Instagram introduces carousel feature
Why pick a pic when you can post a bunch?! ICYMI, Instagram is now letting users share up to 10 photos or videos all at once. Differing slightly from Facebook’s ‘gallery’ capability, the ‘carousel’ feature has replaced the ‘tap for next photo’ feature to a swipeable format, which is hinted at in the corner of each post with a subtle ‘swipe to see more’ message. Ultimately, we no longer have to spend hours choosing which #wanderlust photo gives our friends the most FOMO – just make them jealous 10 pics at a time! And don’t worry about crafting multiple witty captions, either, as the caption stays the same throughout.
CPG/FMCG spends more on digital than traditional advertising
According to a new study by Cadent Consulting Group, packaged goods marketers are now spending more on digital than all forms of traditional advertising combined. Overall, the consumer packaged goods (CPG, or FMCG in British English) industry spends around $225 billion on marketing, and the survey found digital trumped traditional advertising as a share of total CPG spending for the first time last year – from 15.9% to 15.5%. Cadent has stated that digital’s lead should widen even more this year, with brand marketers planning to spend 19.9% of their total marketing outlays on digital vs. only 13.3% on traditional advertising.
WhatsApp replicates Snapchat with ‘Status’
Another day, another Snap poser. This week, WhatApp launched Status, a new tab for sharing decorated photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. The biggest difference – it’s end-to-end encrypted like WhatsApp messaging. The Status tab is rolling out worldwide on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
Users can watch updates from friends and reply privately, or they can shoot and edit imagery (adding captions, drawings, emojis, etc.) before sending their creations to the contacts they’ve chosen within a privacy setting.
The ad breaks are Facebook’s first real effort to monetize video. They are mini-commercials that may run after a video has played for 20 seconds and must be at least two minutes apart. Facebook will let publishers keep 55% of the money generated from the ad breaks, and they’re working with a handful of U.S. publishers currently to test them in non-live videos.
Snap Inc’s Spectacles are finally available for anyone to buy (in the U.S.) It’s now possible for anyone in the U.S. to buy Snap Inc.’s spectacles on spectacles.com and, although they still pack a price punch of $129.99, this does mean you no longer have to find a randomly located Snapbot through some stroke of luck. The company’s pop-up store in New York City will also be shut down, however, it will still be possible to come across the high-tech vending machines around the United States. Some super secret sources sent us some, so we’ve been toying with them around the office and can confirm taking vids with your vision is pretttyyyy cool.
TransferWise launches Messenger bot for global money transfers
Chatbots continue to become more and more functional, with TransferWise introducing a chatbot that lets users send money via Facebook Messenger. The company already provides a money transfer service that bypasses banks to keep costs down, and now the Facebook Messenger chatbot makes it possible for users to send money from the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada. It’s also possible to set up rate alerts through Messenger, so you can get daily updates on rates between your preferred currencies. Travellers, rejoice!
News
