We Are Social’s Tuesday Tune Up

Tuneup
hannahcurrey

Platforms respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, social platforms have started to react and take action. TikTok is suspending new video uploads and live streams on its app in Russia, citing the country’s ‘fake news’ law as the reason for the change. Instagram has responded by hiding follower information for private accounts in Russia and Ukraine. Russia has responded by banning Instagram entirely. Meanwhile, Meta has updated its Community Help feature on Facebook. This update means that Ukrainians and others in the region can find reliable information from local UN agencies and Red Cross societies. Meanwhile, YouTube has now blocked Russian state-funded media worldwide.

TikTok launches its own music marketing and distribution platform
TikTok’s influence on music isn’t to be underestimated, with popular songs on the platform having made their way onto charts worldwide. Now the company is launching its own music marketing and distribution platform, SoundOn, to help more artists get their music heard. SoundOn allows artists to upload their music directly to TikTok, as well as other global streaming platforms including Spotify. SoundOn will pay 100% of royalties to music creators on ByteDance-owned platforms and claims to be the best way to get your musical creations in front of a TikTok audience.

Twitter introduces Twitter Shops
It’s time to shop ‘til you drop on Twitter. The platform has launched Twitter Shops, allowing merchants to curate a collection of up to 50 products to highlight on their Twitter profiles. The feature, which is free to use, is first starting out on mobile. However, unlike Instagram’s Shops feature, no transactions will take place on Twitter itself. First, users will need to click the ‘View Shop’ button above the merchant’s tweets to visit the store. When a customer is ready to depart with their cash, they’ll click on the item and be redirected to the shop website to complete their purchase.

Instagram launches Creator Lab
Instagram is helping creators get to grips with best practices and processes when it comes to posting, with the launch of the new Creator Lab. The feature hosts videos and insights from a range of successful creators, covering topics like monetisation, channel growth and more. There’s a lot of focus on the platform’s algorithm, as well as other key insights that are fundamental to understanding the inner workings of the channel.

Facebook rolls out new tools for Group admins to reduce misinformation
Group admins are gaining new tools to help manage misinformation and keep their communities safe. Admins can now automatically decline incoming posts that have been identified as containing false information by third-party checkers. Not only this but admins can now temporarily suspend participants from posting, commenting, reacting or participating in group chats.

Instagram is letting livestreamers add moderators
Moderation is coming to Instagram Live. The platform is finally allowing Live creators to appoint moderators during their streams. This is bound to help when it comes to the comments, with moderators able to remove viewers from a stream, report comments and turn off comments for specific viewers. So how can you assign a moderator to your Live? Tap the three dots in the comment bar during a Live and simply choose a moderator from a list of suggested accounts. 

Twitter helps creators manage their earnings on the platform
If you’re looking to make money on Twitter, this one’s for you. The platform has launched the Creator Dashboard, which helps creators assess how they make money and how much they’re earning from monetisation features. The feature also lets users search through their payment history and see information about any upcoming payouts. To access the Creator Dashboard, head to the Monetisation tab. Be warned, the feature is currently only available to iOS creators in the US who have more than 10,000 followers.

Twitter is making image descriptions easier to access
Accessibility is still a major issue when it comes to social and Twitter didn’t have a dedicated accessibility team until 2020. The platform has finally announced that it’s testing a new accessibility feature to make alt text descriptions more useful and prominent for everyone on the platform. Images that have descriptions will be given a badge that says ‘alt’, and clicking on the badge will unveil a description. The feature is rolling out to just three percent of users for now but will be available globally at the beginning of April. 

Ones to watch
Instagram is testing ads at the top of the feed.