You’ve likely already seen Tik-Tok in the news this week, but today’s Friday Four is bringing you even more important news about the popular app. Also find out about a cool new tool being tested by Instagram that’ll enhance your in-app experience!
Let’s jump in ⬇️.
Instagram Tests Fundraising Feature
Instagram began testing a new “Personal Fundraiser” feature Tuesday, which enables users to link directly to a fundraiser from their profile page. Previously, users have been able to link out to web pages for fundraisers from the link in their bio. With this new feature, the link-in-bio feature would direct others to an in-app page where they can donate.
The test will be conducted with accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland on both Android and IOS versions of the app, according to TechCrunch. However, it will first be available to select Android users.
Instagram users can start their own fundraisers with the function, or support already existing fundraisers. In both cases, the cause must meet all existing guidelines in place for fundraising on Instagram and Facebook. Additionally, once enabled the feature will only allow for 30 days worth of fundraising before prompting users to extend the campaign for another 30 days, after which it will expire.
Tik-Tok Debuts In-House Ad Platform
After testing with select brands for several months, Tik-Tok has debuted their own ad platform for businesses. Now, with help from the Tik-Tok sales team, any business can buy ads and manage campaigns on Tik-Tok. This marks a significant point in Tik-Tok’s transition from a short-form, entertainment platform to a viable advertising platform.
In this launch of the service, Tik-Tok also stated that they’d be providing up to $100 million in ad credits to small businesses. All advertising campaigns must be approved by Tik-Tok’s team before rolling out to the platform’s audience – and so far the approval rating has been quite low. According to Tik-Tok expert Michael Sanchez, about seven out of every ten proposed ads don’t receive approval.
Still, the small team within Tik-Tok has been giving approval or disapproval within five business days of ad submission, and this new way to utilize Tik-Tok could prove useful for large and small businesses alike.
Tik-Tok Announces “Tik-Tok for Business” Hub
In another announcement this week, which encompasses the new in-house advertising platform, Tik-Tok has rolled out their new informational center for marketers and advertisers called “Tik-Tok for Business.” Within this new hub, businesses can find all the information they need about leveraging the app effectively for advertising.
As part of this new endeavor, Tik-Tok will be implementing a variety of new features for businesses. These include: brand takeovers, hashtag challenges, branded effects, and more. The new features allow businesses to capitalize on the strengths of Tik-Tok and were created using detailed analysis of trends on the app. For example, with approval from Tik-Tok’s sales team, brands will be able to run challenges – and nearly half the users on Tik-Tok have participated in some form of a viral challenge on the app.
U.S. Government Considering Banning Tik-Tok
Amid these new announcements from Tik-Tok, widespread speculation has turned into serious concern about the possibility of the app being banned in the United States. According to officials such as the White House Chief of Staff, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State, there is serious talk within the White House of banning the app for privacy reasons.
Statements from these officials came just days after India banned Tik-Tok after a military encounter with China. Previous to this encounter, there had been speculation of China using the app to gain information on Indian users. While the U.S. has seen no physical encounter with China, there are concerns about similar data-gathering tactics.
While Tik-Tok has yet to be affected, it would likely be one of many if the ban comes to fruition. A host of other apps used by consumers in the U.S. originate from China and could also be used to gather and sell data. In fact, Tik-Tok isn’t China’s largest data collection tool – the messaging app WeChat claims that title.
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