Brand Management: Three YouTube Series Make The Emmys Shortlist, Instagram Adds New Story Features
Instagram - meta
Social Networking Service: Instagram added four new stickers to their “Stories” feature, namely “Add Yours Music,” “Frames,” “Reveal,” and “Cutout.” The Add Yours Music sticker combines two of Instagram’s previous features. After adding a song to an Instagram story through the Add Music sticker, viewers can add their own songs in response using the Add Yours button. Frames is a photography feature that adds a polaroid-like frame to a photo. The feature automatically adds the date and timestamp from when the photo was taken, and users can add a caption as well. To reveal the photo on an Instagram story, viewers can either shake their phone or tap the “shake to reveal” button to “develop” the framed image. Similar to the Frames sticker that hides the photo at first, Reveal makes a photo blurry. For story viewers to see the full image, they must message the poster. The Cutouts sticker is similar to the Custom Sticker feature on Snapchat. Users can outline part of an image from their photo gallery to create a custom sticker. This sticker can then be added to Instagram Reels or stories.
Instagram is experimenting with new tools to protect against sextortion and intimate image abuse. These tools were made specifically with Instagram’s user base of minors in mind. The main tool being implemented is “Nudity Protection.” This feature is turned on by default for users under 18 globally. With the feature on, people sending nude images will receive a message reminding them to be cautious while sending NSFW photos. Those forwarding images they’ve received will also be shown a message encouraging them to reconsider. Finally, received images containing nudity will automatically be blurred under a warning screen with an attached message encouraging the user not to feel pressured to respond. Report and block tools will also accompany this pop up. Additionally, Instagram and Meta have taken action to prevent scammers from connecting with teens, provided resources for people who may have been approached by sextortion scanners, and collaborated with Lantern, a child safety cross-platform coalition dedicated to protecting children on social media.
Instagram Reels have become one of the most popular forms of content on the platform, but according to CEO Adam Mosseri, posting longer Instagram Reels can hurt users’ reach. Mosseri shared this information at a creator event in New York during a presentation. The Instagram team encouraged creators to post reels under 90 seconds in length or else risk being impeded by the algorithm.
X (formerly known as Twitter) plans to launch a dedicated TV app sometime soon. The app will take videos uploaded to the site and curate them based on an algorithm. As shared in a teaser from CEO Linda Yaccarino, the app’s interface appears similar to YouTube. The app will feature enhanced video search and will be available on “most smart TVs.” No official launch date has been released.
Weixin, better known as WeChat, recently released its 2023 Weixin Brand Protection Report. Parent company Tencent summarized its continued advancements in protecting IP rights and defending against policy violations, including the advertisement or sale of counterfeit goods. Weixin and Tencent are proactively countering these activities by increasing the amount of public content they review.
Chinese social media giants Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu have banned together to remove displays of wealth from their platforms. This ban aims to create a digital space that is “civilized, healthy, and harmonious.” Weibo has deleted over 1,100 posts featuring luxury cars, expensive mansions, and other symbols of affluence. Douyin and Xiaohongshu have also reported mass content deletions and account suspensions. Chinese authorities have supported the initiative to “purify the internet cultural environment.” This move likely acts as an attempt to tackle a wide income disparity within the nation.
Tiktok - bytedance
Online Video Platform: At YouTube’s annual Brandcast, CEO Neal Mohan announced the launch and expansion of YouTube Select “Creator Takeovers.” Under this venture, advertisers can buy out the inventory on channels at the top 1% of content on YouTube. Mohan believes that YouTube is redefining TV at large, and he has the numbers to back him up. Nielsen reports that YouTube has held the No. 1 share in streaming watch time in America every month since February 2023. Mohan also went on to argue that YouTubers should be eligible to win Emmy Awards.
“[YouTube is] redefining what TV looks like, helping creators reach new heights,” stated Mohan.
Mohan’s remark has shaken up the awards race as three YouTube web series made the Emmys shortlist. The nominated series include Hot Ones, hosted by Sean Evans, Good Mythical Morning, hosted and created by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, and Chicken Shop Date, hosted by Amelia Dimoldenberg. Hot Ones is an interview series that features hot questions and even hotter wings, and it successfully petitioned for the Outstanding Talk Series category. Host Evans will be in competition with Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and Stephen Colbert. Good Mythical Morning makes its return to the ballot after being snubbed in 2018. The web series will compete in the “Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama, or Variety Series” and faces competition from Carpool Karaoke: The Series and Dropout’s Very Important People. Lastly, Chicken Shop Date, a show in which host Dimoldenberg takes various celebrities on dates at a chicken shop, enters the short form race. It should be noted that YouTube itself did not make any formal submission for the Emmys. Rather, these entries come from the companies and shows themselves. However, with Mohan’s previously mentioned comments, it would not be surprising to see YouTube petition the Emmys on behalf of its creatives in the future.
TikTok is planning a mass global layoff. According to an insider, the layoffs are not in response to the United States’ potential TikTok ban. News of the layoffs were relayed to employees by Adam Presser, TikTok’s head of operations, and Zenia Mucha, the company’s chief brand and communications officer. Though the exact number of affected employees is unknown, the original leak suggests that a “large percentage” of the roughly 1,000 employees in the affected departments are at risk.
Twitch is launching and updating their Discord servers for partnered streamers . The Twitch Partner program is the highest tier of collaborators within the streaming platform. The program allows for creators not only to monetize their channel and run certain ads, but also to have custom emoticons, extended VOD storage, and a level of priority support and exclusivity. The announcement of these servers is a clear rallying cry for partner collaboration. With Twitch itself maintaining these Discord servers, Twitch Partners will have a dedicated space to collaborate on streams, videos, and projects. Twitch will support nine servers across seven languages and various regions, including English-language North America, English-language Asia Pacific, English-language Europe, Middle East & Africa, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Portuguese.
Meta
Industry: TikTok and its founder ByteDance have filed a U.S. appeals court to fast-track its legal challenges against the app’s potential ban. The company countersued the United States government after the U.S. passed a motion to ban the social media platform. TikTok and ByteDance hope to expedite the ruling by December 6th.
Advertising and marketing company Kajabi appears to be picking up traction within content creation circles . The company is marketed towards content creators who want to create a branded app, typically for subscription-based services like workout classes or pay-walled recipes. Kajabi is reminiscent of a company like Squarespace, but rather than creating your own website, content creators can create and revise their own app. In February 2022, Sean Solme Kim joined the company as president after working as an executive at TikTok and Amazon.
A report uncovered troubling news regarding Meta’s involvement with political ads in India. During India’s election, Facebook reportedly approved AI-manipulated political advertisements that spread misinformation and incited religious violence. These advertisements catered towards India’s Hindu population and contained slurs against Muslims. The ads were created and submitted to Meta’s ad library by India Civil Watch International (ICWI) and Ekō, a corporate accountability organization, to test Meta’s mechanisms for detecting and removing inflammatory political content and misinformation.
