This Week in Social and Digital (Week of May 16)
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 to Stop Counting Links and Photos in Character Limit (Read more at Bloomberg)
Twitter may be giving users a few more characters to play with when sharing photos and links on the platform. In as little as two weeks, they will stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit. That gives users are hefty 23 characters of extra real estate.
Twitter has not confirmed the update, however.
This update would be in line with Jack Dorsey’s plans to make the site more palatable to users by making it easier to use. It also encourages the sharing of multimedia content. No one is held back by sharing a photo. It wouldn’t be a decision of sacrificing text for the sake of a photo. Instead, the photo is a value add to the tweet, which would make the platform more flexible for users and brands alike.
Google Launches Spaces App (Read more at Google)
Google has released a new app called Spaces. Spaces allows users to create small groups around specific topics and then pull in articles, videos and images using integrated functionality from Google Search, Chrome and YouTube. Once a user starts a Space, he or she can invite others to join and discuss content.
It’s an interesting move by Google. Facebook launched a similar app last year called Rooms, but Google has its integration of multiple tools working in its favor. Still, this is likely little more than an experiment for Google.
Snapchat Algorithm May Be Coming Soon (Read more at Digiday)
Snapchat is reportedly working on an algorithm, similar to Facebook’s which will surface some content for users based on previous behavior and bury other content. Currently, users see all messages from accounts they follow in chronological order. The algorithm could change all of that.
The rumors are circulating at a time when Snapchat is growing in popularity, and brands looking to reach younger audiences, in particular, are evaluating their strategies to see if the platform is right for them. Many are actively working to grow their followers and their organic reach on the platform.
Platforms are constantly seeking more ways to gain control over their channels and how their users are reached, particularly by brands. Snapchat’s move to unveil an algorithm would be no different than moves made by Facebook, Twitter, and, most recently, Instagram. The move underscores the point that brands and publishers should be open to using these platforms, while always knowing the rules may change, and nothing beats having users directed to the brand’s owned channels, such as email lists and websites. Still, because users spend so much time on these social platforms, they can’t be ignored.
Google Announces New Hardware at I/O (Read more at The Verge)
Google held its annual I/O developer conference, and it announced a slew of new products ranging from Echo-inspired voice-driven personal assistants and messaging services to bots and virtual reality.
The biggest announcement was Google Home, which works a lot like Amazon’s Echo. It’s piece of hardware that users can control with their voices and receive information from. Google Home also works as a Chromecast audio receiver.
Daydream was also announced as un update to improve the virtual reality experience of Cardboard. The update makes Cardboard more comfortable, immersive and higher quality. The next update was a new messaging app called Allo, which is essentially inspired by WhatsApp. What makes Allo different is it analyzes what you say and suggests quick replies, so you don’t have to respond completely on your own. Users can also chat with Allo,w which will act as a bot. You can ask for different pieces of information, help making restaurant suggestions or even make reservations through the Allo. Allo is set up to be a platform that multiple pieces of online information can be brought into. It will be interesting to see how Hangouts evolves as a messaging app with this launch.
The next update was Duo, a FaceTime like app for Android and iOS, designed to work on unreliable Internet connections. It’s key feature is when someone calls you, it gives you a preview of their face before they can see yours, so you can decide whether or not you want to answer.
Another update was the launch of Universal App Campaigns, which now allow advertisers to highlight both Android and Apple apps. Along with the expansion to include iOS apps is better targeting capabilities and the introduction of Android Instant Apps. Instant Apps allow users to try certain parts of apps without actually downloading them. That way they can take an app for a test drive before committing to a download, giving developers a way to demo their apps for new users who may have otherwise not committed to a download.
Google is expanding its focus into the hottest areas of tech: VR, personal assistants and messaging. But Google faces stiff competition in all three, but Google’s strategy is one of being everywhere vs. being exclusive to its own platforms. Many of its products work across iOS and Android, which will increase the opportunity for Google’s forays into these product categories to gain traction.
News Quick Hits
- Twitter is testing a dedicated Periscope button on Twitter for Android. The button allows users to start streaming to Periscope as they post a tweet. Periscope and Twitter have been kept fairly separate up until this point, but now with Facebook Live encroaching on the scene, it appears Twitter wants to elevate the Periscope product a bit more. What better way to do that than within the Twitter app? (Read more at The Next Web)
- Google is now displaying product listing ads within Google image search results on both desktop and mobile. (Read more at AdAge)
- Tumblr for iOS has gotten an update that allows users to add a GIF as a type of post. Once users tap the new GIF icon, they’ll be able to turn videos, burst photos and live photos into GIFs from within the Tumblr app. The update makes integrating original GIFs much easier. From there, users can add text customized by size, color and position to their GIFs. (Read more at the Tumblr Blog)
- Twitter is currently beta testing a way for brands to serve ads in third-party applications not owned by Twitter. (Read more at The Twitter Blog)
- In an effort to spark more engagement and content creation, Vine has launched a Vine Challenge channel. Users are given a challenge of creating content around a specific theme and then share it to the channel or using the challenge’s hashtag for a chance to be featured, giving their content more exposure. (Read more at SocialTimes)
- Facebook launched a film shot with its Surround 360 camera at Grand Central Terminal. The film shares stories of the people passing through the terminal. (Read more at Facebook)
- Facebook is opening up its Audience Network to video advertisers, meaning advertisers will be able to run their Facebook video ads on mobile apps and websites across the network. Previously, video ads were limited to Facebook’s News Feed. The ads will run before, during or after a video on a site. Facebook also has an option to have video ads appear in-article between blocks of text. (Read more at LA Times)
- Users are starting to see a test on Facebook that allows them to switch their News Feed views to different categories like TV and movies, food, travel, music and science. There’s no guarantee it will be a final feature, but this functionality’s been rumored for many months. (Read more at The Next Web)