This Week in Social Media, February 15, 2021

Facebook looks to clone Clubhouse (shocker). Twitter may soon charge for services. Instagram takes shots at TikTok. Adweek's AI tackles Super Bowl ads. And marketers are still figuring out this Clubhouse thing.

Here are some quick hits to kick off your week.

Fast 5

1. [News] Someone else comes out with something cool and Facebook's like, "Me want that!" So is it any surprise that Facebook is looking to develop its own Clubhouse clone?
2. [News] Twitter is looking to diversify its income streams beyond advertising. Details are scarce, but possibilities include a paid subscription service, making TweetDeck a paid product, and others.
3. [Platform Update] Forget recycling your TikTok content on Reels. Instagram is adjusting its algorithm to not promote videos on Reels that feature a TikTok watermark. Other elements that will be affected include the use of music and sounds from the Reels library, videos with a border around them, and those that are mostly covered in text or are blurry.
4. [News] Facebook is temporarily testing downranking political content in News Feed, with some exceptions, including content from official government agencies and Covid information from authoritative health organizations.
5. [News] The TikTok sale saga might very well be over. The Biden administration is indefinitely putting the sale to Oracle and Walmart on hold as it reviews Trump's efforts to address security risks from Chinese tech companies.

I Wish I Made This

Adweek created a Super Bowl ad bot that tweets pitches for commercials that are perhaps as outlandish and ridiculous as the actual ones. Check out the AI-generated tweets at @SuperBowlBot. To take it a step further, the bot even rewrote some of the top-rated Super Bowl spots of all time.

Parting Shot

(Clubhouse, Part 2 Edition)

Last week, I linked to a podcast that dove into the marketing implications for Clubhouse. This week, we'll continue that discussion to better understand the buzzy app, including how it works, its potential growing pains, and what marketers should know. Check out this analysis from Social Media Today. One thing is for sure: after going from 600K active users to over 2 million in just one month (and that's before being made widely available to the public and is still only available to iPhones), the app can't be ignored.

However, there are potential pitfalls, similar to what we saw at the start of the 2015 live streaming wars between Meerkat and Periscope. Just as expansion led to a dilution of quality content then, it could very well happen again.

The main emphasis for most social apps has been getting more people in, expanding your network and boosting engagement. But for Clubhouse, every expansion adds more risk of quality dilution, and reduced engagement.

But on the other hand:

Spark the right topic of discussion and you could be on a real winner for your brand, which could help to boost your presence, and maximize audience reach.

And how will Twitter's Spaces and Facebook's eventual entry into the audio wars factor? It's still early days, but brands are already considering what their roles might be in this new territory. (Though, is it new? I mean, isn't this essentially the same as the internet's early days with chat rooms? Things happen in cycles, and for now, what's old is new again.)

Are you on Clubhouse? Do you think there's potential for your business/brand there? Why or why not?

That's it for today. See you next week...