The year is moving along quickly; with the longer days and shorter nights, we start to move ever closer to elections in both the UK and US as well as other countries not featured on British breakfast TV.
After high levels of controversy across numerous elections, leading to rebukes from various governments, one can forgive Meta for being wary about political content, but has it taken restrictions too far?
Also this week, there’s still plenty going on at TikTok, despite talk of an upcoming US ban (spoiler alert: you’re fairly safe there for the time being).
Why is Instagram facing a backlash over political content?
Instagram is facing a serious backlash over the decision to restrict the reach of political content on both its platforms by default. This is particularly concerning on Threads as this is essentially meant to be ‘the new Twitter’.
Essentially, you’re only able to see political content by people you already follow, thus further reinforcing the echo chamber (wherein you only see the views of people you already agree with, thus reinforcing your own). The theory goes that the Echo Chamber was a major contribution to the level of shock and anger relating to Brexit actually happening, and that by restricting this reach you’re stifling debate.
My own personal view is that while it can seem like the vast majority on the Internet seem to have already made their minds up, there should always be room for discussion and exposure to different opinions. The more people are left to their own devices and opinions, the more we then remove the ability to think critically and for yourselves.
I should add that there are ways and means to change this in both apps.
TikTok to take on Instagram at its (original) game
After a quick date check (nope, not April 1), it seems that TikTok is preparing to launch a photo-focussed app. Remember how for the last, oh I don’t know, 10 years everyone has said that Video is the future, the present and the everything on social? Well, apparently TikTok think we should go back to posting images instead. How 2011 of them.
It should be noted that this is likely more of an experiment than a serious pivot, but nevertheless makes for fascinating following. Your social media strategy (and particularly paid social) should already be incorporating images where relevant, but it’s always good to keep abreast of such developments.
Also, remember the talk around the TikTok ban in the US that was all the rage a few weeks ago? Well it’s still rumbling along, but the main takeaway at the moment is that it’ll be a considerable amount of time before anything happens. Plenty of time for you to modify your social media approach accordingly and/or put in place some contingency plans.
TikTok publishes ad playbook
While we’re on the subject of TikTok, this week it published its advertising playbook.
Much of what you’ll find within is fairly straightforward to seasoned users, but there are some useful case studies and stats that might prove useful the next time you’re pitching for some TikTok work, or trying to convince internal stakeholders that it’s worth upping your investment.
Further Reading
Business Insider has taken a look at how, with Tesla starting to struggle, Elon Musk is doubling down on his other businesses – particularly X/Twitter. Interesting reading with a morning coffee. Also, Zuck has moved past him in terms of wealth thanks to Meta’s robust performance.
Threads has released API documentation ahead of a planned June launch, meaning that you’ll soon see third-party tools integrating with the platform.
Looking to share your expertise in collaborative contributor articles on LinkedIn? The platform has added a handy shortcut to make doing this that much easier.
Finally, I enjoyed this interview in the Guardian with TikTok comedian Shabaz Ali about his ‘work’, his balancing a day job teaching with TikTok Bantz, and wider views on social.
That’s it for this week – if you found this interesting then I would really appreciate it if you shared this with your friends and peers.
If you’re feeling particularly generous, then I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Have a great weekend and see you next week!