Started from the bottom
Just Another Day in Social Media. 😂
Learning that the laughing-crying emoji is uncool is one thing. But when did GIFs become "cringe"? That's right, GIF platform GIPHY.com is arguing to the UK's competition regulator that it should let Meta buy the company because no one else will buy it now that GIFs are out of fashion with Gen Z. Evidence includes a group of tweets/posts backing up that claim (you can read them in The Guardian). But whatever happens — I hope that someone continues to tweet out this GIF every Friday so at least I know when the weekend has officially started.
Here are today's top stories:
It's TikTok vs. Instagram vs. YouTube vs. TikTok
Twitter users love the news
Podcast: Why TikTok gives us 'Brainfeel"
And Pinterest says "Don't Don't Yourself"
The Social Media Throne
Winter is coming... for Instagram, apparently. An internal memo suggests the company is worried it won't be able to catch up to TikTok. But TikTok, which was the most downloaded app in Q1 2022, shouldn't get too comfortable. Because there are other competitors — like YouTube — that seem poised to successfully lure creators with the promise of big bucks. Meanwhile, TikTok is also keeping an eye on other apps — like BeReal — as it tries to hold onto the No. 1 spot.
In the Game of Thrones that is the social media landscape, this is where we are right now...
Creators vs. Reels
This is what has Instagram worried — TikTok users spend 197.6 million hours per day on the platform; Instagram users spend 17.6 million watching Reels. That's according to an internal Meta memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal. According to the document titled, “Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022," the issue is the amount of content being created. Despite Instagram's warnings that the algorithm won't boost content shared from other platforms, the report shows that nearly a third of content is created elsewhere. Also, as Instagram has pushed Reels over photos, they have also suffered backlash from big names, like the Kardashians. Meta can do what it likes, but they would be better off letting Instagram be Instagram, and letting people re-share content. Stop telling users what you think they want, and what you want them to do.
TikTok vs. YouTube
TikTok may have launched the careers of a lot of creators. But YouTube is apparently ready to pay them more. The Google-owned company is expected to announce on Tuesday its plans to let creators earn more money on the platform, and ways to make it easier to get into its partner program, according to audio from an internal meeting obtained by the New York Times. The article states that "Under YouTube’s old rules, creators made money only if audiences watched at least 4,000 hours of their videos and they had at least 1,000 subscribers." Meanwhile, it's an open secret that TikTok creators don't make a lot of money. That's mainly because all creators are paid out of a static Creator Fund, which was launched in 2020 at $200 million. TikTok says it plans to boost that to $1 billion, but YouTube can pay its creators ad revenue, which isn't possible on TikTok, according to TechCrunch.
But don't feel too bad about TikTok potentially losing ground to Google-owned YouTube — because it's apparently overtaking Google as a search engine for Gen Z.
TikTok vs. TikTok
As TikTok tries to figure out its creator-fund challenges, it's also keeping an eye on other apps — such as BeReal. This new — and increasingly popular — social media app prompts users once a day to post unfiltered images of themselves. And TikTok is now experimenting with a copycat feature called TikTok Now. "TikTok Now invites you and your friends to capture what you're doing in the moment using your device's front and back camera. You'll receive a daily prompt to capture a 10-second video or a static photo to easily share what you're up to," TikTok said in a blog post. The company will test the feature over the coming weeks to see how it does.
This is the first time that TikTok has copied another platform's features, and just par for the course of being No. 1. And as long as it doesn't try to be something it isn't — like Instagram — TikTok should be able to hold onto that spot for at least a few years.
“I swear to you, sitting a throne is a thousand times harder than winning one.” – Robert Baratheon. #GameOfThronesFact
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ICYMI
🔴 Instagram announces businesses can now accept payments in Direct Messages [Instagram Blog]
🔴 Meta to test Community Chats in Messenger and Facebook Groups [Meta Blog]
🔴 Snapchat for web is now available to all users worldwide [TechCrunch]
🔴 LinkedIn becomes a place to overshare [NY Times]
PODCAST: TIKTOK AND "BRAINFEEL"
"They're never gonna know. They're gonna know." If that sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you've heard it used in thousands of videos on TikTok. And that's the thing about TikTok — it isn't just great at launching songs and singing careers; it also shares audio memes that make us want to watch, and listen. Science tells us why.
Listen Now: The Daily Podcast: "Why Do We Love TikTok Audio Memes? Call it Brainfeel."
TWITTER BY THE NUMBERS
Twitter, which is text focused, makes it perfect for sharing tidbits of news and information. And it turns out that a lot of people use the social media platform for just that. "People on Twitter are avid news consumers. Many of them are interested in politics and current events, and they regularly Tweet about it," Twitter said in a blog post.
"DON'T DON'T YOURSELF"
New Pinterest Brand Campaign Takes Aim At Other Platforms
Lifestyle social platform Pinterest seems to be taking aim at the other main social media platforms with a brand campaign that will run in the U.S., UK and Germany. "Don't Don't Yourself" is all about silencing your inner critic and just doing things you're afraid to do. It will feature ads like this one about fear of failure, and this one about your inner critic. Sure, it's about getting us to get over ourselves and just do it. But it's also about positioning Pinterest as different than other platforms — where there is a focus on likes and spending hours of our life online. Instead, it wants you to see Pinterest as a place to get ideas that you can bring to life, in real life (take that, metaverse).
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