Tuesday Tune-Up #395

News
weare.social

Dust begins to settle as Instagram’s hidden likes test arrives in more markets 

If you’ve just rejoined the world after a five day digital detox and have chosen the Tuesday Tune-Up as your first port of call in the digital world, it may interest you to learn the following. In a bid to encourage users to focus on the content of photos and videos shared on the platform and not how many likes said content accrues, Instagram has begun testing hiding likes amongst users, most recently in the Australian market. Initially rolled out in Canada, the test has now been released in five additional markets: Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil and New Zealand. Whether this will remove the issue of ‘vanity’ posting, or simply shift behaviour to seeking comments, remains to be seen.

Speaking to AdNews recently, our MD Suzie Shaw says hiding the number of likes will create an environment where “self-expression, human connections and genuine engagement” is valued more than the “ephemeral reward” of likes. 

Pinterest makes moves toward creating a more compassionate, calm platform

Another platform pivoting to mindfulness, Pinterest, is introducing an entirely new experience designed around improving the emotional wellbeing of its users. From this week, when you type in an anxiety-related search query — according to Wired, “something like ‘work anxiety,’ or ‘dealing with stress’ will suffice — Pinterest will now display a box above the stream of pinned posts (a test run reveals that the feature is not yet available in the Australian market). 

“If you’re feeling sad or stressed, here are some resources that may help improve your mood,” it reads, above a disclaimer that notes Pinterest’s exercises are not a substitute for seeking professional medical care. Tell that to my therapist. 

Facebook changes ad layout on mobile News Feed 

Everything is copy, Nora Ephron once famously quipped, but not everything in your copy will be able to fit into Facebook’s revamped ad layouts. 

The platform has announced that from August 19, mobile News Feed ads will be compressed in order to “match the look and feel of the new Facebook design introduced earlier this year” – i.e. its FB5 app update. This means that, on the mobile News Feed, fewer lines of primary text will show, and the maximum media height for photos and videos will reduce to 4:5. The new format will also help brands maximise cross-promotional potential across Facebook and Instagram.

Twitter tests ‘Hide Replies’ feature 

Twitter has started testing a new ‘Hide Replies’ feature. Aimed at making conversations on the platform a bit more civilised, the new feature will allow users to take control over a conversation they’ve started by hiding any replies they feel aren’t worthy contributions. This could include spam, abuse, rude or hateful remarks. Of course, more controversially, it could allow the suppression of comments that the user simply doesn’t agree with. Hidden replies are not removed from Twitter entirely – they are just placed behind an icon that people can still click on to read.

Samsung assembles diverse group of trailblazers who embody #DoWhatYouCant

Have you met Team Galaxy yet? We worked with the incredibly talented crew of actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Millie Bobby Brown, self-confessed robot Miquela, Grammy-nominated DJ and producer Steve Aoki and professional gamer Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins to bring to life Samsung’s brand philosophy of Do What You Can’t. Aligning with celebrations around 10 years of Galaxy, we developed Samsung’s global ambassador program and created a film to launch it to the world. Very proud of this one.

With additional reporting by Lauren Underwood