A TikTok Update, YouTube Launches Handles, Universal Studio Group ?? Creators

A TikTok Update:

Photo Credits: 9to5mac

TikTok...Packages?

As reported by Axios, TikTok is planning on building its product fulfillment centers in the U.S., therefore possibly entering to compete with Amazon.

TikTok's plan to expand on e-commerce and online shopping within the app is not new, but the job posted by the company signifies a further step in that direction.?

"We are looking for passionate and talented people to join our global fulfillment center team, together we can build an e-commerce ecosystem that is innovative, secure, and intuitive for our users." says the offer on LinkedIn. In the e-commerce system, fulfillment centers will include "parcel consolidation, transporting goods from one stage to the next, and managing free returns.

In the U.K. and Southeast Asia market, where TikTok already offers e-commerce, it aims to provide " a selection of merchants which offer a range of product options as well s delivery options," confirmed a TikTok spokesperson to Axios.

TikTok... Music??

TikTok parent company ByteDance is looking to make its next move on the music front and compete with Apple or Spotify. Hence why they are working on a music stream service called TikTok Music.?

A consistent number of artists have signed with music labels after going viral on TikTok, where the music component is prevalent.?

According to Insider, ByteDance has filed a trademark application both in the U.S. and Australia for "TikTok Music". The app would let users "purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, and lyrics."

Moreover, the app would let users "live stream audio and video", edit and upload photos for the playlist's cover, and comment on music, song, and albums".?

The company is discussing with music labels the launch of its Resso music streaming service in new markets. Resso, is currently available in India, Indonesia, and Brazil.?

Profile Kit and Focused View

TikTok's news doesn't stop there because last Thursday, during the second product summit for advertisers held in New York, the company announced a new feature called Profile Kit.?

Profile kit allows creators to display up to six videos on another site.?

"The company is working with link-in-bio startup Linktree first, which will allow creators to show their TikTok videos on their Linktree landing page. This could be quite useful to TikTok creators who want to showcase their work on other websites." reports the Creator Economy newsletter by The Information.

Moreover, the company announced Focused View: a new ad offering in which brands pay only when a user watched an ad for at least 6 seconds, or interacted with the ad in the first 6 seconds (like, comment, share).

YouTube Launches Handles

Photo Credits: YouTube

The company announced a new way "for people to easily find and engage with creators and each other on YouTube."

YouTube channels will have a unique handle (@), replacing the channel URLs, so fans can easily find the creator's content on the platform.?

So what does it means? It will be simpler and faster to mention each other in comments, community posts, video descriptions, and more. YouTube notes that handles help creators increase visibility and reach with new audiences when creators are mentioned in comments or tagged in video titles.

YouTube will notify creators when they can choose a handle and if a channel has a personalized URL it will automatically become their handle too. The feature will be rolled out globally and gradually, of course, every channel needs to have a unique handle.

Universal Studio Group ?? Creators

Photo Credits: NBCU

As reported by Deadline, NBCUniversal launched a 2022-2023 Creator Accelerator program to identify and develop the next generation of television creators.?

The Accelerator now features 11 social media creators that signed with Univeral Studio Gr to create original series, they have more than 10M followers combined. The group is formed by: Charlie Curtis-Beard, Daren Girdner, Emily Uribe, Erika Priscilla, Francesca Fiorentini, Gabriella Carter, Katie Florence, Reece Feldman, Sara Nahusenay, Serena Kerrigan, Vijay Nazareth.

Each creator will have a content development mentor that will help them with scripted and unscripted content.?