-set-to-take-flight-proof-collective-metaverse-crypto-podcast-newsletter

Debunking the Misconception about Instagram Hashtags

According to a Socialinsider survey, 53% of respondents stated that the primary motivation for utilising Instagram hashtags is to increase reach/post views. However, this is a common misperception.

Instagram hashtags help users understand what a post is about, but they aren’t always a good way to acquire more exposure.

  • Big accounts should use three-four hashtags to obtain better impressions rates.
  •  Mid-sized accounts get a higher impression rate if they use more than five hashtags.

In addition, Instagram is experimenting with the removal of the “recent” tab while searching for a hashtag. This implies that when you search a hashtag, you’ll only find “Top” or “Reels,” and the content will become more algorithm-centric rather than chronological-centric.

One approach is to include the keyword in the post copy because IG’s keyword search works similarly to Google in that it can identify both the term and the hashtag.

Link: https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/instagram-hashtags-dont-affect-post-views/ 

Communities Feature Added to WhatsApp

WhatsApp is launching its new feature: “WhatsApp Communities”. This will allow schools or local clubs to message several groups at once, making it easier to send updates and organise events.

Communities will make it easier for a school principal, for example, to gather all of the parents at the school to discuss must-read information and form groups for specific subjects, extracurricular activities, or volunteer needs.

Some other updates WhatsApp is introducing are:

  • Reactions – Emoji reactions will be launched so people can quickly share their opinion without flooding chats with new messages
  • Admin Delete – Group admins will be able to remove problematic messages from everyone’s chats
  • File-Sharing – They are increasing file sharing to support files up to 2 gigabytes so people can easily collaborate on projects
  • Larger Voice Calls – They are introducing one-tap voice calling for up to 32 people with an all-new design

Link: https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/whatsapp-launches-communities-4-new-features-for-groups-1937573-2022-04-14 

New Cookie Choices in Europe

If you’ve ever visited a website in Europe, you’ve probably seen a cookie consent banner. Cookies allow websites to remember information about your visit so that they may do things like show text in your preferred language, verify that you’re a legitimate user, or evaluate how effective an ad campaign is.

Anyone in Europe who visits Search or YouTube while signed out or in Incognito Mode will soon receive a new cookie consent option. This upgrade, which began rolling out on YouTube earlier this month, will provide you with equal “Reject all” and “Accept all” buttons on the first screen in your selected language. (You can also pick “More alternatives” to further modify your selection.)

We’ve kicked off the launch in France and will be extending this experience across the rest of the European Economic Area, the U.K. and Switzerland. Before long, users in the region will have a new cookie choice — one that can be accepted or rejected with a single click.

Link: https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/new-cookie-choices-in-europe/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 18 April 2022

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YouTube and TikTok Add New Options for Automated Captions, Improving Accessibility

With a new option to add a ‘Subtitles editor’ job within the YouTube Studio app, creators may more easily outsource the development and editing of subtitles on their videos. This allows access to a third party to manage subtitles on your clips.

This improves the readability and accuracy of captions on the material. YouTube provides automated subtitles on all uploads, but because they are automated, they are not always accurate, which is especially true for specific languages, and this option will allow for more administrative capability in this area.

By making English language auto-captions the default for all uploads, TikTok hopes to increase caption access and use for a wider audience. After they’ve been made, you can make changes to the auto-captions. This allows consumers to better understand what videos are about when they are watching them with the sound turned off.

With both TikTok and YouTube expanding into new markets and gaining broader adoption around the world, it’s critical that each app take appropriate steps to maximise utility. Accessibility has become a focus for social apps in recent years, and platforms are constantly adding new tools and options to help a wider range of users access the content.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-and-tiktok-add-new-options-for-automated-captions-improving-access/622025/

Rising Social App: BeReal

BeReal is a photo-sharing app that allows you to share photographs from your back and front cameras with your pals. Everyone takes a photo within 2 minutes every day at a different time. (It’s similar to Snapchat, but it’s more genuine because there are no filters and a time restriction for taking a snapshot of whatever you’re doing at the time.)

This app was developed in 2020, but it has seen a 315% spike in app downloads this year, with Gen Z appearing to be the primary target group. (This function appears to have the potential to be replicated by Facebook and Instagram if the app becomes more widely used.)

We can see a need for more honest, unfiltered depictions of people’s real-life experiences, as opposed to edited/filtered images/videos, as the numbers grow. (Perhaps this is something we should remember while creating content – the “more authentic” the content, the better.)

In BeReal, there are no reactions like hearts or thumbs up. Instead, you must use the app to shoot a selfie of your face within a circle design. These are referred to as “realmojis” because instead of commenting on an emoji, you exhibit your own facial expression.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/rising-social-app-bereal-is-gaining-momentum-with-downloads-up-315-this-y/621929/

Baskin-Robbins Scoops Up Brand Refresh

In its first significant rebranding in nearly two decades, Baskin-Robbins is releasing a new logo, branding, and packaging for the United States and Canada. The new theme’s tagline, “Seize the Yay,” urges people to embrace life’s small pleasures.

Baskin-Robbins will showcase three new flavours as well as its first line of goods, which will include clothes, hats, and a bike, to commemorate the relaunch.

They also developed a creative campaign with two 15-second commercials featuring children enjoying a scoop after learning to ride a bike and surviving the first day of school.

Baskin Robbin’s updated look follows refreshes by legacy brands including M&M’s, Coca-Cola and even Boss earlier this year. Each employed varied methods to highlight their respective marketing aims, but they all appear to be leveraging their rebranding to better fit a landscape that has been continually transformed by the pandemic and to push forward with a streamlined, realigned message.

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/baskin-robbins-rebrand-visual-identity/621837/

YouTube Launches New ‘Search Insights’ for All Creators

YouTube has announced that it’s rolling out its new Search Insights feature to all creators, which will provide a range of new data points to help refine your YouTube strategy, based on what people are looking for in the app.

For ‘Content Gap’ inquiries, which are search phrases that don’t generate a lot of results, YouTube will show a marker. The idea is that by displaying these inquiries, content creators will be able to focus on developing content that corresponds with searches that aren’t currently being provided by the videos in the app, perhaps opening up new prospects for your efforts.

There’s also a feature called ‘Searches Across YouTube,’ which will show you the most popular search queries for any keyword.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-launches-new-search-insights-for-all-creators/622100/

Instagram Introduces 7 New Messaging Features

Here’s a full rundown of every new feature:

  1. Reply while you browse: Quickly reply to a message without having to leave the Instagram Home feed.
  2. Quickly send to friends: Re-share content without navigating away from the Instagram Home feed by tapping and holding the share button.
  3. See who’s online: See who’s free to chat at the top of your inbox list.
  4. Share a song: Share a 30-second preview of a song via integrations with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify (coming soon).
  5. Send messages quietly: Send messages without notifying friends by adding “@silent” in your message.
  6. Switch theme: Try out the new lo-fi chat theme.
  7. Create a poll in group messages: Create a poll directly in a group chat to survey your friends.

Link: Instagram Introduces 7 New Messaging Features for DMs | Later 

See How Coachella Festival 2022 Leverages NFTs for Integrating Online and Offline Experiences

If you thought Coachella would be a safe haven from the ever-increasing crowds of tech dudes who can’t stop talking about NTFS, you’d be mistaken.

Coachella Collectibles NFTs, the festival’s own version of the trendiest of current commodities, was released ahead of this year’s festival.

It’s a move that seems to necessitate a lot more digital know-how and futuristic vision than one might expect for an event centred on excellent music and vibes, but one that the fest claims will provide plenty of potential rewards for festival-goers.

Link: https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/coachella/2022/04/15/nfts-coachella-how-claim-yours-free-your-wristband/7336998001/ 

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 11 April 2022

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Twitter Begins Pilot Tests for 3 New Ad Formats

Interactive Text Ads: Advertisers can highlight up to 3 words in your ad content — this is a new way for consumers to interact with ad copy, so choose your words carefully when producing your copy — and these highlighted words can direct users to a landing page. This is beneficial because if TW provides you with insights into each highlighted word, you’ll know exactly what prompted the user to interact with your ad.

Product Explorer Ads: Customers can swipe and rotate products to see them from multiple perspectives and in various colours.

Collection Ads: It appears to be similar to Facebook’s Instant Experience ad type, which features a hero image with up to five smaller thumbnail images in a carousel format. People can be sent to several landing pages by each image.

Link: https://www.adweek.com/social-marketing/twitter-begins-pilot-tests-for-3-new-ad-formats/

New Balance is amongst brands trying on Twitter’s first 3D product ads

  • During a time when mobile campaign targeting and measurement confront significant problems, Twitter is diversifying its ad solutions. 
  • Each of the new products focuses on results, urging customers to visit a website to make a purchase or learn more about the company. The formats also include exaggerated text callouts that can be emphasised in different colours, dynamic 3D technology, or a scrolling carousel that’s widespread on other social platforms to create a more visually noticeable break with the main Twitter feed.
  • Interactive Text is one of the functionalities available. This format displays messages in larger, bolder typography than standard tweets and can be used to accompany material such as a video. Up to three terms in the copy can be highlighted and connected to landing sites. The format is being tested by Oreo, Bud Light, and Wendy’s.

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/new-balance-twitter-3d-product-ads-interactive-text/621425/

Google Adds New Visual and Text Search Options to Enhance Product Discovery

With the addition of a new ‘multi search’ option, Google is making it easier to locate exactly what you’re looking for in visual search queries. Users will be able to broaden their search results by combining visual and text elements.

Example:

  • Screenshot a particular style of orange dress and add the search “green” to find it in that colour.
  • Take a picture of a plant and add the query “care instructions” for specific instructions to that plant

By using visual cues to boost your results, refining your search by colour, brand, or a visual element helps to improve shopping search matches.  As AR glasses and other visual tools become more common, and people become more acclimated to using visual references, such visual search criteria may become a much bigger factor in the future.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/google-adds-new-visual-and-text-search-options-to-enhance-product-discovery/621780/

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 04 April 2022

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WhatsApp Announces New Improvements for Audio Recordings in the App

The capacity to use your voice, instead of text, can have intrinsic value, and on WhatsApp, that value is clearly a big bonus, with users now sending 7 billion voice messages per day, on average, in the app.

Given the widespread use of voice recordings in WhatsApp, the company is now seeking to improve the experience with several new features aimed at helping users get the most out of their audio chats.

The following are some of the new voice message additions:

  • Out of Chat Playback
  • Pause/Resume Recording
  • Waveform Visualization
  • Draft Preview
  • Remember Playback
  • Fast Playback on Forwarded Messages

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/whatsapp-announces-new-improvements-for-audio-recordings-in-the-app/621303/

McDonald’s Norway Displays ‘Iconic Trash’ in a Bid to Reduce Littering

McDonald’s is running an ad campaign in Norway that addresses the company’s role in littering.

By using print, social media, and out-of-home (OOH) advertisements to collect what the company refers to as “iconic rubbish,” such as burger wrappers and soda cups abandoned on the street. “Take away your takeaway,” adds the copy, encouraging customers to dispose of their waste once they’ve finished eating.

McDonald’s is demonstrating a willingness to show the brand in a less flattering light to spur customers to cut out littering. This concept recognises the role takeout plays in pollution.

McDonald’s sees the campaign as a way to clean up its image even more. Even while the decision to litter is up to the individual consumer, people who see the chain’s packaging frequently as street trash may form implicit unfavourable associations with the brand.

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/mcdonalds-norway-displays-iconic-trash-in-bid-to-reduce-littering/621173/

TikTok Has Added Another Content Creation Option

The new GIF ‘Library’ tool enables users to select from popular animated content which they can then integrate into their TikTok clips to film reactions and responses and create scenes. This adds an additional layer of convenience for users to immerse themselves within their favourite cultural moment.

HBO, ABC, Hulu, Xbox, and The Roku Channel are among the verified partners and artists.

It’s a good addition for TikTok, especially given the app’s popularity with reaction content, and this tool will essentially enable more participatory meme trends – rather than just watching trends evolve, you can add your own perspective, making it much easier to contribute to the app and participate in such movements.

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-adds-new-gif-library-option-to-facilitate-new-creative-elements/621212/

Study Shows Facebook’s Interest Targeting Is Inaccurate Around 1/3 of the Time

This research was carried out using controlled experiments, in which new accounts were created and a series of planned activities were carried out in a systematic manner.

Inaccuracy #1: The technology on Facebook frequently fails to discern between positive and bad interactions. For example, you may submit a critical comment on cheese, but Facebook interprets it as you being interested in cheese and hence discussing it.

Inaccuracy #2: Entities will be mistakenly attributed to Facebook’s algorithm. When you visit Apple’s (the tech business) Facebook page, for example, Facebook will presume you are interested in the fruit ‘Apple.’

Facebook also makes it difficult for consumers to opt-out of particular interest targeting (around 6 steps), resulting in marketers’ money being wasted by targeting the wrong person. Here’s where you can find out which brands are targeting your demographic:

https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/advertisers/

Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/new-study-finds-facebooks-interest-targeting-is-inaccurate-around-30-of-t/621152/

Rebecca Minkoff Goes Back To The Metaverse With An NFT Collection For Crypto Fashion Week

Rebecca Minkoff presents her brand’s second NFT collection during this year’s Crypto Fashion Week. This time, though, the appearances are created specifically for the metaverse. Customers can browse, purchase, and style their avatars on The Dematerialised (DMAT), a fashion marketplace for fashion NFTs, where the entire selection is available. You also don’t need a cryptocurrency wallet to buy them.

It can be liberating to experiment and play around while developing digital fashion for the metaverse, such as making a jewel-encrusted gown that would weigh hundreds of pounds in real life but would function in the metaverse because there is no physics. It’s fascinating to see how the fashion industry has progressed from making physical collections to generating two different collections or allowing their physical collections to be available in the metaverse – a virtual realm that connects the physical and virtual worlds.

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaklich/2022/03/18/rebecca-minkoff-nft-drop-crypto-fashion-week/?sh=142ea0ea160d

Metaverse Fashion Week Provides a Glimpse of Virtual Brand Experiences

In the last few weeks, we have seen more brands jumping on Decentraland

The Ethereum blockchain powers Decentraland, a decentralised virtual reality network. Users may create, enjoy, and monetise their content and applications on the Decentraland platform. It’s only available on a desktop browser, not on a mobile device.

Dolce & Banna x UNXD Catwalk Show

Had digital models as cat avatars flying around rather than sticking on the catwalk. An exclusive peek at 20 digital wearables was provided.

Selfridges Retail Theatre

Their collection as NFTs was featured in an interactive experience. It was a digital recreation of its Birmingham store that functioned as a gallery and introduction to its NFTs, rather than a shoppable experience.

Tommy Hilfiger Phygital

 Combination of physical + digital approach

Featured in the 2022 collection, shoppers may buy NFTs linked to the label by opening an online storefront. They could then redeem these NFTs for their physical equivalents.
Link: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/did-metaverse-fashion-week-show-us-the-way-for-virtual-brand-experiences-well-s/476950 (edited)