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Facebook’s Removing Support for Podcasts, Just 10 Months After Launching New Podcast Features

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It’s things like this that sow distrust among creators and businesses on Facebook.

Today, Bloomberg has reported that Facebook is removing its podcast support and display options, which it launched in June last year, as it shifts focus away from audio options.

As reported by Bloomberg:

Facebook is pulling out of podcasts and plans to remove them altogether from the social-media service starting June 3. Facebook will stop letting people add podcasts to the service starting this week, according to a note sent to partners. It will discontinue both its short-form audio product Soundbites and remove its central audio hub.”

Facebook first previewed these options last April, as part of a broader push on social audio, in the wake of Clubhouse’s meteoric rise in early 2021.

As you can see, Meta promoted a range of upcoming podcast options, including on-page display tools and direct connection options, which would enable Facebook users to tune in to podcasts without leaving the app.

Meta then officially launched its podcast support tools in June, with various launch partners.

Facebook podcasts

Meta promoted the option as a way to showcase your podcast content to its billions of users, and engage with fans in the app, helping to grow your community.

But now, less than a year later, it’s pulling the plug entirely, leaving any creators who had been using these tools to build their audience out in the cold.

Meta provided a brief statement to Bloomberg, noting that:

“We’re constantly evaluating the features we offer so we can focus on the most meaningful experiences.”

As noted, Meta has a history of pulling the rug out from under creators and brands, whether through reduced Page reach, its ever-changing emphasis on video, pushing creators to use Stories, etc.

And every time, that erodes trust in The Social Network, and serves as a reminder for creators not to build on ‘rented land’. Because Meta can and will change the rules of the game whenever it feels like it. The bottom line is that if you’re relying on its apps to support your community-building efforts, you can expect, at some stage, that it’ll shift focus, and leave you in the lurch as a result.

Of course, Meta has only shown interest in podcasts, really, for a few months, so you would assume that the vast majority of podcasters would have already focused their audience growth efforts elsewhere, as it hasn’t become a key element of the Facebook experience either way.

But even so, it’ll likely bring spark flashbacks for business users that have made various strategic switches at Zuck and Co’s whim, only to be eventually faced with reduced reach and engagement as the company looks to the next shiny object on the horizon, which it can use to suck in more users.

Meta also apparently doesn’t plan on alerting users to the podcast change, opting to leave that up to the publishers instead, while Live Audio Rooms will be integrated into Facebook Live, giving users the option to go live with just audio or audio and video.

So why the change in focus?

I suspect that this, from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the company’s most recent earnings call, may have something to do with it:

“After the start of COVID, the acceleration of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth, but we’re now seeing that trend back off. However, based on the strong revenue growth we saw in 2021, we kicked off a number of 2 multi-year projects to accelerate some of our longer term investments, especially in our AI infrastructure, business platform, and Reality Labs. These investments are going to be important for our success and growth over time so I continue to believe we should see them through. But with our current business growth levels, we’re now planning to slow the pace of some of our investments.”

That last line is what I think could be at play here – with costs rising, as it looks towards the metaverse, Meta is now re-assessing its various bets, and streamlining its focus, in order to ensure it manages expenses, and keeps revenue ticking over.

And within that, I suspect that audio is just not as big a deal as some thought it could become early last year.

Some audio elements are still seeing good performance, and Clubhouse itself may well be on a path to establishing a market niche. But clearly, Meta didn’t see a lot of interest or value with this on Facebook, which is why it’s now changing path.

As such, in isolation, this is probably not a big deal, and probably won’t have a huge impact across the board. But again, it is an uncomfortable reminder of how Meta’s focus can shift, and why you shouldn’t get too comfortable with, or reliant on the platform.

There’s massive opportunity for reach and engagement on Facebook, but that always comes with a caveat – that it could all be gone in a flash if the company changes tack.

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YouTube Adds New Analytics Cards, Simplifies its ‘Product Drops’ Feature

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YouTube Adds New Analytics Cards, Simplifies its ‘Product Drops’ Feature

YouTube’s making some updates to its Product Drops feature within live streams, while it’s also adding some new analytics cards, and testing a new format for its TV app.

First off, on Product Drops. YouTube’s changing the requirements for Product Drops in live streams so that more creators will be able to include drops to highlight their items.

Up till now, Product Drops have only been available to creators who’ve connected their Shopify stores, or have access to Google Merchant Center, while creators have also had to plan Product Drops in advance, and schedule them via Live Control Room. But now, YouTube’s giving more creators more ways to access the feature.

As per YouTube:

“Any creators who have connected to their first party stores, or are participating in the YouTube Affiliate Program can set up Product Drops in the live control room on YouTube. This means that more creators will be able to use Product Drops to boost sales and engagement on their live streams.”

YouTube will also now enable creators to implement Product Drops at any time during a live stream, eliminating the pre-planned requirement.

“This will give creators more flexibility to react to the moment, and drive excitement in real time.”

YouTube says that many creators have seen good response to their Product Drops, with the interactive, engaging process helping to drive hype, and spark more response from viewers.

Product Drops are available via the Live Control Room in YouTube Studio. You can read more about how they work here.

YouTube’s also updating its Community Posts creation flow, in order to simplify the process, and ideally get more channels posting text-based updated in the app.

Community Posts remain a lesser element, though YouTube’s been working to make them a bigger focus throughout the year, by adding additional engagement elements like pollsquizzesdisappearing updates, and more.

Simplifying the creation process is another step in boosting awareness, and potentially driving more interaction with you YouTube audience.

YouTube’s also adding some new revenue analytics cards, including “Total Members” insights (which includes subscriber data) and “Where Members Joined From”, which will provide more insight into what’s driving channel growth.

YouTube’s also adding new data on why users have canceled their membership within the insights tab in YouTube Analytics.

YouTube analytics cards

As you can see in this example, the new card will show the reasons why people have opted to stop their subscription to your channel, based on responses provided in the cancellation flow.

Finally, YouTube’s also experimenting with a new format for its TV app, which will make it easier to access different elements.

YouTube TV app

As you can see in this example, shared by 9t05Google, the new format will include bigger buttons to access different elements, and further customize your YouTube experience on the bigger screen.

Connected TV is the fastest growing viewer segment for YouTube, with more and more people now looking to consume YouTube content on their home TV set. As such, it makes sense for YouTube to roll out more updates aligned with big screen viewing in order to feed into this usage.

Some handy updates, across various elements, which are worth noting as you go about managing your YouTube presence.

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Musk regrets controversial post but won’t bow to advertiser ‘blackmail’

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Elon Musk's comments at the New York Times' Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence

Elon Musk’s comments at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Slaven Vlasic

Elon Musk apologized Wednesday for endorsing a social media post widely seen as anti-Semitic, but accused advertisers who are turning away from his social media platform X of “blackmail” and said anyone who does so can “go fuck yourself.”

The remark before corporate executives at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence.

Earlier, Musk had apologized for what he called “literally the worst and dumbest post that I’ve ever done.”

In a comment on X, formerly Twitter, Musk on November 15 called a post “the actual truth” that said Jewish communities advocated a “dialectical hatred against whites,” which was criticized as echoing longtime conspiracy theory among White supremacists.

The statement prompted a flood of departures from X of major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Comcast and IBM who criticized Musk for anti-semitism.

“I’m sorry for that tweet or post,” Musk said Wednesday. “It was foolish of me.”

He told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin that his post had been misinterpreted and that he had sought to clarify the remark in subsequent posts to the thread.

But Musk also said he wouldn’t be beholden to pressure from advertisers.

“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money?” Musk said. “Go fuck yourself.”

But the billionaire acknowledged that there were business implications to the advertiser actions.

“If the company fails… it will fail because of an advertiser boycott” Musk said. “And that will be what will bankrupt the company.”

Musk, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel earlier this week, insisted in the interview that he holds no discrimination against Jews, calling himself “philo-Semitic,” or an admirer of Judaism.

During the interview, Musk wore a necklace given to him by a parent of an Israeli hostage taken in the Hamas attack on October 7. The necklace reads, “Bring Them Home.”

Musk told Sorkin that the Israel trip had been planned earlier and was not an “apology tour” related to the controversial tweet.

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TikTok Encourages Creators To Make Longer Videos, With Focus On Ad Revenue 11/30/2023

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TikTok Encourages Creators To Make Longer Videos, With Focus On Ad Revenue 11/30/2023

With a need to expand its advertising business, TikTok is now fully focused on the output of long-form videos.

A new report by The Information shows the company’s recent efforts to convince
creators to put out longer videos in order to provide more room for ad placements.

According to the …



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