What were some of the top stories from the world of marketing and video? Each week with Render Perfect Productions, your video marketing experts in Baltimore and beyond, we’ll take a look at marketing news this week. In this edition, we are covering some of the top stories from the week of April 4th to April 8th 2022.
Google Adds New Visual and Text Search Options
Google’s looking to provide more ways to find exactly what you’re looking for in visual search queries, with a new ‘multi-search’ option that will enable users to combine visual and text parameters to expand their search results.
That could provide a whole new way to improve your shopping search matches, by using visual cues to enhance your results. And with people shopping across Google more than a billion times a day, the platform remains a key facilitator of eCommerce discovery, which it’s also looking to enhance with ‘more browsable search results’ for fashion and apparel shopping queries.
Visual search qualifiers could also become a much bigger element in the future, as AR glasses and other visual tools come into play. As people get more accustomed to using visual references, and being able to capture visuals via their glasses, the capacity to add those same elements into search could become a much more significant discovery element.
It’s interesting to see how Google’s looking to get ahead of this, while also adding immediate utility in refining search queries, leaning into the growing use of online shopping options.
Twitter Testing Unmention Option
After working on the option for the best part of the last year, Twitter has now released an initial live test of its new ‘unmention’ option, which will enable users to remove themselves from conversations if they no longer feel comfortable being involved.
- Your username is untagged from the original tweet and replies
- Users won’t be able to mention you again within the same reply chain
- You’ll no longer be notified about updates to the exchange
Your username will still appear, in text form, in the initial tweets that you were involved in, but you won’t be an active part of the exchange once unmention is active.
It could be a handy option to avoid the dreaded Twitter pile-on based on a misguided tweet, or simply to mute discussions which may be causing you distress. Essentially, it’s like the ‘Remove tag from photo’ option, but for chats instead, which will give users the capacity to distance themselves from any direct association with selected Tweet discussions, helping to manage their in-app experience.
Twitter first unveiled the option in June last year, as part of an initial overview of coming tweet controls, which also included tools to avoid unwanted @mentions, and to stop anybody from mentioning you for a day at a time, if needed.
Again, that could help users avoid mass criticisms and attacks in the app, and the mental stress that can come with such, and within this, Unmentioning, or removing yourself from a discussion, is another means to protect your sanity while engaging via tweet.
Twitter has also added options to mute keywords and users to control who can reply to your tweets, while there are also now alerts available for potentially offensive comments.
In combination, these various tools will help to improve the Twitter experience, which has long been an issue of concern for the app.
Referred to at various times, by various people, as a ‘cesspit of hate’, among other colorful descriptors, part of the reason that some people are hesitant to join Twitter discussions is because they then stand the risk of being targeted, and being the focus of Twitter’s ‘Eye of Sauron’ for their 15-minutes of rage, which, for some, can be very overwhelming.
Twitter has some ambitious growth targets, and to meet them, it will need to attract new users, and if all people see when they log in is others being lambasted and attacked, that lessens the likelihood that they’ll consider joining in.
And when you also consider that some 80% of all tweets come from just 10% of active users, you can see how this trend then plays out. Twitter has many people tuning in, but far fewer willing to actually engage, at least partly due to fear of criticism if they say or do the wrong thing.
That’s not a pleasant scenario, both for general interactions and for Twitter itself. And while these options won’t erase such habits from the app, they will at least give users more control over their experience.
Meta Launches Share to Reels
As interest in short-form video continues to rise, Meta is adding another way to lean into the trend, with a new ‘Share to Reels’ option for third-party developers that will make it easier for users of non-Meta apps to share their creations direct to Facebook Reels.
“Enabling Sharing to Reels makes it easy for people to share short-form videos directly to Facebook. Once integrated, third-party apps will have a Reels button so people can share short videos, then customize with Reels editing tools like audio, text, effects, captions and stickers.”
Essentially, as Meta notes, instead of downloading any videos that you create in third-party tools, and uploading them manually later on, you’ll now be able to post Reels clips from non-Meta apps with the tap of a button.
At launch, Meta has announced new integrations with Smule, Vita, and VivaVideo, each of which will now have ‘Share to Facebook Reels’ options built-in, providing a heap more options for creators, and likely broader awareness of Reels as a platform.
It may be a direct copy of TikTok, and it may not hold the same appeal to users as TikTok’s addictive ‘For You’ feed. But either way, Reels usage is growing.
Reels is now Facebook’s fastest-growing content format, and with Reels available in over 150 countries across the globe, it’s also gained first-mover advantage in many markets, because Meta has brought Reels to them before TikTok can gain traction, which has undoubtedly affected TikTok’s expansion.
Which is the real aim.
Interestingly, former Meta staffer Michael Sayman recently noted this about the expansion of Stories across Facebook and Instagram.
So despite Stories maybe not being a hit on Facebook, and gaining the traction that it did on Snapchat and IG, that didn’t really matter – Meta’s real aim was to, as Sayman notes, “take away the uniqueness of the feature”, which essentially nullified any potential competitive advantage that Snap could have held.
That’s evidently the same playbook that it’s following with Reels, releasing the option far and wide to ensure that TikTok doesn’t hold any unique value proposition, which will then slow the migration of users away from its apps.
If people can get the same functionality on Facebook and Instagram, many simply won’t bother with downloading an entirely new app, and then having to start a new network of friends, building a new profile of interests, etc.
Which is especially interesting when you also consider that TikTok is on track to reach 1.5 billion users in 2022. Without Meta’s negating tactics, imagine what TikTok’s true user count might be.
Either way, adding more integration options is another way to boost Reels usage, and with the potential of Facebook’s scale as a lure, many developers will indeed be keen to add the option into their apps.
Snapchat Adds New ASL Lens
Snapchat’s looking to help increase awareness and usage of sign language, with a new Lens that’s able to recognize American Sign Language (ASL) gestures and translate them into the app.
The new Lens was built using Snap’s developing hand-tracking technology, which provides more capacity for communication, in alternative forms, via the app. Snapchat used the same technology to power a series of similar lenses launched last year, as part of International Week of the Deaf, which also encouraged users to finger spell various words.
The new Lens takes this a step further, providing more in-depth insight and examples to help more people understand the right usage of ASL gestures.
It could be a good way to raise awareness and facilitate more inclusion – while Snap’s also looking at further applications for its hand gesture recognition tools, which could help to expand communication options for hearing impaired users.
“For native signers, in a world where linguistic inequity is prevalent, we believe AR can help evolve the way we communicate. We look forward to learning more from our community as we strive to continuously improve experiences for everyone on Snapchat.”
It’s a good experiment, and a great way to get more people more aware of sign language, and maybe at least learn the basics via these examples and games.
About Render Perfect Productions:
Render Perfect has been built from the ground up to service growing businesses and help them realize their full visual storytelling and digital marketing potential. We’ve created a service offering and skill-set that spans video production, post-production, motion graphic design, 3D animation, web development, and video marketing strategy. Our insight and experience allow us to help clients make better planning decisions and get more out of their video production effort.
604 E Joppa Road