We’re back! And this Spark Bites is going to be a doozy! It may be snowy and brisk outside… but honey, after you’ve sipped the hot tea I have to serve, you’ll need to (finally) swap the turtleneck you’re wearing for a cute graphic tee and cold ice coffee. So warm up and listen up!
SoundCloud is looking to win the heart of the youth, Instagram is working on a new format to revamp brands and influencer partnerships, Twitter is improving their video engagement, a new safety series is in effect on the TikTok app, and Facebook’s dark mode feature is a result of a secret Easter egg.
Now come follow our ray of sunshine: as they say, nothing stays hidden under the sun, the moon, the truth, and now… Spark Bites.
SoundCloud
“AYO… Listen to my mixtape, fam.” A sentence that many of us often dread hearing while en route to class or hanging out with our friends at the mall. We all know that ONE SoundCloud artist begging us to support them or asking us for a shoutout on all of our social media platforms. But things may soon change. You heard me!
SoundCloud has announced that university and college students can buy a monthly subscription to SoundCloud Go+ for only $4.99. The low-cost student subscription aims to compete with many other major streaming services that have offered the same feature for quite a while, such as Spotify Premium, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Youtube.
We know! Decisions, decisions, decisions…
At least you students now have another streaming service to pick from while you’re desperately trying to remember why you decided to start your English term paper 12 hours before the due date. Good luck!
After the whole fiasco (now resolved) where follower counts dropped drastically, Instagram is now out with a new, hopefully less buggy, update. Instagram is currently working on a new format for sponsored posts created by influencers, celebrities, and publishers. Up until now, brands would hire a famous Insta influencer to promote their products with branded content, but the posts would only reach the followers of the influencer.
Soon, advertisers will have the option to promote those Instagram posts just like any other ad. Oh boy! Be on the lookout for these new changes… and Instagram, we are watching you!
We love some GOOD content, especially on Twitter, whether it involves tweet conversation drama or creating new memes based on the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Now Twitter has got us even more covered. They recently SHOOK the world with a new analytics tool that allows publishers to better understand what types of content resonate with us.
They recently broadcasted a dashboard tool for the best time to post a video, described as an early concept. However, the results are looking promising, and using the dashboard is said to have had an overall positive effect on engagement, conversation, and viewership.
But of course, they aren’t doing everything for us. We know, yet another person telling you that “the world doesn’t revolve around you”. The tools are said to calculate when users watch videos ACROSS Twitter and not specifically your videos. I’m telling y’all you got to read the fine print.
TikTok
TikTok, an app known for short-form lip sync, has officially surpassed one billion downloads! This news is so major that the people at TikTok launched a video safety series to educate users, primarily pre-teens who are dominating the scene on this app.
Don’t worry, friends! It’s not one of those long security FAQ pages with a font size lower than a baby IQ where the majority of us automatically check the “Read and Accept the Terms” box without actually reading any guidelines. We have all been guilty… don’t lie, sis!
The safety series, dubbed “You’re in Control”, has fused education and entertainment together. The seven-collection series has a plethora of relatable content, such as memes and editing tricks to help the learning process. So run along my pretties, get thy knowledge!
Facebook Messenger has been teasing us with a dark mode feature, and it’s actually here… but there is a catch: dark mode is only enabled through a secret Easter egg.
Shhh… what we’re telling you is top secret, and also you didn’t hear it from us. Users must send out a crescent moon emoji to any chat; once it’s done, a bunch of crescent moons will trickle down a user’s screen and BOOM! Dark Mode is available.
Facebook has made it a hidden secret, for only a limited audience. In the later months, the dark mode will be accessible to everyone.
But for now, it’s our little secret. We must keep our friends clueless for a little while.
Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming, and Spark Bites will keep our weekly news sizzling HOT. Now, sashay away.
