Social innovations to watch out for | June 2022

Social media never stops evolving and each month welcomes brand new updates across all of the most popular platforms. Whether it's for your brand or your clients, your business will benefit from keeping in the loop with the latest updates. 

^{Meta’s adding more ad targeting information to its ad library listings}

Off the back of the Cambridge Analytics scandal, Meta has implemented a range of data protection measures to ensure that it is limiting access to users' personal data, while also working on further ways to provide more transparency into how its systems are being used by different groups to target their messaging. 

A way Meta balances its approach by taking both data protection and data transparency into consideration is via its Ad Library, enabling anyone to see any ad being run across any Facebook Page. Meta is looking to add to the insights that Ad Library provides, with new information being added on how pages are using social issues and electoral or political ads in their process.

​​As explained by Meta:

“At the end of this month, detailed targeting information for social issues, electoral or political ads will be made available to vetted academic researchers through the Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) environment […] Coming in July, our publicly available Ad Library will also include a summary of targeting information for a social issue, electoral or political ads run after a launch. This update will include data on the total number of social issues, electoral and political ads a Page ran using each type of targeting (such as location, demographics and interests) and the percentage of social issue, electoral and political ad spend used to target those options.”

This is a big update for Meta’s ad transparency efforts which will help researchers understand key trends in ad usage, and we’re excited for what’s come!

Snapchat launches a new option to display eBay listings in Snaps

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Snapchat has announced a new integration with eBay where Snapchatters can easily share eBay listings with their friends within the platform, using the Snapchat camera on IOS and Android.

As per Snapchat:

“More than 142M buyers shop on eBay globally to find everything from the latest sneaker drops to rare, vintage handbags, and now, Snapchatters have a seamless way to share what they’ve been eyeing, or even what they are selling, right where conversations with real friends are already happening.”

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This is a step forward for Snapchat in a bid to expand its eCommerce functionality as opposing platforms continue to add more eCommerce-focused functionality and integrations. 

In order to add an eBay listing to your Snap:

• Open the eBay app and select any listing
• Tap the ‘Share’ icon and then tap the ‘Snapchat’ option to automatically jump to the Snapchat Camera with the automated eBay sticker
• From there, create an original Snap with the eBay sticker, and layer on using any of our creative tools
• When a Snapchatter sends a Snap that includes an eBay sticker to their story or directly to their friends, the recipient or viewer will be able to tap the eBay sticker to jump back to the listing in the eBay app. 
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You can read more about Snap’s new eBay integration here.

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TikTok tests new mini-games with users 

To maximise appeal to its younger audience, TikTok is leaning into the gaming world offering by launching its own in-app mini-games to help boost user engagement. A report by Reuters earlier this month indicates that the game functionality will be a simple HTML5-based app which would be developed via third-party game developers and studios like Zynga inc; however, we do understand there is more to this gaming strategy than just web-based gaming, as TikTok also works on a LIVE mobile gaming feature that would allow creators to engage better with fans while live streaming.

It has not yet been confirmed their official plans for this or when TikTok plans to globally rollout new mini-game functionality globally; it's currently being tested in Vietnam but it's definitely one to keep a close eye on 👀

Instagram is testing a new stories UI which could have implications for your content strategy

Over the past month, Instagram has been testing a new Stories user interface which hides Stories after a certain frame count which will then display a ‘show all’ prompt.

As you can see in the example shared by Content Strategist Claudia Flannery, some stories are now only displayed in the first three frames.

Also noted by Flannery:

“This obviously will lead to a significant decrease in views and reach, given that most are unlikely to actively go and click to show all.”

It is speculated that this is tied to Instagram’s Reels-first focus, which has also seen it launch a test of a new full-screen UI which incorporates all feed posts, Reels and Stories in a single stream. We are interested in how this new UI strategy will play out and keeping an eye out for upcoming testing and updates. 

Twitter launches a new “Twitter Create’ mini-site to highlight monetisation opportunities

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Monetisation is at the forefront of all social media networks with every platform now working to keep the top talent posting on their apps. In a bid to do so, Twitter is working to boost its creator appeal with the launch of its new Create mini-site.

This new site will host a range of topics, insights and examples designed to help creators maximise their Twitter presence. Users can navigate via the specific sections for creators in different verticals to help guide them on how to maximise their presence. With the focus on monetisation Twitter's new offerings such as Super Follows and Spaces are the main push across ‘Create’ providing new ways to make money on the platform while providing an overview of the various monetisation avenues creators can take.

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Interested in how one (or more!) of these social innovations could help your brand reach more people on social media? Bring Cake into the mix and send us a message.