Digital Marketing News 04/19/2022 – 04/25/2022

Social

TikTok Expands Test of Downvotes for Video Replies

TikTok is the latest platform to test out a downvote option to let users mark video replies they don't want to see.

TikTok first began experimenting with the option back in 2020 but is now expanding the option to more users.

As explained by TikTok,"We've started testing a way to let individuals identify comments they believe to be irrelevant or inappropriate. This community feedback will add to the range of factors we already use to help keep the comment section consistently relevant and a place for genuine engagement. To avoid creating ill-feeling between community members or demoralize creators, only the person who registered a dislike on a comment will be able to see that they have done so."

Social media expert Matt Navarra took to Twitter about some users seeing a "thumbs down" button at the right of video replies to signal their disinterest or dislike.

https://twitter.com/MattNavarra/status/1514308766954569729

TikTok hasn't outlined how this will impact comment ranking, and whether this will lead to a change in how it displays comments for individual users. For now, it's not like how Reddit works, where the community can dictate the ranking of replies, but that could be a direction TikTok can go eventually.

Several platforms are testing similar, with Facebook also trying out downvotes for replies and Twitter also working on the same.

Social

Pinterest Announces New Partnership with WooCommerce

Pinterest's new partnership with eCommerce platform WooCommerce aims to expand product listings.

Pinterest announced a new WooCommerce extension last April 13. This new partnership will enable WooCommerce's 3.6 million merchants to convert their product catalogs into Shoppable Pins on Pinterest.

WooCommerce is primarily an eCommerce plug-in for WordPress, enabling WordPress users to add a product showcase to their site. And now, they'll also be able to post those same items on Pinterest too, expanding their opportunities for exposure and sales.

As explained by Pinterest, "Our partnership with WooCommerce is part of our broader commitment to becoming the most inspiring shopping destination online. At Pinterest, we're building a home for taste-driven shopping and investing in new ways for shoppers to browse, discover and engage with brands. With the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces growing over 20% both quarter over quarter and year over year in Q4 '21, this partnership gives Pinners more options to discover and purchase with confidence."

This partnership will launch a new Pinterest app within WooCommerce, which will include Pinterest shopping features such as tags and a catalog. WooCommerce merchants will also be able to create and launch ads within the same app.

Social

YouTube Rolls Out New Search Insights for Creators

YouTube launches new search insights features for creators, letting them view new data points based on what people are looking for in the app.

YouTube initially provided an overview of Search Insights in November last year, which will include information on what people are searching for in the app, both in relation to your channel and content specifically, and for more general search queries.

Search Insights is available through the Analytics on the sidebar and the Research tab of YouTube Studio on desktop. Key topics of interest among your viewers, search volume, and amount of traffic your channel got based on each search query.

In addition, YouTube will display Content Gap queries, which are search terms that don't have a high volume of matches. Using this insight can give new opportunities for creators. 

There's also a 'Searches Across YouTube' element, which will provide insight into the most common search queries based on any keyword.

So if you wanted to know what the most common 'how to' searches are on the platform, you could enter 'how to' as a search term.

YouTube notes that in the initial rollout, the data that fuels its search trends info will only incorporate search activity from users in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and India.

Search

DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites from Its Search Results

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has quietly removed some of the most popular pirate sites from its search listings.

As spotted and investigated by Torrent Freak, the search engine has removed popular pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay, 1337x.to, NYAA.se, Fmovies.to, Lookmovie.io, and 123moviesfree.net. 

There's no official word on when this was action was taken, or why, although it seems a safe bet that it is for copyright reasons.

Torrent Freak shares that the lack of results is "not tied to a specific country and manually fiddling with the region settings didn't change anything either."

Note that Google also started to remove or down-rank several pirate site domains from its search results a few years ago.

Search

Google Warns of Inaccurate Real-Time Data in Universal Analytics 

Real-Time Report in Google Analytics is impacted by an issue affecting Universal Analytics Properties.

Google warns the Real-Time report in Google Analytics may be displaying inaccurate data for Universal Analytics properties. If your account is affected, then real time data will appear lower than it actually is.The only way to ensure your real-time data is accurate is to migrate to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), if you haven't already.

Google published the warning through a Help Center article. The warning reads, "You may notice low realtime data in the Real-Time report in your Universal Analytics property. To get the most accurate realtime data, it's recommended that you use the Realtime report in a Google Analytics 4 property."

The data missing from the real-time report isn't gone for good. They were still recorded and attributed correctly in other reports, aside from the real-time report, as it happens.

Google is dropping support for Universal Analytics properties on July 1, 2023, at which time Google Analytics 4 is going to be the new standard. Since this issue only affects Universal Analytics, Google may not make fixing a priority. 

Social

Pinterest Launches API V5 to Facilitate New Pin Presentation and Management Tools

Pinterest has announced the launch of version 5 of the Pinterest API, enabling users to facilitate new pin presentation, creation, and management.

This new version is available to all developers. As explained by Pinterest:

"The Pinterest API (v5) is the single API for developers to build applications and solutions for merchants, advertisers, creators and Pinners to drive results on Pinterest. Developers who have been waiting years to get API access, are now able to without revenue minimums. We are actively reviewing all requests to access the Pinterest API, and developers may be approved as quickly as 1 business day."

The new API includes Shopping, Content, and Analytics elements, which will enable all new functionality within third-party apps and tools, providing more ways to manage and maintain your Pin presence. This new API will also enable developers to utilize taste graphs, which include "more than 330 billion projects, places, and products."

What you can do next

• If YouTube is one of your marketing channels, reviewing the new Search Insights will give you more information about what your audience wants to see.

• If you have an eCommerce store hosted in WooCommerce, then now's a good time to explore marketing in Pinterest and maximizing the new shoppable features and launching ads.

• If real-time data is a priority for you to monitor website performance, then consider migrating to GA4.

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