February 2023 Digital News Updates-New Meta Certifications And More

Facebook News Updates

New Meta Certified Businesses – Meta launches business-level certifications. Businesses can become certified if 20% of their eligible staff is certified via Meta Blueprint. This is a great way for agencies to solidify their expertise.
New Measurement Term in Ads – Meta clarified the metric used to count unique views of ads. The method hasn’t changed, just the terms. A person with 2 linked accounts (Insta + Facebook) will count as one reached account. If the accounts aren’t linked, they will count as two. The accounts have always been counted this way – Meta is just making the terms clear.

Instagram Adds Lead Form as Option on Instagram Profiles – You can now add a lead for CTA on your Instagram profile for a business. This is a great way to collect information on interested buyers – you can even customize the form.
Dynamic Flippable Instagram Avatar – You can now set up your Instagram profile to have your photo flip between your photo and the avatar.
Instagram Refocused on Photos in 2023 – The head of Instagram said the platform went too far into videos last year. This year they are recommitting to return to the core – PHOTOS!
Instagram Removing Shop + Moving Reels – Shop won’t be discontinued (necessarily) but a new design rolling out in Feb will remove it from the main nav. They are also moving reels out of the top spot – possibly signaling a deprioritization of this.

New Rules for Problematic Content – Twitter will no longer ban hateful or offensive content. The content will get reduced reach instead and will not be monetizable. It will be interesting to see how advertisers react to this post, as most are already worried about brand safety on the platform.
Twitter Marketing Calendar – Showing the important dates in 2023 to add to your content calendar. PLEASE – don’t feel the need to post for each date. Post when you have relevant content and context.
Twitter Revenue Down 40% – and the top 500 advertisers have left the platform. The app is struggling on many fronts and the revenue drop isn’t surprising as Twitter has stopped moderating content effectively – which creates additional risk for advertisers.
Twitter Opens Waitlist for Business Verification with Gold Checkmarks – The details are slim and Twitter has flip-flopped a lot on verifications, so I wouldn’t hold my breath. If you want to be the first to get access when it launches, you can join the waitlist.

LinkedIn Adds Visibility to Newsletters – Importantly, it will show which newsletter subscriptions will show on profiles – make sure you are OK with people seeing your subscriptions! This could also add more visibility to newsletters on the platform overall.
LinkedIn Engagement is Up, Up, Up – LinkedIn shared a new infographic highlighting increases in post engagement and conversations on the app. The platform is hot and growing.
LinkedIn Revenue and Engagement Up – New quarterly report shows 10% increase in ad revenue and 18% increase in engagement. The platform continues to grow steadily.

Pressure for the US to Ban TikTok – There is new pressure on data security with TikTok (Chinese-owned). The CEO will testify before congress as pressure mounts regarding the security of data and the risk that the company shares it with the Chinese government.
TikTok Launches Advanced Analytics – Want to see where your video viewers drop off? Want to understand the trends? TikTok offers more data analytics to better understand your campaign performance.
TikTok Pulse a Flop – New research shows that the TikTok monetization platform (Pulse) isn’t payout creators much money. Most get under $5 / month! This could be a risk for TikTok if they realize they can earn more on Instagram or YouTube. It is important to remember that TikTok isn’t guaranteed success.

Best and Worst Performing Email Words – Check out this list of the best (and worst) performing words in email subject lines last year.
More Americans Engaging with Brands on Social – Especially on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. Social media is still a highly relevant platform for businesses.
Google and Meta Losing Ad Dominance – Amazon and e-commerce are picking up steam and smaller networks and video are growing.
2023 Global Digital Report Out – This detailed report on digital usage (broken down by country) gives tons of data to inform your strategies.
New Report: Links in Email Signatures Effective – A new report shows email signatures have great click rates and can be effective marketing tools for B2B.