December 2019 Edition: The Social Media Updates You Need to Know

'Suggested Moderator' tool coming soon to Facebook Groups

 
Suggested Moderators mobile menu example
 

As brands have been given less and less organic reach in the Newsfeed over the years, many social media marketers have looked to alternative strategies to create an audience to which they have more direct access. Facebook Groups has been one of those platforms. 

When a Group gets large, sometimes management can become a little unwieldy. Adding a dedicated group moderator (a.k.a. “mod”) to the team can be a great way to spread the workload. Now, Facebook will let you know which of your current group members appear to be great candidates for this role: “These members might be good candidates to help moderate your group because they frequently contribute and engage with other members within this group.”

Here’s how to find the suggested moderators for your group:

  • Navigate to your Admin Tools section in your group

  • Within the section titled “Insights from the last 28 days”, swipe left until you see a section that has a number of suggested moderators for you to review.

  • Once you click on that section, you will see a list of the specific members that we recommend would be good fits for your group as moderators.

  • Within that list, you can directly decide to invite those members to join your moderator team.

See also:


Instagram testing Reels—a TikTok clone?

As we know, Facebook has developed a reputation for copying upstart competitors (Snapchat Stories → Instagram Stories being the most prominent example). With the recent rise of video entertainment app TikTok in Asian countries as well as with youth in the US, Facebook seems to be using this tactic again: meet “Reels.”

According to TechCrunch, Reels is an Instagram app (currently limited to users in Brazil) that lets users create 15-second video clips set to music. These videos can be shared as Instagram Stories, with the potential to go viral on a new Top Reels section of Explore within the IG app. It’s still too early to know if Reels will be successful, or if it will even become available globally. (Though some are decidedly skeptical. See the accompanying TechCrunch analysis, “Mark Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok.”) 

Stay tuned!


What’s the deal with TikTok anyway?

If you’re still new to (or have yet to try out) TikTok, here are some examples of what users posted during #Thanksgiving:

 

Coming Soon: Cameo on Snapchat

Three Snapchat Cameo demo images

Snapchat is preparing to launch one of their most innovative new features in some time: the ability to replace the face of people in videos with your own selfie.

Dubbed “Cameo,” the feature will debut on December 18 with 150 meme options, with many more coming soon. However, some users in France have already been posting examples:

As pointed out by USAToday, this feature seems to make use of deepfake technology—an infamous tool popularized by internet trolls who have made lewd, fake celebrity videos.

The Cameo feature is also similar to BitMoji in the way it pulls your personality into Snapchat, except this time with your real face (which has also been possible, though considerably less automatic, using the custom stickers feature).

One especially cool aspect to take note of: according to AdWeek, if two Snapchatters have Cameo set up they can team up while creating videos.

Twitter's new Topics feature

NOTE: If you attended our recent Social Media Show & Tell, you will already have heard about this one from Mindy Brack (Lead Product Specialist Manager at Twitter). 😉

“If you love a thing, follow that Topic.”

The basic idea of Topics is to help users find Tweets relevant to their interests—without the user needing to find them by following the accounts or manually clicking into applicable hashtags.

“Previously, all of the work was on you to figure out the best way to keep up with what’s happening by following certain accounts, searching for it, or looking in the Explore tab for the latest. Now, you have the option of seeing the most relevant and interesting Tweets about what you care about with a single tap, and the conversation will come to you.”

Topics will soon be suggested to users in the Twitter feed. (You might have noticed similar efforts on Instagram to encourage you to follow certain hashtags.)

Spotify Wrapped 2019 just took over the world

ICYMI, Spotify just rolled out its annual “Wrapped” promotion, showing users the trends in the music they’ve listened to on their platform over the past year and encouraging them to share to results on social media.

Spotify_Wrapped-min.jpg

It’s always been a brilliant campaign, but this year’s was more impressive than ever because it highlighted not only information from this year but from the entire decade. The feature is also available in the mobile app for the first time. There are extra features for Premium subscribers, as well as personalized content specially-made for podcasters to share on Stories—a great way to increase the visibility of a feature (Podcasts) that many people may still be unaware of:

spotify-wrapped-minutes-story.gif

This is a great example of on-brand content marketing. Check it out yourself in the Spotify app or head to spotify.com/wrapped to “see how you’ve been at the center of it all.”

More Links to Check Out

Looking for More Social Media Help?

The expert team at Dooley Social Studio helps brands get attention by being thoughtful about how they give it. Our goal is to make every social interaction with your company a remarkable one. Get in touch to find out how a partnership with Dooley Social Studio can grow your brand. 

Catch up on last month's social media updates (November 2019) →

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UncategorizedMatthew Dooley