Nothing but blue skies?

Bluesky and Other New Apps on the Horizon

May 01, 2023

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The controversial Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11) passed in the Senate last week and is now law in Canada. It requires YouTube and streaming services such as Netflix to promote Canadian content, including music, TV and film. Those companies are also required to contribute financially to Canadian content. YouTube says the bill will negatively impact users’ experience on the platform. And a report from CBC quotes a TikTok spokesperson as saying the wording in the bill is so vague that it’s unclear if content creators will be affected. I guess we’ll find out 🤷‍♀️

In today’s newsletter:

Bluesky and Other New Apps on the Horizon
Teens Love YouTube; Facebook… Not So Much
Instagram Testing More Music Features
WYNTK About The Wes Anderson TikTok Trend

NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES?

Bluesky and Other New Apps On the Horizon

Since the late 2000s, the social media world has gone through a lot of different phases.

In the early days, there were lots of apps popping up and battling for supremacy. Some were purchased by other platforms, some died, and some survived.

Once we all settled on a few main apps, the platforms started to compete by adding new features (which is something they still do).

But now, the social media world is old enough that the largest platforms — and some OG social media founders — are creating their own apps to compete.

Here’s what you need to know…

1/4 Bluesky (Twitter competitor)

As Twitter descended into chaos last fall after Elon Musk took over (and continues its descent), many wondered which app would fill that gap. Recently, I’m seeing a lot of buzz about a new decentralized app called Bluesky Social. This “decentralized” invite-only app (there’s also a waitlist) is backed by former Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey. Mashable describes it as a basic microblogging site, where you get 300 characters per post (or, as users call them, skeets). You can’t DM anyone, upload a GIF or include video.

Some notable people who have already joined (according to Vox): NYC Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, Chrissy Teigen, comedian Dril, and journalists from CNN and The New York Times.

2/4 Barcelona (Twitter competitor)

Meta is also working on a decentralized Twitter competitor, called “Barcelona.” Social Media Today recently shared some images of this text-based social media app, and some details. For example, Barcelona will be a stand-alone app, but you will be able to use your Instagram credentials to sign in (and it will also use your Instagram ID as your username). The maximum post length is currently 500 characters. It’s being positioned as “Instagram for your thoughts.” There are no details on a potential launch date. But they better hurry up if they want to beat Bluesky!

3/4 Lemon 8 (Instagram competitor)

ByteDance, which already owns short-form video app TikTok and the popular video editing app CapCut, is also in the midst of rolling out a new app called Lemon8. Content creators have described it “as if Instagram and Pinterest had a baby.” Unlike TikTok, it does not feature a vertical video feed. It will, however, “use the same recommendation engine that helped TikTok succeed,” according to a report by the NY Times. Content is focused on food, beauty, wellness and travel. Lemon8 launched in the U.S. and U.K. in February 2023 and it is already at the top of the U.S. app download charts in the lifestyle category.

4/4 Social Media Inside A Platform

Artifact — The co-founders of Instagram have built a personalized news app that is now publicly available. When you download the app, you’ll be asked to select topics, and news outlets you’d like to see articles from. I just signed up, and right away I noticed tweet-like posts underneath many articles. The co-founders say they’ll be adding more social media features in the future.

Substack Notes — The Substack newsletter network recently launched Notes, which is also very Twitter-like in that it allows you to share links to articles and thoughts with your Substack network. And the company continues to roll out features to get Substack users to engage with Notes, including “Restack quote” that allows newsletter writers to highlight a sentence and share it to Substack Notes.

Meanwhile, there are a few articles floating around out there — like this one from The Verge — about the death of social media as we know it. I think the next 12 months are going to get super interesting…

🍕 SOCIAL SNACKS 🍕

1/2 Teens love YouTube; Facebook… not so much

YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are the top platforms among U.S. teens, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens. Among those who were surveyed (ages 13-17):

95% said they use YouTube
TikTok was second at 67% in 2022
Usage of Instagram (62%) and Snapchat (59%) has actually grown quite a bit since 2014-2015

Meanwhile, the news is not good for Facebook. “Facebook use among teens dropped from 71% in 2014-15 to 32% in 2022,” according to the survey (ouch!). Twitter also dropped a bit. Read the full results.

2/2 Instagram doubles down on music

As you may well know, we can already add music to Instagram Reels (of course) and individual photos. But now Instagram is testing a new feature that would allow you to add music to Carousels and Notes. The Verge said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted about it on his Instagram Broadcast Channel. There aren’t a lot of details yet, including which countries it’s being tested in. Personally, I’m not sure I’ll unmute for music over static images, but hey, maybe that’s just me.

ICYMI

Instagram and Facebook will force their checkout experience on Shops soon [TechCrunch]
LinkedIn saw a 73% year-over-year increase in student signups [LinkedIn Newsroom]
Meta’s profits exceed expectations thanks to AI [BBC News]
Google is rolling out podcasts on YouTube Music in the U.S. [Mashable]
YouTube launches a new series highlighting trends to watch [YouTube Blog]
Reddit tests new Community Chat element to encourage user participation [Social Media Today]

WES ANDERSON TAKES OVER TIKTOK

If you’re loving the Wes Anderson TikTok trend as much as I am, below is the video that kicked it off (this Rolling Stone article talks about Ava Williams — the person who started it all). I’ve also included a few of my favourites. Enjoy!

**And if you want to create your own, here’s a tutorial from @keithafadi.