MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – MARCH 2024
Published on 18 Mar '24
Instagram Extends Reels to 3 Minutes & Adds Promo‑Code Ads
Instagram pushed Reels beyond the 90‑second ceiling, letting some users publish clips up to three minutes long. The move encourages deeper storytelling, richer tutorials and ad‑style product demos, positioning Reels as a mid‑form rival to TikTok. In parallel, advertisers can now drop single‑use promo codes straight into sponsored posts—turning the ad itself into a trackable purchase driver and simplifying conversion measurement. Early testers report higher tap‑through rates and easier ROI attribution.
Source socialmediatoday.com
TikTok’s New “Creator Rewards” Pays for Search Value
TikTok retired its Creator Fund and rolled out Creator Rewards, a monetization model that scores videos on four pillars: originality, play duration, engagement—and a brand‑new metric, search value. Content that matches what users actively search gets a payout boost, nudging creators toward SEO‑minded production and diversifying beyond For You‑page virality. The same March update added an “influencer audio” library, giving brands pre‑cleared voice clips from top creators for ads.
Source theverge.com
X (Twitter) Starts Hiding Like & Retweet Counts
On X, Elon Musk confirmed an impending UI overhaul that will remove public like‑ and retweet‑tallies from the main timeline, showing only view counts by default. Users must tap a post to see its deeper engagement stats. Musk’s stated goal is a “cleaner” feed, but critics fear it will hamper social proof and real‑time trend spotting. Brands may need to rethink metrics dashboards, and creators could see lower casual engagement as social cues disappear.
Source gizmodo.com
LinkedIn Experiments with Puzzle‑Style In‑App Games
Microsoft‑owned LinkedIn confirmed it is building casual, Wordle‑style puzzle games (codenamed Queens, Inference and Crossclimb) to boost dwell time. Early code reveals company‑wide leaderboards that rank employers by collective scores—turning gameplay into a lightweight team‑building and employer‑branding tool. The feature reflects LinkedIn’s push to make the professional network stickier without diluting its career focus.
Source techcrunch.com
YouTube Adds Mandatory AI‑Generated Content Label
YouTube introduced a disclosure checkbox for uploads containing realistic AI or synthetic media. Creators must self‑label deepfakes, voice clones or heavily altered footage; YouTube can add a label retroactively if deception risk is high. The badge appears in the description and, for sensitive topics, overlays on the video itself. This policy aims to balance creative freedom with viewer trust as generative tools proliferate.
Source theverge.com
