Canadian Ad Insider

Meta: NOT

• Meta is having a rough Q1. The company plans to cut 10,000 employees, after having just laid off more than 11,000 employees in November. Zuckerberg has said they'll also be "cutting projects that aren’t performing or may no longer be crucial." It’s too early to see what increased cuts will mean for brands and marketers, but we hope it doesn’t result in further reduced content moderation and resources dedicated to enforcing brand safety policies on Meta's platforms.
• Despite the less-than-enthusiastic reaction to Twitter's paid verification, Meta decided to follow suit with an even higher verified price tag ($12-$15). We see few obvious upsides beyond greater access to their tech support team.
• Meta is increasingly pushing advertisers towards more AI-powered optimizations (which they've named Advantage+), but we're not yet convinced that the increased efficiency is worth the trade off of less creative control. 

Instagram: NOT

• After getting hooked on the Reels drip, many marketers have been noticing a drastic drop in views and engagement in Q1.
• It's similar on the paid side, where we've seen a big algorithm shift from Reels to stories and carousels.
• Marketers have had to make quick pivots in terms of where they're putting their creative resources and budgets.

LinkedIn: HOT

• LinkedIn has FINALLY introduced scheduled posts native on their platform, making it possible to schedule posts without using third-party apps and easier to tag other company pages.
• Audio events (previously only available in Creator Mode) is launching for company pages. Brands will be able host audio events, where users can tune into discussions with industry leaders.

TikTok: HOT (but may soon be NOT)

• TikTok overtook Instagram to become the world's most downloaded app in Q1, and they continue to innovate and offer new tools and features to attract marketers. In the last few weeks, they've rolled out more Shop feature testing, launched Branded Effects, expanded their corporate Sounds library, and are planning to introduce the ability to boost the videos of other users.
• We’re still finding that very few platforms beat TikTok advertising right now when it comes to reach, brand awareness and inexpensive CPMs.
• That said, their future in remains unclear, as the ongoing debate about the U.S. banning the app heats up. The U.S. government has expressed concerns about the potential for data breaches, which has some marketers worried about security and brand safety. And if the app gets banned in the U.S., it will greatly impact the reach of TikTok as an advertising platform.

Pinterest: HOT

• Pinterest now has 450 million monthly active users and serves over 1 billion video views every day.
• While platforms like Instagram are pulling back on live shopping, Pinterest continues to double down, rolling out features that make its content even more transactional. North American audiences may not be fully ready for social shopping, but it’s a core social activity in some Asian markets, which are often ahead of the curve. We love seeing a platform continue to invest in what is sure to be the future.

Twitter: NOT 

• The fact that it's now worth half of what Elon Musk paid for it in October isn't surprising to those of us who still use it every day. There are numerous bugs and weird design tweaks (like how tweet replies stopped showing who the user was actually replying to).
• The For You tab is now filled with people you don't follow or interact with–and it will soon start prioritizing paid users.
• It's about to get even worse when legacy blue checkmarks are removed. It's always been tough to determine what's real versus what's disinformation when news breaks, but the first big breaking news event that takes place once we're unable to tell which handles represent actual news outlets/journalists is going to be a MESS. The New York Times and the L.A. Times have both said they will not be paying for Twitter Blue.
• We have been warning clients off Twitter advertising for a few months now, and our concerns about brand safety on this platform are only growing.

Youtube: HOT

• YouTube Shorts is trying to compete with TikTok–and it may be working? They've recently crossed 50 billion daily views. For most of our clients, we are still not getting the views and engagement we’re seeing on TikTok, but we continue to cross-post and experiment.
• They continue to increase their focus on podcasts, adding podcasts to the YouTube music app and rolling out new support and tools for podcasters.
• This summer, they'll enable advertisers to target Gen Z users based on the songs that are most trending with them.
• They've realized that neither advertisers or users like those disruptive "overlay" ad units and will begin phasing them out in April.

Other:

• While Twitter alternatives keep popping up (Spoutible, Post News, Mastadon) keep getting buzz, they still don't boast the level of activity and conversation that Twitter users and marketers are used to, and their advertising capabilities are non-existent. All eyes are on the Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky, which is currently invite-only.