WHA T’S NEW ON SOCIAL MEDIA: July 2018
New Features Watch Party1 - A new way to watch videos online with your friends was launched on July 25 - In Facebook Groups, you can now create Watch Parties in the text box - Add videos to a media playlist for everyone in the group to watch and comment on at the same time - After the watch party ends, people who missed out or want to re-watch can still watch the playlist - Watch Parties will most likely expand to other parts of FB in the future
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Image: Facebook
Your Time on Facebook2 - The “Your Time on Facebook” feature is meant to help with FB addiction by showing you how much time you‟ve spent on the platform over the past week - You can also set a time limit where the app will remind you once you‟ve hit a certain amount of time on the app - A similar feature was also introduced on Instagram - Currently only available on Android
Keyword Snooze3 - FB has begun testing a new feature called Keyword Snooze that allows users to avoid spoilers by temporarily hiding posts with certain keywords in the text - Posts containing the keywords you‟ve chosen to hit “snooze” on won‟t show up in your News Feed for 30 days. - Can be found in the upper right-hand menu in the news feed
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Image: Facebook
Do Not Disturb4 - Facebook is testing a “Do Not Disturb” feature to let users control when they receive notifications from the platform - Users can choose not to receive notifications for 30 minutes, one hour, two hours, eight hours, one day, or indefinitely until the user turns off the feature manually.
Ads Cryptocurrency - Facebook is partially reversing its ban on cryptocurrency advertising 5 - Ads that promote initial coin offerings and binary options (ads that are typically scams or “overly-risky gambles”) will remain banned - FB will now accept ads for cryptocurrencies themselves or “related content” - Advertisers will need to submit an application and be improved first
Ad Transparency - A new “View Ads” tool lets users see a listing of all active ad campaigns across all Facebook Platforms from advertisers, regardless of if they are political in nature or not6 - An April transparency update allowed users to see how much political ads cost, who was behind it, and the demographics of the audience it reached. - Advertisers also have to verify their identity and location before purchasing political or issue ads - There will also be a new label on branded posts to provide context into the details of the arrangement between brands and those publishing branded posts.7
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Augmented Reality - Facebook has introduced new AR (Augmented Reality) ads in the News Feed8 - AR superimposes images on top of real-world images or videos - Users will be able to use their cameras on their mobile devices to participate - Example: Michael Kors has tested the ad by letting people try on a pair of their sunglasses virtually
Image: CNBC
Pages - Pages now have a new button called “Info and Ads” in the left sidebar9 - The new section shows the ads the Page is currently running across any FB platform, along with a button to report each ad - Pages will also now display the date it was created and any name changes they‟ve had
Facebook Stories - Stories now have group chats and reactions10 - You can now add other people to your reply to stories, which will create a group thread in Messenger - You can also see if you got any Messenger replies to your stories without leaving the story itself - People can reply to your stories with stickers and reactions - You can now also to archive your Facebook stories11 - Can save them so they are not lost forever once posted and can then re-use and re-post
Did you know...
In May, Facebook Stories had 150 million users 4
Image: CNET
Messenger - You can now connect your Instagram to Messenger and import your contacts from Instagram into Messenger12 - Messenger Kids has also undergone a few changes13 - Two parents can now manage a child‟s account (rather than just one) - There‟s also a new “pledge” for families who are setting up a child‟s account with 4 guiding principles to encourage responsible use of the app - Messenger Kids is a chat app for children 13 and under
Privacy - FB Settings have been redesigned so all privacy settings can be accessed in one place14 - Settings were previously spread out among several pages - There is also a new privacy shortcuts menu - Users will now have more control over their content and have the ability to review posts and remove anything
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Other - Facebook has shut down three of its apps due to low usage: Moves, Hello and tbh15 - Moves was a fitness tracking app Facebook bought in 2014 - Hello was an Android app that merged FB details with contact info - tbh was an anonymous app that allowed high school students to send pre-written compliments to each other - After releasing its earnings report on Wed, July 25 which showed that FB missed earning expectations and had slow user growth, stocks plummeted 7% immediately and have dropped further roughly 20%16
Image: MarketWatch
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New Features
Image: Engadget LinkedIn Codes - LinkedIn has added QR codes (“LinkedIn Codes”) to allow you to easily connect with others17 - You can add other users by scanning their QR code on the mobile app - You can also share your code through email, other apps or on business cards to make it easier for others to add you
Captions, Quotes & Drafts - You can now add captions to the videos you post from the desktop version of the site18 - This is done by attaching a SRT (subRip Subtitle) file along with your video - LinkedIn is now allowing users to share article quotes by highlight quotes from LinkedIn articles on mobile and sharing them directly with their network - Users can also now save their posts as drafts
See Translations - LinkedIn has introduced a new translation service, with a “See Translation” button that will appear on posts that are in a different language19 - Offered in more than 60 languages including Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Korean and Japanese
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- Only available on desktop and mobile web for now, but will come to mobile soon
Messaging - Users can now stretch the compose box so you can see more messages20 - You can also now use @mentions to bring someone into a group message or share their profile in a message - On desktop you can now copy and paste images directly into LinkedIn messages - There‟s also a new emoji picker on desktop where you can scroll through the list of emojis and search by keyword/category for options
Campaign Manager - Campaign Manager has been redesigned to provide a “more intuitive experience” to marketers running multiple campaigns21 - Now features breakdowns of campaign data and personalization options (can display the metrics you review most often) - There‟s a new navigation structure that allows users to switch between accounts and campaigns quickly - Search feature has been updated so data from a specific campaign can be found quickly through searching the campaign name, ID or ad format
Image: Marketing Land
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New Features
Image: MS Power User
Ads Transparency Center - Twitter has launched an „Ads Transparency Center‟ to allow users to view ads that have been put on Twitter22 - Will include all advertisers globally - For political advertisers, users will be able to see details like demographic targeting data, billing information, ad spending, and impression data per tweet
Policy Changes - New users will now have to confirm an email address or phone number to register for an account23 - This is part of an effort to stop bots and trolls who spam and harass others - Twitter has been suspending more than one million accounts a day in recent months to decrease the spread of disinformation24 - The rate of account suspensions has more than doubled since Oct.
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- Twitter has suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June - Because of this, users may see their follower counts going down. - Twitter also is no longer counting accounts that have been locked because of suspected fraud among follower counts25
Mobile - Twitter has been redesigned on Android26 - The navigation bar has been moved from the top of the screen to the bottom - Is easier to navigate -- users can swipe between “All” and “Mentions” tabs now27 - The action bar that tells you what part of the app you‟re in and what account you‟re logged into will also disappears when scrolling
Image: MS Power User
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New Features
Image: Digital Trends
Video Chat - You can now video chat with up to 3 other people through Instagram28 - Can access Video Chat through Direct Messaging using the camera icon in the top right - You can also minimize the video chat window to browse through the Instagram app at the same time
Activity Status - You will now be able to see when your friends are active on Instagram29 - There will be a green dot next to their profile picture - Feature only works with users who follow you - You can choose not to show your status by deactivating the feature in settings
Instagram Lite - Instagram has a new Android app called Instagram Lite30
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- The app consumes less storage space and mobile data (is 573 KB, 1/55th the size of regular Instagram) - Users will be able to post photos and stories and will be able to view photos and videos share by others - The ability to message friends will be added soon
Image: Tech Crunch
Topic Channels - Topic Channels have been added to the “Explore” tab as a way for users to discover additional content relevant to their interests31 - Includes a “For You” channel with a mix of posts personalized for your interests - Other channels include Fashion, Beauty, Sports and Art - Also shows hashtags so you can find additional trending topics
Do Not Disturb - Like Facebook, Instagram now has a “Do Not Disturb” feature where you can choose not to receive push notifications from the platform using an on/off toggle32
You’re All Caught Up - Instagram will now tell you when you‟ve seen all of the new posts from the past 2 days32 - This is to help users keep track of what they‟ve seen
Removing Followers - Instagram is testing a feature on Android that allows users to remove followers33
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- Before, you could block users but now you can remove them from following you and they will not be notified
Stories
Image: Tech Crunch
- Users can now add music to their Instagram Stories on Android and iOS34 - This is possible through FB‟s partnership with music labels - As people view your story, there will be a sticker that tells them the song being used and the artist it‟s by - Users can also use question stickers in their stories to engage with their audience35 - Users can use a sticker to ask people watching their stories to ask them questions, which they can then answer in subsequent posts
Instagram recently hit 1 billion monthly users with stories
seeing 400 million daily users
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Resources
1. Elite Daily, “Facebook‟s Watch Party Feature Changes The Way You Watch Video with Friends.” https://www.elitedaily.com/p/facebooks-watch-party-feature-changes-the-way-you-watch-videos- with-friends-9876555 2. The Motley Fool, “Facebook Wants to Help You Manage Your Facebook Addiction.” https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/25/facebook-wants-to-help-you-manage-your-facebook- ad.aspx 3. Facebook, “Keyword Snooze: A New Way to Help Control Your News Feed.” https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/06/keyword-snooze-a-new-way-to-help-control-your-news- feed/ 4. TechCrunch, “Instagram‟s Do not Disturb and „Caught Up‟ deter overgramming.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/02/instagram-do-not-disturb/ 5. Fortune, “Facebook Is Reversing Its Ban on Cryptocurrency Ads -- But There‟s a Catch.” http://fortune.com/2018/06/27/facebook-cryptocurrency-ads-ban-reversed-icos/ 6. Wired, “You Can Now See All The Ads Facebook is Running Globally.” https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-aims-more-transparency-view-ads-feature/ 7. Wersm, “Facebook is Testing Info Labels On Branded Content Posts.” https://wersm.com/facebook-is-testing-info-labels-on-branded-content-posts/ 8. CNBC, “Facebook is adding AR ads, threatening Snap‟s dominance in the space.” https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/10/facebook-augmented-reality-ads-threaten-snapchat.html 9. DigiDay, “Goodbye, dark posts: How Facebook‟s and Twitter‟s ad-transparency tools work.” https://digiday.com/marketing/goodbye-dark-posts-facebooks-twitters-ad-transparency-tools- work/ 10. CNET, “Facebook Stories add group chat and reactions.” https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook- stories-adds-group-chat-and-reactions/ 11. Wersm, “Facebook Now Allows You To Archive Stories.” https://wersm.com/facebook-now- allows-you-to-archive-stories/ 12. TechCrunch, “Facebook can now sync your Instagram contacts to Messenger.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/18/facebook-can-now-sync-your-instagram-contacts-to- messenger/ 13. The Verge, “Facebook‟s Controversial Messenger Kids is Rolling Out to Canada and Peru.” https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/22/17492800/facebooks-controversial-messenger-kids-canada- peru 14. Business 2 Community, “How Will Facebook Privacy Changes Affect Your Paid Ad Campaigns?” https://www.business2community.com/facebook/how-will-facebook-privacy-changes-affect-your- paid-campaigns-02091407 15. The Verge, “Facebook is shutting down a teen app it bought eight months ago.” https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/2/17528896/facebook-tbh-moves-hello-shut-down-low-usage 16. MarketWatch, “Facebook stocks drop roughly 20%, loses $120 billion in value after warning that revenue growth will take a hit.” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-stock-crushed-after- revenue-user-growth-miss-2018-07-25 17. Engadget, “LinkedIn adds QR codes to make sharing your profile easier.” https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/28/linkedin-qr-codes-sharing-profile-easier/ 18. Wersm, “LinkedIn Rolls Out Video Captions, Share Article Quotes, See Translations and More.” https://wersm.com/linkedin-rolls-out-video-captions-share-articles-quotes-see-translations-and- more/
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19. Venture Beat, “LinkedIn now lets you translate posts in your feed into more than 60 languages.” https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/28/linkedin-now-lets-you-translate-posts-in-your-feed-into-more- than-60-languages/ 20. Gadgets 360, “LinkedIn Updates Messaging Experience with Easier Attachment Support, Mentions, and Stretchable Compose Box.” https://gadgets.ndtv.com/social- networking/news/linkedin-messaging-update-stretch-compose-box-mentions-attachments- translations-1886666 21. Marketing Land, “LinkedIn Overhauls Campaign Manager for Marketers Managing High-Volume Accounts.” https://marketingland.com/linkedin-overhauls-campaign-manager-for-marketers- managing-high-volume-accounts-244932 22. Reuters, “Twitter, Facebook launch tools to track advertising.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us- twitter-advertising/twitter-facebook-launch-tools-to-track-advertising-idUSKBN1JO2MS 23. CNET, “Twitter ramps up efforts to combat abusive bots, trolls.” https://www.cnet.com/news/twitter-ramps-up-effort-to-combat-abusive-bots-trolls/ 24. Chicago Tribune, “Twitter is sweeping out fake accounts, suspending more than 70 million in 2 months.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/national/ct-twitter-removes-fake-accounts-bots- 20180706-story.html 25. Eyewitness News, “Top Twitter Users Lose 2% of Followers on Average As Policy Changes.” http://ewn.co.za/2018/07/13/top-twitter-users-lose-2-percent-of-followers-on-average-as-policy- changes 26. Trusted Reviews, “Twitter Shakes Up Android App in Light of Bigger Phones.” https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/twitter-android-update-3506570 27. MS Power User, “Twitter rolls out a new update with UI changes for Android Devices.” https://mspoweruser.com/twitter-rolls-out-a-new-update-with-ui-changes-for-android-devices/ 28. Digital Trends, “Instagram now lets you video chat with up to three buddies.” https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/instagram-now-lets-you-video-chat-with-up-to-three- buddies/ 29. Tempo.co, “Instagram New Feature: See Friends Active Status.” https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/07/23/310920179,uk.html/Instagram-New-Feature-See- Friends-Active-Status 30. Tech Crunch, “Instagram Lite quietly launches to find a billion more users abroad.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/27/instagram-lite/ 31. Marketing Land, “Instagram launches Topic Channels in Explore, video chat in Direct & New Camera Effects.” https://marketingland.com/instagram-launches-topic-channels-in-explore-video- chat-in-direct-new-camera-effects-243332 32. Tech Crunch, “Instagram‟s Do Not Disturb and „Caught Up‟ Deter Overgramming.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/02/instagram-do-not-disturb/ 33. Digital Trends, “Don‟t want your ex on your Instagram? You can now remove followers on Android.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/02/instagram-do-not-disturb/ 34. Tech Crunch, “Instagram Stories now lets its 400m users add soundtracks.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/28/instagram-stories-music/ 35. Fortune, “Instagram‟s Questions Sticker Lets Story-Watchers Ask You Anything.” http://fortune.com/2018/07/10/instagram-questions-sticker-ask-me-anything/
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