Lately in Social Media – 1/5/18
Last year was quite eventful in the social media realm, and this year platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are under increased scrutiny and pressure to mitigate the consequences of their policies and mistakes. Although this round-up from the end of the year mostly focused on changes to advertising, or new sharing features, we expect to see a lot more damage control and policy development coming out of these platforms in the months to come.
- Some changes to video advertising: No more mid-video ad breaks in short videos, the first ads appear at the 3-min. mark of the video, and pre-roll ads run in front of Watch videos.
- It turns out Facebook doesn’t like pandering, and so posts that explicitly beg for engagements will be downgraded in the news feed. Guess we should focus on creating that engaging content, instead.
- Users have noticed Facebook testing an option to let users choose whether to post to the news feed and their profile, or just the news feed. The perfect option for highly-sharable content that you don’t necessarily want hanging around on your profile later down the road. (Didn’t we see rumors of this change start popping up last year?)
- Thanks to an agreement with Universal Music Group, users can add songs from the record company to their videos on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Oculus without fearing copyright infringement.
- According to Facebook, targeting a job post to certain age groups is not the same thing as hiring discrimination. Whatever your company’s policy is, be prepared to stand by it.
- In life and now in death, the ticker “creeper feed” evokes mixed reactions.
- Bonus: A snooze option that mutes a friend’s post from your news feed for 30 days. You know, until they get over their political rantings or new baby or wild vacation or whatever else you don’t want to see for awhile. This isn’t a marketing tool, but Facebook is, and you deserve to not hate your news feed.
- Remember when you complained that Twitter’s advertising tools are too tough to use? Twitter heard you.
- Have you started adding video view counts to your metrics reports? Because now you can.
- Got a lot to say? Twitter just made tweetstorming easier by adding a quick option to tweet a series of posts and publish all at once.
- Is security a resolution for the new year? Start with using two-factor authentication for your account.
- Want to know why Twitter blocked certain content? Now you’ll find out right away. Although we hope you know better than to share block-able content – that’s what HR is for.
- Finally, here’s what Twitter will look like in our Black Mirror dystopian future.
- Story Highlights now automatically archive your Stories for later viewing, so you can play that killer content you made today with your team at next week’s meeting. If you want, you can cross-post your Story to your WhatsApp status. You can also send a live video directly to a follower via direct message.
- Users can now follow hashtags, which we’re hoping will open opportunities for brands and businesses to reach new audiences who are already interested in their content.
- Now the platform is testing adding suggested posts to users’ feeds based on content their friends and followers have liked – which holds “social proof” potential for brands with engaged followings. Some theorize this is part of a larger strategy to meet the advertising demand for Facebook, whose inventory is pretty much maxed out. The downside: More clutter in your feed, and lots of potential for hashtag abuse.
SNAPCHAT
- With the release of the self-serve Lens Studio, any advertiser can make their own Snapchat lenses, instead of having to complete a manual process directly with Snapchat itself.
- You know how you can embed pretty much any form of social media online? Snapchat is finally making this move in hopes of getting more viewers on its videos outside of the platform. If you’re big on Snapchat, at least you’ll be able to recycle your content more easily.
YOUTUBE
- You heard about Logan Paul, right? Looks like YouTube will never be 100% brand safe, due to the nature of everything.
Got questions about social media marketing? Not sure how social tools could benefit your business? Let’s talk!