ICYMI: Social Media News January 30, 2023

February 1, 2023
By
Kyra Goodman

The latest social media news. What happened and what it means for your business and your clients January 30, 2023.

TikTok’s CEO will testify in front of Congress in March to address U.S. security concerns regarding the app, TikTok launches new Video Insights for ads, Instagram launches (or is testing?) lead forms for business profiles, Twitter makes moves to allow in-app payments and Instagram launches Notes in Europe, UK and Japan.

TikTok News

What happened: 

The TikTok data security saga continues. The Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed that TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will testify on March 23rd. He's expected to "testify on TikTok’s consumer privacy and data security practices, the platforms’ impact on kids, and their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party."

What this means for you + clients:

Congress still hasn't reached an agreement on any ban that would affect consumers and hopefully this hearing will provide some clarity on the future of TikTok. A TikTok Spokesperson told the Verge, that the company welcomes “the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to address concerns about U.S. national security before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.”

What happened:

TikTok launched new Video Insights in TikTok Ads Manager to give advertisers more in-depth data about their ad performance.

What this means for you + clients:

Great news if you run ads on TikTok. You'll now be able to see insights like frame-by-frame engagement, ad spending over time, audience breakdown, and even comment analysis by sentiment and theme. TikTok says advertisers can...

  • Compare your ad performance against industry benchmarks.
  • Dive deeper into the specific video elements that are making your ads perform. 
  • Inspire new videos and optimize your production workflow through an informed content strategy.

What happened?

TikTok is updating their account enforcement system essentially putting a strike system into place to combat repeat offenders. If an account posts content against the community guidelines, they’ll get a strike as the content is removed. If an account meets a certain threshold of strikes, they’ll be banned. Those policy thresholds can vary depending on a violation's potential to cause harm.

What this means for you + clients:

Hopefully you're not posting content that goes against Community Guidelines and if you are...then maybe don't?

Instagram News

What happened: 

Instagram has launched (or is testing?) lead forms for business profiles. More users are finding the option under Action Buttons on their profiles but the feature isn't currently listed on Instagram’s overview of Action Buttons.

What this means for you + clients:

If your business does have the feature, it could be a super useful tool for collecting information from potential customers. Lead forms can be used for anything - to gauge interest in your product or service, to quantify the leads coming from your Instagram, to make it easier for potential customers to get quotes, etc.

To see if you have the option and to set it up:

  • Go to your Instagram profile
  • Click Edit Profile
  • Under Action Buttons, select Add Lead Form
  • From here you can use IG's standard form or create a custom one
  • With custom lead forms you can add up to three multiple choice or short answer questions and select what info you want people to provide (name, phone number, email, zip code)
  • Under Advanced Settings you can edit the name of the form

What happened: 

Instagram rolls out the Notes feature worldwide - specifically noting its availability in the UK, EU and Japan. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri says that they had to make sure the feature complied with local regulations before launching in these places but's it's available now.

What this means for you + clients:

Notes are 60 character statuses that live at the top of your inbox. Instagram said that during testing it found people appreciated having an easy way to start conversations. It's unclear if Notes are available on Business Profiles (none of our business accounts have the feature but our Personal and Creator profiles do). If you do have it, Notes are a great place for sharing news, highlighting product updates, or promoting conversations.

Twitter News

What happened: 

Twitter registered with the US Treasury as a payments processor and has begun to apply for state licenses to facilitate in-app payments.

What this means for you + clients:

This is a step towards allowing transactions between users, right on Twitter. We're probably a long ways away from that though considering all of the red tape to cut through. If it does launch, there's been talk of "Coins" to support creators, unlockable tweets, paywalled videos and sending money to family and friends.

In other news...

📱 Instagram Co-Founders launch Artifact - a TikTok-like newsreader app

🔐 A hacker found a bug that allowed people to bypass Facebook two-factor authentication

🐦 Twitter reinstates some previously banned accounts and says going forward, they'll take less serious action against offenders

🤫 TikTok looks back at their data privacy initiatives

📷 Photo carousels are gaining popularity on TikTok

📅 Twitter's 2023 marketing calendar

✔️ Instagram seems to be testing paid subscriptions

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