This week in social media a recent study shows that teens are quickly moving from Facebook to YouTube, and Twitter upsets users with account suspensions due to GDPR. Meanwhile, Pinterest shares its latest ploy to attract advertisers with full-screen ad capabilities.
Teens Turn to YouTube
According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, teenagers are more interested in YouTube than any other social channel. Furthermore, Instagram and Snapchat have outranked Facebook in popularity among 13- to 17-year-olds. 85% of them are using YouTube, and Instagram is not far behind at 72% and Snapchat at 69%. Pew also mentioned that teen’s access to smartphones has increased from 73% in 2015 to 95% in 2018 which could be one of the reasons for the change.
In a similar study conducted in 2015, Facebook was leading at 71%, and that has decreased to 51% of teens using the platform. It’s important to note that this study in 2017 didn’t include YouTube, so it is hard to determine if the number of teens has increased over the past three years. But, it’s safe to say it would be a smart move for brands to learn how to expand their reach on YouTube to attract teens.
Twitter Suspends Accounts Due to GDPR
Several users have found themselves locked out of Twitter and their account suspended a week after the GDPR launch. Anyone who joined Twitter before they were 13, even if they’re older now, is being suspended from the platform. Due to a large number of users affected and upset about the sudden, or so it seemed, actions, #TwitterLockout is trending as users report their account suspensions.
Twitter states that users have to be at least 13 years of age to use the platform, it hasn’t done much to enforce it as adding a birthdate is not required when they sign up. Now that GDPR is requiring companies to enforce the minimum age limit of 13, Twitter‘s solution for getting rid of content created by underaged users was account suspension. There have been reports of some accounts being reinstated, but a majority have had to create new profiles.
Full-Screen Videos Ads on Pinterest
Crossing 200 million monthly active users in September of last year, Pinterest has been one of the more consistent platforms with very minor changes to its user interface. However, in an attempt to attract more advertisers, its made significant changes to how ads are displayed by adding autoplay videos back last year. Now, it will offer a promoted videos tools that will allow video ads to take up the width of the phone screen.
Normally there is a grid of content that users can flip through, so the promoted video with full-screen capabilities is a huge attention-grabber for advertisers. According to Pinterest, 42 million people in the US use it for entertainment ideas, and grabbing the user’s attention with a product for just a few seconds can be enough to plant the seed that may lead to a purchase. Advertisers who once thought that Pinterest wasn’t a true asset to attracting leads and purchases should think again.
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