X is hosting a contest with a trip to Mars on the line, and Meta is actually driving traffic for publishers again? Could it be? It’s been a weird week in social. Let’s see what the platforms are up to.
1. Is social referral traffic back for publishers?
Newsweek seems to think so, citing their highest social traffic referral day in five years. There are some interesting numbers here, especially regarding traffic from Meta platforms.
Newsweek’s referral traffic from Threads has surged 20-fold since January. Before then it had been just a few thousand daily page views, he said. Threads now drives more traffic for the publisher than X, despite it having a fraction of the follower count on the former — Newsweek has 3.5 million followers on X compared to 160,000 followers on Threads, which Meta launched in July 2023. Engagement on Threads has also increased, he added.
2. X is hosting a March Madness bracket challenge with a trip to Mars on the line
Yes, this is real. A perfect March Madness bracket is almost impossible, but if someone manages to achieve it, SpaceX is willing to send someone to Mars. If there’s no perfect bracket, the runner-up prize is $100k.
X is launching its X Bracket Challenge with the ultimate grand prize on the line. Basketball fans can now compete for a chance to win a trip to Mars —yes that’s right, a trip to Mars on @SpaceX‘s Starship vehicle for the perfect bracket or a $100,000 cash prize if there is no perfect bracket. Uber Eats is proud to be the title sponsor of the Bracket Challenge.
3. Facebook has monetized Stories
Stories have become an important part of the Facebook experience, and now Creators are able to monetize them.
“We know today many creators share Facebook Stories with their fans. Now, they can earn money from that same content while engaging with fans via Facebook Stories, without any additional steps. This new feature is rolling out to all creators onboarded to Facebook Content Monetization globally.”
