Meta brings Christmas to creators!
As the festive season fast approaches and going outside seems less appealing, many people turn to their devices for entertainment. Meta is looking at optimising opportunities for creators by offering incentives.
Meta is producing digital gifts available on Instagram in many regions, providing creators with larger opportunities to generate income from in-stream stickers. Alongside this, Meta is also working on rolling out new seasonal-themed virtual gifts on Facebook until the end of the year. Gifts on social platforms can often be a useful way to encourage additional revenue for creators, with a percentage of each gift allocated going back to the creator. To be eligible to receive gifts the creator must have over 5,000 followers and operate under a professional account.
Meta is also implementing a brand new, invite-only program for creative talent. Known as the “holiday bonus” will reward creators based on their number of reel plays and photo views received during the festive period. This has been launched under the assumption that it will give users motivation to keep posting, helping Meta to maximise content flow on its platforms.
Read more here.
TikTok’s $1 billion creator fund will cease to exist in the new year
TikTok has announced its $1 billion creator fund will end on December 16th 2023. Content creators in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and France will no longer be able to monetise their content through the original funding process. Originally introduced in 2020, the brand intended to pay out $1 billion within three years to people making the app’s most viral content. Many creators have recognised low payouts, making the platform impossible to use as a sole income provider.
In February 2023 a new method of monetisation for the platform was released, it intends to result in higher payouts for popular creators. Earnings will now be based on views and other engagement metrics. Creators are set to make 20 times the amount they were making under the original fund.
TikTok has always been considered one of the more unpredictable platforms to earn from, in comparison to platforms such as YouTube or Twitch. YouTube specifically has capitalised off the issue of low payouts by offering ad revenue sharing on Shorts, its largest competitor, TikTok.
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Instagram introduces the add-on of song lyrics to reels
The feature that allows you to add song lyrics and a sound to stories has now been extended to Instagram reels.
Platforms such as TikTok have grown dramatically in the past year and this is largely due to the expansion into the music industry. Its recent partnership with Billboard on a TikTok trending chart as well as its live music event, are just a few examples of the brand’s expansion.
Therefore it is not unusual that we are seeing Instagram do something similar, tapping into larger opportunities. Although this may not appear to be a major functional update within the wider reels timeline. However, the addition of song lyrics is something users appeared to be doing/creating for themselves. Therefore Instagram’s updated version not only makes it easier for people but also makes the app more popular in comparison to other platforms.
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YouTube will “Play something” for you!
A new tool created by YouTube for its mobile app that randomly directs you to a video when you are unsure of what to watch. The prompt is set to show up between content as you scroll through your feed.
It is suggested that the feature only directs you to shorts however, some have found that it may also show you random full-length videos. It is currently unclear as to whether YouTube monitors your watch history when selecting its “random” options.
YouTube may have been working on this new feature for a while as a user on Reddit spotted it in May. Netflix has released a similar element named “play something” which was launched in 2021. A similar concept generates random shows and movies from Netflix’s range. It will be interesting to see if YouTube’s version is as popular.
Read more here.