Tuesday Tune-up #415

News
weare.social

TikTok Publishes Top 10 Content Lists for 2019

TikTok has just published a round-up of the top content on its platform in 2019, covering ten different categories, and providing an interesting overview of what’s gaining the most traction in the app. You’ll be able to discover the Top Ten Viral Videos, Memes, Artists, Celebrities, Breakout Creators, Dance Trends, and much more of the entertaining content that helped blast TikTok at the forefront of pop culture. “The TikTok Top 100 videos celebrate the ingenuity of this diverse community and all of the incredible content that made TikTok such a special place this year,” says Vanessa Pappas, General Manager at TikTok US.

As you may know, we’ve hosted a number of events and masterclasses in Sydney and Melbourne, talking to marketers about the potential of this platform. Have you thought about what TikTok can do for your brand? If you’d like to know more about it, get in touch.

Instagram Rolls Out Collaborative Group Stories

Instagram is about to roll out yet another Stories tool, a new ‘Group Stories’ option which enables them and their friends to collaborate on a private Story. In many ways, it’s similar to Facebook’s Group Stories option which rolled out to all users in October last year. With this move, Instagram hopes to maximize interest in group messaging use and boost engagement. And definitely, being able to create your own, private stories with friends will have a level of appeal for many users looking for a more private and connected way of sharing.

Facebook Adds New Star Wars-Themed Features to Messenger

With the new Star Wars film ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ set for release this week, Facebook has added a set of Star Wars-themed features in Messenger to help fans celebrate the final instalment of the epic saga. There’s a new set of AR effects, which you can use in Messenger video calls, post to Messenger Stories, or post to Facebook Stories – though only via Messenger – and we’re here for it. Facebook’s also added new themes, emojis and stickers – including an interesting, starry background theme for your message threads. The visuals were designed in partnership with Disney, and provide a fun way for users to get more engaged in the Star Wars hype one last time.

Watch this space for more Star Wars celebrations from our team…

Facebook Star Wars
Facebook Star Wars effects

You Can Now Convert Your iOS Live Photos into GIFs on Twitter

Twitter has announced a new GIF creation functionality, which converts your iOS Live Photos into looping GIFs, directly from the Twitter compose window. Now, when you upload an image from your iOS device, which you’ve taken with Live Photo enabled, you’ll be able to convert that photo into a GIF by simply tapping the icon on the preview. The option to convert Live Photos to GIFs has actually existed via a workaround for some time, but building it directly into the upload process could make it a much more appealing, and utilized, option among Twitter users.

‘Google Shopping 100’ Highlights Trending Products Based on Search Data

Still struggling with Christmas gift ideas? We got you. Google has launched a new listing of the top 100 trending products in a range of categories based on Google search volume increase. Called the Google Shopping 100, it provides some valuable insights into what the key product and consumer trends are. You might use it to find inspiration for last-minute gifting or to think about how the key trends could apply to your brand and products.

Google Shopping 100

Snapchat Adds Swipe-Up to Call Ad Option in the Middle East

This week in the Middle East, Snap chat has added a new ‘Swipe Up’ ad tools, with ‘Swipe Up to Call ads which drives direct phone calls from the ad in-app. “This new ad product is built on the insight that consumers in the Middle East still enjoy phoning their friends and family, and similarly, they also like calling small, medium, and large businesses to learn more about their products and services, and make purchases.” Will they make this feature available worldwide? Let’s wait and see…

Snapchat Swipe Up to Call ad example

Virgin Australia celebrates the launch of their new Brisbane to Tokyo route

Our team has done some great work recently with Virgin Australia, to support the launch of their new direct flight Brisbane to Tokyo. In order to drive awareness of the new route, we turned sushi trains into sushi planes, hiding free return tickets on plates of sushi at a secret location. On the first day tickets were available to buy, we took over Ichiban Sushi in Brisbane’s CBD. In the morning we revealed clues of the location on social, and by lunchtime there were lines out the door and friendly Virgin Australia Cabin Crew were on hand to greet fans and explain the rules of the game. As the lucky winners discovered the hidden plates, our camera crew jumped out to catch the action, and this is how things took off:



Ones to watch
Instagram is testing a way to have its Stories camera mimic an old-school photo booth and is also developing a new ‘Poses’ mode that will create stop-motion style clips out of multiple images.

Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced that the platform is funding a small team of researchers to build an “open and decentralized standard for social media”.

Pinterest has released its annual Pinterest 100 list of the emerging trends to watch in the coming year.

Finally, French start-up Yubo, which currently has tens of thousands of people signing up to its youth-focused social media platform every day, has raised $12.3 million to help it break into new markets, including Japan and Brazil.

This edition of the Tune-Up was written by Sylvia Leo, with additional reporting by Ryan Dubras.