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!
So many live video announcements
- Facebook Live will soon let you do two-person remote broadcasts, pre-schedule streams, create a virtual waiting room for viewers, and broadcast with MSQRD face masks (like Snapchat lenses)
- Also: Facebook is paying millions to celebrities and companies to get them to use their Live Video livestreaming feature!
- Twitter has expanded Vine’s 6-second limit up to 140 seconds and is launching a “Watch Mode” video-only section of the app
- Instagram is also putting some more emphasis on video – releasing an update to its Explore section that will recommend video collections it thinks you may be interested in watching
- And YouTube’s mobile app will soon support live video streams too. “The reigning king of Internet video is ready to take on Periscope and Facebook.” Watch oooout!
And in other social news:
- Instagram now has half a billion monthly users – with more than 300 million who use the photo-sharing app each day. Ironically, their post announcing the news features no photos.
- Using social media to change perceptions: social media activists in Somalia are sharing glimpses of everyday life through Snapchat. “These are the images the world also needs to see. This is also Somalia, and theh appy people you see here are Somalis”
- Because everyone wants to copy Snapchat: Twitter is adding fun ‘stickers’ for photos! It acts the same way as Snapchat stickers – you can resize, rotate, add a ton to a photo before posting, just access it by tapping the photo you want to tweet and hitting edit – sticker smiley face
- Twitter has also released a standalone analytics/engagement app for “power users” but it’s currently only available for U.S. App Store folks
- Linguists, psychologists and computer scientists are discovering that what we collectively share on social media and when, can signal information about our mental health – information that could prevent suicide
- Twitter’s getting aggressive with its revenue-generating models. It won rights to carry the NFL livestreams and is now pitching to advertisers packages that cost between $2-$8 million
- Have you noticed the new location tags for tweets on Twitter? They’ve teamed up with Foursquare for this feature, which lets you tag a tweet with a specific location and once you tap that location – you would see all other posts shared from the same location (like what you’re used to seeing with Facebook/Instagram locations)
- Michelle Obama has just joined Snapchat! Also – Rory Gilmore appeared in her snaps for a Gilmore Girls teaser!! Eee!!!
- U.S. Customs wants to collect your social media account information at the border. They’ll be used for ‘investigative purposes’
- “One year’s VidCon attendee is the next year’s superstar” – VidCon conference just wrapped up – celebrating all things online video. It looks like it’s gone Hollywood now too – with big studios and TV networks getting in on the VidCon young demographic action.
- Here’s the week’s Cat Saturday photos! My favourites are 2, 6, 14, 15, 16, and 21!
Thoughts on these stories? Tweet @ me or leave a comment below!
Linda
