Social media is forever changing which makes it easy to miss an update from time to time. Twice a month, we look into three of the latest key updates from the past few weeks from the various social media giants. Here’s what’s been happening recently…
Instagram Launches Live Test of Longer Videos in Stories
After it was spotted in testing last month, Instagram has now officially launched a live test of 60-second videos in Stories, which will mean that longer video clips will no longer be split into 15-second segments, and played across various Stories frames.
As noted, last month, app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi shared this message, stored in the back-end code of the app, which is now being displayed to some users in the live environment.
Instagram recently provided the following statement: “The ability to create longer Stories posts comes highly requested by our community. We’re excited to be testing 60-second Stories so that people can create and view Stories with fewer interruptions.”
Instagram says that the option is currently being tested with a small group of users, with a view to providing more creative freedom, and further integrating the app’s various video options to streamline its creative tools and functions.
Twitter Launches Initial Test of Live-Stream Shopping Broadcasts
As you can see in this example, Twitter’s variation of live-stream shopping will enable users to tune into the live broadcast, with shopping options displayed below the video feed. The presentation, as it currently stands, will enable users to either tune into the live tweet discussion around the event, or check out a ‘Shop’ tab featuring all the products highlighted in the broadcast.
The option taps into both the rise of online commerce and the real-time engagement benefits of the platform. And soon, we’ll get our first look at how that works in practice.
As explained by Twitter: “We are conducting our first test of Live Shopping in collaboration with Walmart, where they will be kicking off Cyber Week with singer, songwriter, dancer and social media superstar Jason Derulo for the first-ever shoppable livestream on Twitter. Starting at 7pm ET on Sunday, November 28, people can watch and shop from @Walmart (on iOS and desktop), where Jason will host a 30-minute variety show highlighting electronics, home goods, apparel, seasonal décor, surprise special guests and much more.”
It’ll be interesting to see what sort of response the company gets to the same on Twitter, where it has over 1.2 million followers, with the results potentially providing a benchmark, of sorts, for other brands considering the same.
TikTok Publishes New Guide for SMBs Looking to Get Started in the App
As we head into the final stretch of the holiday shopping push, TikTok has published a new guide to help small businesses create their first TikTok clips, and get started in the app.
This useful 19-page content playbook covers all the basics of the app, including setting up a business profile, while it also provides a range of tips and insights to help plan an effective video strategy. With TikTok rapidly becoming the most popular social media platform, now is the time to start getting to your way round the app of you haven’t already. You can download the full guide here.
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