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.

F8 Shows Facebook’s Vision for Its Future (Read more at AdAge)

Facebook held its annual developer conference, F8, and after being more than a decade old, the conference showed that it’s ready and eager to evolve.

The developments for the platform covered Facebook’s suite of apps. Messenger now has the Messenger Platform, which will allow developers to build chat bots to communicate with Messenger’s 900 million daily users. Brands like KLM and 1-800-Flowers can have chat bots that allow users to place orders and ask questions all within Facebook Messenger, adding scale, automation, commerce and more immediacy to consumer questions.

Facebook’s second focus was on Facebook Live. The social network now has a Live API that developers can use to create more ways for users to tap into Facebook Live, meaning you can expect to see much more Facebook Live moving forward. Facebook also launched a camera system that uses 17 cameras to create 3D spherical footage. The plans for the camera are going to be on GitHub for more people to use this summer.

Facebook users have a new update that allows them to create profile videos using services like Vine, Boomerang, MSQRD, Lollicam, BeautyPlus and Cinemagraph. All of this was announced with a series of other features like Account Kit to allow users to log into apps using just a phone number or email address, a Save Button that lets users save content they see across the web to their Saved folders on Facebook and Rights Manager, a tool to help publishers manage and protect the videos they create on Facebook more easily.

F8 was all about Facebook preparing for a future that looks very different than the Facebook of today. Live video, bots within Messenger and other features show that that Facebook is less focused on profiles and sharing of content and more about making Facebook a hub for everything you do online, not just what you share. It also seems that Facebook’s shifting its strategy for competing with Snapchat from offering competitive apps like Slingshot to just offering similar features, and while that won’t bring users out of Snapchat, it will allow Facebook to use its size and reach to keep as many users on its own platform as possible.

Facebook Launching Live-Video In-Stream Ads (Read more at Digiday)

According to multiple publishers, Facebook is going to be rolling out ads that appear within live streams. Beyond that details are sparse. For example, it hasn’t been determined what kind of ads will run and if they will be pre-roll, mid-roll or something else.

The move is one that’s attractive to publishers. It encourages them to do more live streaming, and that’s something Facebook very much wants to happen on its platform. The move would also be seen as an olive branch to publishers, who have committed more and more time and effort into the platform with things like Instant Articles that keep Facebook’s users on the platform.

Instagram Launches Personalized Video Feed (Read more at The Instagram Blog)

Instagram’s Explore page has gotten an update that focuses on video. Users now have a “Videos You Might Like” feed that pulls content it thinks you’ll enjoy from across the network. In addition, several curated channels have been launched that includes content around events like Coachella as well as specific creators.

The updated Explore tab comes only a couple weeks after Instagram shared that it will be unrolling an algorithm for user feeds over the coming months.

This update shows the importance of video for Instagram as it’s working to create a single point users can go to in order to consume video content, instead of just relying video content to make it to users in their feeds. It also opens up opportunities for more advertising for users looking to sit to watch video content, which can now be up to a minute long.

YouTube Launches 360-Degree Live Video Streaming (Read more at AdAge)

Facebook entering the live video streaming space was without a doubt going to lead to a more competitive space, and YouTube has its first answer. It has launched 360-degree live video streaming. 360-degree video has been available on youTube since 2011, but now it can be live.

It premiered with a 360-degree performance from Coachella performers, and T-Mobile sponsored it.

360-degree video creates a canvas that marketers can look at as a unique way to create truly compelling user experiences. The brands that execute the live sessions most successfully will create content that is more valuable when viewed live, such as a concert, keynote announcement, sports event, product reveal and so on. Brands have an opportunity to connect consumers with live experiences they wouldn’t have had otherwise, taking experiential marketing to another level.

Pinterest Updates Mobile App for Speed (Read more at Wired)

Pinterest has just rolled out a huge update to its mobile app aimed at improving performance and giving it a “new modern look.” The focus is on one thing, pins. Feeds of pins now load up to three times faster than before, and they’re embracing the global community by making the app readable in 31 languages. But this is just the groundwork for Pinterest.

Now that it has rolled out this update, it’s actually going to be able to add new features faster, according to Pinterest product manager Adam Barton. The update is the result of Pinterest’s app being completely torn down and built from the ground up.

The update comes at a time when Pinterest is working to get its advertising offering off the ground. Pinterest has had trouble gaining users internationally, and in the U.S., it’s still dominated by women. The platform is working to garner new audiences by making pinning a relevant way of curating content to the masses. An updated app is just the beginning of pushing that effort forward because if it isn’t quick or reliable for everyone, no one will use it.

News Quick Hits

Periscope users will soon be able to draw on their livestreams. The feature is currently in beta, but when launched, users will be able to select colors in which to draw in. (Read more at The Next Web)
Google is testing a new feature that shows users trending search topics within the search bar. The feature reminds one of Facebook and Twitter trending topics and lets users know what people are searching for right now. (Read more at Mashable)
Facebook is currently testing “Sponsored Messages” with a small group of advertisers. The ads pull users into a conversation with a bot where they can be guided through a shopping experience. (Read more at TechCrunch)
Vine has launched a new “Watch” feature that lets users watch everything a person has Vined back-to-back without each video looping. It makes content more consumable for users and gives them an idea what a content creator is all about and sharing quickly. (Read more at The Next Web)
Screenshots of a potentially revamped News Feed from Facebook have surfaced. The layout that is being tested allows users to access news topics from the News Feed in categories like World, Sports, Food and U.S. If rolled out, users will be able to choose which categories they’d like displayed. (Read more at Mashable)
Whisper has launched a new polling feature that lets marketers anonymously poll users on the platform. Whisper, by its nature, is about sharing while remaining anonymous, so this offering could allow marketers to glean insights from users who are more open than when they might be on other social platforms. The platform has 30 million users. (Read more at AdWeek)
Twitter has updated its ads editor to include an Ad Groups function that allows large brands to target smaller segments within a larger target audience. A single ad campaign can now have multiple ad groups with specific targeting criteria and creative to help marketers better measure results, schedule promotions, test audiences and optimize creative. (Read more at The Twitter Blog)
Shazam has now launched Shazam for Brands, a new offering that will let marketers integrate Shazam into just about anything, including packaging and live events. The latter leverages beacon technology. (Read more at The Next Web)
Snapchat is now allowing iOS and Android users to “pin” emojis to objects in videos. The feature means those emojis will be attached to objects in the videos and will move along with them. (Read more at TechCrunch)
Facebook and Instagram are allowing target rating point video buys to leverage day-parting and Nielsen DMA targeting to make the ad buying experience more akin to buying television. The targeting is almost essentially the same because they can go after specific local television markets and times of day. (Read more at AdAge)
Facebook Messenger has rolled out an update that will let users make group voice calls from within the app. The feature is accessible from the phone icon in the app. From there, a user can choose who it wants on the call. (Read more at Venturebeat)
Facebook is tweaking its News Feed algorithm again to cut back on link bait by not only looking at the time spent viewing an article but also page post diversity. (Read more at The Next Web)