This week in social media news, Pinterest shares data on search trends from Q1, Instagram Live gives hosts more flexibility with new features, Twitter is up 7 million daily active users and Facebook reports a 48 percent increase in revenue.


Pinterest Searches Containing “Outfit” and “Dream Vacation Destinations” Surge 

Pinterest shared new data showing that Q1 searches around post-pandemic plans to socialize and vacation are skyrocketing. According to the platform’s findings, Gen Z is leading the trends, with searches from the cohort up 96 percent year-over-year (YoY).

Why it matters: Two major events marketers should keep in mind in light of Pinterest’s research include milestone vacations for Gen Z, who missed out on in-person graduations. The other big one is weddings, searches for which have resumed pre-pandemic levels after seeing a dip last summer, says Pinterest.

The details: Historically, Pinterest searches that include the word “vacation” spiked in March (an average of 24 percent), but this year the same searches surged 75 percent.

Gen Z searches for “dream vacation destinations” increased 13 times while “luxury vacation” grew 6 times. The group is also ready to spend on travel apparel, as searches for “vacation fashion” are 3 times greater.

With some heading back to the office and getting together post-vaccination, there’s been a 26 percent increase in searches containing the word “outfit” in Q1 2021 compared to last year and an 85 percent increase in searches containing “outfit” in April to date.

In addition, searches related to “party” have increased 64 percent from November of last year to March 2021. For Gen Z specifically, searches for “party life” are three times greater and “Euphoria party ideas” are 43 times greater.


New Instagram Live Features Let Hosts Mute Their Microphone, Turn Video Off

In yet another attempt to compete against Clubhouse, Facebook is launching new features for Instagram Live that will enable hosts to mute their microphones and turn off their video during a livestream, confirms TechCrunch.

Why it matters: The new features are part of Instagram’s larger efforts to mimic a Clubhouse experience. In March, the platform launched a Live Rooms feature enabling creators to broadcast with up to four people at the same time. To help creators monetize their content, Instagram also debuted badges that fans can buy to support the hosts.

The details: Instagram says that for now, hosts can’t turn off the video or mute other users in the livestream but that it’s working on expanding these features soon.

Instagram’s new Live features are rolling out globally on iOS and Android starting today.


Twitter Posts 28 Percent Revenue Increase To $1.04 Billion In Q1

In its Q1 letter to shareholders, Twitter reported reaching 199 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU)—7 million more since Q4 2020—and a 28 percent increase YoY in revenue to $1.04 billion.

Why it matters: Comparatively, in Q4 2020 Twitter added 5 million DAUs and reported $1.29 billion in revenue.

The details: Twitter’s revenue YoY shows steady growth as it reached $808 million in Q1 2020 versus $1.04 billion in Q1 this year. Total US revenue was $556 million, a 19 percent increase, while total international revenue reached $480 million, a 41 percent increase.

Following new ad offerings, including its new Curated Categories, Twitter brought in $899 million in ad revenue in Q1, a 32 percent increase. That growth was also driven by “strength in brand advertising in March as well as accelerating year-over-year growth in Mobile App Promotion revenue.”

The platform grew its US mDAU by 13 percent to 38 million and international mDAU by 22 percent to 162 million.

In Q1, Twitter introduced a new feature that enables users to choose from more than 7,000 Topics and Interests to follow; this improvement led to 33 percent of new customers following Topics during sign-up in Q1. Twitter says it’s building on this feature with a personalized Topic picker and updates to its Topic landing pages.


Facebook Reports Revenue Of $26.17 Billion For Q1

According to Facebook’s Q1 earnings report, the platform grew to 2.85 billion monthly active users (MAU) and brought in $26.17 billion for the quarter, up 48 percent from a year prior.

Why it matters: As per Facebook, its big jump in revenue can be attributed to a 30 percent YoY increase in the average price per ad and a 12 percent increase in the number of ads.

The details: In addition to growing its MAU and revenue, Facebook also saw an eight percent YoY increase in DAU, with the figure reaching 1.88 billion. Still, Facebook’s US and Canada DAU stayed flat at 195 million for the second quarter in a row. Meanwhile, Europe DAU grew to 309 million, up from 308 million in Q4.

Across its family of apps, Facebook counts 3.45 billion monthly users, compared with 3.30 billion in Q4.