Social Media News Of The Week – TikTok’s Photo Mode, YouTube’s Data Stories, And More

And it also has expanded video captions significantly – now, instead of 300 characters, the users have a whopping 2,200! And it only makes sense since TikTok is often used as a discovery platform, and this update caters to the notion. 

With these fun new updates, we are sure that TikTok will raise its middle finger to IG even higher, and we’re just aching to see how the still image feature will develop in the app. 

Meta’s New Ad Targeting Solutions

We all know that Meta was (and still is) notoriously famous for its lax data privacy and protection measures, but as of recently, they’ve stepped up (or is trying to) their game. Now it’s looking to ensure that it provides more data-protective solutions that will help advertisers maximize their campaigns while aligning with broader industry shifts. 

So, Meta has just outlined a range of new ad measures, starting with some new features in its Advantage ad suite, which incorporates Meta’s various ad automation and AI-based tools. 

See how Meta explains it: 

“We’re rolling out Advantage custom audience, a new targeting automation product that leverages an advertiser’s Custom Audience to reach new and existing customers. This is similar to Lookalike audiences that find people who are likely to be interested in your business, except that Advantage custom audience goes beyond the 1%, 5%, or 10% similarity ranges you are used to while also prioritizing the delivery of ads to people in your Custom Audience.”  

This could be big; expanding Custom Audience’s matching depth with guidance from Meta’s AI could help maximize campaign performance with much less manual effort. 

Another thing that got a facelift is Click to Messenger ads. It got a new optimization targeting users that are more likely to buy via a message thread: 

“Typically, we show Click to Messenger ads to people who are most likely to initiate a conversation with a business on WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct. With this update, we’re introducing the ability for advertisers to run Click to Messenger ads which will reach the people who are most likely to make a purchase in a thread.”

And that isn’t the end, as Meta is also adding a new ad format for lead generation that will direct customers to a form or Messenger, depending on which one the customer is more likely to interact with. 

Besides all that, Meta made improvements to its privacy solutions, including the Private Lift Measurement product. At the same time, it has been working with various academics to study the impacts of the privacy shift. 

“For example, we collaborated with academics from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago to better understand the value of offsite data for ads personalization, in part to help guide the development of solutions that leverage privacy-enhancing technologies. The research reveals that advertisers’ costs increased by 37% when removing offsite data from the ad delivery system, with an outsized impact on smaller advertisers in CPG, retail, and e-commerce, who are often more reliant on digital performance advertising than larger, more established companies.”

So, alongside the work on its privacy measures, Meta is also trying to highlight the impacts these changes will have on the broader industry. 

And finally, Meta has partnered up with Coursera on a new and all-free course called ‘What Is The Metaverse?’ which is aimed at preparing advertisers for the next stage of digital connection. 

“This course explains what the metaverse is, what we know about it today, and what it means for the future of work, play and life. We’re working with partners like Coursera to give people, businesses, creators, and developers the tools needed to succeed as the metaverse takes shape.”

Of course, the metaverse is nonexistent as of yet, and it will take some time before it turns into a fully-operable thing. So, while it is Meta’s take on the metaverse, it still should be worthwhile to tune in and hear what they have to say. And you can pre-enroll for this course right here. 

YouTube Shares Info On Its Upcoming ‘Data Stories’ Analytics Element

If analytics could ever be user-friendly, this is it – YouTube’s Data Stories, which provides insights into your channel’s performance in a simple, Stories-like format. And not only have we gotten more info on the Data Stories test, but it is also already available to some of the users via YouTube Studio. 

YouTube did the first preview of their Data Stories back in August, and as you can see, some users were able to access the feature by tapping the ‘See how Youtube recommends content’ prompt. After tapping it, the users could then access the Data Stories element, which provides simplified overviews of key channel performance aspects in a swipeable display.