Creepin’ It Real

[00:00:00] It is Friday, October 25th. Today, Instagram gets into the spooky spirit, why your social

[00:00:07] media tool might soon nope out of X, Google's new big advice on a tiny element, and Adobe

[00:00:14] says embrace AI or else. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing.

[00:00:24] Instagram has some new Halloween features. First, a set of secret keywords that when used

[00:00:29] in DMs will activate some seasonal animations like flying bats and so on. Those keywords

[00:00:35] include Halloween and trick-or-treat, and even a couple of related emojis should trigger the

[00:00:40] new effects. They're also adding five custom add yours prompts. Those are fill-in-the-blank

[00:00:46] templates people often screenshot and then complete with their own text. Some brands use this as

[00:00:51] a way to increase engagement and collect informal information from their users. There's also

[00:00:56] a new Halloween font and font animation. These new features are available starting today.

[00:01:05] Mashable reported this week that X is planning to charge third-party app developers another

[00:01:11] fee. These developers make tools that many social media managers use, like Hootsuite or Sprout

[00:01:17] Social or Buffer. These app developers already pay $42,000 per month to access X's API. Why

[00:01:25] $42,000, by the way? Apparently Elon thought it was funny since $420 is shorthand for marijuana.

[00:01:31] But now, in addition to that, X plans to charge an additional $1 per month for each account that

[00:01:39] connects to X's API. The social media management tool Publer was the first to leak the news, saying

[00:01:45] it's giving up and will no longer support X for free due to the added cost. To put the fees in

[00:01:52] perspective, Publer makes around $125,000 to $140,000 per month. X takes over a third of that

[00:02:00] in API costs. With the new fee, Publer could pay an extra $14,000 per month if each of its 14,000

[00:02:06] paying customers connects one X account. Most other social media companies, like Facebook, Instagram,

[00:02:13] YouTube, don't charge for API access. But some do. Reddit also started charging large fees with

[00:02:20] very little notice to developers recently. X's decision to charge these high fees has already

[00:02:26] led to many third-party apps shutting down, and the platform's once-lively app ecosystem is now

[00:02:33] barely existent. Blue Sky is launching a premium subscription with features like high-quality

[00:02:42] video uploads and profile customization, but this paid tier will not give users a boost in post-visibility

[00:02:49] or a verified checkmark. The company says the subscription revenue will help improve the app

[00:02:55] and explore business models beyond traditional ads. Blue Sky recently raised $15 million in a funding

[00:03:02] round led by blockchain capital, but despite this, the company says it won't use blockchain or

[00:03:07] cryptocurrency on its platform. Blue Sky has now reached 13 million users, a significant increase

[00:03:14] from the 2 million users it had just last November. The platform's growth has been fueled by users

[00:03:21] looking for an X alternative, particularly after changes to X's block feature. Blue Sky is also

[00:03:27] targeting frustrated Threads users in an effort to draw in more numbers.

[00:03:36] TikTok has released its latest EU audience and staffing numbers as part of its DSA disclosure

[00:03:41] reporting. The report covers January to June this year and provides a look into the app's moderation

[00:03:46] and user growth, something it previously tried to keep close to the chest and something it still

[00:03:51] doesn't disclose for regions outside of Europe. TikTok says during that period,

[00:03:56] it removed more than 22 million pieces of content with sensitive and mature themes being the biggest

[00:04:03] driver of removals. The platform actually removed less content in this period based on averages

[00:04:09] with 3.7 million per month compared to 4.3 million removals per month last year. TikTok says it has about

[00:04:17] 6,300 people dedicated to content moderation in the EU and says it's hiring more. TikTok now has 150 million

[00:04:26] monthly active users in Europe, up by 8 million from its last report. The platform is gaining users in the

[00:04:32] region with Germany, France, Italy and Spain being its key European nations, each with more than 20 million users.

[00:04:44] Google wants you to make a big change to a tiny element, your favicon. That's the small 16 by 16 image

[00:04:52] which browsers use to identify a tab and what search engines use as a little graphic beside the listing.

[00:04:58] Technically, you don't need a favicon, but browsers and search engines will then just use a default image

[00:05:04] instead. So why not make a minimal effort and get your logo there? Google now says it wants you to use one

[00:05:10] that's at least 48 by 48 pixels, which will make the graphic more clear. This won't increase the actual

[00:05:17] size as it appears to users. It'll just let you have more detail in that space. But will it help your ranking?

[00:05:25] Well, sort of. A high quality favicon can make your listing more compelling for users and could

[00:05:32] potentially increase clicks from search results. That increase in clicks would have a tiny positive

[00:05:38] effect on your ranking. So, yes, it'll probably help indirectly, but not by much. Either way, it's an

[00:05:45] easy fix. And given how high res monitors and phones are these days, it's probably a good idea.

[00:05:54] And finally, Adobe, never one to miss an opportunity to piss off its customers, says it's doubling down on

[00:06:01] generative AI, even, as one company executive recently said, if it means alienating some of its customers.

[00:06:08] In an interview with The Verge, a company VP said artists who refuse to embrace AI in their work

[00:06:14] are, quote, not going to be successful in this new world without using it, unquote.

[00:06:20] He says he isn't aware of any forthcoming Adobe products that don't use generative AI.

[00:06:26] Quoting The Verge, quote, we have older versions of our products that don't use Gen AI, but I wouldn't

[00:06:31] recommend using them, he said. Our goal is to make our customers successful, and we think that in order

[00:06:37] for them to be successful, they need to embrace the tech, unquote. And according to Adobe's president

[00:06:42] of digital media, the company is unlikely to accommodate creators who think otherwise.

[00:06:48] If its endorsement of AI ruffles enough feathers, then that could give way for new competitors

[00:06:54] to appease the users that Adobe's leaving behind. And if the backlash presented by online creators

[00:07:00] is any indication, that's a sizable market that Adobe is at risk of losing, unquote.

[00:07:11] My apologies if the audio sounds a little weird today. It's my fault. I'm kind of an early

[00:07:18] adopter when it comes to operating systems. And foolishly, I decided to update my production

[00:07:25] computer to the new Mac OS beta, not just the public beta, but the developer beta, which,

[00:07:31] you know, in my defense, their betas are usually pretty stable. And this has been stable too,

[00:07:36] except for the audio, which is kind of making weird glitchy noises. And I use a software version

[00:07:42] EQ because I like my basses deeper and I like my higher end. And that just kind of glitched out

[00:07:49] and was like going full volume, like just black. I almost thought I'd broken my subwoofer. It just

[00:07:53] went and I couldn't turn it was either a full volume at like 700 decibels or nothing. The volume

[00:07:59] buttons did literally nothing. They were just toggle switches. You want it freaking loud or off?

[00:08:05] So I had installed that installed a new one. This one's not as good and it's making weird noises.

[00:08:08] And I think the audio sounds bad. And I don't know in any way. I'm sorry, is the point of all of this.

[00:08:13] That will gracefully do it for the week. Today in Digital Marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital

[00:08:19] on the traditional territories of the Sunamic First Nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer

[00:08:24] is the intrepid Steph Gunn. Our production coordinator is Sarah Guild. Ad coordination by Red Circle.

[00:08:30] Our director of mandatory AI usage compliance is Mark Blevis. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend,

[00:08:37] friends. I'm out of town on business on Monday, so Steph will be with you then.