AnalogFolk’s weekly social news roundup issue #27
From Tiktok moving into the advertising space, to custom AR and more…
Welcome to the AnalogFolk weekly social news roundup, a weekly collection of the best social news of the week, compiled by our Junior Editor, Rachael Bennett.
Create your own filters
Facebook now lets all users create their own Instagram AR filter after ending the closed beta test for its AR effects tool, Spark AR. Anyone can now make custom face filters and other effects for Instagram Stories.
The platform previously limited the option to only approved creators, but since filters have grown substantially in popularity, Instagram is also introducing an Effect Gallery tab on artists’ profiles, letting artists display their creations.
Users can find filters and effects by scrolling to the end of the effects tray and selecting ‘Browse Effects’, which will help them discover and try new AR filters.
Flags for fake news
Instagram is catching up with Facebook and letting users flag and report posts that contain false information to its team of fact-checkers. At the moment, posts that fail the test will be demoted in feeds and removed from the explore tab.
Instagram says it wants to capture data from users and fact-checkers to train its AI model, so in the future, this could help detect fake news automatically.
Buy film tickets on Facebook
Facebook has added two new advertising options to its platform — movie reminder ads and movie showtime ads, to help get more people heading to their local cinemas.
Available to all US and UK film studios, the new movie reminder ads allow users to tap an ‘interested’ button and receive notifications when those films are released. Once selected, the notifications will bring users to the detail page for the movie, where they’ll be able to research showtimes and buy tickets.
Shop for products on TikTok
The popular short-form video platform has launched a new e-commerce feature called Hashtag Challenge Plus, which allows users to shop for products associated with a sponsored Hashtag Challenge, without leaving the app. Brands are looking to work with influencers to help encourage more users to get involved.
TikTok has only just celebrated its one-year anniversary, so it’s a bold move venturing into e-commerce so soon, especially as TikTok remains one of the few places on the internet where the Gen-Z audience can be free of advertisers. That’s likely to change if sponsored hashtags and dedicated brand pages are on the way, though.
