Welcome to the October instalment of Social Butterfly – TCD’s state-of-social-media wrap with Digital Content Producer Tessa Charters.
TikTok is green with envy
It feels like only last month that we were discussing Instagram’s copycat status. Oh wait, that’s right, we were, and yet here we are again, this time with TikTok coming for BeReal’s crown. C’mon, TikTok, I thought you were better than that. (OK, I didn’t, but I had hoped.)
‘TikTok Now’ is the latest BeReal wannabe and is being trialled as both an in-app feature and as its own app. While it doesn’t seem to have hit Australian shores yet, we tend to be 5-7 business years behind the rest of the world, so it is only a matter of time.
The app has also rolled out downvotes to all users, the intention being that negative comments will be downvoted. While a good idea in theory, it does make the cancel culture bandwagon just that much easier to jump on. But only time will tell.
Anyway, for those wanting some epic BeReal content, I suggest you watch this for a lol.
YouTube wants an even bigger piece of the pie
With attention spans dwindling and bite-sized content taking over, YouTube has made the decision to further prioritise its Shorts, making them easier for advertisers to utilise. Smart, YouTube.
While still in the testing phase, YouTube is looking to offer a feature that automatically reformats landscape video ads into vertical or square, depending on how the user is engaging. I’m yet to see it out in the wild to confirm its accuracy, but it could be a game changer.
For YouTube creators, the platform is ramping up its monetisation options, with The New York Times reporting YouTube will soon add a new, direct monetisation option for Shorts. And for those of us who are battling with business-friendly audio, aka me, YouTube has refined its audio library within YouTube Studio to provide an ever-growing catalogue of music for long-form videos, including affordable licensing.
Not-so-short Stories
Instagram Stories are officially becoming less fiddly, with the announcement that Stories that are under 60 seconds will no longer be broken up into segments. Rest in pieces, my video-splitting apps.
Meanwhile, the platform is rolling back even more features, showing that more isn’t always better. This time the platform is scaling down shopping features, apparently so it can focus on building its short-form video capabilities. Yes, users are still crying out for the old Instagram to pick up the phone, but video seems to be the favourite child of the social world at the moment.
And in a move never before seen, Instagram is rumoured to be internally testing a tool that would let fans pay creators with ‘Gifts’ on Reels. If this comes to fruition it’ll be a new monetisation model for creators, and put the app in direct competition with the likes of OnlyFans… which is not that surprising, as Instagram is often a promo platform for OnlyFans users.
And finally…
Twitter has launched its new Flight School to teach users how to get their business to take off on the platform and up their Tweeting strategy. You can register to attend an upcoming workshop here.
GWI released its report on Generation Alpha, officially making me feel old – you can download it here.
And LinkedIn is working on native content scheduling options, which you can read about here.
Until next time…
