Happy Friday! We’re here with the Weekly Download to help you ease into the weekend. This week, we’ve got redesigns, updates to help creators, and “new energy.” (We’ll get there, we promise.)
Twitter Launches “Twitter Create”
Apart from dealing with Elon Musk’s will-he-or-won’t-he dithering about buying the platform, Twitter has been doing a lot of testing. So far it has tested a new “Explore” page, tweet labels, and multi-attachments on tweets.
Now it has launched “Twitter Create,” a mini-site for creators to maximize their presence on the platform. The mini-site has insights, design examples, and monetization and engagement tips for how creators can really highlight and strengthen their presence.
If you work as a creator, writer, or podcaster in music, gaming, news, nonprofits, or sports, this may be a site for you. If you’re a marketer, access to insights and other tips can only help your presence, engagement, and reach on Twitter.
All of these can be found on three tabs: Industries, Goals, and Products.
Instagram Aims for “New Energy” with Brand Refresh
Does anyone remember when Instagram changed from the old to the current logo in 2016? The platform has done it again, updating the overall brand look. The new version of the logo now features radiant colours, to “make it feel alive.” The company says the update to the logo signals moments of discovery.
In addition to the logo update, the platform also rolled out Instagram Sans, its new typeface, which will be used as part of its brand identity. To keep the brand identity consistent, creators can also use it in their Reels and Stories. The font is available in all languages.
TikTok to Offer Creator Subscription Option
TikTok is coming for other platforms beginning with “T.” (That’s Twitch, for those not familiar with the live-streaming site.) TikTok will soon offer live subscriptions, allowing creators to make recurring revenue from their top fans. Apart from Twitch, other platforms like YouTube offer similar options, such as subscriber-only chats, memberships, custom emojis, and badges.
How the pricing structure will work hasn’t been announced, but if it’s anything like YouTube’s and Twitch’s, the company is expected to take a percentage of a creator’s earnings.
TikTok LIVE Subscriptions went into beta testing yesterday, May 26, with a select group of creators.
Google Introduces Ads for YouTube Shorts
Speaking of YouTube, its Shorts have become very popular, generating 30 billion views per day, which is a lot of eyeballs. So it’s understandable that the platform has been investing in, improving, and testing the Shorts format. One recent update let creators use their own or another creator’s videos as background (credited) for their Shorts.
This week, app and video action campaigns will automatically scale to Shorts. That means advertisers can connect their product feed to their campaigns and make their Shorts shoppable.
That’s great news for marketers and sales.
Plus, advertisers can show new visual shopping ads to U.S. customers on Google search. They will be labeled as ads and placed in designated ad slots through the search results.
Friday Fun
Reese Witherspoon is cute, but Lizzo remains the queen. [Note: NSFW]
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