DRAP'S DIGITAL NEWS #14
Facebook is decluttering its navigation bar, Instagram is getting cooler but not so likeable. There is another kid in town that wants play on Facebook and Instagram territory, and yes - it’s all about money. Influencer marketing is on its turning point and there is new YouTube popular list.

Take a break from notifications on Facebook
Are those red notification dots on your Facebook home screen driving you crazy? Now you can control what appears in the Facebook app’s navigation bar thanks to a new option called Shortcut Bar Settings. The move could save the sanity and improve the well-being of people who don’t want their Facebook cluttered with distractions.
Reels are getting real on Instagram
Instagram started to test a new Stories format by that name in Brazil Tuesday. Reels, in essence, are a collection of creation tools that include the ability to add music to a video, as well as a couple of clever editing tricks. The new editing tools include a so-called ghost mode that makes it easier to line up action between cuts by overlaying the last frame of the previous video over the camera view, as well as a countdown clock that helps to improve the timing of recorded clips.
Facebook tests Popular photos Feature
In the current Facebook setting, when you tap on a photo, you enter the full-screen mode with a black background. And when you scroll down or swipe on it, you are taken back. But with the Popular Photos feature, you will now see more pictures from your friends and other public posts by scrolling down which will be curated for you by Facebook's algorithm, thus giving you an Instagram feed-like experience.
No more likes on Instagram, Influencers says it’s killing engagement
Instagram is hiding Like counts in a trial that's now being rolled out globally. This is a move that's being met with some passionate feedback, especially from influencers and artists who use Instagram to boost their profiles and generate income, but Instagram confirmed the move in a series of tweets yesterday and described the feedback from the trial so far as "positive".TikTok is starting fighting Facebook and Instagram
The popular short-video sharing platform has been testing a new feature that allows content creators to insert product links to various e-commerce sites on their bio and posts. As per reports, TikTok users will be able to follow these links and directly buy the products mentioned in the videos. Tik-Tok users will be able to directly visit and buy from an e-commerce site simply on clicking the product link given in the post.
The influencer trend isn’t going away
Morning Consult’s study “The Influencer report” point to the fact that influencers are becoming a key part of the social media experience. Not only are influencers affecting consumer habits and trends — they’re really dictating and changing the way young Americans think about the culture and the world around them. Fifty-two percent of the surveyed Gen Z and 50% of the millennials say they trust influencers to give good advice about the brands and products they’re promoting.
Connecting online is second nature for younger generations
It’s no surprise that digital channels are important for younger generations. At the end of 2018, people under 35 spent a total of 21.1 billion hours on mobile compared to 16.0 billion hours consuming live TV content. And Gen Zers specifically now spend over four hours a day on mobile versus less than 1.5 hours per day in front of linear or streaming TV. Given this channel behavior, this survey shows it makes sense that mobile is a strong driver of the brand relationship with younger generations.
Who is hot on Youtube?
With more than 500 hundred hours uploaded each minute — what are the biggest YouTube channels viewers simply love? The answers might surprise you. Celebrities like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Ed Sheeran didn’t make the cut.
Influencers are dead, long live Organic Influencers!
As an industry, influencer marketing has become over-saturated and beleaguered by a heavy barrage of high-profile scandals and rampant reports of fraud. Naturally, all of this has led to a dramatic loss in consumer confidence, with only 4% of people now trusting what influencers say online. A recent Stackla study found that people are 9.8x more likely to make a purchase after seeing a peer’s social post, as opposed to that of a traditional social media influencers.
Can you compare yourself with Freddie?
FreddieMeter shows users how closely their voice matches Mercury’s range by analyzing the singer’s pitch, timbre and melody to assign them a score of 0 to 100. Fans can choose from four songs: “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Somebody to Love” or “We Are the Champions.” Once they are done belting out the Queen classics and receiving their scores, the custom scorecard generated by FreddieMeter can be shared via YouTube Stories, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.