What's Number 1 on Facebook Nowadays? TikTok!

The TikTok Trends Jeopardizing Your Brand

Participating in the next Lizzo challenge could end up costing you.

In the wake of copyright issues and lawsuits, a recent piece by Insider looks at the risks of brands jumping on TikTok song trends. 

The energy drink company Bang Energy was recently found liable for using songs without a license in TikTok videos.

Last year, Universal Music Group filed a lawsuit against Bang Energy, alleging that the company had infringed on its copyrighted musical works across over 100 videos.

⚖️ Influencers Not Part of Ruling

Here's where things get a little tricky — Universal also alleged that Bang hired influencers who had used its songs to promote its energy drinks on their own TikTok accounts without paying to license the music. 

Last month, a judge ruled that Bang Energy was liable for copyright infringement for using its songs on Bang's own accounts. However, Bang was determined not responsible for the alleged copyright violations on influencers' accounts.

Legal experts told Insider costs could reach up to $150,000 per song. The article noted that a steep fine for Bang could serve as a warning sign to brands trying to bypass social media licenses.

⚖️ Stick to the TikTok Library

Just so we're all clear here — we're not talking about the music in the TikTok audio library. That stuff is cleared, though you should know that if you're using music for commercial reasons (as you probably are), you are limited to a subset of that library. As long as your account is set to a business account, you'll automatically be on that smaller library.

No, here we're talking about uploading your own music, or a video produced outside of the TikTok editor, with music baked in.

Quoting Insider:

The days of brands jumping into TikTok song trends are over, as record label lawsuits begin to stack up

Zuck's Nightmares: The Top Link On Facebook 

Meta released its latest "Widely Viewed Content Report" yesterday which is designed to counter the impression that Facebook is a megaphone for fake news. 

Once again, the report shows that users are engaging with a lot of spam on the platform. 

🏆 The #1 link on Facebook

It gets spicier though. According to Meta, the most widely viewed link on the app in Q2 was — drumroll please — TIKTOK.COM. 

Further, 5 of the 20 most popular links shared on Facebook have been removed by the company due to various policy violations related to "spam tactics" and "inauthentic behaviour". 

🔗 Links don’t work anyways!

This report is a little lopsided, because link posts aren't surfaced much on the Facebook platform anymore. The company reported that 90% of content viewed in the U.S. came from posts that didn't have a link to an external source. 

Which I guess is a win for Facebook if it's a spammy link or a link spreading misinformation? 

But, that also means that if you're a brand or business trying to direct customers from the platform to your site — good luck.

Meta's 'Widely Viewed Content Report' Once Again Shows That Users are Engaging with a Lot of Spam in the App

Breach Let Hackers Gain 2FA Access

An important security alert, if you or your colleagues use the Authy app for two-factor authentication.

The messaging giant Twilio has confirmed that a recent breach let hackers gain access to the app, which it owns. 

Following an investigation into a breach earlier this month, where malicious actors obtained data from more than 100 customers, the company announced this week that the threat actor also gained access to the accounts of 93 individual Authy users and linked devices to those accounts. 

Consequently, the hackers could have obtained 2FA codes generated by Authy for those 93 users.

The company says it has identified and removed unauthorized devices from these affected and is advising users to review linked accounts for suspicious activity.

Twilio is also recommending that users review all devices tied to their Authy accounts and disable “allow Multi-device” in the app to prevent new device additions.

Twilio says breach also compromised Authy two-factor app users

Branded Twitter Links? 

As Zuck frets about Meta's popular links, Twitter is testing a new link feature that will benefit brands. 

Yesterday, the platform announced it's testing a new format with select publishing giants, called "Tweet Tiles". 

With Tweet Tiles, links will be presented in new visual formats, including:

• Larger images

• Videos

• Varying fonts 

• More prominent CTAs 

The new feature actually looks quite similar to an ad. 

Quoting Twitter:

The platform also noted that some followers might not see the feature, and if you Retweet or share a Tweet Tile URL, it might not appear, as it's still a test.  

Image: Social Media Today

Twitter Tests New Format for Tweeted Links

WARC Dooms Ad Spend

New data from the ad research firm, WARC paints a grim picture for advertising next year, especially on social media.

WARC published its ad spend projections for 2022/2023 this week, confirming the positive results agencies have seen so far this year with an increase in global ad spend of over 8%, Digiday reports. 

But the projections indicate a much slower growth rate of only 2.5% for 2023. 

WARC attributes the predicted slowdown to economic headwinds but also points to Apple's privacy changes as causing long-tail negative effects on social media platforms' growth.

Specifically, social media platforms are expected to lose about $40 billion in revenue opportunities between this year and next. Despite a 50% jump in 2021 and 10% growth this year, social media is predicted to grow just 5% in 2023.

Digiday notes that this is the lowest growth forecast that WARC has ever issued for social media.

👉 Who's to blame? 

WARC predicts Facebook spend for 2023 to decrease by 8% — only partially offset by Instagram's 6% growth.

TikTok, however, is forecast to continue its meteoric growth — more than 40% growth expected next year. That said, at a much slower pace than it did in its last two years (140% in 2022, and 350% in 2021).

WARC's spend predictions paint dire picture for 2023 advertising, especially social media

The Future Is ✨ Influenced ✨

In a number that seems uncomfortably high, 1 in 4 Gen Zs plans to become social media influencers, according to a new survey. 

The study also found that Gen Z males are more likely than females to believe that becoming a social media influencer is the only career choice, with half of the male respondents considering the path a "good career choice". 

A quarter of the TikTok gen also thinks there should be social media influencer training in high school. 

On the brand side of things, 1 in 4 respondents said they trust influencer product reviews over product page reviews.

(Data has been provided by HigherVisibility’s survey of over 1,000 Gen Zs)

Images: HigherVisibility 

1 in 4 Gen Z-ers plan to become social media influencers