ICYMI: Instagram goes all in on Notes
And why you'll want to try this ASAP!
Welcome! According to the Google doc where I write my draft of this newsletter, you’ve read at least 40K words since January 2024. I hope it’s been worth it!
⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY
Instagram officially launched Notes on Reels and Feed posts
Instagram announced multi-track audio options on Reels
An Instagram test replaces the Create tab with a messaging tab 🔥
YouTube is beta testing new Community spaces
Pinterest is developing a text-to-image background generator
VidCon Baltimore was canceled to focus on Anaheim 2025
5 key social trends for the rest of 2024, including “less stress, more rest” 😚*
💻 ROADMAP
📲 Meta Updates
NEW: Instagram officially launched Notes on Reels and Feed posts, giving people the ability to leave quick thoughts and commentary for their Close Friends and mutuals.
A release from Meta says the feature is part of helping users prioritize “more private interactions with their mutuals and Close Friends.”
What you need to know:
This allows you to react to posts in real time by attaching a Note to them
Notes on Feed and Reels are only visible for three days
You get to choose who sees your Notes, either Close friends or followers you follow back
How Notes on Reels and Feed works:
Click on the airplane icon and tap on the Note icon in the bottom left corner
Type your Note
Select your audience: “Close Friends” or “Followers you follow back”
Post your note
Takeaways: There are at least 12 iterations of the Notes feature (I actually listed them all here). Why so many Notes? Because Notes over indexes with Gen Z — the generation currently at the heart of Instagram’s product roadmap, which means Meta is going all in. In the US, teens create notes at 10 times the rate of non-teens, according to Instagram.
And of all the Notes features, this is my favorite for encouraging real-time reactions and sparking engagement between creators or brands and their Close Friend communities. It also adds a sense of timeliness and relevance to Instagram that can sometimes be lacking.
Based on my early tests, posts that have Notes on them are surfacing higher in the Feed. I’ve also been getting notifications of creators who have left Notes on posts. Like any other new feature, jump on this and test it out ASAP while it’s still a novelty and people haven’t tuned it out.
Instagram announced multi-track Reels. Creators globally can add up to 20 audio tracks to a single Reel, creating a unique audio mix which people can then save and reuse.
Clearly you guys were waiting on this more sophisticated audio update since the Thread I posted on this got over 25K views this week.
Instagram is testing a navigation bar swap that replaces the Create tab with a messaging tab. According to eMarketer’s Jasmine Enberg, the airplane icon at the center of the navigation bar now goes to the message inbox.
This is a BFD. It signals a total shift in priorities from content creation to content curation and sharing. This hasn’t rolled out widely yet but if it does, expect even more of a continued emphasis on shareable content.
Instagram is testing a feature called Super Like for Stories. According to an online screenshot, users can send 1 Super Likes every 24 hours.
Threads is testing a new “Use media” sharing option that would make it easy for users to re-share media in the app, while still giving credit to the original poster.
Meta added custom offers directly on Instagram ad call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
📲 YouTube Updates
NEW: YouTube is beta testing a new Community space. It’s a dedicated place for creators and their communities to connect and have conversations, sort of like a Facebook Group or Subreddit. You can see it in action on this creator’s mobile account: FroggyCrossing.
YouTube has really been doubling down on community lately. They recently enabled Community Posts for every creator and Community Posts have even been spotted surfacing on the YouTube homepage.
This shifts YouTube away from the broadcast model — a creator speaking to their community — and encourages deep connection between fans and subscribers of a channel. YouTube isn’t releasing any details yet but it’s an interesting update from a platform that’s been classified as a successful streaming service in 2024 and less of a social network.
YouTube creator emails disappeared from creator About sections before being reinstated this week. The original glitch led to an outcry since emails are the primary way for brands to connect with influencers. But that’s been fixed according to YouTube’s Creator Liaison, Rene Ritchie, who tweeted “Fixed! Let the emails flow!”
YouTube Music is rolling out new features, including the expansion of a “hum to search” tool.
📲 TikTok Updates
TikTok announced a partnership with Eventbrite. Any Eventbrite creator or TikTok user can add Eventbrite links directly to their TikTok videos to promote their events and sell tickets.
📲 Pinterest Updates
Pinterest is developing its own AI text-to-image generation process to provide generated options for product backgrounds.
📲 Snapchat Updates
Snapchat rolled out the Snap Sports Network — a virtual arena for watching unconventional sports content captured by Snapchatters across the globe.
🔮 2024 MARKETING TRENDS + WORKSHEET
What do digital audiences want for the rest of 2024?
A mid-year check-in on social shows 5 key trends that have really taken off, including my favorite: “less stress, more rest!”
Arcade* (a leading digital media agency) just released a follow-up to their free 2024 digital marketing trend report that I shared in January.
They’re back with 5 major trends that still resonate and tips on how brands can leverage these trends to supercharge their 2024 campaigns and projects.
In this update you’ll learn:
How each of the 5 trends have evolved over the past 6 months
How to use these trends as a creative compass as you go into the rest of the year!
Arcade has also provided a FREE Trend Planner Worksheet you can download to plan out your marketing efforts with these behavioral trends in mind.
*sponsored
👆🏻 CLICK THRU
🌧️ VidCon Baltimore Is Canceled
A social post from organizers said they had made the “difficult decision” to cancel VidCon Baltimore, originally scheduled for September 26 – 29. Ticket holders were due to be refunded.
No one knows for sure why the east coast creator conference was canceled — there were theories, lots of them — but for now all eyes are on Anaheim 2025 where organizers have said they’ll focus their “full efforts and resources” to the flagship event.
👀 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Meta is training its AI with public Instagram posts. Artists in Latin America can’t opt out -Rest of World
Apple, Nvidia, Anthropic used thousands of swiped YouTube videos to train AI without creators knowledge -Wired
Creators need stronger protections to combat an “evolving problem:” unauthorized AI training -TubeFilter
Creators were snubbed by the Emmy nominations -Passionfruit
Instagram will let a select group of researchers access its data to study how the platform affects the mental health of teens and young adults -The Verge
8 new emoji concepts up for approval in 2024-2025 -Emojipedia
A new study from UTA found most US viewers of the 2024 Olympics will watch the games on social media -Business Insider
54% of consumers ages 18-60 would quit their jobs to become full-time influencers -Izea
The Link in Bio Guide to Getting a Job in Social -Rachel Karten’s Link In Bio
Thanks for reading! I’d love to see what you thought was more interesting this week, vote ⬇️
It doesn't look like this feature is available to me yet! I still have the plus button where the airplane icon is for other people.