Vanity Metrics #26
New platform, who dis?
Thanks to all of you, we’ve crossed the 100 subscriber milestone and then some! I just want to take a second to share my appreciation for each one of you that shares your time with me and Vanity Metrics. And we’re aren’t done yet. The next milestone is 250 subscribers, and I’ll need your help to get there. So please, if you appreciate this resource, share it on social, forward that email, and hit that heart up top (up there on the right).
Let’s get to it.
The Big Stuff
“That’s a dilly of a pickel!” - Ned Flanders. Image: Ana Stoica-Constantin
If a TikTok Fiasco falls in the forest, does anybody care?
Ok, well that was a massive waste of brain cells. After all the threats, posturing, pontifications, the TikTok v. US Government imbroglio has ended in a bang. Just kidding, it has (yet to be) ended in a complicated multi-party business deal that has little to no effect on end-users, and likely won’t quell any national security concerns, but it did move several billion dollars in cloud services away from Google to “Trump supporter” Larry Ellison and Oracle/Wallmart… and fund Trump’s objectively idiotic (and not at all fascist) education project I’m not going to talk about. This is out of the realm of the social profession now, so moving on…
Meet the New Kids on the Block: Triller
A familiar scenario for social media managers: working away, testing and experimenting with content to try and keep your brand’s growth or engagement positive on Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter. Your boss walks by your desk (or your chat window these days) and utters these dreaded words, “Hey! Have you heard of XXX* platform? Can we do a thing there?” F*CK.
If you’re a new or junior employee, it can be terrifying to try to push back against these kind of asks. After all, a big part of your job is to put your brand infront of the right audience in the right place (at the right time). Not every platform meets those criteria, and it’s up to you to say so.
With that in mind, let’s start a new section in Vanity Metrics that will give you a quick overview of emerging platforms (ok, not every single one. A lot fizzle out fast.) to arm you with basic info that can make saying no (or yes) a little easier.
First up, Triller. Triller looks and acts a lot like TikTok and is aimed squarely at it’s user base. First launched in 2015, Triller relies pretty heavy on it’s ability to employ celebrities and influencers to attract new followers. And it’s definately benefitted from the uncertainty around TikTok’s future, seeing many popular creators (and their fans) flock to the platform in the last two months.
Is it for you? Probably not at this point. One major hurdle will be the music licensing issue. TikTok has also become more vigilant in nailing brands for commercial use of artists’ music without license, and Triller, who promotes that they are “very friendly” with the music industry, would be no different. You can’t expect to use someone’s else’s work to make money off of it. Nothing works that way.
Second, you have little control over the content and the feed. Videos you create are edited by the platform, so you get what you get. And the “feed” tends to favour the newest and hottest content: so it expect this to quickly become a pay to play scenario for every brand - and those with the deepest pockets will always win. Influencer Marketing Hub has a great overview, have a read and decide for yourself.
Next time: let’s talk ShopLoop.
Triller is owned by Proxima Media, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group with other investors like Snoop Dog, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and The Weeknd.
“*this current/cool social app I saw my kid playing with yesterday”
The Small Stuff
Metrics company Conviva has revealed some early numbers on enagement for sports brands using the new Reels format on Instagram. Unsprisingly, there’s a big jump in enagement vs videos uploaded the regular feed. The new hotness features do tend to do that.
Twitter reports it’s new pop-up notification suggesting people read an article before sharing it has resulted in a 33% jump in opening the articles in quesiton. Fun fact: many people decided NOT to share articles after actually reading them.
“Pinfluencers” is a term I just made up in my head and I guarantee it’s already a thing. Anyway: Pinterest has stories and self-described influencers now.
Twitter is quietly been working on testing additional audio features: a Audio Space room where you can I think have a sort of group audio chat; and Audio DMs.
Advertisers using Amazon can now include Twitch in their platform destinations, though this doesn’t not seem to be open to self-serve buys. Question: do you think Twitch qualifies as a social platform? Leave a comment.
Dentsu, one of the largest ad/PR agencies in the work, and Snap, have entered into a deal that will allow their clients “access to high-value opportunities on Snapchat”.
In case you haven’t seen it in person yet, here’s the new LinkedIn design for mobile and desktop, including new Stories and video call features.
It’s no secret that I kinda love gardening, so coming across a story about Garending Influencers while listing to a local radio show about gardening was just too good not to share.
Facebook is rolling out “Watch Together” for Messenger: it’s like “Watch Party” but you can only select from Facebook approved clicks. So no YouTube or other streaming sites. But you can already do with sites like Netflix. Anyone else think all these features that are practically the same in both name and function are getting to be a bit… much?
Bonus for your phonus
Harvard University’s The Dive podcast episode, aptly titled The Truth Behind Fake News, sees Stanford Internet Observatory technical research manager Renée DiResta talk about the extent to which her research has revealed how recommendation engines in social are pushing fake news and conspirarcy theories at a startling rate.
Long read: The Verge’s Casey Newton has pulled back the sheet on another doozy: a collection of secret audio recording of Facebook’s CEO from the summer of 2020 trying to keep the company on (his) track and on (his) message. I urge you to check out “Mark in the Middle” now.
Ryan LaFlamme has worked in social media marketing and advertising for longer than the job had a title. He formed the independent social consultancy Hub and Spoke in 2016, and can be found hanging out on Twitter @ryanlaf Now accepting new clients and speaking engagements.