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🤖 eCommerce news:

📸 Instagram and Facebook to get paid-for verification "Instagram and Facebook users will now be able to pay for a blue tick verification, parent company Meta has announced. Meta Verified will cost $11.99 (£9.96) a month on web, or $14.99 for iPhone users. It will be available in Australia and New Zealand this week. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta chief executive, said the move will improve security and authenticity on the social media apps. The move comes after Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, implemented the premium Twitter Blue subscription in November 2022. Meta's paid subscription service is not yet available for businesses, but any individual can pay for verification."

🛍 Smartrr bags $10M for its customer experience approach to e-commerce subscriptions "Getting a subscription service going and keeping it, complete with fulfilment and delivery, is complicated. Brands use technologies that can cause them to end up with double billing and delivery that the customer is then left to manage. Subscriptions are big business: The direct-to-consumer subscription market is forecasted to reach $478 billion by 2025. Companies like Upscribe and Rebill are tackling subscription management, but Smartrr’s different approach to solving this from a customer experience perspective is likely why it recently grabbed $10 million in Series A funding."

👀 Here are the features coming to iOS 16.4 "The features include new emojis, an updated podcasts app and notification support for web apps. Emojis are pretty important and we are getting 31 of them with iOS 16.4. The first draft of these emojis — including a moose, a goose, a pink heart and “I am shook” — was released last year. Now, with Apple’s latest software update, they will soon come to iOS devices. As Thursday’s release is a developer beta, there might still be some design modifications to these emojis in the final release."

🔗 LinkedIn Adds Option to Tag Chats with a ‘Starred’ Function "LinkedIn recently reported that conversations in the app are up nearly 20% year-over-year, which is why it’s now looking to improve its DM options, and facilitate more engagement. The capacity to filter selected conversations could be particularly handy for those who use LinkedIn to generate leads, helping to keep track of key chats, and ensure that you’ve auctioned all key contacts."

📹 YouTube Tests Podcast Management Options in YouTube Studio "YouTube is taking its next steps into podcasting, with a new test of the capacity to upload and manage podcasts in the YouTube Studio app.As per YouTube: “To make it easier for creators to distribute their podcasts on YouTube, we’re running an experiment that allows you to create a podcast or set an existing playlist as a podcast within Studio.” Those in the experiment will be able to upload a podcast within the ‘Create’ element of YouTube Studio. You’ll also be able to view all of your podcasts in the ‘Content’ menu under a new Podcasts tab."

📍 Pinterest Expands Idea Pin Video Length to 5 Minutes "Pinterest is following the lead of TikTok by adding longer video clips in its Idea Pins format, providing another way to maximize engagement with your content. That will provide more capacity to tell a story within your Idea Pins, and with Pinterest serving over a billion video views per day, it’s worth considering in your process. Idea Pins, which Pinterest launched in 2021, are its take on the full-screen presentation format, with how-to guides and explainers performing particularly well as Idea Pin clips."

👻 Snapchat Reaches 750 Million Monthly Active Users "Snapchat is holding its 2023 Investor Day today, and its headline announcement is the fact that Snap is now up to 750 million monthly active users, a big jump on the 600 million it announced in April last year. Snap more regularly posts daily active user counts within its quarterly updates – it’s currently sitting on 375 million DAU, as per its most recent report – but the monthly numbers provide some more perspective on the growth and presence of the app, which now sees exactly double its daily user count overall."

🎶 TikTok wants longer videos for its new creator fund "TikTok is testing a new way for creators on the platform to get paid — and posting longer videos is a requirement.The new fund announced today, called the Creativity Program, is in beta testing in the US, France, and Brazil and confirms earlier reporting by The Information about tactics TikTok is employing to boost lagging growth in the US. The new program is open on an invite-only basis for now but will expand to include all eligible users in the future, the company says."

🎶 TikTok Launches Live-Stream Trivia, with Cash Prizes in the App "TikTok is trying out another way to maximize engagement in the app with a new TikTok Live trivia series that will give users a chance to win money in the app. As explained by TikTok:“Starting today, anyone 18 years or older in the US can register for TikTok Trivia by clicking on a trivia widget on the For You feed, searching for #TikTokTrivia, or by going to the @TikTok account to participate in real-time interactive trivia. Each day will feature opportunities to win cash, and during the activation, you’ll see fun surprises and integrations from Lionsgate and John Wick Chapter 4.”

🎶 TikTok Tests In-Stream Shopping Options as it Pushes to Build on its Revenue Potential "While in-app shopping hasn’t caught on the way that social apps may have hoped, TikTok, for one, is continuing to push ahead with its in-stream commerce initiatives, launching a new purchase process with selected retailers in the app.As reported by AdAge, a selection of US retailers now appear to have a new in-stream shopping tab activated on their profiles. As per AdAge: “Brands in the beta so far include Pacsun, pop culture products boutique Three Little Mingos and beauty brand KimChi Chic. Apparel retailers Revolve and Willow Boutique also appear to be part of the test. TikTok is not confirming or naming merchants as part of the testing phase, according to a spokesperson.”

📈 Top trends:

🌅Tumblr iOS revenue increased 125% since launching its parody of paid verification

"Tumblr’s parody of paid verification has already delivered the social network and blogging platform a 125% boost in iOS in-app purchase revenue since November, according to a new analysis of the app’s in-app consumer spending. The company, now operated by WordPress.com owner Automattic following its 2019 acquisition, launched its response to Twitter’s paid verification hustle with the addition of its own purely cosmetic double blue checks — a sort of tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to the idea that subscription-based verification had any real value."

🧮 TikTok Provides New Insights into Best Performing Products, Based on Ad Content

"TikTok has added a new element to its Creative Center which highlights how popular specific products are in the app, based on the amount of ads posted that feature the item, along with impressions, view-through rate, comments, likes - basically every data point you could need to dig into the performance of each."

📦 Amazon's internal Slack channel blows up after employees are told to return to the office. Now they're creating a petition to fight back.

• "Amazon employees turned to Slack on Friday to share thoughts about a new return-to-office policy.

• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced on Friday that employees must come into the office three days a week starting in May.

• Some employees are working on a petition to fight back."

🐦 Twitter thread of the week:

Link to thread here

🤝 Hot jobs:

💰 Superbet - Growth Marketing Director

"It’s an exciting time to join Superbet, we’re entering new markets, developing new technologies, and moving step by step towards our goal of exciting the world. As our business grows, the number of exciting people initiatives grows with it, and we’re looking for a Growth Marketing Director to lead our digital marketing efforts into the future.

We're looking for someone:

• Digitally focused – high degree of knowledge and understanding of the digital marketing space

• People-led – has the experience and thrives in building high-performing and diverse teams

• Growth mindset – the world of digital marketing evolves rapidly, and we need to be 2 steps ahead

• Culturally diverse – this is a global role and will require understanding and knowledge of multiple regions, cultures, and landscapes

• Data-driven – this is a role that wins and loses based on results, and having a sharp understanding of the data and insight that is driving those results is crucial

• With at least 5 years of experience leading digitally-focused teams;

• With a self-starter/entrepreneurial spirit"

🏡 Home Lifestyle Brand - Head of Marketing £120,000

"Our client, a well know homeware business is currently looking to recruit a Head of Marketing paying £80,000 to £120,000.

You will create and develop brand and global marketing strategy. You will be responsible for brand, content, pr and social media. You will work wit the in house design team and marketing team to develop new ideas. You will undertake market research and work with internal and external stakeholders to deliver the strategy you will create.

To be considered you will have experience of marketing and brand and ideally worked with a founder led business."

📈 WISE - Head of Marketing Analytics

"We’re looking for a Head of Marketing Analytics who is passionate about our mission of Money Without Borders to partner with our Marketing teams and help drive data-driven and innovative growth decisions.

This role is a unique opportunity to have an impact on Wise’s mission, grow as an analytics leader and help save millions more people money.You’ll work closely together with marketing leads to bring your insights into real change for our customers and help drive our mission!"

😂 Meme of the week:

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