ICYMI: Instagram Music Notes' Big Ambitions

Music on Profile pages is being tested next!

The 12th annual VidCon Anaheim show is less than a week away but the product drops, party invites and connection requests have been flying around for a couple of weeks now. 

I’ll be in Anaheim for the convention and will try to share some of the atmosphere, mini interviews and any major information that gets shared. If there’s anything you’re curious about, let me know!

And a reminder: If you upgrade to paid, you get to join the ICYMI Slack Channel. We’ll be chatting today (Friday the 16th) at 11am PT. 

Expense your subscription at the corporate rate and I’ll let a few extra people in!

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⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

• Instagram released Music Notes and confirmed they’re testing tracks on profiles!

• YouTube lowered eligibility requirements for YPP (YouTube Partner Program)

• VidCon kicks off Wednesday — I’ve got a FOMO-inducing list of private and public parties 🎉

• LinkedIn will remove Carousels by June 26

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💻 ROADMAP

📲 Meta Updates:

🎵 First Instagram dropped Music Notes, giving users the ability to add a 30-second clip of a song in a Note. It’s an update I happen to love, providing much more of a vibe than 60 characters.  

And either way, teens happen to like Notes, which makes me think we’ll see more there. More than other types of sharing, IG Notes over-index with teens. In the US, teens create notes at 10 times the rate of non-teens, according to Instagram.

Anyway, cue all the MySpace and AIM jokes (it was an era). But the jokes on all of us because Instagram confirmed to me they are testing songs on profile pages in select countries! 

Depending on the issue of music licensing rights, this could be such a powerful feature for:

➡️ Brand anthems

➡️ New music discovery

➡️ Teens or anyone looking to set a mood with their favorite tracks

We know Meta loves to borrow successful features and adapt them to their own platforms, why not go back to the beginning and tap into early favorites, right?! 

➕ Instagram just announced the roll out of global Broadcast Channels. They’re also starting to test new Channels features, including:
- Questions
- Channels Tab in Inbox (I had this already but maybe it’s new globally?)
- Moderators
- Expiring Channels
- Share to Stories

💰 Facebook just dropped a slew of features and updates for Facebook Reels Creators. You can find the full list here. The tl;dr for me is:

• When you’re editing Facebook Reels the audio, music and text now all appear on a unified screen, so you can layer and time creative elements as you want them to appear. 

• Plus, creators will be able to clip Reels from long-form video uploads or Lives.

• Reels insights that were previously only available on Meta Business Suite are coming to the Professional Dashboard and will include added metrics. 

• And, maybe most importantly, the Performance bonus program is expanding to more creators

📲 YouTube Updates:

Earlier this week, YouTube announced it would introduce earlier access to YPP (YouTube Partner Program) by lowering the eligibility criteria. 

Rolling out this week to eligible creators in the US, UK, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea, they will be able to apply to YPP once they’ve met a threshold of:

• 500 subscribers

• 3 public uploads in the last 90 days

• Either 3K watch hours in the past year or 3M Shorts views in the last 90 days

The good news is creators in this YPP lite will be able to unlock access to fan funding features like channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and the ability to promote their own products with YouTube Shopping. 

However, rev share on ads and other benefits typically associated with access to YPP starts once these creator channels reach the existing YPP eligibility criteria. A fact that got lost in a lot of the excitement around this announcement.  

The update is still good news for smaller creators, creating a faster path to monetization and seems extremely timely given the disgruntled Twitch streamers looking for alternatives.

📲 TikTok Updates:

• TikTok launched TikTok Truths, a new web series intended to set the record straight about information they collect and how we use, share, and protect it. However, the explanations may not have the reassuring effect that TikTok hopes, according to this Social Media Today piece.

• TikTok Shop is testing visual search, a feature which would allow users to take a photo and search visual inventory based on the image similar to Pinterest Lens or Google Image Search.

• TikTok is accepting applications for the Black TikTok Creator Program. The four-month programs fosters connection, education and exclusive events. Apply

📲 LinkedIn Updates:

LinkedIn will remove some of the following features by the end of June the based on user feedback. Existing posts will be viewable.

• Carousels

• Profile videos

• Link stickers for images + videos

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👆🏻 CLICK THRU

🛑 Texas bans kids from social media without parental consent

What’s going on: Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the HB 18 bill into law Wednesday that requires parental consent before kids under 18 can sign up for social media accounts. The bill is aimed at social networks but also broadly written so it could include other types of online services and is meant to protect children from harmful online content and provide enhanced online privacy protections

Yes but: In theory, protection against harmful content and social media guardrails for kids is a good thing. But for marginalized and/or abused teens who need social media for community and access to critical information, this seems like a really dangerous policy. An outright ban seems super drastic and potentially harmful in and of itself. Why not start with media literacy programs in schools?

Business impact: If you work at a social media platform, mobile app, e-commerce company or any kind of digital brand that has teenage customers, this could drastically affect your user numbers. Texas has the second largest population in the US behind California, and followed by Florida, New York and Pennsylvania. That’s been reflected in web and social user numbers of any company I’ve ever worked for. Be prepared to explain this to leadership if and when numbers drop.  

🌪️ Trying to keep up with Twitch changes

Twitch seems to be going through some growing pains, rolling out new policies and a Partner Plus Program that’s being met with mixed reviews from creators.

Earlier this week: “It’s time we give the power back to the creators,” Ninja tweeted before quitting Twitch for Kick. Kick is a new streaming platform that offers its affiliate streamers a 95/5 revenue split.

The move came after Twitch announced several policy changes, which includes restricting the size and types of ads used by streamers and banning simulcast streaming to other platforms like YouTube and Kick in real time. Twitch walked back some of the changes after creators like Ninja and MrBeast complained. But it wasn’t enough. 

“YOLO” said Ninja, arguably the world’s most famous gamer, before jumping ship…

The latest: On Thursday, Twitch announced a 70/30 revenue share on net subscription revenue as part of its new Partner Plus Program — up from 50/50. That seems like a good thing but is actually a return to the split they scrapped last fall. Twitch says the move is meant to demonstrate their commitment to creators but some say the fine print — such as maintaining 350 subs for three concurrent months — will keep people from qualifying.

Twitch’s Chief Content Officer Laura Lee will be at VidCon so if you’ve got questions, suggestions or are as confused as I am — let me know!

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📹 VIDCON EVENTS WATCH

Here are some of the VidCon events and activations (outside of the official schedule) that are taking place in Anaheim June 21 through June 24. If you’re a fellow introvert and not part of the invite-only spaces, let me know where we’re all hanging out?! 

• YouTube, the event’s official sponsor is hosting Dreamland, an exclusive VIP Creator lounge at the Hyatt Regency Orange County (note a VIP wristband + YouTube invite is required to visit Dreamland). Private events within Dreamland include a Latino Brunch, Pride Happy Hour, Black Brunch and AAPI Brunch, plus Podcasting and Shopping workshops.

• Chris Erwin and James Creech are hosting a pre-VidCon party Media x Commerce Exec Cocktails Tuesday night at Wheelhouse in West Hollywood. RSVP

• TubeFilter is hosting a VidCon Pre-Party at K1 Speed Anaheim on Wednesday. RSVP 

• Thinkific is hosting an invite-only dinner on Wednesday

• JellySmack is hosting a Creator Lounge at the Hyatt Regency Orange County (note a VIP wristband + VidCon pass is required)

• The Influencer Marketing Factory has a play-and-win booth with prizes you can pre-register for. RSVP

• Beacons.ai will be hosting a coffee bar and happy hour on Thursday. RSVP

• TikTok will be hosting the TikTok University booth in TikTok's Creator Track Lounge at the Anaheim Convention Center

• TikTok will also be hosting an invite-only TikTok Creator Party featuring Surf Mesa, DJ Jadaboo and DJ Hunny Bee on Thursday 

• Edelman Influence will be hosting invite-only rooftop cocktails on Thursday, June 22

• SuperBam is hosting a VidCon Dinner and Drinks at Morton’s Steakhouse in Anaheim on Thursday, June 22.

• Instagram is hosting its Instagram Creator Lounge at the Hyatt Regency Orange County (note a VIP wristband + VidCon pass is required)

• Instagram is also hosting an invite-only VidCon party, Instagram Night Out, featuring Coi Leray on Friday 

• Kajabi is hosting a VIP happy hour Friday night with Matt Steffanina at the OC Brewhouse at the Hyatt Regency Orange County for featured creators

• Kajabi is hosting a Creator Track Reception on Saturday night

*If details on RSVPing aren’t listed, sorry, I don’t have a contact for you. My best advice is to try and find an employee on LinkedIn and request an invite.

I’ll keep updating this list. I’ve heard of a few other events featuring sponsors on this list but haven’t been able confirm details yet.  

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🛠️ STARTUP WATCH

Creator Testing pairs brands and creators for on-demand feedback and insight — and creators get paid for their time and opinions! I’ve been encouraging brands to use creators for more than endorsements for years now: focus groups, R&D, consulting… creators bring so many market insights! Creator Testing is a tool to make that happen. This seems like a great opportunity for nano or micro influencers to earn some money by sharing their experiences.

Listener.fm is the latest app from MediaKits.com founder Casey Adams. I’ve mentioned it before but I think he’s going to have another hit on his hands. The AI-powered podcast tool cuts down on the grunt work of post-production by writing titles, summaries, transcript and show notes tailored to each episode in a matter of seconds.  

*not sponsored, just a few interesting startups I’ve come across recently

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📖 ON YOUR RADAR

• Inside the $50 billion shopping spree happening on livestreams -CNBC

• Refinery29 launches Twitch’s first third-party live shopping experience -Digiday

• Snapchat Shares New Stats on ‘My AI’ Usage — it’s a lot! -Social Media Today

• Post, the social news platform and alternative to Twitter, just launched an iOS app -USA Today

• A Reckoning Arrives for Creator Economy Startups -The Information

• India, Nigeria, Turkey threatened Twitter shutdown: Jack Dorsey -AlJazeera

• Hundreds of subreddits plan to go dark indefinitely after Reddit CEO’s internal memo -TechCrunch

• Gen Z is buying and searching on TikTok, but its commerce offering isn’t a must-have for advertisers -Marketing Brew

• Tiktok No Match For Youtube Among Kids Under 12 -Variety

• Read the new Twitter CEO’s first email to employees -The Verge

Thanks for reading!