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When social snark goes too far
Marketing the solar eclipse, you won't believe who's doing the short-video thing now, and more...
Happy Monday!
I’m currently based in Australia, so unfortunately I was unable to participate in the solar eclipse that occurred last week. I did enjoy this marketing tie-in from MoonPie as some form of consolation. I didn’t go so far as to stream Bonnie Tyler’s song Total Eclipse of the Heart, but apparently a lot of people used it to get into the mood on the day, with the song being the second most purchased song on iTunes. Warby Parker meanwhile used the event to cleverly promote its brand with free eclipse glasses provided to customers at their stores but also at schools, Delta lounges, and public observation areas.
P.S. Read to the end to find out who’s belatedly jumping on the short-video bandwagon, and all the best reporting and resources from last week!
For anyone with us for the first time, welcome to Inbound News! Just 10-15 minutes every Monday to catch up on the previous week. I cover the stories that matter with smart analysis and resources to help make sense of all the noise. But always with a healthy dose of skepticism and self-awareness. 😉
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Dbrand crossed the line and people let them know it
Dbrand is one of those brands that portrays a snarky personality on their social media. But they went too far when a customer named Bhuwan Chitransh tweeted that their MacBook skin was showing dirt after just a couple months of use. Dbrand initially provided a quite helpful and reasonable response. Someone from their social media team must have thought the response was too bland, or perhaps they just thought they had comedy gold, because seven minutes later they tweeted again, but this time with a racist comment about his surname.
While the post did receive thousands of likes, which is not a surprise to anyone paying attention to the transition of Twitter to X, plenty of people did take the time to comment how racist the response was. Including Bhuwan himself, who flagged it with the PM of India amongst others. The ‘wisdom’ of the crowd on Reddit meanwhile was somewhat mixed, with some defending the brand on the Dbrand subreddit as responses like these are “kinda their whole marketing thing.”
Some 24 hours later, Dbrand eventually tweeted again that they had apologised to Bhuwan and offered him $10,000 “as a gesture of goodwill.” But they also said they were just making fun of a guy’s name and will continue to poke fun at customers on social media. Because it evidently is their whole marketing thing. They also left the offending tweet stay published as evidence of their intentions.
That was until YouTuber MKBHD (Marques Brownlee) stepped up and tweeted that he was refusing to work with Dbrand until they at least deleted the tweet, which they have now done. But he also pointed out what he was really looking for was some reflection on the part of Dbrand for them to understand the unnecessary harm they had caused after their initial underwhelming apology.
Because of the cesspool that X has become, and the mixed responses evidenced on Reddit, it will be interesting to see whether Dbrand does understand this reflection is necessary for their brand to thrive long term. Let’s hope they develop guidelines for their team to make sure they make fun of people without insulting them. Perhaps making fun of themselves when they get it wrong would work, too?
Nope! Source: Giphy
Meta (Facebook / Instagram / Threads)
Instagram introduced nudity protection measures in DMs, identifying and restricting DMs from scammers, and new resources.
Instagram released the first issue of a newsletter and a new Instagram University broadcast channel (app required).
Instagram revenue from 2018-2021 was revealed for the first time.
Instagram was ranked the number two most popular social media for Gen Z in survey, overtaking Snapchat (TikTok is still number one).
Meta’s ad network has been suffering from numerous performance issues over the last two months, according to marketers.
Meta has been asked by content creators to reverse politics limits adversely affecting marginalized groups on Instagram and Threads.
Meta once considered paying users for their data (economist suggested $5 per month), as revealed in lawsuit.
Threads takes longer to show news as trending due to the algorithm using national, not regional data, but did highlight the eclipse.
Threads published documentation for developers to use their upcoming API.
TikTok
A new rewards app for TikTok is being rolled out in Europe as growth stagnates there.
Latest research report looked at how their users respond to bilingual ads, and how brands can boost promotions across language barriers.
Senate Republican leader called for action to restrict TikTok, saying it’s "a platform that is beholden to our foremost strategic competitor."
Taylor Swift’s music has re-appeared on the platform, despite dispute with Universal Music Group, indicating a separate agreement.
Three different options are now being offered to subscribe to TikTok.
Three new innovations to protect brand safety were announced.
Users are receiving notifications advising them that their public photos will soon be seen on TikTok’s new photo app, TikTok Notes.
X (formerly Twitter)
A Brazilian Supreme Court judge opened an inquiry into Elon Musk after Musk said he’d reactivate accounts ordered blocked by the judge; drama helped drive thousands of new Brazilian users to Bluesky.
Accounts with a high number of followers lose tens of thousands of followers following initiative to purge bots and spam.
A Community Notes release promises to shave 30 minutes off the time it takes for a note to go live (how long in total now wasn’t disclosed).
A live discussion streaming in an X Space kept cutting out, just as Elon Musk was talking up how well the service works.
An advertisement arguing in favor of instituting the death penalty for homosexuality has been caught running on X.
Elon Musk admits in a deposition for a lawsuit that he "may have done more to financially impair the company than to help it.”
The ability to hide the blue checkmark for X Premium users will be disabled soon. 😂
The Center for Countering Digital Hate released new research showing X rewards posts that espouse hate regarding Israel-Hamas conflict.
YouTube
Scammers are using an AI-generated Elon Musk to promote a supposed SpaceX eclipse event on YouTube videos to steal people’s crypto.
Several shopping features were released, including Shopping Collections, an Affiliate Hub, and tagging multiple videos at once.
Others
Dude Perfect, a sports and comedy group that started on YouTube, announced a $100 million investment to expand beyond videos.
Gen Z is increasingly turning to social media to complete their searches over Google.
LinkedIn introduced a new Events ad category, a contribute expertise link when posting, and verification badges for recruiters.
Lyrak, another Twitter alternative, was launched with a focus on realtime news and 50% ad revenue share with creators.
Snapchat announced it was turning off Solar System, its paid friend-ranking feature, by default, for their users’ well-being.
💫 AI quick bites
Adam Mosseri shares his take on AI with some examples, believing it will be “tools that make it easier for more people to be more creative.”
An “automated scoring engine” using AI technology is being rolled out in Texas to grade open-ended questions on state exams.
Dove pledges to never use AI to advertise real people in its campaigns, and provides a prompt for better diversity in AI images.
eBay launched a new generative AI-powered feature called ‘shop the look’ within its iOS mobile app.
European countries are funding initiatives to create local chatbots truly fluent in their languages and culture to negate English dominance.
Google announced Google Vids, an AI-powered video creator for work, and released a text-to-live feature creating 4-second GIFs via Imagen.
Humane AI Pin has received terrible reviews.
Instagram appears to be testing a new AI-powered search bar.
Medium updated their policies to exclude any AI-written articles from being included in their revenue-sharing program for writers.
Meta is planning to release small versions of its Llama 3 LLM this week.
Microsoft is launching a new AI hub in London and spending $2.9 billion in Japan over the next two years, primarily on data centres.
Spotify is launching a tool to generate an AI-curated track list based on text descriptions, testing in UK and Australia first for Premium users.
TikTok is discussing with advertisers the use of a feature to generate AI-generated avatars to star in their video campaigns.
Udio launched their app for public use, which leverages “AI to easily create extraordinary and original music.”
✍️ The best reporting last week
Getting those clicks: Megan Farokhmanesh in Wired writes about the horror game Content Warning, a metanarrative about streamers trying to go viral.
Gen Z’s fading dream to become successful influencers
Human influencers are being replaced by AI: Clem de Pressigny examines in Business Insider whether this is actually a good thing.
How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI
Ignoring their own policies: The New York Times reveals the extreme lengths OpenAI, Google, and Meta went to exploit AI. [Free article]
Instagram AI influencers are using fake faces on real bodies
Making themselves seem more ‘believable’: Jason Koebler from 404Media exposes how these AI influencers are growing with stolen content.
British conservatives are deliberately bad at social media
Perhaps a cunning plan at work: Jon Elledge in PoliticsHome writes about the Tory party’s recent faux pax and their past history of social media campaigns.
🧠 Resources to level up
The best AI productivity tools
Tools to optimize how you work: Kirsti Lang from Buffer shares eight of the best AI tools she keeps coming back to so she can work smarter, not harder.
Avoiding digital course pitfalls
The lesser-known mistakes that can trip you up: Amy Porterfield shares on the HubSpot blog the seven biggest mistakes she’s made as a creator.
Prepare for Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE)
Understand how to adapt: Jim Yu provides an overview of SGE and what you can do to get ready for its wider release for Content Marketing Institute.
Using images online legally
Don’t get caught out: Kristi Kellog from Search Engine Journal provides an essential guide to using images online without falling foul of the law.
How to market your brand like Steve Jobs
The strategy used to grow Apple: Jessica Wong explains in Entrepreneur the method Jobs used to help power Apple’s extraordinary success.
😲 Really?
Uber Eats joins the short-form video bandwagon
Just a bit late to the party: Uber Eats is apparently launching a short-form video feed “to boost discovery and help restaurants showcase their dishes.” It’s currently being tested in New York, San Francisco and Toronto, with plans to launch globally in the future. The idea is that the videos will inspire you to try something new as you can better see details like the food’s texture and portion size, and how they prepare the food for delivery.
While they could be handy details to see, surely photos can do that already? Assuming the restaurant has thought about highlighting these details at all, that is. Because the reverse is also true - they could also sway people the other way to not ordering from them. Which is perhaps why their photos don’t already highlight certain details. I’m not sure about you, but generally I only use apps like Uber Eats as a last resort. When I do, about the last thing I feel like doing is scrolling through an algorithm-fuelled feed of random food choices when I already know how to use filters to narrow my search before checking reviews. I’m not going to be swayed by their short-form videos over their reviews. Let me know if I’m completely wrong on this!
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