We’re back with this week’s Spark Social Report by Spark Growth! Instagram and Facebook users can finally go live with multiple people, and a few apps are celebrating International Women’s Day with new features. Scroll to read more!
This week, Instagram and Facebook introduced “Live Rooms,” which gives users the ability to go Live with up to three other people! Previously, users could only go live with one other person in a stream. The platforms have also given creators more ways to earn money through livestreams: viewers on Live Rooms can buy badges to support the hosts, and even use other interactive features like Shopping and Live Fundraisers. Instagram and Facebook are also exploring more interactive tools, such as moderator controls and audio features, which will be available in the coming months. To start a Live Room, users can swipe left on the app and pick the Live camera option. Then, they will be prompted to add a title and click the Rooms icon to add guests. The option to go live with multiple guests is an effective way to increase audience reach, involve more people in a conversation, and create more diverse live discussions.
To celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8), Facebook has announced a range of new features. For both Messenger and Instagram, Facebook has added new custom sticker sets which encourage users to celebrate women in their lives and throughout history. The platform is also launching a new category in its Community Help dashboard, which will help nonprofits and individuals organize charity drives and collect essential items through Facebook’s tools. It’s also adding a #womenowned shopping collection on both Facebook and Instagram Shop tabs, which will further encourage support for women-owned businesses. It’s also launching a campaign called “Women x Women” which will highlight inspirational stories of women who have found success on Facebook platforms.
In November 2020, Facebook put a temporary ban on political, electoral, and social issue ads for U.S. users in order to avoid confusion, misinformation, or abuse following Election Day. Now, Facebook is resuming these ads, which may be welcome news for marketers in the U.S.
Twitter is working on a “Safety Mode” feature. The feature would alert users when their tweets are getting negative attention. Tapping the notification alert will direct them to the Safety Mode control panel, where they can choose to activate an auto-block and mute option. This will automatically stop any accounts that are sending abusive replies from engaging with them for one week. This feature aims to decrease instances of online bullying and abuse.
The platform also announced “Super Follow,” a soon-to-come option that will allow Twitter users with 10K or more followers to monetize their content. Starting at $4.99 a month, these subscriptions would include a supporter badge, subscriber-only newsletter, exclusive content, deals and discounts, and community access. This feature has been compared to platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans, and may become an effective monetization option for content creators. Currently, there is no set date on when this feature will become available.
Twitter announces “Super Follow”, like Patreon but on Twitter https://t.co/5YBmEfgsUn pic.twitter.com/aY9g1ozoJz
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 25, 2021
Twitter is also expanding its Fleet options with “Twemoji” stickers, currently only available for users in Japan. Users can access these stickers by tapping on the smiley face option in Fleets composer. Mimicking other Story tools, such as those found on Instagram and Snapchat, these stickers may help users better convey a certain mood or vibe when posting their Fleets.
Today we released Stickers in Fleets for iOS users in Japan 🇯🇵 This release comes with sticker search and a custom set of Twemojis to help people express more when they Fleet.
— Sam Haveson (@samhaves) February 26, 2021
Twitter is also expanding user access to its audio-only chat feature, Spaces, and is testing features like Space scheduling and labelling tools. The scheduling option will allow users to schedule an upcoming Space, which they’ll then be able to tweet out to their audience, who can sign up for a reminder via the tweet. Twitter is also working on Space discovery options to help users reach more followers. Lastly, the platform is working on its participant listings so users can view who’s listening into a Space at any time.
Twitter will also begin applying labels to Tweets that may contain misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, it’s introducing a strike system which will determine when further enforcement action is needed. The aim of the strike system is to educate users on Twitter’s policies and reduce the spread of potentially harmful and misleading information. One strike will result in no account-level action, two and three strikes will lead to a 12-hour account lock, four will result in a seven-day account lock, and five or more will result in permanent suspension.
Twitter is also hoping to jump on the eCommerce train: as seen in the example below, it’s testing a Twitter card which will link to product pages on a shop’s website. The card will include Product Name, Shop Name, Product Price, and a “Shop” button. Twitter has also confirmed that it’s working on multiple other eCommerce options, but that these are still in early stages of development.
Twitter is experimenting with new shopping features 🛍
A NEW Twitter Card being tested for tweets containing links to product pages on a shop's website
New-style Twitter Shopping Card shows
– Product name
– Shop name
– Product price
– 'Shop' button<-Old | New->
ht @YasserM86 pic.twitter.com/8q5xLbbH2m
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) March 2, 2021
Pinterest is celebrating International Women’s Day by launching a new Shop collection, which features 25+ women-founded small businesses and various products that are made, designed, or imagined by women. For the month of March, the platform has also created an International Women’s Day fund, the donations of which will go towards the National Domestic Workers Alliance Inc, Black Girl Ventures Foundation, and the Global Fund for Women Inc.
The platform recently hosted its first global advertiser summit called “Pinterest Presents,” which gave attendees an exclusive look at Pinterest’s latest ad product updates. The first is Pinterest Premiere, a video ad solution which enables advertisers to engage their audiences at scale due to exclusive video placement. The second is Pinterest Trends and Conversion Insights, which are new planning and measurements tools that will show actionable insights to help marketers optimize performances and opportunities to reach consumers.
TikTok
TikTok is celebrating International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month through new initiatives. Throughout the month, TikTok will feature live programming with popular creators, public figures, and partnerships, and every week will focus on a different theme around embracing and celebrating women. It will also host a TikTok-style telethon on March 8 to raise money for various relevant organizations.
Good news for Samsung TV users in the U.S.: as part of Samsung and TikTok’s ongoing global partnership, most Samsung 2021 smart TVs will get a TikTok app later this year. The app initially launched for Samsung TVs in the U.K. last year, and will be coming to other markets later in 2021.
WhatsApp users can now access private one-to-one voice and video calls on desktop! This update will help users who prefer a bigger screen, or just generally prefer to conduct communications via desktop, to connect with work colleagues and loved ones.
Snapchat
Snapchat and Bitmoji are testing the first phase of its diversity and inclusion efforts by creating avatars in a manual wheelchair. Bitmoji is an app that allows users to create personalized avatars, and is owned by Snapchat. In light of this decision, Bitmoji announced, “Bitmoji’s mission has always been to create avatars that reflect and represent the diversity of our community. And while we recognize that we have more work to do, today we hope to become one step closer in reaching our greater goal of making inclusivity a fundamental part of our Bitmoji avatar platform.”
That wraps up this week’s social media updates! Be sure to follow us on Facebook for more digital marketing and social media news.
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