Facebook Goes Meta

A curated collection of can’t-miss news from this week, including 2021 social media trends and more. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox.

Instagram Connects Brands and Creators

The future of influencer marketing got a major shakeup this week. With the rollout of several key features, Instagram is attempting to position itself as the ultimate branded content marketplace. The details from Instagram: “As part of Instagram’s continued commitment to helping creators earn a living off of the content they create, we’re introducing Branded Content Partnerships. Over the next few months, a small group of creators and brands will test new features that: 1) Help creators partner up with brands and 2) Help brands easily discover, connect, and collaborate with the most strategic creators for their branded content partnerships!”

Facebook Goes Meta

You probably saw this — Facebook is rebranding as Meta. The new name comes in the wake of increasing pressure on the company, which is facing criticism and decreasing relevance among the younger generation. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Verge: ““I think that there was just a lot of confusion and awkwardness about having the company brand be also the brand of one of the social media apps. I think it’s helpful for people to have a relationship with a company that is different from the relationship with any specific one of the products, that can kind of supersede all of that.”

Shop Live On Pinterest TV

Pinterest remains the dark horse in the social media marketing race. It doesn’t grab as many headlines, but it continues to innovate and get results. Recently, the platform began experimenting with live, shoppable videos. Mashable has the deets: “ Pinterest TV will officially launch a collection of episodes starting on Nov. 8. The platform will feature recognisable names like designer  Christian Siriano teaching you about fall aesthetics and Olympic diver  Tom Daley teaching you how to bake.”

TikTok Joins Forces With Amazon

TikTok and Amazon — too big to fail? We shall see. T he brands have joined forces this month to bring TikTok’s short-form videos to the big screen. Or at least the mid-sized screen. “After downloading TikTok from the Fire TV Appstore, users can log in to their TikTok account, or create one if they aren’t already one of the app’s  one billion monthly active users,” writes TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling. “Then, like the mobile app, users can browse TikTok feeds like “following,” “for you” and the discover page.”

Weekly Moment of Zen

This one might cause some arguments: What Foods Should Be Forever Banned From the Thanksgiving Dinner Table?