Last edited
Just Another Day in Social Media. 🌽
I hope you all had a great long weekend, and I look forward to seeing back-to-school social media posts today! And talking of trending topics, I'm going to guess the Apple Event on Sept. 7th will see some chatter on social media as well this week. According to MacRumours, expect to learn more about iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8, AirPods Pro 2, and much more. Stay tuned...
Here are today's top stories:
Twitter may finally give us an edit option (and what that could mean for future tweets)
How to know what's trending on TikTok
And why you may suddenly be craving corn
This is an edited Tweet. we're testing it.
We've all been there — feeling that rise of panic as we read back a tweet only to notice a spelling error, an incorrect handle, or a broken link. And for years, the only way to fix it was to retweet it with the corrections, or delete it. But that all may be about to change, because Twitter announced last week that it's finally starting to test an edit option. But you may have to pay for it — at least for now. Here's what you need to know....
The Background
So, basically after years and years of giving us a hard "no" on the edit button, something at Twitter suddenly seems to have changed. Perhaps it was Elon Musk tweeting out a poll asking people if they wanted an edit button. Or maybe it was a new CEO (after co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey left earlier this year). But either way, we probably all should have seen this coming. Why? Because last year Twitter introduced a new paid subscription service called Twitter Blue. And as part of that service, there is a feature called "Undo Tweet" that allows you to set a timer that gives you time to review your tweet before it publishes. Twitter Blue is also where the Edit Tweet feature will first be tested.
30 Minutes or Less
For those involved in the test, Twitter says users will have 30 minutes following the publication of your tweet to make your edits. As for how many times you can edit the tweet, the announcement just says tweets will be able to be edited "a few times." Edited tweets will include a label that indicates when the tweet was last edited. And tapping the label will take viewers to the Tweet’s Edit History. Right now the feature is being tested with a small group, and later this month it will roll out to Twitter Blue subscribers in specific countries, including Canada. So don't expect to see a global rollout for a while, but if all goes well during the test phase, who knows when this feature could be popping into your timeline.
What This Means
If you make a typo, or mistakenly include a broken link, the Edit feature will probably make your life a lot easier. But if you think this will help prevent a major PR issue, it actually might make things worse.
For one thing, Twitter users are really good at screen grabbing controversial tweets before they get deleted (I'm talking within seconds of a tweet going public). And so if you try and change the tweet, the original version will still make the rounds.
And secondly, if you try to change something in an attempt to hide the wording of the original tweet, the Twitter mob will make sure everyone knows what you did.
But, on the bright side, if you edit a tone-deaf tweet to apologize and be fully transparent, you might actually be able to turn things around.
"We’re hoping that, with the availability of Edit Tweet, Tweeting will feel more approachable and less stressful," Twitter said in a blog post last week. We'll see...
Managing social media is hard enough — staying up-to-date shouldn't be. Level up your social media knowledge in minutes a week. Sign up for our newsletter today!
ICYMI
🔴 Meta testing new ways to control what you see on Instagram [Meta Blog]
🔴 Instagram expands access to digital collectibles for businesses [Instagram Blog]
🔴 Twitter introduces Twitter Circle, a new way to tweet to a smaller crowd [Twitter Blog]
🔴 Snapchat introduces Dual Camera [Snapchat Blog]
🔴 LinkedIn rolls out option to pin comments in reply chains [Social Media Today]
TIKTOK: WHAT'S TRENDING
The success of a TikTok can come down to which soundtrack you use with your video. That's why you might want to check and see what's trending before starting to shoot and edit. And TikTok makes it easy by giving you a list of top hashtags, songs, creators and videos by country in its Creative Center. See what's trending right now!
IT'S CORN!
Would You Like Some Bacon With That?
Big thanks to TSP subscriber, Angela, for bringing me this little cob of viral goodness. 👊
If you've been noticing a lot of posts about corn on social media recently, it's all because of Tariq, also known as "Corn Kid." Tariq was interviewed by Recess Therapy, a web series that poses questions to kids. The adorable Tariq repeatedly expresses his love of corn, saying things like "It's corn!" and have a "corntastic" day. The interview was posted to YouTube in early August and caught the eye of the Gregory Brothers, who turned it into a song and YouTube hit. The video has amassed close to 3 million views as of Sept. 6th. And now the song has been parodied by none other than Kevin Bacon, who actually uses a cob of corn to play his acoustic tribute. Nice work, Bacon.
Hey, congrats — you made it to the bottom of the e-newsletter!
If you really liked it, why not forward it to a friend. 💌