Social Media Portal: January Roundup

Social Media Headlines

• Twitter announced an expansion to its safety policy that makes it a violation to post photos or videos of a private individual without their permission. There are exceptions for newsworthiness.
• TikTok uses “time spent” and “retention”?as its two key metrics?to keep you watching, swiping, and viewing.
• TikTok was the web domain with?the most traffic in the world in 2021, eclipsing Google.
• A research study on the?relationship between TikTok and film/television?found that?69%?of TikTokers extend their viewing experience by co-creating content relating to shows or movies, and?52% of TikTokers have discovered a new actor, movie or show on TikTok.
• Subscriptions are becoming more mainstream on social media. This month Instagram announced?Instagram Subscriptions, allowing accounts to offer paid subscriptions for exclusive content and benefits. This follows Twitter’s “Super Follows” feature, YouTube's channel memberships, and Facebook Page fan subscriptions. TikTok is also?working on a paid subscriptions option.
• Brands are?upping their social media integrations?with Super Bowl spots — including a Twitter livestream competition, a virtual bar in the metaverse and social-first sweepstakes.

Best Practices

• Best practices for?journalists covering crises on Twitter
• How?Community Toks create safe spaces?for authentic connection, creativity and joy
• How many hashtags should I use on Instagram?
• How publishers like ESPN are?assessing their TikTok videos’ performance?

(TLDR:?In-depth metrics are more important to understand how to success on TikTok, such as?average completion rate, growth rate of views, and % of views coming from non-followers.?ESPN believes a video's "For You" percentage is the single most important metric for growth.)
        

• Seven?best practices to conduct a social media audit, to shape or alter online strategies and teams
• Seven winning Instagram giveaway ideas,?and how to plan your own
• A beginner’s guide to hooking audiences with Instagram Reels, from NPR
• A guide for?journalists to safely use Meta's platforms
• The future of storytelling on social media, according to Deb Roy
• Leveraging?TikTok & Clubhouse at your nonprofit?

“Integrating TikTok into your marketing strategy can help raise awareness about your nonprofit’s mission, programs and fundraising campaigns... since 75% of young adults?will raise funds for an organization that they care about, catering to Millennials can be beneficial to your nonprofit."

• Brands can boost their Instagram engagement by?using two approaches with images: mixing the balance of light and color, and using images that are either very simple or complex.
• BBC News’?Instagram success is chalked up to four tactics: a?“laser-like focus” on the audience,?regular posting, creating more explainers,?and using text on images. (Also: the account now "regularly drives more than 700,000 clicks back to the News site every week.")
• Meta launches a?three-course series for hosting live events on Facebook and Instagram
• Moderation tip:?mute words on Twitter?by selecting text on the iOS app
• TikTok on the?importance of audio in brand marketing.?

(TLDR:?Sound is crucial to the user experience on TikTok...?audio should be considered as an equally significant element as visuals in your videos.?Ask yourself: what are the sounds of your brand? What does that sound like on TikTok??Think about how sounds or accompanying actions in your videos could entire people to join in and post their own versions.)        

Case Studies

• How newsrooms are experimenting?with Twitter Spaces
• How Harvard Business Review harnessed LinkedIn?to become its most powerful social media channel (TLDR: They share both new & evergreen content, encourage writers to start discussions, and write enough for someone to learn without clicking through).

(TLDR: They share both new & evergreen content, encourage writers to start discussions, and write enough for someone to learn without clicking through)        

• How?Lagunitas Brewing pivoted during the pandemic from outdoor venue marketing?to engagement with Reddit communities.
• How the Florida Times-Union?used Instagram to connect with a younger, more diverse audience
• How Duolingo is using its “unhinged content” with Duo the Owl to?make people laugh on TikTok

Platform Changes

I haven't done platform updates in awhile so this wrap up includes major updates from December AND January:

Instagram

• Instagram expanded Poll Stickers to support?four response options.
• Instagram launched?visual replies on Reels.
• You can now?embed your Instagram profile?on third-party sites.
• Convert part of a video into a boomerang.
• Post tags are now included in DMs.
• You can now?add custom text?(and customize your color options) on link stickers.
• Instagram now?lets you ‘remix’ all public videos, rather than just Reels.
• Promote your upcoming livestream with a new badge?on your profile.

Facebook

• Facebook Live updates?include featured links (open links without leaving the video), Polls with real-time feedback, four-person co-broadcasting, and live stream direct sharing to Facebook Stories.
• Facebook rolls out?new capabilities for stylizing auto-captions?on Facebook Stories.
• Pages now display?achievements badges.
• Facebook now?automatically suggests the ideal time to schedule?a new post or Story.
• Now added to the Page transparency info are?"organizations that partnered with this page."
• Facebook is rolling out a?"professional mode" for profiles, which gives individual accounts access to features?previously only available with Pages.
• New comment moderation tools for Pages?include blocking users, keyword blocking, comment type blocking and more functionality around hidden comments.
• New comment moderation tools for Facebook Live?include keyword blocking, suspending and banning users and?stronger comment controls.
• Facebook's Creator Studio has new features including a Stories preview option.
• Facebook's Jobs section, which at one point was marketed as a "LinkedIn killer," is being retired on February 22.
• Facebook is?retiring profile videos on Pages. If you don’t replace your video with a photo by Feb 7, the cover image of your video will become the new profile picture.

Twitter

• Twitter rolled out?auto-generated captions for videos in more than 30 languages.
• Twitter launched a?reaction retweet feature, which is identical to Instagram's "visual replies" feature above. Both are copies of the popular TikTok format.
• Twitter Communities?can now be shared on iOS.
• Hosts on Twitter Spaces can now?record their sessions on mobile?and access detailed audience numbers.
• Twitter launched?NFT profile pictures, allowing users to connect a crypto wallet to their profiles to show off their NFTs.
• Twitter introduced three new free products (note: not advertising products): Site Visits Optimization, Aggregated Measurement, and Events Manager, all aimed at improving campaign performance?to drive traffic to a company’s website.

TikTok

• TikTok's?Q&A feature?is now available to all business accounts.
• New features on TikTok's video editor?include GIPHY GIFs and color correct.
• TikTok’s Creative Center lists trending songs and sounds, and is?now filterable by region.
• TikTok?launched?a Discord server?to let its users chat to each other.
• TikTok's updated?Commercial Audio and Music Library (CAL)?includes songs pre-cleared for commercial use.
• TikTok now lets users?add pronouns to their profiles.
• Users can now?add an intro to TikTok Live videos.
• TikTok moves "Stories" into the main user experience,?surfacing Stories in the FYP?instead of a side bar.

YouTube

• YouTube is bringing?video chapters to smart TVs?and games consoles.
• A?new insights feature in YouTube Studio?provides info on?what people are searching for, both in relation to your channel and content specifically, and for more general search queries.
• YouTube?shutters its original content group; from now on will only fund content through its Black Voices and YouTube Kids funds.
• YouTube now allows you to?share?a public summary of your channel audience and viewer stats to its BrandConnect platform?for potential sponsors and ad partners to view.
• YouTube adds more?guidance for channel managers dealing with a violation, taking them through the specifics of the issue with their content, and what they can do to resolve it.

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn has given all users?access to LinkedIn Live and a new newsletter option?through its new “Creator Mode” feature.
• LinkedIn (finally)?launched its take on Clubhouse, allowing?users to tune into live discussions in the app.
• LinkedIn rolls out?dark mode on mobile.

Best of the Rest

• Snap launched a?dedicated video editing app.
• Snap?introduced?more advanced AR tools?in its Lens Studio.
• Clubhouse?added a?re-share feature?(think Twitter retweet) to help users share with their connections which rooms they recommend.

Good Reads

• Are GIFs?losing their cultural cachet??(VICE)
• Journalists' reactions to newsroom social media policies?(CJR)
• What Instagram’s move into subscriptions means for TikTok - and Patreon?(The Information $)
• YouTube vs. Twitch:?breaking down the live streaming battle for audience attention?(Washington Post)
• Facebook wants us to live in the metaverse?(New Yorker)