Happy Black History Month, fam!

Did you know, that we are at the 98th anniversary of having Black History Month!? Amazing, right? It was created by historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926 and used to last for only one week!

We hope you had an awesome Valentine's Day! And thank you for showing us the love by sharing and reading our newsletter. We appreciate you! Now let's dive in to what is going on in the world of social.

Inside:

• Social media updates
• Video production tips: lighting
• A chance to win merch (because we love you)
• Ecamm Live updates

YouTube:

YouTube will now display live streams in the Shorts feed! This means that no matter how long your live streams are, they will be displayed in the shorts feed tab, just like Instagram does for stories and TikTok for their reels. We tried it and it looks pretty awesome! Here is what we did:

1. From Ecamm Live: Go to: Options/stream shape/Tall
2. You do not need to turn your camera vertically
3. We clicked go live, and ¡listo! our stream looked beautiful and it showed in the Short Feed Tab!

And that is not the only awesome thing YouTube rolled out. They are getting with it and implementing new teen safety measures including improvements to its ‘Take a break’ feature.​

TikTok: Trending music no mo?

​Universal Music Group announced it will stop licensing its songs to TikTok due to pay disagreements.

Universal Music Group shared in an open letter that TikTok only makes up around 1% of its total revenue, and their decision to end their licensing contract was partly swung by how “little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base”.

But what this all means for social media managers and creators who use trending audio for their videos or have used it before? If you have used trending music in your videos before, your videos will be muted. Moving forward, we will no longer be able to take advantage of trending video to increase awareness and visibility. But as it goes in the world of social media platforms, I am pretty sure TikTok is already working on a way to replace this lost to its users.

Video Production Tip:

Want to make your videos look more professional? Add additional lighting!

Just like in photography, lighting is the key to getting your videos looking more professional. Even if you have top-of-the-line equipment, poor lighting can have a significant impact on the end result. So before upgrading your camera and/or lens, experiment with lighting. If you have access to natural light, the best time to take advantage of it is early morning or early evening. However, if you have to record or stream videos outside of these times, you can use a sheer curtain to diffuse the light and get a better outcome.

Check out Fuljens' before and afters for a subtle yet, noticeable difference. When we are both on set at night, all lights are on.

Before:

After : Fuljens added a fill light to his right at 5%

Now let's create those videos and tap into LinkedIn:

Research shows, that videos are being prioritized on the LinkedIn platform AND newsletter continue to gain traction, with total newsletter readership tripling over the past year. Win/win!

And with more search apps showing up what it seems like every week, it is even easier to research and generate content quicker - for instance, Perplexity.

​Perplexity enters the top 10 on the App Store - We downloaded it. I have mixed feelings about it; Fuljens likes it. I still prefer Google Bard (now Gemini). Both Interfaces are easy to look at. Do you have a favorite AI powered search app?

And last, but certainly not least, here is what's happening in the world of Ecamm Live!

Ecamm Live Beta Release:

Here is what's new in v4.2b6

• Adds a new integration to send videos directly to Scenery with three quick edit options: AI assisted edits, automatic subtitle creation, or custom edits.
• Adds a Vertical Safe Zone option to the Options menu.
• Fixes an issue where the Current Application option in screen share overlays did not work.
• Fixes an issue where drop shadows on text overlays could show up incorrectly.
• Other minor fixes.
• You can download Ecamm Live Beta at https://ecamm.com/beta/​

How would you like to win some fun Ecamm Live Merch?

The first 2 readers to reply with feedback about our newsletter will receive a special Merch surprise!

That is all for this edition of your favorite social newsletter. Until next time fam!

Stay curious, creative and practice, practice!

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