This Week in Social and Digital (Week of September 19)
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.
Apple’s iMessage Store Launches (Read more at 9to5Mac)
Apple launched its new iOS operating system two weeks ago, and a big push behind that update is related to iMessages. iMessges will now predict emojis a user wants to send, allow for handwritten messages, let users send “invisible ink” messages and more. Basically, Apple has thrown the gauntlet to go against Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Snapchat. But along with all of that comes the launch of an iMessage App Store.
The store includes sticker apps that let users easily send pictures to their friends. What goes beyond that, however, are apps that allow users to make payments within iMessages, plan, date other people and manage their health. Users can do things like pay for products, send friends gift cards, book reservations and stay fit.
With the rise of messaging applications, this move is no surprise. Apple was sitting on a huge opportunity, while the real innovation was happening on other apps. This creates an opportunity for Apple to become a dominant messaging app player.
What will truly prove interesting is the opportunity for brands in the iMessage App Store. The regular app store is crowded, and brand apps get lost in the shuffle. Even those that are downloaded aren’t accessed regularly. iMessage apps may be able to fit more seamlessly into users' day-to-day activities, resurfacing brand apps. Time will tell, but the messaging space just got another big player.
Twitter’s New Character Limit Update Arrives (Read more at Mashable)
Twitter’s more relaxed character limit is now here. Now, GIFs, polls, videos and quoted tweets will not count toward the 140-character limit. This means tweets with that content will be able to include more text. Beyond this, Twitter will soon make it so that handles don’t count toward character limits when users reply to others.
This update comes out after a much anticipated move for it to relax its character limit. That limit has remained in tact, but tweets won’t be that much longer than they were before. Instead, both new and previous users will just be able to do a little bit more. The move is being meant with some angst, but I think the update will eventually be embraced. And Twitter hopes that means being embraced by non-users as well as current ones.
Snap to Unlock Ads Make Debut (Read more at AdAge)
"Snap to Unlock" ads are starting to appear in stores, on products and on billboards. The units allow users to scan codes using Snapchat, just like a QR code to get special offers and other promotions.
The ads have debuted with codes that give uses information on the movie “The Girl on the Train."
QR codes have been dismissed as ineffective and, at best, novelties. That being said, Snapchat’s ads do make sense. Scanners are built into users' existing apps, so they don’t need to download a separate application to read them. It’s not only a benefit for marketers trying to reach a Snapchat audience. It gets Snapchat out into the world as well, being in stores, on products and featured in out-of-home ads.
Facebook Admits to Inflated Video View Metrics (Read more at The Wall Street Journal)
Facebook has been overestimating the time it told advertisers users watched their videos for two years. Facebook was only counting views of videos that were three or more seconds, so videos viewed for a shorter amount of time were not taken into account. This means Facebook was overestimating, in its metrics to advertisers, the viewing time of their content by 60 to 80 percent.
Facebook says it has corrected the issue.
Facebook has put a huge emphasis behind video over the past two years, and this has led to ever increasing ad revenues for the social network.
The harm comes in that many advertisers were evaluating campaign success by how engaged audiences were with their content. Advertisers were likely seeing inflated metrics, which may have led to reinvestment and more dollars going to Facebook.
This likely won’t hurt Facebook’s future by any means outside of a slight, temporary fall in share price, but it will lead to greater scrutiny in the platform’s measurement. The way Facebook measures video views has been criticized in the past, and this only adds fuel to that criticism.
News Quick Hits
- Instagram call-to-action buttons are getting an updgrade to improve performance. Now, the button will be highlighted when people show interest in an ad, it will also be featured at the bottom of brand profiles as well as in the comments section, it will pulling information like price, destination URL or app store rating when it automatically detects relevant information and users who unmute a video will now be taken to a page where they can explore, continue watching the video and get more information. (Read more at Instagram for Business)
- Google has launched a new travel app for iOS and Android called Google Trips. The app offers users recommended day plans for multiple locations based on a theme or neighborhood. Users can also add in attractions they’d like to visit and get additional recommendations on things to see nearby. The app also integrates with Gmail to help organize a user’s full itinerary. (Read more at Official Google Blog)
- Facebook has launched new ad options for retailers. The first is dynamic ads that allow stores to upload their inventories and automatically update ad campaigns based on where users are and product availability. The second update allows advertisers to optimize their ads to reach users who are more likely to visit brick-and-mortar locations. (Read more at Facebook for Business)
- Instagram has launched new features for users to moderate comments. The feature was first available for businesses, but now users can turn on a filter to block out a default list of words in comments or create a custom list of their own. Instagram’s move comes at a time when online bullying and harassment are growing concerns. (read more at TechCrunch)
- You can leave the TV off during the presidential debates. ABC News and Facebook announced they’ll live stream the Presidential debates. Twitter and Bloomberg, on the other hand, announced their partnership as well with live streams of all Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates. The live streaming battle is heating up. (Read more at TechCrunch and TechCrunch)
- Yahoo has confirmed that account information of at least 500 million users was taken by hackers in 2014. The information included in the breach is names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, encrypted passwords as well as security question answers. The data breach is one of the largest in history and is believed to be state sponsored. (Read more at The New York Times)
- Facebook is doing what it can to encourage users to make payments through Facebook Messenger. Thanks to machine learning, Messenger is testing a feature that will prompt you to pay back friends. If a user types “IOU” or something related to a transaction, a link will display allowing users to make a payment through Facebook Messenger. (Read more at The Verge)