📲 Instagram Now Has More Users Than Facebook in EU
#News #Insta

🔹 Last week, in addition to reporting its Q3 performance update, Meta also shared its latest EU user numbers for Facebook and Instagram as part of its Digital Services Act (DSA) obligations. And the numbers show that Instagram has now surpassed Facebook's active user count in the region. Instagram now has 269.1 million monthly active users in EU, versus 260.6 million for Facebook. In Meta's first EU user report, covering the period between April to September 2023, both platforms had the same user count, at 259 million MAU.

🔹 But now, IG has superseded the company's flagship app, with Facebook seeing much slower growth, and even slightly declining in usage over the most recent measurement period (April to September this year). Could that be a more common trend around the world, with Facebook potentially losing audience, as Instagram continues to add more users? Well, we don't know for sure, as Meta stopped reporting Facebook's monthly active user counts this year, in favor a combined audience measurement for its entire "Family of Apps" (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads). But based on the last time that it reported Facebook's monthly actives (Q4 2023), it does seem that this is more likely confined to EU, and potentially U.S. audiences.

🔹 Facebook's EU user count was in decline throughout 2023, and really, had been on a downward trend since 2022. Its U.S. user count had also been fairly stagnant, but Facebook usage was still growing in other markets. As such, it seems like this shift would be more confined to EU, and not reflective of broader trends. But even so, it is interesting to see IG potentially taking the mantle from Facebook as Meta's main app, even if only in selected markets. The other question then is: "Why is Facebook losing traction with European audiences?" Well, some of that can be attributed to the implementation of improved data privacy regulations in Europe, which have revealed more about the data that Facebook takes in, and can use in its various applications. That, some suggest, has seen more users turn away from the app, while other reports indicate that more EU users now find Facebook to be outdated versus other apps.

🔹 Whatever the reason, it is also important to note that Facebook remains hugely popular in the region, with 260 million active users. TikTok has 150 million EU monthly actives, while X has 66 million, so on balance, even with a slight decline, Facebook is still a key interactive platform for European users. It's just not as popular as IG now is, which likely suggests that Facebook isn't catching on with younger audiences as well as it used to.

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📲 Meta’s Rolling Out More Variable Ad Display Options
#News #Insta

🔹 Meta's rolling out a new ad option called "Flexible Media", which is its next step in enabling variable ad delivery approaches based on its systematic predictions of user response. Okay, that was a bit of a jargonistic explainer. The more simple explanation is Meta's looking to maximize ad performance by having more creative options that it can then display to different users. On this front, Meta's already pushing advertisers to utilize its automated Advantage+ campaign tools, which effectively choose which of your ads to show different users.

🔹 It also has several ad options that can customize and personalize ad display, with Flexible Media playing another part in this. As you can see in this example, posted by Bram Van Der Hallen, "Flexible Media" is showing up as an option to some advertisers on some Meta Ads campaigns. As per the description: "We'll deliver the media you choose for placement groups across placements when it's likely to improve performance." To be clear, this is different from "Flexible Ads", which enable you to submit 10 images for an ad, with Meta's system then able to pick and choose which images to show to each user.

🔹 Flexible Media looks to be another variation on this, which would enable Meta's system to use different images for different placement groups. So, essentially, you'd be giving Meta's system permission to use different images for different ad types, as it sees fit. As noted, it's another step towards Meta fully automating ad campaigns, and displaying different ads to different users, relative to how its systems determine likely response. In other words, Meta's seeking to automate more and more elements of your ad process, so that eventually, you won't even need to come up with any element of your ad. You'll just enter a URL, and Meta will do the rest.

🔹 Which likely feels like you're giving over too much control to the system, but given that Meta's ad targeting process is based on its system Al, which measures and tracks ad responses, it makes sense that it would also be able to help you reach a more receptive audience. And you're likely restricting that by manually choosing your audience.
So while it may feel wrong, and like you're not utilizing your audience knowledge for ad targeting, it's likely worth experimenting with Meta's automated ad options, and seeing whether they drive better results. Flexible Media looks to be another part of this, giving Meta's systems more options on which ads and ad displays it can show to users.

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📲 Meta Extends Political Ads Blackout Beyond Election Period
#News #Insta

🔹 Meta has announced that it's extending its restriction period on election-related ads beyond the U.S. election, as it gears up for what's anticipated to be a long running, and divisive vote counting process. Meta's regular elections ads blackout period was set to be in place from October 29th till November 5th, but now, Meta is extending that for an undefined period to limit potential concerns.

🔹 As per Meta:

"The restriction period for ads about social issues, elections or politics is being extended until later this week. As a reminder, ads that have run prior to 12:01 AM PT on October 29, 2024 and served at least one impression will be allowed to continue while the restriction period is in effect with limited editing capabilities."

So Meta's gone with the non-definitive "later this week" as its extension period, as it looks to measure response to the poll, and what that means for civic participation.

🔹 Already, various political commentators have raised the possibility of vote tampering, and party operators looking to cheat the democratic system, in various ways. That follows the 2020 election, when accusations of vote rigging carried on right through to inauguration day, and sparked various incidents of violent unrest. With this in mind, Meta's keen to ensure that it's not contributing to such in any way, which is why it's expanding its election ad restrictions, again, for an indefinite period, this time around.

🔹 For regular advertisers, this obviously doesn't have much impact, outside of clearing the way for more of your ads to be shown in more places in Meta's apps. But election angst may make those ads less effective either way, so that may not be a major benefit. For political advertisers, this will mean rethinking your strategies somewhat, but then again, I suspect that most political ad campaigns are already on hold now till the results become clear. Meta will provide an update on its political ads blackout later in the week.

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📲 Australia to ban TikTok, Instagram, and X for under 16s.
#News #Insta

🔹 Australia's government says it will introduce "world-leading" legislation to ban children under 16 from social media. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the proposed laws, to be tabled in parliament next week, were aimed at mitigating the "harm" social media was inflicting on Australian children. "This one is for the mums and dads... They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. I want Australian families to know that the government has your back," he said. While many of the details are yet to be debated, the government said the ban would apply to young people already on social media. There will be no exemptions on the age limit for children who have consent from their parents.

🔹 The government says that the onus would be on social media platforms to show they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access.
Albanese said there would be no penalties for users, and that it would be up to Australia's online regulator - the eSafety Commissioner - to enforce the laws. The legislation would come into force 12 months after it passes and be subject to a review after it's in place. While most experts agree that social media platforms can harm the mental health of adolescents, many are split over the efficacy of trying to outlaw them all together. Some experts argue that bans only delay young people's exposure to apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, instead of teaching them how to navigate complex online spaces. Previous attempts at restricting access, including by the European Union, have largely failed or faced backlash from tech firms.

🔹 And questions remain over how implementation would work given there are tools which can circumvent age-verification requirements. One of Australia's largest advocacy groups for child rights has criticised the proposed ban as "too blunt an instrument". In an open letter sent to the government in October, signed by over 100 academics and 20 civil society organisations, the Australian Child Rights Taskforce called on Albanese to instead look at imposing "safety standards" on social media platforms. The group also pointed to UN advice that "national policies" designed to regulate online spaces "should be aimed at providing children with the opportunity to benefit from engaging with the digital environment and ensuring their safe access to it".

🔹 But other grassroots campaigners have lobbied Australia's government for the laws, saying bans are needed to protect children from harmful content, misinformation, bullying and other social pressures. A petition by the 36Months initiative, which has over 125,000 signatures, argues children are "not yet ready to navigate online social networks safely" until at least 16, and that currently "excessive social media use is rewiring young brains within a critical window of psychological development, causing an epidemic of mental illness". When asked whether there should be broader efforts to educate children about how to navigate the benefits and risks of being online, Albanese said that such an approach would be insufficient because it "assumes an equal power relationship". "I don't know about you, but I get things popping up on my system that I don't want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old," he told reporters on Thursday. "These tech companies are incredibly powerful. These apps have algorithms that drive people towards certain behaviour."

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📲 Instagram Expands Boosting To Include More Post Types
#News #Insta

🔹 Instagram's expanded its post boosting options, giving you more ways to maximize the value of your best-performing organic updates.
Instagram's "Boost" option gives you a streamlined, simplified ad set-up process, so that you can get the most out of your best-performing organic posts while they're resonating. Up till now, however, some posts have been ineligible for boosting, due to limitations in Meta's system and copyright concerns. But now, a broader range of posts can be boosted in the app.

🔹 As per Instagram:

"Ever tried to boost content with GIFs, stickers, or copyrighted music and faced an error? Give it another go. Instagram's latest update to boosting now means that most GIFs and stickers are now eligible to be boosted."

Note that this is "most", not "all" posts, and it's not entirely clear which will be eligible and which won't. But if you've ran into problems trying to boost some of your best-performing organic posts in the past, it could be worth revisiting them in order to maximize your promotional efforts. It's also worth noting for your future posts, that including GIFs and stickers won't be a deal breaker for boosting.

🔹 Though you do have to be running a Professional Account, and restrictions on music will remain, but you'll now be given the option to switch out the song for a boost-eligible one instead. Also, if you're on Meta's ad-free subscription in Europe, you can't boost posts, which seems to be a glitch in Meta's system. It's a small update, but a relevant one for those looking to maximize their IG performance by doubling down on their best-performing updates, and getting them in front of more people.
Instagram says that its updates to post boosting are now live in the app.

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📲 Instagram stops the ‘rug pull’ that disappears videos while you’re watching them
#News #Insta

🔹 You know that thing where, just after you've opened Instagram and become invested in whatever video was already loaded, a new video pops in and seemingly yeets the old video into the void, never to be seen again? That's a thing of the past, according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, who says in an AMA from his Instagram Story yesterday that the app now waits for you to scroll to show you the new stuff.

🔹 That behavior - which Instagram apparently called "rug pull" internally - wasn't just some weird bug. Mosseri says the app did it "because we were trying to load new content, and it was taking a while, so we showed you something that was already downloaded in the meantime, and it is generally good for engagement." But that's "really annoying," he acknowledges,
"so we stopped doing it." Instagram has taken "a little bit of an engagement hit for this," Mosseri concludes, saying it's a much better experience for those of us using the app.

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📲 Meta Opens Retail Pop-Up in Los Angeles to Showcase its Smart Glasses
News #Insta

🔹 Meta's making an expanded push to sell more of its Ray Ban smart glasses this Christmas, with a dedicated "Meta Lab" pop-up store now open in Los Angeles. Meta's stylistic retail experience is designed to showcase the advanced capacity of its device, while also providing a glimpse at the future of Meta's hardware products.

🔹 As per Meta:

"The focus is on experiential retail - a reinvention of the traditional shopping experience [...] The entire endeavor is driven by a learning agenda to find out what works, and what doesn't, to help inform our future efforts, while also benefiting Essilor Luxottica and our third-party retail partners."

The retail space includes a range of try-on experiences, along with VR elements, and a customization shop. There'll also be live entertainment to attract more visitors:

🔹 "Meta Lab will have regular programming, inviting in guests from the community, from stand-up comedy with Desi Banks and a live podcast with Madeline Argy to a paint and sip night with Tinashe, a Ray-Ban Meta-focused workshop with Director Drex Lee, and a cooking class with Cassie Yeung." The store is based on Meta's retail showcase which it first held at its Connect conference back in September, which the company says was a big success. Indeed, Meta says that over 90% of Connect attendees went through Meta Lab, and one in four made a purchase. I doubt that Meta will see the same conversion rate in its other retail stores, but it suggests that Meta is on the right track in showcasing the capacity of its various tools, and their future potential.

🔹 And it's just the beginning of Meta's retail experiments. Meta's also planning an in-store activation that will open in Phoenix at the end of January. That will then give Meta a complete perspective on different retail sales options, which will help to guide its approach on such moving forward. Which will be even more important in future, when it starts selling its AR-enabled glasses. Those are not set for retail sale until 2027, but Meta's current retail experiments are about laying the foundation for how to best showcase its next- level products, which will also include its evolving VR headsets.

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📲 Instagram could let AI generate a profile picture for you
News #Insta

Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi dug up a menu within the app showing the option to “create An AI profile picture.” While you can already upload an AI-generated profile picture to Instagram, this would streamline the process.
Meta’s other apps — Facebook and What’sapp— have been spotted working on a similar feature.

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📲 In Europe, Instagram Ads Are About to Get Less Personal
News #Insta

🔹 Meta Platforms plans to give European users of Instagram and Facebook the option of receiving what it says are less “personalized ads” a concession to regulators that risks hitting the company’s revenue in one of its largest markets.  
The social-media company plans in coming days to begin prompting users in Europe with the choice of the new ad format, without paying a fee, according to people briefed on the plans. 

🔹 The new ads option comes as frustration has built at Meta over the EU’s efforts to regulate tech companies. The company recently spearheaded an open letter saying that the bloc’s laws threatened to squelch the artificial-intelligence boom in the region.

🔹 A major source of tension has been whether and how Meta must ask users for consent to use the data it collects—not just for targeting ads but also for training AI. Meta delayed release of its AI chatbots in the EU after privacy regulators in the bloc had suggested the company may need to seek consent to train models based on adults’ public posts on Instagram and Facebook in Europe. 

🔹 Meta said Tuesday that it is introducing less-personalized ads to comply with demands from EU regulators—and that the changes could harm small businesses. “If EU regulation makes digital advertising less efficient, the entire European business community suffers,” Meta said. 

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📲 Meta must face FTC trial that could separate Instagram and WhatsApp
#News #Insta

🔹 Meta must face the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit that accuses the company of dominating the social media industry through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, a DC District Court Judge ruled on Wednesday. The FTC filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2020, alleging the company bought up rivals - Instagram and WhatsApp - in an attempt to stifle competition. Judge James Boasberg initially dismissed the FTC's lawsuit in 2021, but the agency filed an amended complaint, which he ultimately let proceed.

🔹 Meta once again asked the court to dismiss the FTC's case in April. Boasberg has now ruled largely in favor of the FTC, though he dismissed a claim that Meta acted anticompetitively by preventing developers from accessing its API unless they agreed not to compete with its apps. In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said the company is "confident" the trial will show its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were "good" for consumers.

🔹 "More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared these deals, and despite the overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple's iMessage, and many others, the Commission is wrongly continuing to assert that no deal is ever truly final, and businesses can be punished for innovating."

🔹 Even though the FTC's antitrust lawsuit was filed while President-Elect President Donald Trump was in office, his upcoming administration is expected to take a more lax approach to mergers and acquisitions - and major companies are taking notice. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with other Big Tech leaders, has already started to cozy up to Trump, who's expected to replace FTC Chair Lina Khan.

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📲 Instagram Says It Does Not Reduce the Reach of Sponsored Content
#News #Insta

🔹 Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has debunked another common Instagram myth as part of his new series of informational posts in the app. In this latest post, Mosseri dismisses the rumor that Instagram deliberately downranks posts tagged as sponsored content, in order to force brands to pay for reach.

🔹As per Mosseri:

"We don't downrank posts that you mark as sponsored. It helps us understand Instagram to know what is sponsored, but it's important for creators to mark things as sponsored without fear of downranking so that they can comply with local laws all around the world."

The common theory is that IG benefits from downranking these posts, as it's another way to ensure that brands and their partners have to pay for additional reach.

🔹 Though as some have pointed out, it could also be that IG users just engage with sponsored content less, and as soon as they see that "Sponsored" tag on a post, some just scroll on by, reducing engagement, and thus reach. So the reach "penalty" in this case is likely a side effect of the tag itself, and not an Instagram-initiated thing. And as Mosseri explains here, there has been no effort from the platform's end to reduce the reach of these posts, algorithmically or otherwise, as a result of these tags.

🔹 As noted, this is the latest in a new series of video posts from Mosseri where he seeks to provide more context around certain elements of the app that users often have questions about. Last month, Mosseri also explained that including your brand log on a Reel won't see it penalized, but Reels with TikTok and YouTube watermarks will cop a reach penalty. Getting the info direct from Instagram to debunk some of these myths is valuable, though many will still dismiss Mosseri's descriptions, and assume the worst either way.

🔹 And you can't really blame them, as Meta's reputation for screwing over business users in the past is pretty well well-established, and those who've been burned are unlikely to ever give it the benefit of the doubt. But for everyone else, you have this, direct from the IG chief, noting that it does not penalize posts with "Sponsored" tags.

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📲 Threads is testing custom feeds for your favorite topics
#News #Insta

🔹 Threads is testing a way to create custom feeds for certain profiles or topics, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday. The upcoming feature should make it easier to keep tabs on different interests, such as your favorite sports team or even technology-related news. It sounds similar to the custom feeds feature Bluesky rolled out last year — but Threads' version seems a lot simpler.

🔹 To create a custom feed, just search and tap into a topic. From there, select the three-dot icon beside the search term and choose "create new feed." You can also add profiles to your custom feed by selecting the three-dot icon above someone's profile photo and tapping "add to feed." Threads will then let you choose which feed you'd like to add the profile to. Your custom feeds will then appear in the same main menu bar as your "For You" and "Following" tabs.

🔹 There still isn't a way to set these custom feeds or your "Following" feed as your default view, though. Bluesky's current feed creation process requires some technical skill, but third-party tools, like SkyFeed, make it easier. "Custom feeds will display a combination of posts from the profiles you've added and the search results for the selected topic," Threads spokesperson Alec Booker told The Verge. "These are displayed in reverse chronological order."

🔹 The test is rolling out to a small number of people globally, but Booker says Threads hopes to bring it to more users "soon." Both Bluesky and Threads are seeing growth as people seek out alternatives to X. While Bluesky recently crossed the 15 million user line, Threads head Adam Mosseri said the platform grew by 15 million in just one month.

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🚨 Instagram’s Testing Simplified AI Profile Image Generation
feeds for your favorite topics
#News #Insta

🔹 Instagram is experimenting with a new option that would make it easier to generate an Al version of your profile image, facilitating a more stylized, artistic depiction of yourself in-stream. As you can see in this image, shared by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, Instagram is currently working on a new option that would enable you to generate an Al profile picture direct from your profile editing options, so you could quickly and easily tap into Meta's Al image generation tools to update your pic. Which would be new for IG, but isn't really new for social media users.

🔹 Instagram's sister app Facebook has also been experimenting with Al-generated profile images, while both TikTok and Snapchat have similar, in their respective "Dreams" and Al avatar creation options. So in some ways, this would be bringing Instagram into line with other social apps, in providing a simplified Al profile image generation option. But it also feels a little disingenuous, right? For years, social media users have complained about bots and bot profiles infecting the experience, and duping unsuspecting users with doctored images and made-up depictions of seemingly real people. For example, earlier this year, Meta removed a network of over 900 profiles that had used fake, Al-generated headshots to depict themselves as real people.

🔹 Yet, now, the platforms are actively encouraging this. And while I realize these more stylized versions of Al headshots are not the same thing, in that they're designed to enable more artistic, creative variations of your depiction, it's still not you. And with anonymity masking the activity of some of the worst actors on the web, and as noted, enabling scammers and misinformation peddlers to dupe people within social apps, surely enabling and encouraging the use of such tools is not really a benefit, on balance. At the same time, IG, like every other social app, is keen to incorporate Al elements, in order to ensure that it rides the latest tech trend, and keeps up with the competition in this respect.

🔹 It’s not obvious how generative Al tools are overly beneficial in a social media context, when considering the core use case of social apps, in connecting humans for "social" purposes. Al-generated images are not a real depiction of your lived experience, which is what social platforms have traditionally been used for. Sure, Al art is another element, and showcasing your Al creations is a separate element from an artistic standpoint. But the majority of regular users are not artists, and as such, these Al-generated depictions are just fakes, and it's odd to see social platforms looking to re-package these as a positive, and not just more false depictions in their apps.

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🚨 Instagram’s Moving Your Stories Highlights to Their Own Tab

🔴 Get ready for another change to your IG profile display, with Instagram now preparing to move your Story highlights bubbles from above the profile grid, and into their own section within your profile tabs.

🔴 As you can see in this notification, shared by social media expert Lindsey Gamble, Instagram is now in the process of informing users that their Story highlights will be moving into a dedicated profile tab later this week, while they’ll also show in your main grid. Though where exactly they’ll be displayed in the main grid is not clear as yet (i.e. will they appear in the feed based on the date of the first or last update to the Highlight collection, or some other qualifier?). The update has been in testing for some time. Back in August app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi shared an example of the new profile grid display, with a dedicated Story Highlights tab.

🔹 As you can see in this image, the new Story Highlights tab will be signified by a rounded heart icon. Within that, all of your Stories highlights will have their own, vertically aligned thumbnail image, with a separate one for each topic.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri recently explained the change, and what they’re trying to do be reforming Stories Highlights on profiles:

“We’re trying to figure out a way to improve the profile and get more of the content above the fold, and simplify it. You will still have control, you can still pin things, there’ll be a dedicated Highlights tab, but we don’t need to have pogs and squares and have it be all complicated and pushing everything down.”

🔹 Didn’t realize that “pogs” had such a cultural impact on web design, but evidently, the current circular display of Story Highlights is called a “pog” at IG land.

🔹 In any event, Instagram is essentially working to simplify the profile display, and moving your highlights “pogs” is one way to do that, so it’s shifting them to their own tab below the main info display.
Which will certainly make things cleaner, but I suspect it will also see a lot fewer people tapping on your Stories highlights. But then again, I’m guessing most people don’t tap on these anyway, otherwise IG wouldn’t be considering moving them. Maybe, Stories are meant to be ephemeral, and users haven’t found that much value in tapping through on your past updates, which are now largely out of date.

🔹 Or maybe Instagram just thinks this is better, but either way, it does seem like IG has now settled on a format for its updated display, and it’s now being rolled out to users. We’ve asked Instagram for more info on this change, and whether it’s being rolled out to all users, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.

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🚨 Instagram’s Developing More DM Filter Options for Creators
#News #Insta

🔹 Instagram is considering adding more filters to your DM requests, in order to make it easier for creators who receive a lot of messages to drill down to the most important outreach. Instagram recently added a range of new messaging filters for Creator Accounts, including the ability to filter your messages by specifying which types of accounts you want to see DM requests from.

🔹 And it's considering adding even more to this list, as you can see in this example, shared by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri: As you can see in this image, Instagram's looking to add more options to its DM request filters, while also making them more accessible in-stream. That would make it easier to check DM requests in each of these categories, while also filtering out random DMs and spammy outreach.

🔹 And with DMs becoming the primary interaction option across all social apps, it makes sense for Instagram to lean into DM activity, and ensure that it's helping creators to maximize their opportunities. Because Mosseri and Meta also know that they need creators to keep posting in order to keep IG relevant, while they'll also need those creators engaged within their apps to lead into the next stage, being the metaverse. Improving DM connection is another way to increase creator reliance on the platform, and these changes could be valuable in the broader scheme.

🔹 Mosseri further notes that many creators, in many regions have flagged this as a major problem, and he says that they re working on various options designed to simplify DM requests. So while this might not be an issue for all users, large creators are clearly unhappy with the set up, and again, it's those popular creators that are critically important for Instagram, and Meta more broadly. There's no planned roll-out for IG's expanded DM requests filters, but they look to be well in development.

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🚨 Instagram will let you rebuild your recommendations from scratch
#News #Insta

🔹 Instagram is testing a new feature that will let users completely refresh the content that’s recommended to them on the platform. The recommendations reset feature will “soon roll out globally,” according to Meta’s announcement, and can be used to clear the algorithmic content that currently appears in Feeds, Explore, and Reels. The new feature will be available to users of all ages, including Teen accounts.

🔹 “We want to make sure everyone on Instagram – especially teens – has safe, positive, age-appropriate experiences and feels the time they’re spending on Instagram is valuable,” Meta said. “We want to give teens new ways to shape their Instagram experience, so it can continue to reflect their passions and interests as they evolve.”

🔹 Recommendations can be cleared in “just a few taps,” according to Meta, and will “start to personalize again over time” based on the accounts and content the user goes on to interact with. Users will also be able to review which accounts they currently follow at the point of reset to decide if they want to unfollow them, helping to reshape the new recommendations that will develop.

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🚨 Meta Adds Video Calling Updates, Including HD Video Calls
#News #Insta

🔹 Meta’s announced some new updates for audio and video calling via Messenger and Facebook, just in time for your holiday catch-ups.
First off, Meta’s rolling out HD video calls, which will now be enabled by default for video calls made on WiFi. 
As you can see in this example you’ll also have the option to switch on HD video calls using mobile data as well, providing improved video calling within its apps. The crispness of HD could significantly improve your video calling experience, enhancing connection within your video chats.

🔹 And this will also help: Meta’s also rolling out background noise suppression and voice isolation to help you make clearer, higher-quality calls. Meta’s also adding audio or video voice messages for when people don’t answer your call. When your hands are full or your phone is out of reach, you can now ask Siri to help you make your calls and messages wherever you are. Try something like: “Hey Siri, send a message to Cassandra on Messenger” and then dictate what that message will be.”

🔹 And Meta being Meta, it’s also obliged to include a generative AI element in any update. “In September, we announced new ways to personalize Messenger chat themes with unique, AI-generated images from Meta AI. Soon, you’ll be able to use AI backgrounds in Messenger video calls to reflect how you’re feeling or just add a little excitement to your call.” Yeah, I’m not a big fan of these AI-generated images, nor of Meta’s insistence in getting people to generate them in-stream. But this could provide a fun, custom option for your video calls, with generated images to accompany your video chats.

🔹 And a lot of people are using Meta’s video calling options to connect. Meta says that users spend over 7 billion cumulative minutes on calls across Facebook and Messenger every day. Which seems like a lot, but given the ease of connectivity, and the reach of Meta’s apps, it makes sense that people are making use of these options. These new updates, then, could be extremely valuable in helping to enhance connection over the holiday period.

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📲 Meta Outlines its Efforts to Combat ‘Pig Butchering’ Scams
#News #Insta

🔹 Meta has provided some new insights into its ongoing efforts to protect users from scams while it’s also shared some tips on what to look out for to avoid scam activity, and in particular, “pig butchering”, which has become a bigger problem in recent years. What’s “pig butchering” you might ask?

🔹 As explained by Meta:
“One of the most egregious and sophisticated fraud scams, ‘pig butchering’ is all about building trusted personal relationships online with someone only to manipulate them to deposit more and more money into an investment scheme, often using cryptocurrency, and ultimately lose that money.”
So it’s (mostly) romance scams, in which the scammers target lonely people with offers of love and adventure, only to then clean out their bank accounts once they gain their trust. It’s pretty horrible, especially given that it targets vulnerable people, and eventually compounds their loneliness by screwing them over.

🔹 And as such, Meta’s taking action to stop it, with the company removing over two million accounts linked to scam centers, mostly originating from Asia, throughout this year. “For over two years, our teams have been focused on investigating and disrupting the activities of the criminal scam centers in Southeast Asia. While our initial focus was on scam centers in Cambodia, we have since worked to keep pace with the expansion of these groups as they began to appear in places like Laos, Myanmar and more recently the United Arab Emirates.

🔹 At the outset, we actively engaged with expert NGOs and law enforcement partners in the US and Southeast Asia to better understand the modus operandi of these criminal groups, including in places like Sihanoukville in Cambodia, which is reported to be a hotbed for Chinese organized crime-linked scams.” Meta says that it’s actively working with law enforcement to help catch out and punish these groups, while it’s also sharing information with industry peers to expand its detection systems. But users can also protect themselves by being aware of what to watch for, and on that front, Meta has provided seven tips.

🔹 These measures and notes will help you to protect yourself from scam activity, but the baseline security you need is two-factor authentication, while you should always be wary of any links that you click. Checking the details of email addresses, and clarifying URLs by hovering on links can be easy ways to detect errors or inconsistencies that point to scams, and being vigilant will help to ensure you don’t fall victim to them.

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📲 Instagram Makes It Easier To Remove Inactive Profiles From Your Audience
#News #Insta

🔹 This could be helpful. Instagram is now displaying how many inactive profiles are among your followers, so that you can remove them from your audience if you prefer. Now, when you tap through on your “Followers” listing from your IG profile, you’ll see a new category above the main list that shows “Deactivated accounts”, along with profiles that have been flagged for review, creator accounts, etc. Why remove these inactive accounts?

🔹 Well, they’re messing up your stats for one, as all of your average performance figures are divided by the total number of followers you have. So your engagement rates and reach data could be impacted, depending on how you measure them. They could also be messing up your ad targeting sets if you’re aiming to reach people similar to the audience that you have. It’s the same with asking family members to follow your brand account, at some stage, you may be better off removing them, because all of your insights into your audience’s interests could be impacted by having people outside your target audience included in this segment.

🔹 Inactive followers may well be the same, with accounts that are not active still being included in your datasets. But now, you can easily remove them, by simply going to this listing and tapping “Remove” on each account. Of course, you may also want to keep them, because maybe having a higher follower count is important to you.

🔹 But depending on how you’re looking to grow your profile, and reach the right audience in the app, having the capacity to remove inactive profiles could be a valuable addition to your process. The new option is now active in the latest version of Instagram.

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📲 Gen Z Highly Influenced By User-Generated Content On Instagram
#News #Insta

🔹 Gen Z uses Instagram (69 per cent), YouTube (62 per cent), and TikTok (50 per cent) for product discovery, whereas Millennials choose Facebook (66 per cent), as per a recent survey by Bazaarvoice, Inc. Shoppers, including Gen Z across the globe, are increasingly relying on user-generated content (UGC) for product discovery and purchase decisions, and personalised offers are becoming key drivers of sales across multiple product categories. The study identifies a shift in customer behaviour, with omnichannel purchasing now combining webrooming, showrooming, and social media as important components. Eighty-eight per cent of shoppers want a consistent buying experience across all channels, with four out of five preferring a combination of in-store and online purchases.

🔹 Three-fourths of consumers engage in online-to-offline shopping, which involves researching things online before purchasing them in physical stores (webrooming), while 59 per cent do the opposite (showrooming). Over one-third (39 per cent) of consumers utilise social media for product discovery and research, with 31 per cent making direct purchases through these channels. In 2021, more than half of respondents (55 per cent) stated that they had never shopped on social media. This year, that figure has decreased to only 24 per cent. More than half of consumers, self-identified creators, are eager to share opinions when rating products. Last year, half (forty-six per cent) of respondents identified as passive consumers, who tend to read consumer opinions rather than sharing their own. This year, that number dropped to just 28 per cent.

🔹 This is good news for shoppers, 86 per cent of whom say they engage with creator content before making a buying decision, the report said. Sixty-five per cent of global shoppers rely on UGC, such as ratings, reviews, photos, and videos in their buying decisions. Nearly half of shoppers find user reviews on retailer websites the most influential content when researching the products online. Gen Z is highly influenced by UGC, with 80 per cent considering it crucial in their decision-making process. However, generation impacts what type of content they prefer.

🔹 Baby boomers rely more on traditional UGC-like ratings and reviews, while Gen Z prefers visual content like photos and videos from social media influencers.
Personalised offers drive 45 per cent of shoppers to complete purchases online. They resonate even more strongly with Gen Z, 61 per cent of which find these tailored offers impactful. Electronics (47 per cent), apparel (42 per cent), and health and beauty (39 per cent), are the product categories for which personalised offers are most influential.

🔹 “This year’s study reinforces that to succeed today, brands and retailers must meet their customers wherever they shop—especially on social platforms, where consumer engagement and comfort with purchasing are on the rise,” said Zarina Lam Stanford, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Bazaarvoice. “The demand for user-generated content is higher than ever, and it’s a powerful tool for creating genuine connections that influence purchase decisions. As consumers shift from passive observers to active content creators, brands have a unique opportunity to harness authentic voices and build trust across all touchpoints.”

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📲 Instagram Tests New Placement of the DM Button in the Main UI
#News #Insta

🔹 Instagram’s expanding its test of an alternative placement of the message icon in the main app UI, as DMs continue to see more usage in the app. Some users are now seeing the DM icon in the middle of the bottom function bar in the app. Which is currently where the “+” creation button is for regular posts, but according to IG chief Adam Mosseri, people are now messaging a lot more than they share feed updates. As per Mosseri:

“Messaging is used a lot more than the create button, so we’re testing putting DMs in both in the middle position, and in position two where you can still swipe over to it. We’ll see how it goes.”

🔹 So some people are seeing the DM icon in the middle, while others are seeing it in the second spot in the lower function bar. Or they may be seeing a different variation of the DM icon: This version was spotted in testing back in July, so the experiment in moving the DM icon has actually been live for some time, though it's now seemingly being expanded to more users. Which, as per Mosseri's note, make sense. Over time, more and more social media interactions have switched to DMs instead, with Mosseri noting this shift back in 2022. Which is why Instagram has been working to lean into this change, by also adding new elements like inbox Notes to encourage more DM interaction, and making it easier to share posts via DMs.

🔹 Because while messaging may not feel like the main focus of IG, it now kind of is.Again, as per Mosseri, in an announcement earlier this year: "When you think of Instagram, you probably think of a feed of square photos. But how Instagram works has changed a lot over the years, and if you look at what people share, and how people express their creativity, the primary way they do so is actually DMs on Instagram. More photos and videos are shared in DMs than are to Stories or to feed on any given day."

🔹 So more than what Mosseri noted in 2022, DMs are actually now the primary channel for engagement between users, with the main feed becoming more of a TikTok-like stream of recommended entertainment. As such, the change probably makes sense, even if it does seem a little unusual. It might not actually be necessary, but maybe it helps to fuel already rising behaviors.

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