Managing Social Media is Hard Enough — Staying Up to Date Shouldn't Be.
It might be time to start a special section called "Where is Frances Haugen?" That's because the former Facebook-employee-turned-whistleblower continues to be invited to share her testimony. Facebook's independent Oversight Board has invited her to speak (Haugen has accepted). She'll also appear before the U.K. parliament on Oct. 25th. This doesn't seem to be going away any time soon...
In today's top stories:
Survey: What the kids are talking about
Twitter makes space for Creators
The most-downloaded apps in September 2021
And this meme is a red flag 🚩
Read on ⬇️
What The Kids Are Talking About
Crocs are making a comeback for Gen Z, who prefer to pay with cash, and care about the environment. These are just a few findings of the fall 2021 survey of 10,000 U.S. teens by investment bank Piper Sandler. Some of the top social-media and digital-related survey results are outlined below. But I highly encourage you to dig through this survey for fascinating insights into spending trends, fashion, brand preferences, and much more (it's a PDF page turner!). And if you got the reference to "Teenland" in the subject line — this is for you.
Social Media
Favourite Platforms
Snapchat (no surprise) was listed as teens' favourite platform
It was followed by TikTok at #2 and Instagram at #3
Instagram has slowly decreased in popularity since Spring 2020, while TikTok has increased
Snap users check the app 30x per day on average; 28% of teens have purchased an item off of the app
Most-Used Platforms
When it comes to time spent on an app, Instagram is still #1, followed by Snapchat and TikTok
However, Instagram has reduced its lead over the last year, while TikTok usage has grown
In Other News
Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest barely even register in both categories
The average teen in the survey reported spending approximately 4.2 hours per day on social media
Influencers
Favourite Social Media Personalities:
The top spot goes to YouTuber Emma Chamberlain
David Dobrik — who suffered through a scandal earlier this year — dropped from #1 to #5 in this latest ranking
And TikTok influencer Charli D'Amelio (126 million followers) appeared in the ranking for the first-time ever in spot #9
Kylie Jenner (#4) and LeBron James (#10) both fell in the ranking
Favourite Celebrities:
Adam Sandler took the top celebrity spot, ousting Kevin Hart from #1 and down to #3
And Ryan Reynolds debuted in second place
Other Highlights
Netflix leads daily video consumption (32%) followed closely behind by YouTube (30%)
40% of teens do not have cable
Only 49% of teens surveyed reported having a positive experience with AI bots; and most teens (58%) prefer to call customer service
22% of surveyed teens had heard of non-fungible tokens, and 10% had purchased one (mainly males)
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SOCIAL SNACKS
What's the Status?
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced the company is testing two new "transparency" tools: bug notifications and "Account Status." With Account Status, you'll be able check the status of your account (and whether it's in danger of being deactivated) and where your content is being distributed. And following a few recent outages on Facebook and its family of apps, Instagram is testing a new feature that will notify you on your Activity Feed when the app goes down. "We won’t send a notification every single time there is an outage, but when we see that people are confused and looking for answers, we’ll determine if something like this could help make things clearer," Instagram said in a blog post.
Making Space for Creators
Wanted: "Emerging Creators who are passionate about the live social audio format and interested in creating recurring programming on Spaces." Twitter is launching Spaces Spark Program for audio Creators. Spaces is a live audio feature and competitor to the Clubhouse app. As part of Twitter's new program, Creators will receive rewards (up to $2,500 per month), support, access to early features, and more. Interested? Apply by Oct. 22nd. In related news, Twitter Spaces is now available to Android users in the U.S.
ICYMI
🔴 Twitter testing an easier way to switch to your reverse-chronological feed [The Verge]
🔴 Facebook says it will remove sexualized attacks against public figures [Facebook Blog]
🔴 LinkedIn is leaving the Chinese market [TechCrunch]
🔴 TikTok announces expanded harassment features for livestreams [TikTok Blog]
🔴 Reddit rolls out Prediction Tournaments [Mashable]
APP-LIKE
TikTok Won't Stop
There aren't too many surprises in the September 2021 roundup of most-downloaded (non-gaming) apps. According to mobile app analytics firm SensorTower, TikTok continues to hold onto the top spot, followed by Facebook and its family of apps. It will be interesting to see if the Facebook whistleblower testimony will have any impact on the October numbers. Stay tuned!
CHEUGY
Definition: Someone who is trying too hard, or is out of date; the opposite is "un-cheugy"
Pronounced: Chew-gee
Origin: Gaby Rasson coined the phrase, according to this NY Times article
MEME-LIKE
That's a Red Flag 🚩
Have you noticed a lot of red emoji flags on Twitter and other social media platforms? It's a meme that started in the Black community as part of a discussion about dating and what people consider "red flags," according to CNET. However, it's moved beyond that discussion in recent days, with brands — like Pepsi and Lego — jumping on the trend. One note of warning: If you also plan to start using this meme, you might get a 🚩.
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