Issue #35 - Ashamed Of Your Blue Twitter Tick? You Can Hide It!
Now we're a week after the excitement of Threads being released and as much as the excitement has died down a little there is still so much buzz about it all. The platform recently achieved an impressive milestone of hitting over 100 million users however that is not as exciting as me getting Taylor Swift tickets this week. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I managed to score myself the prestigious Taylor Swift Era's Tour tickets that have been making the headlines and have been causing a positive economic increase apparently! Despite the excitement... let's have a look at this week's social news.
After the whole debacle of the blue tick verification, you would expect that users would actually want to showcase their blue ticks? For some reason, Twitter seems to believe that we wouldn't want to and have therefore been working on the ability to hide your blue tick. So even after paying the ￡8.99 subscription fee to get the tick you can then hide it and pretend as if you don't pay the fee. I don't know about you but that just comes across as literally burning money. Paying for a service and choosing not to have it.
The news comes after Twitter user Alessandro Paluzzi, a well-known social media leaker, tweeted about it again on July 11th. Yes... again. This has been an ongoing feature that seems to be in continuing trials. Paluzzi had already tweeted an image back in late March, this year, however there seems to be little change.
According to Social Media Today, "Twitter’s blue tick toggle will also include a warning that some actions may still reveal that you’re paying for the app". To which again I bring up, what's the point of removing the tick? These actions that might give you away that you're ashamed of having the blue tick will include you being able to tweet longer posts, edit within 30 minutes and Account security with two-factor authentication via SMS or authentication apps. A couple of those features won't be so vocal to others when using the app but still noticeable.
Other features that are apparently in the works are "options that would enable users to hide their tweet likes, as well as the list of who they subscribe to in the app."
To read more have a look at these articles:
We're one step closer to seeing Twitter's listing of job opportunities! As we all know Elon Musk is trying to be the 'everything app' when it comes to Twitter and now rather than going after your typical Meta based platforms Instagram, Facebook etc or your Chinese-based platforms such as TikTok, Musk is going after the likes of Indeed and LinkedIn by offering a space for job listings.
Personally I don't think this is a bad feature to try and implement within a platform. There are much worse features that Twitter could be adding and I think it's a good step for Twitter to be a good platform.
Being a nosey person, I took a dive into the comments section and one person made a good comment of "This is nice but will applicant’s whole social life/views be on display when they apply for a job? Will people now have to behave on Twitter?" Now with Twitter now turning into a 'say what you want' kind of place, I can't imagine many people would be happy if their future employer could see some of the stuff they retweet, like or comment. As someone who has nothing to hide on her Twitter due to liking Taylor Swift related tweets and cat memes, I wouldn't worry however not everyone is the same.
T(w)itter Daily have included an image which showcases what the job listings will look like on a company's profile, demonstrating nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to this new feature. At the moment it only seems like well-known brands are currently able to do this however, despite unknown, I'm sure it won't be long till more smaller enterprises could be adding their listings!
To read more have a look at these articles:
Snapchat
Snapchat is now joining the train when it comes to Photoshop! Snapchat has now introduced a new feature called 'the magic eraser' tool. This news was discovered when Twitter user Ahmed Ghanem posted a video alongside the tweet captioned '#Snapchat has added a new Magic Eraser tool that allows you to erase any unwanted objects in your Snaps.' The video demonstrates how you can get rid of a label off the features water bottle.
I'm not surprised for a photo based app this feature has been introduced. If anything I think it's quite late to the game baring in mind, for those like myself who have a Google Pixel 7, there is already the availability of having a photoshop like feature on your photo app, which from experience, is quite good.
To see more have a look at this article:
Meta
One key aspect that Meta have sneakily tried to encourage more use of is characters. We all saw the explosion that was Bitmoji when Snapchat introduced that. Bitmoji's then spread to WhatsApp usage, regular messages and for me, they found themselves in a lot of teacher presentations during my high school years, especially for science teachers! Despite Bitmoji still being number 1 when it comes to our avatar look-a-like's Meta seem to want to change this, especially when thinking and looking into the future of the MetaVerse.
Previous updates have seen an introduction into avators on Instagram Stories and within Instagram profile pictures as well as other Meta platforms. This new update sees Meta introducing even more avatar options! In this case it will be, as described by Social Media Today as "digital characters that people will use to represent themselves in these virtual spaces."
Again, I understand the idea and it is a great way for people to use the tools that the social giant are offering and it's a great way to start implementing MetaVerse functionalities and essentially making it more normal in day to day use but it's quite freaky if you think about it. Turn up to your virtual meeting and whilst a couple of your have your camera off, a couple of you are real and someone has their MetaVerse character on.
To read more have a look at these articles:
Why bother to tag products in your Instagram stories when it now does it for you?! From this introduction, I'm hoping you can guess what this next update / feature is. Another Tweet from Ahmed Ghanem has seen a sneaky look into another commerce feature that could be hitting our Instagram accounts. Best not to get too excited as this is still very much in the testing phase however, this would be brilliant for brands who offer their commerce services on the social platforms. Currently, Social Media Today reports that "the system looks set to only tag products from a connected account’s catalog, so it’s not trying to identify products in every Story, from all users." but I'm sure it's something Meta will work on in future time. Automatic detection.
Since being released, I have actually found product tagging to be useful. I don't necessarily shop or purchase anything on Instagram but I definitely do browse. For some reason I tend to have a lot of designer brands suggested for me. Maybe it's Instagram's way of bragging that I can't afford the stuff although, this morning one of my Instagram shopping ads was a carousel of Tommy clothes all reduced... sadly I can't justify paying my day's wage on a skirt but I mean... it did look really cute.
Shopping within the platform seems to be a bit hit and miss. It's now almost a feature that never really got got any hype and because of that relatively kind of failed but now it's just there if we want it. It will be a feature Instgaram continue to try and improve but don't necessarily put much effort into.
To read more have a look at these articles:
TikTok
Nothing exciting in the way of TikTok and with all sorts of law suits and country bans, we can see why we're not hearing much however they have had time to publish a new report, which are always interesting to read. This particular report looks into gaming! According to Statista 'Revenue in the Video Games market is projected to reach?US$384.90bn?in 2023.' and with that statistic we're not surprised that TikTok have 'over 3 trillion views on gaming content in 2022'. Understanding consumer behaviour is one of the key aspects of making sure you are hitting your audience and you may be wondering why you should continue reading even if you're not in the gaming industry? Well the report suggests many different approaches that can be applied not matter your industry, especially if you're new to an industry and how you can build a successful community.
The report continues to discuss The three key Trend Forces including:
Actionable entertainment further discusses beyond the game itself and how users don't just 'passively consume content'. Looking at cosplay, fan edits and more gam inspiration. Within the gaming sector on TikTok, community seems to play a key part as 78% of global TikTok users?agree that the best brands on TikTok are those that help users make creating and sharing videos fun.
2. Making Space for Joy
TikTok reports that "when it comes to gaming, our community is won over with humor and content that highlights the relatable joys of being a gamer. Here are the two key signals that reflect this trend:
3. Community Built Ideas
If you're interested in the statistics and what makes gaming one of the most popular topics on TikTok, click the report to find out more!
To read more have a look at this article:
Opinion of the week
'Going to the gym is overrated'
So over the last couple of editions, I've used very generalised opinion of the week's but this week... we're getting a bit personal. To me. So my university were offering a special gym deal over the summer and I thought, why not? So I've joined and i go every other day... give or take... and I just don't see the hype. Now, I understand the hype when you've worked out and you feel great. That, I understand because I love that feeling but... and there's a but... why do I want to workout in a room full of sweaty people, including myself? And people don't clean up after themselves either after they've sweated like half of Niagra Falls.