Facebook's Latest Surprise for Publishers
TikTok is projected to overtake YouTube in both time spent and revenue by 2024.
Welcome to Part II of Edition No. 14 of my weekly strategy newsletter, providing practical analysis of the latest in the world of digital content.
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ICYMI Tuesday: The more social networks copy each other, the more they seem to blend together
Contents
I. FACEBOOK’S LATEST SURPRISE FOR NEWS PUBLISHERS
II. TIKTOK SET TO DETHRONE YOUTUBE IN ‘TIME SPENT’
III. GOOGLE CLARIFIES KEY SEO BEST PRACTICES
IV. PIN REPLIES ON TWITTER?
V. TWITTER TO LIMIT COPYPASTA TWEETS
VI. HAVE YOU SEEN SNAPCHAT’S CRYING FILTER?
VII. ‘PROJECT CAMBRIA’ IS META’S NEXT HEADSET ON MIXED REALITY
Follow @GerickNews on Twitter for tweets about other updates that I think are important but maybe not worth putting in the newsletter because let’s be honest, it’s already kind of long, and you’re very busy.
I. FACEBOOK’S LATEST SURPRISE FOR NEWS PUBLISHERS
From The Information (paywall):
Meta Platforms is considering reducing the money it gives news organizations as it reevaluates the partnerships it struck over the past few years, according to people familiar with the matter. The reassessment comes as Meta looks to cut costs broadly and rethinks the value of including news in its flagship Facebook app.
The article also says that “the social media company has noticed that fewer people have been clicking on links to news articles since President Donald Trump left office.”
🛠 Why does this matter? If you’re a news website, you don’t need me to tell you how disappointing this would be if implemented.
While past Feed updates have already drained a large swath of organic Facebook referral traffic to news sites, this could be particularly disappointing to outlets that don’t simply post their content on Facebook, but also struck a partnership with the company.
In the March 25 edition of this newsletter, I explored more deeply the danger in relying on third-party platforms to sustain the lion’s share of your traffic/business.
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II. TIKTOK SET TO DETHRONE YOUTUBE IN ‘TIME SPENT’
The forecast: US TikTok users will spend more time with the social media platform this year than YouTube users will spend on YouTube.
The eMarketer report also projects that TikTok’s revenue will surpass YouTube’s in 2024.
🛠 Why does this matter? As of this year, TikTok allows users to post videos of up to 10 minutes on its platform. That means its trying to attract more long-form content, an area long dominated by YouTube.
As the users go, so do the advertisers. As one ad executive said in an unrelated article about Twitter: “If you said to me that TikTok went away, that would be a disaster.”
If you don’t have the capacity or the know-how to run a quality TikTok account1, it’s better not to waste your precious time there. But if it is important to your business – and if you do any kind of video, it should be – start investing significant resources into this platform where more than 40 percent of Gen Z spends at least 3 hours per day.
The most obvious difference between TikTok and YouTube from a UX perspective is that one is best viewed horizontally (YouTube2) while the other vertically (TikTok). And the best videos are made from scratch for those formats. Cropping a horizontal video for TikTok, for example, is borderline lazy and not as visually appealing as something shot and edited vertical-first. But that also means double the work for the same piece of content.
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III. GOOGLE CLARIFIES KEY SEO BEST PRACTICES
Someone taking a Google-created digital marketing course recently pointed out that the training recommended “more than 300 words on your webpage” and to “keep your keyword density below…2%” for search best practices.
This caused a bit of an uproar in the SEO world. Enough so that Google’s public search liaison Danny Sullivan wrote the following on Twitter:
“As someone from the Search team, we don't recommend any limits or ‘density’ or anything like that. This can be ignored; I'll pass it on.”
He then linked to this SEO Starter Guide instead.
The erroneous information has since been removed from the course.
🛠 Why does this matter? Google is the world’s top search referrer, and while it provides concrete best practices, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the finer details of its algorithm, especially when changes are made.
The foundation of an SEO strategy should be quality, original, naturally written content. Having to worry about reaching 300 words when you can do the job just fine in 150, or other related factors that lend themselves to an unnatural editorial voice, can hinder that foundation.
The confirmation that these aren’t ranking factors is good news for websites that provide valuable, actionable content in an organic way.
Do you find this post useful? Please share it to help spread the word.
IV. PIN REPLIES ON TWITTER?
Twitter appears to be testing the ability to pin a reply to your tweets:
🛠 Why does this matter? If you tweet something and multiple people reply, you could choose a favorite to “pin” at the top of all those replies, regardless of chronological order, to stand out above the rest.
Here are some reasons you might want to do that:
Someone you mentioned in the tweet responded and you want to highlight their comment
Someone adds additional context to your tweet
Someone famous responded and because we all have some vanity deep down inside of us (though others right on the surface), you want the whole world to see
You ask a question and you want to pin the first person who provided the correct answer
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V. TWITTER TO LIMIT COPYPASTA TWEETS
What is copypasta? (Did reading that make anyone else hungry?)
“Copypasta” (a reference to copy-and-paste functionality to duplicate content) is an Internet slang term that refers to an attempt by multiple individuals to duplicate content from an original source and share it widely across social platforms or forums.
Why is Twitter cracking down on copypasta?
…it can be repetitive, spammy, and disruptive to people’s experience on Twitter. Duplicative content can also be used to artificially amplify content, suppress information or manipulate Twitter’s Trends, Top Search results and conversations across the platform.
🛠 Why does this matter? This reminds me of the pre-retweet-button era when you had to manually write “RT” in your tweet, and people would abuse this to take a really good tweet and copy and paste the whole thing verbatim, simply adding a RT at the beginning without any additional context or insight so that they could reap all the interaction benefits. (At least we now have quote tweets for that.)
The standards for plagiarism have significantly diminished since the dawn of social media, and while that chicken flew the coop long ago, it’s nice to see that Twitter is still combatting content-copying practices.
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VI. HAVE YOU SEEN SNAPCHAT’S CRYING FILTER?
I think it’s the biggest hit since Rainbow Puke.
TikTok has already shipped its own version:
Personally, I find the original (Snapchat’s) to be superior based solely on the fact that the more you’re smiling or laughing in real life, the harder you’re shown crying on the screen.
(I took a great video of my wife eating cheese with this filter and I would love to share it, but she subscribes, too. So, yeah. I’m not going to risk my marriage for the sake of the newsletter.)
🛠 Why does this matter? First and most importantly, it’s a fun filter to use. And couldn’t we all use a little more fun in our lives?
Second, it’s more evidence of two things I mentioned Tuesday:
A. Snapchat is going its own way, other platforms be damned. It’s why I think it’s the least susceptible platform right now to long-term MySpacification.
B. Social networks can’t stop copying each other, and I don’t think that’s good for the end user.
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VII. ‘PROJECT CAMBRIA’ IS META’S NEXT HEADSET ON MIXED REALITY
Mark Zuckerberg posted a video on his Facebook account to show off the headset, though it’s blurred out in the video.
When the boss posts, you better comment!
Meta: Next level 👏 Can't wait for everyone to experience Project Cambria and "The World Beyond"!
The Facebook App: Excited to see the new worlds everyone will build! See you in the metaverse! 🥽
The demo looks pretty cool. I especially like the idea of being able to view a ton of screens on “mixed reality,” which I think is the same thing as augmented reality, but maybe they don’t want to call it that since Snapchat’s already kind of cornered the market?
🛠 Why does this matter? Based on the posted video, I can see how this would make a work-from-home life more productive than ever. Your personal instructor can come right to your living room during breaks!
I’m not a fan (and probably in the minority) of living in a virtual world that has no real-world impact. But if that virtual world can de-clutter the real world – as with the multiple screens example – or make remote education even better, I’m all for it. That being said, consider me team #WaitAndSee
Have you used the crying filter on your spouse? Let me know below in the comments.
See you Tuesday for a practical tip and an in-depth analysis in the world of digital content strategy.
Or an account on any platform for that matter. Do something well, or don’t do it at all. Your time is gold
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