We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #274
WhatsApp reaches 900 million monthly active users
In less than five months, WhatsApp has seen a 100 million user increase to 900 million monthly active users (MUAs) – and is creeping up on its parent company Facebook which reported 1.49 billion MAUs in June of this year. Let me put these figures in context for you: it’s a lot. Facebook’s own messaging app reached 700 million users in June which has been mostly accredited to its split from the main application, which has forced users to download it.
Mr Porter among first brands to test Facebook’s new iAd-like mobile format
First debuted to the world at Cannes, Facebook has revealed a new ad format. Appearing at first like a normal newsfeed ad, once clicked the user is able to interact with full screen videos, carousel photos and images that can be swiped to see different product angles. This takes place within the Facebook app for a much slicker user experience than navigating to a separate web page. Ad Age pointed out that this might not be a ‘new new’ idea – Steve Jobs previously pitched a similar style of ad in 2010 called iAds. Gatorade, Michael Kors, Mr Porter and Carrefour Spain are the first four brands to trial this kind of ad and Facebook has not confirmed when a full roll-out might take place yet.
Facebook adds ‘away’ status option for pages
After rewarding pages who respond to user queries quickly with a ‘very responsive to messages’ badge, Facebook is now letting pages change their status to ‘away’ for admins who cannot cover the page 24/7. While the page is set to ‘away’, admins won’t be penalised for any slow replies during that time.
Instagram’s interaction rates for brand content dips as competition grows
Interaction rates on Instagram branded posts are down from last year according to new research from Forrester. The report reveals that while brands are posting more on the platform (4.9 times a week compared to 3.1 last year), the interaction rate has dropped from 4.2 to 2.3 in the same time period. Facebook on the other hand has seen an increase in its interaction rate, which is likely down to the fact that marketers are promoting most posts to reach more users.
Instagram video ads are “highly efficient”
It’s been claimed that advertisers are paying only 2 cents per video view to advertise on Instagram, making it a “highly efficient” rival for parent company Facebook. After what started as quite an exclusive advertising offering, which was highly quality controlled from within, Instagram has now opened up its platform to basically everyone who has the money. The 2 cents price tag matches that of Snapchat, and its format is said to be more impactful than Facebook video, which can be more easily ignored than the full page takeover offered with Instagram. Salesforce says Instagram ads get almost double the click through rate of Facebook, 1.5 percent compared to 0.84 percent.
Instagram updates its direct messaging functionality
Did you know 85 million people use Instagram’s direct messaging tool? Well it’s 85 million and one now, as I’m getting into it! Three big changes are happening, first one: you can now send threaded messages to people as opposed to starting new threads if you want to reply. Secondly, you can now share photos from your feed in a direct message as opposed to @ing someone in the comments if you want them to see it and finally, you can send an over-sized emoji in a private message – be still my oversized heart.
Twitter takes promoted tweet availability from 33 countries to 167
After claiming that international expansion was a priority, Twitter has now made promoted tweets available in 167 countries, allowing people and brands to access users that are not currently following them. You can now buy Twitter ads in 15 different languages and the company has 100,000 active advertisers. Let me break those numbers down for you – loads.
Tumblr has changed its ‘reblog’ tool, teenagers worldwide sulking about it
The Yahoo-owned blogging platform Tumblr has streamlined its reblog tool (which is how people re-post content to their own blogs for those not in the know). Previously reblogs would appear beneath the post indented and were hard to view properly on mobile but also were one of the defining characteristics of the platform some say.
Before the change (left) and after (right)
As I clearly remember from my brother’s bedsheets, teenagers don’t like change and have let their views on the matter be known.
Coca-Cola tests advertising on anonymous messaging app Whisper
Coke has run its first ad on Whisper, an app where users can set up anonymous profiles for messaging. Whisper claims to have 10 million monthly users but it has previously been accused of making online bullying way too easy. So it’s an interesting choice for Coca-Cola, whose campaign aims to create a dialogue about the fact that 72% of teens are bullied online.
adidas launches female-focused ‘energy running’ campaign
adidas is hoping to connect with female urban women around the world with its new running campaign. This is no ordinary running though, it’s ENERGY running: “Energy Running is about more than lacing up and logging miles,” said Adrian Leek, general manager of adidas Running. “It’s a sport-driven social movement that’s just as much about putting a smile on your face and earning a like on your feed as it is about breaking a sweat and beating your best”. The campaign has taken an variety of running social influencers to help with the fitspiration. Whew! I’m getting tired just typing about it.
Brands celebrate #ForceFriday
Friday 4th September was hailed as #ForceFriday, as fans dashed to stores to get their hands on the latest Star Wars merchandise ahead of the release (in December! Calm down everyone) of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The official Star Wars YouTube channel streamed an 18-hour ‘global unboxing’ hosted by YouTube personalities, there was a new Twitter emoji for when the hashtag was used (and it was used 68,000 times – in case you’re wondering, I can tell you, that’s a big number) and also Target released a special filter for Snapchat which added Star Wars characters and its logo. Of course, the force awoke in a lot of a brands as well.
