1. Pinterest Expands Its Advertisement To Mexico – Paid promotions are now possible in Mexico via Pin. The platform is seeing increased engagement in Mexico, in terms of search activity which rose by 93% year-over-year throughout 2020. At the same time, Pinterest continues to expand its ad tools outside of the US, with Argentina, Colombia and Chile being next in line.
2.New Sound And Login Kits Are Available On TikTok – Sound and Login Kits are introduced alongside the “TikTok for Developers program”. Their aim is to help third-party apps create more frictionless sharing and authentication experiences for their users. The Software Development Kits (SDKs) are now available for mobile, web, and console applications globally. The Sound Kit specifically will allow creators and artists to seamlessly bring original sounds and music from third-party apps into the TikTok ecosystem.
3.TikTok Introduces PIP Feature And Talks About Its Commitment To Content Creators – PIP stands for picture in picture, and it is a type of window mode that lets users view content inside another content that they are looking at. It will appear on a small window, pinned to the original content on the main screen. TikTok also discussed their commitment to content creators, during the NewFronts 2021 Convention, and how brands need to focus on earning the trust of creators and users, and not the other way around.
4.Tip Jar Is Now Live On Twitter – It is a new and easy way for users to support content creators on Twitter for iOS and Android. However, it is only available for users using the platform in English for the moment, with plans to expand to more users and more languages later in its stage.
5.“I Wish I Knew” – A New Podcast By @TwitterResearch – It will bring you directly into the world of @TwitterResearch. Each episode will be co-hosted by different researchers who will share their journeys into the field, discuss how the team is elevating conversations across the company through insights, explore why research matters, and celebrate the people and culture surrounding the work. Moreover, Twitter has acquired Scroll – an innovative way for readers to read articles without the ads, pop-ups and other usual clutter that gets in the way, for a better reader experience.
6. New Updates For Microsoft – Microsoft is planning to treat Phrase Match the same way Google does – ads will be shown for searches that include the meaning of your keyword. Microsoft gives an example with “winter vacation in Miami” being matched with “Miami vacation.” Moreover, there is a new integration between Dynamics 365, Microsoft’s customer data platform, and Microsoft Advertising – advertisers will now be able to use their customer segments from Dynamic 365 Customer Insights to reach users in the Microsoft Search Network and Microsoft Audience Network via Customer Match targeting. Lastly, from August 2021 advertisers will no longer have the ability to create new BMM keywords.
7. Automatic Translation Is Added To YouTube – Non-English speakers can now take advantage of this feature, which will automatically translate all video titles, description, and captions into their native languages. These translations will be powered by Google Translate, so accuracy might not be 100%. On another note, YouTube shares a record number of viewings on big screens – 120 million only in December 2020.
8. YouTube Leverages AI, and Facebook Follows The Same Approach – YouTube can now identify individual objects within videos and tag products that are present, thanks to the use of Artificial Intelligence. Google has been working on this feature and along with this update, the platform will also be able to provide direct shopping options for users. Because of the success of this introduction, Facebook is working on introducing a similar feature and the platform claims that it will be much more advanced in terms of functionality.
9. YouTube Improves Its Shoppable Feature – It has decided to release a new collaborative feature targeted at marketers that will enable YouTube viewers to get more details on the product being displayed on their screens without redirecting to other links. Advertisers would intelligently target the advertisements to the right audience by focusing on the video content.
10. Fraudulent Ads Are Still Common On Google – This has been revealed by a BBC report, and it’s about ads that claim to offer government services for a fee, although these services are offered by the government for no charge. It reflects badly on Google Ads’ team, which is responsible for verifying ads before they are launched. The process of verifying was put in place back in January 2021, however, it can take some more time before all of the ads that appear on Google are checked for being trustworthy.