Agency Vista Town Hall: January Edition

Welcome to our Agency Vista town hall – January edition! If you are reading this you have officially survived the crazy holiday season – congrats. Over the past month there was a lot that happened, from Vine co-founder launching Byte to platform safety and everywhere in between. In this edition of our town hall we will cover everything you may have missed in January and new features to look out for. 

New Platform Features 

Social media is continually evolving, with new features and tools almost every week it’s hard to keep up. If your role specializes in social media, audience growth, or online engagement – you’ll want to add these new feature releases into your current strategy.

TikTok

TikTok Signs New Music Licensing Deals to Enable Increased Music Usage and Partnerships

As reported by TechCrunch, TikTok has this week signed an agreement with Merlin, an agency which represents a range of independent music labels and artists, while TechCrunch also says that TikTok has agreed to similar licensing deals with Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music, though nothing has been officially announced on the latter three as yet.

TikTok is Rolling Out a New ‘Dark Mode’ Option

Most platforms have rolled out a dark mode option for users and TikTok is now jumping onboard to this trend as well. 

TikTok Is Testing a New Instagram-Like Profile Format, While Questions Remain About Moderation Policies

As reported by The Daily Beast, a few prominent creators have expressed frustration with content takedowns on their accounts, which appear to have no defined reason or logic behind them.

As per The Daily Beast:

“The app’s community guidelines prohibit content similar to the stuff banned by other big social networks – terrorism, hate speech, violence, crime, harassment, nudity, disinformation. But influencers say what gets flagged goes far beyond flagrant violations into the ridiculous – apparently censoring common household items.”

Instagram

Instagram Is Testing Emoji Reactions for Direct Messages

Reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong, released a tweet that showcased Instagram testing emoji reactions in direct messages to internal employees. At this stage, non-employees will still only be able to see the ‘heart’ response. 

Byte

Byte – the Revamp of Vine – Was Downloaded 1.3 Million Times in Its First Week

Vine founder Dom Hoffman has officially launched a new platform Byte and has vowed to ensure that the platforms top creators and influencers get paid for their content – even if this requires dipping into its own funding. Stats from app analytics provider Sensor Tower, showcase that Byte has reached 1.3 million downloads in just its first week. 

Agency Vista

Agency Vista Launched a New #FeatureFriday Initiative for Marketing Agencies

Last week the Agency Vista marketing team launched #FeatureFriday. This will involve select marketing agencies sharing their expert opinions on all things marketing and agency focused. 

If you work at an agency and are interested in being a guest on our #FeatureFriday please reach out to yourfriends@agencyvista.com. 

Snapchat

Snapchat’s ‘Bitmoji TV’ Will Be Launched This Weekend

As first reported by TechCrunch, ‘Bitmoji TV’ will make the custom Bitmoji avatars of you and your Snap friends the stars of their own full-motion cartoon series.

Platform Trust and Safety 

Twitter

Twitter Uncovers Security Flaw in Phone Number to Account Matching Process

As explained by Twitter:

“On December 24, 2019 we became aware that someone was using a large network of fake accounts to exploit our API and match usernames to phone numbers. We immediately suspended these accounts and are disclosing the details of our investigation, because we believe it’s important that you are aware of what happened, and how we fixed it.”

YouTube

YouTube Outlines Election Security Efforts as 2020 Presidential Race Begins

The video tech giant has announced that it will remove content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users. This will include deceitful voting or the census processes and content that advances false claims related to the technical eligibility requirements for current political candidates.

As reported by Social Media Today,  “YouTube says that it’s also working with Google’s Threat Analysis Group to identify bad actors and terminate their channels and accounts, which has already resulted in the removal of thousands of accounts and videos linked to such groups”.

Facebook and Twitter

Facebook and Twitter Outline Efforts to Keep People Accurately Informed About Coronavirus

Twitter has mentioned that they will be monitoring various discussion threads around the coronavirus, in addition to adding a new search prompt, in several languages, which will assist users who are searching for information about the coronavirus to official resources and accurate information on the outbreak.

It has also been reported that Twitter will be halting any auto-suggest results which are likely to direct individuals to non-credible coronavirus content, while it’s additionally working with official health groups to provide any assistance – in relation to tweet data and mass tweet sends – which could help improve response to the global effort to stop the virus’ spread.  

Facebook is also doing their part to provide accurate information on the platform, as explained by the Facebook team:   

“Our global network of third-party fact-checkers are continuing their work reviewing content and debunking false claims that are spreading related to the coronavirus. When they rate information as false, we limit its spread on Facebook and Instagram and show people accurate information from these partners. We also send notifications to people who already shared or are trying to share this content to alert them that it’s been fact-checked”.

Join in on the conversation!

Let us know what your thoughts were on our town hall – January edition! We’d love to hear from you.