For a long time, Instagram was an app where you could track the lives of friends and relatives. However, this form of content is taking a step back. Content recommendations on our News Feeds are becoming increasingly important. Facebook has set itself the goal that content recommendations should be just as relevant as contributions from friends. In the main feed, content from friends is already lined up with content from other subscribed accounts. In the Reels tab, mainly content recommendations are being played out.  

According to Jan Firsching from FutureBiz, this switch to content recommendations could be challenging for Facebook. After all, Meta has promoted those relationships between users and other accounts over the last few years – in contrast to TikTok. 

In order for Meta not to lose its users, the quality of the recommendations is of particular relevance. To establish a connection between the algorithm|s recommendations and personal relationships, interpersonal interaction has to be strengthened. This means that recommended Reels should be forwarded to friends via DM or Story. So Meta has to make sure that the user itself and its friends like the content. Which means that the user feedback remains important and will most likely increase in its importance over time. 

BeReal Paid Features 

We already introduced the app newcomer BeReal a few months ago. And indeed, the idea of genuine, unadulterated moments from life is going through the roof.  

For clarification: The trend app BeReal asks its users to post an unfiltered picture once a day. A photo must then be posted within two minutes.  

Now the app is planning paid features. By doing so, BeReal wants to avoid paid ads. According to Caroline Immer from OnlineMarketing.de, users may be able to sign up for subscriptions or gain other benefits in the future. Social media marketing will therefore not be available in paid form on the app for the time being. 

As reported last month, Instagram has already set out to copy BeReal’s idea. Now TikTok and Snapchat followed with a similar copy. The fact that even TikTok is now starting to copy its competitors, speaks for the great success of BeReal and more genuine moments of us on the social network. In our opinion, that’s a real encouragement for social media marketing to make advertising more real and genuine.
 

YouTube’s Affiliate Program for Creators 

For many years, YouTube has been the platform for creators – and the amount of successful creators continues to grow. One reason for this could be that YouTube’s creators are earning a lot of money. 

Recently, creators have not only been able to earn money through video ads but thanks to new monetarization tools, there are different ways to gain profit. Now YouTube wants to expand its partner program even further. 

The main focus lies on the TikTok copy YouTube Shorts as it has become more and more popular. Creators who have at least 1,000 subscribers and 10 million views in 90 days are accepted into the program. Starting next year, ads will also be displayed in the Shorts feed. Creators will then be able to earn 45 percent of the revenue from these ads. According to Hannah Klaiber from t3n, this could be a reason for TikTok creators to migrate from TikTok to Shorts.  

The question is of course, whether TikTok will soon follow up in order to keep its creators. Nevertheless, TikTok is the original when it comes to short videos. It could remain difficult for YouTube to poach creators and win them over. We are curious to see what the statistics will show us next year. 

Instagram Repost Tab 

With Social Media Marketing, it can become important whether content is shared and recommended to friends. Until now, this has mostly been done on Instagram via the Story function or private message areas. Now there is supposed to be a Resharing option in the user feed.  

According to Nicola Kiermeier from AllFacebook.de, this could help Instagram to bootstrap Reels and multiply viral content. Allessandro Paluzzi shows on Twitter how this might look.  

In the future, followers and other users will also be able to react to reposts.  

TikTok already has a similar function. By clicking on a button, TikToks can be displayed in your friends‘ feed and be recommended. For example, you no longer have to send videos to multiple people. In terms of marketing, this can be a new way to generate reach. Reposting could encourage new interactions.  

Instagram allows uninterrupted Stories 

Instagram now allows users to post Stories under 60 seconds without interruption. This means that the shared videos will no longer split into annoying segments. According to Aisha Malik from TechCrunch, the function was already tested at the end of last year. Now it is available to all users worldwide. This can be an advantage for both users and viewers. Videos that you don’t want to see can be skipped with a simple tap. It is also an advantage for the in-app experience if videos can be viewed smoothly.  

A possible issue with this might be that the new function invites users to post longer Stories and thus possibly confuses the concept of a Story. After all, they are only supposed to show small moments from life and briefly tease them. It also blurs the line between Reel and Story when both formats are appropriate.  

Instagram prioritizing videos is nothing new. In the future, the focus will remain on video formats. Perhaps the boundaries between Story and Reel will then disappear even further. We are curious to see how this will develop further. 

TikTok launches TikTok Now 

For TikTok, creative exchange within the community is the top priority. With TikTok Now, users will be able to share everyday moments with the community even better. Á la BeReal, users are prompted to take a video or photo when they receive a daily push notification. And with a front camera and a rear camera, just like BeReal. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, TikTok Now can even be downloaded as a separate app.  

According to TikTok, creators can decide for themselves who can see the photos and interact with them – in the interest of privacy. Content from users under 16 is therefore automatically set to private. Users between 13 and 15 also have a limited comment function to avoid unwanted comments. How this can ultimately be implemented is however questionable. 

For TikTok Now, there will also be an explore page where users can see other people from the surrounding area. Of course, it is questionable to what extent the function will be used – after all, there is already BeReal. 

Author: Anna Lemke