This Week on Social - TikTok's Congressional Hearing Reaction

Each week the insights team at The Goat Agency pull together the latest news from the social space in a weekly social media news round-up. This week we cover the reaction to TikTok's congressional hearing, Microsoft's DALL-E integration, and more!

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(1/5) TikTok’s Future Remains Uncertain Following Congressional Hearing

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce over the weekend, and it's difficult to say how it went.

Accusations framed as questions, vague queries and misunderstandings of social media and the internet left things up-in-the-air. Chew mostly provided carefully worded answers, while fending off anything too difficult by saying he’d look into it.

Some of the key takeaways:

On TikTok securing US user data:

“American data is stored on American soil by an American company overseen by American personnel.”

Chew’s key statement was in reference to ‘Project Texas’, a multi-billion dollar plan to separate US user data from its Chinese parent company - securing US user data in the US, making it inaccessible to China-based staff.

On TikTok possibly selling user data:

Chew tip-toed around the question, refusing to commit to a firm answer, noting that the would seek further clarification before providing an answer.

The entire hearing failed to determine whether TikTok can continue its operation in the US, while also failing to address many of the concerns surrounding TikTok due to a lack of understanding of the internet, social media and modern tech in general.

TikTok’s US future remains uncertain and we’re no closer to definitive action.?

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(2/5) Should we be Worried About “Finfluencers”??

In last week's Raised on Social e-newsletter (subscribe here) we talked about the impact of finfluencers.

Forbes Advisor survey claims that 79% of US Gen Zers and Millenials have gotten financial advice from social media… so where are they heading?

Millennials tend to prefer Reddit, while Gen Zers are more likely to turn to YouTube. Then there’s TikTok, with 32% of respondents saying they’ve received financial advice on the platform.

On the one hand, this could be seen as a positive (young people taking an interest in finance and much of this isn’t taught in schools), but on the other hand, there are concerns that they could be getting misinformation, even harmful at times.

The reality is that many so-called “finfluencers” have no financial qualifications, and there’s no real vetting process. Social media tends to sensationalise things in order to drive higher engagement.

Interestingly, many young people feel that social has opened doors that would otherwise have remained closed due to race, gender or income. For example 72% of black respondents and 65% of female respondents said they felt their race or sex would have been a barrier to obtaining financial advice.

This poses as a reminder that marginalised groups are seeking spaces where they feel represented and accepted. Your marketing must be inclusive of this, and it must be diligent about the influencers activated, and what they’re recommending to their audiences.

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(3/5) Microsoft Integrates DALL-E Visual Creation Tools with Edge and Bing

Microsoft has extended its venture into generative-AI. OpenAI’s DALL-E visual creation tools will soon be available within Bing search, as well as Edge browsing.

As per Microsoft:

“Powered by an advanced version of the DALL?E model from our partners at OpenAI, Bing Image Creator allows you to create an image simply by using your own words to describe the picture you want to see. Now you can generate both written and visual content in one place, from within chat.”

The tools will enable Microsoft users to develop advanced generative visuals for varying purposes, in which you’ll receive a few usable examples for each prompt.

Microsoft looks to be going all-in on generative-AI, with the company investing $10 billion in OpenAI earlier this year, integrating the touted ChatGPT into many of its workplace apps and tools.

Google has also sparked its own AI features, integrating tools throughout Google suite. However, Microsoft and OpenAI are benefiting from first-mover advantage, which could be a key turning point, should these tools have the desired impact that many are hoping for.

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(4/5) YouTube Adds Podcast Analytics and New Hashtag Recommendations for Long-Form Content

YouTube creators will now be able to create a new podcast within YouTube Studio, and designate an existing playlist as a podcast, which will improve the upload and management process.

In addition, YouTube is also adding podcast analytics:

“Podcast-specific analytics will be available for podcasts. This is distinct from current analytics offered. Metrics include aggregated metrics across videos in a podcast playlist, insights on how viewers find your podcast, demographics and revenue analytics.”

With many of YouTube’s biggest names now running their own podcasts, it makes sense that YouTube is expanding its offerings, providing more options for its creative talent.

YouTube is also running an experiment that will suggest hashtags to include when posting long-form clips.

As per YouTube:

“Shorts creators have been testing this feature with video titles for over a year now and we’ve heard positive feedback from the experiment group, so we are bringing the experience to long-form videos as well. Creators in the experiment will see suggested hashtags appear in the upload flow on mobile. The suggestions will be custom to the channels in the experiment as they are based on content they have previously uploaded to YouTube.”

The idea is that this will help improve discovery, enabling creators to find more specific tags that will help the platform categorise and display posts better.

YouTube continues to develop as one of the best marketing channels, visit our website to find out more on YouTube marketing.

(5/5) The Relationship Between Brands and Influencers is Evolving... How?

Influencer marketing is an essential part of many brands’ marketing strategies. You must know, the relationship between brands and influencers is changing - here’s how:

Brands are looking long-term with their influencer activations

Forming longer partnerships helps brands develop a closer connection with creators, which in turn helps communication, creativity and trust building. Brands need to allow influencer to get to know them, understand their value and product relevance in order for creative freedom to work.

The Rise of the Creative Director

Brands are recognising the talents of influencers more and more. This has seen a number of brands leverage creators as ‘Creative Directors’ - taking on a consultancy role to formulate ideation for new media, product development and further creative input.

You can read more on this in our latest blog ‘The Relationship Between Brands and Influencers is Evolving - Here’s How’.

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And that’s all for this week, but don’t forget to follow us on?LinkedIn,?Instagram,?TikTok?and?Twitter?for real-time announcements of all our new?blog content!

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