ICYMI: Twitter Users Get Oscar Vote
Here's what happened on social media this week, February 18
[via Nicole Rivelli / Netflix]
💻 ROADMAP
❤️ Instagram announced new private Story “likes” this week. The move should help clean up people’s inboxes since users will be able to show their appreciation for Stories without triggering a DM notification to the account holder. Adam Mosseri shared the updated on Valentine’s Day, saying the like count would not be public, only the account holder would see the likes in the viewer sheet.
To see if you have access to this feature yet, look for a heart icon between the "Send Message" field and the plane icon while viewing someone’s Story.
⛵️ Mark Zuckerberg introduced a new internal slogan this week: “Meta, Metamates, me.” It’s a naval reference that prioritizes employees’ commitment to the cause first and foremost, their coworkers and finally their own importance. (Metamates, blink if you need help. An exaggerated sense of loyalty is incredibly toxic and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.) Also on the branding team’s to do list this week: renaming Facebook’s News Feed as Feed.
👻 Snapchat announced it will let users change their usernames later this month, something you could only previously do by launching a new account. They’re also testing ads within Snap Stars’ stories, with a revenue share for creators who’ve been verified by Snapchat.
🔎 TikTok updated it’s community guidelines last week with a focus on creating a safer space for queer people and women by banning misgendering, deadnaming, and misogyny. They’re also strengthening their stance against dangerous and unhealthy trends, including remove content that promotes eating disorders or disordered eating.
🔵 Twitter announced users could pin up to 6 DM chats to the top of their inbox. It seems to be part of their efforts to enhance the messaging experience, including advanced search tools that would allow users to search for keywords or mentions in their DMs.
👆🏻 CLICK THRU
🏆 The Oscars is introducing a new fan favorite honor. Twitter users will get to vote on their favorite 2021 films using the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite. The film that receives the most fan votes by March 3 will be recognized during the Academy Awards on March 27. Unleash the fandoms.
📲 There’s a lot of hand-wringing over Anna Delvey (or Sorokin)’s fake-it-till-you-make-it Instagram account, which was featured heavily in Netflix’s new series Finding Anna. Watch and decide for yourself whether the artfully curated account contributed to the illusion she was a German heiress and/or became a goldmine of clues that led to her downfall.
What’s most interesting is that @theannadelvey account is still active, complete with comments from Kanye’s ex Julia Fox, plus it just featured a Collab post with a reporter who interviewed Anna from an ICE detention center. In all the possible use cases the Instagram team envisioned for their new feature (allowing two accounts to co-author a post) this probably wasn’t on the list.
💵 Speaking of con artists: the subject of Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler, Shimon Hayut, is charging fans up to $1,400 for videos on Cameo.
🏈 Who controls the memes controls the universe. Nowhere was this more true than during the halftime show from Sunday’s big game, which gave us these gems such as these and these.
🚸 Lawmakers are looking to hold social media companies responsible for the harm they cause children as part of the Kids Online Safety Act introduced Wednesday.
The bill would require social media companies to provide minors with the option to protect their information, disable addictive product features and opt out of the algorithm; create new parental controls; prevent the promotion of harmful content; require the platforms to perform an annual independent audit that assesses the risks to minors; and provide access to company data to inform research on children’s internet safety.
🛍 In the race to dominate live shopping Walmart’s being hailed as the one to watch for embracing new tools and technologies. The company deputized its employees as TikTok advocates; partnered with TikTok and YouTube influencers for live-shopping events; it was the first retailer to test Twitter's livestream shopping tools; worked with livestream platform’s TalkShopLive and Buywith; and built its own live shopping hub: Walmart Shop Live.
📖 ALSO ON MY READING LIST…
What Does a Celebrity Social-Media Manager Actually Do? - Vulture
From Tumblr girl to engineer: How the platform inspired a generation of women to code - Mashable
Gen Z using TikTok and Instagram to understand and document tensions between Russia and Ukraine - ABC News
Warning: The hottie sliding into your DMs may be a ‘loyalty tester - Input Magazine
