Welcome to the March instalment of Social Butterfly – TCD’s state-of-social-media wrap with Digital Content Manager Tessa Charters and Social Lead Jamie Hatch.
Hello, social butterflies, and welcome back to our monthly breakdown of all things social. As always, the big wide world of social media never stops, and we’ve got a lot to catch up on.
Hot topics that have been making the rounds in our group chats this month include the new ability to get off the wrong side of TikTok, the social media platforms that are taking tbt very seriously, and Reels taking inspo from Strava to give us a little pat on the back for our hard work.
Shall we get into it? We think yes.
The right side of TikTok
Ever found yourself down a very deep and very dark TikTok rabbit hole? Us too. And the way the algorithm works (serving you more of the content you’re looking at) makes it very difficult to climb out of. Until now.
TikTok is rolling out the option for users to hit refresh when their For You page no longer feels for you. Essentially, it makes the platform act as if you’ve just signed up, and once you get scrolling, the recommendation system will kick back into gear and begin to give you more of the content based on your new interactions. It can be a new year, new me and new TikTok feed everyday of the week.
The platform has also just celebrated a huge milestone of 150 million US users. It would be a shame for it to be banned now – but oh wait, that’s exactly the conversation we’re having… again.
However, it seems our friends across the world are feeling brave, with 75 percent of marketers expecting to invest more into the platform regardless of the potential ban looming over their heads.
P.S. Would you pay for content behind a paywall from your favourite TikTok creators? In its newest form of monetisation, TikTok is adding Series, for creators to share premium content. Sound familiar? Yeah, we’re not sure if we’ve bought into it yet either.
Pressing rewind
Two of our beloved platforms are looking to take us back to the good old days, with Snapchat announcing testing to restore Snapstreaks – because in their words, “a lost Snapstreak doesn’t mean your friendship has gone cold”. And in what can only be seen as a tribute to MySpace, Instagram is testing a Top 3 sticker.
To quickly rewind: if you don’t remember the days of a Snapstreak, it involves both Snapchatters sending a snap back and forth to each other within a 24 hour window. Continuing this for three consecutive days in a row then begins the ‘Snapstreak’. The fun part? You’ll acquire a 🔥emoji next to your friend’s name, along with the count of how many days you’ve been snapping.
While still in the early days, Snapchat’s press release makes it sound like this might be just another platform looking for an easy way to make cash. Because what is more enticing than paying to warm up a friendship that’s gone cold?
For Instagram, on the other hand, this is their second recent move that’s a blast from the past. First it was songs on profiles (which are cringe and impossible to screenshot around) and now it’s your Top 3. For all those old enough to remember the days of MySpace profile songs and top friends, come on Insta, please do better.
Rewards for Reels
It’s about to get competitive out there, because Instagram is taking a leaf out of Strava’s book by acknowledging our achievements with a virtual badge.
They’re currently testing a new Reel Achievements feature on selected Instagram accounts – this is Instagram’s way of “encouraging users to try different Reels features in order to reach goals and unlock achievements”.
These badges can be unlocked by doing things such as collaborating with other creators using Instagram collabs, using trending audio or effects in your reel, or posting more than one reel in a week.
Will users rejoice in the satisfaction of receiving a badge for posting a Reel, as much as they would for achieving a badge for a 5km run on Strava? Will the algorithm be pushing content that has achieved these badges? Will Instagram make these badges public so that we can see other users’ badges? If so, I guess the competition is heating up.
For a feature we didn’t know we needed, we’re interested to see how it plays out, and if it’s a feature Instagram will actually implement for all users in the near future.
In other news
We don’t want to alarm anyone, but LinkedIn is now allowing us to schedule posts, and it is safe to say we are just a little happy about it.
The question is, with more and more apps letting us schedule posts natively, is there still room for all-in-one platforms that let you schedule across multiple platforms and brands all at once? While third party scheduling platforms will no doubt continue to remain convenient for those of us managing multiple platforms and brands at once, we wonder if we’ll be punished for using a third party platform when it comes to the performance of said scheduled posts.
While most of us are focusing on short-form content, Elon is taking Twitter in the opposite direction, announcing Tweets will soon be as long as 10,000 characters long. Oh, and by removing Legacy Blue Ticks (aka those earned rather than paid for) and prioritising replies coming from verified accounts, his strategy seems to be that of a business bully. He’s the king of the castle – you can get with the program, or get off the playground.
Finally, Instagram is testing full-length Reel replays within Stories (thank you!) and is adding reminder ads and promoted search results to its suite of marketing tools.
That’s all from us, until next month…
