I wish I was a little bit shorter
Just Another Day in Social Media. 🤪
If music-streaming app Spotify had a theme song right now, it might be "Another One Bites the Dust." That's because the list of artists and celebrities who are starting to flee the platform is getting longer. It all began when artist Neil Young announced he would pull his music from Spotify over COVID-19 misinformation promoted by popular podcaster Joe Rogan. Now, singer Joni Mitchell is also planning to leave, Brené Brown is pausing her podcast, and Harry and Meghan are voicing their concerns. The volume on this issue is likely to continue going up this week...
Here are today's top stories:
Instagram gives new billing to Live videos
Snapchat wants to try on something new
A handy guide to image sizing in 2022
And an inspiring story that we all want to hear
Read on ⬇️
I'll Keep This Short
It might be just because I'm in the middle of a 60-day social media video experiment (which I'll be talking more about in a few weeks), but I feel like I keep noticing new video updates. So, I thought I would take a few minutes to go through them with you — including research on short-video trends. But, as always, feel free to keep scrolling if you're already in the know. 😉
Live... From Instagram
Instagram has announced yet another new video update — this time for Live videos. When you schedule a Live, it will now show up as a badge on your profile, according to a tweet from @Instagram. And followers can hit a button that says "Remind Me" that essentially allows them to subscribe to the Live and get notifications. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri tweeted out a video about this new feature (and the Remix video update we talked about in last week's newsletter) saying, "We're focused on building for teens and creators, and in the spaces of video and messaging, and these are within those themes." (Good for Instagram for just putting it out there that they don't care about old(er) folks anymore, lol).
Deleting (Profile) Videos
While Instagram is enhancing its video features, Facebook is doing a bit of editing. It is removing profile videos as of Feb. 7th, according to social media consultant Matt Navarra, who tweeted a screenshot message from Facebook announcing the update. The screenshot says that if you have a profile video and don't update it by Feb. 7th "the cover image of your video will become your new profile pic." So, no need to do much here. According to Social Media Today, the feature was originally launched in 2015 with the hopes that the 7-second video would be a fun addition to the profile. But I guess there weren't that many people hitting "Record."
Short Video > Long Video
And when it comes to type of video, it looks like shorter is better. According to Hubspot's 2022 Marketing Industry Trends Report, 30% of social media marketers plan to invest more in short-form video this year, and 33% plan to use it for the first time in 2022. And that means apps like TikTok, which is all about short videos, have a clear advantage. It also helps explain why YouTube introduced its "Shorts" feature in 2020 (which it constantly tweets about, btw).
I will say that personally, I miss Twitter's short-video feature, Fleets, which it killed in 2021. I know Twitter wanted to go all in on its audio feature, Spaces, but I feel like this is a missed opportunity. (However, I think LinkedIn made the right decision to kill its Stories feature last year 👍).
SOCIAL SNACKS
Can I Have Some Privacy?
Last week was Data Privacy Week, and the social media companies made sure to get out their messages. Meta (aka, Facebook) took the opportunity to tweet daily about how it plans to protect our privacy (I think we can all agree it has some work to do here). Twitter provided an update on the Twitter Transparency Center. And Snapchat shared new research that suggests "why empowering users matters more than privacy policies." Just to contribute to this, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has a list of tips for individuals and businesses around protecting your privacy. 🔒
Snapchat Is Trying On Something New
Snapchat is delving deeper into e-commerce, announcing what it's calling "Catalogue-Powered Shopping Lenses." So, what does that mean? Essentially, the company is offering brands the ability to use augmented reality to allow Snapchatters to try on products, such as sunglasses and makeup. You can also easily purchase by clicking on Lens Product Cards. This is very similar to Pinterest's "Try On" AR feature for makeup, which was originally launched in January 2020 for lipstick, and expanded last year to include eyeshadow. Both companies claim that shoppable AR lenses greatly increase the chances of a sale, and if so, expect to see more of this in the future.
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ICYMI
🔴 Meta announces updates on end-to-end encrypted chats on Messenger [Meta Blog]
🔴 TikTok launches plan to fight Holocaust denial [BBC News]
🔴 YouTube announces the U.S. and Canada #YouTubeBlack Voices creator class of 2022 [YouTube Blog]
🔴 LinkedIn is deactivating LinkedIn Lite on March 15, 2022 [LinkedIn Blog]
SURVEY SAYS...
YouTube has gained a lot of traction among older adults in the last few years, according to a Pew Research Center Survey. "From 2019 to 2021, the share of Americans ages 50 to 64 who said they ever used YouTube increased from 70% to 83%. Among those 65 and older, YouTube use increased from 38% to 49% – gains of 13 and 11 points respectively." Learn more.
IMAGE-LIKE
Hootsuite's Handy Guide
If you feel like you're constantly Googling image sizes for the different platforms, you might want to check out Hootsuite's Social Media Image Sizes for 2022 Cheat Sheet. It's super detailed, and has tips for most platforms you're planning to post to.
INSPIRED-LIKE
A Story That Needs to Be Told (and Heard)
Social media can be a dark place, but there are also beacons of light – such as 98-year-old Lily Ebert, a Holocaust survivor who is sharing her story on TikTok with the help of her great grandson, Dov Forman. Together, the two have helped to bring Lily's story to millions of people. In her posts, she talks about what it was like in the concentration camps, discusses her tattoo, and shares her resilience. You can learn more about her story in this CBS News report. "When our generation is gone, it's gone. And this story should not, and cannot, be forgotten, for one reason — that is should not repeat itself," she says in a TikTok post.
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