Social Media News Round-Up: 04/06/21
Facebook and TikTok announce new features and initiatives for Pride Month
To mark Pride Month, Facebook has announced a range of new features and support initiatives, including guidance and advice for the LGBTQ+ community. Its new features include:
Pride-themed post backgrounds, custom avatars and stickers for both news feed posts and Facebook Stories. Instagram has also added a range of new stickers for feed posts and Stories, as well as bringing back rainbow hashtags.
An updated logo. The platform has transformed its famous logo into an animated one which changes colours and shifts into a pride-themed image
Facebook’s support initiatives include highlighting LGBTQ+ owned businesses in a curated #Pride collection, as well as pride-themed Live Shopping Friday events.
The platform has also partnered with a range of NGOs and experts to provide mental health resources and showcase inclusive Facebook communities.
TikTok has also announced a range of new tools and initiatives, including colourful effects for users’ clips and a specific #ForYourPride hashtag to encourage community participation throughout the month. The platform is also bringing back its LGBTQ+ TikTok Trailblazers initiative for the second year, which looks to highlight creators making a positive impact on the platform. TikTok will also be hosting live performances and community-building events throughout June, as well as donating $500k to organisations supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Instagram expands its testing of Reels ads to more regions and works on new ‘Bonuses’ payment option for creators
Having successfully tested them out in some regions over the last month, Instagram is now expanding its testing of Reels ads to more regions - including the UK. Reels ads are much like TikTok ads in that they appear between other Reels clips within users’ feeds and include a ‘Sponsored’ tag to signal they’re part of a paid promotion. Originally, Instagram began testing Reels ads in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia and will now be expanding them to brands in Canada, France, the UK and the US.
Instagram also appears to be testing a new ‘Bonuses’ program, which would enable creators to earn money from Instagram when they share new Reels content. The feature appears to be Instagram’s take on Snapchat’s hugely successful Spotlight initiative, which offered creators $1 million per day, incentivizing Snapchatters to engage with the new TikTok-like feature.
Twitter begins testing Fleet ads
Twitter has begun testing ads in its own ‘Stories’ feature Fleets. The announcement came on the same day Instagram announced it would be expanding its test of Reels ads. Fleet ads will give brands the opportunity to explore vertical formats on Twitter and will be “a space for brands to be creative: Go behind the scenes, have a creator take over your account, or share a hot take.” Fleet ads will have a maximum length of 30 seconds and contain an optional swipe-up call to action. Advertisers will be able to see insights into the performance of the ad, such as clicks, impressions, profile visits and more.
Twitter launches new paid local weather service Tomorrow in the US
Twitter has also announced that it’s launching a new local weather service called Tomorrow. The weather news service will be rolled out across 16 cities in North America, where 18 local meteorologists will create content and interact with members. Eric Holthaus, the meteorologist working with Twitter on the feature, says Tomorrow is a “revolutionary weather service for a revolutionary moment in history,” explaining it will not only provide weather forecasts, but “local newsletters, drop-in audio chats during times of scary weather, original journalism focused on climate justice, and a paid service that will let people ask unlimited questions.” Under the current model, subscribers will pay $10 a month to access Tomorrow, and Twitter plans to expand the service internationally in 2022.
Hootsuite integrates new Messenger API for Instagram
Great news for social media managers! After joining the Messenger API for Instagram beta programme last year, Hootsuite is now fully integrating the API into its inbox and customer engagement platform Sparkcentral. This means that social media managers and brands using Hootsuite will now be able to communicate with customers efficiently and seamlessly without having to go into the app and use the feature natively.
In other news…
