Category: SOCIAL MEDIA

X is moving ahead with its reformation of messaging in the app, with some users now able to access the initial beta of X’s updated “Chat” element.

As you can see in these examples, shared by app researcher Jonah Manzano, X is rebuilding its DM back-end with enhanced privacy in mind, with encryption being a foundational element of the new experience.

In order to set up your new chat profile, you’ll need to create a four-digit code, adding another safety barrier.

The added security points to DMs become the focus of X’s coming in-stream payments push, providing more assurance for users who may be looking to share money in the app.

Presumably, that will make DMs the functional utility for money sharing, while X is also looking to expand beyond payments, by enabling people to load money into their account in the app, so you can also host savings in the same place.

How, exactly, that will work is not entirely clear, but X owner Elon Musk recently reiterated his plans to move in this direction, noting that:

“When people’s saving are involved, extreme care must be taken.”

The focus on using messaging for this purpose also fits with Elon’s broader vision to create a Western version of WeChat, the messaging platform that’s now central to many transactional elements of daily life in China.

Elon’s “everything app” vision is inspired by WeChat, while also incorporating elements of Musk’s initial expansion plans for PayPal, before he was ousted from the company in 2000.

Musk’s been sitting on his integrated payments/banking/shopping platform concept ever since, and reforming DMs looks to be the first stage in that shift.

So will it work?

It’s difficult to say, because while conceptually, a more integrated social/payments app seems to fit, and has been a transformational innovation for Chinese users, various platforms have tried similar approaches in Western markets, and none have caught on, even marginally.

Meta is the most notable example. Meta also cited WeChat as the inspiration for its reformation of Messenger back in 2016, which was also set to incorporate payments via its Facebook Pay, and eventually its Libra in-stream payments functionality. Facebook Pay is the only element still remaining from this effort, with regulatory challenges, and low consumer adoption, eventually derailing Zuck and Co’s plan for a Western WeChat of their own.

And even Facebook Pay has struggled to gain any real traction, though that also relates to broader concerns around Meta’s past data privacy controversies, and industry stonewalling to stop Meta becoming an even bigger player in another key market. 

TikTok has been pushing in-stream sales for years, and is gradually gaining traction, Twitter tried in-app shopping (and it didn’t work), Pinterest is working on more direct payments, Instagram and YouTube would love the same, etc.

Every single one of these platforms would switch on streamlined, one-tap, in-stream payments if they could, and if there was significant consumer demand for such, they may well be able to make it happen. But again, Western users have generally seemed more content to keep their social media and shopping experiences separate, with the security and reliability of known providers, like Amazon, winning out overall.

So while, theoretically, this should be a logical combination, a perfect matching of social and payments, into a singular integrated platform, in practice, that hasn’t worked out.

And it’s hard to imagine that X will be the one to finally crack the code and facilitate broad-scale consumer adoption of such.

Because while X may be able to introduce payments, it hasn’t found even the initial stages of this process easy. X has struggled to gain payment processor licenses in the U.S., with key states refusing its initial applications due to concerns around its ownership.

Late last year, New York rejected X’s initial payment processing request, based on the fact that X has deep ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, due to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman being an investor in Musk’s X project. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to NY assessors, has a long history of brutality and repression, which it claims “has been fueled and enabled” by the platform itself.

That’s just one of several hurdles that X has faced in gaining initial approval for payments in the app. And this is just payments, not transactions (which is another license in each region), and this is only in the U.S., X seemingly hasn’t even looked to expand to other nations as yet.

Initially, Musk believed that X would have payments active in the app by the end of last year, noting that “it would blow my mind” if that wasn’t the case.

But we’re now midway through 2025, and payments are still not active.

And while they may well be coming, as part of the new messaging re-furbish, X still has a long way to go in winning over necessary regulatory groups, and then consumers, in making the app a central utility.

And the users may well be the most difficult part, because X is losing them over time.

So even if X can get all the necessary approvals (which no other app has been able to), and even if it can integrate simplified payments in-stream (which no other app has succeeded with), it’s audience share may soon be so small that it won’t matter either way.

That’s not to say it can’t happen. Elon is known for turning impossible challenges on their head, and it could be that he has some luck-enabled plan to make X payments a more significant element.

But I don’t see it yet.

Though we are seemingly going to soon find out, with the first stage being the gradual launch of its new X Chat functionality.

X Payments, presumably, will then follow shortly after.

LinkedIn’s looking to provide marketers with expanded insight into how their campaigns influence company purchases, with a new addition to its Revenue Attribution Report that will show how different people from a target company have engaged with your ads.

As explained by LinkedIn:

“In B2B sales, buying decisions are rarely made alone – they often involve a buying committee of six to ten stakeholders, each influencing the path to purchase. Company-level attribution helps marketers understand the impact of their campaigns across multiple individuals and touchpoints, from initial engagement to closed deals.”

The expanded report will provide more specific insight into how people from a target company interact with your ads, so you can get a better understanding of the broader purchase journey.

As LinkedIn notes in the explainer here: “Company attribution is based on touch points from any LinkedIn members mapped to the company of the opportunity.”

So when any LinkedIn user from a target company engages with your ad, LinkedIn will track that engagement, providing more insight into the full path to purchase, and how many direct engagements occur within that chain.

“When paired with Companies Hub, which tracks how target companies engage with your brand, these insights become even more actionable. Marketers can identify highly engaged companies, retarget open opportunities, and tailor campaigns to speed up the sales process. By analyzing closed deals, they can also pinpoint the industries and company sizes that convert best, fueling smarter targeting, faster cycles, and stronger revenue outcomes.”

So now you’ll have more insight into how your campaigns evolve and gain traction, and the key touchpoints that can lead to sales.

That could lead to improved targeting in future, by focusing on key areas of opportunity, and understanding who you need to gain traction with to secure take-up.

It’s an interesting update, which will provide more food for thought for your LinkedIn campaigns.

You can learn more about LinkedIn’s updated Revenue Attribution Report here.

Instagram’s announced a couple of messaging updates, as it continues to lean into rising DM usage in the app.

Indeed, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri recently reiterated once again that “way more photos and videos are shared into DMs” than to any other element of the app, even going so far as to label it “a paradigm shift” in user behavior, which he’s also noted in several other interviews over the last year.

As such, it makes sense for Instagram to add more messaging elements and functions to foster evolving trends.

First off, Instagram’s adding text transcription of voice messages in DMs, so that you can still engage with your messages in any environment.

As you can see in this example, now, when you receive an audio clip in a DM, you’ll also have the option to transcribe it in-stream, via a “View transcription” button below the audio wave.

As per Instagram:

“Now when you receive a voice message in DMs, you can view a transcription of the audio before, during, and after you play the voice message, making it easier to connect with friends even when you can’t listen to their message out loud.” 

It could be a handy addition, providing another means to interact with DM content.

Also on voice messages, Instagram’s extending the maximum length of audio clips in DMs from 1 minute to 5 minutes.

So more capacity for your audio missives, enabling you to rant a little longer, which the recipient can also translate into text form if they wish.

(Note: The length of Rick Astley’s 1987 his “Never Gonna’ Give You Up” is 3:33.)   

Instagram’s been testing this with some users for a while, so it has been floating around in some corners of the app, but now, all users will be able to send extended audio clips with their DMs.

Finally, Instagram’s also adding a quick follow option within group chats, so you can easily follow every participant in any chat.

As you can see in this example, Instagram’s added a “Follow All” button in the group chat participant display, which you can tap to immediately follow the profile of everyone in the chat.

I mean, presumably, in most cases, you’ll be following all of your chat friends anyway, but with more and more people creating more and more groups for different purpose, there could be value in having a quick connection option to ensure you stay across each of your friends’, or like-interested people’s updates.

Some small, but interesting tweaks, which could come in handy for your IG DM interactions.

Over the past few years, TikTok has been looking to make live-stream shopping happen, by following the same roadmap that it did with the local version of TikTok in China, which now generates the majority of its revenue from in-app product sales.

TikTok’s hoping that it can replicate that success with Western consumers. And while the take-up of live shopping hasn’t been as rapid on TikTok, there are signs that users are warming to its shopping streams.

Last year, for example, TikTok saw a 3x increase in sales on Black Friday, with live-stream sales, in particular, driving significant interest. TikTok’s also says that in 2024, over 100 million creators went live in the app.

So there’s clearly a level of interest. So should you also be considering TikTok live-streams in your social media marketing approach?

If that is a consideration, then this infographic is worth a look. TikTok has a range of overviews of its systems and processes, including an educational component on live-streaming specifically. This section, which we’ve summarized into the below graphic, looks at what you need to avoid when streaming, to avoid a penalty.

Essentially, you can’t have static, non-engaging streams.

Pretty straightforward, however understanding the specifics could help you formulate a more effective TikTok live-stream strategy.

You can learn more about TikTok live-streaming here.

Thinking about changing up your approach on Instagram?

You may want to take a cautious approach, in order to ensure that you maintain engagement and reach in the app.

That’s according to IG chief Adam Mosseri, who’s provided some new notes on how creators should go about switching up their content approach in the app, and what they should be mindful of in the process.

As per Mosseri:

“Generally speaking, it’s better to continue to use your existing account [as opposed to creating a new one when changing approach], and there’s things that you can do to make that a little bit more of a smooth transition. You can post a video about the fact that you’re changing the direction of the account to give your followers a heads up. You can archive all of your old content from your profile, so it’s not confusing. You can use trial Reels before you decide to pivot to see if there’s an audience for the new type of content that you want to create. All of this allows you to maintain your follower base, and allows us to understand a bit more about who’s interested in you, which will help you grow over time.”

This is the key concern from Instagram’s perspective, that after the system has established notes on your profile, in regards to what you post about, who’s likely to be interested, etc., then you’re throwing all of that away if you start again.

That’s not good for creators looking to maintain steady engagement, while it’s also not good for Instagram, as it reduces overall engagement.

As such, if you really want to make a shift to a different content approach, it’s worth factoring in these considerations.

Mosseri says that he gets this asked this question a lot by creators, who are concerned about how their content evolutions will impact their stats.

And they will, which is why Mosseri has provided these notes, explaining that, yes, starting a new account is a much harder road, and if engagement is your big focus, you may not want to take it.  

Mosseri does note that if you’re making a “really hard pivot,” and the content that you’re shifting to is nothing like what you’ve published in the past, then starting a new account makes sense. But again, it’s difficult starting from scratch, and if you can, Mosseri advises creators to transition their account, rather than beginning again.

Of course, there are a range of variables at play within this, and some accounts will be able to grow really fast, even new ones, so there’s no definitive best approach to shifting your content focus.

But Mosseri’s basically saying that you don’t want to throw away all of your past work in growing your account if you don’t have to, while new profiles also need time to feed into Instagram’s algorithms, in order to help its systems showcase your material to interested users.

So, unless you’re really changing focus, you probably don’t want to start a new profile, if you’re looking to build an audience.

Looking for more ways to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your ad efforts?

This will help.

Digital ads expert Savannah Sanchez has shared an overview of her key tips for ensuring your ads tick all the right boxes, and get maximum attention and engagement.

I mean, actually ticking all of these boxes is not the best approach (you probably don’t want spelling or grammar errors), but conceptually, by following these tips, you’ll ensure that you’re covering all the key bases for a successful campaign.

Savannah shares more ad creation tips on her website.

TikTok’s rolling out another way for live-streamers to generate direct leads from their broadcasts, with the option to switch on DMs during live-streams.

As you can see in these examples, posted by social media researcher Jonah Manzano, TikTok is now informing live-stream creators that they can activate DMs during streams via a “LIVE setup for client acquisition” menu within the broadcast options.

That’ll then add a message CTA button within your broadcast, so that viewers can quickly and easily get in contact during the stream.

Which could be a good way to generate leads, and spark more interest during your TikTok LIVEs.

TikTok’s been trying to boost interest in live-stream commerce after seeing big success with the same in China, where live commerce now generates the majority of the revenue in Douyin, the local version of the app.

Indeed, Douyin is now generating $500 billion in sales per year, with its streaming offerings generating big interest, though the same hasn’t caught on in Western markets as yet.

That said, interest in TikTok shopping is growing. Last year, TikTok reported a 3x increase in sales on Black Friday, with live-stream sales, in particular, driving significant interest. TikTok’s also seeing more interest in its in-stream shopping options in South East Asian markets.

At the same time, TikTok reports that general interest in live-streaming in the app is also rising.

TikTok says that over 100 million creators went live in the app in 2024, with 46 million creators launching their first-ever stream.

So there are signs of potential growth, and as such, adding in more options to drive LIVE commerce and sales activity seems like a logical growth push for the app.

LIVE DMs is another step in this direction, and maybe, that could help to spark more interest from brands in broadcasting in the app.

Either way, it’s another consideration for your TikTok approach.

We’ve asked TikTok for info on whether this is being rolled out to all users, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.

YouTube’s announced some new tools to help brands collaborate with creators on promotions, including an AI-powered search option that will help brands find relevant creators on any given topic.

The feature is a new element of YouTube’s “Insights Finder” (currently in beta), which provides advanced discovery options, using Google’s latest tech.

The new creator discovery element aims to connect brands and agencies with relevant creators, based on conversational queries.

Enter in your search terms, and the system will produce a listing of YouTube creators in your chosen subject niche.

There’s a range of customization filters for your searches, so you can drill down to the exact right match for your campaigns. And once you find the right influencers for you, you can reach out direct from the listings.

It’s not available to everybody just yet, but YouTube’s hoping that its advanced creator matching tools will soon provide more capacity to link brands up with the most relevant creators in very specific niches.

YouTube’s also announced some updates to its Creator Partnerships Hub, including improved campaign performance metrics, and updated creator profile displays.

It’s also launching a new API that’ll be “focused on connecting brands with creators,”

As per YouTube:

“Soon, eligible influencer agencies and SaaS platforms will be able to supercharge their creator tools with creator insights.”

That’ll give more third parties the tools they need to facilitate branded content opportunities.

YouTube’s also bringing Partnership Ads to Display and Video 360 campaigns, while it’s also expanding its creator Takeovers offering, which provides more opportunity to maximize your messaging by aligning your promotions with select creators.

Takeovers enable brands to pay for custom messages from creators that are shown ahead of their videos. So you can have, say, MrBeast endorse your product directly, giving you direct, focused reach in popular clips.

YouTube first announced Takeovers last year, but it’s now expanding them to more brands and creators.

Some interesting promotion options, which could help you spark more interest in your offerings.

Looking for ways to take your Facebook and Instagram campaigns to the next level?

Effective measurement is a key consideration in optimizing and improving campaign performance, because if you don’t know what is and isn’t working, how can you possibly improve?

Meta offers a range of solutions on this front, and helpfully, it’s also got a guide that covers all of them, which could help you to better understand your various ad measurement and assessment options for your campaigns.

You can download Meta’s full “Measuring Ad Effectiveness” guide here, but in this post, we’ll take a look at the key notes.

First off, the guide looks at the questions you need to ask when measuring ad performance, and how they relate to your campaigns.

Think about what success means for you, and how you align with the goals of each specific campaign, which will then dictate how you measure relative success.

Though, of course, each level of measurement has differing levels of complexity, and thus, viability for each business.

And as Meta notes:

“Alongside the right measurement toolkit, it’s important to have alignment on the business objectives that are supported by your measurement approach. Businesses leading in this space have consensus from the top down on marketing objectives and key performance indicators.”

This is another factor to consider, but there may be solutions that align with your technical requirements, as well as your labor capacity in this respect.

The guide then provides an overview of all of Meta’s various ad campaign measurement options.

The listed options are separated into four measurement categories:

• Attribution solutions
• Experiments
• Modeling
• Custom Analytics

Each, again, has its own level of complexity, but Meta offers a range of solutions, which could provide you with additional considerations for your performance tracking.

Meta provides simple explainers for each of its options, along with links for further information, and relevant considerations.

It’s a fairly simple overview at core, but it does provide a comprehensive listing of all of Meta’s various ad measurement options, which could help you decide which way you should be leaning to optimize your efforts.

And really, it’s worth a look for any Facebook or IG advertiser, as it may shine a light on elements that you hadn’t considered. And as Meta’s ad systems gets more advanced, and more automated, effective measurement will become more important, because if you’re going to trust Meta’s systems to get your ads in front of the right people, then you want to ensure that you’re aware of how that impacts your bottom line.

You can download Meta’s full, 19-page “Measuring Ad Effectiveness” guide here.

Similar to how every platform has been turning its focus to short-form video over the past few years, attention is now turning to AI chatbots, with Google being the latest to add a ChatGPT style interface to Search, as a means to capitalize on rising interest.

As you can see in this example, Google’s “AI Mode” in Google Search enables you to take a more conversational approach to web discovery, with a ChatGPT-like UI, that you can converse with like a know-it-all human.

Google began testing its AI Mode with approved testers back in March, and it’s now expanding access to all Google Labs users in the U.S.

As per Google:

“Millions of people are using AI Mode in Labs to search in new ways – asking longer, harder questions, using follow-up questions to hone in on what they really want to know, and discovering new websites and businesses along the way. Based on the incredibly positive feedback we’re getting, we’re removing the waitlist so anyone in the U.S. can now get immediate access to AI Mode in Labs.”

So it seems that there’s been enthusiasm for Google’s AI answers, which are powered by its evolving Gemini AI systems.

There’s been so much interest, in fact, that Google’s also making it available to regular Google users as well, with a selection of non-Labs users in the U.S. to get access to the option on the coming weeks.

This comes on the heels of Meta launching its own standalone AI app, which enables users to converse with Meta AI, and X launching a standalone Grok app.

Generative AI is fast becoming a key discovery element, though Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also noted this week that a common usage they’re seeing with Meta AI is that people are using it as a sounding board to converse with.

As per Zuck:

“Already, one of the main things we see people using Meta AI for is talking through difficult conversations that they need to have with people in their lives; ‘I’m having this issue with my girlfriend. Help me have this conversation,’ or, ‘I need to have a hard conversation with my boss at work, how do I have that conversation?’ That’s pretty helpful. As the personalization loop kicks in and the AI starts to get to know you better and better, that will just be really compelling.”

It feels like Google’s AI, built into Search, will have a more definitive discovery purpose, which Google feeding in product info from Google Shopping listings in order to also help people find relevant items for their queries.

Though it is interesting to consider how different apps could fall into different usage brackets in this respect.

For example, some people already associate AI with ChatGPT, and some have set personal parameters in that app, which now provides them with customized, personalized answers. As such, they may be less likely to switch to, say, Meta AI, while Meta AI, as noted, could be viewed as more of a social tool than Google’s AI Mode, due to how people view Meta and Facebook more broadly.

It’ll be interesting to see how people use each AI tool, and what the most common questions are to each. Are people asking more topical questions to Grok? Are they seeking more product info on Google?

I do think that the context within which these tools are presented will matter in this respect, though the one that wins out will likely be the one that get best attune itself to each person’s individual preferences.

You’d assume Meta would be best placed in that respect, using your Facebook and IG info to customize your responses, while Google has never really been great at this aspect.

We’ll have to wait and see what the usage behaviors show.

Google’s also adding some new tricks to AI Mode, including visual place and product cards (which you can tap through on for more info), and the capacity to resume past searches via a new side panel.

It’s interesting to see how each app is approaching the AI shift, and the tools they’re development for such, and again, it’ll also be worth noting how people use each app, and whether they do start to merge their engagement towards one main AI tool.