Pinterest’s latest performance update showed a constant decline in active users. This is suggested to be as more regions come out of lockdown, shoppers are returning to physical shops to do their shopping. ?

Pinterest’s total monthly active user count declined to 444 million in the 3rd quarter, down 10 million on the previous period.

These unpredictable conditions resulting from Covid make it a volatile market, and with Pinterest’s focus on shopping, it was easily the most likely to be hit hard by lifting restrictions around the world.

Instagram Launches Live-Stream Shopping ?

Instagram has announced a new series of live-stream shopping broadcasts ahead of Christmas! ?

This update will include exclusive product launches and influencer recommendations to encourage purchases, starting this week. Instagram will also host a weekly lineup of ‘Guest Edit’ collections from influencers and launch new Gift Guides by price category on the Shop tab. 

Instagram is also offering 20% off first purchases in the app, as well as free shipping on eligible purchases, to help boost initial sales and engagement.

Have you ever bought anything from Instagram? 

Meta is Opening Physical Shops ?

Meta is gradually expanding its catalogue of physical products, so it makes sense that the company would also be considering physical stores as well, as a means to better showcase its next-level hardware designs.

Leaked internal documents obtained by The New York Times outline plans for physical Facebook stores. These shops would sell products such as VR headsets, Portal devices, AR glasses and more. 

“Meta has discussed opening retail stores that will eventually span the world, said people with knowledge of the project and company documents viewed by The New York Times. The stores would be used to introduce people to devices made by the company’s Reality Labs division, such as virtual reality headsets and, eventually, augmented reality glasses.” The New York Times said.

The idea comes from Zuckerberg wanting to create his vision of a metaverse. This would be a digital, immersive world. This can only be done however, if they are able to get Meta into every home, which these physical stores will help them get one step closer to. 

YouTube Expands Their Crisis Response ?

YouTube is looking to help connect more users to mental health assistance by expanding the presence of its crisis resource panels, which provide contact info on mental health providers, within the app.

“Previously, our crisis resource panels only appeared in search results. We’re now expanding them to show on the Watch Page as well, right under the video title.” Snapchat said.

One of the pandemics most significant impacts has been on mental health, as loneliness is increasing as people could no longer see their support networks. This made people turn to online interactions, which makes YouTube a great place to get users involved with mental help assistance.

This is why they are looking to utilise their platform to do more to help and providing more access and information can only be of benefit in connecting people to such resources, especially when these alerts are shown on platforms where they’re likely already searching for related info and insights.

YouTube’s new Crisis Response info will be launched in the coming weeks across the US, and the rest of the world will not be far behind. 

 Snapchat Advances Their AR Tools ✨

Snapchat has announced new AR Try-On tools with a new integration for ComplexCon, so users can virtually try on branded clothing to see how they look in the app. ?

These new shopping features are giving them a chance to attract fashion and beauty brands away from Instagram and Facebook.

One of these advances is body-mapping, which Snapchat is hoping will help users try on all types of clothing, no matter their size options and other customisations, enabling an increase in-app purchases.

Snapchat’s AR Try-On tools aren’t new. In May, Snapchat worked with Prada and Farfetch, releasing a range of upper body digital clothing. Snapchat has now developed this further to full body outfits. 

“It was widely assumed that Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and the rest would squeeze Snapchat out of the equation, but they have built a supremely strong AR ecosystem and look extremely well-placed to deliver on the potential that full 3D body-tracking will offer to the fashion industry,” Matthew Drinkwater, head of the London College of Fashion’s Fashion Innovation Agency said.

Will you try on the new Snapchat tools?