Welcome to Edition No. 13 of my weekly digital strategy newsletter, providing practical analysis of the latest in the world of content creation.
Beginning this week, the newsletter will be divided into two editions:
Updates and practical analysis in the world of content strategy (what has to this point been "the “News” section). This is what you’re reading today
A deeper analysis on one subject as well as a practical how-to tip (what have to this point been the “Analysis” and “Tip” section). This will now be sent on Tuesdays
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Contents
I. FULLY IMMERSIVE INSTAGRAM FEED
II. GOOGLE’S WAR ON ‘BAD ADS’
III. TIKTOK’S LATEST ADVERTISING SOLUTION
IV. TWITTER EDIT BUTTON UPDATES
V. LINKEDIN FEED MAKEOVER
VI. ‘TWITTER CIRCLE’ LAUNCHES
VII. META ADS THAT OPEN WHATSAPP CHATS
I. FULLY IMMERSIVE INSTAGRAM FEED
Instagram is experimenting with a fully immersive feed, which is basically the experience TikTok currently offers.
While this has been rumored for weeks, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri officially announced the rollout Wednesday on his profile.
“And so what you’ll see is us testing out taller photos and taller videos in your Feed,” he said. Specifically photos and videos with 9x16 dimensions.
As you can see in the above screenshot, captions and interaction buttons (like, comment, share) as well as other features are now overlaid on the photo/video instead of below it.
For comparison, here’s what a TikTok looks like in the app’s feed on a phone:
🛠 Why does this matter? First, this is yet another indication that TikTok is leading the way in the world of social media.
Second, vertical photos and videos have been preferred over horizontal by many on social media since the advent of Snapchat, and again, this change further solidifies that fact.
This should also solve the issue of sound from a video that’s only partially visible in the feed auto-playing. (Like when you’re viewing a photo, but the top portion of a video is just barely visible in the bottom of your screen, so an unrelated sound invades your photo-viewing experience.)
One benefit for creators is that, with small tweaks, you should be able to edit and upload the same “base” video for both platforms. Previously you might have created a horizontal video for Instagram and a vertical one for TikTok. Now, using your video editing program, you don’t have to double the work, or worry about weird cropping on a vertical video that was recycled from a horizontal one.
Then again, do we really want all the social networks to keep copying each other until they’re practically the same? More on that Tuesday.
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II. GOOGLE REMOVED MORE THAN 3.4 BILLION ‘BAD ADS’ IN 2021
From the 2021 ads safety report:
“In 2021, we removed over 3.4 billion ads, restricted over 5.7 billion ads and suspended over 5.6 million advertiser accounts. We also blocked or restricted ads from serving on 1.7 billion publisher pages, and took broader site-level enforcement action on approximately 63,000 publisher sites.”
Scott Spencer, VP of Product Management and author of the report, also noted that Google is “prohibiting ads from profiting from or exploiting the situation” in Ukraine
Ads from more than 60 state-funded media sites have been removed during the war.
Regarding COVID-19, more than 106 million ads related to the virus have been blocked since the beginning of the pandemic.
Also, Google will begin rolling out an “About this ad” feature this year, which will show users the “verified name of the advertiser.” Transparency, people!
🛠 Why does this matter? About four-fifths of (Google parent company) Alphabet’s revenue – $61.2 billion in Q4 2021 – comes from ads on YouTube, Google Search and the Google Network. Maintaining the ‘Bility Brothers – credibility and stability – is essential to the platform’s continued success. (Not that it’s struggling.)
It also gives ad buyers confidence they’re not competing with bad actors and that users will view their ads as trustworthy.
One last thing: Google is asking some ad buyers to verify their accounts. If this happens to you, do it ASAP. Otherwise, your account will be automatically suspended.
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III. TIKTOK PULSE, AN ELITE AD PRODUCT
“…we're excited to introduce TikTok Pulse, a new contextual advertising solution that lets advertisers place their brand next to the top content in the For You Feed.”
Ads will appear “among the top 4% of all videos on TikTok”
There are 12 different Pulse categories
“Our proprietary inventory filter ensures that TikTok Pulse ads are running adjacent to verified content with our highest level of brand suitability applied on the platform”
With TikTok Pulse, we will begin exploring our first advertising revenue share program with creators, public figures and media publishers. Creators and publishers with at least 100k followers will be eligible in the initial stage of this program.
What’s unclear to me is how exactly these ads will appear. Will they come between popular videos in the feed? Will there be some kind of overlay on a popular video? Is it a pre-roll or mid-roll ad, like on YouTube? What does placing these ads “next to” the content mean, exactly? Though it’s exciting and other people I have read seem to understand it perfectly fine, no live, visual example is provided.
🛠 Why does this matter? YouTube is the dominant shared-revenue supplier for creators, who take home 50% of what ads attached to their videos bring in. TikTok, despite its supersonic growth, can’t yet offer creators the same benefits.
This new ad product could help change that. This makes it worthwhile for “creators, public figures and media publishers” to invest more resources in TikTok.
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IV. A LOOK AT TWITTER’S NOT-YET-RELEASED EDIT BUTTON
What you see here is a test and only available to select users.
The original tweet – of an edited tweet sequence – features a notice that “There a new version of this Tweet”:
The updated tweet has the “Edited” icon you see below:
🛠 Why does this matter? This transparency – especially the fact that the original tweet doesn’t go away – is a good sign that the edit feature won’t easily be manipulated to trick people or spread misinformation.
Then again, what happens if/when the Elon sale goes through is anyone’s guess. (Musk has long advocated for an edit button.)
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V. LINKEDIN MAKING IT EASIER TO FOLLOW, FIND RELEVANT CONTENT
LinkedIn is the latest victim of feed-gaming, a practice more common to TikTok and Meta wherein users post content for the sole purpose of going viral, increasing their following, and boosting their ranking for other posts.
To that end, the professional social network announced various updates Thursday:
Making it easier to follow (as opposed to connect) with others
🛠 WDTM? This is great for influencers or people who want to limit first-degree connections, but not reach. It’s part of an effort to show you more posts from users outside your network*
*Network = People with whom you’re directly connectedMore targeted posts from your network
🛠 “For example, you may not get a lot of value from seeing a connection’s comment on someone else’s post about a job change if you don’t know that other person.”More options to tell LinkedIn that you don’t want to see a particular piece of content in your feed, and why
🛠 AKA please stop showing me updates from that guy I went to college with who only talks about how great he isU.S. users only (for now): Reduce political content in your feed
🛠 Eight years too late (kidding)Fewer polls in your feed
🛠 Woohoo!
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VI. TWITTER CIRCLE BEGINS ROLLOUT
🛠 Why does this matter? Think of this like the “Close Friends” feature on Instagram.
If you have something on your mind but you don’t want the whole world to see it, you could use this feature. But I still wouldn’t recommend saying something that could get you fired, because is anything really private anymore?
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VII. CREATE FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ADS THAT BEGIN A WHATSAPP CHAT
If users find your ad on Facebook or Instagram, a single tap could open a new WhatsApp conversation with your business.
According to an April 2022 study commissioned by Meta, “7 out of 10 people want to be able to communicate with businesses in the same way that they message with friends and family.” If that holds true, WhatsApp would be a more efficient place for a lot of readers and customers to have a conversation with your team.
Additionally, as part of a “small test,” WhatsApp messages are being added to Inbox, a tool that already consolidates Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct messages.
🛠 Why does this matter? While Meta has expanded the number of ways users can contact your business, the number of places you need to go to respond remains the same: one.
Of course you can still respond to messages on the individual platforms – Facebook, Insta, WhatsApp – but the more accounts you have related to the same business, the more time this is going to save you.
Even if you only have one account each for the three respective platforms, this is a good way to make sure you’re not overlooking any messages, especially those that could turn into sales and subscriptions. And the fact that you can funnel your ads to a single messaging platform is a plus.
Were there any other updates this week that you found important? 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.
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