APAC Digital Digest - 5 June 2020

APAC Digital Digest is a fortnightly round-up of what has been happening in APAC in under 3 minutes.

Here is what has been happening:

Facebook Expands Verification Requirements to Profiles with Large Audiences

The process requires Page managers to secure their account with two-factor authentication, and confirm their primary country location. If those details don't match up or align with the information listed on their profile, Facebook will reduce the distribution of their posts.

Source: Social Media Today

Facebook Launches ‘Venue’ – The App for Live Event Engagement

'Venue' aims to provide an interactive second-screen experience for live events. Facebook first tested Venue with NASCAR's Food City presenting the Supermarket Heroes 500 race on May 31.

Source: Business Insider

Facebook Launches New App Called 'CatchUp' to Facilitate Group Phone Chats

Catchup is designed for setting up one-one or group calls with friends. The app lets you know who is available, and then you can talk to that friend or a group of friends over a voice call. The app facilitates audio calls and allows you to not only set up calls with friends who are online and available but also allows you to join an ongoing group chat, which mimics that of Messenger Rooms.

Source: Tech Genyz

Instagram Finally Launches Content-Monetization Features for Creators

Instagram will add the ability for users to purchase “badges” during Instagram Live videos to show support for their favourite creators, Instagram will also begin running ads in IGTV, the platform’s long-form video destination, with at least 55% of the advertising revenue shared with creators.

Source: Variety

Instagram Gets Messenger Rooms Support, Allows Video Calls With Up To 50 People

Instagram now allows users to create Messenger Rooms through the Instagram Direct page in the app. With this, up to 50 people can group video chat even if they don’t have Facebook accounts.

Source: Mashable

Google adds New automated bidding solutions in Display & Video 360

Automated bidding has become more powerful with the introduction of Custom Bidding, a new way to incorporate unique insights about what drives business into bidding strategies. It helps you make sure you’re present when consumers are most likely to respond to your ads. Using Google’s advanced machine learning, it evaluates and tailors your bids for every auction to help predict the likelihood of a conversion and deliver the best results for advertisers.

Source: Google

Google launches two new types of ads: intent-based Discovery ads and query-based Gallery ads

Google will be adding two new kinds of ads – Discovery and Gallery – plus offering a redesigned Google Shopping. The tech giant’s machine learning determines which ad to show, based on logged-in search queries in Google, YouTube, Google Play and, unlogged, through cookies from visits to sites in the Google Display Network.

Source: ClickZ

Google Releasing New Video Series to Assist Businesses Maximize Their Digital Marketing Opportunities

Google is introducing a new video series, “The Update” to provide marketers and business owners with a better understanding of the key trends around digital marketing. They will provide updates on the relevant Google ad products and tools – to maximize response and reach.

Source: Talk CMO

Microsoft Teams new updates -enhancing remote working experience

One of the main new features to Microsoft Teams is the availability of customisable templates that accelerate the process of setting up a project. This feature is set to help teams, remote ones, in particular, set up quickly and scale to for their organizational needs.

Source: Tech HQ

TikTok Announces #LearnOnTikTok

TikTok has partnered with over 800 public figures, media publishers, educational institutions, and real-world professional experts to bring learning material to TikTok amidst COVID-19. The content offers instructional tips and takeaways in a creative format, teaching something useful and inspiring users to seek out more information in a way that is fun and engaging.

Source: TikTok

TikTok owner ByteDance reportedly made a profit of $3 billion on $17 billion of revenue last year

ByteDance, parent company to short-form video app TikTok, pulled in more than $3 billion in profit last year. It also makes ByteDance more profitable than several Silicon peers, such as Twitter with net income of $1.47 billion, or Snapchat which reported a net loss for the year.

Source: Business Insider

TikTok clone hit the top of the App Store by paying users to watch videos

Zynn, a nearly button-for-button clone of TikTok has a countdown timer with a dollar sign in the middle that hovers over every video on Zynn. As you watch videos, the timer fills up and gives you points, which you’re supposed to be able to redeem later as cash or gift cards.

Source: The Verge