Tag: Launches

With the US Presidential Election now only 34 days away, TikTok has this week announced its new ‘Elections Guide’, which will help connect its users with authoritative voting information, and limit the spread of misleading reports and updates via the app.

As you can see in these screenshots, TikTok’s Elections Guide will prompt eligible US users to register for the poll, while also providing official information on the voting process in each state via the National Association of Secretaries of State, BallotReady, SignVote, and more. 

As explained by TikTok:

“As with our COVID-19 resource hub, the election guide can be accessed from our Discover page and on election-related search results. We’ll also be linking to the guide at the bottom of videos relating to the elections and on videos from verified political accounts.”

So it’s pretty similar to the approach that both Facebook and Twitter are taking with their election awareness pushes – though you would expect that TikTok will have less of an impact in this regard, given that more than a third of its daily users in the US are aged 14 years old or younger.

But still, it could have an impact. Snapchat, for example, which also caters to a younger audience subset, recently reported that it’s already prompted 400,000 people to register to vote in 2020 via its in-app pushes. TikTok’s audience skews even younger than Snap’s, but any further pushes in this respect can have benefits, and can help drive awareness of civic participation.

And as we’ve seen, TikTok, despite its own efforts, has already been caught up in political controversy. Negotiations over the app’s sale to a US company are ongoing, and it may still face a full ban in the US if it can’t arrange a separation from its Chinese parent company. The rising tensions between China and the US have put the app in the middle of global trade discussions – so despite TikTok not accepting political ads and not being focused on news content, as such, it’s still involved in political messaging, in one way or another.

Given this, it makes sense for TikTok to align with the other social platforms and offer informational pushes. And even if they don’t end up having a major impact, it’s still worth TikTok, from a PR perspective, working to distribute accurate, timely, and helpful election information. 

While Reddit is now up to 430 million users, many advertisers remain hesitant to invest in the platform because of past controversies related to its free speech approach, and it’s notoriously ad-opposed community that might not be overly welcoming to their content.

But Reddit has changed a lot in recent times. Back in June, for example, the platform removed more than 2,000 subreddits after a revision of its policies around hate speech, while the Reddit community is also now far more accustomed to in-stream ads and seeing sponsored posts within their feed.

But Reddit still has some work to do in winning brands over – and this week, it’s launched three new tiered ad inventory options which aim to provide businesses with varying levels of brand safety when running their on-platform promotions.

As explained by Reddit:

“Reddit is home to many types of advertisers, all of which have different needs when it comes to their brand message and campaign objective. While Reddit has previously offered the same set of inventory to all advertisers with universal brand safety controls, Inventory Types recognizes that no two advertisers are the same, and provides greater choice to meet these unique needs across three different tiers.” 

Reddit’s three new ad tiers are as follows:

• Expanded Inventory – This category enables advertisers to access Reddit’s maximum inventory pool, and appear next to the broadest range of content. “This new tier will open up more than 20% more communities for targeting, giving advertisers access to a significantly larger user base via inventory that continues to meet Reddit’s content standards.”
• Standard Inventory – This option provides “balanced reach and protection” to fit the needs of most advertisers. In other words, the more controversial subreddits are not included, ensuring brand safety.
• Limited Inventory – This option provides optimal brand safety via a partnership with Oracle Data Cloud’s contextual intelligence tool, adding an extra stage of verification to ensure your ads don’t appear alongside questionable content.

​So advertisers will now have more ways to ensure their Reddit ads only appear where they choose, and don’t get displayed next to potentially offensive or concerning content, which could have reputational impacts.

The concern is relevant on Reddit, where varying types of controversial posts can gain traction, but Reddit does also note that ads are only eligible to appear in communities on its hand-curated allowlist.

“All advertisers will continue to have the choice to enable or disable comments on their ads, as well as exclude certain keywords and communities based on their individual preferences.”

So there is a level of brand safety built into all its ad options, but now, brands that want to see maximum reach will be able to do so, while those looking to maintain more security in their placements will also have options. 

Definitely, Reddit is worth consideration. Not all brands will see success on the platform, but given the vast range of subjects discussed, and the engagement of Reddit communities, utilizing the right placements and ad options could facilitate good results, and these new control measures will help brands avoid potential controversy in their promotions.

Inventory Types is available for all Reddit advertisers starting today.  

LinkedIn has given its platform a new, fresh update, while it’s also announced the global rollout of LinkedIn Stories after trying it out in selected nations over the past five months.

First off, on LinkedIn’s new look – as you can see in this screenshot, the new LinkedIn looks brighter, with a pastel-type color scheme on a gray and white background – and less blue overall.

As explained by LinkedIn:

“Two years ago, our brand evolved to better reflect LinkedIn’s community of members and organizations that come together to help, support, and inspire one another. Now, we’re bringing the next chapter of this brand evolution to life across our platform with an entirely new look and feel that embodies our diverse, inclusive, warm and welcoming community.”

The update is mostly aesthetic, but LinkedIn’s also added a range of new features and tweaks to coincide with the new format.

The main addition is the global rollout of LinkedIn Stories.

As noted, LinkedIn has been testing Stories over the last few months, with users in Brazil, the Netherlands, Australia, UAE and France able to access to option. The roll-out of LinkedIn Stories seemed to slow of late, with Australia being the last region to get access back in June, but according to LinkedIn, user reception for Stories has been ‘amazing to see’.

Now, everyone will be able to try it out – and while it hasn’t become a major function of note as yet, the broader audience could give Stories a boost. Stories will be rolling out to Canadian and US users from this week, with all other regions to come shortly.

Along with the roll-out of Stories, LinkedIn’s also revamped its search process to incorporate more of its functions into your search matches. 

“Before, search was about finding people or jobs but now, you’ll have one blended search experience to easily find jobs, people, courses, groups, content and more. For example, if you’re searching for “Java,” you’ll see what’s new to learn that skill, jobs that are being hired for, relevant groups to join so you can connect with others and people you might know who have Java as a skill.”

LinkedIn’s also making searches more personalized, with results from your connections more likely to show up, and it’s added keyword filters on mobile, which, up till now, has only been available n the web version.

LinkedIn’s also incorporating the capability to launch a video meeting via a LinkedIn message, with integrations for Microsoft Teams, Bluejeans and Zoom.

It’s also adding some other new messaging tricks, like editing functionality for sent messages:

“If you make a mistake in a message, you can now edit/delete a sent message.”

There’s also a new bulk actions option in your message stream, so you can delete or archive your messages all at once, and new reactions within message threads.

Quick reactions to messages has become a fairly common functionality, so it makes sense to LinkedIn to add it in, aligning with general usage trends. 

These are some interesting functions and tools, which add to the ways in which you can connect and communicate on the platform. And the new look does add something different, maybe removing some of the corporate stuffiness that’s lingered on the platform and giving it a new sense of life.

LinkedIn’s rolling out these new features from today, so if you’re not seeing them yet, you will soon.   

It’s only been out for a short while, but Instagram is already making tweaks to the design of its TikTok-cloning ‘Reels’ feature as it looks to maximize the appeal of the short-form video option.

And while we don’t have any data on Reels usage as yet (though Instagram has said that Reels is taking off in India), the changes have been made in response to initial user feedback, and look to move Reels even more in-line with TikTok’s process.

First off, Instagram will now allow users to create Reels of up to 30 seconds.

Reels have thus far been restricted to 15-seconds, in line with TikTok’s main focus, but TikTok clips can actually be up to a minute in length, giving users more room to flesh out their creations. Instagram isn’t giving Reels users the full minute (though you can, of course, post longer videos to the main Instagram feed), but the expansion to 30 seconds will provide more leeway.

And as noted by TechCrunch, the middle ground option could provide a way to TikTok users to re-purpose their longer TikTok clips to Reels, while still requiring them to re-edit in many cases, thereby making unique Reels content.

In addition to this, Reels creators will now also be able to extend the timer by 10 seconds as they record their clips.

While it’s also looking to improve on its native editing tools, with improved trimming and deletion options.

In some ways, it feels like a bad sign that Instagram is already making changes to the Reels design so close to the initial launch, but it’s also good that Instagram is trying to learn quickly and align with user behaviors in the app. 

Whether Reels can become a bigger thing is hard to say. Initially, Instagram has been pushing Reels as an alternative to TikTok in both India (where TikTok is banned) and the US (where TikTok could be banned), but with negotiations increasingly looking more like TikTok will remain in America, that could see Reels lose any momentum it had gained due to uncertainty over TikTok’s future.

Most of the feedback seems to be that Reels is TikTok, but not as good. That could be good enough in India, but if TikTok remains unchanged, it likely won’t be enough anywhere else.

But then again, with reports that TikTok’s personalization algorithms won’t be included in the Oracle/Walmart deal, TikTok could still lose its way, and if it does, having Reels as a pretty close alternative will remain a consideration for many. 

As such, Reels could still become a bigger consideration over time, even if TikTok is allowed to remain in the US.   

While all parties have agreed, in principle, to the proposed Oracle/Walmart lead takeover of TikTok, which seemingly meets both the US and Chinese Government’s requirements for the deal to proceed, the actual details are still being worked out, with some disagreement over what, exactly, will be included in the sell-off of the app.  

Which now leads to the next potential problem for the app.

Originally, TikTok had until September 20th – last Sunday – to arrange a separation deal, or it would face removal from the US app store. That came close to happening, until the Oracle/Walmart deal was seemingly on track for approval, and as such, the US Department of Commerce agreed to give TikTok an extra seven days to finalize the new arrangement.

Which means that the app’s deadline is now this Sunday, and if the takeover deal is not signed off by then, TikTok will indeed be removed from US app stores, meaning that while current users will still be able to use the app, no one else will be able to get it until the deal gets the final go-ahead.

TikTok is still adding new users at a solid rate, and as such, it’s fairly keen to avoid an app store ban – and now, as a sort insurance policy in case the Oracle deal drags on, TikTok has requested an injunction against its pending app store ban, citing a lack of evidence and just cause in the White House executive order.

And it may well get it – late last week, a US Magistrate ruled that the same ban on WeChat, which was also named in the original White House Executive Order, could not go ahead due to lack of evidence in relation to the concern that the app is a threat to national security.

As per Judge Laurel Beeler: 

“While the general evidence about the threat to national security related to China (regarding technology and mobile technology) is considerable, the specific evidence about WeChat is modest”.

TikTok could argue the same. In fact, it’s already stated that case in its commentary on the proposed US Government ban, in a post entitled ‘Why we are suing the Administration‘ published last month.

As per TikTok:

“The Executive Order issued by the Administration on August 6th, 2020 has the potential to strip the rights of [our] community without any evidence to justify such an extreme action, and without any due process. We strongly disagree with the Administration’s position that TikTok is a national security threat and we have articulated these objections previously.”

Indeed, while various concerns have been raised about TikTok’s potential links to the Chinese Government, and while the app has been banned for use on US, UK and Australian military-issued devices, the actual evidence of TikTok or parent company ByteDance sharing data with the Chinese regime seems very thin – or at least it’s not available publicly.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which, as a Chinese company, is beholden to China’s strict cybersecurity laws, which require businesses to share their user data on request, would seemingly have to share such, if the CCP requested it. But we have no evidence that any such demand has been tendered, nor will be any time in future. 

Speculation also exists around TikTok’s algorithms and its potential to amplify pro-China messaging, but again, the actual evidence is limited in TikTok’s specific case. Moderation guidelines used by employees of the Chinese version of the app, ‘Douyin’, were leaked to the press late last year, and they clearly showed that its moderators had been advised to censor anti-China content. But Douyin and TikTok are not the same, and TikTok has explained these specific guidelines were never applied in its app.

So while the concerns are valid, and there is some basis to the considerations, the evidence for enforcement may not hold up in court. At least, it didn’t in WeChat’s case.

That could mean that TikTok will be able to avoid an app store ban, if a takeover deal is not reached, which would definitely not look good for the Trump administration and its stated intention to restrict the app.   

That could, once again, put TikTok in the spotlight, and make the US Government even more determined to force a full sell-off of the app to US-based ownership. 

Basically, the TikTok takeover saga is not over yet, and while it still seems likely that the parties will come to some form of agreement to let TikTok continue operating in the US, that’s still not a given, and it could face removal from app stores in just a few more days.

Twitter is launching a new push to get more people to participate in the 2020 US Presidential Election, including a prominent, top of timeline prompt that will be displayed to all users in the US when they log in today.

As explained by Twitter:

“In partnership with National Voter Registration Day, Twitter is making its biggest push ever to encourage people to register to vote and confirm their registration status. Today, we’re rolling out new tools and in-app experiences that will put voter registration resources at the public’s fingertips and support the essential voter registration efforts happening across the country.”

As you can see in the above screenshots, the new voter notifications will be displayed on the main Twitter home screen and in the Explore tab, ensuring all users are made aware of their voting options.

In addition to this, today, Twitter will also prompt users with push alerts to encourage voter registration, while it’s also adding two new ‘hashflag’ emojis for #NationalVoterRegistrationDay and #VoteReady “to empower civic conversation across the country”.

These new elements are tied specifically into National Voter Registration Day, but they also add to Twitter’s ongoing efforts to encourage broader civic participation, and maximize both awareness and transparency around the 2020 Election.

For example, Twitter’s added badges on candidate profiles to highlight their tweets, and clarify who’s saying what (and why) on the platform.

Twitter’s also expanded its policies around election misinformation and the voting process – which has even seen it add warning labels to tweets from US President Donald Trump, underlining the seriousness of its push in this respect.

Twitter has also stopped accepting paid political ads, and has added a range of other measures and tools in order to play its role in securing the integrity of the US Election process, and ensure its platform is not being used to manipulate voters.

Still, there are areas of concern. Various reports have suggested that armies of Twitter bots are still being used to amplify political messaging, and sow division among voters. A recent report also found that one conservative youth group had been paying teenagers in Arizona “to flood social media with pro-Trump messages”.

There are still ways that Twitter can play a negative role in the election process, but for its part, Twitter is looking to add more tools to combat voter manipulation – particularly in relation to the voting process – and get more people to the polls in 2020.

Combine this with Facebook’s new voting participation push and it should see more people encouraged to the poll via social platform usage.

Christmas is now only 94 days away, and this week, Pinterest has launched its latest holiday marketing hub in order to help businesses tap into Pins to help maximize their holiday sales performance.

The hub includes links to a range of Pinterest resources and tools, including previous research reports, case studies, audience persona insights and more.

In addition to this, Pinterest has also published a new, 13-page holiday marketing guide, which outlines key usage stats, and underlines the case for Pinterest within your 2020 holiday marketing approach. 

Indeed, like all social platforms, Pinterest is seeing increased usage in 2020 due to the global lockdowns to restrict the spread of COVID-19. The difference in Pinterest’s case is that it’s more specifically focused on shopping and product discovery – in some ways, Pinterest has replaced the physical shopping mall, providing a means for users to browse product displays, and options tailored to their sppecific interests.

Clearly, Pinterest is doing something right on this front – the platform is now up to 416 million active users, and is growing faster than Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. Its refined focus on eCommerce is also helping guide users to more products, while Pinterest has previously noted that Pinners are looking to plan for the holidays much earlier in 2020 as people look forward to a time when the COVID-19 restrictions are eased and we can catch up with family and friends again.

Which may not necessarily be Christmas – but even so, holiday searches on Pinterest jumped 77% YoY in April, which included a 3x increase in searches for “Christmas gift ideas”, along with other queries like “holiday recipes” and “Christmas”.

Clearly, Pinners are looking to get into a festive mood – which is why the platform could be great for your 2020 holiday promotions.

Pinterest’s holiday guide outlines five key steps to take in mapping out your holiday Pin strategy:

There are some valuable notes here, and insights into audience segments, which may help you establish a more effective approach to Pin campaigns, if that’s where you’re looking.

You can download Pinterest’s “Think outside the Black Friday box” holiday performance guide here, and access the Pinterest holiday hub at this link.