Lately in Social Media – 3/1/18
Well, 2018 got off to an interesting start in the world of social media, and February kept things exciting as well. One big theme we’re still watching is how the platforms most impacted by fake news scandals are trying to salvage users’ trust through revised policies and new initiatives. On that note, let’s start with the worst offender on the list:
- The biggest news that we kind-of anticipated: Facebook’s daily active user count dropped quite a bit in the aftermath of the algorithm update. (Maybe it doesn’t help that everyone’s friends and family are terrible content creators? Or just mine?)
- Did anyone else get invited to join a bunch of groups over the past few weeks? It looks as though Page Groups will become the most effective feature for brands and businesses to utilize in this Facebook Zero era, so Facebook released a few new tools to help admins manage them.
- An update to Page Insights changes the way Facebook measures the organic reach of a Page, which will now be more consistent with how reach is calculated for ads. Also, looking at your Insights on mobile is now slightly less painful thanks to a redesign.
- Last month Facebook announced that the algorithm would give preference to content from local news organizations, which could mitigate fake news by highlighting credible sources, and might be inspired by Twitter deciding to do the same thing. But by also promoting news groups’ subscription services, Facebook is trying to kill two publisher complaints with one strategy.
- The jobs application feature has expanded to 40 countries, but so far it doesn’t seem to have taken off? If you’re having good experiences with this feature, we’d love to hear about it!
- Brands that have stuck with live video thus far are finding that even when their views dropped, engagement held steady or increased, which likely means that live video still plays into the new algorithm better than other content.
- If you’re looking for ways to up your CSR (corporate social responsibility) cred, keep an eye out for ways your brand could use the Community Help feature to assist neighbors in need.
- Here’s some data that might be relevant to your strategy: In case you hadn’t noticed, Facebook is officially for old people and over-55s are now the second-largest age group on Facebook. On a (likely very highly) related note, under-25s are fleeing Facebook for any platform that their parents and grandparents can’t follow them on.
- The Lists feature: If you’re not going to do something cool or hilarious with it, then maybe please don’t use it at all.
- Find more music that’s okay to use in your videos.
- Easily add more friends to audio and video chats in Messenger, without having to restart the call.
- If you use Workplace by Facebook, enjoy your new admin panel in the app.
- Maybe start brainstorming “meaningful content” in the form of 3D posts?
- Facebook brings Stories photo editing to desktop…for the 3 people who use it.
- Rumor has it that Facebook is currently testing a few features, including a “downvote”/”dislike” button and hiding comment/reaction counts from posts. Either of these changes could have an interesting impact on how the algorithm ranks content, for better or worse.
- Another test feature spotted in the wild would automatically create events for Page Admins, which is nice if you’re into the whole brevity thing.
- Now you can bookmark your tweets for later enjoyment!
- Breaking news definitely seems to hold the keys to Twitter’s future, especially considering that several minority groups and subculture communities on the platform can get news trending before bigger outlets break the story.
- Some publishers noticed an uptick in video views from Twitter after Facebook’s algorithm update took place – so that’s a good reason to keep tweeting!
- In addition to new policies for taking action against abuse, Twitter highlighted tools available to report users who are threatening self-harm, or encouraging others to harm themselves.
- People aren’t tweeting more since the character limit increased, but they are tweeting more often.
- Looks like a redesigned promoted trends ad format might debut soon.
- Twitter is killing it’s Mac app, but do you even care?
- When sending content via Direct Message, users can now choose between three privacy options for the recipient: “View once,” (like Snapchat), “Allow replay” to show a loop, or “Keep in chat” to view forevermore.
SNAPCHAT
- Users were less than thrilled about the new redesign. Kylie just said what everyone was thinking…And Maybelline briefly wondered out loud if their followers cared anymore.
- Snapchat replied that everyone should just kinda deal with the change, but the platform is hoping to ease some discontent by releasing a tabs feature that would let users sort through friends’ Stories, Group Chats and subscriptions in Discover.
- On the bright side, creators with large followings finally gained access to analytics, which offer some much-needed hard numbers for the brands and businesses they work with. Get tips on how to interpret them here.
- Also, if you’re advertising with vertical video content on other platforms, Snapchat might offer you free credits on your first advertising campaign with them. Use this form to apply..
- Once exclusive to select brands, Snapchat’s expanded Marketing API program now allows any agency, brand or tech vendor to purchase, run and track ad campaigns programmatically.
- Perhaps Snapchat’s showy experiments with ecommerce could point to a more profitable future?
- If Snapchat’s built-in stickers don’t suit you, try adding GIFs to your Stories via Giphy’s library.
- Or you could scope out Snap Map on the web...? Just kidding, that’s weird.
YOUTUBE
- Fake news continues to bring out the worst in YouTube, especially in the wake of a national tragedy, but it looks like the platform really means business when it says it’s taking action.
- Automatic English captions make live streams more accessible to users, without requiring more effort from creators. And YouTube will now preserve and replay chats that took place during the live stream.
- In addition, live streamers can share their location with a tag, which also enables users to discover or filter content around that tagged location.
- Finally, users can organize their boards to their hearts’ content by creating sections, rearranging pins and archiving boards they don’t need anymore. For those of us who have been pinning since the Obama administration, we finally have the tools to retire that 2014 Fall Fashion board into the time capsule it was always meant to become.
- Employers, get ready to start including salary information in your job postings – or the new Salary Insights will add a number for you in the interest of transparency. And if you’re a marketer who’s looking to make your next move, keep your eyes on these numbers to ensure you’re only pursuing positions that meet your salary expectations.
Got questions about social media marketing? Not sure how social tools could benefit your business? Let’s talk!