ICYMI: Instagram's Hashtag Confusion
Here's what happened on social media this week, April 1
💻 ROADMAP
📲 Instagram App Updates: The app’s got several official — and unofficial — upgrades in the works. (Note: Mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi seems to be working overtime to uncover and reveal Instagram’s beta tests.)
Instagram is working on the ability to reply to Stories with voice messages or images.
Also spotted, a tab on your Instagram profile that will collect all exclusive content created for subscribers. Reminder: Instagram is currently testing paid subscriptions with select creators.
Instagram's feed could soon include: Feed posts, Stories and Reels. All. In. One. Timeline. The chaos.
📨 Your DMs do get an official upgrade. Instagram announced seven new features hitting your inbox this week, including:
Music Sharing: Share a 30-second song preview in chats thanks to integrations with Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify.
Silent messages: Send messages without triggering a notification by adding “@silent” in your message.
Lo-fi theme: Themed backgrounds are designed to make conversations feel more personal.
Polls: Create a poll directly in your group chat.
📚 TikTok Library: TikTok’s will roll a new resource called the TikTok Library next week, meant to help creators access entertainment content and participate in trends. TikTok partnered with Giphy to start with a collection of GIFs with sound and then plans to expand the Library with additional content sources, audio and sounds, text templates and other TikTok creator content.
Coincidentally, Later just published a piece on the power of using pop culture in social posts: Why Pop Culture Should Be Part of Your Social Media Strategy in 2022. It’s in line with the value of TikTok Library: referencing pop culture is relatable, culturally relevant and a constant source of content. (Except the Slap, don’t do that.) Licensing issues could mean the clips may not be available to brands but it’s a great resource for creators.
🌏 TikTok Summit: “Shoppertainment” is a major focus of TikTok’s next marketing summit, part of an overall industry trend to attract consumers through a combination of culture and ecommerce. Curated for Southeast Asia, registration appears to be free for all with the #ForYou Summit promising new insights and product features.
📍Pinterest’s Creator Fund: Pinterest is now taking applications from beauty creators for its Creator Fund. The fund, focused on the growth and success of underrepresented creators, offers ad credits, cash grants and equipment.
👆🏻 CLICK THRU
#️⃣ Instagram Hashtags: Last year, Instagram recommended three to five hashtags with a mix of well-known and niche hashtags to broaden creators discoverability. Then earlier this month, Adam Mosseri claimed hashtags didn’t really help. “I wouldn’t think of hashtags as a way to get more distribution.” Now, he’s clarified that hashtags do matter but don’t meaningfully increase the reach you get when you use them.
At this point it’s anyone’s guess. If you’ve found a hashtag strategy that works for you, terrific. If not, don’t beat yourself up. There is no magic combination or perfect hashtag count. Experiment to see what works best for your content and/or use hashtags as a helpful way to categorize your content but we’re so far past the era of #instagood viral hashtags and it doesn’t seem to be coming back any time soon.
👿 Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok
To deflect attention from itself, Meta (the company that owns Facebook and Instagram) hired a PR firm to orchestrate a smear campaign against TikTok, according to this Washington Post scoop.
"Targeted Victory worked to amplify negative TikTok coverage through a Google document titled “Bad TikTok Clips,” which was shared internally and included links to dubious local news stories citing TikTok as the origin of dangerous teen trends... The firm worked to use both genuine concerns and unfounded anxieties to cast doubt about the popular app."
In fact, some of the rumored trends (that never actually existed!) started on Facebook.
It’s not a great look for Facebook or Instagram, which made headlines last year for its toxic impact on teenage girls. TikTok may need meaningful oversight into things like its corporate ties to China or potentially negative effect on kids and teens but this only highlights how much scrutiny the entire tech industry deserves. Starting with Facebook.
📲 Does Social Media Make Teens Unhappy? It May Depend on Their Age
Teens may be most sensitive to social media at different stages of adolescence, according to this new study. Sensitivity to the technology took a hit first around puberty — ages 11 to 13 for girls, and 14 to 15 for boys — and then again for both sexes around age 19.
👾 The Metaverse Is on the Way: Here's What You Need to Know
This CNET piece has pretty much everything you need to know about the metaverse but might have felt awkward asking since there’s an assumption that we should all be experts in all buzzworthy things:
The metaverse is still a “squishy concept.”
It's often described as online spaces where people can socialize, work and play as avatars.
Some say the metaverse already exists in the digital worlds of Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite, which allow players to gather in 2D environments.
Facebook, Microsoft and others envision a more immersive experience that might require a VR headset. But there's no agreement you'll need VR or AR to get to the metaverse.
Will there be one metaverse? Or many metaverses? Nobody knows but one metaverse would require all these companies to work together and given the billions at stake, that seems unlikely.
CNET’s guess is the metaverse will start as a slate of competing platforms until standards emerge, and eventually the big players will use compatible technology.
💼 How To Uplift Your Career Using Your Personal Brand As A Leader
I was asked to contribute to this Forbes piece on personal branding. What you put out there becomes a big part of how people perceive you. So, does what you want to be known for match up with the information about you online? That’s why it’s so important to critically audit yourself through Google search results, your social bios or last few posts to make sure your digital footprint actually gets your value across.
🎙 Grammy Watch: The 64th Annual Grammy Awards will be held in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 3. Look to see a lot of familiar faces, as Insider points out, 7 out of the nine nominees for song of the year, and seven out of the 10 nominees for record of the year, were hits on TikTok.
🔨 RESOURCES
In honor of Tax Day, TikTok launched a series of tax tips to help creators #BeCyberSmart. They’re not the only ones. There are several apps focused on influencers and self-employed creatives, offering everything from tax calculators to creator exemptions:
HelloBonsai is a freelance management app offering contracts, invoicing software and easy-to-use financial tools and tax estimates.
Keepertax helps independent contractors, freelancers, and solopreneurs, find tax deductions and file their taxes.
FlyFin is a tax app that just launched a free 1099 income tax calculator ideal for freelancers and creators.
*these are not endorsements, just a sample of fintech services aimed at creators.
📖 ALSO ON MY READING LIST…
15 power players at Instagram that creators, managers, and marketers should know in 2022 -Insider 👀
10-minute TikToks: Social media managers react -Morning Brew
Nobody wants more crappy videos on Instagram. Too bad. -Vox
Scoop: OnlyFans wants to go public -Axios
New Social Media App BeReal Is Trending at Colleges as ‘Casual Instagram’ -Bloomberg
YouTube Millionaires: Vickey Cathey on the pros of keeping YouTube a hobby -TubeFilter
Trust in Influencer Marketing 2022 Report -NetInfluencer
