YouTube Shorts may go long; But Instagram's sticking with short-form video

? 1-SECOND SUMMARY

• No one can agree on the right length for video: YouTube considers enabling Shorts beyond 60 seconds, while Instagram says it won’t extend the length of Reels?
• LinkedIn launched sponsored newsletters for brands?
• YouTube is ranked the top media platform for kids
• Instagram tests an “Open to collaborating” label on creator profiles?
• Threads launched a bonus program for select creators
• Meta partnered with the NCAA for a student NIL Empower Program
• TikTok partnered with Estee Lauder to support beauty creator-entrepreneurs
• TikTok lets you toggle between Latest or Popular videos on a desktop profile page (huge for creator research)
• Cringe. The challenges of marketing to Gen Alpha

?? ROADMAP

?? YouTube Updates

• YouTube announced six new Shorts tools recently launched and/or coming soon, including:

1. Edit and style auto captions
2. Text to speech narration
3. Add Yours sticker
4. New Minecraft effects
5. Auto layout on Android (which automatically tracks the main subject in your long-form video as you're turning it into a Short)
6. Remix a remix?

And in this conversation about Shorts between Rene Ritchie and YouTube's Chief Product Officer, Johanna Voolich , they discussed the possibility of YouTube Shorts extending beyond 60 seconds… And the verdict is: “Maybe, maybe.”

It's a smart move. This could be a way for YouTube to encourage more mid-length video as a way to help Shorts creators evolve into long-form creators.?

• YouTube improved its Erase Song tool that helps creators remove copyright-claimed music from their videos (while leaving the rest of their audio intact).

?? Meta Updates

• Seen on the Professional Dashboard of Instagram creator accounts:

Collaborations: This is meant for creator to creator collabs. Once you toggle this on, it adds an “open to collaborating” label to your profile and Instagram provides a list of suggested collaborators. Speaking from personal experience, the matches seem pretty random so far.

Reels Best Practices: This is a mini tips section with guidance on how to grow, how to create engaging Reels content, and things to avoid. It’s advice you’re probably familiar with but it does come straight from the source if you want to see what Instagram is recommending. (h/t Sierra Reed !)

• Threads launched a bonus program, inviting select creators to participate by posting Threads. “Earn up to $500 by posting threads that receive at least 750 views each,” said a Threads email sent to Andrew Curry , head of digital for LA Magazine. Eligible creators will receive a pop-up notification and an invite that appears in their Professional Dashboard in the Instagram app. According to the program’s rules, bonuses are earned based on the performance of posts and the number of posts created.

• Put a pin in IGTV. It’s not replacing short-form Reels any time soon. When you watch long-form content, you see less content from friends, you interact with friends less and you’re less likely to send those longer videos to friends, said Adam Mosseri in a post explaining why Instagram won’t pursue long-form video — at least for now.

*This is all part of Instagram prioritizing shareable content. I posted some tips on shareable content back in March and I’ll send out an email to paid subscribers this Monday morning digging into the content categories Instagram says are most likely to be shared.

• Instagram swapped its ‘Made with AI’ label for ‘AI Info.’ Photographers and other users complained when they got slapped with the “Made with AI” label for retouching real-life pictures in editing tools like Photoshop.

• Instagram is working on allowing people to add collaborators after you publish a post (Reels, as well as static posts and Carousels).
• Meta partnered with the NCAA for an NIL Empower Program meant to support female student athletes maximize their NIL (name, image, likeness) opportunities and prepare for life after sports. Perks include 1:1 Meta support, exclusive access to NCAA events and a trip to Meta HQ. Students can apply here.
• Threads celebrated its one year anniversary by announcing it had reached 175M monthly active users. In a joint study with Wakefield Research, Meta revealed 63% of Threads posts are text-only.

Related: I spoke with the Washington Post on how the platform is still struggling to define its value proposition beyond simply being “the less toxic text platform.”?

?? TikTok Updates

• TikTok now lists videos by Latest or Popular when you visit a profile page on desktop. That’s a game changer if you’re doing influencer or brand research and want to see their greatest hits without scrolling through thousands of videos.
• TikTok is restricting how advertisers can reach teens in the US, removing any personalized targeting. “Advertisers will only be able to reach teens using a few broad targeting options, such as location, language, and device-related information.”

• TikTok partnered with Estee Lauder to support the Catalysts, a program that awards $500K to creator-entrepreneurs looking to launch a beauty business in makeup, skin care, body care, hair care, fragrance or home fragrance.

• TikTok is reportedly developing an AI chatbot for US app users called Genie.

?? Pinterest Updates

• Pinterest expanded its creator resources with a new video curriculum called the Pinterest Content Academy. The instructional videos range from content creation and keyword tips to monetization advice from fellow creators.

?? LinkedIn Updates

• LinkedIn announced sponsored newsletters. Brand accounts can now pay to promote their newsletters to drive more viewership and more subscribers. Personal sponsored newsletters?will be available in the future.

• LinkedIn published a blog post titled Crafting a Sustainable Content Strategy with tips on key content buckets and creating a content calendar. They’ve also launched a content challenge around the hashtag #OneThingToKnow.
• LinkedIn is reportedly allowing hosts of Audio Events to record and share the audio recording of their live sessions — previously Audio Events were not able to be recorded.

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?? TikTok Stats Since the Ban Threat

Four of the top 10 advertisers on TikTok reduced their spend in April compared to the previous month — that’s after the potential ban was announced. This includes Target (which decreased by 30% MoM), DoorDash (down 25%), Bayer (20%) and Procter & Gamble (10%).?

But advertisers are still finding value in TikTok.

“Until all users are gone or they’re forced to go because of the ban, there’s too much attention to ignore TikTok,” a creative agency executive told AdWeek.

However, daily time spent on TikTok has seen a slight decline from 52 minutes to 51 minutes in 2024.

That could be to Instagram’s benefit. A Morgan Stanley study found that increased engagement on Reels is leading to reduced TikTok usage. While in the US and Brazil, Reels ranked No. 1 in monthly usage, while TikTok was No. 4, according to Omdia.?

?? ?? YouTube is the top media platform for kids

YouTube is the top media platform for kids, beating out VOD (video on demand) and TikTok. A report from Precise TV and Giraffe Insights found that 81% of kids watched YouTube recently, ahead of VOD (62%), video games (45%), TikTok (44%), broadcast TV (39%), and more.

The platform also seems to have cracked the code on getting people to buy stuff: 60% of parents said that they were more likely to purchase a product they saw advertised when co-viewing with their child, and 18% of parents buy things for their kids after seeing them on YouTube.?

This is part of a trend we’ve seen with Gen Z where influence is coming from the bottom up. When you reach Gen Z, you’re also reaching millennials, Gen X and boomers. Younger generations are influencing older generations like we’ve never seen before around technology and trusted brands.

?? IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• TikTok has launched tons of consumer trends, ushering in the “minimally planned and produced” era -AP

• TikTok Shop is annoying on purpose -Vox
• How to tailor influencer marketing to different generations -EMarketer
• Industry insiders say influencer marketing is being taken more seriously by brands this year and starting to win real budgets -Business Insider

• Paramount claims it wants to be ‘Creator-Friendly’ all while exploring the sale of the creator convention it owns, VidCon -Passionfruit
• Alex Cooper has Gen Z’s attention. Can she keep it? -Wall Street Journal

• NATO turned to ‘Tony P’ and other influencers to reach Gen Z -Time?

• Meet the 19-year-old getting paid to rate Instagram profiles -NBC News

• Cringe. The challenges of marketing to Gen Alpha -Marketing Dive
• Fighting social media burnout; a conversation I had with the wonderful Lisane Basquiat -Shaping Freedom

Thanks for reading! Paid subscribers, look out for Monday’s email ??