Mad Digest Weekly Updates 21st Nov-25th Nov

Top Updates of the week

Snap Highlights the Rising Potential of AR for Marketing in New Report

With AR set to become a much bigger focus over the next few years, it’s important for all brands to consider the potential for their marketing and promotional efforts, with 3D digital initiatives set to change the game, in many ways, as usage behaviors evolve.

To provide some more context on this, Snap recently partnered with Breakthrough Research to conduct a study into how consumers view AR, and how likely it is that AR experiences will influence their shopping process.

The response data shows that consumers are excited about the possibilities, with AR able to help consumers make faster decisions, and likely purchase more as a result.

Which is why brands need to be taking it seriously, and with the coming shift towards AR-enabled glasses, and engaging with 3D virtual objects, in both the metaverse and in AR experiences, it makes sense for brands to at least begin to align their processes with this shift, where possible.

Meta Adds New Tools and Settings to Protect Young Users from Online Predators

First off, Meta will now implement stricter privacy controls by default on Facebook for all users under the age of 16 that sign up for an account. The more stringent privacy settings will limit who can see their friends list and the Pages that they follow in the app, while it will also hide posts that they’re tagged in, and stop non-connections from commenting on their public posts.

In addition to this, Meta’s also testing a new process which will limit the capacity for kids to make contact with ‘suspicious’ adults in its apps.

Meta’s also adding new notifications which will encourage young users to utilize its various protective tools and features as they use the app. Finally, Meta’s also working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to expand its program to help teen users stop the misuse of their intimate images.

Meta launched an initial version of this process with a range of partners in Europe last year. It’s now expanding the system to more regions.

Shopify is testing a new universal search feature

Google may have a new shopping competitor on its hands. Shopify is testing a new feature in its app that allows customers to search across all merchants on the platform.

The new “Search for anything” search box enables you to search for items previously purchased, merchants matching the search term, and products sold by any Shopify merchants.

The test is rolling out to a limited number of users. We have no word on who will have access to the search feature, how long it will run, or if it will ever be released globally.

The new universal search feature could mean that Shopify merchants will need to start paying to appear first in search results or start planning their SEO strategy. Furthermore, app users and shoppers will only see results from stores on the app, which could limit the options shown for certain products. This may not be an issue, though, since there are over 4 million stores built on the platform. It may also entice sellers to move their stores from other ecommerce platforms.

YouTube Adds Quizzes as a Community Post Option, Expands Visual Editing Tools

YouTube’s launched two new tests for its Community Posts feature, which will provide more ways for creators to engage and interact with their audience in the app.

First off, YouTube’s expanding its new visual editing process for image-based posts, which provides more ways to compose your Community updates.

YouTube’s also adding quizzes as another Community Posting option, providing more ways to generate direct engagement and interaction with your viewers. It also added disappearing updates as a Community Post option back in June, while you can also post GIFs, images and polls to boost interaction with your channel viewers.

It’s hard to say how valuable Community Posts are in building your YouTube engagement, but it could be a valuable complement to your video uploads, and a means to share more, more often, with your audience in the app.

Both tests are now live with selected users.

Trending

Musk’s Plans Around Verification, Moderation, and Payments on Twitter are Slowly Becoming Clear

Catching you up, here’s a look at all the latest key developments at Twitter HQ, which could impact the platform moving forward.

Musk’s first major move at Twitter, his $8 verification for all plan, has been delayed once again, with Musk noting that they need to establish better systems to combat impersonation before moving ahead. The problem is, people won’t pay $8 for these alternative markers – but we suspect that most users aren’t going to pay $8 for blue ticks either. But maybe, with an improved Twitter Blue package, Elon can still make this into a more appealing offering. We’ll find out when it eventually gets re-launched.

Musk’s communicated vision of a Content Moderation Council, which would be made up of academics, civil rights leaders and other experts, and would rule on content decisions in the app, now appears to be in tatters – or at least, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to have the influence or power over Twitter’s moderation process as Musk implied when he first floated the concept a few weeks back. ?If there was any confusion around who’s in charge, and who, ultimately, will decide what is and is not allowed, this is the answer.

After cutting Twitter’s staff headcount by over 64% (some reports have suggested even more), Musk has now laid down a new set of regulations for Twitter’s remaining employees, which includes the proviso that they now need to send Musk himself weekly updates of what they’re working on, along with examples of code for engineers. Which may seem extreme – but then again, when you’re on the line for $44 billion, you’d imagine that there would be a strong desire for oversight.

There’s a lot going on at Twitter HQ, and most of it is still in flux, but over time, we’re starting to get some more solid frameworks emerging as to where Musk and his new team will be headed with the app. All of this will take time to develop, especially with such a significant reduction in headcount, but we do expect that Twitter will stabilize at some point, as Musk settles onto some more viable, concrete directions for the app.

So long as it doesn’t crash entirely before then.

Featured

Nano or Mega Influencers, Which one is Trending Most in 2022 Influencers Marketing World?

2022 is the year that is set for a new change and drastic changes in the digital landscape. If trends are a telling on what that future is going to look like, then it is saying bye-bye to celebrities and mega-influencers and hello to the dawn of Micro and Nano creators. The reason is, creators with smaller followings on their social media platform are a great asset in the strategic play of the influencer marketing world in 2022. Read more HERE.

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