This Week in Social (December 16 - January 4)
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.
Facebook Removes Bing Search Results (Read more at Reuters)
Facebook is no longer going to include Bing search results on its website and will instead focus on its own search offering (Graph Search) and its native functionality after introducing an update that allows users to search for past comments and posts.
Bing was included in search results to provide links to websites related to user searches, even though the primary use of search was to find friends and other presences within Facebook.com.
According to a response shared with Reuters, “We’re not currently showing web search results in Facebook Search because we’re focused on helping people find what’s been shared with them on Facebook."
Search has been highlighted as a key initiative for Facebook, so it’s no surprise that Facebook wants to own more of that experience. Facebook search is growing up, and it no longer needs the additional functionality provided by Bing.
It’s likely users were more interested in finding Facebook-specific results even with Bing incorporated into Graph Search. Now that Facebook has built up Graph Search even more, the extra functionality offered by Bing would be more superfluous than ever.
Facebook’s Redesigned Right-Hand Ads Show Potential (Read more at AllFacebook)
Facebook rolled out a new design for its right-hand-side ads in June, and the redesign appears to have been successful according to an eye-tracking study.
A study conducted by Facebook in coordination with Millward Brown found the redesigned ads 29% more effective at attracting views, 50% better at keeping users’ attention and 46% better at encouraging people to read the ads.
Facebook has cited the more visually appealing experience of the ads as one of the primary reasons for success.
It’s not surprising to find the ads perfuming better. The ads are more visually appealing, and there are also fewer of them displayed for desktop users.
This is good news for advertisers. These units are cheaper than News Feed ads, so the fact that they are still performing well is positive.
Instagram Adds New Filters and Facebook Auto-Enhances Images (Read more at The Huffington Post and The Next Web)
Instagram has unveiled five new filters: Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden and Perpetua. This is the first time the app has rolled out new filters in two years.
Along with the new filters, a new app update allows users o “Manage” their filters by rearranging the ones they use most often by bringing them to the front. Users will also be able to see previews of the photo filters on their photos within the filter icons, instead of what used to be a hot air balloon preview.
Facebook is also working to improve photos uploaded to its platform. It will now automatically enhance photos uploaded to the social network by improving brightness and clarity. Users can disable the “improvements” if they prefer. Facebook follows the footsteps of Google+, which released an auto-awesome feature that offers similar functionality.
These features from Facebook and Instagram are great for users, and they allow each platform to maintain their leads when it comes to sharing and storing photos. While other platforms work to attract more images and photos from users, Facebook and Instagram are taking steps to be fresh.
This should get brands thinking about how they will use these new tools. For example, brands should have an understanding of what filters they will use and what they won’t as well as what kind of images they want to be sharing online and how. These are great features, but they won’t offer the right look, tone and feel for all brands.
Twitter and Foursquare Partner to Deliver Relevance (Read more at Business Insider)
Twitter has partnered with Foursquare to unroll new geo-based features as soon as Q1 2015. The partnership will allow Twitter to deliver information and tweets to users based on their locations. In fact, Twitter has started a location department.
This partnership will allow Twitter to better understand where a user is tweeting from. From there, Twitter will become a “vehicle of discovery” by offering recommendations and content related to a user’s location.
Relevance is key for Twitter. The better it can deliver content people want without them seeking it out, the more attractive it will be, especially for new users.
And for Foursquare, the deal couldn’t make more sense. Foursquare has seen its users waning, but if its data can be incorporated into more services, like Twitter, the more data it will collect and it will be able to create more partnerships like this one.
Leaked Emails Reveal Snapchat Plans (Read more at ReadWriteWeb)
The biggest story of the year may in fact be the hacking of Sony Pictures, which brought the company to its knees and revealed some embarrassing, private and personal information. Much of the information revealed was personal and, in my opinion, should not be reported. Other information sheds some light on how marketers may want to prepare for the future.
This comes from emails between Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and Sony Pictures CEO Michael Luynton who is on Snapchat’s board.
The emails revealed that Snapchat has acquired a company that develops video-recording glasses similar to Google Glass as well as a QR code-scanning company that would allow people to buy things using their smartphones. In addiiton, the service has explored making music and music videos and establishing a partnership with Twitter.
One of the biggest takeaways from Spiegel’s emails is how smart and astute he is. It also shows just how ambitious Snapchat is. It aims to be an all-encompassing service, not just a messaging platform. And it’s off to a great start as the company has attained a valuation of $10 billion after announcing that it raised $485.6 million this week.
Vessel Launches to Compete with YouTube (Read more at AdAge)
Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has unveiled his latest venture, Vessel. Vessel aims to be a video destination that will offer “the Web’s best short-form videos,” and it aims to compete directly with YouTube.
Vessel has paid current YouTube creators top dollar to gain exclusive deals and lure them away from YouTube. The deals secure 72 hour exclusivity of content for Vessel. After that content can be posted elsewhere. In addition, Vessel will then share 60% of subscriber revenue with creators and 70% of ad revenue running on their content, much higher than YouTube’s 55%.
Subscribers will have two options. They’ll have a free tier and a paid tier, but both tiers will include ads, much like Hulu.
Vessel sounds like an interesting proposition, but it has a big hurdle to overcome in the form of YouTube. YouTube is as entrenched as it could possibly be, but Vessel will have some exclusive content from creators. However, Vessel will need to move quickly to build audiences for those creators, so they feel they’re still able to reach their audiences and get the most out of the ad deals.
YouTube’s free offering remains very compelling, but if Vessel can lure away content creators, it may have a bright future ahead.
Pinterest Launches Full Rollout of Ads (Read more at The Next Web)
Pinterest rolled out Promoted Pins to all advertisers on January 1. Promoted Pins have been in testing for awhile. One test occurred over the course of six months and included brands like General Mills, Target and The Gap.
What Pinterest found during its tests were compelling. Users shared Promoted Pins 11 times on average, translating to a 30% earned media rate across categories.
With the rollout, advertisers are going to have access to more ad formats than before as well as advanced targeting. The company is also launching the Pinstitute, which will allow advertisers to learn best practices beginning in March.
This has been a moment many advertisers have been waiting for, and Pinterest is poised to deliver. It has the potential to monetize discovery and connect people with brands and products they didn’t quite know existed but likely want. The good news for Pinterest unlike other social platforms is, that’s what people do on the platform in the first place.
News Quick Hits
- Foursquare has officially launched its iPad app. The app shares Top Picks of places to visit and shares recommendations for events, new businesses and other local favorites. (Read more at The Next Web)
- Twitter has introduced new ad targeting options. The first allows advertisers to target users by wireless carrier, and the second allows them to target users with new mobile devices. This feature will be most useful for wireless providers seeking to lure customers away from competitors and retain existing customers. The category also provides a large bucket of ad dollars for Twitter to steal share from. (Read more at AdAge)
- Pinterest is allowing users to edit multiple pins at one time. Users can open a board, select “Move Pins” and then select up to 50 pins to move to another board or delete completely. (Read more at SocialTimes)
- Twitter’s sign-in tool, Digits, that allows users to register with their phone numbers for services, has gotten an update to its API. Now, developers can match Digits look to the rest of a website. (Read more at Venturebeat)
- Facebook’s Rooms iOS app has gotten an Explore button to make it easier for users to discover new communities or “Rooms” to join. (Read more at AllFacebook)
- “Sell Something” is a feature being tested by Facebook. It allows users who are part of groups to post items for sale by providing the details, price, photos and delivery options. (Read more at The Next Web)
- Reddit is giving back to its users. $5 million will be distributed via a digital currency called Reddit Notes. Reddit will randomly select 950,000 Redditors to receive the notes. Users will then be able to “save it or use it to tip, donate or trade,” according to Reddit. Reddit concedes that the plan is a little vague at this point, but more details will be figured out. The Reddit Notes are being given following a $50 million funding round. After that, Reddit announced plans to distribute 10% to its users. (Read more at The Verge)
- Facebook has released a lightweight app called Stickered that lets users add stickers to photos and then send them to friends through Messenger. (Read more at Facebook Newsroom).
- Twitter analytics are now available through the iOS Twitter app. The feature is available when users tap ‘View Analytics Details’ on any tweet’s detail page. Users can see metrics, including total impressions and engagements like clicks and favorites. (Read more at Techcrunch)
- Twitter is now showing users a recap of important tweets they missed since they last logged in with a “while you were away” feature. This feature showcases what Twitter identifies as the best and most engaging tweets that a user may have missed. (Read more at The Guardian)