Snap has launched a new competitor to TikTok and Instagram Reels, while Twitter has come out with ephemeral tweets that disappear after 24 hours.

Both are developments in the social media world that marketers, sales pros and others in the promotional products industry could do well to keep an eye on.

On Monday, Nov. 23, Snap announced the launch of Spotlight, a new Snapchat feature that aims to compete with TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Made to function similar to Reels and TikTok, Spotlight enables Snaphchatters to see top snaps that have been submitted for consideration by Snapchat users, which number nearly 250 million. The Spotlight snaps will run in a feed that users can swipe or tap through to view a particular snap. The snaps from Spotlight will play on loop until the user swipes to another.

“Spotlight presents an opportunity for Snap to exponentially expand the amount of entertaining content available to users,” explained CNBC’s Sal Rodriguez, who covers social media. “Previously, Snapchat users were limited to seeing snaps posted by their friends or posted by publishers in the app’s Discover feature. Spotlight will give users a centralized location where they can access an endless feed of user-generated content.”

Promo pros could potentially leverage Spotlight similar to how some in the industry are already using TikTok to build their brands. This includes creating short, often humorous videos on topics that can catch the attention of prospects and industry peers, potentially raising the pro/brand’s profile and keeping them top of mind.

In a notable aside, Snap plans to make a total of $1 million a day available to users who create Spotlight snaps. The payouts, aimed at motivating users to submit clips for Spotlight, could last through at least the end of 2020. Spotlight won’t have ads at first but will eventually.

Earlier this month, Twitter officially debuted Fleets – or “fleeting” Tweets that, along with any conversation chain attached to them, disappear after 24 hours. Twitter said Fleets are “for sharing momentary thoughts” – what the social platform described as a lower-pressure medium for communicating what’s on one’s mind as the messages shared are intentionally impermanent.

That thing you didn’t Tweet but wanted to but didn’t but got so close but then were like nah.

We have a place for that now—Fleets!

Rolling out to everyone starting today. pic.twitter.com/auQAHXZMfH

— Twitter (@Twitter) November 17, 2020

There have been some bugs with Fleets – namely, sticking around for more than 24 hours. Still, Twitter says it is hard at work fixing the glitch.

Promo pros could potentially use Fleets to generate quick-hit contests and campaigns infused with an element of urgency. A supplier, for instance, could announce a special deal via Fleet, saying that everyone who likes the Fleet, responds to a funny question posed in the post, and follows the supplier’s Twitter account gets entered into a contest to win a free order of, say, drinkware for a self-promotion.

Fleets also present a potential client communication challenge. Some clients might vent dissatisfaction in a Fleet. On the one hand, it’s perhaps a relief that the negative comment will vanish after 24 hours. On the other hand, that Fleet will still be around to be seen for 24 hours – and these days, a lot can happen in that span of time. You don’t want the Fleet to hang there criticizing you without presenting a reasonable, measured, on-brand response for the complainer – and all your followers – to see. As such, it will be important to assiduously monitor Twitter for negative Fleets so you can respond in time.