The Vamp Debrief: The month’s biggest social updates and marketing news

Everyone’s talking Dispo

For the first half of the month, it was for all of the right reasons. ‘David Dobrik’s new photo app is shaking things up in Silicon Valley’ said The Hustle. ‘Can Dispo recreate the magic of travelling with a disposable camera?’ asked Conde Nast Traveller.

But since a member of David Dobrik’s ‘Vlog Squad’ was named in a sexual assault case, the app has reportedly lost investor support.

The month’s TikTok trends

Beauty nostalgia and nightstands are two of the month’s biggest TikTok trends.

#2016vs2021 (115.4M views) has TikTokers drawing a line down the centre of their faces to compare the ‘then and now’ makeup trends.

While #sidetable (82.5M views) shares, well, exactly what you’d expect. Click on the hashtags to check them out.

Clubhouse courts creators

The new audio app has launched an ‘accelerator program designed to help aspiring creators on Clubhouse host amazing conversations, build their audience, and monetize.’

The ‘Clubhouse Creator First’ program was launched this month via this form. “Clubhouse has talked from the very early days about how it wants to empower creators to build a business,” said Josh Constine, who boasts 3.6M followers.

Half of Gen Z use ad blockers

According to a new study, only a third of Gen Z like online ads and most actively avoid them, with 70% skipping pre-roll video ads, and 52% using ad blockers. No wonder influencer marketing is booming.

The study also revealed that the pandemic disproportionately impacted the work and mental health of Gen Z. Almost one in three (28%) of 18-24’s lost their job.

Lives just got livelier 

Instagram’s new Live Rooms feature lets up to four people go live at once. Previously, the maximum number of live participants was two.

Instagram hopes the feature encourages people to start a ‘talk show or a podcast,’ host a ‘jam session,’ or collaborate with other creators.

Bustle created this great explainer on how it differs from Clubhouse.

Post-COVID gratification 

According to trend forecasters at Wunderman Thompson, we’re about to experience a “post-COVID gratification wave”.

“While 2020 and 2021 will have seen those providing lockdown essentials thrive, in a post-COVID world, we can expect a heightened passion for indulgence, with more decadent purchases rising to prominence – think fashion, jewellery, luxury experiences and holidays.”

TikTok launches Q&A feature

A new feature will allow TikTok fans to ask their favourite creators questions and allow creators to easily respond with text or video replies.

All questions and answers are aggregated so users can browse to see if their question has already been asked.

Find out how you can use this new feature to boost your TikTok engagement rate here.

FB focus on child safety 

First, it was announced that Facebook is working on a version of Instagram for children under 13, that gives parents transparency and control.

Then, Instagram added new teen safety tools to their app. They restrict adult users from being able to contact teens who don’t already follow them. Facebook is keen to prove they can accommodate the next generation of social media users – and keep them safe.

Aussies’ social use soared

In 2020, the amount of time 16-64 year old Australian users reported spending online jumped by a whopping 10%. That equates to an extra 32 more minutes per day.

In comparison, all that extra time at home only boosted the time spent watching TV by 15 minutes. That’s according to the latest report from We Are Social and Hootsuite.

Reels duet dupe, Remix

Instagram is emulating some of the features that made TikTok such a big success.

Their latest Reels feature (currently being tested by a selection of users) allows users to create a reaction clip, with the original and your new video playing side-by-side.

Sound familiar?

Pinterest wanderlust

According to Pinterest, travel content on their platform is booming.

“Travel engagement is at an all-time high. Travel searches on Pinterest increased 60% year over year. And those searches are turning all the pent-up demand into real bookings.”

To help marketers harness this interest, Pinterest has released some advice for brands.

Story drafts, coming soon

A highly requested feature, according to Instagram, is an option for more flexibility in Stories. They’ve listened and soon will add a new option to save your Instagram Stories as drafts, to be posted at a later stage.

Handy for those looking to create and edit Stories now, but post their updates at a later time – when their audience will be more active.

TikTok’s testing – a lot!

According to the TikTok rumour mill, there’s lots of upcoming features to expect from the app.

They’re apparently working on auto-captions to improve accessibility, a group messaging feature (which could rival Facebook’s Messenger), video playlists and three-minute-long video uploads. Triple the length of the current limit. We’re on the edge of our seats!

Facebook trials BARS app

A new experimental app from Facebook allows would-be rappers to create and share their raps. They can select from hundreds of professionally created beats, write lyrics and record a video, reports TechCrunch.

It automatically suggests rhymes as you’re writing out lyrics, and offers different audio and visual filters to accompany videos as well as an autotune feature.