Two of social media’s biggest giants, Instagram and Twitter, have had quite the year of change themselves with a number of updates of each platform. But two have caught the attention of many online users around the world: Instagram Shop and Twitter Fleets.
With many mixed feelings towards these two new changes, Meltwater, the global leader in media intelligence, tracked and analysed social media data to unpack whether or not these two new features from the platforms are a hit or miss among its users.
Hit or miss: Shops on Instagram
When Instagram announced that it would be launching Shops onto its platform, it was in an effort to help businesses shift their models, sell online and ultimately adapt to the effects of Covid-19.
Since the announcement was made on 19 May 2020, there have been 9,000 global social media mentions on ‘Instagram Shops’, although there were already talks of Instagram extending its shopping feature in January 2020.
From the start of the year, there have been over 12,000 global social media mentions on Instagram launching this feature, with the first big spike in mentions occurring during the month of May 2020 when Shops was announced. ‘Instagram Shop’ had a total social reach of 12.6 million on social media globally.
Online mentions on ‘Instagram Shop’ peaked again during July 2020 when Instagram made updates to its platform that included adding post-caption shopping tags. With over 2,000 social media mentions, 20 million people engaged with mentions on ‘Instagram Shop’.
In September 2020, ‘instagram Shop’ had its highest social reach across the globe - 33.3 million. This was the month where more updates were introduced to the platform, including tests that were made for adding the shortcuts to the Reels and Shop tab. There was high global interest from online users of the platform and, soon enough, feelings were shared about the many updates that Instagram introduced.
Global Social Volume (blue) vs Social Reach (green) on ‘Instagram Shop’ from 1 January 2020 to 25 November 2020
click to enlargeOverall, mixed feelings about the new updates as well as the Shop feature have been shared across the world since it was announced on 19 May 2020. With 60.4% of online users not yet decided on how to feel, 24.8% feel positive about the new feature and the positive role it seems to be playing for a number of online, small businesses. At least 14.7% of users, however, don’t like the new feature and updates that have been made to Instagram. From frustrations around how people see notifications to the overall algorithm, not everyone is too happy about Instagram these days.
Global Sentiment Analysis on ‘instagram shop’ on Social Media from 19 May 2020 to 25 November 2020
click to enlargeSome of the top trending themes on ‘instagram shop’ include:
- ‘Toe knuckles’, which refers to this Reddit discussion on what not to buy on Instagram Shops
- ‘Marketing and sales efforts’ and ‘Direct Sales’, which refer to the role that Instagram Shops has played so far in marketing and sales
- ‘High-quality content’, which refers to the need to still produce content that is visually appealing when it comes to Instagram Shop
Global Trending Themes on Social Media for ‘Instagram Shop’ between 1 January and 25 November 2020
click to enlargeHit or miss: Twitter’s Fleets
When Twitter officially launched and rolled out, on 17 November 2020, its own version of short-from photo or video content that would only be available to view for 24 hours, online users were quick to share their own ‘fleeting’ thoughts about the new feature.
However, this is not the first time that Fleets have been mentioned on social media. In March 2020, Twitter had confirmed that it would be testing out a new feature that was similar to Instagram and Snapchat Stories, which was rolled out in Brazil. More than 63,000 social media mentions were recorded during March, and ‘Fleets’ garnered a total social reach of 752 million worldwide.
In June 2020, Fleets was made available in South Korea and India, and over 11,000 social media mentions were recorded, with a total global social reach of 380 million. From 1 November to date, the data has already recorded more than 60m000 social media mentions, with a total social reach of 1.66 billion.
Global Social Volume (blue) vs Social Reach (green) on ‘Fleets’ from 1 January 2020 to 25 November 2020
click to enlargeOverall, people also have mixed feelings about Twitter’s new Fleets feature. While 72.4% of online users have neutral feelings towards the feature, 17% don’t like Fleets and have expressed how it feels like a copycat to Instagram Stories and provides no real value to their Twitter experience.
At least 10.6% of users, however, like Fleets and enjoy sharing content, such as TikTok videos, to Fleets for their followers to see. Users have also experienced how they like Fleets because of how it has become a good way of starting conversations with other users.
Global Sentiment Analysis on Social Media for ‘Fleets’ between 1 January and 25 November 2020
click to enlargeSince being officially rolled out to all Twitter users worldwide, some of the trending themes on social media for Twitter’s ‘Fleets’ include:
- ‘IG stories’, which refers to users seeing Fleets as very similar to Instagram’s Stories feature
- ‘Effort to conceptualize’, which refers to this Twitter influencer’s tweet about Fleets and jokingly mentioning how original the feature is
- ‘Twitter product roadmap’, which refers to online users sharing their versions of what Twitter could be launching next
Global Trending Themes on Social Media for Twitter’s ‘Fleets’ from 1 November to 25 November 2020
click to enlargeSo, which one was a hit or miss?
While users have expressed their frustration for the latest Instagram updates, the data shows how people feel slightly more positively about Shop, and what it can do for small businesses during a time where digital transformation and pivoting to online platforms was a key to survival. Instagram Shop may not be a total hit but it does show some promise and potential, when considering how people feel towards the feature.
In terms of Twitter, Fleets has most certainly caught the attention of many online users but all in all, online users aren’t too excited with the feature, which, to them, feels like another version of a feature already in place. Fleets, on the other hand, is not a total miss with social media users but users aren’t too thrilled about the lack of originality of the feature either.
If you want to get insights like these to monitor trending topics in news and social media about your brand, business, industry or competitors, you can contact the Meltwater team here.
Source: Data gathered by Meltwater from 1 January 2020 to 25 November 2020.
About Meltwater
With 20 years of experience in the field of online media monitoring, Meltwater is a global leader in media intelligence and social analytics solutions, helping to bridge the gap between Public Relations, Communications and Marketing departments with an all-in-one solution powered by AI-driven insights. Over 30,000 of the world’s most respected brands rely on Meltwater to help inform their marketing and communications strategies and executive decision making.
With over 55 offices across six continents, Meltwater is a truly global partner with local customer success teams. Meltwater also supports the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a nonprofit organization devoted to nurturing future generations of entrepreneurs. For more information, follow Meltwater on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or visit www.meltwater.com.
