aboscher

[aboscher]

Will X become the new LinkedIn?: X’s new attempt at “innovating” the app

X has rolled out another of their many new features since Elon Musk took over. A job search feature is now available on X to provide a simple way to search through roles listed by organizations on the app.  

The feature is intuitive; the user enters at least one keyword and the location of the job they are seeking, and a page of job listings related to the terms will appear. Each job listing will have an “Apply Now” button, directing users to the organization’s website to access the application. 

Example of job search result on X.

The feature is not yet refined as the search results are quite broad. For example, entering “sports” as a keyword brought up a listing for a “Grocery Stock Associate” at Whole Foods, which had no mention of “sports” or any related terms. This could be a technical issue, or X is trying to showcase as many jobs as possible. 

Considering that X’s hiring option is only available to brands that are subscribed to X’s $1000 per month verification for organizers package, not many brands would be appearing on the listings. However, X has been giving out the gold checkmark to their biggest ad spending partners, and X reported in September that their beta version had “hundreds” of companies listed. Perhaps this is an attempt to drive the subscriptions of the verification package for organizers. 

Is this new feature a threat to LinkedIn? Probably not, as LinkedIn’s function and collection of networks far surpasses that of X’s. However, X’s ambition is not to be overlooked as the company had just updated its privacy policy to inform that it may collect data related to users’ employment history for job applications and recommendations. Maybe X will add a recruiting function in the future. However, would an app built on anonymity and sharing of every trivial thought like X would be appropriate for recruiting purposes?

It seems that X is moving further away from the niche of the app and is becoming an app that tries to be everything at once.

Word Count: 337

[aboscher]

Meta and Amazon join forces to streamline shopping on Facebook and Instagram

Although Meta discarded their live-stream shopping function as well as a dedicated shopping tab on Facebook and Instagram, the company has yet to give up on the potential to become a commerce platform. This week Meta and Amazon are joined forces to allow Facebook and Instagram users to shop from Amazon without leaving the apps. This is a massive revenue opportunity for Meta, Amazon, and advertisers, especially after Apple’s anti-tracking measures from 2021 made targeted ads more complicated for social media companies. 

Pictures from Maurice Rahmey's post on Threads

Users will connect their Instagram or Facebook account to their Amazon account to enable this function. This means that there will be a level of data integration between Meta and Amazon. However, it was clarified that Amazon will share limited data to enhance personalized ads based on the ads users engage with. Facebook and Instagram users will see “real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details” on displayed Amazon ads. Specific actions happening on Amazon such as purchases, product views, and searches will not be shared. This provides a level of transparency for the users while potentially improving engagement and conversion rates on Meta’s platforms and Amazon. 

Amazon will benefit from Facebook and Instagram’s discovery engine while Meta will benefit from Amazon’s insights and customer base to boost ad revenue. This deal between the two companies will make both Meta and Amazon more competitive to threats like TikTok who is now “serving as both a discovery engine and e-commerce storefront” with TikTok Shop. 

Seeing how Pinterest’s sales increased after their deal with Amazon, it seems likely that Meta’s in-app shopping activity can increase. Having access to 167 million Prime subscribers in the US this could be Meta’s chance to succeed commerce division. 

However, despite the potential success, some questions still need addressing, such as how the revenue will be shared and how will merchants decide where their ads run.

[aboscher]

Bringing the For You Page to Life: TikTok to Host Live Music Event

TikTok will host a live music event, “In The Mix,” on December 10th in Arizona, headlining top artists like Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta, and Charlie Puth. The event will also be streamed globally on TikTok Live.

Image from TikTok

This move to host a live music event is in line with TikTok’s influence on the music industry. TikTok is known for discovering new music and artists and reviving musical careers—TikTok’s strong influence even factors into how artists name their songs to fit TikTok trends. 

TikTok also mentioned that “In The Mix” also includes numerous activities inspired by trending videos on the For You Page, so over the next few weeks, expect to see creators posting videos to encourage event attendance. This event could provide brands with tie-in opportunities related to the event theme and performing artists. 

To aid ticket sales for this event, TikTok partnered with Ticket.com. Ticket sales will be through TikTokInTheMix.com from October 27 to October 30 for presale and from November 2 onwards for general sale. Presale tickets are available to TikTok users who follow the headliners on TikTok. 

This is not the first time TikTok dipped their toes into the ticketing industry. Last year, TikTok also partnered with Ticketmaster to produce an in-app event discovery feature where users can be redirected to Ticketmaster’s website to purchase tickets. In 2019, TikTok also piloted “TikTok Tickets” in Thailand and sold at least 500 tickets to movies and concerts. 

If the event achieves significant ticket sales, it raises the possibility of the company continuing to organize their own events and establishing a specialized in-app ticketing platform. This move could enhance their competitiveness in the realm of music event discovery, challenging players like Spotify, who released a website selling tickets directly from their platform last year. Notably, Shazam, owned by Apple, also unveiled recently a feature allowing users to explore and find local concerts.

Word Count: 314

[aboscher]

TikTok and Disney partners for Disney’s 100th year anniversary

TikTok unveils its latest partnership with Disney to celebrate Disney’s 100th year anniversary. This partnership entails an array of in-app activations on TikTok to provide Disney fans with new ways to engage within the app for four weeks, starting on October 16. 

Image from TikTok

With this deal, Disney will have its own destination on TikTok, where fans can watch videos from 48 Disney account handles, create their own videos with Disney music and special effects, play daily Disney trivia, and collect “Character Cards” to win unique profile frames. Additionally, TikTok will release a Disney100 Playlist, which will include fan-favorite songs from Disney. The songs range from decades-old movies like Cinderella to more recent songs from High School Musical to Wish, Disney’s upcoming release. 

As part of TikTok’s Pulse Premiere, a function that allows advertisers to control their ad placements on the app, Disney’s ads will be guaranteed to run following a “suitable video.” The “suitable video” by TikTok’s definition are videos that “culturally impactful with a highly engaged” audience. According to TikTok, campaigns showcased through Pulse Premiere increased brand recall by 9.8% and awareness by 6.8%, so Disney’s placement through Pulse Premiere will likely generate ample boost in those areas. 

The new Disney-related features on TikTok are expected to grow Disney’s 150 million accumulated followers as throughout the four-week period, fans would be reminded daily of their nostalgic connection to Disney movies and characters. Furthermore, this deal may drive content creators to release more Disney-related content and generate a larger brand awareness and stronger connection with younger generations, a large proportion of TikTok’s viewer demographic. TikTok previously collaborated with many big names such as NBCU, Buzzfeed, and many more. However, this is TikTok’s largest collaboration so far, going beyond Pulse Premiere. Despite TikTok’s ongoing lawsuits and controversy regarding its ties with China, the app’s extensive reach is attractive enough for Disney to overlook it. Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer of Disney, remarked that Disney’s view across its handles on TikTok is over 240 billion.

Word Count: 333

[aboscher]

Reddit Makes the Option to Block Personalized Ads Unavailable

On Wednesday, Reddit announced that the ability to opt out of ad personalization will be removed from the platform. Certain regions will still have the option, though it is unspecified by Reddit. This change in the privacy setting does not mean that users will see more ads, only that the ads will be better targeted to the users. Essentially, Reddit users’ activities on the platform will be tracked and given to advertisers to release more specified ads.

The privacy setting menu on Reddit has been reduced to two toggles for most locations. They combined the option to show ads based on activity with their partners and information from their partners into one, removing users’ ability to separate the two options.

Image from Reddit

Despite having up to 918 million MAU (Monthly Active Users) in 2022, Reddit struggles to be profitable. In an interview with The Verge from June 2023, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman claims that “getting to breakeven is a priority” for them. So, in the past few months, Reddit has made multiple changes to increase monetization, including increasing the prices of their API access, resulting in third-party apps like Apollo shutting down. Hence, the decision to push ad personalization to their user aims to increase their ad revenue, which is their main source of revenue. 

These new changes on Reddit seem to create anger among their users, as many are opposed to ads. The comment section on Reddit’s announcement post is swamped with negative reactions and concerns about this change, and many users are posting recommendations for ad-block apps. 

This appears to be a necessary step for Reddit to take to be closer to profitability, as the cost of operating the platform is substantial, and Reddit may not be able to go forward if it continues to operate at a loss. However, will they be able to go forward by commercializing their platform if they are receiving such heavy criticism from their users? It remains to be seen whether Reddit users will be able to come to terms with the platform’s commercialization.

Word Count: 340

[aboscher]

TikTok Launches TikTok Shops to All Retailers in the U.S.

TikTok has just launched TikTok shop, which allows viewers to shop for products on its app, to all retailers in the U.S., where it was previously available to selected retailers only. Features that come with this new launch include a shop tab on home screens, livestream shopping, shoppable ads, and an affiliate program for creators. This launch provides more ways for products in the U.S. to be discovered, as well as more ways for creators on TikTok to monetize their videos. 

Image from TikTok's Blog

TikTok’s livestream shopping has been a great success in Asia, particularly in China, with its local version of the app, Douyin, which reportedly had an increase of over 300% in product sales in 2022. With such lucrative success, TikTok is taking a leap in expanding its market to the U.S.  However, that success has yet to be seen in the U.S., where livestream shopping has not caught on to consumers.  It seems U.S. consumers are hesitant to shop on TikTok, possibly due to concerns surrounding the Chinese ownership of the app.

It has been reported that TikTok Shop was showcasing “cheap and counterfeit products from China.” It’s revealed in a New York Times article that up to 90% of its sellers are based outside of the U.S. This may change as more and more retailers in the U.S. may register as sellers on TikTok, as over 200,000 sellers have already registered with the app.

To gain more traction in the U.S. TikTok is leveraging popular trends on the app, using hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, which has billions of views. It would be difficult, however, to compete with large established e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Shein, especially as TikTok is pushing its livestream shopping feature when live shopping makes up 2% of the e-commerce market and 0.3 of the retail market in the U.S.

Ultimately, TikTok is going on full-scale to encourage live shopping to their audiences. Although the results have been underwhelming so far, TikTok’s popularity in the U.S. and its ability to drive trends may encourage U.S. retailers to sell with them, and encourage its audience to buy with them.

Word Count: 358

[aboscher]

My Sector is Social Media and I will be following Social Media Today, TechCrunch, and Business of Apps.

Image from Social Media Today