We Are Social Asia Tuesday TuneUp #115

News
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Indonesian startup brings back nostalgia of developing photos
Claiming it’s not a competitor of
Printerous, this Indonesian startup called Pictalogi serves to bring back the novelty of printing photographs chosen across three photo sources. The site allows users to select their images from Facebook and Instagram and collect it into a pre-set photo album and print it.

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An interesting and refreshing deviation from how we use real-time methods of sharing our photographs today, as opposed to how photography initially started out to be.

Facebook election tracker for upcoming Indian elections? Sounds social.
Facebook wants to be at the heart of the debate – a debate that involves 814 million eligible Indian citizens surrounding talks of the election candidates for the upcoming Indian national elections. Facebook rolled out its Indian election tracker along with a trend tracker that counts mentions on Facebook for each of the leading politicians and election candidates.

Definitely a good way to hear the voices of the people in light of a large national event.

Let’s quit all the social media rumor-mongering and just #prayforMH370
In light of the recent disappearance of a Malaysian airlines flight MH370 that was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday, it is evident that social media has taken over newsfeeds by storm with a mix of both inappropriate and inaccurate reports of the incident. We all know how our friends on Facebook have turned into ‘investigators’, culling information that only to add on to the drama of the investigations. It’s time we stopped, took a step back and remember to socially mention with ethics. Tech in Asia said it well when they wrote on how the usage of social media has spread news of this incident in a way we hope to improve.

Facebook Page organic reach keeps falling
Further evidence has arrived of a decrease in the organic reach of posts from brand pages on Facebook. An analysis of 106 country-level brand pages found that average organic reach dipped from 12.05% in October 2013 to 6.15% in February this year; for the 23 pages analysed with 500,000 fans or more, the equivalent decrease was from 4.04% to 2.11%. If you’re concerned about this change, then read our recommended approach to dealing with the issue.

Facebook redesigns desktop News Feed
Facebook has made a number of changes to its desktop News Feed. After an unpopular dramatic overhaul around a year ago, the social network has played it fairly safe, with a new design that includes different iconography, larger photos, fresh fonts and the presence of story cards, along with a large search bar at the top of the page. The redesign is being pushed out gradually – if you haven’t got it yet, here’s what it looks like:

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Facebook Messenger launches on Windows phone
Facebook has launched a version of its Messenger app for Windows phone. The service, which has been available on iPhone and Android for some time, has a 4.5 star rating from users.

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Twitter ad revenue increases
Twitter’s ad revenue increased by 110% to $664.9m in 2013. The growth came as a result of a higher number of ads, although the cost of these ads actually fell throughout that time – by 18% in Q4 2013, or 67% for the whole of the year.

Foursquare location data being used to target ads
Foursquare is bulking up its ad offering by partnering with Turn, an ad targeting firm. This will allow the use of Foursquare’s location data in the serving of ads on mobile and desktop, by anonymously matching user email addresses with web cookies.

Getty allows images to be embedded for free
Stock image site, Getty, has added an embed feature, which renders around 35 million images free for non-commercial use. The move, which could radically alter the way in which stock images are used, looks to tackle illegal image use. When an image is embedded, it will automatically appear with full accreditation.

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Mondelez partners with Facebook
Confectionery giant Mondelez has announed a ‘global strategic partnership’ with Facebook, amounting to a 52-country ad deal that includes the USA, UK, France, Brazil, India, Indonesia and the Gulf States. Mondelez’s VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement, Bonin Bough, commented:

For the first time, we’ll be able to incorporate Facebook at the core of our media investment plans. This isn’t just about having a social-media strategy; it’s about digitizing our entire approach to communications.

Airbnb comes to the help of SXSW
Airbnb got in on the action at SXSW by trawling Twitter for those in need of help at the festival and coming to their rescue with more than 100 ‘rewards’, ranging from providing a pair of cowboy boots to furnishing a whole apartment within two hours. This isn’t a new idea for Airbnb, which says it conducts this kind of social media listening and responding all year, usually dishing out five to 10 rewards a week. But it’s certainly put the company in the good books of SXSW attendees over the last few days.