ICYMI: It's Giving Chaos Vibes
Here's what happened on social media this week, November 4
Where to begin? Twitter’s gutting, Instagram’s unexplained glitch, the FCC’s call to ban TikTok... This hot-mess of a week demonstrated more than ever that loyalty to a single platform doesn’t make sense. It’s also a reminder that things can change at any moment. These are for-profit companies, not public institutions, and ultimately don’t owe you anything, including service. So, as always, it’s a great time to move your audience from social platforms to digital properties and/or private communities you control, such as your own app, blog or newsletter. Even IRL meetups seemed like a safer option than social media this week.
💻 ROADMAP
📲 Instagram Updates:
Instagram made several announcements as part of Meta’s Creator Week.
Instagram will test “gifts” with select creators. This would allow fans to send gifts on Reels by purchasing Stars within Instagram.
Creators will have access to a toolkit that will help them create, showcase and sell NFTs on and off Instagram.
Instagram is expanding access to subscriptions to all eligible creators in the U.S.
📲 YouTube Updates:
Licensed healthcare professionals can apply to make their channels eligible for YouTube verification that will identify videos from authoritative sources and highlight videos from these sources when users search for health topics. If you think you meet the criteria, apply here.
📲 TikTok Updates:
TikTok will now notify users when you add someone’s video to your favorites or save it to one of your collections. Activate those burner accounts.
📲 Twitter Updates:
People who are verified will soon be asked to pay $8 to keep their blue check status on Twitter. Verification would also be open to anyone else willing to pay regardless of their status or any requirement of identification.
Elon Musk may also try to revive Vine, the 6-second video loops that walked so TikTok could run. Reactions to the potential resurrection of the app have been mixed but Musk has reportedly asked engineers to bring it back by the end of the year regardless.
Under Musk, engineers are also working on Paywalled Video. Creators who add videos to their tweets would be able to charge $1, $2, $5 or $10 to unlock the video and make it viewable. A Twitter employee told The Washington Post the feature would probably be used at least partly for adult content. Which might help explain why General Mills, Pfizer and Audi, among others, paused their ad spends. Big brands are funny about stuff like that.
Twitter is also working on a paid DM experience, according to researcher Jane Manchun Wong, which would allow users to pay to send messages to high-profile accounts, which sounds like the quickest way to turn DMs into a toxic hellscape. (This follow-up tweet from someone at Twitter suggests the idea isn’t fully baked yet.)
These developments seem murky since mass layoffs are underway at Twitter today (November 4th), leading to at least one lawsuit over the short notice for mass layoffs.
👆🏻 CLICK THRU
🗑 Instagram is giving Twitter a run for its money as the most chaotic social network today
It’s time to add another concern to add to your Sunday scaries list — getting booted from Instagram and/or losing your audience. As of this time, Instagram still hasn’t explained what happened on Monday to cause thousands of accounts to be suspended or lose followers.
🛑 Snap, Meta shares pop after FCC commissioner says U.S. should ban TikTok
To be clear, the FCC hasn’t banned TikTok and they don’t have direct authority to regulate the app. But it’s important to be aware that the FCC could influence Congress to act based on concerns of how TikTok and ByteDance handle U.S. user data.
🛍 HSN and QVC may surprise us all
There are so many companies moving into the livestream e-commerce space — Amazon, Walmart, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, TalkShop Live — it’s easy to forget that an established model already exists on TV. This week, multi-hyphenate foodie Gaby Dalkin announced she was launching what looks like a pre-recorded series on QVC+ and HSN+ called My Best Friend’s Kitchen. It looks like QVC and HSN might be mashing up influencer marketing, e-commerce and entertainment television into a whole new format and I’m really curious to see how this rolls out.
I caught up with Gaby via email to get some details on the collab, starting November 9th.
ICYMI: Is it a series or is it live?
Gaby: Yes - it's a series! Not their first one but I believe it's the first one in this format! It was an idea we had that we shopped around and QVC just understood our mission!! They knew exactly what we were aiming to do and let us go for it! It's also one of their lead shows to really kick off QVC+
ICYMI: Is it shoppable video?
Gaby: In its current form for season 1, no. But stay tuned :)
ICYMI: What made you choose HSN/QVC?
Gaby: They gave us the most creative freedom to make the most on-brand show for me/my audience. That was something that was really important to keep close as we've been building What's Gaby Cooking for 10+ years. There have been many instances and learnings in the past 10 years that made me want to really have creative control if we were to branch out into TV.
ICYMI: How are you thinking about shoppable video?
Gaby: This is a great question. It's wild to think that so many companies are trying to crack this form of monetization and QVC/HSN has been doing it for years very successfully! In this space, our team and QVC are focusing on creating incredible quality content first and foremost and then figuring out the best way to make it shoppable down the road which they obviously know how to do very well. So first things first... we're making a show that (we think) everyone will really enjoy watching!!
🧮 DATA OF THE WEEK
89% of creators use 2 or more platforms to generate income
-Data from Deloitte’s report: Creator economy in 3D: Maximizing opportunities between platforms, brands, and creators
📣 QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We know that most influencer marketing isn’t done well because marketers are solely working with people based on follower count and are implementing one-time campaign concepts... If folks want to actually resonate with diverse young audiences, there is no substitute for committing themselves to a mission, investing in community building centered in co-collaborating, and working with creators as partners rather than posters”
-Ziad Ahmed, Founder and CEO of JUV Consulting, a Gen Z digital marketing agency, quoted in: Fear of Follower Drop-Off, Creative Burnout and Ever-Changing Platform Requirements Negatively Influence Influencers
👩🏽🤝👨🏻 PEOPLE
Celebrities are starting to leave Twitter. Here's a running list. -NBCNews
An old Bo Burnham interview resurfaces, leaving fans nodding their heads with his take on Twitter -We Got This Covered
Kanye West Destroyed His Billion-Dollar Empire In Just Three Weeks. Here’s How He Did It. -BuzzFeed
📖 ALSO ON MY RADAR…
The Rise of the Millionaire LinkedIn Influencer -Vice
Everyone Wants to Be a Hot, Anxious Girl on Twitter -The Atlantic
Decoding what algospeak really means for content creators -FastCompany
Adobe Just Held a Bunch of Colors Hostage -Wired
Creators Are Earning More This Year — Here’s Why -Mavrck
Meta Unveils Inaugural Class of ‘Creators of Tomorrow’ -Variety
Exploring the Potential of the Creator Economy -Meta