Facebook Shutters Live shopping
Live shopping was going to be the big thing in 2022. Social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Tiktok all jumped on board to test it last Christmas, and it looked like it would be fully launched this Christmas.
With the popularity of Amazon Live, it made sense.
But this week Facebook announced that it is putting an end to its Live shopping test. Does this mean the trend is gone before it even started? Was it a COVID trend?
Not necessarily. People have been hosting live shopping events on Facebook way before Meta even considered it.
You’ll still be able to do live shopping on Instagram.
YouTube is still working on it (as are TikTok).
So for now it’s an end to official live shopping on Facebook but it’s alive and well elsewhere.
YouTube Vids Get A New Life
How can you get more from the content you create? By repurposing it.
Start with a longer piece of content and chop it up into smaller segments. That’s what I do with the Digital Coffee every week. From one live show, I create at least 10 additional posts.
This is something that YouTube wants you to do with your old videos but turning them into ‘Shorts’.
New tools will allow you to turn up to 60 seconds of your existing videos into shorts. If your clip isn’t 60 seconds long you’ll be able to add to it using the Shorts camera.
This is good news all around. It’s a great way for creators to get more reach from their existing content or reignite older content. It will also help YouTube get more content onto its Shorts platform.
https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/139221507?hl=en&msgid=172956705
Twitter blue gets pricey
Are your prices too high or too low? This is something Twitter seems to be testing.
When Snapchat launched its subscription service I was surprised at how much it cost. $3.99 seemed like a lot. But, you do get access to lots of new features before they are officially launched, so maybe it’s worth it.
It seems like Twitter Blue may have looked at that pricing and decided they too could ask for more. This week they told users they were increasing prices from $2.99 to $4.99.
This seems huge for a service that offers scant features and isn’t even rolled out globally. Is this rise too much for users to sustain? Is Twitter Blue worth more than Snapchat Plus? Or do Twitter consider its subscribers to be wealthier?
Status for Tweets
How can you make Twitter a more fun place to be? Could prompts that add context alongside a tweet help more fun conversations happen? Could it also help people understand jokey, tongue in cheek or sarcasm better?
Twitter is working on these prompts calling them ‘Status’. You’ll be able to select from a series of prompts including things like ’shower thoughts’, ‘hot take’, and possibly more importantly ‘spoiler alert’. They will look similar to the prompts you see above Facebook posts like ‘Feeling curious’ or ‘travelling to’.
It’s currently being tested in Australia and the US. Will it make Twitter a better place to be?
Free LinkedIn Learning
Up-skilling is an essential part of business owners’ and marketers’ lives. If you love doing online courses then LinkedIn has a treat for you.
It’s taking its 20 most popular courses and giving them to you for free until the end of August.
Courses include; Essential Excel, Project Management, Python, Speaking with confidence and emotional intelligence.
Now you just need to find time to complete these before the end of the month.
Snapchat wants your music
Music careers can be, and have been launched on the back of a viral TikTok video. But what about Snapchat?
Snapchat has just announced a bribe, did I say bribe? I meant ‘creator fund’ that will encourage musicians to upload their tunes to the network and drive video creation.
Grants will be awarded to creators in the United States over the age of 16. This is obviously a stab at TikTok.
For businesses will this mean you will have access to more music? Will it help you find music creators to work with? Or does it not matter at all?
https://newsroom.snap.com/snap-launches-new-sounds-creator-fund
Tiktok takes on Spotify
How can you diversify your business? TikTok has seen music tracks and artists blossom as a result of viral reach on the platform and now it wants to tap into that trend.
It’s filed for the trademark ‘TikTok Music’ with the US Patent and trademark commission.
The wording on the patent says:
“Providing online non-downloadable software that enables users to purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, lyrics, quotes, create, recommend, share his/her playlists, lyrics, quotes, take, edit and upload photographs as the cover of playlists, comment on music, songs, albums”
It’s a great way to diversify its offering and play into the hands of an already captive audience. But what about Spotify?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-launching-whole-app-trademark-103844124.html