This month we are happy to share some interesting Media, Content and Design announcements, articles, features and reports along with our take on each, to help keep you up to date with the latest marketing news.
Elon Musk Says ‘Ad Free’ Version of Twitter Blue is Coming
Oh, Elon. While Twitter is pitching potential ad-reduced and ad-free models for Twitter Blue in the future, we wouldn’t hold my breath, as those options will be dependent on large-scale take-up of the initial $8 checkmark offering. Which will end up getting a few million sign-ups, maybe. But it won’t reach the levels required to make it a viable revenue alternative for the app.
Our Take: If Twitter wants to make money (and it desperately needs to right now), it needs to serve ads, or it needs a lot of people to sign up to its new paid programs. Thus far, the paid programs are a bust. You do the math.
Twitter Implements New Rules Banning Links to Other Social Platforms
Time to review your Twitter bio, because Elon and Co. have got some new rules about what you can link out to – and if you don’t get in line, you’ll find yourself suspended real quick. Specifically, Elon and his Twitter 2.0 team have decided that linking out to any competing social platform, in any way, is now against the rules. Because of, um, free promotion?
Our Take: Twitter is a mess since The Musk took over. Nothing makes sense, nothing is consistent, and revenue is plummeting. To quote the article “Not sure that’s going to provide the competitive edge that Twitter hopes, but here we are.”
Twitter Switches Brand Profile Avatars to Squares to Counter Impersonation
The hits keep coming from Twitter HQ, with the company’s endlessly perplexing verification revamp now taking a new turn, with brand profiles now becoming square shaped to better highlight them in-stream. Brand profiles are now showing up as square tiles, in variance from the circle profiles for regular users.
Our Take: Cool? If only there was a way to just verify businesses are who they say they are with a simple blue checkmark …
YouTube Tests New Emoji Reactions Within Live Streams
Like the live-streaming options in other apps, you’ll also be able to respond, in real-time, with an emoji, with the current response set including a heart, the ‘laughing till you cry’ face, the surprised reaction and more.
Our Take: YouTube has been finding its social side more and more lately, which is a benefit it has over other platforms. It’s both a social media app and a streaming service.
Amazon launches Inspire, a TikTok-like shopping feed that supports both photos and videos
Amazon is bringing a TikTok-like shopping experience to its app. The company today announced the launch of Inspire, a new short-form video and photo feed that allows consumers to explore products and ideas and shop from content created by influencers, brands and other customers. The feature is designed to draw consumers’ attention away from apps like TikTok, where brands can directly market to consumers, in order to drive sales on Amazon.com instead.The shopping feature will initially roll out to select customers in the U.S. in early December, and will become broadly available to U.S. customers in the months that follow.
Our Take: This is no surprise and most likely their attempt to win back shoppers they’ve lost to TikTok.
Music Labels Increase Detection of Unlicensed Music Use in Social
Copyright cases across brands continue to rise as brands attempt to participate in TikTok trends. Brands are prohibited from using licensed music without explicit permission to do so in their social media posts. Recently energy drink brand, Bang, has come under fire for using a personal account instead of a business account on TikTok to post over 100 videos using copyrighted music. Bang was met with lawsuits from three different record labels.
Our Take: Brands have to review the terms and conditions on all social media apps they participate in. While that catchy new song might bring in a lot of views it might also bring legal troubles.
US Lawmakers Call for Full Ban of TikTok Due to Data Tracking Concerns
TikTok is facing yet another legal challenge in the US, with Republican Senator Marco Rubio introducing bipartisan legislation to ban the app from operating in the US, primarily due to concerns around data collection, and TikTok’s linkage to the Chinese Government.
Our Take: This isn’t new territory for TikTok, and feels like a good way to alienate 111 million young voters. Whatever happens here, TikTok’s legacy of making vertical video as the go-to format for social media users is cemented. Stay tuned!
TikTok inches further into YouTube’s territory with a new horizontal full screen mode
TikTok is testing a new horizontal full screen mode with select users globally. The test feature marks yet another way that TikTok is steadily inching into YouTube’s territory.
Our Take: On the other hand, YouTube continues to rival TikTok with Shorts by allowing creators to earn ad revenue on Shorts. Prior to this, no other short-form video platform has figured out how share ad revenue, giving Shorts a leg up on the competition.
Reddit Rolls Out Its Annual Recap
Reddit users can now see their year in review on Reddit rolled up into a fun card to share with others. Users can see the amount of engagement they had within subreddits. Users can also find out if they were on Team Cat or Team Dog.
Our Take: Surprisingly, we were not put into Team Dog!
