Twitter Verification Is Coming Back
Getting your Twitter profile verified could be a great way to let people know you are a legitimate business.
But we haven’t been able to apply for verification since 2017.
But that’s changing. Twitter is bringing verification back in 2021 and it wants your feedback.
The new verification policy will remove verification from some users (who were mistakenly verified) and give it to others.
The first categories of account that are open for verification are; Government, Companies, Brands and Non- Profit Organisations, News. Entertainment. Sports. Activists, Organisers, and Other Influential Individuals
Twitter is looking for your feedback on the updates, you can complete a survey in the article linked below to have your say.
Goodbye To Facebook Likes
If you are confused and frustrated by the recent changes to Facebook, your pain isn’t over yet.
Facebook is introducing a new ‘Page experience’ for business pages. This is more than just a layout change.
Facebook claims that it will be easier to navigate.
There is some good news. Newsfeeds for pages are back, so you’ll be able to comment and like on other business pages you follow as your business.
And it’s goodbye to the Like button. It will be replaced by ‘Follow’.
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this to see if it is a better solution.
Instagram Direct FAQ Prompts
Messaging a business on Instagram involves a lot of phone typing. Something I’m not good at.
But what if my question is one that comes up a lot for that business? What if instead of typing in my question I could just click a button.
That’s what a new FAQ message prompt on Instagram could do. As a business, you can set up your FAQ questions and they will be shown to people who click in to send you a private message.
Instagram recently announced that chatbot integration is coming, this FAQ function will be a part of it.
Automated YouTube Chapters
Adding chapters to YouTube videos is a pain. You have to watch through, write down time stamps, type them into the description box with a description.
It’s hard enough doing them when you publish a video, but what about all those videos you uploaded before chapters were a thing?
YouTube is tackling this by testing automatic chapters, it will use machine learning to guess where chapter stops should be and what they represent. It will be interesting to see how accurate they are.
And, they are making it easier to add your own chapters. Instead of writing down the timestamp you can navigate to a section of your video, start typing in the description box and it will prompt you to add a chapter.
https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/18138167?hl=en
TikTok Is Tackling Accessibility
When we think about accessibility, we tend to think about subtitles, alt text and whether our site works for those with sight or hearing difficulties.
But there is so much more to it than that. This week TikTok introduced new measures to protect people with epilepsy.
Firstly, creators will get a notification when they upload a video that could cause a seizure.
Secondly, if a video has been deemed to include elements that could cause seizure, users will be able to choose whether to watch it or block all future videos that could do this.
TikTok has been working alongside epilepsy groups to introduce these measures, hopefully, other social networks will follow soon.
Instagram adds branded content to Reels
Branded content tools help creators and brands work together. They ensure that collaborations are disclosed, and give brands extra access to the creator posts so they can put ad spend behind them.
Instagram is extending these branded content tools to Reels. You’ll be able to see at the bottom of the video if it was a collaboration.
They have also added new advertising options for brands, which mean they’ll be able to create ads using creator content even if it hasn’t been posted organically.
Snapchat Spotlight
Snapchat is willing to bribe users to post on the platform.
This week they introduced ‘Spotlight’ which is a feed of individual snaps submitted by snappers themselves.
If you create a single snap that you feel deserves some extra attention you can submit it.
And, Snapchat is going to give monetary prizes to the best one.
A single snap is 10 seconds long and many of the videos appearing in Spotlight have a TikTok feel to them.
Will this encourage more people to create on Snapchat? Will the bribe work? I’m thinking that it just might.
It’s Currently available in US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France
https://www.snap.com/en-US/news/post/introducing-spotlight-on-snapchat/
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