Today in Digital Marketing - Creepin’ It Real

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Friday, October 25th. Today, Instagram gets into the spooky spirit, why your social media tool might soon nope out of X, Google's new big advice on a tiny element, and Adobe says embrace AI or else. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing. Instagram has some new Halloween features. First,

Starting point is 00:00:27 a set of secret keywords that when used in DMs will activate some seasonal animations like flying bats and so on. Those keywords include Halloween and trick or treat, and even a couple of related emojis should trigger the new effects. They're also adding five custom add yours prompts. Those are fill in the blank templates people often screenshot and then complete with their own text. Some brands use this as a way to increase engagement and collect informal information from their users. There's also a new Halloween font and font animation. These new features are available starting today. Mashable reported this week that X is planning to charge third-party app developers another fee. These developers make tools that many social media managers use, like Hootsuite or Sprout Social or Buffer. These app developers already pay $42,000 per month to access X's API. Why $42,000, by the way? Apparently Elon thought it was funny

Starting point is 00:01:28 since $420 is shorthand for marijuana. But now, in addition to that, X plans to charge an additional $1 per month for each account that connects to X's API. The social media management tool Publer was the first to leak the news, saying it's giving up and will no longer support X for free due to the added cost. To put the fees in perspective, Publer makes around $125,000 to $140,000 per month. X takes over a third of that in API costs. With the new fee, Publer could pay an extra $14,000 per month if each of its 14,000 paying customers connects one X account. Most other social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube don't charge for API access, but some do. Reddit also started charging large

Starting point is 00:02:20 fees with very little notice to developers recently. X's decision to charge these high fees has already led to many third-party apps shutting down, and the platform's once-lively app ecosystem is now barely existent. Blue Sky is launching a premium subscription with features like high-quality video uploads and profile customization, but this paid tier will not give users a boost in post-visibility or a verified checkmark. The company says the subscription revenue will help improve the app and explore business models beyond traditional ads. Blue Sky recently raised $15 million in a funding round led by Blockchain Capital. But despite this,

Starting point is 00:03:05 the company says it won't use blockchain or cryptocurrency on its platform. Blue Sky has now reached 13 million users, a significant increase from the 2 million users it had just last November. The platform's growth has been fueled by users looking for an X alternative, particularly after changes to X's block feature. Blue Sky is also targeting frustrated threads users in an effort to draw in more numbers. TikTok has released its latest EU audience and staffing numbers as part of its DSA disclosure reporting.

Starting point is 00:03:42 The report covers January to June this year and provides a look into the app's moderation and user growth, something it previously tried to keep close to the chest and something it still doesn't disclose for regions outside of Europe. TikTok says during that period, it removed more than 22 million pieces of content

Starting point is 00:03:59 with sensitive and mature themes being the biggest driver of removals. The platform actually removed less content in this period, based on averages, with 3.7 million per month compared to 4.3 million removals per month last year. TikTok says it has about 6,300 people dedicated to content moderation in the EU and says it's hiring more. TikTok now has 150 million monthly active users in Europe, up by 8 million from its last report. The platform is gaining users in the

Starting point is 00:04:32 region, with Germany, France, Italy and Spain being its key European nations, each with more than 20 million users. Google wants you to make a big change to a tiny element, your favicon. That's the small 16 by 16 image which browsers use to identify a tab and what search engines use as a little graphic beside the listing. Technically, you don't need a favicon, but browsers and search engines will then just use a default image instead, so why not make a minimal effort and get your logo there? Google now says it wants you to use one that's at least 48 by 48 pixels, which will make the graphic more clear. This won't increase the actual size as it appears to users, it'll just let you have more detail in that space. But will it help your ranking?

Starting point is 00:05:25 Well, sort of. A high-quality favicon can make your listing more compelling for users and could potentially increase clicks from search results. That increase in clicks would have a tiny positive effect on your ranking. So yes, it'll probably help indirectly, but not by much. Either way, it's an easy fix. And given how high-res monitors and phones are these days, it's probably a good idea.

Starting point is 00:05:54 And finally, Adobe, never one to miss an opportunity to piss off its customers, says it's doubling down on generative AI, even, as one company executive recently said, if it means alienating some of its customers. In an interview with The Verge, a company VP said artists who refuse to embrace AI in their work are, quote, not going to be successful in this new world without using it, unquote. He says he isn't aware of any forthcoming Adobe products that don't use generative AI. Quoting The Verge, We have older versions of our products that don't use Gen AI, but I wouldn't recommend using them, he said. Our goal is to make our customers successful, and we think that in order for them to be successful, they need to embrace the tech. And according to Adobe's president of digital media, the company is unlikely to accommodate creators who think otherwise.

Starting point is 00:06:48 If its endorsement of AI ruffles enough feathers, then that could give way for new competitors to appease the users that Adobe is leaving behind. And if the backlash presented by online creators is any indication, that's a sizable market that Adobe is at risk of losing, unquote. My apologies if the audio sounds a little weird today. It's my fault. I'm kind of an early adopter when it comes to operating systems. And foolishly, I decided to update my production computer to the new Mac OS beta not just the public beta but the developer beta which you know in my defense their betas are usually pretty stable and this has been stable too except for the audio which is kind of making weird glitchy noises and I use a software version EQ because I like my basses deeper and I like my high ends higher end. And that just kind of glitched out and was like going full volume, like just like I almost thought I'd broken my subwoofer.

Starting point is 00:07:53 It just went and I couldn't turn it was either a full volume at like 700 decibels or nothing. The volume buttons did literally nothing. They were just toggle switches. You want it freaking loud or off. So I installed that, installed a new one. This one's not as good and it's making weird noises. And I think the audio sounds bad. I don't know. And anyway, I'm sorry, is the point of all of this. That will gracefully do it for the week. Today in digital marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Cinemic First Nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer is the intrepid

Starting point is 00:08:25 Steph Gunn. Our production coordinator is Sarah Guild. Ad coordination by Red Circle. Our director of mandatory AI usage

Starting point is 00:08:32 compliance is Mark Blevis. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend, friends. I'm out of town on business on Monday, so Steph will be

Starting point is 00:08:40 with you then.

Today in Digital Marketing - Creepin’ It Real

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