Here’s this week’s round-up of social media 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. 

• Here’s some new data that shows Instagram Stories isn’t slowing down Snapchat use (yet?) – Interesting part about viewer retention on the two competing platforms.

• Here’s an interesting look at how influencer marketing technology is a “hot mess.” What is influencer marketing technology? Basically online dashboards created for PR companies/agencies to manage and analyze ‘influencers,’ work them on campaigns, etc.

• Look at what the youths are using, that might indicate the next ‘big thing’ in social, some say. Could the next big thing be Facebook’s new teens-only app “Lifestage” ? The app turns your bio into video profiles and is meant to help high-schoolers learn more about their classmates.

• Twitter’s Quality filter that used to just be for Verified accounts has rolled out to all users – should help block out spammy accounts and hopefully prevent harassment from Twitter trolls.

• Here’s another look at disclosures and influencer marketing – this time as a nonprofit group called Truth in Advertising analyzes + slams the Kardashians for not properly disclosing their paid relationships with companies in their social media posts.

• Here’s another look at how social media influencers/YouTube Stars/bloggers/etc. are making serious money from their content.

• Looks like ratings for NBC’s Olympic coverage was real low this year and they’re blaming social media.

• What were your favourite Olympic memes? Here’s a look at how media network Cycle created super sharable Olympic memes (and how they got around the stupid Olympic Committee social media rules).

• And here are some Olympics/social media stats: there were 187 million tweets about Rio, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, and Neymar were the most mentioned athletes, and there were also 1.5 billion Olympic Facebook interactions and 916 million Instagram interactions, with the most “loved” photo on Facebook being Zac Efron’s picture with Simone Biles.

• New numbers suggest 88 per cent of consumers say online reviews help them decide what to buy/eat and where to buy/eat it. That’s pretty close to previous numbers on the same topic. Online words. They matter.

• Instagram has some video updates – including letting users zoom while recording a video and letting you switch between camera modes by double tapping the screen (Snapchat features…anyone?)

• Fittingly, here’s a rich history on Facebook copying Snapchat.

• Here’s also the Forbes Cover Story on Instagram: The $50 billion grand slam driving Facebook’s future. Great purchase, Facebook.

• I liked reading about Justin Trudeau’s official photographer, and the impact social media has had on his images and the prime minister’s communications.

Thoughts on these stories? Tweet @ me or leave a comment below!

Linda

Follow @lindork