Welcome to This Week on Social Media. Here’s a recap of all the notable things that happened in Social Media in the last week.
Twitter is testing a new Tweetstorm feature for lengthy posts
We had mentioned in our previous article that the increase of characters in a tweet could be Twitter trying to compete with Mastodon by allowing lengthier tweets. Well, while we continue to speculate about that, here is something else to chew on. Twitter is testing a tweetstorm feature that allows users to compose a tweet series or a “tweetstorm” and then post the whole thing all at once without manually numbering the series. The option was spotted inside the app by a developer in September, and Twitter confirmed the option is being tested on both Android and iOS apps.
The option appears to accommodate the popular tweet storm or tweet series by allowing users to create the individual tweets in-app. While the tweet series is a popular way of getting around the character limit that has since gone up to 280, currently users have to manually type their post into multiple numbered tweets or in replies to the original. In the screenshots of the hidden feature, the platform appears to allow users to create a series, and then post them all at once.
YouTube may do away with mid-video pop-up ads
YouTube is removing those annoying mid-video suggestions that users say are spammy starting on December 14. The video platform says that only about one in every 20 viewers actually clicked on those links. When linked to live-streams, some of those links took viewers to streams that were no longer live and not available for playback.
The low click rate and user feedback that in-video notifications feel like spam, YouTube has decided to discontinue them. YouTube suggests advertisers currently using the format should switch to cards or video links that pop up at the end of those videos, which the company says is more effective. That is only a solution for YouTube links and the platform suggests listing outside links in the description, as well as on a channel page or inside artwork uploaded to the site.
YouTube will launch its own version of stories called Reels
The popular format stories which started on Snapchat and now has Instagram and Facebook adopting it has a new version on yet another platform: YouTube. Except, this time YouTube is adapting the format to suit its platform. It offers a lot of what you have come to expect, but Reels are much more than ephemeral content.
And that’s just it: Reels will not expire. They will not disappear after 24 hours, or any other amount of time. Reels are permanent. YouTube explained the idea behind Reels, is to introduce a new format that allows creators to “express themselves and engage fans without having to post a full video.” As such, Reels are quick mobile videos that can last up to 30 seconds, and to which creators can add filters, music, text, and even stickers. Reels will reside in a separate tab as against the top of the screen. The more Reels you like from a creator, the more YouTube will push content from that creator.
Snapchat filters can now identify content in your photos
Snapchat is now adding object recognition to its latest batch of filters. Smart filters are capable of recognizing different “objects” like pets, sports, food and locations.
The update did not get an announcement by Snapchat itself, but the quiet release was spotted by Mashable, and later confirmed with a Snap spokesperson. Snapchat is the first social platform to really launch the feature as part of its app. The new smart filters will appear within the existing carousel of filters. However they should only become available when you take a picture of one of the above listed objects. Smart filters come as a nice addition to the already existing Geofilters.
This means that Snapchat can now push relevant ads to you based on your pictures. If it spots a lot of beaches in your pictures then they can push a lot of beach products in your feed.