News from the Social Media World in March 2023

Key Takeaways:

• Meta will let you pay for verified badges on Facebook and Instagram and use “roll call” in Messenger group chats starting March 2023
• Snapchat integrates AI (chat GPT) and expands its sound feature to make recommendations for AR lenses
• YouTube allows users to create podcasts in studio
• Twitter sends instant notifications to users when tweets they respond to include a community note
• Spotify introduces DJ with artificial intelligence

Since there’s quite a bit of new stuff coming in March 2023, we’re going to skip the big introductions and jump right in. Check the Kolsquare Influencer Marketing Blog regularly to stay up to date.

News for Meta in March 2023

In the guise of a premium subscription, Facebook and Instagram users can now buy a blue checkmark. For “only” 15 US dollars a month, profiles can thus confirm their identity. Classically, the blue checkmark, which is also available on other social media platforms such as Twitter, indicates trust and credibility as the profiles have been authentically verified. Consequently, users could distinguish between genuine accounts and impersonators or fake accounts.

This update, to be launched first in Australia and New Zealand, would allow individual accounts to purchase verified badges for their own profiles, which can be useful for influencers, creators and brands looking to build their personal brand in and through social media. A verified badge on your profile can help you stand out from the crowd and build trust with your audience, which can lead to more followers, engagement, and opportunities to collaborate with brands. At the same time, of course, there’s the question of how trustworthy the blue checkmarks remain if they’re easy to buy. After the Twitter acquisition, Elon Musk announced the same principle – blue checkmarks through a premium account.

Heads up: You can’t get verified for Facebook and Instagram at the same time with a “Meta Verified” subscription. So Meta is asking you to pay $27 a month for a blue checkmark on Facebook, which you can only buy over the Internet for now.

In addition, Meta announced to unlock the so-called “Roll Call” in Messenger group chats. This will allow users to respond to a prompt and indicate that they are present in the chat, which can be especially useful for chats with many participants, such as work or school projects. To use Roll Call, group chat administrators can type “@rollcall” into the chat and members will be prompted to respond to the message with a thumb or other emoji. For marketers, “Roll Call” could be a useful tool for managing group chats with the team, customers, or clients.

Snapchat pioneers AI integration for premium users

Snapchat is the first social network to integrate chatbot elements for Snapchat+ subscribers. Called “My AI,” it delivers artificial intelligence-generated responses through Chat GPT. The chatbot launched last November and has since made big waves. The tool cuts working hours in half, writes notices and now also chats with Snapchat Premium users.

The so-called “Story Replies” use AI to suggest pre-written messages, give compliments or reply  with reactions and jokes. The network writes the following on its own blog about integrating AI for Snapchat+ users: “My AI can recommend birthday gifts for your best friend, plan a hiking trip for a long weekend, suggest a recipe for dinner, or even write a haiku about cheese for your cheddar-obsessed friend. Give My AI its own name and customize the background image for your chat.”

This integration of AI technology is part of a larger trend in social media where companies are using machine learning and natural language processing to create personalized and engaging experiences for users. For marketers, this means having to understand audience preferences and behavior even better, while working more closely along privacy lines.

Another update for Snapchat in March 2023 is the expansion of the sound feature. Since the launch of Snapchat Sound, there have now been 2.7 billion musically accompanied videos that have been clicked more than 183 billion times, according to Snapchat. This month, Snapchat is expanding that sound feature by offering users recommendations for songs that can be combined with AR lenses and used in Snaps and Stories. These “Sounds Recommendations for Lenses and Sounds Sync for Camera Roll” are part of Snapchat’s efforts to offer users a more immersive and interactive experience on the platform. So as marketers, consider how you can incorporate music into your influencer marketing strategy on Snapchat.

Head of Music Strategy at Snapchat Manny Adler says on the platform’s own blog: “By expanding Sounds, Snapchat is making it easier and faster for Snapchatters to discover and share the music they love with friends. Snapchat has also created a unique way for artists to reach a valuable and engaged audience and get fans to listen to the full song on streaming services.”

Podcasts with and on YouTube

In August 2021, YouTube announced the launch of a new feature that allows creators to convert existing YouTube videos into podcasts via the YouTube Studio platform. The update is now expected to further simplify the conversion of video content into audio-only formats, allowing YouTubers to potentially reach new audiences through platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Creators can access the YouTube Studio dashboard and easily select the videos they want to convert to podcasts. The audio files can then be published directly to their YouTube channel or exported as an audio file. It is also possible to customize the titles, description and image, as well as add audio ads and sponsorship. Specially the sophisticated analytics on YouTube can be interesting for marketers if they want to integrate the new feature into the next influencer marketing strategy.

Promoting the community on Twitter in March 2023

When a tweet that users have responded to gets a community note, they will be notified about it via message. As a reminder, a community note is the flagging of tweets that potentially violate Twitter standards or spread misinformation.

This is a response to promote transparency and accountability on Twitter and give users more information about the tweets. As a result, it’s up to marketers to continue to be diligent in their content creation, keep Twitter’s policies in mind, and adjust their content strategy accordingly.

More artificial intelligence in the future: Spotify introduces AI DJ

Everyone who has a Spotify account surely looks from time to time into the Spotify playlists suggested for them, such as “Your Mix of the Week” or “Release Radar”, where the platform presents curated playlists to its users. These are based on the listening habits and preferences of individual users and analyze favorite artists, genres and songs to create playlists that are also regularly updated.

The new AI DJ is intended to personalize the music experience on Spotify even further. Thus, the AI provides spoken commentary on the tracks and artists you like, with what Spotify says is an “amazingly realistic voice” based on Spotify’s Head of Cultural Partnerships Xavier “X” Jernigan.

According to Spotify, the personalized playlists, which are enriched with AI commentary, are intended to expand the in-house music experts’ knowledge of music, artists and genres, and further engage users with the app.