Twitter Pro Dashboard
I’ve been waiting for a good reason to get a Twitter Professional account. Could this be it?
Now if you have a pro account on Twitter you will get access to a new dashboard to show you how you are doing. Twitter claims “Our new dashboard gives pros around the globe the ability to track performance, discover product offerings, and tap into additional resources.”
But from the limited amount that we can see from their tweet it’s hard to tell does this share the metrics we need to know. Or is it just another way to display the same stats?
I currently don’t have access via my pro account.
YouTube Handles
The world of social media knows what an @username means. It’s standard on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok and even used for tagging on Facebook and LinkedIn.
And now YouTube is catching up. If you own a channel you’ll be assigned a username based on your personalised URL or you can select your own.
What can you do with it? YouTube will make it prominent on your Shorts and when people use it they will tag your channel. That could make it easier for people to find and subscribe.
From YouTube’s point of view, it makes it more like the other networks people use, making specifically the shorts product seem familiar to people who are heavy TikTok or Instagram Reels users.
https://www.youtube.com/handle
New Snapchat AR lenses
How do you know if you’ll look good in your Halloween costume or scary in the wrong way? Snapchat has launched a new Halloween costume try-on AR lens that will let you see what you look like before you buy. And you’ll be able to click through to buy once you’ve chosen the right one. To try it, search for Disguise Costumes on Snapchat
This is a great way to showcase how shopping can work on Snapchat and other channels. Being able to try before you buy should result in fewer returns which must be crippling for smaller fashion businesses.
They’ve also launched a second AR lens that can show you how to give CPR correctly. This could be a great way to deliver training. I love that Snapchat leads the way with AR like this.
https://newsroom.snap.com/halloween-tryon-shopping
https://newsroom.snap.com/cpr-lens
Twitter discourages screenshots
If people were building brand awareness for you, for free would you try and stop it?
Twitter wants you to stop screen-shooting tweets and share them instead. As spotted by reverse hacker Jane Munchen-Wong a new prompt will appear when you screenshot a tweet prompting you to RT it or grab the link to the tweet instead.
Why would they do this when screenshots from Twitter are widely shared on other platforms driving free marketing to the platform? Is it because those shares don’t credit the original source (or original tweeter)? Or is it because the lack of a link back makes tracking the success of these screenshots harder?
Even stranger since they’ve made sharing tweets to Insta stories without a link back seamless.
TikTok voice search
There are many times when voice search is better than typing a long search query. We’ve all become accustomed to asking our smart speakers what age a famous actor is or how tall they are. Or is that just me?
It’s also useful for people who are dyslexic or who find typing difficult.
Now it’s a thing on TikTok. Discovered by Taylor Swift fan @Kendall_Swiftie and shared by Matt Navarra it will help you find what you want without using your fingers.
This is what voice search is great at. More complex searches tend to confuse my smart speaker.
Spaces for Twitter communities
Does anyone use Twitter communities? They are one of the updates that I was most excited about when they were announced but aside from seeing the odd tweet in my feed, I don’t feel like I’m in a community.
Could the addition of spaces help? Twitter is currently rolling out this feature. Anyone on Twitter will be able to listen in but only community members can join.
I feel like this is halfway there, if there was an option for spaces that were private to community members only I could see the benefit.
Achievement badges for Reels
How do you get someone to achieve more as a customer of your business? Give them rewards.
That must be Instagram’s thinking because they are working on special badges to give to Reels Creators.
As spotted by Reverse Engineer Alessandro Palluzi, the ‘Creative Streak’ badge will be awarded to you if you Remix a Reel or collaborate with another account. The ‘Trendsetter’ badge will reward those who spot trends.
I find badges like this motivating and can see them working well. Do you?