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People had a lot of extra time to themselves last year, and much of it was spent on their phones.

So where were people spending all that extra time?

As you can guess, Zoom and Google Meet saw significant increases in downloads and usage. It’s also not surprising that TikTok was the #1 most downloaded social media app globally during 2020.

One of the joys of video games is the way they let the player experience a new world and do things they would never do in real life — and it turns out that includes the thrill of plowing a soybean field, the excitement of baling hay and the exhilaration of harvesting wheat.

Farming Simulator covers a lot of ground, including buying equipment, choosing crops, plowing, planting, fertilizing and harvesting, not to mention raising livestock.

And if you get good at the game, there is now a Farming Simulator eSports league. The 2021 Farming Simulator season will end in November with a tournament in Hanover, Germany where the winner will take home a prize of €100,000 Euros.

Facebook Global Pages, which are slowly being rolled out, are for businesses with multiple international audiences that want to leverage localization in a particular market or for a particular language, while retaining a single Facebook page URL.

For example, Nokia Mobile utilizes global pages. When you click the three-dot button on their page, you’ll see the option to “Switch Region.” If you change the region, the content on the page changes too.

Businesses can choose to have Location Pages, Global Pages or both depending on their needs.

New research from HypeAuditor, an influencer marketing AI platform, provides insights into the varying levels of influencer income. The online study was conducted among 1,865 self-identified influencers (46% women, 33% men) who have over 1,000 followers on their Instagram accounts . The CEO of HyperAuditor said, “Our main goal with this survey is to provide a deeper understanding of the creator ecosystem as it is quickly becoming one the fastest-growing types of small business worldwide.”

The top findings:

1. The highest earning influencer category is “Animal,” followed by “Business & Marketing” and “Fitness & Sports.”
2. Only 4% of respondents live on income solely from their influencer work. The average time influencers spent maintaining their accounts was 24 hours/week.

Snapchat recently published new data on the benefits of AR tools and how they help drive conversion and buyer response.

The study found that “campaigns that include Product Experience Lenses were twice as likely to drive statistically significant lifts in Action Intent compared to norms.”

The future of digital regulation is here. A new law in Norway requires advertisements where a body’s shape, size or skin has been retouched to be labeled as such.

“Positivity starts with policy.” With the National Eating Disorder Association helpline reporting a 40% increase in call volume in 2020, Pinterest used this data to update its policies prohibiting all ads related to weight loss imagery and language.

Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app, according to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram.

In a video posted to his Instagram and Twitter accounts, Mosseri said the company is looking to lean into entertainment and video after seeing the success of competitors like TikTok and YouTube.

He describes some upcoming changes and experiments that Instagram will conduct, including showing users recommendations for topics they’re not following and making video more immersive by offering a full-screen experience.

Changes are coming to video on Instagram 📺

At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging. pic.twitter.com/ezFp4hfDpf

— Adam Mosseri 😷 (@mosseri) June 30, 2021

TikTok is teaming up with companies like Target and Chipotle to connect them with job seekers.

Candidates can use TikTok clips to showcase their skills and experiences and then post them using the #TikTokResumes.

One of the ways Facebook is attempting to stay culturally relevant as they lose ground to other social platforms is by wooing creators who are more active on YouTube and TikTok.

After Facebook repeatedly faced criticism for spreading misinformation and divisive political posts, the platform is looking to regain relevance and influence by winning over creators and a potential revenue stream.

As we start to emerge post-pandemic, users are now more inclined than ever to see themselves as a protagonist or main character in their own life.

This “main character energy” can be found in users turning a simple trip to the grocery store into something resembling a still from an Italian film.