Hello, Halloween season! Are you excited about the latest news from the digital marketing world? Because we are! Buckle up and enjoy Sunday Rundown #96 🙂
Elon Musk to test livestream shopping on X
As Elon Musk’s X expands its efforts to become an “everything app,” the company formerly known as Twitter announced it will run a livestream shopping event with media icon Paris Hilton. The feature will allow X users to watch a live-streamed video, chat with others and shop at the same time, as well as hang out in Spaces.
This is not the company’s first effort to make shopping a key feature on its platform. Before its rebranding as X and Musk’s acquisition, Twitter had been exploring e-commerce initiatives, including the 2022 launch of mobile storefronts for merchants, then known as Twitter Shops, as well as features that allowed merchants to tease their upcoming product drops and send reminders to customers.
X Is Testing Variable Video Upload Quality Options
While we are on the topic, another element of X’s pivot to video is coming, with creators soon set to be able to select the video quality that they want to upload in.
As shown in this example, posted by X designer Andrea Conway, along with a toggle to allow or disallow downloads of their content, creators will also be able to select variable upload quality, which could make it easier for people looking to get their videos up on the platform quickly, or in low data situations.
It could be a handy option to have, and with X looking to put more emphasis on video content, in line with broader content consumption trends, providing more options is another way to drive more usage, and ideally enhance X’s appeal to video creators.
Snapchat Announces New ‘Phantom House’ Activation for Halloween
With the Spooky Season hype rising, Snapchat has announced a new activation for Halloween, with “Phantom House”, an immersive Halloween experience.
Yeah, the preview doesn’t explain a lot, but essentially, Phantom House will be a weekly Snapchat video series, in which users will be able to participate via Snap’s various elements.
“Snap creators Tony Talks, Sofie Dossi, and Ezee will star in this new series as they race against the clock to escape the Phantom House. Snapchatters can tune-in to the weekly content series to watch the story unfold, participate in the adventure by helping the creators gather new clues and solve puzzles, and share what they’ve seen with friends through AR Lenses and AI-generated Dreams selfies inspired by the Phantom House.”
– As explained by Snapchat
Bonus links
- The best Google alternative I’ve tried yet
- How an empowered creator economy is challenging marketers
- Google Pixel Event 2023: Pixel 8, Watch 2 and everything else we expect
Thank you for taking the time to read our Sunday Rundown #96. If you have a story that you want to see in this series, reply to us below or contact us.