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.

Pinterest Focuses on Search (Read more at AdAge)

Pinterest has announced that its advertising strategy is going to place a much greater emphasis on keyword search and audience based buying. Currently, Pinterest search is used more than two billion times per month, and this new focus on search will allow Pinterest to do more to leverage those searches.

Search buying will work similar to keyword buying on Google, and Pinterest is working to allow advertisers to buy those keywords at scale as it gears up for a potential IPO. One added piece of that is the ability for advertisers to upload their own buyer data to Pinterest to create custom audiences of people who are already familiar with the brand. That paired with the 400 signals Pinterest can use to identify user interests could make Pinterest a powerful search platform.

Pinterest has always been more of an outlier in the realm of social media platforms. It’s been much more about search and intercepting users as they look for information based on their interests. This update allows Pinterest to play where its already very strong, and it’s rooted in how users are already using the platform. That focus on user behavior plus the ability for brands to target people ready to buy could make the platform even more attractive than it already is, especially for online retailers hoping to get more attention to their Buyable Pins.

Twitter Dives Into Live Streaming with Wimbledon (Read more at AdWeek)

As Twitter ramps up to streaming Thursday Night NFL games live this upcoming season, it launched a preview of what that might look like. It has a new product that integrates tweet with live video, and it introduced it by streaming Wimbledon.

“Live @ Wimbledon” included a live stream of match interviews, highlights and match play replays. Next to the live video is a feed of tweets related to the action.

According to Twitter, it aims to be a place more known for streaming live video, and it views this Wimbledon effort as a test to prepare to do more. Twitter’s commitment to live video has been long known. It kicked off with its acquisition of Periscope, and recently made its partnership with the NFL to stream games this season.

Twitter’s focus on live events could be a big boon for the platform. People discuss events on Facebook and other channels, but those conversations are in a more intimate friend-to-friend setting. Twitter is where all come together to discuss what is happening right now.

If Twitter can make this work for users and content providers by bringing in more eyeballs and social conversation, this could be a big opportunity that we’re only seeing the beginnings of with Wimbledon.

Snapchat Launches Memories (Read more at AdAge)

Snapchat is becoming a bit less ephemeral with a new feature that it calls Memories. With Memories, users can save video and photo posts and organize them into a collage or story that can be reposted as “flashbacks.” Beyond that users can limit some posts to a feature called My Eyes Only, which is locked by a passcode. Once a user creates some Memories, he or she can search for particular snaps based on keywords and locations.

Memories is rolling out to users "selectively over the next month or so."

The move is a departure from Snapchat’s ephemeral roots, which was known for content being available for view for only a limited amount of time. But, much like Twitter and Facebook, Snapchat’s evolving to give users more features for different use cases, even if it means sacrificing factors like, in Twitter’s case, character limits. For example, a hilarious Snap could be worth going back to and if it’s there and then gone, there’s no getting it back.

News Quick Hits

Google has introduced a new My Activity Page for Android, YouTube and search users. The page allows users to view their entire Internet history and gives them the option to opt in for very specific ads customized for them based on what Google knows. This is part of Google’s goal to unify all activity by users across device and platform and to move beyond cookies, while at the same time competing with Facebook with stronger ad targeting. (Read more at Digiday)
Snapchat’s audience is getting older, according to a new report. 14% of US smartphone users 35 and older are on Snapchat. That’s a big jump from 2% a year ago. 25-34 year olds make up 37.8% of Snapchat’s users, while users ages 18-24 make up the majority at 67.5%. Snapchat’s users are aging, which is good news for the platform as it looks to push past its youth appeal, become more mainstream and evolve to being more attractive to advertisers. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal)
Former Facebook CTO Bret Taylor has joined Twitter’s board. This is one of the first times Twitter has brought on a board member from rival Facebook, and this is part of a larger move by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to change the makeup of Twitter’s board. (Read more at Venturebeat)
Facebook Messenger has added multiple account support on iOS. This means users will be able to switch between different Messenger accounts without the need of singing in and out. The feature is available in the app’s settings with a ‘Switch Account’ button. (Read more at The Next Web)