1. Revisiting Microsoft’s 2021 Consumer Retail Trends Predictions - In early 2021, Microsoft Published Consumer Retail Trends Report and made five predictions for the year. Now according to a Microsoft report, all but one turned out as expected.

2. Instagram Publishes The Trending Topics For 2022 - Instagram wrote in the introduction to the report, “Next-gen audiences are consistently creating the future and defining trends on Instagram. Instagram is where teens, creators, tastemakers, and niche creators are key to the creation of new trends. Almost 50% of young people view individuals like themselves or influences with smaller, loyal audiences as key for creating trends.”

This is a forward-looking report so take it with a grain of salt.

1. Instagram Adds New Option to Embed User Profiles on Third-Party Websites - Instagram is adding another way to promote your Instagram presence outside the app, with a new option to embed a mini version of your Instagram profile on third-party sites. You’ll be able to link to an Instagram profile direct within a website, providing another way to connect through to a user, as opposed to specific content in the app.

As explained by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri:

“You’ve been able to embed an Instagram photo or Instagram video into a website for many years now. This extends on that idea and allows you to embed a miniature version of your Instagram profile on a website. Maybe you want to showcase your Instagram content on a website somewhere or link to someone else’s.”

Instagram profile embeds are available to US users only at this stage. Will this be useful?

1. Instagram Is Rolling Out Reels Replies - Instagram’s new Reels Visual Replies are just another feature copied from TikTok. Now, if a user comments on a reel you’ve posted, tapping the “reply” button will let you add a sticker of the comment into a new reel, which you can then move around or change its color. The feature is very similar to how TikTok lets you do video replies

2. Pinterest Adds Option to Reply to a Comment with an Idea Pin - Following on from Instagram’s addition of the capacity to reply to a comment with a Reels video clip, Pinterest has announced that users can reply to Pin comments with an Idea Pin video, providing similar functionality. If you want to add a visual element to your Pin comment reply, you can tap on the three dots menu next to any comment, which will give you an option to ‘Reply with new Idea Pin’. That will then open up the full-screen Idea Pin composer, so you can add more context to your response.

3. Longer Videos on TikTok Are Doing Superb - According to TikTok, videos longer than one minute receive over 5 billion views globally, and they have been blown away by the community's creativity as it's shared longer-form content of all kinds - from podcasts to vlogs, to cooking tutorials, fashion commentary, and more.

Question of the day: How long before other platforms copy this feature?

1. Twitter Adds Auto Captions for All Video Uploads in Tweets - Twitter has announced that all videos uploaded within tweets will have auto-captions enabled, providing more ways for users to consume video content in the app.

As explained by Twitter, all videos attached to tweets from today will have auto-captions enabled. Captions will be activated for in-stream videos that are muted, on both iOS and Android, while desktop users will be able to switch them on and off as they choose.

Twitter’s auto-captions are available in 37 languages, and while translation is not available as yet, the captions will appear in the language of the device used to upload the clip.

Also, a key downside, Twitter’s auto-captions are not editable at this stage. Both translation and editing tools are still in development.

1. YouTube Videos That Are Contributing to Your Audience Growth - This was an experimental feature but now YouTube officially launched this feature. Now you can see the videos that are contributing to your audience growth.

2. Google: You Don’t Need To Be An Authority To Rank - Not all websites need to be seen as authorities in order to rank well in search results, says Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller. For example, a website can’t just publish 30 articles about a medical condition and be viewed as having the same authority as a doctor. Most sites don’t need to concern themselves with being an authority. They can still put content out there and have it rank in search results.

Mueller gives the example of a small business selling a product or service. The business doesn’t need to be the foremost authority in its field in order for customers to find its products. Mueller goes on to say that a one-page website is a good starting point, but it can always grow from there. Consider how more pages can be added to the site in the future so it doesn’t get stuck in a place where new content keeps getting added to the single page.

1. Google Will Deindex Pages If Site Is Down For Several Days - Google will begin to deindex your pages from search results if your website experiences more than a couple of days of downtime. This is stated by Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller during the Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout.

If a website’s pages become inaccessible then it will only take a matter of days before they start to get de-indexed, Mueller says. Mueller goes on to suggest an alternative method for handling planned downtime, but it still doesn’t guarantee no harm will be done in the short term.

1. Google Analytics 4 Now Links To Google Search Console - Google announced that now Google Analytics 4 supports data from Google Search Console. This was something Google has supported with the original Google Analytics since 2011 and now has brought over support for the new GA4.

Associating your GA4 and GSC properties expands your ability to analyze search traffic and enable you to directly compare search data with site analytics, which can help you get a better view of the user’s journey and identify correlations.

1. Twitter Publishes 2022 Tweet Planning Guide - Twitter has published a new 2022 planning guide to assist in your tweet strategy, which includes a range of templates, tips and prompts to get you thinking about how to maximize your tweet approach over the next year. Here’s a look at some of the key highlights from Twitter’s handy new strategy manual, which is definitely worth a look for those seeking to make Twitter more of a focus, or enhance their results from the platform.

First off, Twitter prompts marketers to plan ahead, with templates to help them map out their month-by-month tweet strategy.

The guide then seeks to help marketers develop guiding principles for their tweet strategy, by outlining keywords, visual approaches, emojis, etc., that they can then use as a basis for their brand guidelines.

This is a valuable and often overlooked element, and prompting marketers to consider these elements, that could ensure a more uniform, strategic approach across the board, maximizing alignment with your tweets.

Twitter also includes a range of prompts like FAQ, Retweet, Pro-Tip, and etc, which can help in establishing your practical approach.

The main chunk of the new guide, however, is dedicated to month-by-month listings, where Twitter has left room for marketers to enter daily details on key objectives, events, and ad campaigns to assist in performance tracking.

The final element of the guide is a listing of tweet tips and notes, to give you that final push in maximizing your tweets.