ICYMI: TikTok's 10 Minute Videos
Here's what happened on social media this week, March 4
💻 ROADMAP
⏱ TikTok officially confirmed it would enable 10-minute video uploads — despite knowing people don’t really want that. From the platform’s perspective, there are more monetization opportunities around longer video; it also opens the platform up to entertainment industry-style programming that often takes more than 30 seconds to develop. So while Instagram and YouTube are chasing short-form virality with their Reels and Shorts formats, TikTok seems to be growing up and looking beyond it’s teen audience and their quick hit content.
The problem is TikTok may alienate the creators and audiences that made them a success in the process. A 10-minute video is looooong and takes more planning, more production and more editing. So you need to offer a clear incentive for the extra time and energy that will take, which TikTok has yet to do.
And even if TikTok can convince people the investment is worth it, it probably means relying on content from professional creators, brands and media outlets who have the resources to produce a 10 minute video people are actually willing to watch. Which means less visibility for the wacky, unpredictable, unproduced, quick clips that made us all love the platform in the first place.
📋 Instagram had several small updates this week including:
The expanded roll-out that enables converting Highlights to Reels. To check if you have this new feature, hold and press on your Story Highlights to reveal the menu. The latest option converts your Highlight Stories to Reels, suggests audio and automatically syncs your clips to any track.
The launch of auto-generated captions for videos meant to empower those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.
And as TikTok goes long, Instagram announced they’re officially shutting down the stand-alone IGTV app and IGTV in-stream video ads.
👀 Facebook just released its Widely Viewed Content Report. The most interesting takeaway is how many TikTok videos and links get cross posted to Facebook according to their Most Widely Viewed Links and Posts. According to the report, the top 3 most popular urls on Facebook are:
YouTube
TikTok
GoFundMe
And Facebook Groups remain one of the few organic options for getting any traction on the platform as a brand. The top 3 sources of posts in people’s Feeds are:
51% friends and family
20% Groups
16% Pages followed
👆🏻 CLICK THRU
🛍 Various details of the Kardashians follower loop giveaways have floated around for years — featuring Kim or any other of the Jenner-Kardashians hosting over-the-top giveaways on Instagram that usually require following a long list of tagged brands. Now, BuzzFeed’s pieced it all together to give us the full scoop.
What’s the company behind this: Curated Businesses, and usually Scott Disick too. How much does it cost to be one of the 75 brand accounts that contestants have to follow: $25,000 each. Does the follower boost pay off for the brands involved: Only in vanity metrics.
🎙 Mentions of social media made it into Tuesday’s State of the Union but not in a good way. The President warned of the “harms of social media,” revealing that his administration plans to make regulating the tech industry a priority. Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen looked on as a guest of the first lady, Jill Biden, while Joe Biden blamed social media apps for being addictive, age inappropriate and promoting unhealthy social comparisons all while enabling harassment, child sexual exploitation, stalking, and cyber-bullying.
💄 This is wild: Australian influencers are banned from skincare or healthcare testimonials. The new Therapeutic Goods Administration advertising guidelines say that influencers can endorse a product, such as sunscreen or vitamins, but can’t publish testimonials or offer their personal experience or opinion. Which basically defeats the purpose of trusted recommendations from influencers. This seems like an extreme response to an industry that admittedly needs regulation but not complete dismantling.
📲 An Estée Lauder executive was suspended and then asked to leave the company after posting a racist meme on Instagram. Anonymous beauty watchdog Estée Laundry did a deep dive on the problematic post and the lack of accountability that seems to have persisted at the company for years.
🎥 Casey Neistat is premiering a documentary about controversial fellow YouTuber David Dobrik, titled ‘Under the Influence,’ at SXSW next week.
📍 Pinterest Presents, the platform’s global advertiser summit, takes place next Thursday, March 10.
🇺🇦 My default mode is to read everything and sift for the stuff that helps me make sense of what’s happening but it can also be overwhelming. And with the invasion of Ukraine there are lives at stake so the last thing I want to do is trivialize what’s happening with “lessons learned” in the art of wartime social media.
This is an overview of the information that’s out there, through the lens of what’s happening with social media and big tech. And if you decide to skip to the bottom, that’s OK. Consuming content doesn’t mean you care any more or less. To paraphrase Ryan Broderick, we seems to be in an era where if you aren’t creating content about the invasion of Ukraine, you’re then guilted and goaded into consuming content as your moral responsibility.
There are articles surfacing that suggest this social media coverage is unprecedented:
But while the platform is new and the videos may be vertical, the advent of camera phones had a much greater impact on capturing unfiltered images of war:
Vox and Vice both asked if it’s ever OK to meme a war? One of the best answers to that question lies in this Twitter thread that points out a lot of nuance is being lost and sometimes flattening deeply complex or nuanced topics into an easy-to-understand caricature can create a smokescreen that obscures the real harm happening.
Influencers and celebrities are being alternately praised or slammed for their online responses to the war. There’s no right answer but it seems pretty obvious that the wrong way to respond is through self-serving brand promotion.
The first TikTok war: how are influencers in Russia and Ukraine responding?
It’s Not Your Favourite Influencer’s Job To Educate You On The War In Ukraine
Scammy Instagram ‘war pages’ are capitalizing on Ukraine conflict
WeWoreWhat influencer slammed for tone-deaf Ukraine Instagram caption
These are some of the most thoughtful or insightful Twitter threads I’ve come across:
Why has Ukraine been so successful at information warfare/propaganda vs the supposed Russian masters of it: A thread 🧵
How world leaders, armchair warriors and an army of IT volunteers have leveraged the internet over the last week: A thread 🧵
What makes Zelensky’s videos such effective political communication: A thread 🧵
It’s unsettling to see Americans on twitter attempt to turn war into a Marvel movie or video game: A thread 🧵
Big Tech’s Response:
TikTok, Meta and Google have blocked Russia’s global news network RT in Europe.
Twitter suspended all advertising in Russia and Ukraine so as not to distract from from public safety information.
YouTube is temporarily demonetizing Russian state-affiliated channels.
Facebook, Google, Twitter and Snapchat stopped Russian state-affiliated media from running ads on their platforms.
Apple, Microsoft and Roku removed RT from their app stores.
DirecTV has dropped RT America from its channel lineup.
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will label content coming from Russian state-affiliated media outlets. Meta will also demote content from Russian state-controlled media to make it harder to find.
❤️ Twitter user QuentQuarantino figured out they could donate directly to Ukrainians by making Airbnb reservations they don’t intend to use to help the hosts. (Airbnb has waved all fees in Ukraine). And on Instagram, Taylor Loren pointed out you can use Etsy to send money directly to small business owners in Ukraine by buying digital goods such as Instagram filters from sellers in Ukraine.
📖 ALSO ON MY READING LIST…
Why are we all so obsessed with early web nostalgia? -Dazed Digital
Macro-Influencers Vs. Micro-Influencers: The Great Social Media Debate -Forbes
Follower Growth: Let's Talk About It -Good Help, Co.