Getting Social in June
The ups and downs in the world of social this June.
Well there goes the first half of the year! We’ve survived the first heatwave of the season, our trusty ol’ coats are having quality time in the wardrobe and we’re all doing our best to spend as much time as we can by the sea (on the weekend, of course.) Summer is here once again and we’re well and truly excited by the adventures that follow in its wake. Speaking of exciting things… Facebook Messenger now allows those without a Facebook account to use the service, Twitter’s CEO stepped down from his position (don’t worry — Snoop Dogg quickly stepped up offering to take the reigns at Twitter HQ) and the one and only Reddit celebrated its 10th birthday. There’s more to be said about all that, so here we go.
Facebook introduced animated GIFs to the platform…
Yep, you heard correctly. Autoplaying GIFs have finally made their way to the wonderful world of Facebook. Sadly, as we speak the functionality is not available on brand pages, but we’re hopeful that it’s only a matter of time until the feature is rolled out universally. (Watch this space.)
…and is making (more) changes to the News Feed.
Previously posts appearing in your news feed were deemed ‘important’ based on the engagement it received from your friends/fans, however with Facebook’s latest update, their algorithm now factors in the amount of time one spends looking at a particular piece of content. Considering the platform’s ultimate goal is to show you the content that matters to you, this latest update seems to be a step in the right direction.
Twitter removed the Direct Message character limit…
In what seems to be a bid to compete with all the other messaging services out there, Twitter have lifted their 140 character limit for DM thus allowing communication on the platform to be far less restricted.
…launched Audience Insights…
Last month saw Twitter launch their new analytics tool, Audience Insights. The tool provides information surrounding audience demographics, lifestyle and interests — offering marketers a deeper understanding of those who interact with them and therefore how to best shape communication efforts.
And now autoplays videos and GIFs.
Autoplaying media on social is by no means a new thing, so it makes sense for Twitter to get in on the fun. As of last month videos and GIFs uploaded to the network will play without any clicks necessary, unless you’d like sound with your videos — in which case a simple tap/click will do the trick. That said if the idea of your entire feed jumping about on the screen is less than appealing, users can choose to opt-out. In other great news Twitter’s senior product manager has said that “if a video is not 100% in view, [advertisers won’t] be charged,” a certain comfort for brands utilising the platform for their video marketing endeavours.
Instagram has overhauled it’s search and discover feature.
Last month saw the photo sharing platform launch a new way to explore and search, now allowing users to search via specific categories, real-time events and locations.
And last but certainly not least, Snapchat tested branded Geofilters...
It was always only going to be a matter of time, but last month saw Snapchat extend its custom geofilters to marketers as part of their monetisation strategy. Geofilters paid for by companies are set to be highlighted with a small ‘sponsored’ stamp, but will otherwise appear exactly the same as pre-existing filters.
…and spent 1 minute 29 seconds being kind of boring.
A zero-fun (and somewhat cringeworthy) infomercial explaining the benefits of Snapchat advertising to advertisers themselves? It’s probably best that we let the video talk for itself. That said, they are onto something with this 3V stuff, so not for the first time… watch this space.
If any of the above hasn’t made sense, or you simply don’t feel like thinking about it, then get in touch with us. It’s kind of what we’re good at.
If you totally understand everything we just said it would mean a lot if you hit the ‘Recommend’ button below! (True story.)
