This Week in Social is a weekly digest of some of the biggest stories in social media marketing news. These stories are the show notes for the Brave Ad World Podcast. Each story is discussed at a deeper level on the podcast.

Twitter and NFL Partner to Live Stream Games (Read more at The New York Times)

Twitter and the NFL have signed a deal that will include live streaming ten Thursday night football games for free during the upcoming NFL season. The deal was struck to allow the NFL to reach younger consumers who may not have access to traditional television.

Twitter was bidding against Facebook, Amazon and Verizon. It paid $10 million for rights, which is actually less than many of the other bidders.

Twitter will only be able to sell about one-third of the ads accompanying the games. The NFL and its TV broadcast partner will handle the rest, but the ads Twitter does sell will be sold via Twitter’s Amplify program. The NFL’s actually been a participant in Amplify for some time, and that relationship certainly played a factor in Twitter winning out on the deal.

The move underscores Twitter’s desire to create content that will bring users to the platform, and the NFL partnership is one reason to bring the masses to the platform. That’s been something Twitter has been working very hard to do.

Twitter makes a lot of sense for the NFL as well. It’s where people live tweet and live share their gaming experiences. This, of course, happens elsewhere, but even Facebook with its recent focuses on creating sports hubs has been unable to duplicate Twitter’s success at getting its users to engage in real-time during live events in mass. This move allows Twitter to maintain its dominance in this area.

Facebook Live Available to All (Read more at Mashable)

Facebook Live Video is here in full force. The social network launched an update to its mobile apps that places a dedicated live video tab to users, making the feature much more prominent and accessible.

The section allows people to “Discover live video that the world is talking about, live video from the friends and creators that matter most to you and live video on topics you’re interested in. From that place, you can also search live and non-live videos and choose to go live yourself.” Desktop users have been given a Live Map, allowing users in more than 60 countries to share videos.

It’s also noteworthy that Facebook is allowing users to share live videos to groups and event pages, allowing users to be more targeted with their content. Viewers of video will be able to react with Facebook’s new reactions. As people react to content, it displays on the screen along with a snapshot of any friends who also happen to be watching the same video. Last but not least, Facebook announced that users will soon be able to add filters to their videos as well as draw on them, similar to Snapchat.

The news comes at a time when Facebook has put a massive emphasis on video, and the rise of services like Periscope and the upcoming YouTube Connect focused Facebook on the potential for live video. Facebook even readily admits that it adopted much of Periscope’s functionality because it works so well.

It remains to be seen whether or not Facebook Live Video will be more popular as a way for users to reach large audiences, or if it will focus users on sharing with smaller audiences, such as family or people who have RSVP’d for an event. Facebook Video offers little that isn’t already available on other platforms, but what it does have is a massive user base, which means live video streaming is now available to the masses.

Facebook Launches Update to Help Visually Impaired Picture Photos (Read more at The Verge)

Facebook is now using artificial intelligence to describe the content of photos to visually impaired users. The feature uses object recognition technology and keywords to share what is in the photo. Up until this point, people who are visually impaired could only know who posted the photo, but now a description will be shared as well.

The feature is, of course, a fantastic way to open up the platform to more users and make it useful for them. But it also has implications for marketing. Facebook now has a way to analyze the content of images, whether users add captions or not, which in turn creates a new data point that advertisers can use to tailor messages around. We won’t just understand what people are saying, we will also be able to understand what they’re sharing.

Facebook Messenger Gets Major Update (Read more at Facebook for Business)

Just ahead of its f8 conference, Facebook has launched a slew of new features designed to better connect users to brands on Messenger. The update means businesses’ Facebook Page user names are going to be more heavily shared across Facebook.

Facebook Pages with vanity URLs will use the last part of their URLs as their Messenger usernames, so Facebook.com/JaspersMarket will be JaspersMarket on Messenger. Those usernames are going to be prominently positioned under Facebook Page titles with an @ symbol in front.

In addition, Facebook launched short URLs called Messenger Links and scannable Message Codes. Messenger Links and Codes are designed to make it easier to start a chat with a brand on the platform. Messenger Links are simple URLs in the form m.me/username, and when clicked, they immediately open up a chat in Messenger. Messenger Codes are Snapchat-inspred codes that users can scan with their phones’ cameras to open up a chat. These features are available to users and businesses alike.

One differentiating feature for businesses is the ability to customize what Facebook calls Messenger Greetings, a brief note that begins a thread between a user and a business.

Facebook also announced that Messenger now has 900 million users.

Facebook’s efforts on Messenger point to it moving in two different directions. The first is as a mass reach platform that brands can use to reach broad audiences. The second is where Messenger comes in as a way for brands can have one-to-one conversations with customers. The role of the Facebook Page as the primary means of reaching out to a brand is dramatically diminished.

Facebook’s been working to make Messenger easier for brands over the past year with features like Saved Replies. The introduction of codes and specialized links means that Facebook feels it’s laid the groundwork. Now, it wants brands to drive users there.

Facebook Users Sharing Less (Read more at The Information)

Sharing original and personal updates is down 21% on Facebook, according to a new report. The stat shows a significant problem for Facebook because the reason people use the platform is to get updates on friends and family. While sharing remains strong on Facebook, posts about public information like memes and news articles are starting to take over. Facebook’s internal term for this is “context collapse."

Facebook’s been around for awhile, which means users have accumulated a lot of friends that they may not be as comfortable sharing content with as the core group they started out with. In addition, Facebook opening up to being what is essentially a media hub has encouraged users to do more sharing of third-party content than their own. Hence the rise of platforms like Snapchat and Messenger. Facebook’s working to encourage more personal sharing, and features like “On This Day” are helping with that. But for Facebook to remain the behemoth that it is, it will have to continue to do more.

News Quick Hits

Twitch’s mobile app and website has a new feature called Channel Feed. Channel Feed allows users to post content that is viewable to their entire audience. Users who post to the Channel Feed also have the option to cross post to other channels. Viewers of those posts can ‘like’ content. Channel Feed is designed to allow Twitch broadcasters to more effectively communicate news, announcements and other content to their viewers. (Read more at The Twitch Blog)
Snapchat has given users double the character limit within Snaps, allowing users to communicate even more in the Snaps they send. (Read more at The Next Web)
Twitter is bringing more direct message interactions to the forefront with a new button that allows users to share tweets via a direct message. Previously, the feature was hidden beneath a tap-and-hold menu. This allows Twitter to make the functionality more accessible to users and is only available through the mobile apps. According to Twitter, the number of direct messages sent grew 60% in 2015. (Read more at Mashable)
WhatsApp has now implemented end-to-end encryption across all of its apps, making any communication on the platform encrypted by default. The company has also shared that it has no way to access user messages as it does not have encryption keys. (Read more at TechCrunch)
Reddit has implemented an updated user blocking blocking tool. The tool allows users to block others, which means they will not be notified nor will they see any content directed to them from that user, including comments and replies. Someone who has been blocked will not know if they’ve been blocked. (Read more at The Next Web)
Promoted Pins are now available outside the U.S., starting with Britain. The move comes 18 months after Pinterest introduced Promoted Pins as a way for brands to sponsor their content on the platform. Britain is a priority market, but soon the pins will come to Australia, Canada and Ireland. (Read more at Business Insider)
Facebook has removed the prohibition for Facebook Pages of publishers, celebrities and influencers to share brand content not part of a paid ad campaign on Facebook. Verified Pages can now share branded content on Facebook. It also has a new branded content tool that will allow publishers to tag brands featured in their branded content posts. This will give those marketers access to post-level insights and the ability to boost the posts. (Read more at AdAge)
Reddit has officially launched its own app, which will replace the one Reddit acquired back in 2014. (Read more at Mashable)