X’s ad revenue plummets 89% in India
X’s ad woes continue. Elon Musk’s platform only generated £2.51m in revenue in India during the latest financial year – an 89.9% decline. Musk had identified it as Twitter’s third-largest market before buying the site. The drop-off in India is symptomatic of a failing ad revenue model, with brand safety concerns and unpredictable behaviour and updates deterring third parties.
Core Web Vitals “not giant” ranking factors
The Core Web Vitals are not major ranking factors, according to Google’s John Mueller.
The search engine expert has downplayed the importance of performance-related metrics in the past and did so again this week. On LinkedIn, Mueller stated that websites are unlikely to see a big drop in rankings even if factors such as site speed and stability are not perfect.
He added that delivering a “good” experience is important for impressing first-time users and ensuring they don’t abandon the site quickly. However, other content-related factors generally have more weight in the ranking algorithm.
Bluesky planning premium subscription
It’s been a busy week for Bluesky.
The decentralised microblogging platform added another 3 million users, bringing its total user base to 13 million. It also announced a successful funding round that raised £15m and revealed plans to launch a premium subscription (there won’t be blue ticks, though).
Bluesky chief Rose Wang noted, “Subscription revenue helps us improve the app, grow the developer ecosystem, and gives us time to explore business models beyond traditional ads”.
The new service is set to offer higher-quality video uploads and advanced profile customisation options. It won’t include any feed-driven algorithmic tweaks or check marks, as Bluesky developer Paul Frazee labelled these “pay to win” features as “wrong”.
Google recommends higher-quality favicons
Google has updated its advice for favicons – the small branded icons that appear in browser tabs.
New documentation in the Google Search Central hub now recommends using higher-quality images that are at least 48 pixels in size. Favicons must also have a 1:1 square aspect ratio.
Harris has the edge in US election - on TikTok
With less than two weeks until the US election, Democrat candidate Kamala Harris is dominating the social media battleground. The official ‘KamalaHQ’ account has racked up 1.5 billion views on TikTok in 2024 compared to Donald Trump’s 1 billion, despite Harris having 7 million fewer followers.
There is a major caveat, though: Harris’ team has published 851 videos this year, while Trump has only uploaded 41 clips.
The race is reportedly still close, with experts describing it as a “coin flip” ahead of election day on 4th November.
Instagram launches new features for Halloween
Instagram has rolled out new features for Halloween.
Users can now activate seasonal-themed animations in direct messages and Notes with keyword triggers and access new fonts and Stories templates. It’s also possible to ‘create-your-own’ Halloween images and content using Meta AI.
The updates went live on Thursday, 24th October, ahead of the annual spooky holiday on 31st October.
