This week’s round up of the stories that have caught my eye in the past 7 days.
I’ve noticed a couple of new apps this week -we all know that apps come and go these days in a blink of an eye. Meerkat anybody?
Speaking of Meerkat, they’ve actually launched a new secret app… So secret I’m not even going to talk about it, other then the fact it has a million users already…
But I digress, before we discuss the new, lets take a look at the platforms at the top, starting with Instagram…
Runaway success
Instagram stories is already a hit. According to an article in Wersm, as soon as the Snapchat clone launched, it was clear (in my mind at least) that Instagram and ultimately Facebook were on to a winner.
It’s been interesting to watch creatives and content creators try to juggle Insta and Snap, unsure as to which platform will have the most benefit for their audience and brand.
To throw my two cents into the argument, I believe ultimately Instagram Stories will end up being the stronger of the two.
It’s surely only a matter of time before Facebook integrates all of its platforms (Whatsapp, Messenger, Instagram,Facebook, Oculus Rift and MSQRD). Adding Facebook’s heavy focus on advertising and analytics means in the long term Instagram will be the platform most beneficial to marketer.
You have to also take into consideration that Facebook will have even more data from Whatsapp and Messenger. I can envision a time when brands will want to run a campaign across all 4 platforms at once, with VR thrown in for good measure.
All of the analytics and data would be on one central Facebook hub, the reach and segmentation that you would be able to achieve is mind blowing.
Bye Bye Auto Advance
Snapchat’s latest update brings an end to “auto advance” on stories. You can now either watch one snap at a time or click on the thumbnails next to the friend/person you follow, to create a playlist. You then press play and watch the snaps in the sequence that you’ve chosen.
More tellingly, in a move that will surely ruffle a few feathers with publishers, Snap-Inc is going “friends first” by moving publishers’ stories from the top of the screen and replacing them with your friends’ lists instead. As with the above change, this is sure to have an effect on viewing figures.
Industry whispers suggest it’s because Snapchat is getting ready to ramp up their advertising and analytics model, but we will have to wait and see.
New Apps Tribe vs Rich Kids
Tribe is a new video messenger app that allows you to send 15 second short video messages to your friends or network.
What’s so special about that I hear you say? Tribe is built for practicality and has a host of features that allows you to either listen to the audio of the video message, without the video, or change the video audio into script for you to read, all of which can be done from your phone’s locked screen.
Tribe is trying to position themselves as chat 2.0, the evolution of the current chat experience.
If you don’t fancy adding another messenger app, I’m sure WhatsApp or Messenger will appropriate the best bits in the not so distant future. Read more about Tribe on Wersm.
Fancy paying a $1000 a month for the pleasure of sharing your extravagant life for others to see? If you answered yes, then the new app Rich Kids is for you.
If, like most people, you feel there are better things to spend a $1000 on each month, then you can still sign up to the platform to see how the other half live.
However, seeing is all you will be doing as you won’t be able to actually interact with the people whom you are following unless you pay up! Find out more about Rich Kids or if you’re so inclined download the Rich Kids app.
As my Internet is playing up, from the corner of the world that I’m currently writing from, that’s all for this week.
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