The new flagship features on the platforms

60-second story on Instagram, new Metaverse-oriented features on Meta, tools for live shopping, tips... Many tools have been announced and should once again revolutionize the uses of the different social networks. Passion Media presents you the news not to be missed.

Hey you! 

For a few weeks now, platforms have been announcing new flagship features. The good news? Most of them concern new opportunities for content creators to find their business model. Let’s take a look at the main announcements of this week. 

60-second stories on Instagram

Until now limited to 15 seconds, Instagram is testing a Stories format of up to 1 minute, without a break. This would be a great advance for content creators. Indeed, it would no longer have divided content, and thus no longer have to apply filters and modifications on each piece of video, check the consistency of the music, etc… In other words? Save a lot of time when publishing. 

Facebook launches 2 features to prepare the metaverse

The platform has announced the arrival of two new features: avatars, virtual merchandising. Yes, this is a first step towards the metaverse. Many other features should arrive soon on the subject.

Live shopping is a hit

Platforms are making a 360° turn and deploying on the e-commerce dimension. Yes, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok and now Twitter are getting into the live shopping trend. The idea? It’s a bit like TV shopping 2.0. In other words? Broadcasts and lives to present products and allow Internet users to buy them directly with a few clicks. Let’s take a look at the launch of Live Shopping on the Twitter platform. 

4 live shopping events launched by the platforms

Live shopping seems to be an excellent growth lever, especially after the crisis and the explosion of online shopping. The platforms have understood this and have launched pilot projects. Here are some examples: 

  • Instagram (September 2021): “10 Days of Live Shopping” event
  • Facebook (May 2021): a weekly “Live Shopping” event, every Friday
  • Pinterest (early November): Launch of “Pinterest TV” with a series of several live shopping episodes, produced in partnership with content creators
  • TikTok (late 2021): A live shopping event day with Walmart

The live shopping feature on Twitter

The announcement was made on November 22 on the Twitter blog. The brand announced the arrival of a live shopping feature on its platform. How does it work? This option should allow content creators to broadcast live, integrating purchase options displayed directly under the video stream. It will also be possible to interact live and consult a “store” tab (a sort of catalog of products highlighted during the live shopping session). 

Twitter inaugurates live shopping with Walmart

The Twitter platform has also announced a partnership with Walmart. For the occasion, a live shopping event was organized on November 28th. The event was hosted by the singer Jason Derulo and featured various products (electronics, home, clothing, seasonal decoration, etc…). The little specificity? This event was not broadcast exclusively on Twitter. It was also possible to attend via the other platforms on which the brand is present (Walmart.com/live, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube).

The deployment of live shopping on Twitter

The functionality should be gradually deployed throughout the world. It will also be expanded with new options such as : 

Shop Module: The idea here is to be able to browse through a product catalog in order to make purchases directly via Twitter. This feature is still in the test phase but should be deployed to a larger audience very soon (especially in the United States). 

“Twitter Shopping Manager: Just as you can manage your subscriptions and lists, you can now manage a product catalog. The goal? To allow content creators and brands to follow live shopping, to optimize it, to put forward the desired products. 

 Tipping is coming to Twitter

Following the lead of live shopping, Twitter is the first platform to offer a feature allowing users over 18 to tip. It’s a way for content creators to find a new source of revenue, although it can’t be the main source.