Social Trends & Tools, Jan 27

ICYMI, here's what happened on social media this week

Jan 29, 2021

This is a weekly roundup of trending social content and key platform updates to help you catch up and make sense of what’s coming.

🐦 Twitter’s Makeover

Twitter’s building a new media ecosystem of audio, text and video. While it’s too early to tell how all these products fit together, Twitter’s efforts seem designed to fill the void since he-who-shall-not-be-named was banned. Dumpster fire Twitter was so 2020. This year is all about creator-friendly Twitter! Let’s review what they’ve announced recently:

Revue: an email newsletter service they acquired to compete against Substack (the platform you’re reading this on). This will provide Twitter users with a new outlet for reaching their audiences through paid and free subscriptions.
Squad: a social video company they acquired in December to connect people through interactive audio and video conversations.
Breaker: a social podcasting company acquired this month to focus on developing Twitter’s new audio feature Spaces.
Spaces: Twitter’s answer to social audio platform Clubhouse is in beta mode but expected to roll out to us all soon. The reviews have been good so far and some are even predicting this could be Twitter’s most meaningful product update in years.
Birdwatch: a new community moderation system. “They're trying to recapture the magic of Wikipedia, where a community emerged and protected the integrity of the site,” noted NBC reporter Ben Collins. (Erm. Seems like something that might have been useful about 85 days ago?)
“Complex and Imperfect”: Twitter’s CMO announced they were overhauling their brand design. The new look, including a new Chirp font, will be on display in “videos and posters, presentations, GIFs and banners.”

Twitter’s always been my go-to platform so I’m all for tools that support better connections there. But the platform doesn’t have a great track record of supporting the products it rolls out (RIP Vine and Periscope). However, they do seem to be trying to turn that around with these recent moves so maybe this will be the year of feel-good Twitter?

Kayvon Beykpour @kayvz

@om @Twitter @SubstackInc I remember Vine, and I certainly remember Periscope :) You’re not wrong about our past. But challenge accepted on our ability to learn from our mistakes. A lot is different now.

📈 Why Is Everyone Talking About GameStop?!

The argument on social media seems to either pit this as an inspiring story about how a bunch of small times investors on Reddit (with some help from big time investors Elon Musk and Chamath Palihapitiya) pushed up GameStop's stock price, pissing off a bunch of Wall Street firms in the process.

Or it’s a cautionary tale of how social media influencers on TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Twitter and Clubhouse are giving bad financial advice that directly contradicts more traditional investment advisors and could lead to financial ruin.

“I would not call it investment advice. That is investment-tainment.”

By the way, it’s not just GameStop. The list of stocks that have soared this week look like an early aughts trip down memory lane: Blockbuster Video, Build-A-Bear and BlackBerry among others.

At the center of this is an investment app, Robinhood, where many of these trades were made — raise your hand if you’ve already seen influencers in your Stories talking about investing through apps like Robinhood?! The startup’s now restricted trading on the stocks in question, a move that’s sparked calls for investigation and some say could destroy the business.

Wall Street, just like every other industry, is being disrupted. And while Nasdaq has said it will halt trading on a stock if it finds a link to unusual activity on social media, this could also mean more wild stock swings as the SEC and other financial regulators try to catch up with emerging technologies.

Either way, in the words of Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian (and other really smart people):

“Please - don't invest money you can't afford to lose, ESPECIALLY, in risky investments.”

Related: TIL learned about Tendies, short for chicken tenders, the treat an overgrown man-child receives for being a “Good Boy.”

📣 Clubhouse Plans for Creator Payments

Clubhouse plans to invest in creators after scoring a new round of funding. The invite-only audio app described creators as the lifeblood of the app and said they “… plan to launch our first tests to allow creators to get paid directly—through features like tipping, tickets or subscriptions. We will also be using a portion of the new funding round to roll out a Creator Grant Program to support emerging Clubhouse creators.”

It’s impossible to predict if the Clubhouse magic will last — or whether you should be developing a platform strategy just yet. To me, the app really captures the energy and unscripted enthusiasm of the early days of social media. It’s random, delightful and has given a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs and influencers an opportunity to share the stage with more established talent like Mr. Beast, Barbara Corcoran or Tiffany Haddish. It’s just too early to tell if it’s got staying power.

*Note: The nature of these unchecked chats has also led to some pretty awful conversations, too.

👆 Click Thru

These are the other headlines that caught my attention this week:

🔥 Do Not Mess With These Women

I mean, don’t mess with women ever, but this week especially there seemed to be few fucks to give:

📲 Instagram Dashboard

Instagram rolled out a new Professional Dashboard for creators and brands as a central place to help track performance, discover new features, get tips and more.

🎤 TikTok Creator Portal

TikTok launched a creator portal filled with educational resources for creators.

✍️ ✨What Happens in the TikTok Comments✨

Thanks to @AgnesOnDuty for flagging this emojipedia guide to preventing you using emojis 'like a boomer' when joining TikTok.

🌟 Ryan Reynolds’ Snapchat Series

Another example of Snapchat making moves: Ryan Reynolds will star in an original Snapchat series produced by Will Smith’s Westbrook Media launching Jan. 30th.

👻 Snapchat Digital Literacy Program

Snapchat’s launched a digital literacy program to help its young-skewing user base understand the risks associated with navigating the web.

👯‍♀️ Byte and Clash Joining Forces

TikTok competitors Byte (from the founder of Vine) and Clash (from a former Vine star) have merged to compete in the short-form video space.