We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #584
Elon Musks’ Twitter deal is on hold
With more twists and turns than a soap opera, Elon Musk has now put his $43 billion Twitter bid on hold. “Why?” I hear you cry. The deal is on ice “pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users”. His statement sent the platform’s share price plummeting by 10%, with analysts speculating about whether he could be seeking to renegotiate the price. However, the Tesla billionaire tweeted that he was still committed to acquiring the company, meaning that this social media story is far from over.
Instagram starts testing NFTs with select creators
It’s an exciting moment for NFT enthusiasts as Instagram has officially begun testing NFTs with select creators. NFTs can be shared on the main feed, on Stories or in messages. There will be no fees associated with positing or sharing a digital collectable on the platform, with the supported blockchains for showcasing content coming from Ethereum and Polygon. Currently only available to a few users, the rollout of NFTs on Instagram is a huge moment for the creator economy, providing new money-making opportunities for collectable creatives.
YouTube gains a Green Screen feature
YouTube Shorts has gained several features over the past week, including the much anticipated Green Screen. The tool allows users to use up to a 60-second video segment from any eligible YouTube video or YouTube Shorts as the background for their new original Shorts video. Other features added include an appearance-smoothing Retouch feature, a Lighting feature, an Align feature and a text and timeline editor to add messages over top videos. There are also new video filters and Cut, a tool that lets all of YouTube’s public content possible Shorts material.
Twitter unveils web game to make its privacy policy easier to understand
Let’s be honest, privacy policies aren’t always a load of fun and games. Well, Twitter is attempting to make theirs such, by releasing a new web video game called Data Dash. The aim is to educate people on the information that Twitter collects, how this information is used and what controls users have over it. The game is played by helping a dog, named Data, safely navigate “PrivaCity” by dodging ads, steering clear of spammy DMs and avoiding Twitter trolls. Each time you complete a level, you’ll learn more about Twitter’s privacy policy and what you can do to keep yourself safe on the platform.
YouTube is testing a membership gifting feature
It’s gift-giving time! YouTube is testing a membership gifting feature, that allows you to access extra benefits on the channel. Currently launched in beta, a creator’s channel members can buy a set number of channel memberships in a single purchase that YouTube will then gift out to other viewers in a creator’s livestream. Users must opt-in to be able to receive a gifted membership, with the platform then distributing them to viewers based on the level of interaction they engage in on a creator’s channel.
Ones to watch
Twitter is testing a ‘Liked by Author’ label.