This week’s FWD covers updates from TikTok including the launch of avatars for use in TikTok clips as well as a suite of tools designed to help digital well-being in the app.

In the near future, TikTok will launch customizable avatars, found in the ‘Effects’ panel in camera view, enabling users to create their own character depictions. These avatars will effectively work the same as Bitmoji’s.

TikTok has announced that they want to encourage people to think more mindfully about developing positive digital habits. Acting on this, they have launched two new practical tools to make it easier for the TikTok community to feel in control of their digital experience. This includes screen time limits, which help users decide how much time they’d like to spend on the app, and in the coming months, they are introducing a tool allowing users to enable regular screen time breaks via a new screen time dashboard.

News:

• Instagram officially launches functionality allowing users to pin 3 posts to the top of their profiles. This feature is now available to all users globally.
• Meta will no longer commercially release AR glasses, following slowed revenue and cost-cutting on heavy investments in Reality Labs and AR/VR divisions.

Start-up:

• PlayVS is an end-to-end league experience for amateur Esports. PlayVS powers high school Esport competitions, and is now a sanctioned high school sport by the National Federation of State High School Associations in the US.

Insights:

• Spotify looks to get into the audiobook market as it hypes the revenue potential of podcasts and audiobooks at its second Investor Day event.
• Twitter is testing shopping reminders for upcoming product drops. Shoppers can opt-in to receive notifications ahead of releases.
• Beauty brand, Glossier, becomes the first brand to sell products through YouTube Shorts, the platform’s short video feature.
• To fuel Pride donations, The Elton John Aids Foundation has launched LGBT-QR Codes featuring Elton John’s face, supporting Pride in 2022 globally.