Even well-meaning parents can have trouble recognizing the signs of neurodiversity in their children and can feel overwhelmed by what to do next. 

Understood.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people who learn and think differently, created its 2022 “Be the Reason” campaign to bridge those gaps. The campaign focused on educating parents, increasing their awareness and turning skeptics to supporters. 

According to Understood.org’s Neurodiversity and Stigma Study, 6 million of the 25 million parents of neurodiverse children are skeptical or unaware of their child’s learning differences. Even among those who are aware, more than 50% of parents with neurodivergent children are concerned about telling others because of potential biases, the study found.  

Understood.org created “Be the Reason,” an original short film, to show a teen whose parents don’t understand the challenges they face as a neurodivergent person. 

The nearly 2-minute film featured a neurodivergent cast, including Miya Kofo, a real teen who was diagnosed with ADHD in middle school. The film was featured on the campaign’s landing page, Understood.org social media channels and in digital ads. 

The campaign also featured an original song by The Holderness Family and sung by Penn Holderness, a social media influencer who shared his experiences living with ADHD.  

The team was a winner of an advocacy or awareness campaign in PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards last September. 

Here’s what you can learn from the campaign. 

Humanizing abstract concepts 

Nathan Friedman, co-president and chief marketing officer of Understood.org, told PR Daily that the campaign used the film and song to share stories of what it feels like to have ADHD. 

The film opens with a closeup of Kofo’s tennis shoes lightly bouncing under her classroom desk as she struggles to sit still during a lesson. Kofo then fidgets and taps her fingers.    

“I can’t seem to focus, so I smile,” Kofo said in a voiceover. “Why does school seem to come easy for other kids when I feel like I’m barely getting by?”  

Kofo narrates feeling misunderstood, especially by her parents who tell her to “try harder.” 

“Mom, Dad, I’m depending on you to help me figure this all out,” she said later looking directly at the camera near the end. “Be my reason.” 

Friedman said that the film brought Kofo’s experiences to the forefront. 

“It’s from her point of view and it really talks about what happens when her parents ignored it. It’s a real-life story. These are not actors,” Friedman said. 

In addition to the actors, the crew and director were also neurodiverse.  

“I think it’s important to show stories from people about people who can relate to the story that we’re telling,” Friedman said.  

Understood.org distributed the video through its social media channels, websites and organizational partners. 

The “Be the Reason” film garnered 45.3 million views, with 24.6 million people finishing the entire video. Both figures exceeded goals.   

Using social media

Understood.org took to social media platforms with a #YouCanBeTheReason challenge parents to engage other parents and raise awareness about the important role they play. The Holderness Family kicked off the challenge along with other influencers Understood.org pulled from their influencer roster. The challenge encouraged parents to post on social media ways they helped their children with ADHD thrive. 

Friedman said collaborating with The Holderness Family was a natural fit because Penn Holderness freely shared his experiences of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and had credibility on the topic. 

“It was really about how do we work with them to cultivate a community of parents and parenting influencers, to share how they can help shape their child’s life so they can thrive,” Friedman said. 

Friedman said that Understood.org also engaged their parenting influencer network to share how their children can thrive and tips on how to make that happen. 

“It was kind of a cascade effect, starting with The Holderness Family reaching other influencers that we work with and then also amplifying what we do on our social channels to our more than a million people who follow us on different platforms,” Friedman said.  

#YouCanBeTheReason posts earned 2.2 million impressions and generated thousands of positive comments. 

Friedman said that the campaign wanted to encourage parents to do what they can, when they can, to help their children achieve their full potential. 

“I think the important thing to realize is that as we learn more, it is becoming critically important that parents take that first step and that parents understand what their child is going through so they can ensure that they thrive,” Friedman said. “There’s a lot of little things (they can do) that can go a long way.” 

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post Understood.org launched the ‘Be the Reason’ campaign to help parents support their neurodivergent children appeared first on PR Daily.

Happy Wednesday, PR and comms pros. We hope you enjoyed a day off (if you had one!) Now, we’re a day late but not a dollar short. So, let’s read the latest edition of social media updates!      

X
X News Daily posted that X is updating its Explore page. The platform will display trending topic summaries created by its AI tool Grok. User @swak_12 noted on X that the new Explore page sectioncould replace the current What’s Happening section located on the home timeline.

In other news, X announced on a company blog that it’s debuting a new Creator Targeting program. Creator Targeting will let advertisers place ads “against a curated list of premium content creators via Creator Targeting,” according to the announcement. Creator Targeting works in addition to X’s primary brand safety solutions, Sensitivity Settings and Adjacency Controls. The platform will soon feature ads on an individual creator’s profile “completely eliminating the unlikely event of unwanted adjacencies while aligning your brand to creators you love most,” according to X. Creator Targeting is described as an extension of X’s Amplify Pre-roll program, which got off to a shaky start after MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, seemingly received preferential treatment with his initial post.

Meta

Social Media Today reported that Meta is testing a Verified comment-filtering process on Instagram. This would allow users to surface comments from blue check-marked accounts first, which could help them prioritize responding to these comments from verified humans.

Threads

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, posted on Threads that the platform is finally testing a much-requested trending topics feature. “Today’s topics on Threads will be on the search page and in the For You feed. The topics are determined by our AI systems based on what people are engaging with right now on Threads,” Mosseri wrote.

A Threads post indicated that the platform is conducting some fact-checking. The notice reads: “The same false information was reviewed in another thread by fact-checkers. There may be small differences. Independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact.” Keep an eye out for more of these as we enter election season.

Instagram

Social media expert Matt Navarra posted on Threads that Instagram seems to be testing the limit on how many hashtags users can add to a post. An image in the post featured six hashtags with a notification at the bottom that says, “You can only add 5 hashtags to this post.”

In other news, Jonah Manzano, social media enthusiast and singer-songwriter, posted on Threads that Instagram is letting users take video cutouts and turn them into stickers. Instagram already announced photo cutouts last month. To create a sticker, select a video or photo “with one distinct object.” See the process here.

Mosseri posted a video on Instagram announcing that the platform is updating the direct message process for creators by adding a filter for people you follow. “Because maybe you DM a lot of people you don’t follow yet, negotiating deals, figuring out collaborations, but sometimes you just want to focus the experience on people you know in order to make the experience a bit safer and more positive,” Mosseri said.

App trendspotter Radu Oncescu posted on Threads that Instagram is testing video carousels of Reels on Android.

TikTok

Next month, TikTok will debut a local language Election Centre in the app for nations in the EU ahead of the union’s June elections, according to a TikTok newsroom announcement. “This initiative is just one element of a wider strategy to ensure that TikTok remains a creative, safe, and civil place for our community during the election period,” the announcement noted. Some feature initiatives include:

• Policy enforcement: Over 6,000 people moderate EU language content along with technological tools to enforce rules and root out “covert influence operations.”
• Handling misinformation: Misinformation moderators who have specialized training will take down problematic content, working alongside experts who can add local knowledge to capture the full nuance of each market.
• Media literacy: TikTok launched media literacy campaigns last year in 18 European countries to address misinformation. There are nine more campaigns on tap this year.

LinkedIn       

LinkedIn announced a Media Planning API tool to help agencies. When creating a brand campaign, an agency can use the API to understand the “forecasted reach and frequency of brand campaigns before spending any budget.”

YouTube

Creator Insider announced updates to mobile, posts-only feeds and free creator gifting elements. Creators can now upload videos or Shorts directly from YouTube Studio mobile. Creators can also set the video’s monetization status from YouTube Studio.

The platform also built out a posts-only feed for iOS and Android mobile devices. Users can access this feed by selecting the “view all posts” link on the community posts in the home tab. After tapping that button, users will be able to see posts from channels they’ve viewed previously or posts the platform thinks you’ll fancy.

The platform also launched affiliate product tagging on livestreams. Creators in the YouTube shopping affiliate program can tag products from involved merchants directly in their livestreams. Creators can promote products in long-form videos, livestreams and shorts. When creators tag products featured in their own livestreams, a shopping button will pop up to create a more engaging way to shop. Creators can also pin products during livestreams.

The YouTube Official Blog announced that creators can add some extra flair to their Shorts with music video remixes. Go to YouTube and hit the “Remix” button to choose from one of four remix options: Green Screen, Sound, Cut and Collab.  Here are the feature deets:

• Users can use the sound from a video as a soundtrack.
• Make a Short right next to the video featuring the artist.
• Green Screen. Let the video be your next Short background and film your reaction.
• Cut a scene from the music vid and add it to a Short.

Pinterest
Lindsey Gamble, associate director of Influencer Innovation at Later, posted on Threads that Pinterest updated its Business Manager feature (formerly known as Business Access) to create and share assets like profiles and ad accounts, assign partner and employee permissions, and more. “This is a long-awaited update, as Pinterest now has similar capabilities to Meta and TikTok’s Business Managers, making it easier for brands/agencies to collaborate,” Gamble said. “It should lead to more paid media amplification of Pinterest creator content, too.”

The new features include:

• Audience sharing to repeat popular social media tactics on other accounts.
• Asset groups. Make custom groups according to needs by brand, product line or language.
• Two-factor authentication. Business owners can make employees use a two-factor authentication process to access assets, according to Pinterest.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Former President Ronald Reagan was a trendsetter not only with his fashion sense but with his ability to give moving, memorable speeches.

Reagan was the first president to invite a guest to his State of the Union address. In his 1982 speech, Reagan recognized Lenny Skutnik, a United States Congressional Budget Office employee who saved a woman stuck in the freezing Potomac River after an Air Florida Flight 90 plane carrying her crashed nearby.

Reagan described Skutnik’s rescue as “the spirit of American heroism at its finest.” Throughout his speech, Reagan touched on the country’s battle with a recession that led to unemployment, high-interest rates and homelessness, according to PBS.

Reagan had the weight of the nation on his shoulders as he corralled a beleaguered country facing this uphill battle. Reagan noted the problems were “no quick fix” and talked about how this country overcame “insuperable odds” before and can do it again. He brought Skutnik in as an example of what “quiet, everyday heroes” look like.

In subsequent State of the Union addresses, presidents followed Reagan’s lead by inviting and recognizing guests who represented American values and humanized their messages, according to TIME. Forever after, these were known as Skutniks.

Reagan’s speechwriter Aram Bakshian, Jr. said that he “wrote Lenny Skutnik into the finale” of Reagan’s speech to play up the hero aspect, according to the Miller Center.

“I wrote the passage that created the hero in the gallery ploy, which unfortunately has been milked to death since and overdone. I almost regret it.”

While Bakshian, Jr. may be sick of the tactic, it’s been used so frequently because it works. These Skutniks often resonate with audiences as their stories tug at heartstrings.

Michael Ricci, former director of communications for then-Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and former speechwriter and director of communications for John Boehner and Paul Ryan, told PR Daily that speechwriters can use Skutniks to connect the dots with audiences and their desire to relate to a hero in a speech.

Take listeners on a journey

Ricci, a partner at Seven Letter, a Washington, D.C.-based strategic communications firm, said to consider using intention and obstacle storytelling methods when writing speeches that feature Skutnik elements.

This storytelling structure features:

• A likable hero facing a challenge.
• The hero must overcome that challenge.
• The hero learns an inspirational moral.

Ricci said that former President Barack Obama used that technique during his 2011 State of the Union Address when he recognized a Pennsylvanian company that designed drilling equipment that rescued Chilean miners trapped underground.

“It was very similar to the original Lenny Skutnik story,” Ricci said. “The president laid out the story of the small company, he had the owner of the company in his box. And the moral that he drew was we do big things.”

Ricci said that these kinds of stories are the “gateway” to bigger-picture narratives.

But to turn these stories into action, you must identify the intention of the speech.

“Is it to pass a bill? Is it to reach a certain level of donations? Is it to … launch an initiative to modernize this international space station – some inspiring, clear, compelling intention?” Ricci said.

Then Ricci said to identify your obstacles, which, in the political context, is typically the opposing party.

But sometimes it’s not. It can be an obstacle everyone is facing. Like during COVID, Ricci said, the virus was the “clear villain.”

“Just something that provides tension, something, you have to overcome,” Ricci said.

It’s the speechwriter’s job to make the audience feel like they overcame that challenge together.

“What does it take to overcome it? And what lessons can be drawn from that journey?” Ricci said.

Finding your Skutnik 

Incorporating a Skutnik into a speech may be easy but finding one can be tricky. Here are some of Ricci’s tips for finding an inspiring figure to share:

Do your homework

• Ask trusted sources who might know great stories of humble heroes. “Don’t just Google it. Sometimes these stories, you need to go out and find them,” Ricci said.

But you can find these gems online if you know where to look. Try reading human interest stories to find potential Skutniks.

Dig into the source’s background

• “When you find them, stress test them. Make sure they work, make sure they land,” Ricci advised. “Sometimes a story can be too good to be true.”
• Ricci adds that the stress test ensures that they aren’t a controversial figure and that they are interested in having their story shared in a speech.

“There’s no shortage of people … or shortage of opportunities to identify,” Ricci said.

Learn more speechwriting tips at Ragan’s Public Affairs & Speechwriting Virtual Conference on Feb. 21.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post Use this decades-old speechwriting technique to create powerful messages today appeared first on PR Daily.

It’s another Tuesday and you know what that means – we have the latest social media updates to get you going this week. Now let’s get to the good stuff!      

X

X recently began to feature long-form X articles on the social media platform. These original X articles might have their own feed in the app in a similar blog-post format, Social Media Today reported. The long-form articles will have a link preview card on the platform’s feed, which users can click on and navigate to these stories. Users can experiment with posting these articles in the near future. Have you seen any X articles yet while scrolling?

Meta

Meta announced that it is working on tools to label AI-generated images on Instagram, Threads and Facebook. They already use “Imaged with AI” labels on photorealistic images made with its Meta AI feature. The company’s working to do the same with content from other generative AI tools. Meta specifically cited the upcoming global elections and the high potential for misinformation as the impetus to get these tools up and running quickly.

Instagram and Threads released new information on how they recommend political content. They will not “proactively recommend” political content to users via Explore, Reels and Suggested Users, though users will be able to opt-in. This is all part of Meta’s ongoing push to move away from polarizing politics in feeds, which is concerning some journalists and politicians.

Professional accounts on IG can go to Account Status to see if their account is considered political, which is determined by recent post activity. While in Account Status, they can remove or edit recent posts, ask for a review, or stop posting political content for “a period of time” to regain their recommendation status.

Wired reported that WhatsApp and Messenger will soon have third-party messaging to meet requirements from the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The third-party messaging interoperability feature will let users from other platforms send images, text messages, files and videos to WhatsApp users, according to Wired. Group chats and calls are not on the horizon yet. Messaging platforms interested in connecting with WhatsApp will have to sign a company agreement and follow its protocol. WhatsApp users who agree to view messages from other platforms will be able to see them in their inbox in a separate section at the top once the feature is available.

Facebook

Meta announced in late January that it’s doing away with third-party access to its Facebook Groups API on April 22. Developers and businesses use Facebook Groups API to schedule posts to Facebook Groups, TechCrunch reported. Agencies that schedule or automate their customers’ posts would feel the effects of this change. Meta Certified Community Manager Maurice W. Evans told TechCrunch that removing the third-party Facebook Groups access “could significantly alter the digital landscape, creating both hurdles and opportunities for community managers and businesses alike.”

Jonah Manzano, singer-songwriter and social media aficionado, posted on Threads that Facebook is now letting users create photo captions with AI. If this feature is available on your account:

• Visit the “create post” section.
• Select the Write with AI option and choose your tone: professional, funny, heartfelt, etc.
• Publish your AI-generated caption.

Threads

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram posted on Threads that the platform began a limited test of a highly requested feature post bookmarks. The feature works just like it does on Instagram, according to Mosseri.

Bluesky

The decentralized social app Bluesky is now available for anyone to join after a long stint as invitation-only. Since last year, the nascent platform and X competitor have built out features like custom feeds and moderation tools with a small user base. Shortly after removing the invitation requirement, Bluesky added 856,000 new users, reaching a total of more than 4 million, according to ZDNet.

TikTok

Manzano posted on Threads that TikTok introduced a new feature specifically for communicating with subscribers. In Sub Space, creators can create chat threads, post polls and more.  To access, go to tools, click Sub Space and post to “extend interactions beyond LIVE.”

LinkedIn

LinkedIn announced new tools under the Network tab, including:

Grow tab

• Make more professional connections and manage current ones through updates to the People You May Know

Catch Up tab

• This tab lets you keep up on major life news with connections by letting users know when someone achieved a milestone like celebrating a new job, birthday or work anniversary.

LinkedIn is getting rid of the hashtags and Creator Mode button in profile settings, according to a newsletter article on LinkedIn from The Social Media Scoop. The Creator Mode debuted in 2021 and let users tag their profiles with hashtags. LinkedIn now prefers keywords and topics and is moving away from hashtags. Some Creator Mode features like the “Connect” with or “Follow” option will remain, as will the associated creative tools and analytics.

YouTube

TeamYouTube announced on X that users’ live stream previews can be seen in Shorts. Viewers can tap on one of these videos to enter into a scrollable live feed, according to the post.

YouTube is also testing out its video feeds with red, green and blue colors, according to 9To5Google. The article noted that 9To5Google came across a “Craving something new?” card on the platform for Android users. This feature lets users create their video feeds based on color groupings.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Gone are the days when social media pros have to develop engaging content ideas using their brainpower alone.                                                                         

Now these platform-posting maestros can use generative AI to help get their juices flowing. 

From brainstorming ideas to creating first drafts of content, using generative AI to draft quality social media posts takes curiosity and creativity to strike a balance between your human voice and the bot.  

Boston University Social Media Director Dave McDonald spoke to PR Daily about how his team uses generative AI for social media success by sharing a step-by-step guide to posting even better content.

Brainstorming

McDonald and his team use generative AI if they have writer’s block or just want a creative boost with social media posts. 

For example, McDonald might first ask ChatGPT to create SEO-optimized outlines for things like Instagram Reels, YouTube videos, photo captions for posts. Or McDonald might ask the bot for help creating SEO-friendly titles for BU’s platforms. 

When needing SEO assistance for titles, his team might give a prompt like: “I’m seeking a name for a new YouTube video series at Boston University. Please give me five SEO-friendly titles for…”. Then they refine ChatGPT’s output to meet their needs. 

He added that users should experiment with ChatGPT and see what works for them and their organization.

“AI can be helpful throughout the production process of these projects,” McDonald said.

 3-step guide to drafting social media content with AI

Here are some useful steps McDonald uses when creating content with ChatGPT:

 Step 1: Type the prompt, “Please act as a social media manager. Create five posts for an X (formally Twitter) post using the critical points from the content below.” 

After the prompt, McDonald pastes an entire original article into AI for better chances of accuracy because the bot could potentially use other web sources for the request, which can lead to issues with plagiarism and attribution. 

 “By including the whole article, AI will only use your original content to build out your request, ensuring accuracy,” McDonald said. 

Asking ChatGPT to act as a social media helps ChatGPT to generate specifically for McDonald and his busy social media team, who work on various posts that highlight the student experience and engage the 184-year-old university’s students, faculty and other stakeholders.

“When giving AI a prompt, it’s essential to be as specific as possible to help get your desired outcome,” McDonald said. “Including information like the particular job function you want the AI to act as, the tone of your desired result, and your target audience will save you a ton of time when editing and building off of what the AI engine you’re using produces for you.”

After providing the context and content you’d like generated, add a call-to-action segment. Provide a website link or other CTA request and ask ChatGPT to incorporate it.

Step 2: Add and edit.

McDonald asks generative AI to suggest various additions to posts, like keywords. 

These might include the names of a featured student’s hometown or major. The SEO keywords are easily searchable for future students who can relate to who they’re reading about on social. 

McDonald said it’s important to edit generated posts so they fit a brand’s tone and voice. 

“AI is whatever you make of it, right? So, if you want it to be a robot, copy and paste what it puts out and put it out there,” he cautions. 

 McDonald then double-checks the generated content for accuracy, brand style, voice and tone. Then, McDonald adds relevant social media handles as needed. 

Step 3: Publish the post and bask in the glory of your hard work, but not for long – there’s always more to do!

Here’s an example of a BU article the team fed to the chatbot and asked to create this X thread. 

Working with generative AI for social media takes practice and a willingness to learn. McDonald, who is self-taught in AI, encourages people to test out different tools and grow every step of the way. 

“Don’t be afraid to experiment,” McDonald said. 

Learn more about social media and AI by joining us at Ragan’s Social Media Conference at Disney on March 27-29.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post Step-by-step tips on using AI for social media content from BU’s social director  appeared first on PR Daily.

Leah Pimentel, inaugural director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Culture at the University of California’s Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, wants her colleagues to know that they are seen and their opinions are deeply valued at work.

Pimentel oversees the department’s DE&I committee of six members. She also serves on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and works to promote city-wide equity.

In increasingly divisive times, Pimentel ensures that everyone has a seat at the table in the organization and their voices are heard.

Pimentel makes sure employees feel valued in other ways too. She recently created an appreciation gift-giving practice for new employees to set the right tone at work.

Pimentel spoke with Ragan about how she makes impactful organizational changes.

Responses were lightly edited for clarity.

From a communication standpoint, how do you effectively convey innovative ideas and solutions to your team and stakeholders?

When I first started, I said, ‘We’re all on this journey together. And we’re all coming from different places. And that’s okay.’ But I think the first thing is to clearly articulate your vision and in DEI it’s not a one-month plan, not a 36-month plan. It’s actually a lifelong journey of understanding, education, self-reflections. … Also creating a supportive environment. … One person cannot do this all. So how can we all work together? Everyone has great ideas, they want to participate. Okay, let’s bring that to the table.

How do you strategically use your influence for work culture change as a purpose-driven leader on the job?

Really defining and articulating that clear purpose of what am I trying to do … and empowering others on the team to be the leader. So, for the DEI and culture team, I ask them what do (they) want to do. What do (they) want to see? … How do you want to educate the department? And giving them that empowerment to be involved because … we’re all (in the) anesthesia (department). And changing that branding and wording and separation to we’re all one team and empowering each other to work together in decision-making and (getting) feedback as well. And leading by example is most important.

Can you explain your onboarding gift process and how you came up with that idea?

One thing I thought about is it’s your first day, you’re excited! You’re that new employee – it’s a fresh start. How can we show you our brand, our culture and make you feel welcome? This is one of my first ideas. … It’s for them to understand the company culture. We are a department that values our employees. We want you to stay. We want to provide you with education, tools and resources as well. By receiving this gift, you see our brand … So, the swag has a box with our logo on it and you open it up and there is a little note that says, ‘We appreciate you and thank you for being part of our team.’ There’s a personalized department water bottle, socks, Chapstick, sunglasses, a notepad and a pen.

How do you integrate Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs into an organizational culture and help employees feel safe, especially through a DE&I lens?

I think that it is particularly important … to ensure psychological and basic safety needs are met. That we have fair wages and benefits and safe working conditions and a supportive work environment … To ensure that we have belongingness and we promote inclusivity and foster a sense of community, encourage teamwork, collaboration and open communication.

How can workplace leaders better understand the important role they play in creating an engaging, fulfilling and productive atmosphere at work?

Feedback and data (are) important. So, one thing that we do is we have to understand what events do people like to go to. So, we have a variety of morale events. … Our staff DEI and culture team, they’re working on a survey to ask the department what is your level of understanding of DEI, but also how will you want to learn about things. I think it’s important to meet people where they are and teach (them) how (they) want to be taught.

What tips would you give to others looking to integrate DE&I into their department through allyship and accountability?

Take the initiative and educate yourself about diversity, equity and inclusion. Read books, articles and resources and explore different perspectives and experiences because … you want to be well-equipped to foster and create a more inclusive, equitable workplace that constantly changes in a DEI world – and having a pulse on what’s currently happening. I would also say reflect on bias.

What are your go-to strategies for building an employer brand that can withstand societal pressures while remaining true to its purpose and values?

(Start) with a clear definition of our organization’s purpose and our core values and then articulating them in a meaningful and specific way to ensure they align with the aspirations and beliefs of the department and our target audience. Conducting an audit to assess what is the current culture, policies and practices and understanding the potential alignment and areas for improvement.

As a leader on the Human Rights Commission, how do you bring that advocacy for racial solidarity, equity and healing in San Francisco to your DE&I work? 

One of the important and critical things to do is (understand what) is the best approach to help and tailor DEI efforts accordingly. And collaborating with community stakeholders because oftentimes the community has a breadth of knowledge of what’s going on in San Francisco as well. And they are your partners in how you can build partnerships with the stakeholders to ensure DEI initiatives are community-centered and respond to their local needs. … Making racial justice and equality at the center of diversity work. … Seeing what’s happening on the Human Rights Commission and the work we do is very much connected to that DEI work. How are we being an ally and helping various communities?

Learn more about DEI in the workplace and other relevant topics by joining us at Ragan’s Employee Communications & Culture Conference on April 16-18 in Chicago.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post ‘We’re all on this journey together’: Bringing everyone together for DE&I appeared first on PR Daily.

Hello, PR and comms pros! It’s Tuesday and you know what that means – we have the most recent social media updates. Now let’s get to it.

X

X is wooing advertisers with promises of a “video-first experience.” The app recently announced that all advertisers in the U.S. and globally can purchase “pre-screened, brand-suitable vertical video inventory” thanks to an expanded partnership with Integral Ad Science. Advertisers can choose where their ads are shown on X in the vertical video feed near organic content.

Also, X engineer Dong Wook Chung posted on the platform that X Community admins can add tags to improve their community’s visibility in search results and recommendations on the web. To access this feature:

• Look under admin tools and click settings.
• Go to the edit search tags section.
• Add relevant search tags in the search bar.

A previously announced plan to add video to X Spaces is getting closer to reality, according to a post from X Designer Andrea Conway. Currently, Spaces are audio only. There’s no date set yet for when the video feature drops. Check back here for the update.

Meta
Meta announced a new tool that lets advertisers see conversions from their video ads through Engaged-view.  Engaged-view reports if a user plays a video ad for at least 10 seconds or watches 97% of a video if under 10 seconds and takes a desired ad action within the next day. Engaged-view is not available for Facebook in-stream video ads that aren’t skippable.

Instagram

Social media marketer Nadja Bella Marrero posted on LinkedIn that Instagram recently launched a platform feature that lets users preview what carousels or photos would look like in their feed before making it public. The preview feature does not work for Reel covers. To access, hit the “show preview” button in the pre-post stage and view the grid preview and switch up the photos until they suit you – or post once you see what you like!

TikTok

Social media expert Matt Navarra posted on Threads that TikTok is encouraging users to post horizontal videos that are over one minute long. Qualifying longer horizontal vids will receive boosted views within 72 hours of posting. Original content – no lipsyncing or “random recordings” – is prioritized, and ads won’t see the boost either. To get the boost, accounts must have been on TikTok for at least three months.

TikTok owner ByteDance debuted an AI model, “StreamVoice” system, which can mimic a person’s voice using “just a few utterances,” according to a Business Insider article that Social Media Today pulled information from. Time will tell exactly how this could be integrated with TikTok, which already embraces AI.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn announced that it’s debuting Website Actions, which lets B2B marketers see buyer preferences and interests through Insight Tag and improve their marketing strategies. The tool lets marketers learn and measure website actions minus the extra tracking codes on websites, according to the announcement.

To access Website Actions, log into Campaign Manager.

YouTube

YouTube’s Creator Insider recently announced a new playlist chip in the content tab in the platform’s analytics where users can compare their top playlists right next to each other. To access, click on a playlist to see grouped analytics for videos featured in the playlist. Audience metrics, top-performing videos and other viewer-behavior metrics are available.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

“And you know who I want to thank? I want to thank me — for believing in me and doing what they said I could not do,” actress Niecy Nash-Betts proudly said as she accepted her win for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the 75^th Emmy Awards. “And I want to say to myself in front of all you beautiful people, ‘Go on girl with your bad self. You did that.'”

Nash-Betts most certainly did that. She won the award for playing Glenda Cleveland in Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” series.

She showed up larger-than-life in her stirring speech – and imparted several speechwriting lessons you can use.

Thank others first

Nash-Betts’ speech gained social media traction for how she thanked herself – but that only worked because she first thanked others.

Nash-Betts thanked God, professional colleagues, Emmy voters and her “better half.” She gave honor where it was due first. Her speech would have been too boastful if she had just thanked herself. The actress instead came across as both humble and confident.

Be bold

Nash-Betts’ self-affirming words made an impact because women often don’t take credit for their own wins.

According to the Division of Continuing Education at Harvard University, women don’t promote themselves at work as much as men.

A TikTok user posted: “She thanked herself and many people are too scared to do that! Amazing .”

“If you don’t self-promote, your contributions will probably not be visible nor recognized, which will limit your ability to get a promotion, a raise, or important projects that will help you advance in your career,” Harvard Extension School Business Strategy Instructor Areen Shahbari said in a Harvard blog.

If it doesn’t come naturally for your speaker to talk about their achievements, give them a couple of good, yet simple examples for them to talk about. Have them practice those aloud by themselves or in front of you until they feel comfortable. On the day of their speech, they’ll be ready to share their wins and a job well done confidently.

But everyone already knew Nash-Betts had done a good job – she had an Emmy in her hand, after all. So instead, she stuck to the qualities that had gotten her onto that stage with that statuette.

Social media was abuzz with countless commenters who posted about Nash-Betts’ speech being speech goals.

Fans like this X commenter adored Nash-Betts’ speech: “Niecy Nash giving a masterclass on how to make the most out of an #Emmys acceptance speech,” the commenter said.

Another X commenter posted that Nash-Betts’ speech was empowering because she “said what needed to be said.”

Nash-Betts also brought passion and humor to her speech. Help your speaker do the same by encouraging them to show emotion during a speech to bring life to their topic. When happy, Nash-Betts let tears of joy fall and the audience cherished those emotional moments with her.

Granted, she’s an actress, which means she’s had years to perfect her expressions. But as a speechwriter, you can still help your speaker learn how to bring big emotion to their speech.

Help them to get out of their comfort zone and lean into their emotional side authentically during a speech.

If there’s an emotional moment, build in pauses where they can take a moment to slow down. And if there’s a part where it’s time to emphasize something, coach them to bring high energy to that moment and not shy away from it.

Audiences pick up on authenticity as one TikTok commenter noted: “You can tell she being herself even in her roles. Look how she gave her speech. Wonderful actress ”

Make audience connections

Playing Glenda Cleveland was personal for Nash-Betts.

Cleveland lived in an apartment around where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer lived. Cleveland contacted police multiple times about Dahmer, but they took no action, according to USA Today. In one incident in 1991, Cleveland saw one of Dahmer’s victims, a 14-year-old boy, in an alley “dazed and naked” running away from Dahmer. She told police and they brushed her off – a repeated pattern.

“The fact that Dahmer was white and Cleveland was Black was not lost on outraged African Americans (in Milwaukee),” USA Today said.

Nor was it lost on Nash-Betts.

“Finally, I accept this award on behalf of every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard, yet overpoliced. Like Glenda Cleveland. Like Sandra Bland. Like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby, I’ma do it till the day I die.”

Taylor’s mom called the speech “amazing” because she acknowledged “women, including my daughter, who have tragically fallen victim to police brutality,” TMZ reported.

Nash-Betts touchingly shared the purpose behind her work, and it resonated.

Nash-Betts cannot heal these issues, but as a Black woman herself, she helped give life and representation to these hard topics with her words. She reminded the crowd what her job is all about. Nash-Betts had a unique platform to give voice to the voiceless. She made them a touching part of her victory that we all can celebrate alongside her.

Nash-Betts’ dedication to her award made the end of her speech all the more poignant.

Audiences want to feel seen, valued and understood and see your speaker’s humanity reflected in their words and actions. Help them get their every step of the way with what you write.

Learn more speechwriting tips at Ragan’s Public Affairs & Speechwriting Virtual Conference on Feb. 21.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post Steal these speechwriting techniques from Niecy Nash-Betts’ powerful Emmy speech appeared first on PR Daily.

Happy Tuesday, PR and comms pros! You know the drill, we have the latest social media updates to get you going on your work week. Now let’s get to it.

X

X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on the platform that all Premium users in the United States can now post jobs to their personal X accounts. Previously, only verified organizations could post job opportunities.

Social Media Today reported that X used MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, to boost its Amplify video program, though things got off to a bad start when the platform misrepresented how Donaldson earned money on the platform. Donaldson reposted an older video on X and earned $260,000 from pre-roll ads in a week through the program, which he later disclosed after uproar. The Amplify program is made up of a small, handpicked group of creators, which Donaldson joined.

Keen content creators said X gave his post preferential treatment, as they have never earned that much in similarly engaging posts. X made it seem like Donaldson was posting as a typical X creator when he wasn’t. Donaldson is actually a partner in X’s Amplify program expansion efforts, though X only shared that later. Amplify will expand to other users soon, according to X’s Evan Jones.

Even when Amplify becomes more widely available, will others make nearly as much as Donaldson? Unlikely, given his superstar status, but they could rake in a pretty penny, according to Social Media Today. “So while not everyone will be seeing the types of payouts that Donaldson does, even a portion of that would be significant, and that could be enough to drive more video content through the app.”

Furthering their play for the video space, X will soon debut a new Video tab on mobile, X News Daily reported. The Video tab would be located between the search and notification buttons.

In other news, X plans to create an Austin-based Trust and Safety center of excellence to enforce platform safety and content rules and combat child sexual exploitation-related material, Bloomberg reported. However, the move comes more than a year after Musk cut trust and safety operations to the bone, likely contributing to the surge in CSAM.  The platform plans to hire 100 content moderators, though a launch date has not been announced.

An X Safety post announced that the social media platform launched Passkeys as a more secure login option for iOS users in the United States.

Meta

Meta has updated its Brand Rights Protection tool and debuted its Intellectual Property Reporting Center, according to a Meta announcement.

Brand Rights Protection gives rights holders the ability “to monitor for misuse of their brand and report intellectual property infringement and business impersonation,” according to Meta.  Updates include:

Saved Search

• Save your most searched-for terms and filters.

Cross-Surface Search

• Searches will be performed for Commerce, Posts, Ads and Accounts and you won’t have to put in the same search request for every login.

Reference Library expansion

• The reference library limit used to be 50 images and is now 200 images. Allowing for easier monitoring of a wider range of assets.

Apply for the tools here.

Meta’s new Intellectual Property Reporting Center lets rights holders better protect their intellectual property. The Intellectual Property Reporting Center also keeps IP Reporting Forms and important account info in one place.

The platform improved its Advantage targeting product to help advertisers with advanced automation and machine learning technology, according to a Meta announcement. Advantage can improve a campaign’s performance by letting Meta’s system tap a “broader group of people than are defined in an advertiser’s initial detailed targeting selections, if our system predicts it’s likely to improve performance.”

The updates include:

• Campaigns that are optimized for engagement, video views, reach, impressions or ad recall lift can choose to use Advantage detailed targeting.
• Campaigns optimized for leads, landing page views or link clicks automatically have detailed targeting automatically added, with the capability to opt-out.

Instagram

Social media strategist Matt Navarra posted on Threads that a user recently saw Instagram’s new Flipside feature. The new option lets users make a private profile version and post photos for certain groups of friends. “The feature essentially productizes ‘finstas,’” Navarra posted.

Also, users can now turn off Instagram DM read receipts, according to an official Instagram channel post on X. Users can go to the Privacy & Safety section and under “Read receipts,” press the off button to keep others guessing if you read their message or not.

TikTok

Social media expert Jonah Manzano posted on Threads that TikTok users can now cut out a foreground video subject and add a background to the clip. This option can be done during edit mode and one photo is allowed for the background, Manzano wrote. A photo can also be removed.

Navarra posted on Threads that TikTok is also testing out 30-minute-long video uploads. Stay tuned for that interesting update.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn announced recently that it’s doing away with its lookalike audience option by Feb. 29. Active campaigns with lookalike audiences will still operate, albeit with a static audience.

With lookalike audiences going away, LinkedIn recommends using predictive audiences for Lead Gen Form data sources, contact lists or conversion. LinkedIn also recommends using audience expansion for “Matched Audiences and LinkedIn attribute targeting, such as by skill or interest.”

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

There are never enough hours in a day to complete all the work an in-house communicator has on their to-do list. The nagging feeling that there’s more that you could, should, be doing is enough to bring even the most cheerful pro down.

But sometimes, agencies can be a solution to that time crunch.

PR Daily spoke to Laura Emanuel, managing director of Red Thread PR, and Randi Berris, vice president of Marketing and Communications at Business Leaders for Michigan, about when an agency can supplement in-house work.

Emanuel said that she helps in-house teams assess their agency needs and where the best opportunities for collaboration lie.

“Together it’s the ultimate kind of partnership and the ultimate team to really pull everything off to the best of our ability,” Emanuel said.

‘Look under the hood’ first

Before collaboration even begins, it’s critical to understand what your needs are. The first step is to understand what everyone is doing by conducting an audit to understand what tasks are on everyone’s plate, what’s getting done and where another set of hands is needed.

“Look under the hood of what everyone is doing,” Emanuel suggested, to gain insight into how to rebalance workloads for greater success.

For instance, Berris said her company heavily relies on agencies for their media relations acumen, especially when it comes to specific relationships with reporters in local markets across Michigan.

“When I’m looking at different agencies to choose, I need a good thought partner for strategy and tactical support for advertisement placement and bread and butter public relations,” Berris said.

Once needs are identified, it’s time to identify where an agency can really pitch in. Often in-house communicators must stay responsive to quick-turn, high-importance requests from within the organization. But when it comes to looking for opportunities, an agency might bring the fresh eyes you need.

“More of the proactive type things that oftentimes (in-house teams) need an agency to keep an eye on,” Emanuel said of using an agency.

In addition to helping with comms planning, agencies could help an in-house team see things through a new lens.

Emanuel said that an in-house team might be so used to being reactive to internal comms pressures that an external agency has the advantage of seeing the big picture that’s often overlooked when one is immersed in the day-to-day grind.

Berris echoed similar thoughts. Berris said that in her experience working in larger companies, her in-house team relied on agency support as thought partners to bring to life new ideas and comms strategies – especially if they had a fresh take on something that an in-house team might have missed or were too busy to see.

“Now and in my previous roles, having that third-party perspective is really important,” Berris said.

Berris said that in-house teams might not see the forest for the trees in their comms because they’re dealing with it day in and day out. Having an agency could show them what comms angle is working and what’s not and what makes sense and what doesn’t.

“I think it’s very easy for us to assume everyone understands exactly what we’re talking about – how we’re saying it,” Berris said of an in-house team. “And having the third party helps balance us out and be able to push back when we’re getting too comfortable with language that some might see as jargon-y or bureaucratic. An agency is helpful in being that reality check.”

Using agencies for tactical support

Emanuel said that it is vital for agencies to have an ongoing dialogue with their in-house teams about resource allocation and the internal measurement process to best understand the success of the partnership. That also looks like ensuring everyone is on the same page with tracking tools to know how stakeholders engage with internal content to see if the messaging works or should be tweaked.

“It gets pretty granular,” Emanuel said of the data shared with her agency. She added that while clients will share different amounts or kinds of data, it provides agencies with a better understanding of the broader picture.

“It’s not just asking for data for the sake of data,” Emanuel said. “It’s so that we can build the case for where (we’re at) and where we’re falling short.”

Berris said it’s important to have a regular cadence of meetings and check-ins between in-house and agencies to ensure everyone’s aligned.

“I also hold quarterly meetings where I get all of my agencies together on Zoom and we talk about all of the issues. And it’s never my intent for agencies to be competing against each other,” Berris said. “We should be working toward the same goal … to support the client, me, and be on the same page with strategies.”

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post Tips for integrating an agency with an in-house team appeared first on PR Daily.

You’ve probably already seen the fuss. The shopping craze that has customers clamoring and falling over (quite literally) for the red and bright pink Stanley tumblers on social media.

What’s causing some of these customers to also wait hours in line for these tumblers when they probably already have multiple drinkware options at home? One word: FOMO or the fear of missing out. More on that later.

Stanley, the popular tumbler that keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold, has gained some fan frenzy because it is not afraid to think outside of the (juice) box and customers appreciate it.

The brand, however, was not always known for being creative.

For decades, Stanley was known for its run-of-the-mill, ubiquitous army green thermos mainly marketed to blue-collar workers. Now the company has found major success connecting with a new demographic: women.

Stanley listened to what its newer female customer base had to say about improving its product, which changed everything.

Here’s what you can learn from their wins.

Connect with newer audiences

Three female co-owners operate The Buy Guide, a review site. They happen to love Stanley’s 40-oz Quencher. TBG posted about their Quencher fondness in 2017 on TBG’s Instagram page, made up of 178,000 mostly female followers between the ages of 25 and 45, according to a Retail Dive article. When the trio thought the product was being discontinued, they encouraged their followers to buy the Quencher and tell the company that they should keep it.

Stanley’s senior VP of Global Commerce Matt Navarro told Retail Dive that while the product wasn’t going away, “the tumbler wasn’t prioritized” then.

That quickly changed as the brand saw how much women liked the Quencher.

Now, Stanley’s social media platform and its website prominently display colorful Quenchers and heavily market to girlies, thanks to TBG.

The lesson? Listen to new audiences. The TBG team encouraged Stanley to expand its product offerings and appeal to more women. Stanley did that by revolutionizing its 40-oz Quencher, improving its visibility and adding a wide range of fun, popular colors. TBG also connected Stanley to affiliate marketing, which is an engagement win and opened the door to the brand working with more influencers and getting in front of their audiences. Stanley struck while the iron was hot. The brand took a chance on TBG’s savvy marketing suggestions to target women and get in on the affiliate marketing.

Prepare to Pivot

Not only did Stanley embrace their new audience segment but the brand took the ladies’ advice and changed how they marketed their products. Stanley went from describing its products as “occasional-use items” to positioning them across social media as everyday items that can complement customers’ aesthetics, according to Retail Dive. Don’t box yourself in with your product or messaging strategy. Try and experiment with new ways to angle what you say or what you sell, especially on social media.

Stanley did just that and took to social media to show fans how to use Stanley products beyond what it was originally known for in 1913.

The brand’s posts now encourage customers to use the Quenchers and its other drinkware to complement their style, lifestyle and even mood. They even give creative suggestions for how to use Stanley products like putting a mini carton of ice cream (mint for the win!) in a Stanley cup during the summer.

The brand’s decision to market itself to a newer customer base made the products more enticing and exciting. Now, buying a tumbler that fits one’s personality and style has become a big draw for the brand.

Beyond posting about the cool Quenchers, Stanley showed its heartfelt side when a customer’s vehicle was damaged in a fire last fall while a Stanley cup inside remained intact. Stanley’s President Terrence Reilly jumped into action and posted on TikTok about the brand wanting to buy a new vehicle for their customer and send her Stanley cups.

“We’ve never done this before and we’ll probably never do it again, but we’d love to replace your vehicle,” Reilly said adding that the customer should check her DMs for the details.

From the over 65,000 comments, one commenter in Ireland said that they didn’t know about Stanley until seeing the video and now they want to purchase one because of the brand’s generosity. Another said that they didn’t need or want a tumbler but they are buying one for others because of the video.

Reilly could have sent a bunch of Stanleys to the customer and called it a day. Or made a statement on their website about how Stanleys are reliable and nothing more. But Reilly put a human face to the brand and posted on social media how Stanley is there for its customers and its drinkware can take a beating. You may not be able to give a car away but find ways to connect with your consumers in unexpected ways where it fits.

Create some major FOMO 

CBS News reports that Stanley debuted two new Quencher products on Dec. 31 for its Galentine’s line, which is sold only at Target. On Jan. 3, Stanley also unveiled a Starbucks collab “Winter Pink” tumbler at Target, which is currently unavailable. This drinkware is sold in limited quantities to customers or households, which amplifies the FOMO feeling. Some products sold out online, which resulted in a mad dash for customers to snatch up their own Stanley before it’s too late. This led to “shopping mayhem,” according to CBS News.

Limited-edition products are serious FOMO bait and appeal to people’s innate desire to have the latest and greatest item before anyone else. Plus, who doesn’t love bragging rights?

“People want the scarcity and the exclusivity, but they want that because they like to show it off,” Clay Parnell, The Parker Avery Group president, told Modern Retail. “It kind of feeds off each other.”

No one wants to be left out. The product drop ahead of Valentine’s Day (forget the chocolate!) makes customers crave and want to have at least one of those popular colors in their hands before the holiday arrives.

To stay relevant, be willing to reinvent yourself or your product. Be open to audience feedback and look for opportunities to genuinely and creatively connect with customers. Dig deep and look for unique ways to surprise your audience, engage them and grow because of them too.

Hear more about connecting audiences on social media by joining us at Ragan’s Social Media Conference in Disney March 27-29!

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post Stanley shows why it pays to listen to new audiences appeared first on PR Daily.

It’s another beautiful Tuesday, PR and comms pros, despite what the weather might look like in your neck of the woods. Why? Because we have the latest social media news. While this info won’t keep you warm, it will keep you at the top of your game today. Now let’s get to the good stuff.

X

Last fall, X debuted video and audio calling options to iOS users. Now, Android users with an X Premium account get to join in, X Senior Software Engineer Enrique Barragan posted. Barragan noted that only X Premium members can make calls, but all X users can receive calls.

Meta

Meta recently debuted its Creator Management Tools in Meta Business Suite to better assist agencies and creators, according to a company announcement. “This centralized tool is designed to help agencies and creators manage their relationships on Facebook by connecting their accounts and granting access to assets and information,” the announcement noted. Agencies that oversee content creators can use Meta’s Creator Management Tools to assist them with things like:

• Creator management. Agencies can operate creator accounts on Facebook by requesting permission to manage creator pages.
• Send contractually agreed-upon payments to an agency account.
• Allows agencies and creators to link accounts, eliminating the need for credential sharing.

Threads

Social media strategist Matt Navarra posted on Threads that the platform now lets users hide the share count on their posts. “Previously, you could hide the Like count only,” Navarra wrote. To hide the share and like counts on a Threads post from your computer:

• Tap your profile picture located in the bottom right corner.
• Select the three dots (…) next to the post you plan to edit.
• Hit “Hide like and share counts.”

Find out more here on how to hide post like and share counts from an Android and iPhone.

Instagram

Instagram’s Help Center posted that users can now use Cutouts to add some flair to their posts. Cutouts can assist users in making more creative Stories and Reels from custom stickers from their camera roll photos or eligible IG images. You can also create Cutouts from another user’s images, if they have the option turned on.

If you made a sticker with Cutouts from another person’s post and they deleted their post, any content you made with the sticker will be removed, too.

Social Media Today posted that users can cancel a Stories upload when it is is “mid-process.” This option is for someone who wants to fix a mistake before it’s seen publicly. That’s great news for social media managers!

WhatsApp

The official WhatsApp page posted on Threads updates to Channels:

• Channel administrators can send polls out to their audience to learn people’s take on various topics.
• Voice notes are available in Channels.
• Users can share Channel updates on their status. To do so:
  • Long-press the update you would like to share and select forward and my status.

TikTok

TikTok is getting ready for upcoming worldwide elections by sharing its plans to ensure that its platform “continues to be a creative, safe, and civil place for our community in a historic elections year,” Head of USDS Trust and Safety Suzy Loftus posted in TikTok Newsroom.

“With more than 2 billion people in over 50 countries expected to go to the polls this year, we are deeply invested in protecting the integrity of elections on TikTok,” Loftus noted.

Some plans the platform has include partnering with electoral commissions and fact-checking orgs to create Election Centers that offer trustworthy voting information to users. The platform is also building out features that give more context to TikTok accounts and content, including clarifying that (unlike on X), blue checkmarks mean that people are who they say they are and that in the U.S., accounts from politicians, governmental agencies and political parties must be verified. In the AI space, the platform does not allow “manipulated content that could be misleading, including (AI generated content) of public figures if it depicts them endorsing a political view,” Loftus noted.  TikTok is making creators label realistic AI-generated content. As the platform continues to evolve in this arena, find updates and more information here.

Social media expert Jonah Manzano posted on Threads that TikTok added an AI Song feature, which allows users to enter a prompt to generate a song. In the example, some suggested prompts could be tunes about jealousy, seeing the Northern Lights or gardening. We’ll soon be listening to something about puppies!

LinkedIn

Sponsored articles are now available on LinkedIn for some, Baptiste Beauvisage, lead client solutions manager at LinkedIn, said. Currently, only company-authored articles can be sponsored.

Applicable, existing content on a LinkedIn page can be turned into sponsored content.

In other news, LinkedIn announced that job seekers can now search for jobs through Job Collections, which thematically groups jobs by industry, passion or expertise. Some collections include remote work, good parental leave or IT. To get started:

• Select the LinkedIn Jobs tab.
• Find “Explore with Job Collections.”
• Then click on the various collections and see which one fits your needs.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Chevrolet wanted to win over the car buyers of tomorrow and educate people about electric cars today. The car brand worked to win over young, Black consumers with its “Discover the Unexpected” (DTU) campaign.

The 2022 campaign was built upon a popular 10-week fellowship for six journalism students and five marketing students from historically Black colleges and universities. The colleges and universities offered internships at participating National Newspaper Publishers Association newspapers or within the Chevrolet marketing organization. The NNPA is an 80-year-old trade association deeply known in Black communities. Chevrolet marketing leaders mentored the students during the program. The students worked on editorial assignments bolstering Chevrolet EV initiatives.

Chevrolet joined forces with Carol H. Williams Advertising for the campaign.

Carol H. Hood, Jr., VP, digital creative director at Carol H. Williams Advertising, said that the program hired Black students to report on EVs for these newspapers to evangelize EVs.

The campaign also built affinity with the students so that long after the internship ended the impact of Chevrolet remained.

Hood said that Chevrolet gave the fellows a chance to learn about EVs and learn from mentors. They documented their experience in the newspapers and on social media.

Hood’s team was a community engagement winner in PR Daily’s Social Media & Digital Awards last June.

Here’s what you can learn from the campaign.

Be nimble and vigilant

“At first, there was talk about doing something more traditional,” Hood said of just putting ads in newspapers to educate people about EVs. Then her agency decided on another route. “So, we came up with DTU, which was a non-traditional, multilayered marketing platform to address some problems at the brand affinity level.”

Hood said that the fellows wrote articles about EVs and created social media content including behind-the-scenes videos of them testing out these vehicles. The fellows documented their experiences to improve visibility among their peers.

“They were able to extend reach by creating more content on top of our official work, and increase engagement,” Hood said of creating bonus social media videos about EVs. She added that agencies and marketers have to go to where the people are – in this case, young people. The agency developed an authentic relationship with HBCU students by going to their campuses and filming social media clips for the campaign.

Hood said having a relationship with community members or knowing someone who has that relationship is vital.

“And if you don’t get to the community in an authentic way, you’re never going to win that audience over,” Hood said. “Especially a multicultural audience, especially a Gen Z audience.”

Hood added that Chevrolet didn’t stop at Gen Z either. The brand featured banners and other ads in NNPA issues to reach older audiences reading the newspapers.

The campaign rose above expectations, engaging Black communities and positively moving perceptions of the brand. DTU social media and digital banner ads reached 75.3% of NNPA readers according to campaign data, and the program produced a 9.9% increase in consideration of Chevrolet electric vehicles.

Hood said that those figures didn’t happen by accident.

“You need to know what you want, know your strategy and stick to it with a hypervigilance,” Hood said.

Use a variety of influencers

Hood said that her team wanted to find a mix of influencers who reached different populations. Actor Terrence Jenkins, best known for hosting “106 & Park,” was recruited in the campaign as a brand ambassador alongside STEM influencer Justin Shaifer. Shaifer, well-known in the HBCU community, acted as a mentor to the fellows to talk about the science and technology behind EVs.

“Justin was kind of a diamond in the rough we were looking for,” Hood said.

Hood said that her team found Shaifer after diving deep into the HBCU space in search of an educational influencer with a trustworthy voice and comedic influence.

“It paid off with an increase of impressions, and the building of an HBCU community that didn’t exist before we created DTU,” Hood said.

Jenkins’ star power was also impressive. He hosted an initial student fellowship event and posted promotional content to add credibility to the campaign while amplifying the EV message.

Hood said he had already worked with both HBCUs and Chevrolet, and the company felt comfortable working with him again.

“He was someone who … could enter our partnership in an authentic way,” Hood said.

Chevrolet and the NNPA also posted content across dedicated campaign Instagram and Facebook handles, and a paid social media plan drove engagement via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok.

Hood said that sometimes a celebrity might have great name recognition, but if they are not social media savvy, they don’t hit the influencer mark.

It’s important to be diligent when selecting an influencer, Hood said.

“There are tools that can help you look at that. But be willing to look at their (influencer) posts and comments. When they engage with followers are they having a real conversation?” Hood remarked. “Find (people of) substance.”

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post How Chevrolet amplified electric vehicle messaging among Black college students  appeared first on PR Daily.

Happy Wednesday, PR and comms pros! We have the latest social media news to keep you at the top of your game.

X

An X blog announced that starting Feb. 1, new brand safety guidelines will offer protections against ads appearing next to offensive content. These rules will conform with GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) guidelines. Advertisers will be allowed “maximum control” on where they want to place their ads on vertical video feeds on the platform. Learn more here.

In other news, an X Business post announced a platform partnership with Shopify. Exec Joe Benarroch posted that the partnership will:

• “Bring awareness to X through the Shopify Sales Channel.”
• “Make it seamless to upload product catalogs onto X.”
• “Help merchants optimize their ad dollars to maximize their outcomes on X.”
• “Highlight the role X plays in a merchant’s marketing stack.”

Threads

Threads will allow users to follow Mastodon brands and people before the end of 2024, TechCrunch reported. TechCrunch noted that a blog post from Tom Coates. Coates co-founded Planetary, a decentralized app. Coates detailed the meeting with Threads, which discussed their plans.  First, Mastodon servers will be available in Threads. Later in the year, the following ability is set to come online. “The team also discussed how they would approach content moderation as they moved forward with fediverse integration, saying they would exclude content from the wider fediverse from being visible in the Threads app if it breaks their rules,” TechCrunch noted. Fediverse is an open social network with various third-party servers. Threads would connect with other people on fediverse platforms. Learn more here.

Find out more information here.

Facebook

Meta announced that it is sunsetting some of its targeting features due to a lack of use, overlapping features and sensitivity around topics like ethnicity, race and health. Meta will let people know if they have impacted campaigns. The company will give people a warning banner on Meta’s Ads Manager campaigns site and current ads under the impacted categories will run until March 18. Users have to update their targeting selections until the March 18^th cutoff date. Targeting products like custom audiences, broad targeting and Meta Advantage+ audience are still available.

Instagram

Jonah Manzano, social media enthusiast and singer-songwriter, posted on Threads that Instagram has a new Friend’s Story feature that lets users send a story to select people. To make this magic happen, Manzano said users can:

• Make a story for their friend.
• Share the story.
• After a friend approves the story, public accounts can see the story without replies or likes.

Lastly, the sender’s name is visible.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp posted on Threads that users can turn their pictures into stickers via iOS app instead of only via desktop. Users can pull a photo from their gallery, remove the photo’s background, add text and other interactive options and send their sticker in a WhatsApp chat.

TikTok

TikTokComms posted on X that people can view their fav TikTok videos on television. TikTok casting is available on Chromecast built-in devices, according to the post. Users should have an iPhone using iOS 12.0 or newer or an Android 6.0 or newer. To cast TikTok on a television from a mobile phone, simply:

• Ensure the TV and phone are linked to the same Wi-Fi network and select the TikTok app on the phone. Select the desired video.
• Hit the share button and select cast to TV at the bottom. Users casting for the first time might have to choose the option to allow access to their local network to cast their devices.
• Choose the TV for casting.
• Enjoy the show!
• To end casting, hit the casting device near the bottom and select tap to disconnect.

TikTok  also no longer lets people access its Creative Center, which provided trackable information on well-performing hashtags on the platform, the New York Times reported. The Creative Center gave information about videos connected to hashtags and the viewers who watched them. “The company’s critics had harnessed the tool to argue that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, fails to adequately moderate content on the app and that Beijing influences the posts that appear on it,” according to the Times. In early January, the Creative Center’s search button was no longer available. TikTok noted that the tool is just for sharing data on the “top 100 hashtags” in industries like travel or pets.

YouTube

A YouTube blog post announced that YouTubers can turn their long-form video into a Short. To do so:

• Click on the chosen video.
• Hit the remix button.
• Select edit into a Short.
• Trim to where you want the video to be played.
• Hit layout and choose a video format like single or split screen.
• Pinch and drag in the preview frame to your liking.
• Then save the layout.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Washing one’s face doesn’t bring much joy.

It’s one of the many mundane tasks you tick off the list before leaving the house. Yet actress Jennifer Garner turned this boring activity into a fun one when she enthusiastically splashed water on her face time and time again in Neutrogena commercials in the early 2000s.

Neutrogena wanted to relive some of that nostalgia with its “Make a Splash” campaign and also announce the launch of Hydro Boost Gel Cleanser for Hydration. Agencies CCOM Group and Golin worked with Neutrogena on the 2022 campaign to build brand relevance by hyping up its famous commercials on their 15th anniversary. Neutrogena also invited influencers to do their own version of the splash to foster nostalgia for Millennials and Gen Z consumers.

[RELATED: Enhance, Advance, and Unify a DE&I Comms Strategy with Ragan’s DE&I Certificate Course]

Golin asked if Garner would be interested in participating in the campaign. Garner, who is already a Neutrogena ambassador, agreed. The campaign also connected with influencers and invited them to a Neutrogena pool party to promote its product launch.

The team was a campaign of the year winner in PR Daily’s Social Media & Digital Awards in June.

Here’s what you can learn from the campaign:

Legacy brands can get nostalgic

Neutrogena wanted to remind now-grown-up customers why they loved the brand in high school.

“It has been known for its iconic TV commercials and part of the iconic TV commercials was the splash,” Tommy Sleiman, senior account executive at CCOM Group, told PR Daily. “They really had a momentum going in the 2000s.”

Nostalgia marketing is a big deal for Millennials who enjoy buying things from yesteryear.

“We really wanted to tap into that nostalgia so that people can connect with the brand from its origins to remember that Neutrogena is a legacy brand,” Sleiman said.

The splash was not just haphazard water-throwing. Oh no. There was an art to it. Garner would cup her hands under a stream of water, and with closed eyes she dashed the swooshes of water, which rose gracefully and fell onto her face with precision. Everyone wanted to rinse their faces like that, even if that meant they made a mess. It was important for Neutrogena to recapture some of that magic in that face-washing moment.

Neutrogena launched a #MakeASplash contest on TikTok to encourage people to make their own splash and post them using the hashtag. Contest winners received a cash prize along with a year’s worth of Neutrogena products.

Influencers closed their eyes, leaned in over their counters and unceremoniously threw water all over their faces (and the floor). Some, with drenched faces and hair, laughed at their attempts.

“There’s water everywhere,” nlledoux said during her own recreation.

“It’s funny because you see all these consumers cleansing their faces and making a mess,” Sleiman said. “And that was the point of our campaign – to be very authentic.”

In the end, the contest hashtag earned around 9.8 billion views.

Use a variety of influencers

CCOMGROUP, who handles the Hispanic market for Neutrogena, used Latina actress and model Gaby Espino to join the splash challenge as part of outreach to this demographic.

“It came out really beautiful, actually,” Sleiman said.

Sleiman said that CCOMGROUP picked 13 other influencers to spread their message for the Latina market; Golin had around 18 additional influencers for the larger market. The PR team sent mailers to these influencers inviting them to participate in the challenge.

The mailer inspired a 40% organic posting rate, which exceeded the average posting rates for creative deliveries by 10%.

The #MakeASplash Latinx influencer network boosted contest participation, reaching 43.9 million impressions.

Sleiman said some of their influencers ranged from comedy creators to those who focused on nostalgic content.

“Typically, for Neutrogena as a science-backed brand, we’ve worked with influencers that are more beauty, skin influencers,” Sleiman said. “But this time we tapped into these influencers that were able to speak to different topics and different affinities.”

Throw a party! 

The campaign also featured an in-person event: Make a Splash Poolside Party in Los Angeles. The Y2K-themed party had catering and music to take attendees back to the early 2000s. People showed up wearing early-2000s attire (think “Clueless” and beach vibes) and enjoyed throwback arcade games, era-appropriate makeovers and more.

“We thought it would be a cool way of bringing our influencers together for something with the brand for a nostalgia moment in real life,” Sleiman said.

The lavish party had almost 100 attendees, which resulted in over 229 pieces of organic social content and 7.4 million impressions. Neutrogena’s latest product, Hydro Boost Gel Cleanser for Hydration, was prominently displayed throughout the party including in a “Clueless”-themed closet, around the pool and throughout high-traffic spaces.

“We wanted to make sure that the content that was coming in could include the product somewhere, so that’s why we really placed the product everywhere we could,” Sleiman said.

The entire party was set up to inspire the best social content by offering engaging, photo and video-friendly activities like dance stations, friendship bracelets, arcade games and 2000s-inspired makeup.

“It’s really tapping into a cultural moment that can connect with your audience and with your brand in the most authentic and genuine way,” Sleiman said.

The post How Neutrogena revisited an iconic moment and made a nostalgic splash appeared first on PR Daily.

Happy Tuesday, PR and comms pro! We have a fresh batch of the latest social media updates for you to get started on your busy work week. Let’s get to the good stuff!

X

X engineer Nate Esparza posted on the platform that advertisers can now advertise solely to premium subscribers. Esparza posted an example image showing that advertisers can select a “Target Premium Subscribers” option. Below that section is the “Custom audiences” search bar to add other audiences.

Remember when X, well, x-ed headlines from links? Headlines are now back on the web with a twist, according to 9to5Google. Posts with a link preview include the headline in tinier font on the lower left side.

Also, the X Verified account posted on the platform that a new basic verification tier is available for small businesses, clocking in at $200 a month or $2,000 a year.  Subscribers get access to features like:

• Ad credits.
• Priority support.
• Gold checkmark.
• Premium + benefits and more.

Facebook

Facebook users can now see the various websites they’ve visited via Facebook in the last 30 days, according to a Facebook announcement. Links visited from chats on Facebook Messenger are not added to link history. To access the feature:

• Tap your profile pic in the bottom right.
• Select settings and privacy.
• Hit link history.
• Scroll to see link history and select a link to see the page again or hit the X icon at the right of a link to delete it from your link history and select confirm.
• Hit clear all in the top-right section to remove all links from your link history.

Meta technologies could access users’ link history information for ads that are more aligned based on their link visits. Learn more here.

Instagram

Social media professional Alessandro Paluzzi posted on X that Instagram is building up its public collections. You know those posts you save for later only to probably never look at again? He shared an introductory screen image on collections that encourage people to show others what they are interested in.

“Now you can add collections to your profile so people can see what you’re into,” the image noted. “Just open a collection and choose who can see it.” Users who get that notice can select “OK” to make it viewable if they choose.

Prepare to be  intrigued or slightly horrified as these collections make their rounds.

Threads

Instagram Head Adam Mosseri posted on Threads that some users want answers about the “questionable stuff” they’ve seen recommended to them on Threads recently.

Mosseri said that the platform has seen issues in the last few weeks with low-quality recommendations that don’t technically violate Threads’ community guidelines “but kind of go right up to that line.”

“We’re working on improving it, a lot more work to do but expect it to get better over the next few weeks,” Mosseri said.

Snap

Snap Inc. tapped tech provider Samba TV to give measurement information to Snap advertisers in the entertainment space according to a press release.

“As a result of the partnership, media and entertainment brands advertising on Snapchat can measure conversion outcomes using Samba TV’s currency-grade VTR solution to gain a clear understanding of how their campaigns drive new viewers to linear and streaming programs, and measure lift across their media strategies,” according to the announcement.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Public affairs professionals often deal with high-stakes comms. Public information officers are often responsible for sharing heavy information related to school shootings, devastating public health news and natural disasters. While other industries may not reckon with life-or-death stakes, there are crises in any industry – and a lot you can learn from public affairs.

Planning appropriately can make all the difference in how well the comms is received.

One crisis template worth considering is FEMA’s 8-Step Model, which many in public affairs already use. The 8-Step Model is based on a social marketing technique that encourages actions “for the benefit of individuals, groups, or society as a whole,” according to FEMA.

FEMA’s 8-Step Model includes:

1. Assess current situation – Understand the problem, the audience and what you want them to do.
2. Set communication goals – What do you want done and how will you get there? Create goals and timelines for how to execute that.
3. Identify intended audiences – Who is your target audience and what matters to them? Use that information to develop messaging from audience priorities.
4. Develop and test messages – Ensure messaging is understandable and communicates the audience benefit.
5. Select channels and activate – Learn the best way to connect with your audience and partner with relevant stakeholders.
6. Develop an action plan – Choose the comms strategy to use, ID possible risks and develop a contingency plan.
7. Develop and pretest materials – Test out what resources are valuable to the target audience.
8. Implement, evaluate and modify plan – Look at your action plan and adjust. Ensure proper plan approvals are in place and activate.

Scott Thomsen, director of Communications and Public Affairs for the Ventura County Fire Department in southern California, often uses the 8-Step Model and encourages his industry peers to adopt it too. The longtime public affairs official, who teaches  PIO courses for FEMA, spoke to Ragan about its usefulness for all industries.

“The same model applies because it starts with us assessing your situation … setting goals for what you want to accomplish, building a plan for getting yourself there and determining what your audiences are,” Thomsen said.

When to use it

Using crisis models like FEMA’s to develop a plan doesn’t have to be an arduous process – use pieces, or all of it, whatever complements your orgs comms plans.

“If you’re starting out, the great part about the eight-step process is that it literally walks you through the steps of what to do and (is) the first piece in any campaign or project that you are going to undertake as a communicator,” Thomsen said.

The key is to think about your comms needs ahead of time to put together a strong plan. From there, continue to check the plan and revise it as needed.

“You can start doing the work and you constantly need to be evaluating whether it is getting seen and heard,” Thomsen said. “Is it sticking? Are people remembering your message and are they following that message to the desired ends?”

Adapting the plan for your comms needs

Thomsen, a former public utility spokesman at Seattle City Light, used the model when the city had a snowstorm.

Citywide messaging asked residents to not drive or park on the streets so snowplows and emergency response vehicles could have easier access.

The request did not go over well.

“Telling someone to not to do something runs very counter to American psychology,” Thomsen said. “We are very big on freedom and personal choice. So, we saw a lot of that messaging fail and people would still be out trying to drive.”

To fix that issue, Thomsen and his team adjusted the messaging to read: “Please make good decisions about whether you need to drive or not. Because keeping the streets clear for emergency vehicles that are going to help your friends and neighbors is really important right now.”

The new messaging caused a “dramatic change” and significantly reduced the number of people on the roads, Thomsen said.

“We put it out in a way that was giving them a greater sense of control,” Thomsen said. “We were respecting their choices to make and asking them to please make good decisions.”

Thomsen added that the model or parts of it can be used on campaigns and non-crisis comms because using it often continues to build up one’s “muscle memory.”

“So, when you’re in a crisis scenario, you can run through this very quickly when you don’t have much time to make it happen,” Thomsen said.

Learn more about FEMA’s 8-Step Crisis Model by joining us at Ragan’s Public Affairs & Speechwriting Virtual Conference on Feb. 21.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Message her at sherrik@ragan.com if you have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for a Ragan event.

The post How to adapt FEMA’s 8-Step Crisis Model for your organization appeared first on PR Daily.

It’s 2024 and we have this year’s first batch of social media updates. Now that we’re back in the swing of things, let’s dig into what’s new.

X

X Designer Andrea Conway posted that media grids will be launched soon, though one commenter noted that the feature is already here. Media grids are similar to Instagram’s layout where images and vids are arranged in eye-catching, colorful rows. Users should soon see X’s new format on the web profiles, search pages and iOS and Android devices. Have you seen it yet?

Meta

Social media expert Matt Navarra posted on Threads that Facebook is encouraging group administrators to join a waitlist to access Meta AI. According to a photo he shared, Meta AI can take over admin responsibilities like answering group questions, connecting people to group posts and more. Using Meta AI in groups could save admins time by doing the grunt work for them. The feature is being rolled out regionally.

Threads

Threads is testing out API functionality, which will allow users to schedule content and post using third-party tools, according to Social Media Today.

Instagram

In other news, Paluzzi posted on X that Instagram is adding notes to profiles. Rolled out in December 2022, a note is a post of 60 characters or less that can have emojis or text, according to Meta. According to his post, notes on profiles:

• Expire after three days.
• Only mutuals can leave them.
• Can be removed at any time.
• Users can turn off the feature in the edit profile section.

Yugi Motta, a product designer, posted on Threads that Instagram is now giving users the choice to keep their profile photos small if someone tries to enlarge them. If an account is public, the person’s profile and posts can be visible to anyone with or without an Instagram account. If their account is set to private, only approved followers can see what is posted and other personal details.

TikTok

TikTok made some improvements to its app to make it more visually appealing on “larger screens and foldable devices” according to a TikTok announcement. The updates include “a seamless and visually appealing TikTok experience for users worldwide, regardless of the device they choose,” TikTok announced. The app updates include better clarity for videos, an improved navigation bar for easier access to more tabs and an improved viewing experience in portrait or landscape mode.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn announced a new AI-powered educational tool available on LinkedIn Learning. The coaching tool helps users find answers to the next steps in their learning with AI guidance. LinkedIn’s current areas of focus are in leadership and management. Users can visit LinkedIn Learning and describe what issues they’re dealing with at work or pose a question on the platform. The AI-powered tool will scour the LinkedIn Learning Library and provide information on how to take the next step to address the problem.

Reddit

Reddit announced that the platform is doing away with the live chat posts soon. It will disable the setting for new and current communities, according to its announcement. Current live chat posts will be turned into standard posts with a comment section.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Message her if you have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for a Ragan event.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Autism diagnoses are increasing in the United States and one in five people are considered neurodiverse. 

Neurodiversity is perhaps best known to mean autism and spectrum disorders, but it can also include anxiety disorders, dyslexia and other sensory disorders and mental illnesses.

As their prevalence rises in society, so too does the importance of making content in the workplace accessible. Additionally, communicators may find themselves tasked with ensuring emails, videos and other communiqués are understandable to people with visual or auditory impairments. 

[RELATED: Enhance, Advance, and Unify a DE&I Comms Strategy with Ragan’s DE&I Certificate Course]

What accommodation looks like for each individual in the workplace will differ. However, it’s up to DE&I experts and communicators to anticipate those needs with programs and resources that cater to these growing audiences.

Christina Frantom, internal communications lead—Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, spoke to Ragan about ways to help boost these comms efforts.

Get leadership approval first 

Getting leadership buy-in early can ensure that proper resources are allocated for DE&I efforts so projects have a higher chance of success and visibility.

“Gone are the days where this is (considered) volunteer work by people who are trying to ‘do the right thing,’” Frantom said. “This is a business process that needs to be worked in and incorporated with and alongside all the other business processes you have.” 

After securing approval, it’s critical to incorporate DE&I work companywide. That could look like inviting employees to learn more about employee resource groups, including those for people with disabilities, or intentionally bringing more neurodiverse talent in. That also might look like ensuring DE&I programming is on companywide calendars and agendas. 

Another way to bolster visibility is realizing that DE&I comms should be available to everyone. Send out emails about the latest news from this space. Consider planning DE&I activities and have signage around the workplace discussing initiatives.

Frantom said that evangelizing DE&I work from the top down can help overall efforts companywide.

“One of the most tangible things you can do is set it (DE&I initiatives) as a priority,” Frantom said.

Be accessible and intentional

When creating DE&I plans, ensure that neurodiverse individuals and those with disabilities have a seat at the table when those discussions are taking place.

“You want to make sure that when you’re at a table, that when you look around that table, that there are people who are representing the community that you’re discussing or that your programs or processes or the outcome of your decisions are going to be affected,” Frantom said. 

Now with representation at the proverbial table, creating comms for neurodiverse audiences and people with disabilities is a great way to build strong employee retention and trust. 

That could look like using closed captions or transcripts during and after a meeting. 

“You want your content to be accessible to everyone as much as possible regardless of if (they) have a visible or invisible identity,” Frantom said.

In addition to closed captioning, make sure that your metadata fields are complete when designing everything from websites to presentations to spreadsheets. That could be a content creator adding alt text. This helps someone who is visually impaired to hear the description via a screen reader. Frantom said making those extra steps “takes your content to the next level for all audiences.” 

Another example could be ensuring individuals with red-green colorblindness can access your content. Frantom said that during the holiday season, many festive content creators could put out a story or message featuring those colors. 

“People (who have) red and green colorblindness, they can’t read it,” Frantom said. “And so that just needs to be an awareness when creating content.”

Frantom suggested setting “editing gates,” her term for testing content for accessibility with real people. Put your content in front of individuals who occupy some of those reading or audio-impairment identities and review it with them. Talk with someone who is colorblind or dyslexic, for example. Learn what works and what doesn’t work from their perspective. But don’t just stop there.

“Making it a priority to caption and describe your video content not only makes the consumer experience more accessible, it also makes sure that you have communicated intent along with your graphics and text,” Frantom said. “Preparing your content to be read by screen readers or other assistance devices, as well as designing for red-green color blindness, for example, makes a big difference for individuals using those devices.” 

Frantom said it’s important for communicators to proactively search for opportunities to appeal to their audiences instead of waiting for them to tell you their needs.

“As communicators, designers, and content creators of all types, it is our job to make sure that we are not only meeting industry standards but also exceeding expectations where marginalized audiences are concerned,” Frantom said. “Create content that is as consumable as possible, but make sure you are getting to know your audience on the granular level as well.” 

Learn more about these and more relevant DE&I topics by joining us at Ragan’s Certificate Course on Jan. 17, Jan. 24 and Jan. 21.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Message her if you have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for a Ragan event.

The post ‘This is a business process’: Improving accessibility for neurodiverse, visually impaired audiences appeared first on PR Daily.

Happy Tuesday, PR pros. As 2023 nearly draws to a close, we at PR Daily want to thank you for coming here weekly to learn new social media happenings that help you on the job. But the year’s not over yet, so let’s get to those updates!

X

Spaces on X now has an incognito mode to allow for more user privacy, according to Radu Oncescu, a content creator and researcher, who posted the news on Threads. Spaces is X’s audio room feature which allows users to listen and join conversations.

Elon Musk also has plans to launch a video feature on Spaces either by the end of 2023 or “certainly by early next year,” according to a TechCrunch article. “It’ll just be a simple thing where you can turn the video on or off,” Musk said in a previous Spaces session, TechCrunch reported.

In other news, X will soon roll out a search feature for bookmarks, X Designer Andrea Conway posted .

Meta

Meta’s testing out a multimodal AI feature on Ray-Ban Meta glasses in the United States, according to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth.

Ahead of a 2024 launch, the platform is doing an early opt-in test program. The AI function, partially powered by Bing, allows wearers to ask for help with:

• Information about an object you are seeing.
• Visual translation and summarization.
• Making a caption based on a picture you’ve taken.

In other Meta updates, the platform recently debuted Audiobox, which can generate sound effects and voices based on text prompts, according to its website. Audiobox, previewed last month, lets users make their own audio using their voice and audio distortion options. Users might use Audiobox to make an audio story or create sound effects.

Threads

Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads that the platform is looking to engage with decentralized platforms more. “Starting a test where posts from Threads accounts will be available on Mastodon and other services that use the ActivityPub protocol. Making Threads interoperable will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach more people. “I’m pretty optimistic about this,” he wrote.

The Verge reported that Threads officially launched in mid-December to roughly 448 million residents in the European Union. Previously, Threads was not available in the EU due to its more stringent regulations.

Meta is adding Threads to its fact-checking systems ahead of the 2024 election year, according to a company announcement. The platform’s third-party fact-checking partners will soon review and rate false Threads-related content. Currently, when a fact-checker gives content a rating and flags it as false on Instagram or Facebook, that fact-check rating is given to “near-identical content” on Threads.

There is now a dark mode option on Threads’ web version, according to a platform post. To access it (we live for the dark mode over here!), click the settings button at the top right side, select “switch appearance” and enjoy your new viewing mode. Your setting preferences will automatically transfer in the app.

Instagram

Instagram Live Producer is available to professional accounts, according to an Instagram creators’ post on Threads. Instagram Live Producer lets broadcasters access production tools from third parties on desktop.

PetaPixel reported that Instagram Stories has a new feature with “Add Yours” templates for more meme-worthy fun. Users can add text, images and GIFs to templates. To make a template, open a new Story, fill in the information you want and tap the “Add Yours Templates” button located in the Sticker Tray.  If someone else sees a Story from another creator using the “Add Yours Template,” they can select “Add Yours” and use the template themselves.

Engadget reported several new updates with Instagram that include:

• The platform will add two-second videos that loop and live in Notes. The two-second video, similar to Boomerang, will be located at the top of your followers’ inboxes instead of a standard profile image.
• Users can respond to their follower’s Notes like one would a Stories post. Selecting a note at the top of one’s inbox allows for a reply option with a sticker, text, GIF, photo, voice note or text. Notes replies are sent to their inbox.
• Instagram is improving its automated spam detection tool. The system will flag fake followers and spammy content and let users delete the items in bulk. Suspected spam or bot accounts will be sent to a separate inbox for review.

Ahmad Al-Dahle, VP, GenAI at Meta, posted on Threads that its AI media editing tool backdrop is now available on Instagram in the United States. “With backdrop, you can reimagine your image’s background with just a few taps and a prompt like ‘chased by dinosaurs’ or ‘surrounded by puppies’ to create an entirely new image for your Story,” Al-Dahle said. To use, tap the button for backdrop, which will appear at the top of a new Story.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is letting users pin messages at the top of text threads, according to a WhatsApp post on X. Pins can last 24 hours, seven days or 30 days. To access in a chat, select the three buttons at the top right-hand corner and select the pin option at the top.

YouTube

YouTube is in a generous spirit this season and is allowing eligible creators to gift viewers free channel memberships, according to a YouTube Help announcement. This feature can bring more awareness to channels. To participate, a creator will need to have channel memberships enabled on their channel and offer a membership tier under $5.

Snapchat

Snapchat’s over 7 million Snapchat+ subscribers can find more ways to create, capture and edit with AI, according to a Snap announcement. The platform’s AI tool could be used in numerous ways, for example:

• Give it text prompts to generate an image to send as a Snap to a friend.
• Extend Snaps to zoom out of a picture with AI.
• Create majestic or silly AI selfies with friends using Dream.

The new features debut varies by region. Find out more here.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Message her if you have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for a Ragan event.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week  appeared first on PR Daily.

Sports Illustrated is under fire for its reported  use of AI, which ended badly.

Futurism outed the legendary sports magazine for allegedly using AI-written articles masquerading behind AI-generated authors.

The brand posted photos and bios of these apparently AI-generated writers who don’t seem to exist.

In addition to the questionable author bios, the articles had bizarrely worded phrases that no human would write, such as declaring that playing volleyball “can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with.”

The weird stuff got even weirder as Sports Illustrated deleted all its AI-suspected authors’ photos, bios and articles after Futurism asked for a comment.

Here are some of the lessons you can learn from their mistakes.

Be transparent with your use of AI

After Futurism’s article came out, Sports Illustrated’s parent company stated that the content was written by a vendor, AdVon, and insisted the articles were written by real people. Yet, AdVon allowed its writers to use fake names in some articles to “protect their privacy,” which the magazine condemned.

“We are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership,” Sports Illustrated said in a statement.

What can we draw from this? Be truthful first and don’t insult your readers’ intelligence. While Sports Illustrated denied any AI claims, the proof is in the pudding. The authors’ photos came up on a stock image site and a source close to the matter told Futurism that some of the articles were AI-generated. This goes beyond AdVon trying to protect their writers’ privacy.

It’s critical to be open with your stakeholders and clear about how your brand uses AI. Sports Illustrated embarrassingly failed to do so, and that’s a breeding ground for mistrust from audiences. Sports Illustrated is hurting its reputation as a purveyor of high-quality, original content. And it seems to be facing further fallout amid reorganization, although they say it’s not connected to AI. According to a recent Futurism article, Sports Illustrated’s publisher, The Arena Group, fired President Rob Barrett and COO Andrew Kraft on Dec. 6, roughly a week after Futurism’s article came out. The article notes that the cuts were due to an “overall reorganization plan.” The reorganizing might be a legitimate reason for the firings, but the timing does raise eyebrows.

And while not every brand falls into the publishing category, if you create content with AI, it’s wise to not leave stakeholders in the dark about it. Speak out about it sooner rather than later. This lets your audience know they can trust what they’re reading – whether it’s from a bot or a person.

Bentley University Professor Christie Lindor shared some language on how to easily disclose AI use in an HR Brew article, including:

• “No generative AI was used to create this product.”
• “Generative AI produced this content.”
• “This content was created with the assistance of generative AI.”

Humans must edit AI content

AI is a powerful tool, but humans need to be in the mix from beginning to end when guiding and editing these AI bots.

The line about how hard it is to play volleyball without a ball would have stuck out had any human editor seen the copy before it was published. It’s a crazy line that has no place in any story, but especially for a brand as storied and respected as Sports Illustrated. Even cursory human oversight should have caught the trademarks of both AI and bad writing before any reader saw them.

Have a system in place where all content, especially AI-generated submissions, is vetted and approved. Check for errors and awkward phrasings. Everyone needs an editor – and especially an emerging technology like AI.

Sports Illustrated isn’t the only publication to fall into this trap of publishing unedited, likely AI-generated content. The Columbus Dispatch and other Gannett-owned newspapers published AI-generated articles and kept in placeholder text, CNN reported.

One example CNN posted reads:

“The Worthington Christian [[WINNING_TEAM_MASCOT]] defeated the Westerville North [[LOSING_TEAM_MASCOT]] 2-1 in an Ohio boys soccer game on Saturday.”

The issues are glaring and cringeworthy. If any human had read that story before publication, they, too, would have caught these mistakes. They’re blatant and clear, unlike the more subtle weirdness of the Sports illustrated pieces, and all underscore the importance of not trusting these AI tools to do it all.

But that doesn’t mean that AI can’t be used responsibly to help create great content. Remember, don’t leave anything to chance.

Learn more about AI’s risks and benefits by joining us at Ragan’s Writing & Content Strategy Virtual Conference on Dec. 13.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post The cautionary tale of Sports Illustrated’s alleged AI blunders appeared first on PR Daily.

It’s another glorious Tuesday, PR pros. With just two more weeks until 2024, there’s a lot to celebrate this holiday season, especially in the social media space. Continue on to learn what’s the hap with these apps.

X

Grok AI, the new conversational AI tool backed by Elon Musk, is now available for X Premium+ subscribers in the United States, “There will be many issues at first, but expect rapid improvement almost every day,” Musk noted on X. “Your feedback is much appreciated.”

X will also debut a less expensive basic tier for organizational verification, X News Daily posted. The basic tier lets verified orgs:

• Spend an amount of their choice and get that same value back in ads credit.
• Receive a gold checkmark.
• Access Premium+ support.

In other news, a community post can now be pushed to a user’s followers and appear on their profile, Dong Wook Chung, senior software engineer at X, This feature will be available soon for web and Android users.

Meta

Meta’s getting in the holiday spirit by gifting users with new ways to use AI. Some updates include:

• Virtual assistant Meta AI can now give “more detailed responses” and produce better search result summaries.
• Reimagine on Messenger and Instagram  lets your friends “riff” on generated images with a text prompt to create a new image in a chat thread.
• Meta’s also experimenting with options to convert AI-generated images from landscape to portrait to make them more shareable on Stories.
• There is a search function now available for Meta’s AI characters. And a long-term memory element is now featured in the AI characters so a conversation with them isn’t gone when the chat is done. These new AI-powered virtual assistants elements are coming to characters like MMA fighter Luiz, portrayed by Izzy Adesanya. Or Charli D’Amelio’s Coco character, a dancer or Naomi Osaka who is portrayed as Tamika, an Anime enthusiast. To chat with these AIs, begin a new message and hit “Create an AI chat” on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger. These features are now available to everyone in the United States.
• The platform is also rolling out Imagine with Meta AI, a tool to create images using the platform’s Emu technology.

Meta’s is debuting an end-to-end encryption on Messenger, according to a Messenger announcement. “The extra layer of security provided by end-to-end encryption means that the content of your messages and calls with friends and family are protected from the moment they leave your device to the moment they reach the receiver’s device,” Loredana Crisan, Messenger vice president, said in the announcement. “This means that nobody, including Meta, can see what’s sent or said, unless you choose to report a message to us.”

The feature is available now but might not be ready in all Messenger chats due to end-to-end encryption update lags.

Say goodbye to cross-app chats on Instagram, according to an Instagram Help Center announcement. By mid-December, users won’t be able to message Facebook accounts on Instagram. Any current chats on Instagram to Facebook will turn to read-only.

Threads

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, announced on Threads that the platform is debuting a tagging system. “It’s like a hashtag on Instagram, but on Threads, you can only have one per post,” Mosseri said.

Tags differ from traditional hashtags in a few ways. They can include full phrases with spaces, not just single words, and can also include special characters.

Mosseri also noted in a separate post that a link referrer is now available on Threads, so it is seen as l.threads.net instead of l.instagram.com. “This will allow publishers and website admins to better understand the web traffic from Threads when people share links here,” Mosseri said. “If you’re a publisher, you should see this reflected in your analytics dashboard now.”

Also, Threads is launching in the European Union on Dec. 14, The Verge Reported.

Instagram

Instagram is now featuring a “Hype” comments element for Stories, Matt Navarra, social media wizard, posted on Threads, which allows people to post comments directly on Stories rather than having those comments go directly to DMs.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is rolling out a disappearing voice message feature, according to a WhatsApp blog announcement. The View Once voice message feature will be available around the world soon.

TikTok

Social Media Today reported that TikTok is broadening its horizons with in-app Ticketmaster purchases in 20 countries. The partnership was initially rolled out in America last summer. Now the feature is available in places like Canada, Poland, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France and more.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn boosted its LinkedIn Newsletters feature with new analytics, according to a LinkedIn announcement. Some updates include:

• Newsletter-specific analytics that gives better insights on how content performed and audience demographic information.
• Access newsletter analytics data from your Profile’s dashboard and click on the particular newsletter edition to learn more.

Snapchat

Social Media Magazine reported that Snapchat developed the first Bitmoji with a virtual makeup drop. A Bitmoji avatar can rock e.l.f. lipstick using “Try On” lenses. Users can also buy that same lipstick brand in real life with an in-stream drop link.

Snap also announced that Snapchat+ subscriptions are available for purchase through Amazon to US-based users. Find out more information here.

Reddit

Reddit announced that Carousel Ads and Product Ads are now available in  in conversation threads on Reddit.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week   appeared first on PR Daily.

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on Latino communities and caused high hospitalization and death rates in 2020 and beyond.

There seemed to be a glimmer of hope, however, in early 2021.

That hope came in the form of COVID-19 vaccines, which were just becoming available throughout the United States. However, mistrust, misinformation and inequitable vaccine distribution caused lower vaccination rates in the Latino community, according to UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute research.

To address these issues, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises debuted the “Planfica tu Vacuna,” or “Plan Your Vaccine” campaign, in tandem with the national vaccine rollouts in early 2021.

Telemundo, the country’s largest Spanish-language television station, debuted a bilingual website with vaccination information and a PSA that was featured at the Latin American Music Awards.

Telemundo’s comms team efforts relied heavily on its parent company powerhouse, NBCUniversal, to expand the campaign’s footprint.

Their team’s hard work won them the COVID-19 Communications Campaign award at Ragan’s 2022 PR Daily Awards.

Here’s what you can learn from the campaign:

Get early executive buy-in

Christina Kolbjornsen, senior VP and head of corporate and external affairs at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, told PR Daily that when building out a PR campaign, get executive buy-in early.

“Executive buy-in from day one is really critical,” Kolbjornsen said. “Because it helps support the importance of the campaigns that you’re building. It also helps to elevate the why. And it also helps to navigate potential kinks.”

Kolbjornsen said her team tapped NBC executives and the brand’s senior leadership team. The campaign’s team shared pertinent campaign idea details and messaging to help NBC’s leaders understand its overall mission and objective.

When everyone was on board, Kolbjornsen kept the execs and senior leaders close throughout the campaign and shared updates and comms strategies throughout.

“The team was really all in,” Kolbjornsen said. “It really was a massive effort on behalf of the company to get this campaign done. Our executives were in it day in and day out … and part of the team that made it happen.”

Use what you have

Kolbjornsen said that Telemundo and NBC joined forces and launched the campaign with two 30-second PSAs.

“Today” featured the English-language version and Telemundo’s morning show, “Hoy Día,” featured the Spanish-language version.

The PSAs featured Telemundo’s roster of anchors and celebs like, WWE’s Angel Garza and actor Mario Lopez (seen in both videos) to encourage viewers to get vaccinated.

“There’s hope” with the debut of the COVID-19 vaccines, Lopez said in the “Today” show PSA.

Other celebs in the “Today” PSA chimed in.

“I know, I know, it’s been a little confusing,” Mike Tirico of NBC Sports added of the pandemic.

“So it’s more important than ever to make a plan,” Peacock’s Amber Ruffin said.

“Today” co-anchor, Hoda Kotb, was also featured in the PSA.

Kolbjornsen said it was important to tap people who already had a relationship with Telemundo and NBC to spread the word while letting their star power shine bright.

Speaking of star power, the PSA was also featured at the Latin American Music Awards.

“We took advantage of having that show as yet another way of reaching a different audience,” Kolbjornsen said. “They were more than happy to partner with us.”

The PSA was seen by 1.9 million people across the country already tuned in to the award show.

In addition to the PSA, the Telemundo campaign team used in-house resources to engage in traditional media relations outreach efforts to cover print, social and radio outlets.

Telemundo sent out press releases, and shared campaign messages across social media, including the #PlanYourVaccine and #PlanificaTuVacuna hashtags.

The PSA reached 17.7 million people across America on all platforms. The reach included 2.4 million engagements across Telemundo platforms, social accounts and on YouTube.

“Different audiences are more used to different outlets to get their news,” Kolbjornsen said. “So, when thinking through this campaign, we made sure that we were really touching all different points to reach the broader number of people that we could.”

While not all PR teams have outlets like NBCUniversal at their disposal, look at the resources and tools you do have, brainstorm and don’t be afraid to get creative.

“Think differently and (about) how to reach your audience,” Kolbjornsen said.

Kolbjornsen said that at the end of the day, it’s about believing in the objective of your goal, bringing in partners like executives and having multiple ideas.

“Act quickly,” Kolbjornsen said. “Think fast, act fast. And that was also critical to the success (of the campaign) because we knew we were swinging for something that was happening in that moment. We did not have a six-month runway to think through it and see how we could potentially tackle a problem.”

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post ‘Think fast, act fast’: How Telemundo shared word of the COVID vaccine appeared first on PR Daily.

It’s another Tuesday, PR pros, and you know what that means! We have your roundup of weekly social media updates to help you work smarter, not harder. Read on to find out what’s new with the latest app info and insights in this edition.

Now let’s get to the good stuff!

X

Elon Musk posted on X in late November that its new conversational AI tool, Grok, will be available on X for users to prompt “analysis” of in-stream posts on the platform.

“In a few weeks, we will add a ‘Grok, analysis!’ button under X posts,” Musk wrote.

The type and tone of analysis it provides remains to be seen. Unlike other AI chat tools, Grok appears to be designed with less focus on neutral objectivity. “Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor!” reads X’s informational page about the tool. X professes that the tool is “useful to people of all backgrounds and political views,” which may be read to echo the political bent of X’s current user base.

The AI chatbot is only available to X Premium+ subscribers, according to its website. X News Daily posted on X that, “Users will be able to access via both the navigation bar and sidebar in the future!” The Grok tool would be located near the bottom of X’s app, between the search and notification buttons. Grok would also be located under a person’s profile and X premium account tabs.

X is also giving users choices on how to embed videos from X on third-party websites, Digital Information World reported. Users will be able to embed a standalone video or entire post as they normally would. If a user embeds only a video or GIF from X on a third-party website, they will be able to select an option for it to appear more streamlined in comparison to a full post, more like a YouTube embed than a captioned video.

Meta’s Threads

The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta is expected to debut Threads in Europe in December. It’s pretty safe to say that this launch is the platform’s second-most significant update since its arrival in the States in July. Due to the European Union’s online services regulations (“among the toughest in the world,” according to the WSJ), Threads held off on launching overseas. “To comply with those regulations, Meta will give EU users the choice of using Threads purely for consumption without a profile that allows them to make their own posts,” someone close to the matter told WSJ.

Another bit of Threads news: Want to look something up in Threads? Now you can, wherever you’re located. Threads originally announced in late August that it is experimenting with keyword searches among small populations of users. Threads posted on Dec. 1 that, “You can now search for keywords everywhere Threads is available, in any language.”

To access it, users should:

• Select the search icon.
• Type a phrase or keyword in the search bar and see a “search for” suggestion.
• Hit the prompt and you will be linked to a results page.

WhatsApp

In a bit to improve security on the app, WhatsApp will now let you lock your chats with secret codes, a WhatsApp blog announced. While Chat Lock, released in May, is not new, its secret code function is. The secret code option lets users create a new password and hide their locked chats folder from their chatlist. Make the chats visible by typing in the secret code in the WhatsApp search bar. The chats can stay visible, based on user preference. If a user wants to lock a new chat, they can long press to lock instead of going to chat settings. The secret code is available now and will be accessible worldwide in the upcoming months.

TikTok

TikTok is deepening its ties to the music-focused creators and their fans with the creation of the Artist Account, according to a TikTok newsroom announcement. “Now available to every artist or musician that has released music, the Artist Account is the shop window for fans to learn more about your music, and creative process and to discover the latest releases,” according to TikTok. After activating the account, artists will receive resources including:

• Artist tag.
  • Located under the user’s account name.
  • Artists will need at least four songs uploaded to have tag eligibility.
• Music tab.
  • This element will curate an artist’s catalogue to allow fans to more easily find their music.
• By artist.
  • This lets the artist pin a preferred post at the start of the discovery page, which can get more followers to see a certain TikTok video, new release or popular clip.
• Behind the song.
  • This lets artists share stories and inspo from their songs, cultivating a better fan connection.

To get started click here.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn wants to help B2B marketers dig deeper with some marketing and measurement updates, LinkedIn Ads announced. One of these updates includes LinkedIn debuting its new Conversions API, CAPI. CAPI lets users opt for either direct API integration or partner integration. “Use this capability to connect both your online and offline data to LinkedIn, allowing you to see how your campaigns influenced actions taken on your website, sales completed over the phone, or leads collected in-person at an event,” the platform wrote. LinkedIn also added three new upgraded its Document Ads with features that include:

• Document Ads to retarget customers.
• Enhancing a campaign with website visits and website conversions to lead people to your landing page.
• LAN distribution options.

LinkedIn Engineering also announced that LinkedIn released a detection feature to handle posts that violate platform policies including offensive or abusive content. The AI-backed detection system finds potential content and removes it to “reduce the burden on human reviewers, allowing them to focus on content that requires their review due to severity and ambiguity,” according to LinkedIn Learning.

YouTube

Creator Insider announced new updates to YouTube to the Product Drops feature. Product Drops allow people to generate buzz around product announcements during live shopping streams. New updates to Product Drops include the following:

• Creators connected to first-party stores, or their stores, or participating in the YouTube affiliate program, a third-party store, can create product drops in the live control room on YouTube.
• Now more creators can use Product Drops to increase sales and engagement on their livestreams.
• Creators can drop products whenever they want during a livestream.

To use Product Drops, users can visit the live control room on YouTube and schedule a live stream. While in the live control room, tag the product drop and other related products to the live stream video. Then click “create product drop” next to the product. The product will be kept hidden until the creator wants to drop it.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week   appeared first on PR Daily.

Happy Tuesday, PR pros! We’re back with your weekly social media updates! This week’s batch is chock full of tech news and app insights. Now let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?

X

Elon Musk posted on X that the app will bring article headlines back. “In an upcoming release, 𝕏 will overlay title in the upper (portion) of the image of a URL card,” Musk wrote on Nov. 22. Musk axing the headlines shifted how people shared articles and removed needed context.

Facebook

Social Media Today reported that Facebook will remove the “Hobbies” listings on the platform’s user pages on Dec. 13. Hobbies, added in 2019, showed other users what people liked and helped users find new friends. Social Media Today reported that Facebook wants to better its profile display choices with this change.

TikTok

Jonah Manzano, singer-songwriter and social media enthusiast, posted on Threads that the platform’s getting a new update to let users tweak their feeds. “TikTok introduced an option called ‘Customize Feed’ to tailor the For You page when long-pressing on the screen. You can even type what you want to see!” For example, users could opt to include more pets in their “For You” feed or choose to see “less magic” for the next two weeks.

Snapchat

The Verge reported that Snapchat is looking at debuting a new subscription plan that will remove ads as a new Snapchat Plus feature. Other social media networks have already gotten on board including Meta and X. The ad-free subscription plan is being tested in Australia and will eliminate ads from Story and Lens, although some ads could remain. The Snapchat Plus tier would cost $5.99 a month, $4.17 a month (when signed up for the annual plan), or $15.99 for the ad-free option.

YouTube

YouTube wants users with ad blockers to allow ads on the platform, according to Android Authority.  Android Authority reported that YouTube stated that “users who have ad blockers installed may experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using.” Some YouTube users reportedly are experiencing a five-second delay when they load YouTube videos on non-Chrome browsers, according to the article. The delay is no longer seen when users swap to Chrome. Android Authority said that users who have these delays are advised to allow YouTube ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium.

Sherri Kolade is a writer and conference producer at Ragan Communications. She enjoys watching old films, reading and building an authentically curated life. Follow her on LinkedIn. Have a great PR/comms speaker in mind for one of Ragan’s events? Email her at sherrik@ragan.com.

The post New social media features and updates to know this week   appeared first on PR Daily.