This Week in Social Media, March 1, 2021

Twitter to start charging users to view some tweets. Facebook re-friends Australia. YouTube unveils new parental controls for older kids. A bot reminds you of past tweets. And Twitter's new Trends Report offers useful insights into user concerns and interests.

Here are some quick hits to kick off your week.

Fast 5

1. [News/Platform Update] Would you pay to see a user's tweets? Twitter thinks you would. Enter Super Follows, a monetization opportunity for the platform. Twitter Communities may also be coming, which seems to be a lot like Facebook Groups.
2. [News] Australia's proposed legislation that would require tech companies to pay for news content has become law. Meanwhile, "Facebook has re-friended Australia," said Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg when the tech giant reversed its decision to block news content in the country just a few days after making its own headlines with the decision.
3. [News/Platform Update] Are you the parent of a kid who's too old for YouTube Kids but not quite ready for the wild west of regular YouTube? A "supervised" account may be just the thing so parents can have some control over their kids' use of the platform.
4. [Platform Update] It may soon be easier for Twitter users to automatically block out abusive tweets. A new toggling function would allow for users to automatically block accounts that break Twitter's rules and mute those that may be using insults and other harsh language.
5. [News] Facebook is entering the rap game. Its new app BARS allows users to create and share professional-sounding raps.

I Wish I Made This

You're scrolling through your Twitter feed and you come across something that you'd like to be reminded of later. Perhaps it's your own tweet in which you predict an unlikely outcome to a political election—or more importantly, an Oscar race! When you're proven right—against all odds—you'll want to be reminded of your brain powers so you can rub it in your followers' faces later. Now there's @RemindMe_OfThis to help you out with that. Tag the account with a time ("5 months," for example) and get a notification in that time with the original tweet.

I'm no engineer, but I assume this simple concept is more complex than it seems. So it's likely I couldn't make this, and perhaps that's why I find it that much more fascinating.

Parting Shot

(Trending Edition)

Twitter released its 2021 Trends Report, which you can download here free. The 33-page report makes for an easy read, highlighting six themes with which Twitter users are most concerned and interested. Those themes are categorized as follows:

• Wellbeing
• Creator Culture
• Everyday Wonder
• One Planet
• Tech Life
• My Identity

The report provides useful descriptions and stats related to each, along with sample tweets and examples of ways your brand may be able to tap into these trends, complete with a helpful sampling of hashtags to consider using. So as Twitter continues to be a tough nut to crack for many in the social space, here's a little something to help make it a bit easier.

Check it out and ask yourself, "Is my brand tapping into any of these trends?" If yes, what are some other ways you can further lean into them? If no, how can your brand contribute to the conversation in an authentic way?

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