ICYMI: Are the New Profile Pics a Scam?

Here's what happened on social media this week, May 13

[via TikTok]

It’s Friday the 13th. This a recap of news and trends for and about creators.

💻 ROADMAP

🔎 TikTok Insights: TikTok just released a new Insights dashboard with data on users behavior, interests, how they connect and how they feel about brands. It’s got some fun facts: “66% of TikTok users enjoy when brands sponsor creators to show off their products.” But based on several missing categories, it looks like it’s still a work in progress.

🔄 Instagram Regram Test: Developer sleuth @Alex193a hinted that Instagram is quietly testing a repost feature that would allow users to regram a post just like a retweet on Twitter or repost on Tumblr. That seems at odds with Instagram’s recent claim to putting a premium on original content but we’ll see how this play out.

🖼 Instagram and NFTs: Instagram announced they’d support NFTs, allowing select creators and collectors to connect their digital wallets and choose which NFTs they want to share. Maybe there’s some innovative use case being developed — what’s the status symbol equivalent of an ape for the Instagram crowd? But for right now… meh.

🟩 YouTube Shorts Green Screen: YouTube launched a new Green Screen tool. It allows users to use up to a 60-second video segment from any eligible YouTube video or YouTube Shorts as the background for their new original Shorts video.

🔢 Twitter Frequency Count: Twitter is testing a feature that would display how frequently you tweet on your profile page: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Infrequently or Never.

😎 Google’s AR Glasses: Google showed off its new language-translating AR glasses at Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference. There’s no release date but this might be one of the best use cases we’ve seen for smart glasses so far.

🛑 LinkedIn Clickbait: LinkedIn engagement-bait posts and polls are going to be deprioritized in the news feed. So long, broetry.

Gareth Waugh @GarethWaugh

No I don't watch tiktoks, I watch Instagram reels of tiktok videos that were popular two weeks ago, LIKE A GROWN UP

👆🏻 CLICK THRU

🎭 Is ‘NewProfilePic’ App a Russian Malware Scam?
It’s been hard to miss all the new profile pics lately. One of the most popular is a painted-looking version of your avatar, created by NewProfilePic: Profile Picture. As quickly as it took off, it spawned rumors that data from the app was being sent to Russia as part of a malware scam or worse. But according to fact-checking site Snopes, the app isn’t asking for any permissions beyond what other mainstream apps collect.

In fact, if you’ve used filters on TikTok and Instagram or played around with Snapchat’s trendy Crying filter, you’ve probably granted these apps similar access. (And, no, Snapchat isn’t mocking Amber Heard with their filter.)

🇨🇦 TikTok Announces First ‘For You’ Summit in Canada
TikTok is hosting its first For You summit in Canada. The two-day event for creators and marketers will feature keynote speakers, musical performances and breakout sessions — and maybe some answers for Canadian creators who still aren’t able to benefit from TikTok’s Creator Fund. RSVP here.

📊 TikTok to surpass YouTube in U.S.
U.S. TikTok users will spend more time on TikTok this year than YouTube users will spend on YouTube.

📱 Inside YouTube's invite-only program for Shorts creators
YouTube is quietly nurturing the Shorts creator ecosystem through a program called the Shorts Creator Community. Those who make it into the invite-only program get partner support, access to events, and exclusive guidance on their Shorts. Eligibility criteria is unclear but the company told Insider the program "is focused on active creators using and innovating with Shorts."

😢 The YouTubers Are Not Okay
“YouTube brain” is what happens to creators when they are both creatively and financially subject to the whims of other people’s attention spans for years at a time, weighed down by neverending demands for more content for dwindling returns.

It’s also the reason most YouTubers can never truly log off having found the perfect medium for their unconventional thinking amped up by shock value, according to this Vox piece. It’s an interesting look at the YouTube celebrity pipeline and the creator patterns that repeat themselves over and over again.

😡 She Got Harassed by TikTok Trolls—Then Her Brand Deals Suffered
“Small-time creators are often the victims of tech companies’ uneven enforcement of moderation policies, as well as trolls who abuse the system. As a result, influencers risk losing their livelihoods if they can’t complete brand deals, or their pool of potential clients dries up.”

This is a legitimate problem. If you’ve ever appealed a content or account takedown, you know there’s no guarantee of a satisfactory resolution. One possible solution, as this Adweek piece points out, is making sure the possibility of a content takedown is included in contracts, alongside alternative solutions such as posting on other platforms.

🗂 Clara, the latest ‘Glassdoor for influencers’ app, wants to even the playing field between brands and creators
Thanks to Marketing Brew for including my thoughts on the Clara app that looks to shed some light on how creators are compensated and how they felt they were treated by brands.

📣 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We find that micro-influencers can convert at a much higher rate [so] if it’s a conversion play, you go to the micro, if it’s a branding play, you go to the macro”

-BrandCycle’s Lindsay Hittman | How influencers drive social commerce sales

📖 ALSO ON MY READING LIST…

• How Twitter lost the celebs -Washington Post

• Elon Musk says Twitter deal "temporarily on hold" -Axios

• Influencers over 40 encourage people of all ages to create -DailyDot

• You Don’t Want to Become an Entrepreneur. You Want to Be Creative -The Startup

• An Unsteady Moment for Tech -New York Times

• Meta to disable AR filters in Texas, Illinois -Axios

• The Amber Heard memes are getting weirder -Embedded

• The Upcoming Mercury Retrograde Is Going To Cause Some Chaos -Refinery29

👋🏼 ABOUT ME

There were a lot of new signups this week so to briefly reintroduce myself: I created ICYMI as a quick and easy-to-read resource for students and creators who may be great at content and building communities but don’t have time to keep track of all the industry changes.

Someone described this newsletter as “pithy,” it’s my favorite description which probably says the most about me.

Professionally, I’m CMO at Fit Body App and an Adjunct Professor of Social Media and Influencer Marketing. I teach custom programs for UCLA and higher ed international institutions such as SKEMA Business School, Zhejiang University and Universidad Camilo José Cela. I’m a Professional Member Advisor of the American Influencer Council and on the board of Social Media Club LA.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to say hi or connect with me on Twitter.