Video, Hot IG Posts, and Emojis— Digital Roundup | # 27

Published in

re.vision

5 min readSep 11, 2017

Facebook rolled out diverse families, Apple and Google low-key work together, everything is shifting to video, and there’s an important safety feature for iOS 11 that you really need to know about.

Apple and Google

These tech rivals constantly compete to bring you the newest and most up to date products—but did you know they have an interesting partnership as well?

Every iPhone comes with Safari, and what’s the default search engine on Safari? It’s Google. Google will have to pay roughly $3 billion to Apple this year to secure that spot. In the past the tech giant paid around $1 billion a year, but with iPhone sales so steady it’s looking like they’ll have to cough up much more.

Google gets a high majority of it’s revenue from search ads, so they’re still pretty dependent on Apple. According to Business Wire, the iPhone 7 is by far the world’s most popular smartphone model. Time spent on mobile devices is also at an all time high of 51% over desktop at 42%. That being said, Apple doesn’t really need the money and could easily strike a deal (albeit for much less money) with Microsoft Bing or Yahoo Search, but at this point in the game they really just want to impact Google’s bottom line.

The Video Shift

Have you noticed the big shift to video taking place? Last week I wrote about Reddit’s move to video, and this week it’s LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is slowly rolling out the ability to record video directly within their app. Video analytics will be available so you have an idea of what companies, locations, and titles are watching your content.

Why is LinkedIn adding this feature?

Ad revenue posibilities
Increased amount of time and content on the app
The future possibility of live video

Adding native video features eliminates the need to embed videos from third-party platforms like YouTube and keeps more relevant content flowing on their site.

Vacation Mode

With Instagram’s growth soaring (700 million+ users) people want to know what kind of posts do well.

One answer is travel content. When people travel they post pictures of the unique places they’re in so their followers can share the experience. This content does so well because it shows users something new and often captivating that they might not get to partake in regularly.

So, here’s a breakdown of most-shared images on Instagram:

54% famous landmarks or big events central to a specific area
44% urban hidden gems
40% parks, mountains, forests
20% view from the sky (airplane, helicopter, etc.)

These types of posts are what Adweek calls “Discovery” posts— showing off something real and incredible that not everyone has access to see normally. Makes sense that it does so well on social, huh? Take pics on your trips, but remember to enjoy the moment.

“Cop Button”

iOS 11 has a new feature that you need to know about.

If you’re in a dangerous situation and need to call the cops, iPhone users will soon be able to call 911 by tapping the power button quickly 5 times. While this won’t automatically start dialing, it will bring up the option to call. It will also temporarily disable Touch ID (the finger sensor) until you enter a passcode.

Unlocking phones has been a hot topic for law enforcement of late, and people have gone to great lengths to get into someone else’s phone. In a scenario where someone tries to force access into your phone, quickly locking your finger print out could be a game changer.

Family Emoji

Facebook recently added new skin tones to their family emojis in an attempt to add a little diversity to the yellow skinned families sitting in your computer.

While it doesn’t cover every skin tone, for a platform that’s accessible in most parts of the world, it’s a step in the right direction. You can access these emojis right now on desktop and mobile, but not on Messenger. Pull down the emoji menu, long click on the family emoji, and your options will appear.

Other companies like Microsoft have looked into diverse family emojis, but with what seems like endless options, Facebook stuck with monochrome families, at least for the time being.

That’s all for this week’s digital roundup. Be sure to catch up on last week’s if you haven’t yet, and we’ll have more for you next time!