Social Media News Week of 11/16

The world of social media is always changing. Some changes are small while others make more of an impact. Here are some of the highlights of what’s new in the world of social media.

Facebook:

1. The possibility of 360 degree video has officially become a reality for Facebook advertisers! Select brands like AT&T and Samsung have gotten the green light to make some super cool and visually appealing advertisements. This new feature was previously only visible on desktop and Android, but now can be seen on iPhones and iPads. This opens up the scope for advertisers to the whole iPhone-using world, which is a very large market share. It will be interesting to see what other companies join the 360 degree video advertising club in the near future. Check out some of the ads out now here.

2. Facebook’s new app, Notify, is out. This app allows users to customize their mix of notifications based off their interests and sources they trust. You get notifications delivered to your lock screen and can choose to view the full story, watch the video, or go to the site if it interests you. The app lets you save notifications that interest you, which makes it easy to share these notifications with other people later if you want. Right now this app is only available in the App store, but if it does well hopefully we’ll see it for Android as well.

Instagram:

1. Instagram just introduced a new program for businesses, called Instagram Partners. This service allows businesses to speak with experts about what sorts of technology partners they can use to be successful when using Instagram. The service promises to maximize a business’s advertising on the app and make it more effective and easier to manage. Nice to see Instagram wanting to involve businesses of all sizes in it’s advertising.

Tumblr:

1. Tumblr just introduced an instant messaging feature for it’s mobile apps and desktop users. The blogging service already allows people to send questions to others, but this feature allows traditional conversation threads to be created between users. It will be interesting to see how popular this new feature is for regular Tumblr users.

Twitter:

1. The Favorite button is now a heart, not a star. And the internet freaked out! For years users have been used to using a star to show their favorite tweets. When Twitter changed that button to a heart, many users were not happy. Twitter explained that they thought the heart symbol was more universal and that’s why they made the switch. However, users feel like the heart is too powerful and forces you to “love” everything. The star was more non-committal and less intense for users. People are also accusing Twitter of being too much like Instagram now. What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new favorite icon?

YouTube:

1. YouTube just released a new streaming music service and app called YouTube Music. The app can help users find trending tracks, can offer personalized recommendations, and get you access to new videos and live recordings. This service is meant to compete with other streaming music services like Apple Music and Spotify. It will be interesting to see how successful this app is against those giant streaming services.

Bonus:

1. An emoji has officially been crowned Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year. This is the first time that an emoji has taken this title. Which emoji is it? It’s the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji! Oxford explained that this emoji “best reflected the ethos, mood and preoccupations of 2015.” This choice definitely speaks to how we communicate in 2015 and what is considered normal. Some of the other contenders were “on fleek”, “lumbersexual” and “refugee”.