Is X about to kill the block?
In his wildly bizarre way of announcing things. Elon Musk shared a post on X saying that the block feature was going away.
As you can imagine, this didn’t impress us much. Some people thought it was against the App Store policy (I’m not sure it is), and some including myself thought it was a stupid and dangerous move. But then…
The new X CEO clarified that if this does happen, the feature would be replaced by a stronger mute function. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if this is a random suggestion or something that might happen.
One thing is for sure, it will scare a lot of X users on all political sides away from the platform.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/18/musk-says-xs-block-feature-is-going-away/
Threads on the web
Was it a mistake for Threads to attract so many users in the first few days?
I see daily updates on how active users are slipping away. But I don’t think this means it’s dead or that it will fail. I believe we could still see it thrive.
And so does Meta, it is continuously adding new features and this week it was a biggie. Desktop access.
This means users like me, who rely on their computer for most of their social posting will be able to log in and post regularly. Or we will be once it’s launched in the EU.
I still think Threads is a credible threat to X but we’ll need to wait and see.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/22/its-official-threads-launches-its-highly-anticipated-web-app/
Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book
LinkedIn partnership tags
It’s important in the age of influencers and creators that we know when we’re being advertised at.
That’s why most social networks have a branding or paid partnership tag. When an influencer adds these tags to a post it shows they are being paid or rewarded for creating.
But there hasn’t been an option to do this on LinkedIn. Which is strange because in my industry at least, many people are brand ambassadors for B2B companies. Up until now, these creators have had to use hashtags to show their association.
But now the paid partnership tag is coming to LinkedIn. You’ll be able to add it from the ‘Post to’ section at the top of the post creation window.
WhatsApp HD images
Ever had a client send you a photo or video that they want you to use via WhatsApp?
Have you noticed that when you download it the quality is a bit pants?
It’s frustrating for you and for them. Because WhatsApp compresses media they have to go through the whole upload to Dropbox or WeTransfer route. Which is slow and inconvenient.
But that just changed. You can now send full-sized HD images via WhatsApp. Click the HD button at the top of the screen when you upload and select HD.
Alongside the recently introduced screen sharing this is going to be great for businesses and marketers.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/17/whatsapp-adds-support-for-hd-photos-says-hd-video-coming-soon/
TikTok Ad Tracking for Shopify
Social ads work best when you are able to track conversions on your website. It’s not just about tracking, when the social network understands who is converting and how, they can optimise ad delivery based on that data.
But setting up ad conversion tracking can be a pain, particularly if tech makes you crumble.
For Shopify users, it just got a lot easier. TikTok and Shopify have added a simple streamlined process for conversion tracking.
Just go to the TikTok app in your Shopify dashboard and confirm your data sharing level is set to Enhanced or Maximum.
According to TikTok, implementing this can improve your cost per action by 15%. Which is nice
TikTok Search ads
TikTok is more than a social network, it’s a search engine. We know that many young people turn to TikTok and Instagram for local business searches instead of Google.
So it makes sense that TikTok would offer search ads.
A new feature ‘Search ads toggle’ offers advertisers the chance to appear in search results as well as in the feed. This means you will be able to build brand equity in the social part and capture users who are ready to buy in search, all on one network.
Chronological feeds galore
Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is forcing social networks to offer users what they’ve asked for over and over again. A chronological feed.
I recently reported on the TikTok chronological feed, now it’s coming to Facebook and Instagram stories and Reels.
For example, when I’m in Reels, if I click ‘Reels’ at the top of the screen it now has a drop-down menu for ‘following’. Clicking that brings me to a chronological feed of Reels from those I follow.
With the addition of this feature, we’ve lost the ‘local’ Reels search which is a shame.
