Category: SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Meta Expands Access to Instagram’s Creator Marketplace

    Meta Expands Access to Instagram’s Creator Marketplace

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    Meta has announced that it’s finally expanding access to its Creator Marketplace tool, which will give more businesses the capacity to search for creators to work with on their Instagram campaigns.

    Instagram Creator Marketplace

    Meta first launched its Creator Marketplace back in 2022, enabling U.S.-based brands to search and connect with relevant platform influencers based on a range of qualifiers, including focus topics, follower counts, location, etc.

    And now, businesses in the following regions will also be able to access the tool:

    • Canada
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • United Kingdom
    • Japan
    • India
    • Brazil

    In addition to this, Meta also says that Chinese export brands will also be invited to connect with onboarded creators in countries outside of China.

    Which is interesting, considering Meta’s tenuous history with the CCP’s “Great Firewall”, but the deal here relates to Chinese businesses operating in regions outside of their homeland, which is somewhat separate to Meta’s internal dealings.

    In addition to expanding access, Meta’s also rolling new machine learning-based recommendations within Creator Marketplace, which will use Instagram data to help brands more easily discover creators who are the best fit for their campaigns.

    Instagram Creator Marketplace

    As you can see in this example, the new recommendations will highlight accounts that have strong engagement rates in your niche, have mentioned your brand in the past, or have produced good results for similar businesses.

    That could make it easier to find the right fit, or at the least, to give you more options to consider in your process.

    Branded Content collaborations can be highly effective on IG, by using the established expertise and experience of creators who have already built a following in the app, and know what works, to boost your promotions.

    By working with the right creators, with connection to your target audience, you can secure valuable endorsement within key communities, which can help to germinate your branding in the right communities.

    Brands can check out Instagram’s creator marketplace in Meta Business Suite, with access coming to these new regions shortly.



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  • Tech Companies Agree to New Accord to Limit the Impacts of AI Deepfakes

    Tech Companies Agree to New Accord to Limit the Impacts of AI Deepfakes

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    With the latest examples of generative AI video wowing people with their accuracy, they also underline the potential threat that we now face from artificial content, which could soon be used to depict unreal, yet convincing scenes that could influence people’s opinions, and their subsequent responses.

    Like, for example, how they vote.

    With this in mind, late last week, at the 2024 Munich Security Conference, representatives from almost every major tech company agreed to a new pact to implement “reasonable precautions” in preventing artificial intelligence tools from being used to disrupt democratic elections.

    As per the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections”:

    “2024 will bring more elections to more people than any year in history, with more than 40 countries and more than four billion people choosing their leaders and representatives through the right to vote. At the same time, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, or AI, is creating new opportunities as well as challenges for the democratic process. All of society will have to lean into the opportunities afforded by AI and to take new steps together to protect elections and the electoral process during this exceptional year.”

    Executives from Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, X, and TikTok are among those who’ve agreed to the new accord, which will ideally see broader cooperation and coordination to help address AI-generated fakes before they can have an impact.

    The accord lays out seven key elements of focus, which all signatories have agreed to, in principle, as key measures:

    Munich Security Conference AI accord

    The main benefit of the initiative is the commitment from each company to work together to share best practices, and “explore new pathways to share best-in-class tools and/or technical signals about Deceptive AI Election Content in response to incidents”.

    The agreement also sets out an ambition for each “to engage with a diverse set of global civil society organizations, academics” in order to inform broader understanding of the global risk landscape.

    It’s a positive step, though it’s also non-binding, and it’s more of a goodwill gesture on the part of each company to work towards the best solutions. As such, it doesn’t lay out definitive actions to be taken, or penalties for failing to do so. But it does, ideally, set the stage for broader collaborative action to stop misleading AI content before it can have a significant impact.

    Though that impact is relative.

    For example, in the recent Indonesian election, various AI deepfake elements were employed to sway voters, including a video depiction of deceased leader Suharto designed to inspire support, and cartoonish versions of some candidates, as a means to soften their public personas.

    These were AI-generated, which is clear from the start, and no one was going to be misled into believing that these were actual images of how the candidates look, nor that Suharto had returned from the dead. But the impact of such can be significant, even with that knowledge, which underlines the power of such in perception, even if they are subsequently removed, labeled, etc.

    That could be the real risk. If an AI-generated image of Joe Biden or Donald Trump has enough resonance, the origin of it could be trivial, as it could still sway voters based on the depiction, whether it’s real or not.

    Perception matters, and smart use of deepfakes will have an impact, and will sway some voters, regardless of safeguards and precautions.

    Which is a risk that we now have to bear, given that such tools are already readily available, and like social media before, we’re going to be assessing the impacts in retrospect, as opposed to plugging holes ahead of time.

    Because that’s the way technology works, we move fast, we break things. Then we pick up the pieces.  

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  • Pinterest Highlights Key Color Trends for 2024

    Pinterest Highlights Key Color Trends for 2024

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    Which colors are going to dominate trends throughout 2024?

    Pinterest has put together a new “Pinterest Palette” color trends overview, which is based on the dominant colors from Pins identified within its Pinterest Predicts report.

    As explained by Pinterest:

    Our internal creative team, Pinterest’s House of Creative, analyzed the trends from Pinterest Predicts 2024 and distilled the search terms specifically related to color (i.e. “blue jellyfish,” “blue chrome nails,” “aqua makeup looks.”) We then pulled out the most persistent hues from the trending keywords. The team also did a deep dive into the cultural zeitgeist, digging into the worlds of fashion, interior design, graphic design and the culture at large to compare Pinterest’s data to the macro industry color trends.”

    Based on this research, Pinterest has identified five key color palettes that will resonate with audiences this year:

    Pinterest Palette 2024

    Pinterest’s main colors are:

    • Gummy Pink
    • Desert Orange
    • Aqua Blue
    • Moss Green
    • Mocha Brown

    For each color, Pinterest has provided an overview chart based on how it’s been used across Pins, including key product examples and search terms.

    Pinterest Palette 2024

    The aim of the guide is to help marketers better understand these trends, which could help to inform their creative approach throughout the year.

    It could be an interesting way to enhance your content appeal. You can check out Pinterest’s full overview here, which also includes a downloadable PDF guide.

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  • Meta Says That it is Working to Remove That Annoying Chirp Sound When You’re Scrolling Facebook

    Meta Says That it is Working to Remove That Annoying Chirp Sound When You’re Scrolling Facebook

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    Hey, have you noticed that your Facebook feed is making a lot more noise than usual lately?

    You’re not alone. Many users have noted the new sounds coming out of the app after the most recent update, which many have also found to be extremely annoying.

    Never fear, this is not a new addition designed to maximize attention in the app. Well, not a deliberate one, anyway.

    As per Meta spokesperson Andy Stone:

    So it’s a glitch of some kind, which Meta is fixing.

    So it won’t be annoying you for too long.

    As Stone notes, the fix for the issue should be rolling out to all users very soon.

    No more of that stupid chirp.



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  • X Starts Displaying Sports Gambling Odds In-Stream, Powered by BetMGM

    X Starts Displaying Sports Gambling Odds In-Stream, Powered by BetMGM

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    After announcing its new partnership with BetMGM late last month, X has now released its new display of sports betting odds in-stream, just in time for the Super Bowl this weekend.

    As you can see in this example, X’s new sports betting odds graphics will be displayed to users who search for sports event-related topics. The odds will also include a direct link through to the BetMGM website, where users can place bets on that event.

    It’s a smart integration for BetMGM, given broader engagement around sports in the app, and the direct attention among sports gamblers specifically, who already use the platform to keep up with real-time updates around live events.

    Indeed, back in 2022, research showed that gamblers view Twitter as a key source for predictions, injury reports, statistics, and other news, with 72% of sports gamblers staying in touch via tweets, in order to follow the live status of their wagers.

    The study also showed that Twitter (now X) user spend 15% more on bets annually, with 62% placing bets weekly.

    As such, it’s a no brainer for BetMGM, though it does also come with a higher level of risk for X, in aligning itself with the risks associated with problem gambling.

    Various studies have explored the potential harmful impacts of sports gambling promotions on social media, with X being a key focus in such activity. And already, regulatory bodies in the U.S., and in other nations, are looking to implement new rules to restrict sports betting promotions. With this in mind, it does seem likely that this new agreement will bring more scrutiny onto X, at the least, and could lead to more calls to ban sports betting promotions entirely, particularly given that these new odds displays will be presented to all users, including younger audiences, in the app.

    Also worth noting: The same research report referenced above also showed that a third of all gamblers would not place as many bets if it wasn’t for Twitter, both because of the information they can glean from other users, as well as the conversations surrounding major events.

    It seems likely that this will bring more of a spotlight on X in this respect. Yet at the same time, X needs to start bringing in money.

    The platform’s ad revenue is still reportedly down around 50% on pre-Elon levels, and this new arrangement will, at the least, help to bring in more money from BetMGM direct, not to mention other sports betting outlets that may be more interested in X advertising as a result.

    Is it a good thing? There’s a reason other apps have avoided delving into gambling odds in the past, but then again, if X really wants to be an “everything app”, gambling is another element it’ll eventually want to lean into.

    It’ll be interesting to see how this is viewed by regulators moving forward.



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  • Threads is Testing a New Option to Save Posts

    Threads is Testing a New Option to Save Posts

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    Threads has announced that it’s now testing the ability to save posts in the app, which has been a highly requested feature update, and will bring Meta’s real-time discussion platform more into line with other apps.

    Threads saved posts

    As you can see from these example screens, for those in the test pool, Threads’ new “Save” option will be available in the three dots menu on any post in the app. Saved posts will then be available in your profile menu options, the same as they are on Instagram.

    Threads continues to add more features as it works to get up to speed with other apps, and X in particular, as part of Meta’s push to challenge the dominance of X, and scoop up cast-offs who’ve been disillusioned by Elon Musk’s changes at the app.

    And while Threads recently announced that it’s now serving 130 million monthly active users, it still has a way to go, with Musk today sharing this update about the latest download numbers.

    X has seemingly seen a boost in interest due to Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as well as, reportedly, a controversial video of Drake, which is accessible on X, but less so in other apps.

    Whatever the reason may be, it’s clear that, despite the controversies caused by Musk’s own comments, X is still the place where a lot of people are turning for real-time news discussion, and the Threads team has a lot of work ahead of it to win over more of these users, and transform itself into a real competitor for Elon’s project.

    Though at the same time, Elon and Co. continue to share misleading data about X’s performance, which then cloud every other claim from the company.

    For example:

    As we’ve noted before, these stats, shared by Elon fan account “DogeDesigner” (which Elon has also re-shared in the app), are based on web traffic numbers, and do not include app usage, which is how the vast majority of people access social apps. So the implication that X is beating either TikTok or Instagram, in any way, is false, because this is only based on a tiny proportion of the overall usage of each app.

    Elon, of course, would be well aware of this, yet he still re-posts data points like this, in an effort to mislead people about X’s actual performance.

    With this in mind, it’s hard to take any usage info posted by X seriously, so we don’t know for sure how far off Threads truly is from X’s numbers.

    But we do know, based on official App Store charts, that X is still seeing relative interest, which means that Threads still has work to do to compete.

    The Super Bowl this weekend will be another test, and I would expect that X will see the majority of related engagement, underlining, once again, why Threads needs more real-time focused sorting and engagement tools.

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  • New Report Shows That 96% of Online Creators Make Less than $100k Per Year

    New Report Shows That 96% of Online Creators Make Less than $100k Per Year

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    The creator economy has been a much discussed phenomenon of the modern interactive landscape, with the implication being that there are now more ways than ever for people to make money online, simply by following their passions, uploading their content, and building a community of fans, who’ll then pay them for their efforts.

    Which sounds amazing in theory, but the reality is that the creator “economy” is actually far from being economic for the vast majority of people.

    That’s been reinforced once again with the latest research report from creator monetization platform Kajabi, which surveyed 2,000 creators to get their insights into how they make money online, how much money they actually make, the rising use of AI tools, and more.

    The topline finding?

    96% of creators earn less than $100k/year.”

    Which is not overly surprising. In 2022, Influencer marketing platform Aspire found that only 4.3% of creators make more than $100k per year, virtually the exact same result, while a recent survey conducted by Influencer Marketing Hub also found that over 48% of creators earn $15,000 or less p/a.

    So while you can indeed make money from your passions, and there are more means than ever to get your work before an audience, the vast majority of creators are not making enough money to quit their full-time jobs, and only a tiny fraction are actually getting “rich” from their content.

    For every MrBeast, there are thousands of creators earning only a fraction of fraction of his income.

    And most are not earning money from their content directly.

    As per the report:

    In an industry estimated to reach $480 billion by 2027, more than 50 million creators are trying to make a living online. And yet, 66% of creators made most of their income from one revenue source in 2022 – brand deals. Surviving off of brand deals is easy for those with millions of followers, but for the majority of creators, they are unpredictable and competitive.”

    In fact, Kajabi’s report found that the most successful creators leverage five income streams or more, with broader diversification now being a requirement of maximizing your income opportunities.

    Kajabi State of Creators Report 2024

    The top income streams for high-earning creators are digital products, with teaching and consulting also being high value elements.

    Kajabi State of Creators Report 2024

    That’s not overly surprising for this report specifically, given that Kajabi’s key product offering involves helping creators sell courses and education programs. But even so, it provides more perspective on just how creators are making their money.

    Basically, if you want to be a creator, you need to start considering a range of income streams, as opposed to hoping your videos alone will take off.

    Six-figure creators have figured out that instead of chasing followers and brand deals or waiting for creator fund payouts, they need to diversify and own their own revenue streams outside of social media. They use social platforms to build their audience, but they know the key to entrepreneurial success is through diversification.

    In terms of platforms, YouTube is still the top earner for most creators, with 42% saying they would lose over $50k per year if they were cut off from the platform.

    Kajabi State of Creators Report 2024

    Which, again, underlines the challenge before creators, with research showing that 90% of YouTube clips never reach even 1,000 views.  

    Essentially, the report reinforces what we already knew, that while it is possible to get your content in front of more people via social media connectivity, actually converting that into popularity, and then enough popularity to monetize your work, is really challenging.

    That, of course, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try, but the truth is that the “creator economy” is a far more limited model than the platforms want to suggest.

    Being a successful creator takes work, takes research, it takes years of effort to establish a base from which you can actually start to make any real money from your content. You can do it, but it’s not as simple as just posting videos and waiting for the dollars to roll in.

    If you have the commitment, then sure, there are more opportunities than ever before to make money from your hobbies. But it’ll likely take a lot more work than many would think.

    You can read Kajabi’s full “State of the Creators ’24 Report” here.

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  • YouTube Now Has 100 Million Premium and Music Subscribers

    YouTube Now Has 100 Million Premium and Music Subscribers

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    In case you needed a reminder that making significant money out of social media subscriptions is hard, YouTube has today announced that YouTube Premium and Music has now surpassed 100 million subscribers, 8 years after its initial launch.

    Which is a huge achievement, no doubt. But still, at 2 billion total active YouTube users, that means that only 5% of the platform’s audience has shown any willingness to pay for the app, while the combination of Premium and Music in this context somewhat clouds the full scope of what users are willing to pay for, specifically.

    As explained by YouTube:

    In 2015, we believed that there was an appetite for a YouTube experience that benefited not only our users, but the creator and artist community as well, and we announced a new subscription service alongside a brand new app, YouTube Music. This offering was designed for music lovers and YouTube fans who wanted more choice in how they spent time on YouTube, allowing them to enjoy YouTube without interruptions, background play and downloads, and a full music service with the world’s largest catalog. Along the way, we learned a lot, made a few pivots (and even rebranded), expanded our offerings and plans, and made YouTube Music and Premium available in over 100 countries and regions.

    To be clear, YouTube Premium offers ad free viewing, and also now incorporates YouTube Music, which enables you to listen to YouTube ad-free as well.

    I suspect that both elements have different use cases, and audiences, but they’re now combined into a single package, and that is what’s now reached 100 million total subscribers.

    Social media subscriptions became a bigger focus last year, after Elon Musk initiated a push to make subscriptions a larger contributor to X’s overall revenue intake. Musk’s original plan was to get subscriptions to account for 50% of X’s overall revenue, thereby reducing the company’s reliance on ad dollars, which comes with various obligations to brand partners. But thus far, the platform has struggled to generate significant take-up for its X Premium offerings.

    Meta followed suit, with its Meta Verified subscription package, which enables users to purchase a blue checkmark for their Facebook and/or IG account, while Snapchat has also seen a level of success with its Snapchat+ subscription offering.

    But as with YouTube, as well as LinkedIn, which also sells a Premium subscription package, what each platform has found is that while this can be a valuable supplementary income stream, interest in subscriptions is not enough to make it a significant driver of platform business, at least not at the level of what they can bring in from ads.

    Yet, at the same time, there are positive signs.

    YouTube says that it’s grown its Premium subscriber base by 20 million in just under a year, through the addition of new features like improved playback quality, music samples, podcasts, and generative AI features.

    YouTube also recently reported that its combined subscriptions, including YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, NFL Sunday Ticket, and YouTube TV, are now generating $15 billion a year. YouTube’s ad business is likely around double that, at $30 billion, but it’s a significant element, that’s seen significant growth, which could point to a change in shift attitudes towards paying for online offerings.

    Either way, it’s a positive for YouTube, which is now reportedly worth some $400 billion as a separate business.

    Will more people look to pay for online platform access in future? Can social apps make subscriptions a bigger element of their business?

    It’s interesting to note the broader trend here, and to consider what that could mean for other subscription experiments.  

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  • TikTok is Encouraging Some Creators to Post Videos in Landscape Format

    TikTok is Encouraging Some Creators to Post Videos in Landscape Format

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    Could TikTok be looking to get creators more aligned with the horizontal display format?

    The platform that popularized full-screen vertical videos is now seemingly pushing some creators towards horizontally shot content instead, according to screenshots posted by some users.

    TikTok Video View Booster

    As you can see in this example, posted by Jules Terpak (and shared by Matt Navarra), TikTok is offering some creators “increased views” on content shot in landscape format.

    As per TikTok:

    “Landscape videos, where the width is greater than the height and are over 1 minute in length, are the only ones eligible to receive increased views.”

    Any videos that meet the stated requirements will be boosted in the app for 72 hours, which could be a significant posting incentive for TikTok creators seeking more exposure in the app.

    But it’s an interesting switch in TikTok’s traditional focus.

    As noted, vertical video is TikTok’s core offering, and the popularity of that format in the app has prompted virtually every other social app to follow the same trend, and at least experiment with their own vertical, full-screen video display options. Which has led to significant growth in video engagement in other apps, so why TikTok would now be looking to move away from it does seem strange.

    But then again, this is unlikely to be TikTok moving away from its core format, as such, but more of a push to expand its content types, which it’s also been trying to do via its Creativity Program, in encouraging creators to post longer videos, in different styles and formats, in order to broaden its content pool.

    (Worth noting too that TikTok added a mention of “landscape format” to its “Best Content Formats” listing on the Creativity Program overview page late last year.)

    TikTok’s also experimenting with 30-minute clips as another element, and maybe, in this context, landscape videos are just another ingredient in its broader growth mix, as it looks to appeal to more users, and keep things interesting.  

    It just seems odd that it would be looking to get users to turn their device. Because presumably, you’d also then have to turn your phone back around again as you scroll.

    Or maybe, if TikTok can get enough landscape clips in the app, it could offer a dedicated stream of landscape only content, which could then lead to new trends and opportunities.

    Maybe, too, TikTok is looking to prepare for the advent of viewing in headsets, where landscape content would be a better fit.

    We’ve asked TikTok for more information on this experiment, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.

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  • X Is Testing a Dedicated Video Tab in the Lower Function Bar

    X Is Testing a Dedicated Video Tab in the Lower Function Bar

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    X is looking to reinforce its new “video-first platform” approach, with a new media tab incoming, that will make it easier to discover the latest video content in the app.

    X Video tab

    As you can see in this example, shared by X News Daily, X is working on a new video tab that’ll be located in the middle icon in the lower function bar of the app.

    Which is currently taken up by Grok, its sassy AI chatbot. I don’t know whether that suggests that Grok isn’t catching on with users, but either way, it would be safe to assume that a video tab will see more usage, especially if X can get its recommendation algorithm right.

    Previous insights from Twitter showed that tweets with video generate 10x more engagement than non video posts, while X also recently shared that 80% of user sessions now include video consumption, with over 100 million people consuming full-screen vertical video in the app every day.

    That would suggest that a bigger focus on video is the logical approach to boost user engagement, and it’ll be interesting to see exactly how X might look to use the new tab to keep users glued to the app.

    Presumably, X will look to prioritize its new slate of original content, in order to get more people watching, which would also act as a signal to other video creators as to how they can generate reach in the app.

    And definitely, discovery is a problem that needs to be addressed.

    For example, X also recently reported it’s currently hosting around 80k Spaces chats in the app every day.

    That’s a lot of live chats, yet actually finding them, in real time, is challenging, because there’s no central linkage to Spaces or video live streams. But then again, previous Twitter management did add a Spaces tab at one stage, and not enough users cared. It also tried the same with Moments, with similar results.

    Maybe, then a dedicated tab is not the solution discovery after all, but I do think it could be different with video, and I would also expect real-time video live streams to be another element of this display.

    And based on the above insights, it could go a long way towards maximizing in app engagement.

    Details are limited as yet, but this seems like a smarter way to drive more engagement, while also pushing its video-first approach.  

    And if people are engaging with video at the rates that X says, and it’s looking to sell more video ads, it needs to make a change in how it highlights the best video content in the app.



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