Welcome back to Spark Social Report by Spark Growth, your weekly source for social media updates! This week, TikTok launched “Interactive Add-Ons” for ads, Instagram announced fundraising features for Stories, and Twitter might be continuing to work on a Tweet edit button. Continue reading for more updates across social media from this week!
Digital Marketing Insights
A new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found that digital advertising increased by 35% to $189 billion in 2021.
Where exactly is all of this advertising spend going? Here are some of the channels that advertisers invested in heavily during 2021:
- Digital video increased 50.8% compared to 2020, seeing total revenues of $39.5 billion.
- Digital audio had the highest year-over-year growth, increasing 57.9% to $4.9 billion in total revenues.
- Social media advertising on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter increased by 39.3% to $57.7 billion.
Check out the full report as well as IAB’s article covering the report for additional insights!
Twitter Continues Working on an Edit Tweet Button
According to reports from social media analysts, Twitter is continuing to work on a new “Edit Tweet” button. This comes following Elon Musk’s Twitter poll earlier this month, which gauged user interest in the feature.
Alessandro Paluzzi, mobile developer and reverse engineer, provided a first look at what the Edit Tweet button could look like in a Tweet.
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) April 15, 2022
In this screenshot, the Edit Tweet button has been added to the “three-dot” drop-down menu of existing Tweets alongside familiar features such as delete and embed.
Jane Manchun Wong, a reverse engineering blogger, dug deeper into the inner workings of the potential feature. According to her findings, the feature will “re-create” a new Tweet with amended content rather than editing the content of the existing Tweet. “There’s a new version of this Tweet” will then be shown on the original tweet.
Looks like Twitter’s approach to Edit Tweet is immutable, as in, instead of mutating the Tweet text within the same Tweet (same ID), it re-creates a new Tweet with the amended content, along with the list of the old Tweets prior of that edit
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 16, 2022
It appears that Twitter is also working on an “Edit History” screen for Tweet Edits to consolidate each version of the tweet into a centralized location.
Twitter is working on Edit History screen for Tweet Edits pic.twitter.com/NWOkaByld8
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 20, 2022
Fundraisers and Nonprofit Donations expanded to Instagram Reels
Instagram users can now fundraise and donate to nonprofits directly through Instagram Reels.
Announced in Meta’s blog post for Earth Day, users in over 30 countries can now donate and create fundraisers within Instagram Reels for more than 1.5 million nonprofits. Meta will cover the processing fees for donations sent through Instagram Reels, and all the money raised using Fundraisers on Instagram will go directly to the organization.
Late last month, Instagram also tested similar fundraising features through hashtags which prompted users to create their own fundraisers for the related social causes of specified hashtags, pointing to the platform’s commitment to developing features that support social causes.
Fundraising 🤝 Reels
It’s inspiring to see creators find creative ways to give back — now you can create fundraisers and donate to nonprofits directly in Reels. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/tB340WJg7R
— Instagram (@instagram) April 19, 2022
New Hashtag Tests for “Top” and “Reels” on Instagram
Instagram is testing new tabs in the Hashtags section of the app for a small group of users. The changes in this test aim to provide more interesting, relevant, and timely content to users.
In this test, the existing “Recent” tab has been removed, leaving just the “Top” and “Reels” tabs. Instagram says both have been adapted to prioritize timely content. This is just another example of how the company continues to promote its Reels content.
For a small group, we’re testing more recent and timely content in ‘Top’ and ‘Reels’ tabs in hashtags, and removing the ‘Recent’ tab. We want to see if this helps people connect with more interesting and relevant content on hashtags, while also keeping them across what’s current. pic.twitter.com/nLb6BiFRws
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) April 19, 2022
Product Tagging Launched for all Instagram Users in the U.S.
While the feature was announced several weeks ago, the functionality is finally in place for all U.S. users to tag products in their Instagram posts.
U.S.-based users can tag products in their feed posts by starting the post creation process and then tapping on the option to tag people. After first tagging the brand in the post, a new option labeled “Products” will appear at the bottom of their screen. Users can then use descriptors, such as styles and colors, to find the product they are searching for. Once found, tapping “add tag” will tag the product in the post.
Instagram is now working on ways to tag products in Stories, and tagging products in feed posts is currently only available for public Instagram accounts.
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Instagram Ranking System to Prioritize Original Content
Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, announced in a tweeted video that the company will improve its ranking system in order to prioritize original content made by its creators.
In the video, Mosseri explains that through this change in the ranking system, Instagram wants to give more credit to its creators who make content “from scratch” rather than those who share content that they’ve found elsewhere on the internet and then reposted to the platform.
He explains how important creators and their success are to the future of Instagram. This change is a “small step” in the direction the platform is moving, with “more to come soon.”
📣 New Features 📣
We’ve added new ways to tag and improved ranking:
– Product Tags
– Enhanced Tags
– Ranking for originalityCreators are so important to the future of Instagram, and we want to make sure that they are successful and get all the credit they deserve. pic.twitter.com/PP7Qa10oJr
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) April 20, 2022
New “Subscription” and “Chat For Subscribers” Stickers for Instagram Stories
It appears that Instagram is working on new stickers for Stories that will add additional value to the Subscriptions feature.
Subscriptions were introduced to Instagram users in January 2022 through a test exclusive to selected creators. The feature allows creators to monetize their profiles through a monthly price of their own choosing. A “subscription” button then allows users to access various exclusive content posted by the creator, such as Subscriber Lives, Subscriber Stories, and Subscriber Badges.
In a Tweet posted by Jonah Manzano who uncovers new features across social media, a new pop-up is shown within the Instagram Story interface that prompts users to add a subscription sticker to their story. While there is no evidence for the sticker yet, the pop-up implies the feature is in the works.
Add a subscription sticker on Instagram story @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com/tWmB1NklXf
— Jonah Manzano (@jonah_manzano) April 15, 2022
Alessandro Paluzzi, also posted a Tweet revealing a new sticker feature that Instagram appears to be working on, enabling users to create chats within their stories exclusive to their subscribers.
#Instagram is working on a new sticker: Chat for subscribers 👀 pic.twitter.com/PIiEBdfG9a
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) April 20, 2022
TikTok
New “Interactive Add-Ons” for TikTok Ads
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TikTok has added new “Interactive Add-Ons” for In-Feed advertisements. These add-ons aim to increase user engagement with ads through key-catching features such as pop-ups and stickers.
In-Feed add-ons are categorized into “Premium” and “Standard” options. These categories are not based on ad spend metrics. Rather, they are tailored to the advertiser’s specific aims.
Standard add-ons include features that focus on lower-funnel marketing goals, such as clicks and conversions. These add-ons include:
- Pop-out Showcase: a pop-out element that prompts users to take an action that will lead them further down the funnel.
- Gesture: prompts users to participate with a “surprise gesture” which will then show a clickable display card with information or a reward to drive users to a landing page.
- Super Like 2.0: floating icons will appear when a user engages with the advertisement, followed by a display card similar to the one in Gesture. Coming soon.
Pop-out Showcase [Source]
Premium add-ons focus instead on upper-funnel goals, such as brand awareness and community building.
- Display Card: clickable, brand-aligned card that can highlight messages, share offers, or drive traffic to a website or app.
- Gift Code Sticker: boost conversion and drive loyalty with special incentives.
- Voting Sticker: polls and quizzes to collect feedback, deepen connections, and boost audience participation.
- Countdown Sticker: a visual scrolling timer to promote upcoming events.
Countdown Sticker [Source]
Note: Some of these features, such as Gesture, are still in testing and are not yet available to all accounts.
New TikTok Mobile Gaming Live-streaming Feature
TikTok has quietly rolled out live streaming features specific to streaming mobile games. Matt Navarra, social media consultant and industry analyst, shared screenshots of the new feature’s interface in a Tweet this week.
This is TikTok’s NEW mobile gaming live-streaming feature pic.twitter.com/zdEQMdOFtX
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) April 14, 2022
Within the TikTok camera is a new option to choose between the device’s camera and “Mobile gaming” for visual input. Additionally, a button at the top of the screen prompts the streamer to select a game to help interested viewers find your content. When clicked, a list of popular games is provided for the streamer to choose from.
Snapchat
New Bitmoji Options Expand Representation on Snapchat
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Snapchat announced several new customization options for Bitmojis that will bring the platform closer to a fully inclusive representation of its users.
These new options include updates to the top three most requested assistive devices: hearing aids, canes, and wheelchairs. The update furthers Snapchat’s mission to make Bitmoji the “world’s avatar” while prioritizing concepts such as diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility.
Snapchat developed these updates with guidance from partners such as Disability:IN, a nonprofit dedicated to disability inclusion. Snapchat also consulted people with lived experience using these assistive devices to help ensure accurate representation.
This update is just the beginning of how Snapchat plans to expand its inclusivity. Earlier this month, Snapchat also added new ASL features to the app. Throughout the rest of the year, Snapchat will continue to conduct research about how users with disabilities would like to be represented online, using community input to expand its options and features.
YouTube
New “Shorts Shelf” added to YouTube Trending Page
YouTube has announced the addition of a “Shorts Shelf” to the YouTube Trending page.
The new Shorts Shelf will contain the most popular Shorts based on the user’s location. Shorts will be filtered out of the Trending results—where they had previously appeared—and will instead be exclusively located within the Shelf in order to improve the user experience of the Trending page. This update is being rolled out in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, France, Indonesia, the Middle East, and Africa, with more regions to follow.
The update was announced in a recent video on YouTube’s “Creator Insider” channel, where the YouTube technical team shares information weekly about new updates and features to the platform.
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Updates to Search Tools on Reddit
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Reddit has announced several updates to search capabilities on the platform.
“Comment Search” gives users the ability to quickly search through comments on the platform without needing to navigate through several threads and subreddits to find what they’re looking for. Comment Search adds to the existing search interface for Posts, Communities, and People. The search can also be refined to specific communities.
[Source]
The search results page on desktop and mobile has been updated with a more straightforward design, and posts are now prioritized over other content types on the simplified page.
The infrastructure that determines search relevance has also been improved. Search results are now less restrictive, meaning that the complete search query the user enters does not need to be present to find a related result.
Implementation of user pattern recognition will now help to improve search results through an understanding of what other users who have searched for similar topics in the past have done, and signals such as clicks will assist in determining a post’s value and relevance.
WhatsApp Announces “Communities”
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WhatsApp has officially announced “Communities” after the feature was rumored to be in the works last week.
Communities bring additional functionality to group chats by acting as a centralized location for closely related chats. Community admins can send an announcement message to each group chat within the Community simultaneously, making it easier to send important messages out to those who need them.
WhatsApp provides an example use scenario of Communities. A school principal may send an announcement to parents who are each a part of group chats specific to their child’s class. With Communities, this announcement can easily be shared with each chat.
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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