We Are Social Asia Tuesday Tuneup #184

Another Nail in the Coffin for Flash
Mozilla Firefox users, if you realise your browser has been acting up of late, it may be because Firefox has disabled Adobe Flash from its web browser. This means that rich content, and animation (i.e., web banners) will cease to function.

Steve Jobs, the Founder of Apple and thought leader for innovation, had long predicted the demise of Flash with the emergence of mobile devices, “…the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards — all areas where Flash falls short.”

Firefox has taken similar steps to what Google did recently after it announced that it would pause Flash animation to prolong battery life. In addition, Adobe, the parent of Flash, suffered a huge blow after YouTube switched to HTML 5 on all browsers.

Alex Stamos, Chief of Security for Facebook rightly tweeted recently that “It is time for Adobe to announce the end- of-life date for Flash.

Goodbye Google+. Or so it seems?
After 8 years in Google, Vic Gundotra announced that he would be leaving the company, leaving the internet rife with speculation on where his departure will leave Google+ which is his pet project.

A Google representative has responded to the rumors, citing that there is a team which will continue to build great user experiences across Google+, Hangouts and Photos. Also, the Google Hangouts team will be moving to Android. Basically, talent will be shifting away from the Google+ department and toward Android as a platform.

That being said, there are a ton of really interesting things going on in Google+ like its efforts in imaging. Having the photos team integrate the technologies backing Google+ photos tightly into the Android camera product, for instance, could be a net win for Android users.

Coming Soon… WhatsApp Urdu
With mobile penetration rates increasing at a steady pace, WhatsApp has literally replaced SMS.

Although there is a roman Urdu keyboard, a dedicated Urdu version of WhatsApp could be a welcoming sign for people who don’t know English.

The help of volunteer translators also proved that there is love for the language, making Urdu the 18th language in which WhatsApp for Android has been fully translated.

This could increase Whatsapp’s market share, not that they need to with their massive take up rate globally. Perhaps, this is really goodbye for SMS.

New video tools available for Facebook Page admins
In the next few weeks, Facebook will roll out new tools for publishing videos. The tools will give Page admins the ability to customise who sees a video by age or gender, as well as being able to exclude videos from the News Feed and Timeline and publish only to their Page’s Videos tab. Admins will also be able to allow or disallow video embeds on third party sites as well as labelling videos based on specific interests, such as news or entertainment.

Instagram improves its web page search
Finally, after a long three year wait, Instagram users can search for hashtags, locations, and user accounts through the platform’s web page. Although Instagram has stated that the web is not their main priority, the new search features are a welcome change to someone who might be stuck at a desk all day, looking for cute pictures of cats.

Twitter makes it easier for brands to plan event activations
Twitter is the go-to place when it comes to following real time events and now the platform is making it even easier for brands to plan ahead for live campaigns. Its newly introduced event targeting is broken down into three areas: the ‘event calendar’ identifies major global events, ‘event insights’ allows marketers to gain access to learnings from audiences who followed an event last year and, finally, ‘event activation’ allows marketers to target relevant groups of people following this year’s event with just a couple of clicks.

New look for YouTube’s mobile site and app 
YouTube has been making various changes recently. Not only can you now watch vertical videos in full screen on its app, but it has also introduced a new mobile interface. Now, when users visit the platform on either web or app, they will be greeted with three new tabs. The three-panelled look is designed to make it easier for people to find different videos by showing content based on their past viewing habits, the channels they subscribe to and their account activity. This is only currently on Android but will be rolled out to iOS soon, and highlights the importance of mobile in YouTube’s growth strategy.

 

YouTube makes ads more interactive
Always keen to skip an ad on YouTube? Well, now the platform is trying to hold your attention as it introduces 360 degree video advertising, following on from the launch of 360 degree videos in March this year. YouTube claims the more interactive videos have a 36% higher view rate than average. Here’s Bud Light taking advantage of the new feature.

LinkedIn ramps up business marketing
LinkedIn is keen to develop its business marketing from its premium subscriptions and job ads. Now, it’s bringing paid-for lead-generation to its Slideshare service, allowing companies who have uploaded documents to block their content until a user has provided their contact information. Marketers will be charged on a pay-per-lead basis. It’s certainly not the last we’ve heard from SlideShare, with its head of marketing stating that lead-gen is “laying the foundation” for more updates to follow.

The Rick and Morty interactive games comes straight to Instagram
One of the sci-fi fans – Instagram has released a new interactive game based on the world of Rick and Morty. Through 80 linked Instagram accounts, fans can explore up to 11 planets in the ‘Rickstaverse’ to find hidden objects. If this sounds like a lot to take in, take a look at the video below which explains it all pretty well.