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 Google, Meta, Apple, TikTok & many more!
Youtube is planning to make monetisation for Shorts more stable, by paying creators 45% of ad revenue
The battle of the short-form videos continues as Youtube announces plans to improve the way it pays creators by creating more stable monetisation. Playing on a common criticism that the creator fund of rival video-sharing app TikTok is low and unstable, it seems Youtube is trying to up the reward of switching to YouTube Shorts in its effort to gain back market share. The Google-owned company is planning to pay creators 45% of the ad money generated through Shorts, similar to the way video creators traditionally earn 55% of the ad revenue.
WhatsApp has announced its first ever original short film, Naija Odyssey, will premiere on Prime video, telling the story of NBA player
From Silicon Valley to Hollywood… In an unexpected move, the social messaging platform WhatsApp is stepping into the film industry with their first original short film ‘Naija Odyssey’. The short-film (spanning only 12 minutes) tells the story of NBA player Giannis Antetkounmpo and his identity crisis that stems from being a Nigerian in Greece. The ‘cross culture story’ reinforces the way WhatsApp helps us embrace our multifaceted lives, WhatsApp’s head of global marketing tells us, helping us to navigate relationships, identity and even adversity.
Twitter’s new opt-in feature reminds users to add alt text to photos in effort to improve accessibility of feeds
Having been tested in small groups initially, Twitter is now rolling out alt text reminders to all users. The new feature, which has been highly requested by disabled activists for some time, makes images on the platform more accessible to people who use screen readers - such as the visually impaired and blind.
Our takeaway… Not only does applying alt text help visually impaired users understand the content of your posts, it also helps search engines do the same - so improve your accessibility as well as your search engine ranking by always adding alt text to imagery.
TikTok has launched TikTok Now, a standalone mobile app replicating the increasingly popular BeReal
Instagram, Snapchat and now TikTok - the list of social media platforms copying the popular BeReal app grows longer. Just like BeReal, TikTok Now gives users a daily prompt to capture authentic moments through both the front and rear camera simultaneously. Interestingly, this was released as a new feature within the TikTok app in the US, yet a standalone app outside of the US.
Our takeaway… Despite continuously being the victim of shameless copycats itself (*cough* Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts), it appears TikTok is not above a bit of cloning itself. Though, as BeReal is currently No. 1 in at least nine markets right now, it will have to do well to mark out their own share of this market.
Initially reserved for paying Snapchat+ Subscribers, Snapchat is now making its desktop version available to all users
Having avoided creating a desktop version of its mobile app for years, Snapchat is now rolling out its new ‘Snapchat for Web’ version for all users. Initially reserved for subscribers of its premium tier, Snapchat+, Snapchat for Web allows users to send messages and Snaps, as well as chat via video and voice calls on their desktop computers. Users will be able to identify those who are using the desktop version as their Bitmoji will pop up holding laptops. This feature comes just three weeks after Snapchat reportedly made 1300 staff redundant after facing a slump in ad revenue.
Youtube has added a new feature that will allow creators to create a Shorts clip in response to comments they receive on their videos
Youtube’s new Shorts reply helps content creators engage with their community by directly responding to viewers comments and questions. The ease of this feature is also likely to increase the amount of Shorts content that creators produce, and helps creators promote new videos. This addition mirrors TikTok’s video reply option, which was also later adopted by Instagram.
Our takeaway… Kill two birds with one stone by answering customer questions whilst producing more branded content. We think this feature will be great for brands wanting to engage with their audiences more and build a community.
Amazon has announced it will give ecommerce merchants free software for managing shoppers orders on and off its platform
At Amazon’s annual seller conference ‘Accelerate’, the company announced the launch of Veeqo, a multi-channel shipping software built to simplify fast-growth ecommerce. Veeqo, acquired by Amazon earlier this year, helps sellers cut shipping costs while increasing speed of order fulfilment. Initially a service with a monthly fee, Amazon is making this service free for merchants selling on Amazon, as well as rival ecommerce sites including Shopify, Ebay and Etsy.
Our takeaway… Whether this is an act of generosity, or a bid to stay top dog - this is a great tool for merchants to jump on
LinkedIn adds new ‘Focused Inbox’ to improve messaging, new sales analytic tools and section showing ‘jobs at your company’ in Jobs tab
LinkedIn has shared a series of updates in its bi-weekly newsletter Building LinkedIn, including the introduction of a new focused inbox, internal mobility opportunities, skills accreditation and new analytic tools. The new inbox UI will separate messages into relevant messages in the ‘Focused’ tab with the rest of your messages being sent to the ‘Other’ tab. Over time the inbox will get better at understanding what messages you are likely to find relevant or not. The Jobs tab is also being updated to show internal job opportunities, as well as just external jobs.
Report states Gen Z is increasingly using TikTok as a replacement for Google Search, though ⅕ TikTok’s are said to contain misinformation
A recent report from the New York Times has found Gen Z users have begun replacing Google with TikTok as their primary search engine. Young people are turning to TikTok to find new restaurants or how to do a new skill as opposed to Google. This is concerning considering a new study by NewsGuard found 1 in 5 search results on TikTok contains misinformation. The study analysed a range of topics from ‘mRNA vaccine’ and ‘2022 election’.
Our takeaway…TikTok is a great tool but make sure your content is not misleading your audience, focus on creating a trustworthy brand presence rather than adding to the misinformation.
Facebook has launched a Reels API that will enable quick sharing of Facebook reeks from third-party apps, including Sprout Social, Wix and Jellysmack
To make sharing short-form video content via Facebook as quick and easy as possible, Meta have launched a Facebook Reels API that will allow developers to integrate sharing buttons into their apps. This API will allow users to directly share Facebook Reels via third-party apps, such as social media management tool Sprout Social, saving those the hassle of having to do so separately.
Our takeaway… For those of you who know the pain of trying to share branded content across different platforms, all with different rules and formats - this API should help make your life a little easier. We’ll certainly be making use of it!
Google Photos has redesigned its Memories feature to focus more on videos, with creative tools that create collaged backdrops set to music
With the boom of short-form video content, Google photos is offering more than just a storage service - recently updating its Memories feature to focus on the sharing of videos. Users will now be able to create visual effects with photos set to music. There will also be a tool that ‘automatically selects and trims the best snippets of users' longer videos using machine learning’, explains Google. This comes not long after Instagram have started creating Reel content for users taken from snippets from their stories - the Meta-owned company also commented that Reels now make up 20% of the time users spend on Instagram.
Our takeaway… There are now a few platforms that will help you create Reels so play around with them to help build up your brands short-form content and see which works best for you.
Apple has announced upcoming hikes to app store prices across Europe & Asia, believed to be due to currencies weakening against US dollar
Apple has announced this week that price and tax changes for apps and in-app purchases will change across Europe and parts of Asia as soon as October 5th. Although the reason for these changes weren’t explained in Apple's statement, they are rumoured to be due to currencies weakening against the US dollars. Countries using Euros will find €0.99 apps will increase to €1.19 (a 20% jump) whereas in Japan hikes will be over 30%, amid the yen dropping to a 24 year low against the US dollar.
YouTube is testing ways to personalise channel homepages based on topics, languages and viewers previous watch history
In a video posted to Youtube’s Creator Insider channel, Youtube has announced that it is exploring ways to personalise the content that users see on channel homepages - so that instead of everyone seeing the same page, they see a version that prioritises content they would be interested in. This is to help creators engage with different audiences better, depending on the topics, language and watch histories of users. As well as this, Youtube also announced they are working to clean up the UI of channels, developing separate tabs for Shorts, Lives and videos - as well as making empty tabs invisible.
Our Takeaway… Personalised content is a great way of better engaging audiences - as we all know one size does not fit all.
Google have launched support for Performance Max campaigns in ad script, giving advertisers broader control over accounts
These scripts are set up using JavaScript, enabling advertisers to pause and enable campaigns, as well as modify most asset types (excluding text assets). This new support will help advertisers make broad changes to accounts, without having to take the time to manage them manually. “This is treated as a brand new campaign type in scripts” Google’s announcement explains “similar to how video or shopping campaigns already work”.
Our takeaway… If this sounds like it could benefit you, check out the performance max campaigns selector on the AdsApp to get started.
Apple announces new ad spots available to advertisers in Q4, just in time for the holiday season
Apple is reportedly unveiling new ad inventory before the end of the year, opening up additional advertising opportunities just in time for Christmas. These spots haven’t yet been revealed, but it is rumoured that they could appear in the Today tab on the Apple Store. Apple is holding a virtual event for developers today so watch this space!
