Getting Social in May
The ups and downs in the world of social this May.
In what feels like the blink of an eye, here we are half way through 2015. As May drew to its close the music lovers in our midst readied their wellies for the onset of festival season, one guy in the office briefly declared it “short weather” and we’ve spotted the first bouts of sunburn on the tube. On top of all that last month saw a fair few things happen on the internet — Kimye announced that baby number 2 is on its way, the President of the United States took to Twitter, and Shia LaBeouf did this. No words. Believe it or not that barely scratches the surface, so read on…
Facebook introduced a call button…
When running a Facebook campaign, advertisers now have the option to add an ‘instant call’ button to their page promotion, opening more direct-response opportunities for businesses. So with just the tap of a button, users now have the ability to call businesses directly from an ad on the Facebook app.
…and began testing an Ebay-esque functionality.
As we speak, Facebook is testing a new news feed option that allows users a unified view of items for sale across their personal groups, as well as the ability to search public groups. The feature indicates a step in the direction of companies like Craigslist, Gumtree and Ebay, minus the fees associated with third party sites. The feature is in its final stages of testing and is expected to launch worldwide over the coming weeks.
Snapchat announced a different kind of video ad.
Last month, the platform announced it would unveil 10-second ads that cost 2 cents per view, creating a new way for publishers on Snapchat Discover to generate revenue. Details of said announcement are still somewhat hazy, but never fear — when more information is available we’ll be sure to let you know.
Twitter updated its search results interface.
Are you a logged in user of Twitter? Have you ever searched for something? Well then, this news is for you, because last month the platform updated its search interface design. With a greater emphasis on images and enhanced search filtering options, the update now highlights important tweets, images and accounts that relate to whatever you’re searching for.
Speaking of searching and Twitter…
Google has added tweets to its search results on mobile as an attempt to improve the ‘real-time’ information available via the search engine — not to mention the larger audience the partnership provides Twitter and its users. Said update is available via the official Android and iOS Google apps, as well as on mobile browsers.
And while we’re on the topic of Google…
Last month saw the online giant introduce Google Photos, a “complete cloud photo management and back up solution” available on all Android and iOS devices as well as the web. Whilst the functionality is markedly similar to Apple Photos, its differs in its image recognition abilities and costings. To explain, a search for 'my dog in the park' will automatically return photos that match that subject matter. Awesome.
If any of the above hasn’t made sense, or you don’t have the time/energy to think 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.