Twitter has launched a new advertising campaign which is focused on ‘manifesting’ via tweet, highlighting how a range of successful athletes and entertainers made initial commitments to their success via Twitter long before their public achievements.

Through a new set of billboard ads across the US, Twitter will showcase 12 celebrities that ‘tweeted their dreams into existence’.

As explained by Twitter:

“To honor these athletes and other celebrities for Tweeting their dreams into existence, Twitter turned their famous Tweets into 39+ billboards! Located across 8 cities (NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Toronto, Houston, Tampa, Talladega), most of the billboards can be found in the hometowns or teams’ locations of the stars who manifested their dreams, such as Bubba Wallace in Talladega and Diamond DeShields in Chicago.”

Beyond the platform promotion alone, the billboards actually align with usage trends at this time of year, as people work to stick with their New Year’s resolutions, and adopt new habits that will improve their lives. Seeing big-name stars that have been able to achieve their own dreams, which they’ve publicly communicated via tweet, could be another avenue to holding firm on such commitments, while Twitter also notes that tweets about manifestation are at an all-time high, seeing 100% year-over-year growth.

Maybe that’s the key. By sharing your ambitions and goals publicly, maybe that additional accountability will better ensure that you stick to your commitments – or maybe it’s all just mental, and by adding that extra public push to yourself, you’ll feel more compelled to keep going, because it’s there for all to see.

In addition to the promotional value of the campaign, Twitter’s also donating nearly $1 million to charities as selected by each of the featured celebrities.

“Some of the charities include Boys and Girls Club, Destination Crenshaw, The 3-D Foundation, and UNICEF Canada.”

It’s an interesting push, which again comes at the right time of year. Getting into a new routine is tough, as is changing careers, publishing your first artwork, speaking in public, etc. Maybe, by seeing how these stars began as regular people, tweeting their dreams like you or I, that could act as a good motivator that you too can achieve what you set out to do, and that by posting such publicly, you’re making a commitment, not to the random public, but to yourself, that you will do it this year.

Sure, 2022 hasn’t exactly got off to a great start, with a COVID resurgence threatening to derail things once again. But maybe, this extra push could be the thing that keeps you focused, like these celebrities, even amid external distractions.  

After Instagram added similar measures last year, Snapchat is now implementing new restrictions to limit adults from sending messages to users under the age of 18 in the app.

As reported by Axios, Snapchat is changing its “Quick Add” friend suggestion process so that it’s not possible for people to add users aged under 18 “unless there are a certain number of friends in common between the two users”. That won’t stop such connection completely, but it does add another barrier in the process, which could reduce harm.

The move is a logical and welcome step, which will help improve the security of youngsters in the app, but the impacts of such could be far more significant on Snap, which is predominantly used by younger people.

Indeed, Snapchat reported last year that around 20% of its total user base was aged under 18, with the majority of its audience being in the 13-24 year-old age bracket. That means that interaction between these age groups is likely a significant element of the Snap experience, and restricting such could have big impacts on overall usage, even if it does offer greater protection for minors.

Which is why this is a particularly significant commitment from Snap – though it is worth noting that Snapchat won’t necessarily stop older users from connecting with younger ones in the app, it just won’t make it as easy through initial recommendations, via the Quick Add feature.

So it’s not a huge change, as such. But again, given the interplay between these age groups in the app, it is a marker of Snap’s commitment to protection, and to finding new ways to ensure that youngsters are not exposed to potential harm within the app.

Snapchat has faced several issues on this front, with the ephemeral focus of the app providing fertile ground for predators, as it automatically erases any evidence trail in the app. With that in mind, Snap does have a way to go in providing more protection, but it is good to see the company looking at ways to limit such interactions, and combat potentially harmful misuse.

TikTok has added a new element to the Trends section of its Creative Center, which now provides a listing of the most popular songs in the app, at any given time, which is filterable by region.

As you can see in this example, over at trends.tiktok.com, you can now check out the most popular songs and hashtags being used in the app, with a range of different time period filters for each (up to the previous 120 days for hashtags and the last 30 days for songs.). You can also check out the most popular TikTok clips in your region, filterable by ‘Hot’, ‘Likes’, ‘Comments’ and ‘Shares’ (over the previous 7 days or 30 days).

TikTok first launched its Creative Center last March, with its ‘Top Ads’ display being the core element. As you can see in these screenshots, Top Ads is now also included in the broader trend insights offering (on a separate tab), along with ‘Showcases’, providing some great insights into what’s working, and how other businesses are using TikTok’s promotional tools to reach its ever-growing audience.

Music is a driving force in the broader TikTok experience. Last month, TikTok reported that over 430 songs surpassed a billion video views in the app in 2021 – a threefold increase over 2020 – while over 175 songs that had trended on TikTok throughout the year also charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

Music can also play a part in brand promotions, with 73% of respondents to a recent Kantar survey indicating that they would be more likely to stop and look at ads on TikTok that utilized audio elements, with popular music being a key attention-grabber in the app.

Of course, not every brand can afford to license the latest popular songs for their promotions. But it is worth noting the songs that are trending, as not all of them are commercially licensed, while they also point to broader usage trends and habits in the app.

TikTok says that it’s working hard to improve its trend insights, and provide more data on real-time changes and habits, which could make this a valuable resource to bookmark for your strategic efforts.

Or it could just be a handy reference point to understand what’s happening in the app.

Definitely, there’s big research potential here – you can check out the updated TikTok Trends display at trends.tiktok.com.