Welcome back to Spark Social Report by Spark Growth, your weekly source for social media updates! This week, Twitter and Instagram are adapting new display formats that look very similar to TikTok’s “For You Page,” LinkedIn updated its algorithm and TikTok has a new “Friends” tab. Continue reading for more updates across social media from this week!
Digital Marketing Insights
This week, TikTok announced a partnership with Foursquare, a company that can track a user’s location activity to determine if they went to a physical store after seeing an online ad. This partnership will allow TikTok to use these insights for advertisements on the app. Advertisers will be able to see the effectiveness of a digital marketing campaign for their physical business locations. As TikTok states, advertisers will be able to determine three key things:
- How many people visited their store after seeing an ad on TikTok?
- How much to spend on a campaign to drive more traffic?
- Which audiences bring the most value?
Would you consider creating a digital marketing campaign on TikTok based on this new partnership?
Read the full article here for more information!
Twitter Adapting a New Display Format, The “For You” Tab
My Twitter is now TikTok 😯 pic.twitter.com/mOULom2Mi7
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) May 6, 2022
Looks like every social media site wants to be like TikTok, or at least be just as popular. Twitter is testing a new display format in the explore tab that is extremely similar to TikTok.
As reported by Matt Navarra, a social media analyst, the format includes a “Trending” and “For you” tab. The “For you” tab offers a scroll display of short videos and Tweets. This update seems to take Twitter in a slightly new video-oriented direction since the platform’s main attraction was previously focused on sharing thoughts in the form of short messages. Short-form videos have never been the purpose for using the platform and other sites such as Instagram and TikTok dominate the demand for video format.
New Features for Twitter Spaces
we’re testing a feature you’ve been asking for
when some Hosts start a Space, a Space card will be sent as a Tweet so listeners can reply, engage, and share…straight from the Space! we hope it makes it easier to see and participate in the convo. now testing on iOS and Android! pic.twitter.com/ioB6xpSwZA
— Spaces (@XSpaces) May 5, 2022
Twitter is advancing its live audio feature, Twitter Spaces, by adding new features to promote accessibility for users. The first of these features is access to analytics for hosts and co-hosts to view when a Space session ends. Hosts will be able to view data on the total live listeners, replays and speakers of a session.
Twitter is also testing a feature that sends Space cards as a Tweet when a Space session has started. This allows listeners to reply, engage and share within the Space, making conversations easier for users.
Additionally, Jane Manchun Wong, a social media analyst, found a new function where users can start a Space about any Tweet from the options menu. With all of these new features for Spaces, it’s clear that the company is attempting to position its live audio features as a competitor to the popular Clubhouse app.
Twitter Announced a Duplicate Content Policy
Twitter wants to ensure users see authentic information and limit spam-related Tweets. To do this, the company announced the copypasta and duplicate content policy. Within this new policy, any identical or near-identical Tweets from one or more accounts will have limited visibility. This will not include any duplicated Tweets from the retweet feature or any duplicated Tweets that have additional unique commentary.
Instagram Testing NFT Sharing
Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced that they have begun testing the ability for users to share NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on Instagram. Users can share NFTs that they have made or bought on their feed, stories or in direct messages. Mosseri stated that they are testing this function out with a small number of creators to ensure the function works well and that the community can contribute their opinions on the feature.
Instagram Testing Full-Screen Scroll Feed
This is Instagram’s new TikTok-style main feed
h/t @arnoldvieriu pic.twitter.com/y0kobSYgAo
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) May 9, 2022
Another platform this week is testing out the TikTok-style scroll feed. Adam Mosseri announced that Instagram is experimenting with an immersive main Home feed to advance the app. The feed includes both photos and videos that take up the full screen instead of their usual square previews. Mosseri stated that photos are taken on a 9×16 scale and can now be viewed in full with this new feature.
TikTok
TikTok Replaces the “Discover” Tab with “Friends”
As we continue to celebrate community and creativity, we're bringing a Friends Tab to more people over the coming weeks, which will allow you to easily find and enjoy content from people you're connected with, so you can choose even more ways to be entertained on TikTok. pic.twitter.com/GdVpPbxio6
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) May 5, 2022
TikTok is replacing the “Discover” tab with a new “Friends” tab. In this new feature, users will be able to scroll through a feed of their friends’ videos and find new friends through recommendations. By replacing the Discover tab, users can no longer see the latest trends and hashtags but instead, will be able to use the search icon on the main feed.
TikTok Launches a New Global Insights Tool
TikTok’s new insight tool makes viewing community behaviors much easier by having it all in one place. With this tool, anyone can filter statistics based on locations, audience, industry and holidays. This will make it easy for digital marketing to assess the practices of their audience to determine the best marketing strategies.
Facebook Tests New Notifications Bubbles
New! Facebook on iOS has added a new Stories-like bar for notifications pic.twitter.com/ZiQ12eMQcj
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) May 3, 2022
Facebook is testing out a new notification bubble feature that looks similar to Instagram stories. The bubbles will link to the newest content from friends and help users stay updated. Facebook is struggling to keep users active on the app when new platforms like TikTok are gaining popularity. This new feature will help Facebook users stay more active with new posts being highlighted immediately on their screen.
LinkedIn Updates Its Feed Algorithm
LinkedIn has updated its feed algorithm based on the feedback from users. The first of the updates is the ability for users to click “I don’t want to see this” on any post. For example, if users aren’t interested in seeing political content on their feed, this can be flagged, which helps the LinkedIn algorithm avoid showing a user this type of content in the future. At this time, the company notes that it’s testing this feature in the U.S.
LinkedIn is also working on improved targeting based on interest and engagement when showing posts from a user’s network. This includes showing creators who are outside of a user’s network as a way to recommend new followers in the feed tab.
The last of the updates is a reduction of low-quality content that comes from inauthentic users looking for a boost in engagement. LinkedIn will not show posts that are misleading or outright asking users to like and react. This also includes a reduction of polls. When polls were introduced, users found that there was a disproportionate amount of polls on their feed compared to other types of posts. Now, users will see polls from individuals they know and are more likely to engage with.
LinkedIn Announces Real-Time Captions for Audio Events
As LinkedIn works to make the platform more accessible and user-friendly, the company has introduced real-time captions for audio events. LinkedIn’s audio feature was launched in January to compete with the professional audio app, Clubhouse. LinkedIn’s audio feature has been successful as it has helped professionals on the site stay connected. Real-time captions will upgrade this feature for members with hearing impairments and those who want to join an event without audio.
LinkedIn is Launching Profile Links for all Users
Originally spotted last month, some users have now been given the option to share a link on their LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has announced this new feature in its blog and notes that it will be available for more users soon, but currently, profile links are only available for those using creator mode.
The link feature can potentially bring more attention to a user’s site and aid in organic promotion. This option was previously only available for company pages but users expressed that having the option for individual profiles could increase the visibility of their businesses. To further assist individual members, users will also have the ability to choose a custom link text.
WhatsApp Doubles the Size of Group Chats
You can now add 512 of your friends to a WhatsApp group chat. This is double the previous amount where a max of 256 people could be added. Having more people in a group chat creates better opportunities to create a larger community. Not only does this update appeal to casual users, but marketers who are thinking ahead may already be planning their next marketing strategy. Sharing your Whatsapp phone number to brand sites has the potential to become the new email marketing chain.
New Pinterest TV Studio App
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Pinterest has launched a new TV Studio app for creators to make improved quality content for Pinterest TV. The live and on-demand video app, Pinterest TV, launched in November 2021 and Pinterest is hoping to bring some attention back to the platform by creating a Studio app to aid in the video creation process. Currently, only select creators have access to the app as it is slowly being debuted.
YouTube
YouTube is Testing Membership Gifts
Starting this week with a small number of users, YouTube creators can buy a package of memberships to their channel and gift them to viewers in their live stream. Viewers who receive these gifts will gain access to the creator’s channel membership for one month. The company notes that it’ll be making more updates so stay tuned!
New Green Screen Feature for YouTube Shorts
Creators on YouTube can now use a new green screen feature to add a video portion from any eligible YouTube video or Short as the background. YouTube has been continuously adding new features and effects to Shorts that are similar to functions on TikTok. The feature was originally launched in March of 2021 as a potential competitor to TikTok and Instagram Reels.
That wraps up the latest social media update for this week! Be sure to check us out on Twitter for more digital marketing trends and news.
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