Just to clarify...
Just Another Day in Social Media. 😉
Elon Musk has had a busy few days. The billionaire went from trolling Bill Gates on Friday, to having his team meet with Twitter executives on Sunday to discuss his unsolicited $46.5-billion bid to take the company private. Yes, you read that right; the NY Times and several other news outlets are reporting that sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Twitter's Board met on Sunday morning to consider the bid, and then met with Musk's teams to discuss the terms. If true, this is a HUGE reversal for Twitter's Board, which initially reacted to the potential takeover with a poison pill defence. Musk has previously said he doesn't think the company is being run well, particularly as a platform for free speech. Based on some of Musk's previous tweets, I can only imagine what types of speech he'll allow if his bid is successful. Stay tuned...
Here are today's top stories:
Social media platforms: We just want to clarify a few things
Twitter experiments with a new "CC" button
Instagram enhances its tagging options
And happy anniversary to this YouTube gem
Read on ⬇️
Social says...
A few social media companies appeared to want to clarify a few things, and did so last week. From Instagram telling us to stop reposting TikToks, to Twitter taking a formal stand on climate change, and Meta, well, denying anything is wrong at all with social media, it was an interesting one. Here's what you need to know...
Instagram: Keep it Original, or Else
You have been warned: repost your TikToks to Instagram Reels at your own peril. Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but in a recent video, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made it clear that Creators will get rewarded for posting original content. "If you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you are re-sharing something that you found from someone else," Mossier said in the video. "We’re going to try and do more to try and value original content more, particularly compared to reposted content.” I honestly wonder how much TikTok content is being posted on Instagram, but it's obviously enough that... well, Instagram, has had enough.
Twitter: Climate Change is Real
I don't know about you, but my social media feeds and email inbox were flooded with all kinds of Earth Day messages last week. And it's great that so many brands are choosing to stand up for the Earth (even as billionaires try to leave for spacier pastures). But Twitter went a bit further, announcing a ban on misleading climate claims in ads. In an April 22 blog post, the company said that it is banning any "misleading advertisements on Twitter that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change are prohibited, in line with our inappropriate content policy." It says the policy will be informed "by authoritative sources, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports." (Good to hear!). Twitter's policy update comes just a few weeks after Pinterest announced its guidelines banning misleading climate claims (it was actually the first social media platform to do so). Now if we could just get Meta on board...
Meta: Uh Uh
So, I think we can all agree that social media has had, at the very least, mixed results on civilization as we know it. A recent article in The Atlantic, "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid," by Jonathan Haidt goes a bit further. It suggests social media was once promising, but over time has led to an erosion in trust in government, media, and other institutions. It also says social media has led to polarization. Well... the article must have hit a nerve, because Meta responded with a blog post highlighting research the company says prove mainstream media is to blame for polarization — not social media platforms, like Facebook. It also goes on to say that the algorithms have in no way created echo chambers or encouraged polarization. At this point, I feel like telling Meta that they need to at least be in the ballpark of reality. Or, I guess, that's what the metaverse is for? 🤦♀️
SOCIAL SNACKS
Twitter tests new CC button
As Twitter tries to fend off a hostile takeover bid from Elon Musk, it hasn't stopped announcing new features. This includes a test of a new accessibility feature that will allow users to turn captions off/on with a new "CC" button. In the screenshot below, you'll find the CC button in the top right-hand corner. If you're interested in other accessibility features offered by Twitter, here's a full list.
Tag, you're it!
In addition to making the "original content" issue clear, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri also announced new tagging options for products and people to make sure "credit is going to those who deserve it." Product tags, now available to everyone, allow you to you to tag a company or Creator. Enhanced people tags build on the ability to tag people in posts. What's being enhanced? Well, now Creators can select a category for themselves in their profile settings, and when they are tagged, that category will appear in tags (think: songwriter, makeup artists, etc.).
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ICYMI
🔴 Instagram is testing a way to make Reels using formats from other posts [The Verge]
🔴 Snapchat adds assisted devices to Bitmojis, including hearing aids, cane stickers and wheelchair poses [Snapchat Blog]
🔴 TikTok offers new ways to foster kindness and safety [TikTok Blog]
18%
That's how much Snapchat grew its Daily Active Users (DAU) in the first quarter of 2022, compared to year-over-year results. It will be interesting to see what the other platforms reports for Q1. Meta, which reported its first loss in DAUs last quarter, is expected to release its earnings report on April 27th. [TechCrunch]
ANNIVERSARY-LIKE
17 Years Ago, In a Social Media Galaxy Far, Far Away...
It was on April 23, 2005 that the first-ever video was uploaded to YouTube. Happy anniversary to "Me at the zoo", featuring YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo in front of the elephant enclosure. The 18-second video has been viewed more than 228 million times, and still regularly gets comments.
While it's the only video posted on Karim's YouTube channel, the co-founder is active in other ways. For example, back in November, Karim actually posted several comments on the video about YouTube's plan to remove public dislike counts. At one point, the description of the video read: “When every YouTuber agrees that removing dislikes is a stupid idea, it probably is. Try again, YouTube [face palm emoji].” Here's a record of everything he posted, via Verge.
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