Social Media Notes
Here’s this week’s round-up of social media (& sometimes tech) news. Come back weekly for what I hope to be a fun & informative blog post on social stories that caught my eye throughout the week!
- Because cats rule the Internet, I’m going to spend the next few weeks plugging the 3rd Annual Edmonton International Cat Festival! It takes place Saturday, May 28, and is the only event of its kind in Canada, donating 100% of proceeds to local cat rescues (this year donations will support the Edmonton Humane Society, Little Cats Lost, and Zoe’s Animal Rescue!) Pre-purr-chase your tickets here! (At the door, it’s $20 per person – kids 12 and under are free).
- A great read on the importance of social media in times of crisis, and a look at how the guys behind @RMWoodBuffalo worked around the clock to make sure residents of Fort McMurray were safe.
- Looks like YouTube is building an online streaming cable service called ‘Unplugged.’ The subscription-based service lets you stream a bundle of cable channels.
- Less of a story about how Aeropostale is going bankrupt, and more of a story of how much brands will pay social media influencers these days.
- Yikes. Here’s a look inside Facebook’s news/curation team, as described by journalists who were hired to work for Facebook. They cite ‘grueling work conditions, humiliating treatment, and a secretive, imperious culture in which they were treated as disposable outsiders.”
- LinkedIn is reportedly looking to build a rival to Facebook’s Instant Articles – as a way to keep users on their platform longer.
- Snapchat filters are increasingly controversial. There was the Bob Marley ‘blackface’ filter – then this abstract make-up art one where users accused Snapchat of stealing the concept from a Russian artist.
- Giphy is working to acquire “every GIFable Simpsons moment,” fully licensed for distribution, tagged with the best metadata. The company is also working on a real-time GIF engine that could take every live video feed in the world and cut the best GIFs from it within seconds, to release to the public. Get ready for way more GIFs in your Internet life! (And I pronounce it G-if not J-if.)
- “The evolution of emoji is a fascinating process that is shaping a contemporary visual vocabulary for every day expression. If emoji are indeed to be around for a long time – we are seeing its very grammar being defined before our eyes.” WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! Great read on different iOS / platforms adjusting emojis to help us communicate more clearly.
- Why’s everyone livestreaming now? As video clogs up your social media feeds, brands are turning to livestreamed video as a way to stand out. “Nothing beats the shared experience of watching something in real time with other people.”
- Periscope is adding its biggest missing feature which could improve its usage among brands and social media stars: the ability to save and reply your broadcasts. I personally never liked Periscope because I felt not being able to save longer-form video streams was such a waste.
- Twitter has apparently cut off U.S. intelligence agencies from accessing a service that sifts through all tweets to identify unfolding terrorist attacks or political unrest. Reportedly, the decision was made because Twitter was worried about the ‘optics’ of seeming too close to American intelligence services.
- I wouldn’t have thought to look at Instagram posts to do a study on road rage but it looks like that very thing has yielded some interesting results. The Auto Insurance Center analyzed 65,535 Instagram posts hashtagged #RoadRage to discover where, when, and why drivers were most upset. Some results? August is the worst month, followed by July and understandbly so, Sundays are the least road-ragey.
- Looks like Instagram is playing around with ‘Business Profiles’ that would feature a contact button, directions, and more. Instagram’s becoming far less about its users and way more about the money it can make from brands/advertisers.
- Case in point: Businesses can now cram multiple video into one ad on Instagram. Would be curious to know what the retention/view rates on these would be.
- I’ve been curious about how Snapchat’s custom event geofilters are doing with regular users (not brands). Now Snapchat says it receives ‘thousands of geofilter requests each week, with 40% coming from general users, and the rest from advertisers.’So fun! And a great way to encourage people to snap more.
- This is amazing! A story of how two college students met via Snapchat Story.
- Here’s the week’s Cat Saturday photos! My favourites are 3, 4, 9, 13, 19, 20, and 27!
Thoughts on these stories? Tweet @ me or leave a comment below!
Linda