RE: everything you missed in social media land this week

November 13, 2020

Hi, geeks!

I want to start off this week by thanking you for subscribing to Geekout. We just passed the 5,000 subscribers milestone! I never expected to hit that many subscribers, let alone in under six months.

This week’s little gem is a simple new feature that makes a lot of social media managers feel so happy: Instagram’s early christmas present for social media managers. Sometimes the littlest things give us the most joy, huh?

Random quick thing: don’t do this on LinkedIn

FREE event invite for YOU

I’ll be joining ContentCal founder and CEO Alex Packham on Wednesday 18 November for a free webinar discussing the future of social media marketing.

We will also chat about social media trends to have on your radar, emerging social media platforms to watch out for, and how current world events are impacting the way we do social. There’ll also be a Q+A, so submit your questions now via a tweet mentioning @contentcal_io.

— Matt

🚨 Everyone's talking about...

The US election itself was less chaotic than many predicted (in fact, it was apparently very well run indeed) but it's the aftermath that has proved the really messy part. With Trump refusing to admit defeat, and his fans backing him, Facebook is perhaps a little premature to feel relieved about how the election went for them.

Misinformation continues to be a serious problem for social networks. Facebook has extended its pause on political ads, and will force Groups found to spread misinformation to pre-moderate all posts.

Meanwhile, Twitter says it has labelled around 300,000 tweets for sharing disputed or potentially misleading information since it began its election efforts, and it has covered 456 tweets with a warning message. There are signs it may even show a warning in future when you try to merely Like tweets containing potential misinformation.

But the impact of all of this may not be as crucial as some paint it. According to Facebook, only 6% of the content users see on its platform is political.

At least TikTok users have been having fun. They've been spamming Trump's 'voter fraud' hotline.

To some, mainly those on the right, the efforts of Facebook and Twitter to contain the spread of misinformation counts as censorship. Not for the first time, outrage about this has led to big growth for 'free speech' focused social app Parler and other services that have welcomed in disaffected users from more popular platforms. In fact, Parler topped the US Apple App Store charts this week.

Whether this migration in permanent remains to be seen. As Shannon McGregor, a professor at the University of North Carolina, told the New York Times, “If there is no one to argue with, no omnipresent journalists or media entities to react to, how long will it last?”

Yesterday was the deadline for TikTok to sell to an American company or shut down entirely in the US... and neither of those things has happened.

In fact, it turns out that TikTok has been in limbo for weeks, as the White House appeared to lose interest in the app it had previously claimed was an urgent national security threat.

Now the situation has become even more confusing. Yesterday: The Department of Commerce said it would comply with recent rulings from lawsuits that ordered the government to keep TikTok open; the Justice Department said it would appeal one such ruling, and the US Court of Appeals set December deadlines for ByteDance to file documents in a case relating to Trump's order for them to sell TikTok to a US entity. You're probably just as confused as I am.

It's hard to see how any of this will get sorted before Joe Biden enters the White House in late January. What happens then is anyone's guess, but Fox Business reported this week that the Biden administration would likely give the proposed deal with Oracle and Walmart a fresh look.

See how social media agency Foodshot uses feed planning and collaboration tools to deliver better client outcomes.

👀 ICYMI...

Stories you need to know about:

Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp:

The news comes as Instagram rolled out a homescreen redesign that gives Reels and Shop their own tabs.

  • Instagram is bringing tech that spots posts related to suicide and self-harm to the UK and EU for the first time. [BBC News]

  • Facebook has banned pre-recorded and looping videos from the Facebook Live API and Facebook Live. Broadcasts can't try to mislead viewers about where a stream comes from. [AdWeek $$$]

  • Facebook won't be happy with regulators' guidance on fixing the problems with sending European users' data to the US for processing — they'll require a lot of work to implement. [TechCrunch]

  • Facebook's European boss is part of a UK panel that will advise on the future of public service broadcasting. [The Guardian]

  • Facebook has lost its final appeal in a defamation takedown case, meaning it must remove the offending posts globally. [TechCrunch]

  • Instagram is likely to be a US government antitrust target. [OneZero]

Twitter:

A multi-year Android security hole is the reason.

  • Donald Trump uses Twitter to divert attention from stories he dislikes, a peer-reviewed behavioural science paper unsurprisingly finds. [Sky News]

  • But Joe Biden is beating Trump for engagement on Twitter since the election. [Protocol]

  • A US government agency accidentally took itself off Twitter. ICE seemingly set its account age as under 13. Rookie mistake. [Mashable]

TikTok:

Facebook moderation contractors are being tempted away to work in-house at TikTok.

  • TikTok is on a hiring spree in Ireland. It will soon have gone from 20 to 1,100 employees in the country in one year. [IDA Ireland]

  • TikTok will pass 1 billion users in 2021, a new report claims. [Social Media Today]

  • Retailers are pushing their staff to become influencers on TikTok. [Digiday $$$]

And the rest:

The UK government is exploring whether it could force social platforms to be politically neutral. The US Section 230 debate comes to the UK. Oh joy. [$$$]

  • A new report suggests how social media can be regulated. Its authors include well-known Facebook critics. [BBC News]

  • LinkedIn has overcharged more than 400,000 advertisers for video view campaigns and impressions. It will offer ad credits to those affected. [Social Media Today]

  • LinkedIn has foiled an attempt to create more than 33m fake accounts. The news was revealed in the company's latest transparency report. [AdWeek $$$]

  • Snap has acquired a company called Voca.ai that makes A.I.-based voice agents for call centres. [TechCrunch]

  • YouTube will not 'Rewind' 2020. The year has been so awful that it's called off its annual lookback. [The Verge]

  • Twitch has apologised for messing up the handling of music copyright claims against users. Claims have skyrocketed this year. [The Verge]

  • Amazon has sued TikTok and Instagram influencers for allegedly selling fake luxury goods. [Fast Company]

  • Boris Johnson's 'congratulations' social image for Joe Biden was sloppy. Look carefully and you can see it was originally written for Trump. [The Guardian]

  • Billie Eilish's 'Bad Guy' video is the latest of just a few videos to pass 1 billion views on YouTube. [Variety]

❓ Question of the week

🔮 Crystal ball time... What do you think 2021 has in store for the world of social media?

I asked my Twitter followers who replied with some very insightful and humorous predictions.

Check them out + add your own thoughts 👇

🔨 Tool of the week

This is a searchable directory of all the branded like buttons and #hashflags that are live on Twitter. Very handy!

🐣 Tweet of the week

This week, Tesco posted a tweet which went viral due to...well... you can see for yourself above. However, they weren't the first to do it. Another account has been credited with coming up with the idea over two months ago, and their success sparked others to jump on the bandwagon and posted their own versions of it.

Bottom line is it worked well for them, but it sparked heated debate amongst social media managers as to whether it was a genius or tacky. Let me know what you think - drop me a tweet?

📲 Quick hits

Updates, experiments, and useful info snippets:

  • Facebook is rolling out its new ‘Public Groups Experience’ to select users. [@MattNavarra]

  • Facebook has published copy tips to help you get better ad results. [Social Media Today]

  • Facebook's Oculus has lots of updates planned for next year. [UploadVR]

  • Facebook is testing new tabs on profiles. [@MattNavarra]

  • Facebook has shared new insights into the impacts of Covid-19 on small and medium-sized businesses. [Social Media Today]

  • Instagram and Messenger now have Snapchat-style disappearing messages. 'Vanish mode' has launched in the US, with more countries to follow. [Messenger News]

  • Instagram has added new features to mark Diwali. These include AR filters and Story frames. [Social Media Today]

  • A new 'Ad Creation Partners' option has been spotted in Instagram, letting businesses work with others on ads from their account. [@MattNavarra]

  • A new 'Rooms' tab has been spotted in Instagram's messaging section. [@mrchrisfloyd]

  • Messenger now lets you unsend any message. There used to be a 10-minute time limit after sending. [@MattNavarra]

  • Twitter is rolling out updated carousel ads. [@MattNavarra]

  • Twitter's Stories-like 'Fleets' feature is now available in Japan. [Social Media Today]

  • TikTok now lets you show your support for a non-profit org on your profile. [Social Media Today]

  • TikTok has clearly inspired Netflix's latest experimental feature. [TechCrunch]

  • WhatsApp is rolling out a Shopping button so you can see what businesses are selling through the app. [Gadgets360]

  • YouTube has shared new information about how its algorithm works. [Search Engine Journal]

  • YouTube Premium subscribers can get a free Stadia Premiere Edition bundle. It's US and UK only right now, with more countries to follow. [9to5Google]

  • YouTube is testing new video quality options that don't directly mention the resolution. [9to5Google]

  • YouTube has added iPhone 12 HDR support to its iOS app. [MacRumors]

  • YouTube's new line-art icons are rolling out on Android. [Android Police]

  • YouTube Music might soon let you share songs as Instagram and Snapchat stories. [9to5Google]

  • LinkedIn has released a guide to brand-building on its platform. [Social Media Today]

  • Snap has launched 'Snap Connect', featuring courses on how to use Snapchat for direct response campaigns. [Social Media Today]

  • Snapchat now lets you compare astrology readings with friends. [Mashable]

  • Pinterest has launched a Christmas gift guide, with 10 categories of ideas. [Social Media Today]

  • Discord has added screen sharing to its latest Android beta. [9to5Google]

  • Triller has added a new ‘Mashtraxx’ tool for editing and syncing music with video. [@MattNavarra]

  • Patreon creators can now more easily make subscriber-only podcasts, thanks to a partnership with Acast. [The Verge]

📖 Weekend reading

"Social media managers are making important — and very public — decisions all the time.... yet their job is still often seen as something anyone could do, or left to those who are just getting started in their careers."

😳 And finally....

This man has gone viral in more ways than one. He's a TikTok hit for eating 🤮 food, thanks to severe taste loss from Covid-19.

📅 Back next week...

…And that’s a wrap! You read that fast!

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Have a great weekend!

— Matt

❤️

PS. Don't forget to sign up! 👇 See you next week!

This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant.

Copyright 2020: Matt Navarra Media Ltd

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