January Digital Download

Instagram Reels shopping

Instagram users are probably familiar with product tags across content in newsfeeds and stories, and Instagram has now enabled these tags in Reels. This allows businesses and creators to sell products when they create content. Perfect for fashion, beauty, and DIY accounts. Viewers can tap the product tag and continue to point of purchase.

Twitter acquires Breaker app
Podcast listening app Breaker has been acquired by the rapidly expanding Twitter. This will sit within their ‘Spaces’ and will build out that function. We featured ‘Spaces’ last month, which saw Twitter grow its audio features.

What’s interesting about Breaker is that it has social elements – relatively unique for a podcast app –  allowing comments, likes on episodes, and a feed of updates related to podcast engagement.

There has been no further comms yet on how they will merge but we think it is a good move for Twitter.

LinkedIn products tab

LinkedIn has also been expanding and developing recently, especially for business pages. They have added a ‘Products’ tab on company pages, providing a dedicated space for businesses to showcase their product offerings. This feature includes product endorsements and testimonials by users, gather ratings and reviews and generates leads. Page owners can also include rich media in the form of videos, product shots and descriptions to enhance user experience.

Mobile screen sharing

Discord, a popular chat app, has now enabled screen sharing for iOS and Android. This will allow users to capture and broadcast anything visible on their screens. Make sure to turn off notifications to avoid any awkward messages!

In other screen sharing news, Twitter has now acquired screen-sharing app Squad. They have been popular since the app launched in 2019, so another potentially significant expansion for Twitter.

TikTok community guidelines

TikTok has placed wellbeing at the centre of its community guidelines. They are strengthening areas in harassment, dangerous acts, self-harm and violence. Working with behavioural psychologists and suicide prevention experts, TikTok has updated its available resources for those struggling with self-harm and suicide.

Google enhanced SERP

Google is testing a new carousel of short-form video content results for selected queries on their results pages. These will provide direct links to relevant TikTok and Instagram Reels clips. This is very interesting and could affect content approach for businesses. Watch this space.

Pinterest new features

Pinterest is an app that has benefitted massively from the pandemic. With people staying at home more and using the app to browse inspiration, they are listening to their audiences and adding new features. They had a 35% increase in the number of monthly boards created in the last 6 months and saw users using their boards to create lists. The new features include a board toolbar, notes section and ability to favourite pins. This will make it easier for users to sort through pins and connect users to more actions.

Apple IDFA updates

Apple announced last year they will be updating iOS14 to make IDFA explicitly opt-in. The Identifiers for Advertisers (IDFA) assigned by Apple enable app owners to track individual user data within apps. This includes actions taken, device info and acquisition insights. Instructions on how to change these settings aren’t readily available, so Apple is creating a new pop-up prompt the first time opening an app after updating. Lots predict users will be spooked and auto opt-out causing apps like Facebook to suffer the most. This will affect ad targeting and lessening the data available to advertisers.

One to keep an eye on…