We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #493

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We Are Social
Instagram brings ads to IGTV, tests monetisation badges for Live
For the first time ever, Instagram is bringing ads to its IGTV platform, opening up the option to around 200 approved, English-speaking creator partners including Ikea, Puma, and Sephora. For now, the ads will only appear when people click to watch IGTV videos from previews in their feed, and will be vertical videos up to 15 seconds long. Instagram is also planning to test badges for Instagram Live with a small number of users and business from next month, helping creators further monetise the platform.

Spark AR gets several new features for Instagram
Facebook’s Spark AR creation platform is getting a number of new updates to aid content creators on Instagram, including the ability to create AR effects that respond, move and play in sync with music in the environment. The social network has also added two ways for creators to integrate their own photos and videos into AR effects, rolled out a new surface in Effect Gallery, and more.



Snapchat takes its Partner Summit virtual
In response to the global pandemic, Snap Inc. will be livestreaming its Snap Partner Summit (on the Snapchat website) on June 11th from 9:45 a.m. PT/12:45 p.m. The event will detail new product features and partnerships for augmented reality offerings, the Discover content platform, developer and creator ecosystems, and other more.

YouTube introduces Video Chapters
Following an initial test back in April, YouTube has now rolled out Video Chapters – which allows creators to add timestamps to their videos so viewers to easily jump forward to a specific section – to all users across iOS, Android and desktop. Videos will need to have at least three timestamps that are 10 seconds or more in length in order to use the feature.

Twitter brings Drafts and Scheduling to Twitter.com
At long last, Twitter has added the ability to save tweets as drafts and to schedule tweets to Twitter.com 🙌



TikTok beefs up its web video creation capabilities
TikTok released a host of new features aimed at bringing more of the video creation platform’s experiences to the web. Users can now upload videos directly to TikTok via desktop, like, share and comment on TikTok videos, access and export insights, and more.



Twitch gets dedicated Twitch Gaming channel
Twitch has introduced its Twitch Gaming channel, the new home for all gaming news on its platform. The new channel will host gaming news, feature indie games, and more. Streamers will also be able to co-stream the channel, which means that their communities will be able to experience everything as it unfolds.

Tumblr adds Pinned Posts
Tumblr users can now pin posts to the top of their pages.



#BlackLivesMatter. Period.
Brands are sharing their support on social media for the Black community. Here are a few examples.





Ones to watch
This week, Facebook’s R&D group, NPE Team, has launched Venue, a new app for engaging fellow fans around live events; CatchUp, to make it easier for friends and family in the US; and Collab that promises to deliver a new approach to collaborative music making. Facebook announced that Calibra – a Facebook subsidiary that is building a Libra-based wallet with integrations in WhatsApp and Messenger – has a new name, Novi.