We Are Social Asia Tuesday Tuneup #176
News
News
Line tests out $2/month music streaming service
Japanese messaging app, Line, has started testing a standalone music streaming app in Thailand. Called Line Music, the app is available for iOS and Android, and is integrated with the chat app to allow the sharing of songs.
Daum Kakao acquires Path
As part of its global expansion efforts, Korea’s Daum Kakao has announced that it will acquire the social network Path as well as the messaging app Path Talk. Just late last year, Path opened an office in Indonesia, where it has a strong user base and fast growing potential. Dave Morin, CEO and co-founder of Path believes that Daum Kakao’s “deep understanding of the Asian market and experience in leading mobile innovation”, will be able to give Path users “additional resources and value”.
Facebook introduces GIFs
Following on from the success of its autoplaying videos, Facebook is now allowing animated GIFs to the platform. Unfortunately for advertisers, the feature is not yet available on brand pages, but Facebook hasn’t ruled this out for the future. Meryl’s happy about it…
Food critic reviews to feature on Facebook
Facebook has announced that it will now start showing professional food critic reviews on relevant restaurant pages. Previously, everyone could score businesses out of five and leave a comment, but the platform wants to add another layer of authority to these ratings by letting professional reviews show up too. The move will help Facebook become a more useful tool for finding local businesses and will encourage people to stay on the platform, rather than moving to sites offering similar services such as Yelp or TripAdvisor.
Instagram carousel ads go global
A few months ago, Instagram introduced its new ad offering, carousel ads, so that brands could show up to four images in one post. The ads allow brands to tell more complete and deeper stories without the use of video content. The trial was originally only available for US brands, but Instagram has now rolled this out to the UK, Australia, Germany, France and Brazil.
Twitter launches ‘Audience Insights’
Twitter has unveiled a new analytics tool called ‘Audience Insights’, which allows users to gain a deeper understanding of their followers. The dashboard provides information on audience demographics, interests, lifestyle, purchasing behaviour, TV viewing behaviour and mobile footprint. It will be a useful tool for advertisers when targeting promoted posts, as well as finding out the most popular forms of content amongst their fans.
Twitter makes Amplify simpler
As Twitter’s Amplify function hits its two year anniversary, the platform has launched ‘Auto Amplify’ to simplify the product.While Amplify, which gives broadcasters the opportunity to publish real-time in-tweet video clips that are accompanied by pre-roll or post-roll advertisements, has proven popular on the platform, it is difficult to use. The revamp is designed to make it faster and easier for brands and publishers to create campaigns; Twitter will be hoping it provides a much-needed boost to its ad revenue.
Periscope for Android is here
Periscope, the live-video streaming app owned by Twitter, has been growing in popularity since its release a few months back. Previously, it was only available on iOS devices, but now Twitter has announced Periscope is now be available on Android devices as well.
Snapchat finally releases some user data
Chief Executive of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, spoke out at Code Conference last weekabout the impressive user and engagement figures seen on Snapchat. He says the platform has close to 100 million daily active users, with more than 65% of those contributing their own content. Recently, the CEO of Vodafone even stated that Snapchat accounts for 75% of all social messaging traffic. All this data makes the platform very desirable, but Spiegel is not planning on selling out. He turned down a $3bn offer from Facebook a few years ago, instead he wants to take the company public, hinting at a planned IPO.
Pinterest introduces US brand ambassadors
Pinterest has announced it will be working closely with a number of popular users of the platform, also known as ‘ambassadors’. From chefs to DIY-ers to fashion experts, each ambassador will now offer other users the chance to learn and be inspired by their success, through meet-ups and demos to help Pinterest users get a little more creative. Currently, all the ambassadors are based in the US, so all live demonstrations will be taking place there.
Bud-Light testing Snapchat age-gated ads
Snapchat stories have been around for a while, allowing users to submit their own video content to live-streams of popular events around the world. The platform offers brands the opportunity to sponsor this content, which is what Bud Light did for the ‘Whatever, USA’ event this weekend. It was a first for Snapchat as the alcohol brand needed the content to be age-gated so it could only be viewed by those over the age of 21. It’s the closest thing to targeted ads the photo-sharing platform has ever offered.