We’ve pulled together the latest news from the social space in our weekly Industry Round Up. Explore the top headlines below and get up to speed with the latest news!
Contents
New Platform Spotlight: Pearpop
Meta’s New Physical Store To Showcase Metaverse Products
The Weeknd’s Album Launch Utilising Spotify Data
MrBeast’s Philanthropy YouTube Channel
Facebook Removing Ad Targeting Categories
Instagram Encouraging Users To Limit Time In App
Instagram Adds More TikTok-Like Features To Reels
New Platform Spotlight: Pearpop
Pearpop is a platform that had a soft launch in October, enabling people to pay to collaborate with TikTok creators. However, now the platform is expanding to cover Instagram, Twitter and Twitch creators – following creator feedback.
The platform has raised $16 million in funding from investors that include the likes of Lil Nas X, Paris Hilton and Jake Paul. The main selling point of the platform is the fact fans can pay to collaborate with top creators and celebrities – helping to drive fans/ creator growth through a marketplace approach.
The platform currently takes 25% of the creator’s collaboration fees and is looking to streamline offerings such as having the ability for musicians to pay creators to use songs in their videos.
Meta’s New Physical Store To Showcase Metaverse Products
Meta is opening an IRL store to showcase AR glasses and VR headsets and other product lines. The stores will act as a touchpoint for consumers to interact with tech made for the Metaverse.
According to a recent New York Times report, leaked internal documents point to Meta planning on developing a network of IRL stores across the US. This move will support Meta’s shift to advanced virtual experiences, promising to give users a place to break through physical barriers and limitations.
The Weeknd’s Album Launch Utilising Spotify Data
Popular singer The Weeknd and Spotify paired up to generate hype for his upcoming album, through the use of Spotify’s listening data to personalize video ads.
Fans were able to experience ads tailored to their listening habits from the artist – this was used in a one-to-one message from The Weekend himself. The ads used voice and image editing to help the artist speak directly to every unique listener. The voice editing included the listener’s name, favorite song and how long ago they started listening to his music. The campaign has already won multiple awards and pushes the concept of utilising Spotify’s listening data on a niche level, beyond the hugely popular Spotify Wrapped campaign.
MrBeast’s Philanthropy YouTube Channel
MrBeast launched his philanthropy YouTube channel in 2020, pledging to commit 100% of ad revenue, merch sales and sponsorships from the channel to feed people in need. MrBeast originally funded the charity himself, but then launched a YouTube channel to build a more sustainable and reliable business model, enabling the charity to generate as much money as possible to ensure as many communities have access to food as possible.
MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, has now set a record month through his charity, hosting the biggest food drive with over 300 volunteers, serving over 10,000 families with around $500,000 worth of food. According to the creator, the charity has provided over 1 million meals to people in need since its inception – with the aim to eventually support millions of people every month.
Hasan Piker’s Merch Venture
Hasan Piker is a popular Twitch streamer, known for being a journalist for The Young Turks and partnering on a podcast with YouTuber Ethan Klein. Now the creator has launched his first merch venture named Ideologie – featuring clothing that is produced in the U.S and is union-made. This is all in line with the creator’s socialist principles, which he is well known for across the internet.
Sales from two shirt styles in the first drop will donate 100% of profits to national strike funds. According to reports during the pre-sale, the merch line was extremely successful, with a large number of the national strike shirts raising well over $100,000 on the first day of sales.
Facebook Removing Ad Targeting Categories
Facebook has announced that the platform will be removing thousands of ad targeting categories in connection with sensitive topics. This is all in a bid to remain compliant with ever-evolving privacy regulations.
As stated by Facebook:
“Starting January 19, 2022 we will remove Detailed Targeting options that relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive, such as options referencing causes, organizations, or public figures that relate to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation.”
This move will greatly impact marketers who target through causes, healthcare and political parties – this could also impact marketers that focus on more value-led messaging. However, Facebook has noted that brands will benefit from building out Engagement Custom Audiences to retarget those already showing an interest – from there, marketers can build Lookalike audiences around such parameters to expand the pool of interested audiences.
Instagram Encouraging Users To Limit Time In App
Instagram is testing a feature called ‘Take A Break’, enabling uses to set reminders so they are prompted after a certain period of time to stop using the app. To note, the ability to set time limit reminders has been available on both Instagram and Facebook before – but this appears to be part of a broader push to highlight wellbeing functionalities on Instagram.
Adam Mosseri announced the feature on Instagram, stating that when a reminder is set, Instagram will provide expert-backed tips on what to do during the break. This is all to improve the overall image of the app, away from one that is harmful and toxic. Furthermore, this feature is one of many other various tools to support users. For example, Facebook has options to mute users, along with a ‘Quiet Mode’, stopping all notifications.
YouTube To Hide Dislikes
YouTube is set to hide the dislike count on all videos in the newest platform update issued on October 10th. The update was first tested earlier in the year in an effort to combat so-called ‘dislike attacks’ – a bullying tactic that can have a detrimental effect on YouTube’s recommendation algorithm.
The dislike button isn’t being totally abolished, however. In fact, users will still be able to use the dislike button. The change is that the dislike count will now be hidden from public view. To note, Creators will be able to view the dislike count using YouTube Studio.
YouTube Shorts Developments
YouTube is looking to maximize exposure of Shorts – its short-form video feature to compete with TikTok. A new test involves a feature that if a user closes the YouTube app while watching Shorts when they reopen they will automatically be taken back to Shorts over the default YouTube home tab.
Shorts also automatically play within the app, meaning when users reopen the app they can jump straight back into content, which increases the chances of staying in the Shorts tab. According to reports only a small percentage of users are in this current testing pool, and no word yet if this feature will get a full rollout.
Instagram Adds More TikTok-Like Features To Reels
Instagram has added a ‘Text to Speech’ option in Reels, enabling a voice to read any text, along with the addition of a voice changer to alter a user’s tone. The ‘Text to Speech’ option has been a popular feature across TikTok, with an odd artificial female voice becoming synonyms with TikTok clips.
This is yet another element Instagram is cherry-picking from TikTok, in order to maximize usage of short-from video on the platform. We should expect to see Instagram continue mirroring popular TikTok elements as the platform looks to move away from just a photo-sharing app.
