February is almost at an end, which can mean only one thing, another dose of social media news from Giraffe, It’s been a busy month for news, so sit back in your favourite easy chair, grab your favourite beverage and take a look what has been going on in the world of social media below.
TikTok Announce Brand Safety & Suitability Partners
TikTok announces a new set of official measurement partners to provide third-party data on TikTok ads placement and performance to provide more reassurance to ad partners.
As per TikTok:
“Today, the TikTok Marketing Partners Program is proud to announce its first group of badged Measurement Partners with a new speciality in Brand Safety and Suitability: DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science (IAS) and Zefr. All three partners have built solutions that help to safeguard advertising on TikTok so that marketers can have more confidence that their brand campaigns will run adjacent to brand-suitable content that reflects the industry standards set by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).”
TikTok advertisers have been working with these providers to measure their campaigns over the past few years, but now TikTok is officially endorsing them. The three measurement providers also work with Meta and YouTube, to provide the same assurances, which, as TikTok notes, enables advertisers to ensure that their promotions don’t appear alongside potentially offensive material, as defined by their own concerns on this front.
It’s a good move from TikTok, which has come under more scrutiny in recent months over both its content and its connection to the CCP. Indeed, EU officials have now called for Government representatives to remove TikTok from their devices, while UK officials are now also calling for the same.
The company’s ties to China are a separate concern from content issues, but amid this, it makes sense for TikTok to be as open and transparent as it can.
YouTube Tests Podcast Management Options in YouTube Studio
YouTube is upping its podcasting game, now testing the capacity to upload and manage podcasts in the YouTube Studio app.
As per YouTube:
“To make it easier for creators to distribute their podcasts on YouTube, we’re running an experiment that allows you to create a podcast or set an existing playlist as a podcast within Studio.”
Those taking part in the experiment will have the ability to upload a podcast within the ‘create’ element of YouTube Studio. There will also be the ability to view all of your podcasts in the ‘Content’ menu, which will also feature as a new Podcasts tab.
Another added feature will be the addition of analytics, providing podcast-specific performance insights, making it easy to measure podcast performance separately from video uploads.
It is no surprise to see YouTube take steps to flesh out its podcasting toolset, YouTube Music now has more than 77 million paying subscribers, and while visual elements remain central to the platform’s broader offering, there’s clearly significant interest in audio-only content as well.
It’s still moving slowly on podcasts, but this new addition is another step in that expanded direction.
LinkedIn Adds New Visual Display Elements on User Profiles
In other social media news LinkedIn is looking to make user profiles more visually appealing, this is welcome news as LinkedIn hasn’t changed its format drastically over the years.
This introduces more ways to intergrade visual elements into how your profile is presented, with the activity section now displaying images, videos and articles in a more aesthetic way.
As you can see through the link above, profile visitors will be able to view specific elements of your activity, each shown in a visually engaging format.
As per LinkedIn:
“Whether it’s images, videos, newsletters or documents, you get to choose the content type your Activity section shows first. This new experience will be available to all members in the next few weeks and we hope that as a result your network will quickly find and engage with your content, leading to more professional connections and opportunities.”
This update may promote people to update their LinkedIn profile, ensuring they are putting their best foot forward, we suspect it will encourage a lot of users to consider adding in video content too, to maximise interest.
On the whole, we think this is a great update, which better aligns with competitor social platforms that have made the shift to a more visual experience. There may be a little effort involved for users to update the new elements, but we think this one is going to be a roaring success and a great way to make your LinkedIn profile stand out.
That’s it for the Giraffe news update this month, we will catch you next month for more social media news updates. Remember you can check out our blogs for social media marketing expertise from Giraffe.
