Twitter begins testing Timeline Ads on publisher sites
Twitter is now testing Timeline Ads in timelines embedded on third-party publisher sites, according to a report from Business Insider. According to the report, ad revenue from these Timeline Ads will be split equally between Twitter and the publishers, with four ad placements interspersed among the top 20 tweets in an embedded stream. "We are continuing to evolve and iterate the ways in which we can work with publishers to help them generate revenue through unique real-time content monetization opportunities, on and off platform." a Twitter spokesperson told Business Insider.
Twitter election awareness: #BeAVoter Campaign & awareness tools
The birdie brings in some electoral Twitter Updates! Making election awareness a priority, Twitter announced a new #BeAVoter campaign to encourage Twitter users to head to the polls. Users will see a prompt in their home timeline with information on how to register to vote. Twitter is also releasing a new emoji connected to #BeAVoter that will help unify the conversation around this national call to action. #BeAVoter will also be the top US trend promoted by @TwitterGov which will create more access to voter registration information that also includes election reminders and an absentee ballot FAQ.
Twitter expands In-Stream Video Ads to all regions
Twitter Ads now serve publishers with an opportunity to monetize their global audience. With the consumption of video content show no signs of slowing down, Twitter's in-stream video ads will now be able to reacha global audience. While the video ad format was initially region-restricted, the expanded option helps advertisers amplify their results.
Twitter to remove the Ability to Create ‘Moments’ on Mobile Apps
A feature which was not the most popular amongst users, Twitter plans on discontinuing with the application of creating Moments. The change comes into play with an intention to focus on Twitter updates that users would enjoy more. However, Twitter's Moments will not entirely be removed, with users having an option to create it on a desktop.
AMP Pages will soon support Video Docking, Sticky Ads & more
The new Accelerated Mobile Page Google update enables site owners to create equivalent AMP pages that more closely resemble the original web page. Some of features - Video Docking that allows users to watch a video as they scroll, Infinite Scroll for page elements, Input Masking & Sticky Ads.
Input Masking will help users to fill forms efficiently by automatically adding formatting such as spaces and interstitial characters. AMP changes the way ads are executed to make it more interesting for users with the new sticky ads feature. AMP pages will soon have support for sticky ads in desktop when fixed position on the left or right rail of the page.
It is the age of AMP in digital marketing
Speeding up web pages and reducing the load time in order to enhance the user experience is key to achieving higher mobile ranking. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open-source framework which enables developers to create faster mobile pages. AMP optimised pages lead to in 10% improvement in site discovery and traffic, 80% decrease in page load time, 20% increase in ad placement CTR, and users spend 2x time on AMP pages.
#5 Media Sharp Shooters
|
• |
Hyper-local targeting |
|
• |
Emails are back |
|
• |
Digital - As The New TV |
|
• |
Whatsapp Marketing |
#6 Ecomm Marketing Picks Up
|
• |
Addition of MPO (Marketplace Optimisation) to SEO |
|
• |
Investments in Branded Content for Marketplaces |
|
• |
Social Ecommerce - Will be Tried, Tested, Sustained |
#7 Rich Content Search
|
• |
Youtube is becoming the new Google |
|
• |
Video content in search results gives better conversions |
|
• |
Language Search Will become Game Changers |
#8 Digital Natives Defining New-age Marketing
|
• |
It’s Mobile, it’s going to be mobile. |
|
• |
Cashless-consumers - Born with E-wallets |
|
• |
Inherent comparison shoppers |
|
• |
Want to be a part of the content - Be it Social-voice or more |
|
• |
Immersive experiences like TikTok |
#9 Digital Natives - The Impatient Audience
|
• |
I.W.W.I.W.W.I.W - I want when I want the way I want. |
|
• |
Tap-tap-tap - To - shop, order food, book a ride, talk to mom, etc. etc. |
|
• |
Just speak - To - call, play music, set reminders, send messages, etc. etc. |
#10 Data-Analytics Unavoidable
|
• |
Rising consumer expectations (personalization, habituated to real-time updates) |
|
• |
Data Management to analyze and predict behavior |
|
• |
Investments to step up in AI, ML and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) |
Analyze better with Amazon’s customer acquisition metrics
These new set of metrics are aimed at helping brands understand how well their campaigns convert first-time buyers. The segment includes ad-converting first time buyers who purchased products on Amazon. The set of metrics includes new-to-brand purchases, new-to-brand purchase rate and cost per new customer.
Advertisers will be able to analyze and understand better the efficiency of brand-oriented campaigns being able to convert new customers. It would also be able to determine formats and channels that work best to achieve their acquisition and customer loyalty goals.
Quora adds Search-Like keyword targeting and auction insights
Advertisers get more visibility with Auction Insights giving them more information on ads' competence, allowing them to fine-tune creative and/or bids based on these insights.
Keywords can be grouped in any number of ways - customer journey stage from top to bottom of the funnel to up-selling and retention. Just like search campaigns, ad creatives can then be tailored to the keywords.
Quora offers six primary types of ad targeting, including topic, question, audience, interest, broad and keyword targeting.
Bing Ads becomes the exclusive advertising platform for Yahoo search ads
Microsoft and Verizon Media announced an expansion to their alliance that will see Bing Ads serving Yahoo search ads exclusively in addition to powering all AOL searches.
Microsoft's audience targeting system powered by the Microsoft Graph and artificial intelligence capabilities are added benefits to customers. The company is set to approach its advertising business with privacy and security in mind.
https://www.neowin.net/news/bing-ads-is-now-the-exclusive-advertising-platform-for-yahoo-search-ads/
VR and voice tech to be the next frontiers in health-care advertising
In the healthcare advertising sector where a more holistic picture of the disease is required to be able to communicate and create empathy towards it, VR and Voice tech are taking a centre-stage. Immersive and conversational experiences are going to be the next big thing! With revolutionary storytelling, healthcare advertising will have a better understanding of the customer sentiment.
Proposed cross-media standard to toughen rules for digital and TV
After two years of speculation, the Media Rating Council holds linear TV to new higher standards for commercial ratings. It toughens rules for viewable video impressions – raising the standard to 100 percent of the ad in view, from the prior 50 percent, for at least two seconds. However, MRC says that duration weighting should not be applied to longer form videos.
Twitter makes election conversations very interesting!
The Election Commission of India’s Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation program (SVEEP) on Twitter (@ECISVEEP), a handle that was launched on Holi, is set to raise more voter awareness through the platform. @ECISVEEP aims at building a stronger democracy, by encouraging all eligible citizens to be aware and active in the voting process, thereby maintaining and enhancing the sanctity of the electoral process.
Twitter joins these efforts and makes it easier for Indians across the globe, to join election conversations on its platform through an election-specific emoji that features a panoramic coloured illustration of the Parliament of India. People can tweet in English + 12 Indian languages to activate the emoji.
Amazon plans to launch 3,236 satellites for global internet connectivity
These satellites will be launched into low Earth orbit to provide internet to the unserved and underserved communities around the world. This would help innovate and disrupt the satellite and space world with new AWS products, services and features.
With this, Amazon would join a string of companies that plan to use a network of satellites to offer broadband across the globe. Unlike traditional satellite internet, these plans involve the use of satellites in low Earth orbit, which would make it cost-effective and can be operated with lower latencies.
Baby care companies seek kids' data
Amazon, FirstCry and J&J’s BabyCenter are among those seeking information for better ad targeting to offer tailored content, discounts. This move may violate the proposed data protection law, according to privacy experts in India.
Even though the information is being offered by parents and the companies have mostly claimed that they are not using the data collected to market to the children, privacy experts still have concerns. It is not clarified whether this data is being shared with third-parties and if the kids can request the removal of said data once they become adults.
Twitter increases their premium live streaming offering
One of the best ways for brands to move forward at the speed of culture, connecting with audiences when they are at their receptive best is by live streaming content. Twitter realizing this has added premium content deals with Univision, The Wall Street Journal, NFL, ESPN and Viacom for live-streaming videos on its platform. These join the likes of Marvel, CNN, the Drone Racing League amongst others.
88% of Amazon’s new clientele hails from tier 2 and 3 Cities!
Amazon prepares to become the one-stop solution for all its customers. New insights reveal that 88% of Amazon’s new clientele are from tier 2 and 3 cities. The e-commerce giant is currently growing their groceries and home products section to have a better selection for their customers. The e-retailer has been working on their interface, and on the availability of the products, to make consumers from tier 2 and 3 cities keep coming back to shop from their site!
The Future is voice generated digital campaigns!
With the success of voice search, with virtual assistants like Google Home and Alexa, it is of no surprise that voice search has revolutionised the way of placing queries. Based on the rising trend of using voice instead of texting, the next big thing would be voice generated digital campaigns. This mode of campaign also has the chance to learn about the users preferences and tailor-make a response that would put the consumer at ease and much more likely to try a new product!
Voice searches see 270 % growth
Consumers across categories are adapting to voice search to seek information and discover content. India has seen a whopping 270% growth year-on-year in voice searches.
The Year in Search-India: Insights for Brands by Google report shows the growth of voice searches is driven by regional languages. It also shows the rise of omni-channel wherein online and offline are coming together to fulfill customer needs and are helping businesses to make the best of their potential.
Retweet in an interesting way!
Twitter introduces a new feature with which we can retweet with GIF, photos, and video. The update is rolling out now on iOS, Android, and mobile.twitter.com.
By expanding the places where users can use videos, GIFs and photos, Twitter aims at giving marketers an opportunity to add vibrancy to the way they talk to people on Twitter and add new layers to the personas they've built on the platform.
Amazon works on a gadget that will read human emotions
The wrist-worn gadget is described as a health and wellness product. It's a collaboration between Lab126, the hardware development group behind Amazon’s Fire phone and the Alexa voice software team. The idea of the product is to determine human emotions by analysing vocal patterns. It is unclear how far along the product is, however, Amazon is known to give their teams wide latitudes to experiment with. Since Amazon’s efforts to rival smartphone software companies Apple Inc. or Google have failed, they have been trying to make Alexa unique in other ways.
Twitter brings new features, emojis and special content partnerships for cricket lovers
In a first-of-its-kind product experience in cricket, Twitter has made it easier for fans to be able to follow all the live action around #CWC19, by tracking the games in real-time, through a unique scorecard in the app. Special emojis for the World Cup tournament have also been introduced, along with new jersey emojis of the ten teams participating that can be unlocked by users.
Twitter launches ‘live scorecard’ for cricket World Cup updates
Cricket fans can stay up-to-date with the live action of the World Cup, thanks to Twitter’s new feature - the unique live scorecard. Through Twitter’s content partnership with the International Cricket Council, the @ICC and @cricketworldcup official handles will be Tweeting video highlight clips from each game, recapping every match.
TikTok does a me-too with Youtube
Adopting from YouTube's playbook, TikTok bets on user-generated content to bring in more ads. TikTok launched the #MyTikTokStory campaign, on the platform to encourage Indians to create 15-second videos on cooking, do-it-yourself, sports, pottery, dancing and singing.
Bytedance believes that creators are the backbone of a platform like TikTok and is working to invest in the creative community.
Twitter discards the feature allowing location tagging
With not enough users making use of the feature to tag the exact location in their tweets, Twitter has decided to remove this feature. The feature was launched in 2009. However, users felt it was safer not to tag their location in tweets. Twitter announced that users can still tag their pictures with the updated camera feature.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/06/twitter-discards-location-tagging-feature/
Hubhopper partners with Indus OS to facilitate vernacular content
This integration will result in users accessing audio content in over 10 Indian languages on various Indian mobile brands across India further giving a boost to the emerging dominance of regional content consumption on digital platforms and devices. With podcasts now being a new trend as far as audio content consumption is concerned, these could appear as a new take to the conventional radio.
Twitter rolls out a new desktop interface
The new Twitter desktop UI is live in India now and has been rolled out to select users. The tests are focused on making the user experience better, to find potential gaps while understanding the changing user behaviour. There are two different designs that are being tested. While there have been mixed reactions regarding the new interface, most of the feedback has been overwhelmingly negative.
TikTok, Bigo,YouTube move to educational content
Bigo Live, a Singapore-based live streaming platform, launched education channels, while TikTok’s #EduTok has become a trending hashtag with over a billion views. Google-owned YouTube has also been focusing on educational content. It is investing $20 million in developing such content. In India, the company competes directly with ByteDance-backed video-apps and Alibaba-backed VMate.
Shazam for clothes launched by Amazon!
Amazon has launched StyleSnap, an AI feature in its app that allows customers to upload a photograph or a screenshot of a fashion look. Amazon searches its own site for similar items and makes suggestions to the users. Amazon isn’t the first retailer to offer a search feature of this kind. Asos, Wayfair, and Target all have similar tools in place. However, the technology is still in its early days.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-launches-shazam-for-clothes-2019-6/amp
'Smart Downloads' feature for Gaana Plus subscribers
Gaana Plus users on Android and iOs now get their favourite most played tracks automatically downloaded! Users can enjoy these tracks when offline. This feature would be automatically turned on Gaana Plus users. They can manually turn it off from the settings and delete the songs from the app at any time. So far the feature that was being tested since March has received a positive response.
Twitter now in 7 Indian languages!
Twitter Inc has redesigned its website to help users personalise content in seven Indian languages - Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu, Tami, Bengali and Kannada. This is part of a global rejig which will roll out in a few weeks, encouraging more conversations across languages. The web design will see a left-side navigation panel with new features such as explore, lists and bookmarks.
Indians fond of digital assistants
So fond, they would be reluctant to give them up. They have found ways to avoid their desktops for a day - however, they would not like to part with their smartphones! Even though Internet-based services and latest gadgets have become an integral part of daily lives, people, despite their digital dependency, are scared of online frauds and breaches.
Twitter shifts focus to API for advertisers
Following its policy change, Twitter will now offer Twitter Ads API instead of third-party sources. The new policy may or may not affect users, based on how dependent they are on the platform for information. The new policy will come into effect early next year.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/08/twitter-shifts-focus-to-api-for-advertisers/
Twitter introduces 6-second video bidding for advertisers
The audience’s decreasing attention span, the short-form content has been gaining more relevance. The 6-second ad unit introduced by Twitter suits all genres of campaigns. Advertisers would be charged only when their ads are viewed.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/08/twitter-6-second-video-bidding-available-to-advertisers/
Amazon joins the food delivery bandwagon
Amazon joins the food delivery network to lock horns with established food delivery services such as Zomato and Swiggy. They have already been in talks with restaurants, promising a lower commission fee and a higher volume of orders.
Amazon opens up to 3rd Party Advertising
This festive season, Amazon plans to give Facebook and Google a run for their money. For the first-time Amazon is promoting external advertisers to place ads on their platform in India, in their ‘Click-Out’ campaign. Amazon has run campaigns with brands such as Citibank and Maruti Suzuki and is looking to acquire more large clients in the run-up to the festive season.
PM Narendra Modi sets new Twitter record with 50 million followers
Modi is the third world leader to have crossed the 50 million mark on Twitter. He joined Twitter back in 2009, a time when very few Indian politicians were using this platform. He has become the first Indian to achieve this feat! PM Modi is not only popular on Twitter but also on other social media platforms.
Swipeable Feed with Twitter
Twitter has been testing a new update - wherein users can swipe through customised lists from the home feed! You have an option as to which lists will appear on the feed and you can pin them too. Transition to your regular feed is also uncomplicated. Lists have been used for organized scrolling by Twitter users for years now.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/09/twitter-tests-lists-swipeable-feed/
36 hours of Amazon Great Indian Festival report
The Amazon Great Indian Festival saw rise of customers from tier 2 and 3 towns. India has gone digital with more shoppers than ever, browsing and shopping online! Amazon.in saw the single largest day of Prime membership sign-ups, with 66% of Prime members shopping in 24 hours coming from tier 2 & 3 towns.
Twitter's newest feature allows users to follow niche content
Twitter users can now follow topics in the same manner they follow other users on the platform. These topics can range from sports to K-pop. The micro-blogging site has promised that the Topics tweets users see on their timelines will come from accounts with credibility. Additionally, users have the option to mute a topic they do not wish to see for a while.
https://www.cnet.com/news/twitters-new-feature-corrals-tweets-by-topic/
Campaign groups banned from targeting users on Twitter
Further to their recent announcement to ban political ads from its platform, Twitter declared that while campaign groups can continue to advertise on political issues they would not be allowed to target users on the basis of postcode or political preferences. Twitter has also said election candidates will not be allowed to advertise on the platform but other users, if not linked to legislations or elections, can focus on certain political issues
#TikTokRewind2019 campaign: Top 50 Content and Video Trends
Celebrating the end of 2019, TikTok has released a 10 day long campaign honouring and applauding the timeless moments from the platform. It includes the top 5 creators, viral videos, occasions, celebrities, challenges, etc. As part of the campaign, TikTok also launched a video featuring some of its popular creators. The video went viral on YouTube as it has already garnered close to 37 millions views within three days of launch.
Instagram & TikTok will be big on influencer marketing in 2020
According to reports, Instagram has already become the first choice for brands. It is predicted that by 2020 it will be Instagram and TikTok which would be the top platforms for influencer marketing! Brands consider content control, influencer discovery, and finding new ways to work with influencers as their top three challenges in 2020.
TikTok launches ‘Wedding Season’ campaign
To encourage users from India to share videos of wedding looks, dance moves for sangeet nights and comic elements from weddings, TikTok launched the ‘Wedding Season’ campaign with themes unique to India. Users showcased their creativity with fashion that display the diversity of Indian weddings apart from sharing the fun moments from Indian weddings like bride and groom being tried at weddings.
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/tiktok-launches-wedding-season-campaign-101602.html
Holiday campaigns see partnership between TikTok influencers and brands
Just over a year after TikTok officially launched U.S. brand partnerships, major brands are tapping influencers on social video app for holiday campaigns. TikTok's sponsored "hashtag challenges," where high-profile influencers begin video trends, are one of the main ways for companies to advertise on the app. To improve brands' experiences on the app, the cosmetic companies and agencies said TikTok would need to improve analytics and introduce more in-app shopping features.
TikTok move towards being shoppable
With more influencers and brands showing an interest in running ad campaigns, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, is taking an obvious and interesting step towards making the platform shoppable. Link in bio and social commerce urls are being added to videos. Only a select few creators have access to this option at the moment. TikTok will call the feature Shopping Cart.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/11/tiktok-shoppable-platform
New music streaming service: ByteDance
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has been in talks with big music labels for global licensing deals in order to include their songs on its new music subscription service. The app will be launched in markets such as India, Indonesia and Brazil first. ByteDance has not given a name to its music app yet and pricing remains unclear.
Paytm and Twitter partner up retarget users
To ensure visit the app again even if it is not for payments, Paytm and Twitter has joined forces to integrate Twitter Highlights to the app. In an effort to make itself a super app, Paytm is adding content such as news and astrology.
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/twitter-boards-paytms-app/72119007
Twitter Hide Replies feature rolled out globally
The social media platform has introduced Hide Replies to allow people more control over the conversations that they have started. This ensures that repliers do not go off topic or completely change the tone or the conversation. The service is exploring more options around who can reply to or see specific conversations, and is testing engagement changes to see if these lead to healthier discussions.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/11/twitter-rolls-out-hide-replies-feature-globally/
TikTok reaches a new record in downloads
TikTok has been reportedly downloaded 1.5 billion times till date. It has been downloaded 6% more than last year and has become the third most-downloaded app, outside of the gaming sector. 31% of the app’s downloads are users from India. TikTok has overtaken Instagram by 238 million downloads this year.
Facebook and Twitter gain a new competitor - WT: Social
Just like Wikipedia, WT: Social will be funded by donations and not follow an ad-funded model. With this social media, co-founder Jimmy Wales hopes to get right what Facebook and Twitter have been getting wrong - sharing articles that have been fact-checked. Originally started as Wikitribune, a venture that never took off, it is being moved with a more social networking focus.
Twitterverse to control who responds to Tweets
In an effort to thwart toxic conversations on Twitter, a new roll out feature has been introduced which lets the user select who can reply to their tweets - choices ranging from everyone to no one. Twitter announced that the feature is still in its test phase and will be available to only a small set of users.
TikTok steps to becoming safer
After being under fire for several of its content that promoted misleading information that caused more harm than good, TikTok has updated their community guidelines. They plan to make their platform a safer place for all. TikTok added immigration status, caste, serious disease in the list of protected groups.
Twitter introduces Promoted Spotlight
A new feature added to Twitter’s ad arsenal, Spotlight, which will allow marketers to add six-second videos and GIFs to their 24-hour promoted trend on Twitter’s Trend List. The addition of video generated longer dwell times (26% higher than normal promoted trend units,) 113% higher ad recall, and 18% higher brand consideration.
Political Parties Exploring How To Leverage Tiktok
For the upcoming elections parties are trying to figure out how to leverage the platform’s huge reach and popularity without being political, as Tiktok will not allow political ads. Instagram was popular during the general elections but platforms like TikTok, with 200 million users in India, have caught up.
5500 railways stations now with free WiFi
Railways has been providing free WiFi via RailTel at all of its stations except the halt ones. It started from Mumbai Central and in 46 months has extended the service t0 5,500 stations. RailTel has roped in partners like Google, Tata Trust, PGCIL for some parts of the project and also got funding from the Department of Telecom USOF for 200 stations. WiFi is being provided under the brand name Railwire - the retail broadband service of RailTel
Twitter launches Brand Survey tool
The microblogging site has introduced a new feature to help brands and agencies understand which specific tweet drove the highest lift. Brands would have access to this feature no matter the scale of the campaign. The feature would help shape campaigns according to cultural relevance, and set effective marketing objectives to achieve branding goals. Presently available in the US, UK, Canada, Japan, and Brazil.
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2019/12/twitter-brand-surveys-tool-launched/
Twitter experiments with tweet scheduling feature
The microblogging site has started testing the tweet scheduling feature on their main web version, presently available to selected users. The purpose here seems to make this feature more accessible to a wider user base. Before this, Tweetdeck was one of the most used applications for scheduling tweets.
Resso - music app for India from TikTok
ByteDance Inc. is testing a new music app in emerging markets. Resso is currently available in India and Indonesia. Unlike Spotify, Resso displays real-time lyrics and lets users post their comments under individual songs. They can also generate music-accompanied GIFs and videos, emulating a favorite feature of TikTok.
HC declines linking to official documents to social media
Linking of social media accounts with Aadhaar, PAN, or voter ID card to find out fake accounts has been ruled against by the Delhi High Court, claiming the data of genuine account holders, which are higher in number, to go unnecessarily to foreign countries.
Twitter allows users to upload images without compression
Among the many changes introduced by Twitter in 2019, allowing users to upload high resolution images is the biggest one, even as Facebook image compression continues to be an issue. The website, until now, decoded images that degraded the overall quality.
What TikTok can do for brands in 2020
While it was Gen Z who dominated TikTok in 2019, the app is becoming popular across age groups now. TikTok India the platform will work towards developing interactive and trendsetting content and collaborate with advertisers to supplement their brand campaigns in 2020. The app only started monetising its platform in April last year and has since seen several brands from across verticals engage with its users to successfully launch products or build brand engagement.
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/what-can-brands-expect-from-tiktok-in-2020-102054.html
Where India stands in the cross-border data flow
Although India has relaxed its data localisation requirements in the latest draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill, India’s draft e-commerce policy proposes strict regulation when it comes to cross-border data flows. In December 2019, Swadeshi Jagran Manch’s national co-convener Ashwini Mahajan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for data localisation and digital nationalism as “the need of the hour”. He also encouraged support and promotion of Indian alternatives of payment gateways, social media platforms, and service aggregators.
Budget2020 propose online education to boost EdTech sector
In order to provide quality education to students of deprived sections of the society as well as those who do not have access to higher education, India will start offering degree level full-fledged courses. The move is aimed at increasing India’s low gross enrolment ratio (GER) - a percentage of students in higher education of the total eligible population in the 18-23 age group.
Govt decides to invest in BharatNet programme
Budget 2020 also proposes to allocate Rs 6000 crore for the government's ambitious BharatNet programme which aims at providing on-demand, affordable broadband connectivity. The vision is that all “public institutions” at gram panchayat level such as Anganwadis, health and wellness centres, government schools, PDS outlets, post offices and police stations will be provided with digital connectivity.
TikTok dominates as the post popular app in India
TikTok has outdone Facebook in the key battleground market for global user domination. Indians have clocked 5.5 billion hours on the app. This is an increase of over 6 times from the 900 million hours spent in 2018! The numbers come at a time when TikTok is increasingly looking to monetise its fast growing user base in the country as it has hired a top management team.
Meme economy in India rises
Memes have taken social media by storm. Since brands now want to create memes that would help them stay relevant and topical online, using popular meme pages such as Laughing Colours and Sarcastic Indian seem like an obvious choice! Apart from memes, brands have also started to spend on stickers and GIFs to advertise on daily chats,chiefly through Facebook-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp.
https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/rise-of-the-meme-economy-in-india/73741398
TikTok proposes a safer internet with 'Mera Internet'
For Safer Internet Day, TikTok launched an in-app safety campaign #MeraInternet which invites users to share ideas on how one can become responsible netizens and bring forth a more positive environment.
TikTok allows parents to monitor `screen time’
In an effort to keep teens safe on the platform, TikTok will roll out Family Safety Mode. Using this mode parents will be able to control ‘Digital Wellbeing’ features - screen time management, direct messages and restricted mode. As the names suggest, the features let parents select the time their kids can spend on the app, control who their child might be talking to, and restrict content they deem appropriate for their child.
Twitter lets you add a new tweet to your old thread!
The microblogging platform added a new feature, ‘continue thread’, that makes it easier for users to connect an in-progress tweet to an earlier post. When users are writing their latest tweet, they will just have to pull down to see earlier tweets and tap the "continue thread" or ellipsis button to find an older tweet to reply to.
https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/19/twitter-easier-replies-to-your-own-tweets/
Spate of short form video platforms being launched
In light of TikTok’s short form video success, new short form video sharing apps such as Tangi, Hypershots, and Fireworks are all set to join the bandwagon. Short format video content is now perceived to be a lucrative opportunity for brands. M-Gen has short attention spans and is constantly scrolling through their social feeds to discover the next new thing. Taking cue from this evolving consumer behaviour, social media platforms are constantly reinventing their offerings, with a strong focus on quick-to-consume video content.
Alexa can now pay your bills
Amazon Pay has introduced voice commands for their users. Alexa can now pay users’ utility bills without leaving the company’s ecosystem by simply being asked to do so. Alexa will retrieve the amount due for bills from users registered Amazon account and ask for a confirmation before processing the payment.
Hyper-personal innovation for ads on Gaana
The music app’s ad engine would leverage a mix of real-time data of their users such as age, location, weather, and an exhaustive user data-bucket build over the past 10 years to create hyper-personalised ads for each user in their database. As the country’s go-to music app with over 150 million users streaming over 3.5 billion songs every month, the ability to target this massive user-base with dynamic programmatic audio capabilities will be a game-changer for the Indian marketing community.
Twitter too gets into ‘Stories’ with ‘Fleets’
Twitter becomes the latest to start testing their own version of ‘Stories’ that will disappear after 24 hours. The microblogging site finally adopts a feature made popular by Snapchat, and adapted across most social media platforms. Fleets can be accessed on visiting the user’s public profile. But unlike tweets, they can’t receive likes or show up in Search or in Moments. They are also non embeddable.
TikTok-parent Bytedance launches music streaming app Resso
After being beta tested in India and Indonesia, Bytedance has launched Resso. It allows users to comment on songs and share lyrics on social media. Resso already has more than 500,000 downloads on Google Play. Resso will be competing against YouTube Music, Spotify, JioSaavn and Apple Music among others.
Twitter deletes hate speech, more inclusive space
In an attempt to make Twitter a safer and better place, the microblogging site has placed a ban on tweets that “dehumanise” people on the basis of age, disability or disease. Tweets that violate the policy sent before March 5 “will need to be deleted”, but will not directly result in any account suspensions because they were tweeted before the rule was in place.
4 million housewives dominate ‘emerging segment’ of Indian SMB
Thanks to the digital medium, homemakers in India have joined the business world - becoming resellers in their own right. The study ascertains the total small and medium business (SMB) base to be 75 million in 2019 alone! With the growing reach of the internet and India’s appetite for entrepreneurship, Indian housewives are increasingly using social media like Facebook and WhatsApp to take advantage of the e-commerce rise and reach customers.
Gaana introduces online entertainment content feed ‘Buzz’
The music streaming app continues to dominate the market by introducing another first of its kind content. The in-app content feed would feature the latest mix of entertainment content in the form of stories, articles, videos, photo galleries, online polls, games and lyrics cards associated with trending and popular artists, albums and movies. The feed will also let users enjoy songs uninterrupted by auto-playing videos on mute while scrolling through the feed.
Instagram biggest gainer with TikTok ban
Uncertainty and perplexity dominate TikTok’s future after an explosive growth in the Indian market. It is amongst the 59 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government a few weeks back and is likely to be banned in the US too from September 15, unless it’s bought over. The ban has created an immediate vacuum of a channel that connected with the Gen-Z audience and has forced both businesses and content creators to look for substitutes. This ban has witnessed a surge in content creators and viewers looking for substitutes in global players like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts. Instagram was already a leading player even before the arrival of TikTok but once it came, this easy-to-use short-video sharing platform captured a diverse set of users, more young and regional in nature. In future Instagram might just become the next best alternative or ‘digital home’ for influencers and content creators who were earlier on TikTok.
Gaana reaches 185 million monthly active users
Gaana has announced that it has reached 185 million monthly active users. The streaming platform owes its growth to the launch of Gaana HotShots (short videos), live streaming and podcasts.According to the music platform, it powers more than 3.3 billion streams with over 35 per cent contribution from regional music.
India may be part of Microsoft-TikTok deal: Report
Microsoft is chasing a deal to buy all of TikTok’s global business, including India, Europe as well as US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, One investor pegged the value of TikTok’s India business at as much as $10 billion. TikTok faces a September 15 deadline to either complete a sale of its U.S. operations or face a ban.
E-commerce revolution in India gets its second wind, post Covid-19
Ecommerce is primed to reach nearly 300 to 350 mn shoppers over the next 5 years driven by lower data prices and investments to improve customer experience. Online platforms are innovating. As Indian e-retail sees a steep increase in shopper penetration, driven by lower data prices and investments to improve customer experience, online platforms are innovating to onboard the next hundreds of millions of shoppers. The next wave of shoppers will have different needs and will interact differently than the current set of online shoppers. There will be four key trends going forward: Voice and Vernacular, Visual and Video, Social Shopping and an emergence of large digital ecosystems.
Covid-19 likely to alter consumer behaviour permanently: Survey
90 percent Indians are making lasting changes to how they live, work and shop, and there is no going back. eCommerce has grown 10-times, demand for local products, digital commerce and omnichannel services is surging. Omnichannel services such a home delivery, chat features and virtual consultations are surging, and are likely to endure beyond this crisis.
ByteDance in talks with India's Reliance for investment in TikTok: Report
China’s ByteDance is in early talks with Reliance Industries Ltd for an investment in its video-based app TikTok’s business in India. The two companies began conversations late last month and have not reached a deal yet.The Indian government in June banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, for threatening its “sovereignty and integrity” after border tensions with China.
Twitter adds translate bio option for app users
Power of the local language extended further on Twitter. For users looking for their favourite global icons, Twitter has added the translate bio feature. Users can now view these also in the language in which they use Twitter.The move is bound to help the discoverability of accounts of various persons of interest and newsmakers, including politicians, authorities, celebrities and journalists. The translations will be powered by Google Translate.
https://www.socialsamosa.com/2020/08/twitter-translate-bio-feature/
Twitter to limit visibility of ‘copypasta’ tweets
Twitter is going to limit the visibility of "copypasta" tweets in an attempt to address spam and abuse on the platform. "Copypasta" is internet slang for copying and pasting text from other sources without modifying it in any way.
'E-commerce retail market expected to cross USD 100-billion mark by 2024'
The rise of online fresh groceries sales along with growing numbers of prepared food delivery companies entering this space could propel category growth by five times in the next five years. Some of the key evolving models for e-commerce include order to store for apparel; dark store for FMCG/ grocery and meat/pharmaceuticals, etc.
Internet platforms rush to get a pie of growing Insurance market
India’s burgeoning internet economy is slowly warming up to the potential of its massively underpenetrated insurance market. The country’s largest consumer internet platforms – from Flipkart to Paytm – are scaling up insurance businesses with the promise of low cost, low commitment and fully digital services as demand for risk coverage rises amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Govt telemedicine platform eSanjeevani completes 300,000 consults
he Indian government’s telemedicine platform eSanjeevani has completed 300,000 consultations, the Health Ministry said. 200,000 consults were completed on August 19, and another 100,000 have been completed within a few weeks.
FMCG companies launch online only products
Prompted by the Covid-19 induced lockdown, several FMCG companies from Dabur and ITC to Mondelez and Marico are using e-commerce platforms to launch products before making them available in traditional retail shops.E-commerce, which accounts for 3% of overall FMCG sales in India, however, is the fastest growing channel and witnessed a growth of 56% in the first quarter (January, February & May) and 38% in June, showed data from market research company, Nielsen.
Theek Thaak: A home-grown social media app that’s making waves
When the TikTok app was banned last year, Saina Sodhi (a 17-year old UK school student) was further inspired to produce a homegrown version that can take its place and provide Indian youth with the kind of quality content they were missing. Accordingly, she founded her company, Saina Corporation, which launched its first product , the Theek Thaak app recently. Theek Thaak aims to be a destination for short form mobile videos. It wants to promote Indian regional artists, to allow them a chance to showcase their creative expression ..The main features of the app include video editing and uploading tools, live streaming, reactions, social sharing, sounds, geo- location, Theek code scanner, etc, to be accessible to people across the country and overseas. Theek Thaak is available on every phone type, and it can be found on Apple and Android play stores.In addition to that, Theek Thaak comes in multiple languages. The application is currently available for use in eight different dialects, but Sodhi wants to further expand its reach, and intends to introduce 12 more regional languages with an app update that is now imminent. She believes that doing so will help her reach more of her target audience.
Facebook launches TikTok-like app for creating, sharing raps
Facebook has doubled down on its efforts to take on the growing Chinese short-video making platform TikTok, this time by launching a new app for creating and sharing raps. Called BARS, the app is now available in the Apple App Store in the US and makes it easy to create and share raps so that rappers can focus on and experiment with the content, “rather than investing heavily in equipment and production”. “Audio production tools can be complicated, expensive and difficult to use. With BARS, you can select one of our professionally-created beats, write lyrics and record yourself dropping bars,” Facebook said in a statement on Friday.”BARS auto-suggests rhymes as you’re writing to keep your flow going. You can also jump into Challenge mode and freestyle with auto-suggested word cues. Choose from a variety of audio and visual filters to take your creations to the next level,” the company added.
Apple to launch India webstore next week
Apple Inc will roll out its own online shop in India, taking advantage of a 2019 legislation that significantly eased norms for single-brand retailers to sell directly to Indian consumers through physical and online channels.With this, the maker of iPhones and iPads will become the first foreign company to open its webstore in the country prior to rolling out any company-owned physical outlet, which was a precondition to sell online before the August 2019 relaxations of rules.India will be the 37th country where Apple will have its own ecommerce site.
How Cloud and AI combo is transforming Indian BFSI industry
Cloud became the bedrock for businesses in 2020. While organizations – from governments to enterprises to startups – were already innovating and transforming using cloud, migrating to the cloud is now inevitable. The pandemic has taught us that no business is 100% resilient.
Twitter clone KOO endorsed by govt, trends
Made-in-India microblogging platform Koo, just 10 months old, had a moment in the sun on the very app it wants to replace — Twitter. #KooApp was trending on Twitter earlier today amid the latter’s ongoing tiff with the Ministry of Information and Electronics Technology.
Here’s how Indian manufacturing is embracing digital
Be it supply chain, shop floor management or employee management, the manufacturing sector is keeping an opportunistic eye at digital to transform all processes. The transformation of the manufacturing technologies has replaced the work-force with a knowledge-based workforce. Technologies like IIoT, Cloud Capabilities, HRM Systems are gaining attraction in the Indian manufacturing sector.
Virtual and augmented retail: The next big thing in the world of fashion
Statistics show that 2/3rd of internet users would be very interested in virtual reality, and 63% said such technology would change the way people shop. Augmented reality and virtual reality are all set to transform our shopping experience in the next few years.
SBI Payments To Launch YONO Merchant App To Provide Low-Cost Digital Payments Infrastructure To Merchants
SBI Payments, a subsidiary of India’s largest lender State Bank of India, will launch YONO Merchant App to provide low-cost digital payments infrastructure to merchants. YONO Merchant App will expand digitisation of merchant payments in the country.
How digital solutions helped India’s small merchants serve customers in lockdown
Society Tea, a century-old Mumbai establishment, has relied on omni channel distribution networks and social media marketing to expand its footprint in other parts of the country. During the pandemic, they were on various e-commerce retail platforms. Customer engagement and traction on their D2C website was encouraging and they look forward to growing this.
Kerala CM launches fibre optic network to provide free internet access to 20 lakh families
To bridge the digital divide by providing high-speed, affordable internet connectivity to every household, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the KFON (Kerala Fibre Optic Network) in the state. Speaking at the launch event, the Chief Minister said that KFON will revolutionise the digital space.
Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card becomes fastest to cross 1 million milestone
ICICI Bank has issued about 1.4 million Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit cards. In the process, the credit card has become fastest in the country to cross the milestone of 1 million, in less than 20 months of its launch. The credit card offers unique customer benefits like always-on reward which is unlimited, instant issuance of the card for select customers in less than 60 seconds, direct crediting of reward points to Amazon Pay balance and contactless payment feature.
Tinder rolls out video calling feature in India
The popular dating App has rolled out a new feature to its users in India that will enable them to video call, when both parties have ‘liked’ each other on the App. “Just like matching, we want to make sure you’re on the same page with video: so Face to Face is enabled on a match-by-match basis. Once the conversation is flowing and you’re ready to show you’re interested in a Face to Face, tap the video icon,” said the company in a press statement. The feature won’t be enabled until both parties have opted in, specified the company. Further, it doesn’t notify either party when it is toggled on. It is said to come with an easy toggle off button as well.
Brands will opt for content over style in 2021
Talkwalker and HubSpot have jointly released a report titled ‘Social Media Trends 2021’. Stating how Covid-19 acted as a catalyst instead of an outcome, the report said that the mentions of the virus increased from nearly zero to around 1.2 billion in today’s time, which has in turn expedited issues, ideas and innovations for brands which may not have happened so soon had it not been for the crisis. Some of the trends are ‘brands will start to reposition themselves dramatically over the coming months, moving away from marketing methodologies, to more cause-driven messaging, The report said that 2021 is expected to be the year brands and social media channels focus on highlighting the truth, and silencing fake news. And empathy and advocacy will be elements that will be integrated within messages and purposes for creator campaigns.
Twitter launches ArtHouse to help create engaging Twitter-first content
In order to support brands in connecting with their target audiences, Twitter India has introduced ArtHouse, a creative suite of services to assist brands in creating and optimising Twitter-first content. ArtHouse is a fully integrated service that connects brands with the creative capital of influencers, artists and editors. It is a team of experts who understand the platform and its possibilities, know Twitter’s audience and what works best for them – whether it’s a video ad or a larger campaign. ArtHouse is all about the power of creatives in marketing communications, connecting brands to influencers, artists and producers to create content that moves people. "The impact of creative assets in delivering successful campaigns has been proven time and again, and ArtHouse’s purpose is to enable brands to drive this impact with content that leaves an enduring impression," Twitter said in a statement.
CATEGORIES
- Youtube
- Pintrest
- Snapchat
- Iamai Awards
- Zenith’s Programmatic Marketing Forecasts
- Amp - Accelerated Mobile Page
- E-commerce
- Adobe
- Marketing Funnel
- Content
- Influencer’s Market
- Technology
- Media Efficiency Multipliers
- E-commerce Marketing
- Rich Content Search
- Digital Natives
- Digital Natives - The Impatient Audience
- Data-analytics Unavoidable
- Media Sharp Shooters
- Amazon’s Customer
- Quora
- Yahoo
- Health-care Advertising
- India's Coffee Farmers
- Reliance Acquiring Haptik
- Cross-media - Digital And Tv
- Online News - Social Media
- Momspresso
- The Election Commission
- 5g Technology
- Netflix-like Streaming
- Website - Indian Scripts
- Flipkart
- Advertising In India
- Digital Villages
- Media Quality Report
- Broadband Connections - India
- Iff - Tiktok
- Govt E-marketplace Transactions
- Social Networks
- Department Of Telecommunications (dot)
- Mobile Connections
- Gaana Video
- Airtel-
- Artificial Intelligence (ai)
- Voice Searches
- E-tailers In India
- Tantan Works
- Hotstar - Ipl Finals
- Helo- Scoopwhoop
- Trai - Ott Platforms
- Mxplayer App
- Digital Village - Bharatnet
- Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio
- Wikipedia
- Tiktok
- 'stylesnap' - Amazon’s Shopping
- Rbi Focuses - Digital Payments
- Nykaa Networ
- Paytm Payments
- Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Sony Liv
- India - 2nd Largest Internet
- Kaspersky Lab's Annual Report
- E-commerce
- Digital Payments
- Hubhopper Partners With Indus Os
- Google Maps
- Phonepe
- Airtel
- Rural Broadband
- Multiplayer Gaming With Snapchat
- Helo Hits
- Google Chrome
- Helo, Sharechat
- World Cup: Hotstar
- Gaana
- Swiftkey
- India’s Video Content
- Unified Payments Interface (upi)
- Bots Chat
- Fake Followers
- Hero Motocorp
- New Swace Platform
- Voice Assistance
- Indians Fond - Digital Assistants
- Swiggy
- Telegram
- Amazon's India
- Voot App
- Government Bill
- Digital Brands
- Online Travel Service
- Streaming Service
- Data Analytics
- Government Service
- Online News
- Smartphones
- Snapdeal
- Audio Ott
- Indiamart
- Reliance Jio
- Zee5
- Mobile Apps
- Sbi
- Social Media App
- Netflix
- Lockdown
- Microsoft
- Digital
- Tinder
- Eros Now
-
Let's talk
Mumbai: +91 22 67674000 - 99
Chennai: +91 95661 65412
Write to us
-
Follow us
-
