Social Media Updates: February 2020

Instagram adds ‘Least Interacted With’ and ‘Most Shown in Feed’ following tab

Instagram has recently added two new lists within the following tab, which enable you to see the accounts that get the most visibility in your feed and those who you choose not to engage with as often.

The update provides a list of accounts you don’t engage with a lot and recommends people who you should unfollow. This is to give users more control over their ‘algorithm-defined’ feed.

For example, if you don’t like some of the accounts on the list, or if there are inactive accounts on there, you can remove or unfollow them as well.

The second tab allows you to see the accounts that frequently appear in your feed and whose posts you regularly engage with – this can make it easier for Instagram to suggest new content and accounts for you to like and follow.

 

Andrew Hutchinson from Social Media Today said: “In terms of business use, it could help you pinpoint fans who are no longer engaged in your messaging, highlighting content variables that you may want to shift.”

Another minor update alongside this is the option to reply to stories with GIFs. It is a fairly minor update, but now you can reply to any story with a selection of GIPHY GIFs. To do so, just search by keyword in the reply text box and send.

 

Twitter releases ‘Manipulated Media’ policy to limit fake content

Twitter has recently released its official rule against users posting fake, deceptive or manipulated content, whilst also launching a tag for ‘detected’ edited material.

The updates to detect and also prevent fake information include:

  • Notifying which Tweets share synthetic or manipulated media.
  • Warning users before they share or like Tweets with synthetic or manipulated media.
  • Adding a link – for example, to a news article or Moment – so that people can read more about why various sources believe the media is fake or manipulated.

Twitter explained the update: “When you come to Twitter to see what’s happening in the world, we want you to have context about the content you’re seeing and engaging with.

“Deliberate attempts to mislead or confuse people through manipulated media undermine the integrity of the conversation.”

This will help to aid the ‘fake news’ agenda often promoted within the app.

Vine revamp as ‘Byte’ to rival TikTok

The co-founder of Vine has now officially launched Byte, which is said to be the second coming of former short-second video app Vine. The app is essentially Vine (creator videos up to seven seconds) with updated features and focus.

The app is said to rival record-breaking TikTok with Byte also making headlines as the most-downloaded social app in the US on its first weekend of launch.

In addition to the functionalities of Vine, Byte will eventually enable users to monetise their content. At launch, Byte lacks any of the additional remix, AR and effects tools available on TikTok currently.

Byte is currently featured on iOS and Android.

If you’re interested in finding out even more about social media and how it can boost your brand, get in touch with the team at Fusion Unlimited today.

Social Media Updates: January 2020

YouTube is rolling out COPPA changes

YouTube has been fined around $200 million for breaking COPPA laws for protecting children online. The Childhood Privacy Protection Act imposes strict guidelines on websites and apps that are directed or targeted towards anyone under 13 years old and found YouTube breaching their child protection laws online.

According to Ofcom, reports show that 16 to 24-year-olds watch around 73 minutes of YouTube content every day, in comparison to 53 minutes watched by 25 to 34-year-olds. This is worrying for some YouTuber’s as content which makes up the most popular videos were mostly viewed by children up to the age of 11.

YouTube said the advertisement changes will significantly affect creators who target videos at children because they can no longer make money from targeted adverts. Changes to YouTube Studio are rolling out globally, including that videos must be assigned as ‘for children’ or ‘not for children.’

 

Instagram adds to its story creation features

Brands can now reach out to Instagram users more personally, with the creation of user-generated Instagram filters. Circulating recent Instagram story posts has been popular ‘face-filters’ added by brands such as Adidas, Gucci and Kylie Cosmetics where users can see or ‘try on’ new products.

Anyone within the app can create an Instagram filter, to use and share it; the creator of the filter will always have a direct link to their page within other user’s stories. For brands, this means that by creating a viral, on-trend filter could drive a significant amount of traffic back to their Instagram page as well as featuring across thousands of personalised stories each day.

For example, the NBA released a filter where users could snap and use AR to add a dunking basketball player to their image using the camera. This was popular with users outside of the NBA’s current following and was a great way of driving new audiences to an account through using filters.
One particular filter which went viral was by ‘2020 Predictions’ creator Filippo Soccini. Before his homemade filter went viral within the app he had around 7,000 followers and after the success of those using his filter, he is now on over 100k.

 

Tip users via Tweets on Twitter

As a result of the popularity of cryptocurrency, Twitter is said to be looking into the possibility of ‘tipping via tweet’.

According to an interview with Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, the app is exploring the idea of exchanging money through tweets.

It was announced: “Twitter is considering a feature that will allow users to tip – sending each other money from their tweets – according to two people familiar with the company’s decisions. Twitter and Square already partner to let users make donations to politicians through tweets, according to company filings.”

Although the feature is not currently in development, it could be something new to the app later in the year.

 

If you’re interested in finding out even more about social media and how it can boost your brand, get in touch with us today.

 

Social Media Updates: December 2019

TikTok hits 1.5 billion downloads

TikTok was one of the most popular apps of last year with videos on average earning 17 billion views each month. Since then, the app has continued to grow as TikTok has now hit 1.5 billion downloads across the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower. TikTok is now the third most downloaded app in the world as well as the only app in the top five which is not owned by Facebook.

Although the app is known for users hosting short skits and dance videos, brands are now beginning to take advantage of the billions of monthly views and users. Calvin Klein and FIFA have already created influencer marketing campaigns in the past few months on TikTok.

Clothing brand GUESS created a campaign on the app which challenged users to post videos wearing their favourite denim clothing in order to expand the reach of their brand to a new, younger audience. The campaign was very successful in doing so, with the hashtag #InMyDenim gaining over 38,000,000 views since it launched.

According to Forbes, TikTok might be the ‘next big thing’ when it comes to influencer marketing.

Instagram launches ‘pressure to be perfect’ toolkit

Instagram has published two brand new guides; one for parents and one for teens. Each will guide them to a better understanding of the app and how to use it safely. The guides touch on how young people can manage the potential psychological impacts of using the app on a daily basis.

This comes after the removal of post likes to make users feel more comfortable with the content they post. The app has since been working to implement protective measures for more vulnerable or sensitive people who use the app.

Instagram’s guide states: “Pressure to be Perfect is about recognizing that what you see posted by others is just one part of their story – a single post or video rarely reflects all that is happening behind the scenes.

“That realization can help free us from the pressure of thinking we need to conform to a certain set of standards when we post.

“Moving from a mindset of comparing yourself with others to one where you are thoughtfully sharing yourself with others, could help make the time you spend on Instagram more intentional and rewarding.”

The guide also includes tips on how to make Instagram work for you as well as quizzes about maintaining perspective and responding with kindness.

Twitter introduces the option to hide tweet replies

Twitter has recently announced that its new Hide Replies feature will eventually be rolled out to users worldwide.

After successful testing, the ‘Hide Tweet’ option means a chosen reply to a tweet can be hidden from your timeline as well as everyone else’s.  However, users then have the option to view hidden replies on any tweet to see what has removed.

This feature means if a user wants to keep a conversation flowing, they can remove any irrelevant or unnecessary replies.

Twitter explained the feature: “Repliers can shift the topic or tone of a discussion and derail what you and your audience want to talk about. To give you more control over the conversations you start, we tested the option for you to hide replies to your Tweets. We learned that the feature is a useful new way to manage your conversations.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about social media and what it can do for your brand, get in touch with us today.

Social Media Updates: November 2019

Follow topics on Twitter instead of people

Twitter is adding a new feature to the app called ‘Topics’. Twitter has said this feature will help and encourage users to find a larger selection of content across a range of subjects, alongside their usual timeline.

The Topics tab will allow users to follow tweets about subjects such as sport or politics, rather than associated accounts. There will be 300 topics which users can follow from entertainment and gaming to fashion and beauty.

Twitter recently explained the new update:  “On your Home timeline and in search results, you’ll see prompts to follow topics. Tap the Follow button in the prompt and we’ll personalise your Twitter experience based on your interest in this topic.

“We may also match you with other topics that we think you are interested in based on your profile and activity, such as the Tweets you view or like.”

Twitter said their new update will help users find more content they are interested in as “the main reason that people join Twitter is to keep up on the things that they’re interested in.”

Topics will launch on the Twitter app on November 13.

Facebook expands publisher tools for brands

Facebook has announced that their publisher tools will be expanding including a feature where brands can easily find content creators to partner with. Initially, the tool was for a limited number of pages, but Facebook is expanding access to the feature.

Facebook explained: “To help advertisers find creators for branded content partnerships, we introduced Brand Collabs Manager. Creators in over 40 countries can now apply for access to Brand Collabs Manager, bringing it in line with Ad Breaks.”

However, to qualify as a content creator for the Brand Collabs Manager feature, you will need at least 1,000 followers as well as one or more of the following over the last two months: 15,000 engagements on your posts, 180,000 minutes viewed, or 30,000 1-minute views on videos that are 3-minutes or longer.

As well as this, Facebook is adding to Creator Studio with Traffic Source Insights. This is where content creators can see how their content is distributed across the app and with insights on how to optimise content. Traffic Source Insights will look at video watch time and retention metrics for pages across four key sources: Followers, Shares, Recommended and Paid.

You can check if your page qualifies for Brand Collabs Manager here.

Pinterest outlines top pin trends for November

Pinterest has released an update of trending pins forecast for November, including upcoming trends for food, beauty, home and style and how to achieve successful pins.

Interior

Pinterest revealed that ‘entryways’ will receive a lot of attention in interior trends this month. The following searches are said to be up for interior-inspired pinner’s: ‘mudroom entryway’ (+179% YoY) ‘shoe closet entryway’ (+300% YoY) and ‘small foyer decorating’ (+722% YoY).

Beauty

According to Pinterest, November is the month of bedazzling. Searches for ‘rhinestone eye makeup’ are up 550% year over year along with ‘magnetic eyeliner’ (+143% YoY) just in time for Christmas. By replicating these pins into your content strategy, Pinterest predicts an increase in engagement.

Food

As autumn turns to winter, searches for comfort food are up significantly. Recipe videos are up, such as tomato soup videos (+5809% YoY) which topped the list. Alongside ‘sausage parmesan cream cheese’ (+1314% YoY) and ‘hamburger cauliflower soup’ (+4000% YoY) making trends for the top food pins.

Fashion

For men and women’s fashion, corduroy tops the trends. Searches are increasing for ‘corduroy skirt outfit’ (+69% YoY), ‘corduroy bag’ (+59% YoY), ‘corduroy shirt’ (+51% YoY) and ‘corduroy dress’ (47% YoY).

If you’re interested in finding out more about social media and what it can do for your brand, get in touch with us today.

Social Media Updates: October 2019

Instagram removes Following tab

This week, Instagram has begun to remove its Following tab from the notifications section of the app. Several Twitter users noticed the tab had disappeared before Instagram announced it would be removed permanently to cut down on a feature “most people didn’t know existed.”

The following tab was a feature that users could visit to watch over their friends’ activity, to see who or what they had liked.

The tab was originally intended to help users discover new accounts, brands and hashtags to follow. However, due to many users not knowing the tab existed, Instagram says that the Explore tab should be the place to look to find new accounts and activity.

The tab was also known to impact both friendships and relationships, possibly another reason for Instagram’s removal. Users would often speak of finding their partner liking pictures which they perhaps shouldn’t be. As well as many users being ‘caught-out’ for being active on the app when they claimed to be busy.

A spokesperson for the app said the tab was removed to create simplicity as many people weren’t aware their app activity was visible.

Instagram says the tab is currently being removed worldwide, but it will take the rest of the week to take effect across all accounts.

Pinterest has launched ‘Pinterest Academy’

Also this week, Pinterest has launched a free online education course for marketers on the new Pinterest Academy.

The courses are there to provide a range of lessons and top tips on each of the chosen topics such as creative strategy and building a Pinterest advertising campaign. As well as this, it is there to encourage users to succeed with their Pinterest marketing.

Pinterest is offering five different courses as part of the Academy’s launch, adding an additional four later this month.

The courses currently available on Pinterest Academy are:

  • Pinterest Narrative
  • Creative Strategy
  • Targeting and Buying
  • Creative Inspiration
  • Campaign Objectives

Instagram is refreshing the stories feature

Instagram is changing yet another feature on the app, the stories function is said to be changing soon in order to make creating posts much easier.

The update will see GIFs, stickers and all other story add-ons available from one screen. Instagram has said the new ‘Create’ mode will be packed with more fun, new tools.

The Create feature could help in creating more memorable and engaging stories with the new effects and tools that will be available.

Facebook tests hiding ‘likes’ from posts

Facebook likes are often synonymous with how worthwhile or popular a particular post is. However, due to reported pressures users felt to achieve high like counts, Facebook is looking into hiding likes on all type of posts.

During testing in Australia, users could still see the number of likes and engagements on their own posts, but the number was not displayed publically.

A spokesperson for the app said they are not sure if the test will continue outside of Australia. Adding: “We will gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people’s experiences.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about social media and what it can do for your brand, get in touch with us today.