It used to be hard to imagine a new platform ever competing with Facebook and YouTube.
Then came TikTok.
The six-year-old platform is now the fastest-growing social media app in the U.S. It’s set to hit $18.04 billion in ad revenue this year, a 55 percent increase from 2022.
These are the new social media platforms you need to know:
- BeReal is a French social media app that was launched in 2020. Once a day, BeReal notifies its users that they have a two-minute window to post. It then takes simultaneous photos from the front and back cameras of the user’s phone. The posting window varies in time day-to-day, and the idea is that it leads to more authentic posting. BeReal took off in 2022, going from 2 million to 10 million daily active users. The platform does not yet have in-app advertising, but it just raised $60 million.
- Clubhouse is a drop-in audio app with 10 million weekly users. Users can enter “Rooms” where they listen to and/or participate in conversations focused on specific topics. It was first released on iOS in 2020, and you initially had to be invited to join, resulting in people selling invites for hundreds of dollars on eBay. Malcolm Gladwell, Oprah, and Drake all use the app, and it allegedly inspired Twitter Spaces.
- Artifact is a machine learning-powered personalized news feed. It launched this week and was created by Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The app is supposed to be the text-only version of TikTok. The platform is optimized to measure how long you spend reading about different topics, according to The Verge, as opposed to clicks and comments.
Tiffany x Nike Collab Flops
Images of the long-rumored Tiffany & Co. x Nike Air Force 1s leaked last weekend, eliciting an official announcement from the brands this week. But despite the hype and high expectations, neither Tiffany loyalists nor sneakerheads are impressed.
The only noticeable differences between the collab pair (retail: $400) and everyday black Air Force 1s (retail: $110) appear to be the robin egg blue swish, sterling silver badges on the heels, and “Tiffany” inscribed on the tongue. A set of sterling silver sneakerhead essentials—including a shoe horn and a whistle—will accompany the shoes.
Despite the add-ons, social media users flooded the post with negative comments.
“They’re not that bad if you don’t look at them,” Instagram user @sneakerbestiee commented, receiving 2,541 likes.
Many users wrote that the shoes should have been white or that the box was prettier than the shoes.
“Does Tiffany even have a brand identity any more? This collaboration with Nike is so poorly executed that it feels like a cynical attempt to cash in on the streetwear market about seven years too late,” tweeted @lara_tutton.
As we’ve written previously: If you want to do a brand collab, know your audience, create something innovative, and make sure it’s actually quality.
Other news
- In need of creative inspiration? Check out what is already resonating with your audience. That’s what Neutrogena did in this reality-TV-inspired campaign featuring TikTok creator @bomanizer, who is known for his reality TV spoof videos.
- The creator economy just got a boost. Elon Musk announced Twitter will begin splitting revenue from ads that appear in creators’ reply threads (must be a Twitter Blue subscriber to qualify). YouTube began to split ad revenue from YouTube Shorts videos with creators on Feb. 1.
- “Going forward, we are focused on growing revenues on top of this higher base through AI-driven innovation,” said Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, according to MarketingDive. Alphabet’s revenue grew 1 percent in Q4, with Search and YouTube declining.
- Meta’s revenue dropped 4 percent YOY in Q4, marking its third straight quarter of declines. Reels are still not profitable.
- McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said the brand is in “the strongest position it’s been in years” and that is “attributable in part to our best in class marketing machine.” We shouted out this great McDonald’s ad two weeks ago.
- Buzzfeed announced it would begin using OpenAI , and Buzzfeed’s stock skyrocketed. Now, the publisher of Sports Illustrated announced it will be tapping AI to generate story ideas and articles. One of the tools they’re using is Jasper, an Austin-based company that raised $125 million in November.
- Check out these entrepreneurial lessons from the founders of Simple Modern and Pura Vida bracelets.
That’s all for this week‘s Marketing Roundup. Check back in next Friday for more news. And subscribe to our newsletter below for additional updates.
