The News Feed: Youtube’s Creator Conquest
28th February 2020
Ben Hordos & Gabby Hurn – Team Social at Think Jam
Stay up to date on everything social, from Facebook updating their Stories to Snapchat’s latest AR effects.
FACEBOOK
Facebook Testing Stories Discovery Page
With more and more users adopting Facebook Stories, the platform is continuing to adapt and develop the feature. In their latest update, Facebook is testing a Stories Discovery page, with a similar design to IGTV.
With short-form vertical video content now the norm for users on platforms including Instagram Stories, Snapchat and TikTok it’s very important that Facebook invest resources into engaging their users in this space to help increase the 30% of users currently adopting Facebook Stories.
Quick Bites
Facebook Bans Ads Capitalising on Coronavirus
Facebook Launches Creator Studio Mobile App
TWITTER
Twitter Testing Misinformation Notification Tags
Twitter recently launched tags to signpost manipulated media in Tweets, but taking this a step further they are now also considering new notification tags for misinformation. These large tags will appear on ‘harmfully misleading’ reports and links to research material.

Platforms are upping their efforts to combat the spread of misinformation, specifically due to global issues such as the coronavirus and political campaigning. Whilst this hasn’t been rolled out just yet, we’ll be keeping an eye on how and when this develops.
Quick Bites
Twitter Shares Copy Tips To Improve Campaign Performance
INSTAGRAM
Instagram Launches PWA on Windows 10
Although Instagram’s desktop offering is still very limited, the launch of their PWA (Progressive Web App) on Windows 10 will allow users to slide into your DMs from desktop. In addition to this, the launch also means that new updates and features should make it to desktop PCs much faster in the future, and suggests that there will be more functionality added to desktop in the coming months.
Quick Bites
Stormzy Mysteriously Deletes Instagram Account
Instagram Adds Desktop Messaging
YOUTUBE
YouTube Appoints First Ever Creator Liaison
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has repeatedly said that YouTube is trying to be more transparent with creators about changes that will affect their day-to-day lives. The next evolution in that plan is appointing the company’s first ever “head creator liaison” to help keep the peace – and that person is Matt Koval, a former YouTube creator who started uploading videos in 2008 and then joined the company full time as a lead content strategist in 2012. In his new position, he will work to address the needs that come up in the community and translate those needs inside YouTube.
With the overall goal for Koval being to help creators understand YouTube and vice versa, this looks like the latest step the platform is taking to improve relationships with creators.
Quick Bites
Toymakers Working With Popular YouTubers Is A Sign Of The Times
YouTube Experimenting With Letting Creators Sell Ads Directly To Brands
TIKTOK
TikTok Adds Sticker Pinning In Video Clips
The new feature enables you to attach a sticker to an object in the clip, pinning it in place and changing size relative to the movement in the video. To pin the sticker, simply select where you want to attach it using a slider, then choose a duration time.
TikTok has quickly become a hub for organic user creativity, in part due to the many options and features they have on offer in the app. It’s no surprise that their selection of stickers and features continues to expand.
Quick Bites
TikTok Tests Direct Website Links On Profiles
PODCASTS
Spotify Rolling Out a New Look For IOS
Spotify is rolling out a new look to its iPhone app. The changes prioritise universal icons and visual indicators over written words, in a bid to make the app easier to navigate one handed and more accessible for users all over the world. Main changes include a new icon for downloading for listening offline and shuffle play – as well as the grouping and relocating of the like, play, and download icons.

These continued updates to the app show the brands commitment to making their platform as functional and appealing as possible. Alongside their investment in original content such as podcasts, Spotify is certainly a platform to keep an eye on for brand opportunities throughout 2020.
Quick Bites
Spotify Sends Messages To Top Fans
Spotify Australia Launches Original and Exclusive Content
SNAPCHAT
Snapchat Adds Ground Transformation AR Effects
Utilising their ever evolving AR tools to create visual effects, the new ‘Ground Transformation’ AR effect allows users to change the ground in their Snap camera view into water, lava and lots of others.
The development of their AR filters can be hugely beneficial to brands, with the capacity to identify specific objects. For example, tapping into logo recognition to launch filters and sound effects, opens up endless possibilities for promotion to their userbase.
Quick Bites
Snapchat Launches ‘Swipe Up To Call’ Ad Format In US
LinkedIn Is Testing Snapchat Like Stories
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Get in touch with our social experts at teamsocial@thinkjam.com