This Week in Social (Week of January 26)
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.
Twitter Rolls Out ‘While You Were Away’ Feature (Read more at The Twitter Blog)
Twitter has launched its ‘While You Were Way Feature’ for iPhone and iPad users. Android is on the way.
The feature will share a recap of the top and most popular tweets for users who haven’t checked Twitter for awhile. Twitter says the feature will show up more frequently for users who don’t check Twitter often and less for those who do. Twitter says its aim is to deliver this recap “without compromising the real time nature of Twitter."
Twitter’s CFO Anthony Noto hinted awhile back that a feature like this might be coming. This is essentially a Facebook-like algorithm determining what a user will want to see. Twitter seems to be doing a good job of balancing giving algorithm-driven content to users who will need a recap and showing it less often for those who are constantly on Twitter and want the real-time experience.
Facebook Rolls Out Facebook Lite to More Countries (Read more at Mashable)
Facebook Lite, Facebook’s lightweight version of the full app for Android, is now available in eight more countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zimbawe. The service is designed to be used in areas with limited connectivity.
Facebook is obviously a huge social network, but its growth has slowed. One way to kickstart growth is by making itself available to more people in places where access has been limited, including developing countries.
Facebook is joined by Twitter, which acquired India-based ZipDial last week. ZipDial allows users to receive phone calls with content accompanied by ads.
The major social networks are growing, and they’re looking at developing countries to do so.
Twitter Launches Video and Messaging Features (Read more at The New York Times)
Twitter’s video product is now here. The feature allows users to capture, edit and share videos up to 30 seconds in length natively on the platform. Currently, the feature is iOS only but will be coming to Android.
The second feature Twitter launched is the ability to private message up to 20 people at one time. Recipients must follow the sender in order to be included on a message. However, recipients don’t need to follow each other to interact on one message thread.
Twitter’s announcement for video underscores the importance of social video, overall. Facebook has seen huge success since focusing on video last year. Now, Twitter has set its sights there as well. Much of this is driven by the potential for ad dollars, but it’s also happening as user behaviors shift and people show signs of engaging with video content in their feeds. Twitter has a great differentiating factor in the sense that it will be a great platform for sharing live events. There is a chance, however, that this may cannibalize Twitter-owned Vine to a degree as people rely less on it for sharing videos to Twitter. Although, Vine will likely remain strong as a creative platform with a devoted user base.
Messages, on the other hand, offer a way for Twitter to compete with platforms like WhatsApp and appeal to users who want to take conversations out of public view or even discuss a tweet in private. Both messaging and video give Twitter features users have shown they like on other platforms. That’s an important step for Twitter as it continues to look to expand its user base.
Facebook Reports Q4 Earnings (Read more at Reuters)
It’s time for more earnings, and Facebook shared its Q4 results this week.
The social network has continued its success of building revenue, while cutting back on the number of ads. Facebook serves 65% fewer ads than it did one year ago, but ad prices have risen 335%. This approach appears to have paid off as Facebook has made its ads scarcer and more premium.
All of this has increased Facebook’s revenue per user. Revenue is up 49% over last year, hitting $3.85 billion. And its user base has gotten more mobile with 84% of its daily audience visiting through a smartphone or tablet. This has led to 69% of Facebook’s ad revenue coming from mobile devices.
Facebook is continuing to dominate when it comes to mobile, and its ability to target users specifically has led to increased ad rates. Again, it’s more of what we expect from Facebook with no major surprises.
Facebook Launches Place Tips (Read more at The Verge)
Facebook is going after services like Yelp and Foursquare once again with Place Tips. Place Tips sends users recommendations on things they might like when near a store, restaurant or other location.
The recommendations show up as pink notitifactions within the News Feed. Once tapped, users can swipe through cards that contain photos, reviews and posts from friends who have been to the location.
The feature is on by default and can be turned on in a users’ Location settings. The service is currently available in New York City.
Facebook has tried many times to compete more with other location services to varying degrees of success. However, the approach of putting information in the News Feed may be just enough to get users to start paying attention.
News Quick Hits
- Snapchat’s Discover platform is now available. The rollout was announced last week. Discover is an ad supported section of the Snapchat app that includes news and entertainment content from media companies. Companies who have signed on include CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central, National Geographic and seven others. Publishers to the platform are allowed to strike their own ad deals and split revenue with Snapchat. Discover, T-Mobile, Macy’s, Stride and others are signed on as advertisers. (Read more at LostRemote)
- YouTube has updated its video player to default to HTML5, instead of Flash. (Read more at The Next Web)
- Pinterest has updated its search algorithm to feature more gender neutral results that appeal more equally to men and women. The goal is to make the platform more attractive to men as well as women. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal)
- Facebook has rolled out a new measurement that determines online and offline lift as a result of seeing online ads, not by clicking on them. Facebook is using test groups to evaluate ad success. (Read more at MediaPost)
- Tumblr has launched a new set of tools to make crafting long-form posts easier. The update allows users to drop media such as photos and videos in their drafts to better visualize what the final post will look like. The goal is to compete with more long-form platforms like Medium. (Read more at The Next Web)
- Vine has a new app, Vine Kids. Vine Kids compiles hand-selected Vines for users five and under. (Read more at SocialTimes)