Meta users appeal every 24 seconds

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Issue #108 | Your reading time this week is just under 5 mins.

Facebook and Instagram users appealed Meta’s decision to remove their content 1,290,942 times last year. As regulators push for social media platforms to take down hidden advertising how will this negatively impact the influencer marketing industry? Plus the dealmakers: Wearisma, Bond, Humanz and Jellyfish. And, 8 News in Brief stories.

Meta users appeal take-down decisions every 24 seconds

Gizmodo got early access to the Meta Oversight Board’s 2022 annual report.

• Facebook and Instagram users appealed Meta’s decision to remove their content 1,290,942 times.

• This marks a 25% increase in the number of appeals YoY.

• Two-thirds of those appeals concerned alleged violence/incitement and hate speech.

IMPACT ON CREATOR MARKETING: In November 2022 the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) issued guidance to social media platforms regarding dealing with hidden advertising (where influencers fail to disclose they are in a commercial relationship with a brand in their promotional content).

Principle 6 of that guidance recommends platforms take the following steps: “promptly removing content which has been confirmed as hidden advertising.”

It is unclear how Meta would be able to cope with an increase in appeals from creators asking for their content to be reinstated once removed for being classified as hidden advertising. 1,290,942 claims a year translates to an appeal every 24 seconds, or 3,537 cases a day.

Influence is King

The Brandtech Group acquires Jellyfish

The Brandtech Group has acquired 100% of leading digital and performance marketing company Jellyfish. The deal creates the largest digital-only marketing group in the world (per its press release) with more than $1bn in revenue and over 7,000 employees.

In 2020 Jellyfish took investment from France’s Fimalac group in a deal that valued the firm at £500m.

Brandtech already owns Collectively - a full-service influencer marketing firm. It’s invested in Traackr - the influencer relationship management platform and also held an investment in Tribe Dynamics - an influencer marketing management and analytics company - before the firm was acquired by Creator IQ last year.

Social commerce platform, Bond, launches after $2m seed round

Maddie Raedts has launched a social commerce platform following a $2m seed round. Bond bills itself as “the first inspiration-driven live shopping platform that connects creators, brands, and consumers”.

The platform is co-founded by Raedts who also founded IMA - the Influencer Marketing Agency - before selling to Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital in 2019. There Raedts became partner of global fashion and luxury at Media.Monks.

Livestream shopping in the West has turned out to be a tricky nut to crack. Several well-established firms continue to tap into this market including TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, LTK, Walmart, NTWRK, WhatNot, PopShop Live and.

Bond launched this week with 65+ creators and 50 brands. LTK has 200k+ curated creators and carries 6k brands according to the Influencer Marketing Hub making shoppable posts for 10m+ users.

AI creator commerce platform, Humanz, raises $5m

Humanz, a creator commerce platform built on AI capabilities, has completed a $5 million Series A funding round. The Israeli start-up began as a social data verification and influencer marketing marketplace. The firm has always placed proprietary AI, machine learning, image recognition and natural language processing at the heart of its offering. Its software tracks real performance data and can track creator attribution across platforms, browsers and devices. This round brings the company's total fundraising to $17 million.

Influencer analytics firm, WeArisma, raises £2.5m

WeArisma, the influencer analytics firm, has raised £2.5m. The startup founded by Jenny Tsai in 2015 uses proprietary technology to calculate EMV - the media impact value of brands and products when they appear on, or are endorsed by, an influencer or celebrity. To date the company has received a total of £3.5 million in investment, having been awarded £1 million from Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab in 2022.

Funding themes

A greater demand from business to accurately measure the ROI from creator content is a common theme binding Wearisma, Humanz and Bond. Add to that Conor Begley’s proposal of a Creator Facts Index (CFI). Begley founded Creator Dynamics before selling to Creator IQ for $70m in 2021 (on a $4m raise) his CFI offers:

• What: Picking public stocks based on performance with creators.

• Thesis: Creator buzz is a leading indicator to sales.

• How: Identify healthy growth (retention) in EMV share VS competitors

Employers: Take the salary & benefits survey

SUMO and the Influencer Marketing Trading Body (IMTB) have developed a comprehensive influencer marketing staffing market analysis, which will provide employers with deep insight into what benefits and working conditions are most important to employees working within your industry.

If you employ a team of influencer marketers either in-house or at an agency please spare 2 minutes to complete the survey. There is also a chance to win a one-night stay at The Ned in London. T&Cs apply.

DECLARATION: I run the Influencer Marketing Trade Body.

Against the deification of data

Performance Marketing World invited me on to their Performance Marketing Uncut podcast hosted by the most excellent Lucy Shelley. In this episode, we discuss:

⚖️ Global scrutiny by regulators and legislators of the influencer marketing sector

👎🏻 What's overrated currently in the sector

👍🏻 Why human insight is under-rated

🎯 How the Influencer Marketing Trade Body's appointment to the Committee of Advertising Practice is a win for the whole industry.

Filter bubble: 58% of U.S. adults are familiar with ChatGPT. Just 14% of them have tried it according to a Pew Research Center survey.

Yay for the grey: Brands are chasing older influencers. These grey-influencers are increasingly in demand says the New York Times and have been finding success sharing life lessons and fashion tips, cooking, and interacting with grandchildren - while also promoting products.

Forget summer - get ready for Christmas: TikTok aims to “inspire shoppers from discovery to purchase and beyond this holiday shopping season” and has just launched its 2023 holiday marketing playbook - which you can download here.

YouTube's Algorithm 2023: What creators need to know. This video from YouTube's Creator Insider team advises: Think audience not algorithm. Think like a viewer. And, answers how creators should think about multi-formats.

10 best BeReal tips and tricks: AndroidPolice has put together a hitlist for how to become a BeReal pro.

BeReal ads messaging feature: Sticking with BeReal the app is now adding a messaging feature called RealChat. Yet to be launched, users will be able to send 1-2-1 messages and DMs plus react with the app’s custom emojis.

Instagram publishes algorithm: “We want people and creators to be in control of their Instagram experience, and we’re always exploring ways to add even more transparency and control to the app” says Adam Mosseri. Watch his video or read the explainer.

US school district sues TikTok over kids' mental health: This is a trend to watch as the movement will, no doubt, spread towards kids as creators. Regular readers of the Creator Briefing might recall that in #106 we covered the new advisory from US Surgeon General warning that social media poses a threat to kids' mental health. Now a school district in Maryland is suing the parent companies of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube for "intentionally cultivat[ing]" harmful product features that have created "a mental health crisis among America’s youth" -- as reported in Mashable. More on this movement in Social Media Today.