Social Media News – Week of 7/6
Big things are happening in the world of social media this week! Each week brings about new changes, but this week almost every social media platform is rolling out major changes. Find out what’s new below:
1. If you enjoy watching videos on Facebook, this new update is for you. The platform is testing out “floating videos” which will allow videos to follow users down the page as they scroll, making it so that users can continue watching videos while also checking out what’s happening in their feed.
2. Facebook is a great way to connect with people; the company’s Messenger app is perfect for reaching anyone with a Facebook account. However, the app was previously limited to those who had a Facebook account. Now, users can sign up without a Facebook account. Find out more here.
3. Advertisers have long enjoyed using Facebook as a way to reach specific audiences. The platform is a great place to advertise. Soon, Facebook will be rolling out immersive mobile ads. These ads will expand to fill the entire screen when users click on them, and will act as a “mini-site,” allowing users to find any info that they may need.
4. Getting consumers to fill out forms can be a tall order. Most people don’t want to take the time to fill in all of their information, and this often causes people to abandon forms completely. Facebook is seeking to remedy this with its new auto-fill ads, which immediately fill out forms with user information. We can’t decide if this is creepy or cool, but we’re interested to see how it affects conversion rates.
5. Have you ever found yourself wanting to share something that you saw earlier, only to discover that you can’t locate the link? This happens particularly often on mobile, so Facebook is introducing a way for users to search links by keyword without having to open up a browser on their phones.
6. Look out YouTube, Facebook is updating its video insights. The platform has been attempting to expand its video-friendliness in the past few months, and this is a huge step in the right direction.
7. Recently, Facebook rolled out the ability for users to save stories that appear in their feed. Now, the platform is reminding users of the stories they’ve saved over the course of the week via email. If you’re a story-saver, you may have already received one of these emails.
8. Videos are big on Facebook right now; if your company has shared a video, you’ve likely noticed that it organically reached a larger audience than normal posts. Facebook has tweaked its organic video reach algorithm – now, videos that are viewed at full volume or in HD are more likely to reach a larger audience.
9. Speaking of video, if your brand has sponsored any videos on Facebook recently, you may have noticed that you get charged even if the video isn’t viewed. Facebook has changed this – the company will now only charge brands if the video is viewed for at least 10 seconds.
10. In another attempt at making Facebook more video-friendly, Facebook will soon start paying video creators. YouTube has been doing this for years with its top creators – we’re interested to see if this draws any major players away from YouTube to Facebook.
1. Twitter has rolled out ad buttons on their iOS and Android apps. This would be a smart move, but the platform has made the mistake of rolling this feature out to every user. Most users are getting annoyed with their newfound ad abilities as most users have never used the ad feature before. This is great news for advertisers on the go, however.
2. If you have ever advertised on Twitter, you probably know that it’s relatively easy to select a target market. Twitter has just upped the ante and made finding your target audience much easier. The company has just introduced “Twitter Personas,” a new advertising feature that allows you to select specifically targeted audiences. We can’t wait to test this feature out.
3. To make it easier for Twitter to segment their users by Persona, the company has just introduced an incentive for getting users to provide their birthday. Now, if a user provides their birthday, they will find that their profile is covered with balloons on that date. Some are calling this a nice gesture, while others are saying it is a sneaky attempt at ad targeting.
Snapchat
1. A small, but very awesome update has been rolled out on Snapchat. Users can now tap their screen to see Snaps instead of holding down on their screen. It’s the little things.
Periscope
1. Miss something on Periscope? Never fear! The platform has just introduced web-based replays, so you never have to miss a beat.
Tumblr
1. GIFs have become much more popular lately, and Tumblr is attempting to capitalize on this. You can now browse “Tumblr TV,” a GIF-based search engine that makes it much easier for users to find and share GIFs.
1. Instagram is a great way to view photos on mobile, but the photos never look quite as good on desktop. However, this will soon change. Instagram is now upgrading their photo displays so that photos now display in 1080px (versus the previous 640px).
As far as social media platforms go, Facebook takes the cake this week, rolling out 10 new features. However, each platform is introducing upgrades and changes this week, so overall, this has been a very important week for social media. To stay in the loop with all of the latest social media changes, check back in each week for our social media roundup!