Snapchat overtakes Twitter in the social media race If you’re not on Snapchat yet, it’s time to get some lessons from your little brother because the mobile messaging service is showing no signs of slowing down. In just four years, Snapchat has acquired more users than Twitter managed in 10, according to an unnamed source from within the company. The mysterious informant claimed 150m people use Snapchat every day, compared to Twitter’s 140 million.
News reach on Facebook down by 42 per cent Already reeling from plummeting advertising revenues, the news industry has suffered a dramatic drop in reach on Facebook since January. SocialFlow, a platform used by publishers to post stories to social platforms, reported that despite an increase in the number of news stories published, their total combined reach fell by 42%. SocialFlow CEO Jim Anderson put the drop down to changes in Facebook’s algorithm. Thanks Jim!
Instagram rolls out news feed to all users… Instagram is rolling out a new algorithm that ranks posts in the order of the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post. The picture sharing service claims people miss up-to 70% of content under the older, chronological format.
…and announces new tools to allow the creation of business profiles Conveniently for any business worried the new algorithm could damage their visibility, Instagram has also launched free insights tools and the ability to turn posts into ads. Instagram says it consulted with hundreds of businesses who asked for better ways to stand out and understand their existing and potential customers.
Snapchat revamps Discover to attract news publishers… Perhaps beleaguered news organisations should ditch Facebook altogether and invest in Snapchat. The platform is preparing a redesign to its Discover pages which will make it resemble a magazine. The idea is to draw more users into the profitable Discover page. Discover, which launched more than a year ago, already plays home to around 20 publishers including Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, ESPN and Vox.
…and overhauls Live Stories Mid June will see a redesign of Snapchat Live Stories – the part of the platform that enables brands to share exclusive coverage of special events like the Super Bowl, Oscars, and fashion shows. Later this month Snapchat will merge it with Discoveries to create a single content experience. Snapchat is also planning to introduce a subscription feature so users can have a say in what content is more visible to them.
Meanwhile, Twitter is launching Promoted Tweet Carousel… Twitter is launching a new advertising format that lets users swipe through photos, video or text. In a blog post announcing the launch, Twitter Revenue product manager Andrew Bragdon said the feature allowed brands to include visually appealing material in certain tweets while featuring pricing and information in others.
L’Oreal will do your eyeliner for free… but only on Snapchat Can’t be bothered to do your makeup? Well, provided you don’t need to be seen in real life, L’Oreal will do it for you. The brand is launching a Snapchat lens this weekend to promote its Infallible Silkissime eyeliner. The lens will apply cats-eye liner, mascara, foundation, blush and lip colour to your snaps – but sadly it isn’t available IRL yet.
Hotel group launches range of Snapchat lenses Hospitality companyStarwood is offering branded geofilters to its loyalty customers at 650 hotels across the US, UK and Canada. The company, which owns the Westin and Sheraton brands, has created filters for different types of property, with digital postcards saying ‘Hello from…’ and the somewhat counterproductive ‘Do Not Disturb’. There are also filters featuring cocktails or cameras to enable users to share beach views or other hotel highlights.
Avocado bores rejoice – there’s an emoji for that Anyone consumed with declaring their avocado obsession to the world will now able to do so in emoji form. The overhyped squashy fruit joins bacon, gorillas and an arm taking a selfie in a list ofnewly approved emojis released by Unicode Consortium. Sad news for safe sex campaigners though – Durex’s campaign for a #CondomEmoji sadly fell flat in the face of such stiff competition.
