We Are Social Asia’s Tuesday Tune Up
Twitter pauses verification checkmark
Chaos is the only appropriate word to describe the past week on Twitter. The platform has paused its $8 blue check verification system following impersonation chaos. As well as momentarily pausing verification, Twitter has introduced an extra grey tick for ‘official’ profiles, helping people recognise when a profile is in fact legit. This was rolled out, then rolled back, and then introduced once more. This follows new rules implemented for parody accounts which now have to specify that their profiles are a p*sstake. Musk has also prevented current verified users from changing their usernames, stopping them from making fun of the billionaire. This led to plenty of confusion, with Doja Cat momentarily stuck with the username ‘Christmas.’ Due to the chaotic nature of the channel, other social apps are seeing an increase in downloads, including Mastodon, which is now enjoying 1 million monthly active users.
YouTube introduces ‘Live Q&A’ feature
Keep those questions coming. YouTube is introducing a ‘Live Q&A’ feature that makes it easier for creators to interact with viewers during livestreams. When a Q&A is in progress, a prompt will appear as a pinned message in the chat. Viewers can then submit their questions and creators can choose one and pin it. Previously, creators had to navigate their way through tons of questions submitted in the live chat. This new feature is designed to streamline this process, making Q&A’s nice and easy, rather than a logistical nightmare.
Instagram now lets you add music to image posts
More music is coming to Instagram. Now you can add a tune to still image posts, just like you can with Reels and Stories. You can choose a segment of between 5 and 90 seconds of a song to add to your image by clicking on the ‘Add Music’ prompt as you compose a post. With Reels and Stories, music has been a bigger priority for Instagram, but whether music on still posts will take off is still to be seen. Watch this space.