This week in social media news, eMarketer released Twitch viewership forecasts, TikTok is reportedly testing direct website links in profile bios and launched parental controls for parents of TikTok users while Twitter rolled out a new option to add tweets to previous tweets.
Twitch To Boost Monthly Users To 37.5 Million This Year
Twitch’s audience is growing at a rate that positions it to rival the viewership of traditional media channels.
Why it matters: “Twitch … is now too big for the internet giants to ignore,” according to eMarketer forecasting analyst Peter Vahle. Ostensibly, Twitch’s growth forecast is a signal-flare to mobile marketers to invest more ad dollars in the platform.
The details: Mobile Marketer reports that Twitch’s viewership will see a boost of 14 percent, reaching about 16 percent of the U.S. audience for digital video. The platform is set to reach 47 million viewers by 2023.
TikTok Looks To Add Direct Website Links To Profile Bios
The new update could help brands drive traffic to their website directly within the app.
Why it matters: TikTok has been working on ways to boost marketing appeal and direct website links are just another step in the right direction as currently it’s testing shopping links in videos.
The details: The feature, spotted by TikTok user Sam Schmir, would include a custom link highlighted in pink text at the bottom of TikTok bios, allowing brands to increase awareness.
Twitter Rolls Out New Option To Add Tweets To Previous Tweets
Twitter announced the feature on its page via an animated video tutorial showing how to connect old tweets with new ones.
Why it matters: The feature will help brands add more context to old tweets or provide updates on announcements and sweepstakes winners. However, Twitter users weren’t that impressed with the added option as a majority responded to Twitter asking when they can expect an edit button to revise tweets.
The details: To connect new tweets to old ones, users can compose a tweet, pull down to view older tweets then select the tweet they want to add to.
TikTok Announces “Family Safe Mode” To Help Parents Keep Teens Safe
The feature links a parent’s TikTok account to their teen’s and once enabled, parents will have access to screen time management and other aspects.
Why it matters: The feature, which will be available in the UK first and roll out to additional markets in the coming weeks, builds on the screen time management feature TikTok introduced in April 2019. Now with more control over how their teen uses TikTok, more parents might be inclined to let their kids join the platform.
The details: “Family Safety Mode” gives parents and guardians access to how long their teen can spend on TikTok each day, control over who sends their teen direct messages and the ability to restrict the appearance of inappropriate content. These features were previously available to all TikTok users, but now the app is giving parents the option to manage them.
Instagram Total Audience Surpasses Total Audience Size On Facebook
Socialbakers’ Social Media Trends Report for Q4 2019 found that for the first time, when it comes to the top 50 biggest brand profiles, Instagram has a larger audience than Facebook. The report also found that there was a relative decline in social engagement during the holiday season.
Why it matters: The data found that while the top 50 brands published more posts on Facebook, the engagement there didn’t reach the numbers that Instagram produced. A drop in engagement during the holidays suggests that brands should be more strategic about what content their audience wants to see and create quality content in smaller volumes to increase engagement.
The details: In addition to Instagram’s total audience surpassing Facebook’s total audience size, the total interactions on Instagram were nearly 20 times larger than those of Facebook.
Holiday engagement was low for even the most successful industries, such as fashion on Instagram, which decreased by 19.4 percent. Similarly, the top industry on Facebook, ecommerce, decreased by 9.6 percent compared to Q3 2019. The services category, however, saw a 66.7 percent increase in engagement.
Additional insights from the report include: vertical videos perform better than horizontal videos across the board, women account for the majority of followers of brand pages on Instagram and Facebook and Facebook Feed remains the ad spend leader, accounting for 58.3 percent of total ad spend.
In terms of influencer marketing, Walmart was the top Instagram brand profile in the world associated with influencers, with 854 mentions from 619 influencers in Q4 2019.
Snapchat Launches Swipe Up To Call Or Text Ad Format
Snapchat rolled out a new ad format called “Swipe Up to Call or Text,” which it says was built to help brands deliver leads, conversions and sales.
Why it matters: Snapchat’s goal is to give businesses more control over the user experience and streamline consumers’ decision and purchase journey, citing the example of prospective home buyers being able to immediately call their sales representative and consumers booking restaurant reservations and ordering food.
The details: The new feature lets users swipe up on an ad to directly call or text a business from their mobile phone as well as swipe up to different actions like visiting a website or downloading an app. To use the new feature, brands can create a campaign with “Instant Create” in ads manager on Snapchat and choose “call & texts” as their advertising goal.
Facebook CEO Calls For Regulation Of Big Tech
In an op-ed that originally ran in The Financial Times, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg championed a more democratic tech regulation process as part of Facebook’s efforts to push for new legislation and its support of existing US proposals to prevent election interference, like the Honest Ads Act and the Deter Act.
Why it matters: Zuckerberg’s call for more regulation of big tech companies arises amid this week’s kickoff of EU leaders’ debate about new rules governing data and artificial intelligence (AI). Since 2017, the European Commission has fined Google $8.9 billion in antitrust penalties and in December 2019, the Commission launched investigations into how Facebook and Google compile and use data for ad purposes.
The details: Zuckerberg wrote that big tech needs more oversight and accountability and more clear rules on portability while he pondered the role of regulators: “But who decides what counts as political advertising in a democracy? If a non-profit runs an ad about immigration during an election, is it political? Who should decide—private companies or governments?”
Facebook’s New White Paper Addresses Content Regulation Questions
Facebook released “Charting A Way Forward: Online Content Regulation” today.
Why it matters: From the words of Mark Zuckerberg himself: “It’s impossible to remove all harmful content from the Internet, but when people use dozens of different sharing services—all with their own policies and processes—we need a more standardized approach.” Poor design of regulatory mechanisms could mean less innovation and expression online, a trap to avoid when instituting new policies regarding content.
The details: Facebook’s white paper addresses the following topics: how to protect free expression while reducing harmful speech and the relationship between regulatory bodies, regulations and internet platforms. Additionally, the guidelines outline the stakeholders for such decisions.
Editor’s Note: Our weekly social media news post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, February 21. Have a news tip? We’re looking for changes to and news surrounding social media platforms as they relate to marketing. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.
