Win a cash reward for referring users to TikTok

Hello and welcome to this week’s Social Buddy newsletter, where we share the news from the world of social media, insights and tools for creators, and the latest social media marketing trends. 

Some highlights you’ll find this week: 

🇺🇸 The White House hosted the first Creator Economy Conference

🎞️ YouTube tests mixing long-form video in with Shorts to increase viewership 

🤑 TikTok is offering cash incentives to get influencers on the app.

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Check out the biggest headlines from this week in social media: 

Instagram is officially testing a vertical grid display

After years of the square Instagram grid, the platform is now testing a vertical grid display with taller, vertical images. This comes as video and specifically Reels on Instagram continue to be the focus and the more popular form of content, but it could also create a headache for users who have spent years curating their square grid and planned future content around the traditional layout. For now, the test is only being rolled out to a small portion of accounts, and it may not end up affecting most users if the feedback is negative.
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TikTok is now offering cash incentives for bringing new influencers to the app

TikTok may be the social media platform of choice for Gen Z, but their growth has slowed enough that they are now offering money to get more creators on their app. With a new incentive program, users can earn a $100 Amazon giftcard or a $300 Promote coupon on TikTok if they can get eligible users to sign up for TikTok. The reward only applies to referrals of YouTube creators with 10,000+ subscribers, or Instagram creators with 100,000+ followers. It’s clear that TikTok is trying to get more big creator personalities on their platform if they’re now paying users to join the app. This comes after TikTok’s attempt to pay EU users for continued use of the app with their TikTok Lite initiative back in the spring, which has since been canceled for potentially violating the EU Digital Services Act.
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X offers upgraded analytics dashboard for Premium subscribers 

X has finally made good on its promise of an advanced analytics dashboard native to the app. The new dashboard offers more detailed metrics about users’ audience like age, gender, country, and active time data, which would be helpful for marketers and creators on the app. The dashboard also comes with nicer looking charts and graphs to visualize audience data. The catch is that these analytics are only available for Premium subscribers, so you will have to create a paid account to access them. This comes as X struggles to win advertisers, so it makes sense that the platform continues to push its paid subscriptions to boost revenue.
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Threads launches new features for creators and businesses 

Threads is becoming more creator friendly, as Meta announced last week that there would be a host of new features that “will be particularly helpful to creators and businesses who use Threads to connect with new and existing audiences.” The features include Insights to better track post performance and learn about your audience demographics on the app. Another main feature is post planning and creation tools, including the ability to save 100 drafts of posts, and post scheduling so that you can create content to publish at a later date.
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YouTube is testing adding long-form video to the Shorts feed

YouTube Shorts have become extremely popular, with a reported average of 70 billion daily views. The platform has decided to tap into that popularity by mixing long-form videos into the Shorts feed for some users to try and get more people watching longer videos as well as shorts. In YouTube’s message to creators, they said “your videos will continue to be eligible to be recommended to viewers across YouTube, this is just an extra place for audiences to discover your content. In some experiments, your content could be watched in the Shorts Feed and associated metrics attributed to the Shorts Feed in YouTube Analytics”. It’s unclear how exactly this would look as most long-form video has the horizontal format compared to vertical shorts. We’re interested to see how YouTube pulls this off, and if it gets users watching for longer.
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TikTok improves direct messaging with group chats and stickers

TikTok has been making efforts to become more of a space for community engagement, and the latest update in this department is the addition of group chats and stickers within those chats. Group chat on TikTok has been a long-requested feature, and now users can finally send direct messages to group as large as 32 on the app. For safety purposes, users below the age of 16 cannot use group chats, and all users can only be added to group chats by users they are friends with on TikTok. The new Stickers in direct messages include custom stickers that users can upload or make directly from videos.
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The White House hosted the first Creator Economy Conference for social media and marketing creators 

Last Wednesday, President Biden hosted 100 creators and marketers at the White House Creator Economy Conference. The event recognized the significance of the industry and discussed topics like AI, social media and mental health, fair pay and pay transparency for content creators, and education. With the creator economy expected to reach half a trillion dollars by 2025, it’s no surprise that content creators are getting more recognition as a career path and as a part of the larger US economy.
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Also in the news this week:

• A partnership between X and Google may place your Google ad on X, even if you are not intentionally advertising on X.

• Instagram is working on adding a “Throwback” feed option. 

• LinkedIn adds a “Videos for You” feed to promote video content. 

• YouTube music adds a shareable personal radio station with daily playlists.

• You can now book plane tickets directly through TikTok content thanks to influencers working with Southwest Airlines. 

• Reddit updated its Agency Partner Program with an official Partner Badging Program for certified experts and partners. 

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Until next week,

Social Buddy