BREAKING NEWS: FBI Calls For A Full Ban Of TikTok

Happy Monday marketers and business owners!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and is prepared to take on the week. without hesitation, let's get started! 🚀

#1 YouTube Tests New Product Tags for Shorts

With a new test, YouTube is introducing another way for Shorts to be monetised. Some creators will now be able to tag products within their Shorts.  Direct monetisation is challenging with short-form content, such as YouTube Shorts because you can't just insert advertisements like you would with lengthier content. However, direct monetisation through product listings may be a more direct way to pay creators on the app, which may make Shorts a more appealing choice for those looking to monetise their clips.

#2 LinkedIn Launches New ‘Brand Safety Hub’

LinkedIn has just introduced a new ‘Brand Safety Hub’ for its advertisements as part of its continuous efforts to enhance brand safety in ad placement. Through this hub, advertisers will be able to learn more about LinkedIn's partner platforms and build personalised ‘allow’ and ‘block’ lists. With the help of LinkedIn's audience network, advertisers can now spread their campaigns across the platform's network of publishing partners, which includes a plethora of high-end partner sites and apps where LinkedIn members hang out.

#3 Twitter Remains On Unstable Ground

Twitter employees are leaving in droves as a result of Elon Musk, and many of them now believe that the site may collapse at any second. The app's remaining employees were urged by Musk to agree to 'extremely hardcore' working conditions or face termination with three months' pay. Evidently, about 75% of them came to the conclusion that the latter was preferable. Since Musk took command, the Twitter team has plummeted from 7,500 to 900, a staggering 88% decrease. Although it is hard to predict with certainty where this saga will end, a staff decrease of this magnitude will definitely have some impact. 

#4 New Data Reveals How Teens Use Social Media

The recent Pew report on teen social media use offers some fascinating insights that may help shed more light on how teens utilise social applications and the advantages they derive from them. Teen users of social media have been shown to believe that, despite some drawbacks, social media generally has a beneficial impact on their life and relationships. It's important to note that connective trends are driven by younger users, and teen users' social app usage patterns have a significant impact on adoption and behaviour as a whole.

5# FBI Calls for Full Ban of TikTok

The US Committee on Foreign Investment has been investigating TikTok for some time now, which has seen several senior officials publicly calling for the app to be banned over such concerns. The FBI joined those demands last week, asserting that the app did in fact represent a threat to national security. Such allegations are nothing new. Since TikTok's US launch, the same accusations have been levelled against it, and as the app's prominence grows, so do the worries. It will be fascinating to see how TikTok responds to this mounting pressure.

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