Welcome to Part II of Edition No. 20 of my weekly newsletter, providing practical analysis in the world of digital content strategy.
ICYMI Tuesday: How To Choose the Right Anchor Text + Twitter Search Trick
Contents
I. THE ‘NEWS’ GOOGLE NEWS IS HERE
II. TWITTER UNVEILS LONG-FORM ‘NOTES’ TOOL
III. NEW CREATOR TOOLS ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM
IV. SEO TIPS FROM SOMEONE WHO AUDITS NEWS SITES FOR A LIVING
V. EU EXTRACTS SIGNIFICANT TIKTOK CHANGES
VI. LINKEDIN ADDS ‘REPOST’ OPTION TO SHARE BUTTON
VII. INSTAGRAM’S NEW FACE-ID TOOL
VIII. CUSTOM LIKE BUTTONS EXPAND ON TWITTER
IX. NEW LINKEDIN ‘CONTENT AND CREATIVE DESIGN’ CERTIFICATION
I. THE ‘NEWS’ GOOGLE NEWS IS HERE
Google announced Wednesday a “more customizable Google News experience for desktop.”
Some of the updates:
Local news has been moved to the top of the page
“You can now use the filter button to add multiple locations to your local news section”
Topics are customizable
“In addition to headlines, you’ll now see the original claim made along with the fact-checked assessment from independent organizations.”
“…in the U.S., we’ll invest in a local news advertising campaign placed with local outlets.”
A pair of initiatives to directly support journalists:
“…we’re officially opening the applications for our Global News Equity Fund, our multi-million dollar commitment to help bring more diversity and equity to the news industry.”
“We’re also announcing the first round of recipients of The Data-Driven Reporting Project, a partnership between the GNI and the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.”
🛠 Why does this matter? At a time when Facebook is distancing itself from publishers in favor of more lucrative partners, this is a bright spot for the news industry.
Local news outlets are often the ones that have the most impact on our day-to-day lives. (As a former hyperlocal reporter – my favorite past job – I am both biased and can attest to this.)
Maybe I’m drinking the Kool-Aid, but Google helping fund these projects while also giving journalists freedom to operate how they know best is exciting, especially if it can boost traffic and revenue for local, original coverage.
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II. TWITTER UNVEILS LONG-FORM ‘NOTES’ TOOL
Twitter says the decision to develop a long-form product is based on two pieces of user feedback:
Writers want more control.
They want us to make it easier to create longer forms of content on Twitter.
The product is being tested “in public with a small group of writers from Canada, Ghana, the United Kingdom, and the United States” for the next two months.
Here are the features of Notes – (Not “Twitter Notes,” Notes), as the post emphasizes:
Going beyond 280 characters
Embedding photos and videos and GIFs and Tweets.
Publishing Notes, readable on and off Twitter.
Editing Notes, pre and post-publish.
A Notes tab on your profile that holds your published work.
The tweets come with a notice at the bottom:
🛠 Why does this matter? Twitter threads are all the rage, lately. Some users have built their entire following on discourses that begin like this:
Apps like Hypefury make it easier than ever to manage long-form content on the original short-from social network.
The benefit of a thread is that they’re easy to digest, broken down into their steps of 280-of-fewer characters.
If the question is whether we need yet another place to publish long-form content on social media – let alone online – the answer is a clear and resounding “No.” But that doesn’t mean this won’t be a useful tool.
For users whose business is built around Twitter, I can see the utility, especially if a shared revenue element is added.
It could also be a great place for press releases, product launches and other big announcements that are usually posted as threads or screenshots.
I can’t, however, imagine publishers or those who already have a strong following elsewhere becoming big adapters. Even if there is an enticing monetization element added later on, we have already seen how looking outside “the gates” for money can backfire on news websites.
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III. NEW CREATOR TOOLS ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM
To help creators better connect with their fans, build a business and prepare for the metaverse, we’re announcing several new features and tools across Facebook and Instagram.
We’re extending our commitment to not take fees on Subscriptions, Badges, Paid Online Events and Bulletin until January 1, 2024.
Good news for smaller/up-and-coming creators: The bar is still relatively high, but now, instead of a select few being eligible to earn money with Reels, anyone who meets these criteria can apply:
5+ original reels created in the last 30 days
100,000+ plays in the last 30 days
Meta outlines in the release other ways more creators can now earn income on its platforms.
🛠 Why does this matter? Meta is providing creators more ways to make money as a way to prevent them from going to other platforms. Namely, TikTok.
Bad news for well-established creators who already had access: The potential-competition pool just got a lot larger, and the revenue pie will be divided into smaller pieces.
Good news for all: The fact that Meta isn’t taking any fees until 2024 is attractive. The question is, can creators earn more fee-free on Meta platforms, or with fees on others?
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IV. SEO TIPS FROM SOMEONE WHO AUDITS NEWS SITES FOR A LIVING
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