🍊Twitter launches Bitcoin tipping, NFT verification, and reopens verification (again)
Welcome to Prosek's Digital Download: the best digital marketing newsletter in financial services
Hi everyone!
We have a lot to run through today. Twitter has really kicked it into overdrive lately—they didn’t even leave room for anyone else in our subject line today. I’ll start with some 🚨 big news 🚨, which is that Twitter’s verification application process is now open (again). After you finish today’s newsletter, make sure to head over to the new application page and start that process for your brand (or self—no judgment). Just remember that in order to receive the coveted blue badge, your account must be #authentic, #notable, and #active. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Now that we have that out of the way, we have an action-packed newsletter. Twitter launched Bitcoin tipping and NFT verification for profile pictures, LinkedIn announced a $25M Creator Accelerator Program and Facebook paused its Instagram for kids app after a scathing WSJ article plus a whole lot more.
If you are a football fan like I am and caught the Carolina Panthers game during week 1, you may have noticed that the team unleashed a life-sized augmented reality (AR) panther that leaped around the stadium before the game. Be sure to check out what AR is and the technology that makes it so realistic right here. I am still fascinated by how real it looked, and you will be, too.
Thanks for taking a few minutes to join us here again. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Digital Updates
Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin and plans to let users authenticate NFTs: Twitter has enabled users to ask for tips in Bitcoin as it becomes the first major social network to use cryptocurrency as a payment method. Twitter also plans to let users connect their crypto wallets and authenticate the ownership of NFTs they use as profile pictures.
Twitter Verification is Open (For Now): After multiple openings and closings of its verification process due to a high volume of applications, Twitter officially opened the option for personal accounts and brands to apply for the blue checkmark. Act soon before it likely closes again.
Twitter Shares New Preview of Coming Spaces Recording Option: Twitter is rolling out a new level of functionality for its audio broadcast tool Spaces. The feature will be called “Record Space”, which will allow users to record and edit their audio file before publishing it—a stark contrast to competitors like Clubhouse.
LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program: LinkedIn recently announced a $25 million Creator Accelerator Program to help creators build their audience and amplify their voice. This 10-week, incubator-style program for up to 100 U.S.-based creators will give accepted users coaching, a built-in creator network, opportunities to be featured on LinkedIn channels, and a $15,000 grant to help them share content, spark conversations, and build communities.
Articles for Brand Pages: While personal profiles on LinkedIn have been able to publish long-form articles on the platform, organizations have long been limited to character counts for their organic posts. Brand pages now can publish long-form articles as more companies look to impact their LinkedIn audience without making them leave the platform.
Dark Mode: LinkedIn became the latest social media app to provide a dark mode option for their mobile and desktop sites, so make sure your company logo looks good on light and dark mode.
Instagram Kids Paused: After a scathing article from The Wall Street Journal, Facebook announced that they were pausing their efforts to bring an Instagram for Kids product to market and will instead “continue to focus on teen safety and expanding parental supervision features for teens.”
Instagram “Montage” Turns Stories into Reels: As Instagram looks to have its users engage with Reels to keep up with TikTok’s competition, the platform is internally developing its “Montage” feature. This would enable users to convert their Instagram Stories into short Reels video clips.
TikTok
TikTok Reaches 1 Billion Active Users: TikTok has officially reached 1 billion monthly active users, joining an exclusive club of apps that have already reached that size.
TikTok Tests Pinned Videos: TikTok is currently testing a new feature that will allow its users to pin selected videos at the top of their profiles to help showcase their favorite videos to their profile visitors.
Facebook Updates Organic Post Testing Tool: Facebook is now rolling out an update with a new layout and additional post formats for users to experiment with as it looks to give users more guidance in their posting strategy.
Facebook Announces New Business Connection Tools: Facebook is creating tools that are intended to help businesses establish a more direct connection with prospective customers, focus on personalized messaging, and improve business discovery.
Explosion in Advertising Revenue: Reddit is on track to bring in more than $350 million in ad revenue in 2021, doubling its ad revenue from last year. By comparison, Pinterest Inc. had 454 million monthly users as of June 30 and about $1.1 billion in ad revenue for the first half of this year alone.
Good Reads
Wall Street Influencers Are Making $500,000, Topping Even Bankers: Finance firms have struggled to reach younger demographics — until now. Firms are now partnering with social media influencers as they provide direct access to younger users, especially thanks to the rise in retail investing among young traders.
Video is becoming a critical information source for senior executives: A Forbes study showed that 75% of executives watch work-related videos on a weekly basis, and 59% of them prefer to watch a video on a topic than read about it.
TikTok Shares New Research into How Users Respond to Ads on the Platform: TikTok partnered with neuromarketing research firm MediaScience to test how users respond to ads when scrolling through videos. What did they find? Advertising on TikTok drove stronger brand perception than on other platforms.
Facebook Shares Insight into Content that it Looks to Limit in News Feeds: Curious why you are seeing the posts that you do in your Facebook feeds? After sharing how its algorithm works earlier this year, Facebook recently shared more information on the types of posts it looks to limit in its feed.
New Report Shows that Facebook and YouTube Lead the Way as Key Sources of News Content: Despite the number of people who rely on social media for their news decreasing over the past year, Pew Research Center recently found that nearly half of Americans get their news on social media. It was also determined that a third of Americans consume their news on Facebook.
The Washington Post Launches Digital Ad Network: The Washington Post launched a digital ad network to take on Google and Facebook. Marketers have long said they want to buy ads with the ease and efficiency of platforms like Google and Facebook, but on trusted websites like premium news publishers. This ad network aims to solve that.
Burger King’s New NFT Strategy: Burger King launched a new celebrity-backed campaign called Keep It Real Meals. Customers can scan QR codes and receive collectible game pieces that go toward rewards. They partnered with an NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace company called Sweet with the goal of leveraging this art-based technology into a marketing event for customer engagement.