12 Sep TikTok Shop Tab, Instagram’s Close Friends Feed Posts and a New YouTube’s Creator Program
TikTok Tests New Shop Tab
Source: Bloomberg
TikTok is continuing to make moves in its push for in-stream social commerce. According to a recent report from Bloomberg, TikTok is in the process of testing a new Shop tab for TikTok Shop. The Shop tab appears between the Following and For You Tabs, a premium placement for UI according to Social Media Today, on the TikTok Home Feed for select users.
The Shop tab appears to host a variety of products for sale on TikTok Shop from top-selling merchants, highlighting available deals for each product as well as a coupon for users at the top of the feed. Users may access their orders, messages with merchants, products saved as favorites, as well as their reserve of coupons on the Shop tab. Following coupons, users may view top deals for the day promoted by TikTok Shop, featured brands, and featured categories.
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Bloomberg noted in its recent report that product listings shown under Today’s Deals only display product photos and prices, not names of the products or even the brands. Similar listing issues are prevalent in other elements of the Shop tab, but a majority of the products listed under Today’s Deals have prominent branding such as the COSRX Snail Mucin, so users may be more focused on the price since the brands are recognizable already.
The star of the show on TikTok’s new Shop tab is the product search bar. Users may use keywords or phrases such as “wide-leg pants for women” to search for products of their liking. Suggested products for sale via TikTok Shop appear in a vertical, two-columned feed as a mix of product listing photos and videos from creators linking the product. It’s important to note that all suggested products in the search do not list the name of the brand. Rather, suggested products are displayed with their name, pricing, and available coupons. Brands may work around this display issue by adding their name to the beginning of the product name.
TikTok is also testing a similar Shop tab to the right of the For You feed rather than between the Following and For You feeds. TikTok has yet to announce if and when the Shop tab will be available for all users in regions with TikTok Shop. Moreover, only a select number of users in the US and UK have access to the Shop tab, but TikTok has not disclosed the selection process for such trials. When would be the best time for TikTok to launch the Shop tab? As the holiday shopping season approaches, TikTok is making moves to bring TikTok Shop to new heights.
TikTok Effect House Exits Beta
Source: TikTok
TikTok is thrilled to announce that Effect House has officially exited beta. TikTok launched Effect House 1.0 back in April 2022 with creator features from visual scripting to effect templates and management. Since the launch of Effect House 1.0, effects curated via TikTok’s platform have been featured in more than 21 billion videos which garnered more than 8.6 trillion views globally. Furthermore, more than 400K effect creators became members of the Effect House Discord in the last year.
Now that Effect House has exited beta, TikTok is inviting the creativity of AR creators from all around the world to try the latest Effect House features to create amazing experiences for users. Effect House creators will have access to advanced creator features from Effect House’s last 20 releases. These features include an expansive Asset Library, Social Kits, more than 50 templates, and 120 visual scripting nodes. New Effect House creators may utilize these features to develop AR fashion, interactive games, and even fantasy worlds as explained by TikTok.
Several monetization opportunities are available to Effect House creators including the new Creator Bonus Program, the $6 million Effect Creator Rewards Program, and the Branded Effect Closed Beta. Creators can level up their monetization and AR experience via new support features like Challenges and Missions, Bonus Badges, and the new Community Forum.
TikTok is looking forward to the future of Effect House and developing innovations in AR for entertainment. TikTok shared that it intends to develop more tools, features, and resources to empower creators to explore their creativity and monetization opportunities. What’s next for TikTok Effect House?
Close Friends Feed Posts on Instagram
Source: Olhar Green
Instagram is leaning into making social media more personal with their latest feature in testing. Recently, Instagram has been testing a new Close Friends feed posts feature with a select number of users. Close Friends is an audience selector feature where users may select a list of close friends to share exclusive story posts with. A green ring around the profile photo of someone you follow on Instagram indicates that you are on their Close Friends list and that they have posted a story exclusively for Close Friends. With Close Friends feed posts, Instagram is leading users who are increasingly favoring private sharing and DMs to continue posting to their feed, to a select audience of course.
Social media expert and UCLA professor Lia Haberman shared in a recent post to X that a new Audience tab is available when sharing a feed post. Users with access to the new feature in testing may select who they would like to share their post with in a similar fashion as Stories, Everyone or Close Friends. Haberman noted that a text of the Close Friends feed posts had been spotted back in May by Alessandro Paluzzi but now more users, including some in the UK, have access to the feature.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to Insider via email that Instagram is indeed “testing the ability for people in select countries to share feed posts with their Close Friends.” The spokesperson also noted, “We’re always exploring new ways for our community to express themselves and connect on Instagram.” Instagram has yet to announce if and when Close Friends feed posts will be available for all users, but the feature may be a big hit with avid social media users in the growing population of private posters.
YouTube Launches THE-IQ Creator Program
Source: Windsor University School of Medicine
A new creator program has been launched by YouTuve, but not for your typical lifestyle creator. YouTube has launched THE-IQ, Tackling Health Equity Through Information Quality, Creator Program, a new creator program targeted at healthcare and wellness professionals who create high-quality health content that highlights underrepresented groups. YouTube has partnered up with Aloud, a multilingual machine dubbing tool, to kickstart THE-IQ Creator Program.
Creators based in the US, UK, and Brazil are eligible to participate in YouTube’s new health creator program and must submit an entry form, link to their health-related channel, and four essay-question responses in order to apply. Creators selected to join THE-IQ Creator Program will have access to various workshops covering best practices and video production, access to Aloud, up to $10K USD to assist in content creation, and support from the YouTube Health team to review translations.
Dr. Garth Graham, Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at YouTube, shared, “Making videos in multiple languages is crucial for overcoming language barriers, especially in a healthcare context, yet can be labor intensive for creators.” Dr. Graham also noted that the goal of THE-IQ Creator Program’s pilot is to “scale Aloud with health partners so that they can more efficiently reach global audiences with critical health information at no cost.”
Not only is THE-IQ Creator Program an amazing opportunity for health creators to improve their video production, but users across the world may benefit from educational medical content that is reputably translated into their native language for better understanding. YouTube has yet to announce if and when the new program will be expanded to other regions, but we look forward to learning more about how healthcare and professional content creators can improve their quality of production to enrich the lives of their subscribers and those beyond.