The ByteDance-owned app has not provided the exact number of employees laid off, but the job cut is estimated to affect around 500 people. A spokesperson from TikTok has also stated that these layoffs were part of TikTok’s efforts to strengthen and grow its worldwide operating model for content moderation. The company has thus confirmed that the tech layoffs have to do with the company’s moving forward with AI.

TikTok is known to utilize both human moderators and AI to moderate content posted on its platform. However, with the TikTok layoffs taking place right now, the company might seek to obtain a completely automated future, or at least a majorly automated future. The social media giant has stated that it plans to invest around $2 billion in safety and trust in the current year. This investment will work towards improving the platform’s efficiency in removing the content that goes against TikTok’s guidelines. The video-sharing platform has also predicted for itself that automated technology would remove up to 80% of the unapproved content.

TikTok Layoffs: The platform’s past layoffs

This is not the first time in 2024, that TikTok laid off its employees. In April alone, the company let go of over 250 workers in Ireland. In January, TikTok laid off around 60 employees in advertising and sales. However, the biggest TikTok layoffs may be yet to come. Reports were circulating in May that the company was planning on laying off over 1,000 employees. These workers expected to be laid off worked in the marketing and operations division of the company.

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Image Credits: Photo by amrothman on Pixabay

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TikTok Music’s subscribers can continue using this service until the prescribed shutdown date. So these subscribers must also move their playlists to a different music streaming service before 28 October. Furthermore, requests for refunds are required to be submitted on 28 November.

TikTok Music is a service that is available in countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, and Brazil. This music streaming service was launched last year in July and was compatible with Android and iOS. Users could find, share, and download music. ByteDance, the company behind TikTok based TikTok music on an already existing product of theirs called Resso. Resso was then rebranded into TikTok Music in 2023.

TikTok Music Shutting Down: Reasons for this shutdown

An official from TikTok has said that the decision for TikTok Music shutting down is due to the TikTok change in priorities. Instead of continuing with TikTok Music, the platform will be focused on music streaming service collaborations. Thus, TikTok will no longer be competing with services such as Spotify and Apple Music.

A feature called ‘Add To Music’ which was recently released back in February this year will likely be the centre of focus for the platform. Add to Music allows users to save millions of tracks and playlists on select music streaming platforms. Users could add tracks to playlists through Amazon Music, Spotify, or Apple Music.

In other news, TikTok may be facing a ban in the United States over concerns regarding the country’s national security. The company has been given a time limit of nine months until January 2025 to sell TikTok to a new owner. Additionally, this new owner has to be approved by the US government. Failure to hand over ownership will result in a ban in the US.

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Lemon8 has been called a mix between Instagram and Pinterest. There has been a push in marketing to this ByteDance app as TikTok faces a potential ban in the US. The app acts as a sort of backup plan for TikTok creators. So it’s to be expected for TikTok influencers to be pushing their audience towards the newer app. TikTok has been undergoing a long-standing battle against US lawmakers. There are concerns regarding the Chinese government suing TikTok as a way to collect user data. Thus the US government has argued to ban TikTok in the US. But the ban could be dismissed if the app is sold to a US government-approved buyer.

Besides influencer promotions, the company has been investing in ads on the App Store. TikTok users may also notice a surge of Lemon8 ads on their For You page on TikTok. ByteDance’s efforts into advertising have been paying off as evidenced by 16 million worldwide downloads.

Lemon8: More background on this app by ByteDance

Lemon8 is another one of ByteDance’s social media apps, made to share videos and photos. The Chinese parent company first released the app in 2020 as a rival to Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese social media app. What both of these apps have in common is that the content is dominated by User Generated Content (UGC).

This social media app has been liked on Instagram and Pinterest it has been gradually growing in popularity since 2023. It is meant to be a lifestyle app and it is mostly used to share pictures. Users also post their fit-checks, food recipes and more.

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Manage Topics: New TikTok Feature Is Rolling Out.

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Manage Topics is a slider tool which lets users customise the content that they come across on their For You page. It makes the TikTok experience much more personal for users. TikTok has stated that this feature will act as a guide to help the app in showing users more of a particular type of video or topic on their For You feed. Additionally, the app will also show less content from a particular category according to the users’ preferences. 

However, users should note that this feature does not apply to accounts that they already follow. If a user follows an account that posts videos of a category the user selected to see less of, they will still see the content posted by the creator.

TikTok has also stated that the updated preferences of the user may take time to take effect. Thus, users have been advised to wait a while for the changes to take place.

Manage Topics and how to use this feature  

Users can access this new feature by tapping on the Content Preferences option in Settings. They will then have to click on Manage Topics which lets them set their preferences for multitudes of topics. These topics can range anywhere from travel, food, sports, dance, and just about any niche in the video-sharing app. 

If users are unsure about the category or type of video, they can tap on the Information option available next to the topic. To elaborate, the Food & Drinks category includes videos such as recipe videos, restaurant reviews, ‘What I Eat In A Day’ videos and so on. 

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Search Sound Features:

This feature allows users to find specific sounds by either humming the tune or singing a part of the song. The feature is somewhat similar to other music-finding apps such as Shazam and YouTube Music. This feature stands out from the rest of the music identification apps as users can sing or hum the tune or part of the song. Meanwhile, users have to play a part of the song in Shazam for the app to work. Additionally, TikTok also presents users with videos that have used the song.

However, there have been some drawbacks with the new TikTok feature. The feature has been documented to be less effective for songs that are not as trendy. Songs that have not been used much in trending videos seem to get less recognised.

TikTok has further stated that the feature is only meant to discover songs but independent tests suggest that the tool can also pick up some popular TikTok sounds and memes.

Selected users can access this feature by clicking on the mic button and choosing the Sound Search option.

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On Wednesday, Jan 31st, Tech CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Linda Yaccarino (X/Twitter), Evan Spiegel (Snapchat), and Shou Zi Chew (Tik Tok), Jason Citron (Discord) testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation, child suicide rates and illegal drugs work.

The hearings touched on a variety of issues, ranging from human trafficking to concerns about Communist China and various political topics. The Judiciary members made sure that the Tech leaders could understand the responsibility they had on their shoulders.

Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham

The Committee hearing started with Senior Senator Mr Durbin addressing all the present witnesses followed by a video made by the victims of social media abuse, many of whom were present in the US Capitol. After having the judicial oath done the Tech CEOs were given time for their respective open statements. After this world witnessed one of the most brutal Senate hearings.

Opening Statements from the CEOs

Jason Citron CEO of Discord acknowledged the responsibility Discord had due to its young user base and described safety measures like CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) detection, reporting tools, and age-gating.

Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Meta spoke of Meta’s investments in safety, content moderation, and partnerships with law enforcement. He denied claims of a causal link between social media and mental health harm.

Mental health is a complex issue and the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between social media and young people having worse mental health problems.

Mark Zuckerberg

(His statement was met with skepticism and interruptions from the audience.)

Evan Spiegel CEO of Snapchat described Snapchat’s focus on short content and proactive safety features like age verification and reporting mechanisms. He admitted challenges in detecting and removing CSAM.

X’s Linda Yaccarino shared her concern about CSAM and X‘s commitment to Child Safety

Shou Zi Chew CEO of Tik Tok spoke of realising the responsibility of running a billion users platform. He shared some major concerns over child exploitation, CSAM, and mental health.

The Judiciary Committee

The judiciary committee consisted of members from the republicans and the democrat. Each committee member was given time to question the CEOs, there were a few who made the headlines.

Mr Hawley and Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Meta

Mr Hawley’s interrogation came in with a thrashing pound on Mark the CEO of Meta, asking him of his opening statement. Hawley’s interrogation further went down so brutally and he made Zuckerberg stand up and apologize to the whole crowd full of parents.

Mr. Cruz and the CEOs

Mr Cruz talked about the child exploitation found on platforms like Facebook (now Meta), and Instagram. He accused Chew CEO, of Tik Tok for having leaked national data to the Chinese government.

Mr Cotton and Chew CEO of TikTok

Mr Cotton brutally questioned Shou Zi Chew about his nationality and his connections with the Chinese Communist Party.

Although all the top CEOs of modern-day technology were present, more pressure and focus were put on Mark Zuckerberg and Shou Zi Chew.

Know more about the Senate hearing

Takeaway

This senate hearing on child online safety held at the US Capitol gives us a moment to look back and question the modern advancement of technology. We use the internet for various purposes, but is it a safe space though?

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Hubspot and TikTok increase CA (customer acquisition) costs for new opportunities

This partnership comes at a crucial moment as small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) grapple with the increasing costs of acquiring new customers.

As per Hubspot, In the U.S., 53% of SMBs saw a hike in customer acquisition costs in 2021 and 2022. This number is almost 20% and higher than the cost in previous years.

TikTok is a platform where over half of U.S. users engage with different brands, and it aims to provide a distinctive solution to address this challenge.

Automation of the B2B lead generation process

The recently introduced integration of HubSpot CRM presents an automated lead capture feature on TikTok, effectively converting an actively engaged audience into valuable potential customers.

Karen Ng, Senior Vice President of Products at HubSpot, underlined the game-changing potential of blending TikTok’s discoverability with HubSpot’s CRM.

She said, “Through this integration, we’re combining TikTok’s discoverability with the capabilities of HubSpot’s customer platform, enabling more businesses to transform attentive audiences into valuable, high-worth customers.”

TikTok is offering a $200 Ad Credit to the initial 500 Users.

As a special offer, 500 advertisers who integrate HubSpot CRM with TikTok will be granted $200 in TikTok ad credits. This presents a cost-effective opportunity to access a new and vibrant audience.

Impact of Hubspot and TikTok Partnership

According to the findings, 57% of TikTok users expressed a likelihood to purchase a business after seeing an ad. This is how it’s clear about the platform’s ability to drive consumer engagement.

Furthermore, 69% of users found these lead-generation ads highly attention-grabbing, a crucial measure in the competitive digital advertising landscape.

What’s particularly intriguing is that half of the users surveyed mentioned that these ads don’t feel like conventional advertisements. This suggests that TikTok has successfully integrated advertising seamlessly to enhance user experience.

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With the complete launch of TikTok Shop in the United States, social media company TikTok is stepping up its retail ambitions significantly.

The startup now seeks to transform the culture of online shopping with motivating hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt. In the “For You” feeds for its 150 million American users, TikTok Shop includes shoppable videos and LIVE streaming.

The brand-new e-commerce function, which was first noticed in April, provides a number of tools to let businesses sell goods directly within the TikTok ecosystem.

Features For Businesses On TikTok

In-feed videos and LIVE streams are just the beginning of TikTok Shop. The TikTok app’s search function, which filters results to the Shop section, allows users to find new products.

Businesses and brands are given a special “Shop Tab” where they can advertise their goods and specials. Users may browse product reviews and make purchases directly from the profile page of your brand using the integrated product showcase.

Additionally, merchants can benefit from “Fulfilled by TikTok” — a brand-new logistics service where TikTok handles storage, selection, packing, and shipping.

The platform even has an affiliate program where well-known producers and influencers can promote TikTok Shop products and receive commissions.

How to Register for the TikTok Shop?

Visit your profile in the TikTok app and select Creator Tools from the menu. There are ways for you to register for TikTok Shop as a vendor or creator to receive brand commissions.

For the TikTok Shop Affiliate program, creators must have at least 5,000 followers and be at least 18 years old.

Shopify and WooCommerce are integrated with TikTok Shop.

Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud are just a few of the well-known e-commerce systems that TikTok Shop has linked with.

As a result, it should be simpler for established online merchants to start selling on TikTok without starting from scratch.

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Governor’s Decision Explained

Due to “technical and legal concerns” mentioned in the bill governor signed the bill and made it a law. He also indicated that it will soon come to other social media platforms. 

Governor’s motivation behind TikTok ban is unclear, but we can see he is taking control of the social media platform used in the state.

Follow the Tweet here.

Details of the TikTok Ban

According to the bull, Android and iOS app stores cannot offer TikTok to download in Montana under SB 419. 

The bill will be effective from January 2024. This ban will impact a lot on data security and privacy. It is mentioned in the bill that tech giants like Apple and Google may face fines as a recursive activity of violating the bill.                   

Implications and Reactions

There are mixed reactions to the TikTok ban in Montana. Some people consider it a necessary step for data security; others consider it an infringement on free speech.

TikTok’s Reaction to the Ban

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, response to the ban needs to be clarified. However, the company already faces various problems in many other countries. And now, they are facing the same issues across the United States. Therefore, this situation’s outcome is causing many future challenges for TikTok.

Impact of TikTok Ban on Other Social Media Platforms

Governor Greg’s action to ban TikTok is causing the same situation in other states and countries. The first state in the USA to pass such a bill is the start of a new wave. As a result, it can also cause national and data security challenges for other platforms. 

Moreover, enforcing such laws regarding social media usage can also result in legal suits between the affected companies and the state. It might be essential in reshaping the digital landscape if it goes to legal battles.

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