What’s New in Social Media - February
To be a good marketeer, you have to keep up with the ever-changing online world! Here are some of the most recent updates, new features, or announcements from your favourite Social Media platforms. Read on to learn more…
No more in-stream video ads on Instagram
Reports began a few weeks ago that Instagram has decided to get rid of in-stream video ads, formerly known as IGTV ads. The platform cancelled IGTV not too long ago and the video ads were renamed to in-stream. However, without IGTV, these ads look out of place and therefore Instagram has taken the decision to remove them. Infeed and Story ads continue to be the primary placement on the platform. Another step from Instagram moving away from long-form video content in favour of the ever successful Reels.
Pinterest’s ‘Try on’ for home decor
Next up, Pinterest has expanded its ‘Try on’ feature to home decor, which uses AR to virtually place items in a user's home by using the Pinterest lens camera in the app. The feature can be used across 80,000 shoppable pins from selected retailers, these pins will also show the price and product description and will take users to the retailer’s website for purchase. This update is available in the US on IOS and Android right now, with an international rollout coming soon.
Meta has joined the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA)
Meta has finally dropped the plans for its own cryptocurrency project, which were first announced back when they were still named Facebook. Instead of building its own coin and wallet, Meta has opted to join COPA, on the board as a voting member. COPA was founded by former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey. It promotes unrestricted use of innovative technology and crypto patents with the exception of litigation. Coinbase, Kraken and BitPay are also members.
COPA’s mission is to remove legal obstacles so Cryptocurrency can become the backbone for transferring value anywhere in the world. With Meta joining, this signifies Crypto technology's growing significance for businesses across industries.
Shopping on Youtube Shorts
Youtube announced they are in the early stages of testing a shopping integration in Youtube Shorts. We can likely predict that shopping through Shorts will be a similar format to shopping happening on Instagram and TikTok, with native product tags and links to purchase embedded in the short-form videos. Youtube Shorts is a key focus for Youtube this year. It launched a 100 million dollar ‘Shorts fund’ last year to incentivise creators to earn money through their Youtube Shorts content.
Twitter’s long-form articles
The platform which was famous for 140 characters is now testing the use of long-form articles. They are working on an article feature, which allows people to publish native blogs on the platform. Think pieces, company updates, or thought leadership will be more useful in the format, instead of screenshotting your notes app and tweeting it out as an image. Twitter will likely reserve the feature for its Blue users to sway people into paying their premium subscription.
You’re all caught up! We hope you learnt something new about Social Media from this month's updates and announcements. To learn more about some of your favourite social media platforms then head to the Gather Social website today to read another blog, or just click here.
