Stay up-to-date with the hottest marketing trends and the latest social media updates.

From new Google Search update and Twitter Podcasts to Meta halting investment in AR, to new Instagram’s new full-screen video display and much more… 

Here at Brandlective, we are excited to be supporting our clients with these latest announcements from all of our favourite marketing channels.

Are you ahead of the curve?

Google Announces New SEO Update

On Thursday, 08/18/2022, Google surprised website owners with a brand-new algorithm update to hit this week. Dubbed the “Helpful Content Update,” it’s designed to help provide their users with more original and helpful content that’s “written by people, for people, in search results”.

In general, Google has always rewarded helpful content. However, in recent years, this has led people to focus on what’s particularly dominant in the top search results and ensure their content is the best.

This does not necessarily mean that they have satisfied all the requirements of Google’s latest update and that they have created a genuinely original and unique piece of content.

Yes, the main point of Google’s latest update is “avoid creating content for search engines first.”

They explained in the latest update on their developer’s blog about this

When Does the Update Roll Out?

Google explained that the update would be rolling out this week. However, they have not been more specific than that.

They also said that this update could take close to two weeks to fully roll out.

In addition, they also explained that this update introduces a new site-wide signal that Google considers among several signals they use for ranking web pages.

Twitter Will Soon Incorporate Podcast Access into its Audio Tab

Twitter’s next big push on audio looks to be coming soon, with its new ‘Stations’ incorporating popular podcasts alongside Spaces. This is according to the latest findings in the back-end code of the app as shared by Social Media Today.

As you can see in this screenshot, shared by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, there’s now an introductory screen for the option in the app, which notes that the audio tab will soon include both podcasts and Spaces, providing more options for listeners, either live or when they can tune in.

 

UK teens turned to social media for their news

An Ofcom report found that, for the first time, Instagram was the most popular news source among teenagers, used by 29% of them in 2022, while 28% used TikTok and YouTube.

BBC One and BBC Two, previously the most popular news sources in this age group, were pushed down to fifth place, while TikTok saw the most significant increase of any site, goi

ng from 1% of UK adults using the site in 2020 for news to 7% in 2022 – the same as Sky News’ website and app.

TikTok’s growth is primarily down to young people, with half of its news users aged 16 to 24.Young people, and audiences more generally, wanted bitesize news they could fit into their busy schedules.

 

Thoughts? Where are you sourcing your news?

 

Pinterest reports lacklustre ad growth 

Pinterest this week reported its slowest revenue growth in two years as the management team of the social media company described the strengths and weaknesses of its advertising business. According to a regulatory filing, its second-quarter revenue rose 9% from a year earlier to $666 million, though growth in the U.S. was slower with a 7% gain to $542 million.

Pinterest’s monthly active users (MAUs) slipped by 5% from the prior year, ending the quarter at 433 million fewer consumers visiting its website. However, its app usage grew 8% worldwide, which is significant for a company that generates 80% of its revenue and impressions through mobile devices, Morgenfeld said.

Is this a short blip for Pinterest, or do you predict it is the beginning of the end?

 

Instagram Tests New Full-Screen Feed Display

Could more user control solve Instagram’s most recent growing pains?

As part of Instagram’s ongoing quest to negate TikTok through blatant replication, it recently launched a test of a full-screen main feed, which incorporated regular posts, Stories and Reels into a single, TikTok-style display.

But people didn’t like it – at least, that’s what Instagram chief Adam Mosseri alluded to when he announced late last month that the company had concluded this test and wouldn’t be introducing the format anytime soon.

But what if, instead of a full-screen IG feed, you had a choice? What if you could choose to switch over to the full-screen display if you wanted, for those who do prefer the TikTok-style UI?

That’s apparently now being tested with some users, with app researcher Radu Oncescu sharing this image:

As you can see in this screenshot, the new option would be added to the menu accessible via the Instagram logo drop down, along with the opportunities to sort your feed by ‘Following’ or ‘Favorites’.

You would then be able to switch to the maximised content display. Which most people hated – but then again, some might like it. Maybe?

 

Meta Halts Plans for AR Glasses

The company Meta (née Facebook) has slowed its pursuit of AR glasses. Wired reports the headset, which Meta had aimed for release in 2024, was likely years away from actual development. Now, those plans seem to be on indefinite hold. That report comes a few weeks after Meta admitted it burned through more than $10 billion on its metaverse efforts.

It’s not the only hardware to go on Meta’s back burner. Portal—the controversial videoconferencing device with an object-sensing camera that follows your movements—also goes into limited production. Meta will now stop producing Portals at the consumer level and aim the product at business users instead.

Is this purely economic? Or something else?

 

WhatsApp Adds New Privacy Tools

Amid ongoing concerns about how it can be used to organise criminal activity due to its default encryption process, WhatsApp has announced some additional privacy features, providing even more assurance and control for users in various respects.

First, WhatsApp gives users more control over how others see them in the app, with the option to switch off online activity markers or restrict those signals to certain users.

As shown here, you’ll soon be able to decide who can see when you’re online in the app – ‘Everyone’, ‘Contacts’, ‘My Contacts Except’ or ‘Nobody’.

In addition to this, WhatsApp is also extending the time window for deleting your messages from your chats.

And finally, WhatsApp’s also rolling screenshot blocking for ‘View Once’ messages:

“View Once is already an incredibly popular way to share photos or media that don’t need to have a permanent digital record. Now we’re enabling screenshot blocking for View Once messages for an added layer of protection. We’re testing this feature now and are excited to roll it out to users soon.”

That could facilitate even more private sharing on WhatsApp. 

 

 

YouTube Shorts Adds New Prompts to enhance engagement

YouTube’s adding another way for users to respond to viewer questions, with a new comment sticker for Shorts clips, while it’s also looking to provide channel managers with more insight into why their clips are recommended, or not, via YouTube’s algorithms.

First off, on the new comment sticker – YouTube’s trying out a new option that will enable creators to use video comments as a more direct prompt for their future Shorts clips.

As explained by YouTube:

“Beginning in the next two weeks, we’ll run a small experiment for creators on iOS that gives creators the ability to reply to VOD and Shorts comments with a sticker in their Shorts video.”

This, in practice, will be similar to the question sticker that TikTok and Reels users can add, where a comment is used as the basis for their video response.

That’ll facilitate more prompts for Shorts clips – and with 1.5 billion YouTube users now engaging with Shorts content every month, many more creators are no doubt looking for a way in, and this simple sticker prompts could be a great way to keep Shorts content flowing.

It essentially reduces the creative workload by enabling a more organic flow of content and response, which, again, has already proven popular in other apps.

And it could be convenient for ‘brand’ YouTube channels – we’ll keep you updated on any progress.

 

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Some content sourced from: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/