The Scoop: 12.15.21

For our last issue of 2021, we went back and reviewed a year of writing The Scoop and pulled out some of the most memorable moments. By reflecting on the good, the surprising and a little bit of the odd, we can safely say that Facebook, the platform we love to hate, stole headlines, again. Or wait, we mean Meta. 😉 Thank you to all our subscribers. We wish you a happy and healthy New Year. 🎉

Facebook, That’s So Meta

After that opener, we couldn’t not talk about Meta first. They say bad things happen in threes. Well, for Meta, that couldn’t have been truer in 2021.

• Remember when Facebook went down, and none of us actually knew how to live, we mean pass our time? 😉

• And then there were The Facebook Papers. And what a doozy they were! Meta had a whistleblower who revealed, among many other things, that it in fact does conduct and bury research on mental health.

• And then there was the unexpected rebranding and launch of Meta, a social technology company. We wouldn’t call this bad, but we’re still digesting.   

The Zuck and his Meta crew might need this holiday break more than we do.

And Just Like That, Audio was Back

Please excuse our 1998 reference 👠, but just like SATC, audio came back strong. We’re still reeling over the explosion in popularity for Clubhouse, because, suddenly, audio chatrooms became the hot new media.

• First came Facebook’s attempt to clone Clubhouse – we guess Messenger Rooms just wasn’t cutting it?!

• Then in June, Spotify launched its own Clubhouse rival, Greenroom.

• And in July, Twitter opened up its voice-based Spaces social networking feature to everyone.

What’s old is new again and again and again…

Science Needed Influencers More Than Ever Before

Can you think back to the day you didn't know the word “medfluencers?” Ok, maybe you weren’t familiar until right now, but in 2021, as misinformation and vaccine hesitancy spread on social, so did the clout of health care professionals (HCPs) and key opinion influencers (KOIs), or medfluencers, aiming to educate on important health care topics.

Let’s not forget how micro and macro influencers helped get the world vaccinated against COVID-19 by using their platforms and partnership opportunities to help spread awareness of science.

• Indonesia vaccinated its influencers first, as part of a government strategy to
  promote vaccine acceptance among the public.

• Olivia Rodrigo dropped by the White House to promote youth vaccination in July, and we’re still fangirling 6 months later.

• The Kaiser Family Foundation collaborated with the Black Coalition Against COVID (BCAC) on a video campaign featuring Black health care workers answering questions about COVID-19 vaccines.

But we’d be remiss not to mention that, for the first time in 37 years, Budweiser did not air a Super Bowl ad. Instead, the company redirected those advertising dollars to raise awareness of COVID-19 vaccines. We’re not crying, you’re crying.

We Finally Normalized Mental Health

Mental health was the driving force behind some of the controversial headlines this year, but, overall, brands and platforms created opportunities to help normalize daily challenges for Gen Z, Y and X.

• Twitter got in the game adding conversation controls and partnering with mental health organizations to squeeze in some positive reputation news on the trending topic of mental health, while Reddit simply established a partnership with Crisis Text Line.

• Meanwhile, Facebook and Instagram allowed users to hide “like” counts on their posts. Small wins, we guess? 🤔

But those who came out publicly on social are truly the big winners for us all. Athletes, including Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, and TikTok influencers, notably Charli D’Amelio, spoke out about burnout and anxiety.

Our Privacy Actually Became Private

Everyone and every brand seemed to have its own approach to taking on privacy this year. That was a good thing in our opinion, but we continue to debate and monitor where the
lines will be drawn “fairly” while allowing us ways to accurately reach even the most niche audience groups. Here’s what we covered this year on that topic:

• While Apple usually never surprises us, it did surprise brands with the introduction of iOS 15
  app tracking (which some 80% of users are estimated to have opted out of) and began leveraging the skyrocketing value of first-party data.

• But when it comes to health and tech, it’s important to always read the small print. We’re looking at you health, wellness and fitness Apps, as the FTC ruled that the Health Breach Notification Rule applies to health apps and health tech companies.

• And if that wasn’t controversial enough, the U.S. debated the validity of vaccine passports and further expanded online privacy protections, such as COPAA.

When we remember 2021, most will agree that data privacy moved in a positive direction for consumers, but the privacy we’ve regained will eventually come at a cost. It begs the question: If personal information is no longer the currency people give in exchange for online content and services, what will replace it?

NFTs Came in Like a Wrecking Ball

In less than a year, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have transformed from cryptocurrency jargon to a unique digital asset that has us all taking notice.

• Taco Bell, Crockpot, Campbell's and Twitter leaped into this increasingly popular market first, with more brands joining them by the day.

• And when the cult classic of 2007 “Charlie Bit My Finger” NFT sold for $760K, we couldn’t ignore this technology any longer.

• But what really captured our attention was how NFTs are beginning to transform health care through patient data management and tokenizing blood.

Is it too soon for us to say this topic really excites us!?

The Long and Short of Content

We had never been happier to see a trending hashtag. #TakeItOutside brought us together and drove an interesting marketing trend.

• We started consuming content that was longer than the average attention span (spoiler it’s less than a 🐟) by signing up for newsletters via some of our favorite social media apps and leaning into the content we genuinely wanted to see more of with subscription models. 😲

• Brands began to test lengthier video productions and longer Instagram captions.

• While short-form content will always have a seat at the table, there was a larger focus in 2021 on creators who could draw listeners and fans in for a story and keep them there for longer than 30 seconds.

If you ask us, the internet will be a better place for that.

And ICYMI: Some Headlines that Need to be Remembered

• Reddit and Robinhood gamified the stock market, and it made bigger headlines than Tom Brady and the Super Bowl.

• Social media platform Hive had us all buzzing, exploding in popularity overnight.   

• Twitter said goodbye to Fleets in July, with LinkedIn Stories following shortly after in September. You were short lived, but we’ll miss you!

• Facebook on your face. You might be laughing too, but Facebook launched its first pair of smart glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban – Ray-Ban Stories.

• And then there was the rise of “granfluencers.” Have you met the seniors who are better at social media than you?

• As if Amazon wasn’t already everywhere, all the time, it launched Amazon Sidewalk, a new way to stay connected.

• This news seemed to be buried, but we didn’t forget: A federal judge dismissed the FTC antitrust complaint against Facebook.

• And whatever came of this partnership? Pinterest and PayPal – is this a match made in heaven?

Contributing writers and editors: Nick Cardillo, Taylor Edwards, Ricki Kahn, Lauren Fernández Meihls, Stephen O’Neil, Jennie Szink and Bre Thomlison

Real Chemistry’s The Scoop is brought to you by an editorial collective, featuring industry updates and insights from subject matter experts across social media, digital and influencer activation teams. 

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