Bonded Bitesize – Your Midweek Roundup
Bonded Bitesize – Your Midweek Roundup
Bonded Bitesize – Bringing you your midweek roundup of the latest in digital and media.
Stay connected with recent updates from Meta, Google, TikTok & many more!
Meta has announced its own paid verification program for Facebook and Instagram, costing $14.99 per month
In last week's Bonded Bitesize we reported on coding that was found within both Instagram and Facebook that alluded to some type of paid verification package - well, here we have it… Meta has now confirmed that it is launching its own paid verification tier, much like Twitter Blue’s $8 tier. According to Meta, paying for the subscription will “help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build their community faster”. The program, which is set to cost $11.99 p/m for the web, and $14.99 for the app, will include a verified badge that authenticates a users account with their government ID, proactive protection, access to account support and increased visibility and reach.
Pinterest has expanded its Idea pin video length to 5 minutes instead of 1, in the hope that longer clips will maximise engagement
Following in the footsteps of TikTok, who have also enabled longer videos, Pinterest has increased the video length of its Idea Pins to 5 minutes. Previously users/brands were restricted to a 60 second limit, meaning the extra time will allow users to tell more of a story through their videos. According to Pinterest, Idea Pins serve over a billion video views per day, so there is a huge opportunity for creators and brands to capitalise off of this. The full-screen presentation format means that how-to guides and tutorials work particularly well on this medium.
Microsoft hints at integrating paid links into its ‘new Bing’ chatbot to bring a new advertising opportunity to marketers
Last week we reported on Microsoft’s unveiling of its ‘new Bing’, which uses an upgraded version of OpenAIs ChatGPT, allowing it to answer long complex questions in a conversational tone. This week, it appears Microsoft is in talks with ad agencies to work out how to integrate ads into these new search results, giving brands the opportunity to insert themselves within the conversations via paid links.
Our takeaway… Microsoft’s highly anticipated ‘new Bing’ has a waitlist of millions of people, meaning this is likely to be an exciting new ad offering.
Instagram has launched a new broadcast chat feature called ‘Channels’ with select US creators, providing a new way to interact with followers
Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerburg, has announced that the company is launching a new broadcast chat feature on Instagram called ‘Channels’. This feature will allow creators to share public, one-to-many messages to directly engage with their followers. Although users will not have the ability to message back, they can still engage with the channel by reacting to messages or images, and participating in polls. Meta is currently testing this feature with a handful of US creators, and has plans to add more features and bring it to Facebook in the upcoming months.
Google’s Display & Video 360 has introduced new features to help advertisers plan, buy and measure connected TV campaigns
Google’s Display & Video 360 platform has introduced several new features to assist advertisers in planning, purchasing and measuring their connected TV (CTV) campaigns. To cater to the growing demand for CTV, Google is introducing a TV functionality to evaluate streaming publishers' unique and incremental reach, including YouTube, Hulu and Roku. The new Deal ID forecasting will support understanding of how Preferred Deals or Programmatic Guaranteed Deals might perform before running. Instant reserve will make it easier to book premium placements and ad frequency can be managed to reduce media wasta as well as identify publishers and strategies driving the greatest reach.
TikTok is continuing to test its new Shop feature in the US, adding more brands and an in-app checkout
Instagram may be winding down its ecommerce efforts (more on that later!) but TikToks are still going strong. The video sharing platform is aiming to position itself as a shopping destination with its TikTok Shop feature that lets companies sell their goods directly on the app. Having began testing in the U.S in November, the TikTok is adding more brands including PacSun and Revolve to its initial testing phase. Users who want to shop these brands’ products can simply tap on the shopping bag icon on the brands profile to view their catalogue and complete the checkout process without leaving the app.
Twitters updated ad policy makes it the first social media app in the U.S to allow Cannabis advertising in states where it is legal
Twitter is now allowing cannabis to be advertised upon the platform within U.S states where the drug is legal, as well as in Canada. The platform's recently updated ad policy makes it the first social media app in the U.S to allow cannabis advertising. Other platforms are making similar, smaller strides in this direction too - with Google now allowing ads for FDA-approved pharmaceuticals containing CBD, and both Reddit and Meta allowing ads for hemp products.
Snapchat’s new ray tracing technology enhances the realism of AR Lenses, now available in Lens Studio
Snap has introduced a new ray tracing technology that reflects light on digital objects to create more realistic renderings. To showcase its new technology, Snap has partnered with Tiffany and Co. to launch its first Lens built with ray tracing, allowing users to try on a collection of ultra-realistic Tiffany Bond Bracelets and even purchase them directly through the app. This type of technology is often incorporated into video games, but Snap claims to be the first to offer it to mobile devices at this scale. Ray tracing is now available in Lens Studio for developers around the world.
Instagram is finally retiring its live shopping feature on Instagram this month, due to its lack of up-take
Instagram has recently announced that by March 16th users will no longer be able to tag products while livestreaming - a capability that had been available to U.S creators and businesses since 2020. Meta had already abandoned its live shopping feature on Facebook in August of last year. Despite being a huge success in Asian markets, live shopping failed to capture Western markets - with ecommerce having similar low up-take across platforms such as Pinterest and Snapchat.
YouTube has added a feature enabling users to reply to comments with a Short, and has also added more Data Stories cards with new insights for creators
The latest Creator Insider video has revealed several updates that change the way creators can engage with their subscribers. Firstly, users are now able to reply in the comment feed of a video with a Short, providing a more responsive and engaging option. In addition, YouTube is adding new Data Insights Stories for posts, providing creators with greater insight into how their content is performing. Finally, YouTube is adding the capacity for subscribers of a channel to become a ‘channel member’ direct from the Shorts feed via a ‘Join now’ button.
TikTok is reportedly developing a paywall feature to allow creators to charge for access to certain videos as well as testing a revamped creator fund
A new report from The Information, states that TikTok is working on a paywalled video feature that would allow creators to charge users for access to a video. The report claims users could charge as little as $1 for access, or a higher amount of their choosing - helping to give content creators an alternative revenue stream for their videos. TikTok is also said to be testing a revamped version of its Creator Fund, that would give creators higher payouts than the original fund - which was often criticised for being so low.
Meta’s new ‘Why am I seeing this ad?’ panel provides users with greater transparency and insight into ad targeting
Meta is increasing the transparency of its ads with its updated ‘Why am I seeing this ad?’ tool. Meta first launched this feature back in 2012 to help people understand how its ad targeting works (and to dispel rumours that mobile phones were listening to people’s conversations). Since then, Meta has refined and updated the tool which today includes information about how activity on and off its platform informs its algorithms, new examples and illustrations to demonstrate this, as well as more ways to find ad controls.
Google has started the Beta testing stage of its revamped interest-based ad-targeting on Android devices
Google has announced the launch of the first Beta for its ‘Privacy Sandbox’, an ad-tech stack proposal which claims to make ad-targeting less invasive for users whilst still appealing to marketers. A small percentage of eligible Android users will be enrolled in the trial, allowing them to block ad categories that Android thinks that they may be interested in - such as sport, movies and the outdoors. Within this announcement, Google also took a swipe at rival Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, calling it ‘blunt’ and linking to a study that claimed that ATT fails to actually stop tracking.
TikTok is launching a live five-day ‘TikTok Trivia’ game where eligible U.S users can compete to win a share of the $500k prize fund
TikTok has announced a live, five-day trivia game called ‘TikTok Trivia’, where U.S users can compete for the chase to win a share of the $500’000 prize fund. The experience is presented by Lionsgate and ‘John Wick Chapter 4’ to build anticipation for the film's premiere - and will likely involve some John Wick related trivia. Over the course of the 5 day event, users will have 2 live sessions per day, both an hour long, and will have to answer multiple-choice questions relating to beauty, lifestyle, music and sports.
TikTok has added an additional 70’000 new insights to its TikTok Insights tool, helping marketers understand their audiences and finetune their strategies
Originally launched last May, TikTok’s Insight Tool is a helpful tool for understanding key trends and usage shifts across different topic and regions. To make the valuable tool even more useful, TikTok has recently added a whopping 70’000 new insights. The interactive application allows marketers to find key pieces of data filtered by audience segments, location, industry and holidays. Have a look for yourself here.
