Better grab the Ben and Jerry’s, Instagram, Snapchat is “the younger woman” and fans definitely have a *heart* for the snappier, sexier social network. In fall 2015, a survey of 6,500 US teens from investment bank Piper Jaffray found that 33 percent considered Instagram their most important social network, but this spring that number fell to 27 percent. Conversely, over the same time period, Snapchat’s popularity rose from 19 to 28 percent of teens admitting it was their most important social network, ultimately stealing Instagram’s prom queen crown.
WeChat surpasses 700 million monthly active users
Congratulations to Chinese chat app WeChat, which surpassed 700 million monthly active users during March 2016, up 29 percent y-o-y in the same time period. Given its huge range of capabilities, WeChat’s popularity is hardly surprising – users can order a cab, make a doctor’s appointment, make peer-to-peer payments and more. Western apps have been playing catch up for years. WeChat is now targeting emerging markets such as India and Latin America as it looks to expand its empire even further.
Facebook changes News Feed (again)
Facebook definitely changes its News Feed algorithm more than my brother changes his underwear, and last week it was at it again. Now, the social network is putting greater emphasis on ‘engagement time’ – how long people tend to spend on a post. The old system favoured posts users had liked or commented on, but as people don’t engage with everything they read, Facebook updated this to prioritise posts based on how long users spent on similar ones from the author in the past. Facebook will also be reducing the number of posts people see in a row from the same source, but per usual, they claim this won’t significantly affect publishers…
Facebook launches Group Calling on Messenger
With all the recent developments from F8, you would have thought Facebook would give Messenger a little breathing space to adjust. But there’s no rest for the wicked – last week the app continued its transformation into all things for everyone with the launch of Group Calling. Best of all – it’s freeeee! Sorry, Skype… Now, users can tap Facebook’s Phone icon, select which group chat members they want included, and send a Messenger call to all selections simultaneously. You can even call up to 50 people at once! I currently don’t have quite that many friends, but I’m hoping to gain an extra 46 (give or take) over the coming weeks so I can put this into practice ASAP.
Facebook makes ad-buying more TV-like Facebook is changing its video ad buying to become more similar to how advertisers would buy TV spots. The two main similarities would be the ability to use ‘day-parting’ on Facebook and Instagram, which delivers ads during specific parts of the day. They’re also adding Nielsen DMA targeting, which means they will now be able to hone in on a local television market areas. This will make it easier for advertisers to extend their wider campaigns to Facebook. However, they’ve been warned to switch it on manually due to the fact that video is consumed differently on Facebook (e.g. often without sound), so advertisers will have to adapt content accordingly.
Twitter introduces Ad Groups to hit more targeted audiences Twitter has updated its ads editor with a new function called Ad Groups, which allows big brands to reach smaller segments of people within a larger target group and use target-specific creative. Twitter’s product marketing manager, Andrea Hoffman, said:
Similar to how other ad platforms are structured, Ad Groups introduce a new level in our campaign hierarchy. One campaign can have many ad groups, and an ad group can have many targeting criteria and creatives. This level of granular control helps advertisers improve how they measure results, set promotion schedules, test different audiences, and identify which Tweets work best.
In case you want to swap your face even more… Snapchat has introduced a new feature that now lets you swap faces with your camera roll photos. So if your cat, you best friend and the Mona Lisa weren’t enough, you can drag inspiration from your photo archive. How it works: tap and hold Snapchat’s camera screen to pull up the filters. Next to the face-swapping option, you’ll find a new one to swap faces with photos on your camera roll. Select that, and you’ll see that Snapchat has already singled out faces from the most recent photos in your phone. Creepy!
While Snapchat added in this great new feature, it silently killed its in-app purchase options. Turns out no one wanted to spend money on watching snaps again or buying extra lenses. One Snapper commented: “No one is going to buy those filters, losers.” Well said, User, well said.
LinkedIn launches LinkedIn Students for the great unwashed Schools, rejoice! LinkedIn launched a standalone app just for students. It operates on an algorithm based on user preferences and college alumni connections. It has a Tinder-like swipe system (perfect for millennials!” those crafty creators surely cried), and it serves as a soft introduction to the “real world” of networking.
Facebook would like access to your camera
Just when you thought you’d caught up on ALL Facebook news, apparently Zuckerberg’s boffins have developed a Snapchat-style camera app that opens directly to your phone’s camera, encouraging people to share more candid photos and videos. If this is true, we’re guessing it will only be a matter of time ’til you can doodle on those photos/videos and slap a bunch of stickers on them to forget why you ever needed Snapchat in the first place.
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